Daily Web Toolshttp://www.dailywebtools.comEvery Day, Another Web Site, Tool or Tip to Help the Internet Entrepreneurenhttp://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/fb_pwrd.gif2188941http://www.feedburner.comWeb Design Skillshttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/dailywebtools/~3/434847413/Web DesignHTMLweb design skillsLiz JamiesonTue, 28 Oct 2008 11:05:04 -0500http://www.dailywebtools.com/?p=821Some time ago I wrote a hubpage describing all the skills I thought a person would need to become a freelance web developer.   I thought I’d put add this hubpage to the blog.

You may not agree with me, let’s face it the number of skills you could include is enormous - I guess my list is about the minimum.

My ideas are also directed at people who want to understand what they are doing rather than using tools that do all the work for you.

These tools are OK, but you can end up generating sites you can’t fix when they go wrong if you rely on them too much.

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]]>Some time ago I wrote a hubpage describing all the skills I thought a person would need to become a freelance web developer.   I thought I’d put add this hubpage to the blog. You may not agree with me, let’s face it the number of skills you could include is enormous - I guess my [...]http://www.dailywebtools.com/2008/10/28/web-design-skills/feed/http://api.feedburner.com/awareness/1.0/GetItemData?uri=dailywebtools&itemurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailywebtools.com%2F2008%2F10%2F28%2Fweb-design-skills%2Fhttp://www.dailywebtools.com/2008/10/28/web-design-skills/Free Post-It Note Generatorhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/dailywebtools/~3/434836939/GraphicsLayoutWeb 2.0post-it notesLiz JamiesonMon, 27 Oct 2008 11:55:11 -0500http://www.dailywebtools.com/?p=810To grab attention without using animation, you can use a post-it notes used to highlight a message on your home page. 

You could draw your own post-it graphic by following a photoshop tutorial . . . 

. . . Or you could generate a post-it note using a free web site set up for the purpose.

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]]>To grab attention without using animation, you can use a post-it notes used to highlight a message on your home page.  You could draw your own post-it graphic by following a photoshop tutorial . . .  . . . Or you could generate a post-it note using a free web site set up for the purpose. You might [...]http://www.dailywebtools.com/2008/10/27/free-post-it-note-generator/feed/http://api.feedburner.com/awareness/1.0/GetItemData?uri=dailywebtools&itemurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailywebtools.com%2F2008%2F10%2F27%2Ffree-post-it-note-generator%2Fhttp://www.dailywebtools.com/2008/10/27/free-post-it-note-generator/Truly Free Online Task Management Toolhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/dailywebtools/~3/430530461/In the officeToolstask managementLiz JamiesonFri, 24 Oct 2008 04:08:12 -0500http://www.dailywebtools.com/?p=804I’ve looked around for a free online tool to manage tasks, that is truly free.

There are some great ones that have a monthly subscription attached, but I think they are too expensive.

5pm comes to mind. I love, love love it but don’t want to pay almost $50 per month for the number of projects I’d need.

I don’t know if SantexQ are going to start charging anytime soon, but if they do I hope their subscriptions are lower cost.  In the meantime they offering task management free.

Currently unlimited projects and tasks are allowed for zero cost.

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]]>I’ve looked around for a free online tool to manage tasks, that is truly free. There are some great ones that have a monthly subscription attached, but I think they are too expensive. 5pm comes to mind. I love, love love it but don’t want to pay almost $50 per month for the number of projects I’d [...]http://www.dailywebtools.com/2008/10/24/truly-free-online-task-management-tool/feed/http://api.feedburner.com/awareness/1.0/GetItemData?uri=dailywebtools&itemurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailywebtools.com%2F2008%2F10%2F24%2Ftruly-free-online-task-management-tool%2Fhttp://www.dailywebtools.com/2008/10/24/truly-free-online-task-management-tool/Another Twitter Tool - Who Loves You Back on Twitter?http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/dailywebtools/~3/429446708/Social MediatwitterLiz JamiesonThu, 23 Oct 2008 04:00:36 -0500http://www.dailywebtools.com/?p=794Yes - one more twittersome tool to help you get the most out of Twitter.

Ever wondered who follows you out of the people you are following? Here’s something that will tell you.

Just got to lessfriends.com and enter your Twitter details.

You’ll get a long list of all the people you follow, the people that follow you and the ones who fall into both categories.

OK - we know this is just linkbait for the company that wrote it.  They do accounting and project management services, and web design.

But more power to them.

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]]>Yes - one more twittersome tool to help you get the most out of Twitter. Ever wondered who follows you out of the people you are following? Here’s something that will tell you. Just got to lessfriends.com and enter your Twitter details. You’ll get a long list of all the people you follow, the people that follow you [...]http://www.dailywebtools.com/2008/10/23/who-loves-you-back-on-twitter/feed/http://api.feedburner.com/awareness/1.0/GetItemData?uri=dailywebtools&itemurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailywebtools.com%2F2008%2F10%2F23%2Fwho-loves-you-back-on-twitter%2Fhttp://www.dailywebtools.com/2008/10/23/who-loves-you-back-on-twitter/Learn CSS Positioning - Quicklyhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/dailywebtools/~3/428446178/CSSLiz JamiesonWed, 22 Oct 2008 05:53:33 -0500http://www.dailywebtools.com/?p=770Here is a great introductory tutorial to help you learn about the finer points of CSS positioning. It’s the best explanation I’ve seen of the concept.

It takes you in 10 steps through the use of, and the difference between static, relative and absolute positioning.

If you’ve struggled to do CSS layouts, this will probably solve all your problems.

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]]>Here is a great introductory tutorial to help you learn about the finer points of CSS positioning. It’s the best explanation I’ve seen of the concept. It takes you in 10 steps through the use of, and the difference between static, relative and absolute positioning. If you’ve struggled to do CSS layouts, this will probably solve [...]http://www.dailywebtools.com/2008/10/22/learn-css-positioning-quickly/feed/http://api.feedburner.com/awareness/1.0/GetItemData?uri=dailywebtools&itemurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailywebtools.com%2F2008%2F10%2F22%2Flearn-css-positioning-quickly%2Fhttp://www.dailywebtools.com/2008/10/22/learn-css-positioning-quickly/PHP Security Problems Explainedhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/dailywebtools/~3/427282857/MySQLPHPSecurityform spoofingPHP securitysql injectionLiz JamiesonTue, 21 Oct 2008 04:00:45 -0500http://www.dailywebtools.com/?p=776What a clear and helpful article.  I came across this article at the weekend.  Anyone interested in PHP coding can benefit from a good read of this.

An ideal breakdown of all the security issues to consider when coding PHP (and MySQL) and the different types of attack a PHP website can be open to.

These include attacks such as XSS, SQL Injection and Form spoofing.

A further useful and related article can be found here - the author desribes how to sanitise database input before applying it to your MySQL database.

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]]>What a clear and helpful article.  I came across this article at the weekend.  Anyone interested in PHP coding can benefit from a good read of this. An ideal breakdown of all the security issues to consider when coding PHP (and MySQL) and the different types of attack a PHP website can be open to. These include [...]http://www.dailywebtools.com/2008/10/21/php-security-problems-explained/feed/http://api.feedburner.com/awareness/1.0/GetItemData?uri=dailywebtools&itemurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailywebtools.com%2F2008%2F10%2F21%2Fphp-security-problems-explained%2Fhttp://www.dailywebtools.com/2008/10/21/php-security-problems-explained/jQuery - Get Stuck Inhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/dailywebtools/~3/426256447/AJAXAnimationsCSSDHTMLJavascriptjqueryLiz JamiesonMon, 20 Oct 2008 04:39:10 -0500http://www.dailywebtools.com/?p=784The web is awash with beautiful, clean Web 2.0 style sites each accentuated by Ajax enabled user focussed embellishments.

Pages no longer need to refresh in their entirety to reflect user ineractions.  Ajax - asynchronous javascript -  can make this happen quickly and in front of your eyes.

Study the jQuery web site - this is an library of javascript routines that make javascript coding that little bit easier to learn.

jQuery supplies a series of easy to use APIs - one weekend of study should see you on your way to enlivening your site.

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]]>The web is awash with beautiful, clean Web 2.0 style sites each accentuated by Ajax enabled user focussed embellishments. Pages no longer need to refresh in their entirety to reflect user ineractions.  Ajax - asynchronous javascript -  can make this happen quickly and in front of your eyes. Study the jQuery web site - this is an [...]http://www.dailywebtools.com/2008/10/20/jquery-get-stuck-in/feed/http://api.feedburner.com/awareness/1.0/GetItemData?uri=dailywebtools&itemurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailywebtools.com%2F2008%2F10%2F20%2Fjquery-get-stuck-in%2Fhttp://www.dailywebtools.com/2008/10/20/jquery-get-stuck-in/Useful Little Printing Tool for Fridayhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/dailywebtools/~3/423775244/In the officeToolsAdd new tagprintingLiz JamiesonFri, 17 Oct 2008 09:43:32 -0500http://www.dailywebtools.com/?p=761Ever heard of printwhatyoulike.com? It’s a neat little web site that allows you to print the portion of a web page that you want, leaving out things like images and ads.

It’s works by allowing you to select a boxed area on the page, and then either expanding or narrowing that area once selected.

You can removes images with a single click, and backgrounds (although I think it’s true to say most browsers allow for automatic removal of background images when printing.)

One downside is that the site won’t work if the site you want to print takes too long to load.

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]]>Ever heard of printwhatyoulike.com? It’s a neat little web site that allows you to print the portion of a web page that you want, leaving out things like images and ads. It’s works by allowing you to select a boxed area on the page, and then either expanding or narrowing that area once selected. You can removes [...]http://www.dailywebtools.com/2008/10/17/useful-little-printing-tool-for-friday/feed/http://api.feedburner.com/awareness/1.0/GetItemData?uri=dailywebtools&itemurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailywebtools.com%2F2008%2F10%2F17%2Fuseful-little-printing-tool-for-friday%2Fhttp://www.dailywebtools.com/2008/10/17/useful-little-printing-tool-for-friday/An Exclusive Take on Twitterhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/dailywebtools/~3/422471240/Social MediaWeb 2.0twitteryammerLiz JamiesonThu, 16 Oct 2008 04:24:07 -0500http://www.dailywebtools.com/?p=754So how long was it going to be before I found another excuse to mention Twitter?  Not long as it turns out.

Have you heard of Yammer? It’s a kind of Twitter for companies.

It benefits companies where due to the size of the organisation, employees feel as if decisions and discussions are taking place without them. Implement Yammer and everyone gets to be involved.

In-house experts are able to join in and add value when something relevant to them is yammered. A real tool for improving internal communications.

Unlike Twitter though, Yammer is not entirely free.  You can use it for free, but the paid version has more options.  But it only costs $1 per person per month. Large companies can ask for special pricing.

Watch the product tour - it should get you excited if you are a decision maker in your organisation.



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]]>So how long was it going to be before I found another excuse to mention Twitter?  Not long as it turns out. Have you heard of Yammer? It’s a kind of Twitter for companies. It benefits companies where due to the size of the organisation, employees feel as if decisions and discussions are taking place without them. [...]http://www.dailywebtools.com/2008/10/16/an-exclusive-take-on-twitter/feed/http://api.feedburner.com/awareness/1.0/GetItemData?uri=dailywebtools&itemurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailywebtools.com%2F2008%2F10%2F16%2Fan-exclusive-take-on-twitter%2Fhttp://www.dailywebtools.com/2008/10/16/an-exclusive-take-on-twitter/A Web Application Development Tool for People Low on Geek Factor?http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/dailywebtools/~3/421385722/ToolsWeb 2.0Web DesignIcebergLiz JamiesonWed, 15 Oct 2008 04:01:45 -0500http://www.dailywebtools.com/?p=742Iceberg is a relatively new service which says it can make a professional web application building, a breeze.  If it does what it says it will do, this is an amazing software development product.  The company is based in Dublin, in Ireland.

The Good News

Almost too good to be true - it promises to make programmers out of us all, by enabling us to not just build web sites, (there are lots of point and click tools for those already), but to build web applications.

If you are a small business, you can use the tool for free, for up to 5 users assuming you have the right software and hardware platforms available.

There is a  hosted version (I could not find any obvious reference to it on the website FAQ, but the co-founder Wayne Byrne said in a blog comment that it existed - so where is it Wayne???!) which eliminates the need for a platform of your own, but costs $10 per month per user.  So not much good for that new social marketing killer app you’ve been designing for the last few months. But it would be OK for a small number of users in your company.

The Bad News

Well, it’s bad news for me.

Iceberg runs on Microsoft Windows server with SQL Server and is itself an ASP.NET application. Iceberg supports Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Vista and is compatible with Internet Explorer and Firefox.

The cost per user is too high even for the hosted version. If you have the skills to code a large application using PHP say, and any associated framework, for large numbers of users, you’d be better off doing it that way.

As a long time software engineer, programmer and web developer I do wonder how accurate these claims can really be.

All my experience of productivity tools is that you substitute having to learn to code for having to learn the tool. And when you think you’ve done that, you realise you ‘ve also learned how to work around all the things the tool does badly. Then a whole support industry is created on the back of the tool’s idiosyncrasies.

The people running Iceberg say their offering is something else altogether.

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]]>Iceberg is a relatively new service which says it can make a professional web application building, a breeze.  If it does what it says it will do, this is an amazing software development product.  The company is based in Dublin, in Ireland. The Good News Almost too good to be true - it promises to make programmers [...]http://www.dailywebtools.com/2008/10/15/a-web-application-development-tool-for-people-low-on-geek-factor/feed/http://api.feedburner.com/awareness/1.0/GetItemData?uri=dailywebtools&itemurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailywebtools.com%2F2008%2F10%2F15%2Fa-web-application-development-tool-for-people-low-on-geek-factor%2Fhttp://www.dailywebtools.com/2008/10/15/a-web-application-development-tool-for-people-low-on-geek-factor/http://api.feedburner.com/awareness/1.0/GetFeedData?uri=dailywebtools