37 Top Firefox Add-ons For Web Development

Firefox has numerous add-ons , i already covered a lot add-ons for customizations of Firefox. But some of my reader asked for the add-ons for web developers designers. So, I make lists of useful add-ons for web developer and it should be know for each developer.

For CSS Code USED

Console2 - it allows you to display errors filtered by type (messages, Warnings, Errors) such like languages (CSS, XML, JavaScript) and context (Chrome). It's provide you to remove the duplicate enteries and hide them.

CSS validator – This tool provide you to Check the validity of CSS code of your web page. It's open the results in the new tab.

CSSMate – It used for firefox extension for edit CSS files. it's make the code easy for understand and separte in different sheets.

Aardvark – It is useful add-ons in Firefox useful for web developers and designers. It's provide you to view CSS attributes, id, class by highlighting page element individually.

IE Tab - It is another extension for the firefox. This is helpful for the designers for view their CSS projects on Internet Explorer withing Firefox.

CSSViewer – Awesome extension for See the CSS properties of page elements with this extension.

EditCSS –It's helps the web developers to edit and modify currently loaded style sheets and displays the code into a sidebar of Mozilla Firefox

Style Sheet Chooser II - it's allows you to choose author-provided alternate style sheets for a web site.

chromEdit – Change the appearance or customize your CSS and javascript files using this extension.

Debugging and Analysis

Link Checker – Check the validity of links on any webpage and display the links in different colors

Load Time Analyzer – The Load Time Analyzer allows developers to measure and graph how long web pages take to load in Firefox. The graphs display events like page requests, images, stylesheets and scripts etc.

DOM Inspector: DOM (Document Object Model) it's inspect the structure and properties of the window and it's contents.

FireBug – It is popular extension for debugging JavaScript, HTML, CSS and Ajax code snippets.

HTML Validator – This extension used to validate web pages with HTML standards of W3C. It's help to show the erros.

JavaScript Debugger – It is used for debugging the JavaScript code and provide the strong debugging environment.

View Dependencies – It is useful extension and show all the page elements are loaded and display the information which were loaded in the current page.

YSlow - It's awesome tool that analyzes your web pages, Why it's slowing down while loading and check the performance of the Web sites.

Pixel Perfect: Pixel Perfect is a Firefox/Firebug extension that allows web developers and designers to easily overlay a web composition over top of the developed HTML.

Other Extensions

ColorZilla – It's help the developers for selecting the Advanced Eyedropper, Color Picker, Palette Viewer and other colorful goodies for your Firefox.

FirePHP – Identify the PHP code used in the code and display on this extension.

Flash Switcher – this extension for flash developers who want to easily test their pages with different flash players versions.

Greasemonkey – it is used withing the Firefox and allow you to customize the java script or any webpage aspects or it's functions.

TestGen4Web – This is interesting extension that records your ongoing activities and store it. It's play on your demand.

View Source Chart – It's shown you any webpage Source code.

Web Developer – The Web Developer extension adds a menu and a toolbar with various web developer tools.

X-Ray – it allows users to view webpage code with a right-click and see how document was constructed.

Measureit – Calculate the measurement is difficult task for each developers. This extension help you measures the specifications of tables, paragraphs on internet.

Poster – This extension help for developers to interacting with web services and other resources in the web content.

Professor X – It's save the time and inspect inside a page's head without viewing the sourcecode.

Clipmarks – it's help you to save any part of web page like blog posts, articles even you can post directly to the twitter or facebook or share to any one.

Codetech – Edit your documents withing the Firefox and feel like the Dreamweaver.

ScreenGrap - It will capture entire window or selection or particular frame of webpage as images or to the clipboard.

CodeBurner: It is an extension of Firebug reference tool for web developers. It shown the syntax, code samples, and browser compatibility information.

Adblock Plus - It's annoyed all those ads and banner on the internet that takes time to load on internet. So , Install this extension for avoid.

FireFTP : It's another awesome extension that provide you to upload your FTP files directly to the directories of your Web hosting Servers.

HttpFox : Monitors all incoming and outgoing HTTP traffic.

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ASP.NET Data Presentation Controls Essentials

Joydip Kanjilal, "ASP.NET Data Presentation Controls Essentials"
Publisher: Packt Publishing | Number Of Pages: 256 | 6.63 MB | PDF | 2007-12-31 | ISBN: 1847193951

This book shows you how to get the most from these controls to easily display and manage complex data in your web applications. It takes you through each of the major data presentation controls in ASP.NET, gets you started using them, and then shows you how to use them in your applications for managing your data.

Download from aFilehosting

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Beginners Guide to SQL Server Integration Services Using Visual Studio 2005

ayaram Krishnaswamy, "Beginners Guide to SQL Server Integration Services Using Visual Studio 2005"
Publisher: Packt Publishing | Number Of Pages: 320 | 2007-12-22 | 4.78 MB | PDF| ISBN: 1847193315

Sql Server Integration Services with the acronym SSIS is a comprehensive ETL tool that made its debut with SQL Server 2005. It is a tool tightly integrated with the Visual Studio 2005 having all the functionalities that its forerunner DTS (Data Transformation Services) had in SQL Server 2000. This does not mean that it is just an improvement over DTS but a product which is totally different with a vastly improved interface; an extensible architecture; an enlarged tool set; ease of integration with other SQL Server Tools such as Analysis Services; capable of supporting connectivity with third party databases and bringing into a central location many database management tasks.

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Drupal 5 Themes

Ric Shreves, "Drupal 5 Themes"
Publisher: Packt Publishing | Number Of Pages: 260 | 2007-12-22 | 7.59 MB | PDF | ISBN: 1847191827

This book is the ideal introduction to theming with Drupal 5. If you want to create a striking new look for your Drupal website, this book is for you. Starting from the basics of theme setup and configuration, you will learn about the Drupal theming architecture and the PHPTemplate engine, and then move on to modifying existing themes and building new themes from scratch. Included is a complete guide to the various style sheets and themeable functions in Drupal 5, making this book a valuable resource to even experienced theme developers.

Download from aFilehosting

Download from Rapidshare

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Dynamic Learning Dreamweaver CS3 (ILLUSTRATED)

Dynamic Learning Dreamweaver CS3 (ILLUSTRATED)
O'Reilly Media, Inc. | November 12, 2007 | English | ISBN: 0596510578 | CHM | 416 pages | RapidShare | 71.9 MB

Learning Dreamweaver CS3 is like having access to a top-notch team of your very own instructors. Written by product experts and trainers who have produced many of Adobe's training titles, the book takes you step-by-step through the process of learning to use Dreamweaver X like a pro.

This full-color book is organized into lessons, with easy-to-follow instructions, tips, examples, and review questions at the end of every lesson. Each lesson is self-contained, so you can go through the entire book sequentially or just focus on individual lessons.

Topics covered include:

* What's new in Dreamweaver CS3
* Dreamweaver CS3 Jumpstart
* Creating web sites
* Styling pages with CSS
* Working with Snippets and library items
* Using tables and frames
* Adding Flash, video, and audio content

In addition, the book comes with a companion DVD with video tutorials and all of the files needed for the lessons, including final, completed Dreamweaver files. A free Instructor's Guide is available online.

Download from aFilehosting

Download from Rapidshare

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Website Layout Maker Ultra Edition v2.4.4.0

Website Layout Maker is a program for make a website. It's not just program, it's totally new paradigm itself.
There is 3 big reasons why we need to choose Website Layout Maker. First, Most of HTML-editor and website making tools have separated mode for make a website. And those programs need to see preview after make a website.
But Website Layout Maker makes a website with real-time preview. You don't need execute web-browser after make a website. Second, the website made by Website Layout Maker provides uniform to most common web-browsers. So, you can save your valuable times to test compatibility with various web-browsers. Third, Website Layout Maker was made a concept of layout based div. You will experience powerful features with Website Layout Maker.
Main Features:
� Create a website easily with powerful layout tool
� Support drag and drop when editing layouts
� Each layout based div tag - easy to understand and edit
� Generate CSS style for shape and operation
� Provides powerful background options for each layout
� Provides powerful border options for each layout
� Provides more detail options for each layout
� Provides various pre-made themes
� Provides dynamic preview for better design
� Provides uniform for the most common browsers
� The HTML codes of layout are based standard div spec

http://2sharefiles.com/icb0a07fvp8w/WEBLAYMAKER.UEDIT.2.4.4.0.rar.html

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Flash.Banner.Creator.v1.10 Plus Templates

Make flash slideshow banner with your own photos!
Flash Banner Creator is an easy-to-use slideshow banner maker.
With Flash Banner Creator, you can create animated and professional-looking flash slideshow banner in minutes.

You can use your own photos and music, and combine them with animated transition effects to create professional Flash ads and Flash banners.
Flash Banner Creator integrates more than fifty cool Flash templates to help you make a stunning Flash banner in minutes with few clicks.
By using a friendly interface, you can generate your slideshow banner within steps.

Simply follow the tabs at the top of the program to go step-by-step in the image making banner.
When you have completed, just publish it in SWF and HTML format and add it to your webpage.

Download

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Website Ripper Copier 3.0.0.0

Website Ripper Copier 3.0.0.0 | 1.34 MB
Website Ripper Copier is an award-winning, all-purpose, high-speed Internet tool for getting any data from the Internet easily. It can download all or part of a website to your computer for offline browsing, grab site files of certain sizes and types (picture, movie, MP3, PDF, Flash, document, archive), teleport files as a download manager with resumption support, and mirror sites. Plus, it is a sitemap explorer and tabbed antipop-up Web browser.

Product Benefits:
-- Copy Web sites to your computer for offline browsing
-- Grab files of certain sizes and types from Web sites
-- Download huge number of files from the Web with resumption support
-- Create exact copies or mirrors of Web sites
-- Explore link structures of Web sites
-- Tabbed Web browser with pop-up controls
-- Access copied Web sites anywhere without an Internet connection
-- Save useful or important Internet information for later use easily
-- Browse Web pages at the fastest speed
-- Lower your risks of getting viruses or being spying
-- No more annoying pop-ups
-- Save you a tremendous amount of valuable time

Product Features:
-- Easy to use: The program is designed to everyone and it has a friendly and easy user interface. You can start running a new project with a few easy steps!
-- Reliability: The program can resume broken downloads from the HTTP, HTTPS and FTP connections. You may pause a running project and run it later on. It will resume from the point where it's previously stopped. It's extremely useful when downloading large-size Web resources. Furthermore, the program gives you the power to retry any completed or failed Web pages or downloads.
-- Flexibility: You can view any project properties and even job properties at any time. Plus, you can save and run any projects at any time.
-- Controllability: You can edit or delete whatever jobs whenever you want. You can also modify any project properties at any moment. Hence, you have full control over your projects.
-- Extensibility: You can define references to the page parser of the program, such as the associated file-extensions of parsable pages and link-tag collection. -- This feature enables you to extend the power of the program to adapt the rapid changes of the Internet!
-- HTTP, HTTPS and FTP protocols support
-- Web authentication support: You can retrieve files from password protected Web sites.
-- Web cookies support: The program can accept and return Web cookies; it can also import Internet Explorer cookies. In addition, it allows you to define your own cookies!
-- Web proxy servers support
-- Web connection settings and server overload protection: You can define Web connection settings, such as number of concurrent connections, number of retries and pause between connections which can prevent overloading Web servers.
-- Powerful Web page and download filters: The program offers powerful Web page filters and download filters (Internet resources filtration with exploration depth, server names, URL descriptions, file names, file types, file sizes and more) to increase the accuracy of the retrieval of your desired Web resources.
-- File Organizer: The program can download and well organize your needed Web resources to your computer. You may specify how files are organized (save all downloaded resources under one directory, organize them by their servers names or file extensions, or save them with their directory structures preserved).
-- Project information and statistics: The program shows you project information and statistics in details. You know how your projects are going at any moment.
-- Program and project automation: The program offers you automation options to the program and your projects, such as auto-run, auto-save, auto-shutdown, auto-exit and more.
-- True Multi-threaded
-- Password protection: You can password protect your projects; it prevents unauthorized people from running your projects.
-- File name pollution control: You can specify how to handle Web resources that share the same file names. The program can automatically assign unique names to name-conflicting files, which can maximize the amount of Internet resources to your projects.
-- Unique retrieval: The program keeps a retrieval history to ensure each Internet resource is retrieved only once, which can eliminate redundant works!
-- Favorite URLs and file types: You can define your favorites (Internet URLs and file types) to speed up project creation. ..

http://rapidshare.com/files/80834204/Website.Ripper.Copier.v3.0.0.0.rar

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Wedding Album Maker Gold v2.96

Create amazing DVD, VCD slideshows from your wedding photos, music - and burn them directly to a DVD or CD disc. Your family and friends can play your wedding slideshow discs on their TV with a DVD player, or on their computer. With Wedding Album Maker, you'll create personalized discs that are as easy to use as an ordinary DVD. With more than 260 transition effects, you can easily share your love story and excitement of your wedding day with your friends and family.

With a few minutes of work, you'll have an eye-catching slide show that will run on nearly any DVD players. Wedding Album Maker supports over 260 amazing transition effects with Pan&Zoom effect. It also supports Art-clips for each photo slide which adds amazing special effects for your wedding slideshow.
Amazing easy-to-use software helps you make wedding photo album and make photo video DVD disc playable on TV with DVD player.

If you are like most people these days, you've got thousands of digital photos stored on your PC and Flash cards. Wouldn't it be nice if you could easily create a cool slide show and view it on your TV with family and friends.

Using this simple tool you can create multiple photo album collections, add transitions between your photos, add background music, and burn CD or DVD photo video discs playable on TV.

It's one of the most special days in your life. But the time leading up to it can be one of the most stressful. Now, you can enjoy your wedding photos on TV in your living room with your friends, family. You can share your memorable moments by sending your wedding DVD discs to your friends, family who cannot attend your wedding.

After all family comes first !

Platform: Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP ,Vista

http://www.easy-share.com/1904168334/WaMaK.KnowN.KarmaLizma.rar

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Flash.Banner.Creator.v1.10 Plus Templates

Make flash slideshow banner with your own photos!
Flash Banner Creator is an easy-to-use slideshow banner maker.
With Flash Banner Creator, you can create animated and professional-looking flash slideshow banner in minutes.

You can use your own photos and music, and combine them with animated transition effects to create professional Flash ads and Flash banners.
Flash Banner Creator integrates more than fifty cool Flash templates to help you make a stunning Flash banner in minutes with few clicks.
By using a friendly interface, you can generate your slideshow banner within steps.

Simply follow the tabs at the top of the program to go step-by-step in the image making banner.
When you have completed, just publish it in SWF and HTML format and add it to your webpage.

Download

Read more >>

Website Layout Maker Ultra Edition v2.4.4.0

Website Layout Maker is a program for make a website. It's not just program, it's totally new paradigm itself.
There is 3 big reasons why we need to choose Website Layout Maker. First, Most of HTML-editor and website making tools have separated mode for make a website. And those programs need to see preview after make a website.
But Website Layout Maker makes a website with real-time preview. You don't need execute web-browser after make a website. Second, the website made by Website Layout Maker provides uniform to most common web-browsers. So, you can save your valuable times to test compatibility with various web-browsers. Third, Website Layout Maker was made a concept of layout based div. You will experience powerful features with Website Layout Maker.
Main Features:
� Create a website easily with powerful layout tool
� Support drag and drop when editing layouts
� Each layout based div tag - easy to understand and edit
� Generate CSS style for shape and operation
� Provides powerful background options for each layout
� Provides powerful border options for each layout
� Provides more detail options for each layout
� Provides various pre-made themes
� Provides dynamic preview for better design
� Provides uniform for the most common browsers
� The HTML codes of layout are based standard div spec

http://2sharefiles.com/icb0a07fvp8w/WEBLAYMAKER.UEDIT.2.4.4.0.rar.html

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SEO Suite Corporate Edition v8.0.39

SEOSuite is an All-In-One SEO Software combines More Than 25 SEO Tools in one SEO Suite to Boost Your Web Site to the Top 10

Are you looking for a high level Internet Marketing Tool/Search Engine Optimization SEO Software) that will save you Time, Money and most of all achieve for you a Higher Search Engine Ranking for Google, Yahoo! and MSN?

Corporate edition was designed for SEO agency to provide SEO solutions for their clients. Includes all of the features with additional Project Management system, and more.

Size : 8 MB

http://rapidshare.com/files/156794855/SEOS8C_cw.rar

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10 Tips For Web Success

The webmaster's biggest job is to get their traffic up and keep customers/visitors coming back. Building the site is one thing, but simply building and posting a website does not guarantee traffic. In fact, a website could be beautiful and an example of all the latest technology and still not attract a single visitor if not promoted correctly. Here are 10 tips to guide you to success with your website.

(1) The internet is a new medium.
At least compared to print, it is. A website is a waste if it simply re-hashes something which could easily be put into print. Don't have the site be just an online brochure. Put up features which take advantage of the internet as a medium of communication. Filter information for them. Provide search capability. Provide interactivity with features like forums, quizzes and tools. Web visitors like to interact.

(2) Treat the Customer's Time as Valuable.
When a person visits your website, you have their attention for that point in time. You either need to use it or you will lose it - fast. Most visitors have short attention spans, what you need to design your site homepage so that it grabs their attention and provides what they are looking for right away. Its like walking into a restaurant. If you walk in and just stand there and nobody comes to greet you, you might wonder what is happening. But, if the hostess comes and greets you right away and walks you to a table, then you will be there for awhile and eat. The same analogy goes for websites. Don't overcomplicate your website homepage. Best results will be obtained if you make it very clear where to click to find what they need.

(3) Design the site for customers, not the company.
Your site needs to satisfy the needs of customers, not the company. So, don't post content which is not really useful to the site's customer. And avoid over-flattering marketing hype about the company. It inflates the ego of the company more than it helps your customer.

(4) Involve the Visitor.
Keep the visitor involved and make them feel like a valuable contributor. Actively ask for the feedback and suggestions. Ask for communication from your visitors and answer that communication swiftly. When getting that communication, capture their email address. This will allow you to communicate with them long after they have moved on and forgotten about you.

(5) Keep it Current.
You need to have content on your website which is timely and relevant to the customer's life. Posting month-old news is not interesting. Posting dry product information which never changes is not interesting. Yes, you need to have product information and other information on your site that won't change much, but you can also post more timely content. You can, for example, post content about how your products can be used in certain situations in life. Provide tips and techniques - things which are immediately applicable and solve a problem.

(6) Pay Attention to Form/Design.
Some sites simply over-do it on the eye-candy. Big graphics just for the sake of graphics often impress the site's designer more than the visitor. Do not use graphics that are large and purposeless. Remember, some visitors may still be accessing your website via dial-up. Your site needs to load up quickly for all users. A slow website will cause your users to leave quickly. Also, pay attention to graphic and design size. Many web designers operate on fairly large screen resolutions and sometimes forget that even though a graphic looks great to you, it will appear enormous to somebody on a smaller resolution. On the flip side, don't go too light on graphics. A site which is poorly designed and using the default font and no color is not very aesthetically pleasing. Any web visitor, whether they admit it or not, judges your company by your website unless they have something else to go on. A well-designed site communicates professionalism. A poor design makes the site seem like an afterthought.

(7) Promote.
When a visitor communicates to you via email, it is best to use a web form. not only will this keep your email address from being picked up by spammers, it will also allow you to ask your customers for their email address and then store that address for later use. Employ the "push/pull" marketing strategy. A visitor coming to your website is the pull, but later you want to push content back to them in the form of a newsletter or other promotional material. Start a mailing list and use it. Invite visitors to sign up. Promotion makes or breaks a business, and as long as you respect the ethical considerations of your mailing list, you should use it.

(8) Don't Operate in a Cocoon.
The internet is a medium which is shared by millions. When you set up your website, don't operate as if you are a self-contained island. Get out there and keep in tune with what is happening on other websites related to your own. Participate in forums. Post links to other websites and ask for a link in return. Form partnerships with other sites if it is appropriate. When it comes to communication, people like personal contacts. Hiding behind general email address like "sales" and "info" is OK as long as there is a way to also email you directly. A company site which allows email direct to the management is good. Just remember how much you hate calling a company and getting stuck in their phone system. Sometimes you just want to talk to somebody. Give your visitors that ability.

(9) Have a Plan to Attract Repeat Traffic.
Use newsletters, out-going email, contests, forums, clubs, auctions - anything that will cause people to return to your website. When posting links to other websites, don't just send your visitors somewhere else. They may never return. Provide them an exit page. Give them a pop-up when they try to leave your site. Or at the very least make external links open in a new window.

(10) Track Your Visitors
Pay attention to your site's statistics and react accordingly. What are people reading? How are they finding you? Do they just come and leave right from your homepage? How long as they are on your website? Do they return? This data is immensely valuable in fine-tuning your website based on customer needs and wants. Remember, the biggest mistake of any webmaster is designing the site for what THEY want. A successful website is designed for the target audience, not to impress the site's owner.

About the author:
David Risley is a web developer and founder of PC Media, Inc. (http://www.pcmedianet.com). Specializes in PHP/MySQL development, consulting and internet business management. He is also the founder of PC Mechanic (http://www.pcmech.com), a large website delivering do-it-yourself computer information to thousands of users every day.

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online tools and cms to create a site like digg facebook

How to create a website like digg or facebook.These are the questions asked by many people in yahoo answers,answer.com etc.So i plan to give the write solution for these question.Here i collected some online tools and content management system(cms) to create a website like digg,facebook.

Social News:

Want to create a website like digg?.Here is the solution for that….

Corank is a online tool to create a website like digg.You need to create a account and start bookmark your favourite sites.

Fraxi is a online to tool to create a website like digg.This powered by pligg .

Reddit is a popular social bookmarking site ,which provide it user to create a individual reddits and you can share you favourite links.

Pligg is content management system which help people to create their own digg based site in their independent server.You create a digg based site with customised templates.

comments are welcome

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PHPizabi best and free social network engine

PHPizabi is a free social networking engine with many features.With PHPizabi you can create dating site or networking site.According to the site this script is downloaded more than 200,000 times.

Features

• Random members gender selection
• Saved searches
• Online status
• Personal Gallery
• Customizable profile data

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43 Web Design Mistakes You Should Avoid part 2

21. Use text navigation: text navigation is not only faster but it is also more reliable. Some users, for instance, browse the Internet with images turned off.

22. If you are linking to PDF files disclose it: ever clicked on a link only to see your browser freezing while Acrobat Reader launches to open that (unrequested) PDF file? That is pretty annoying so make sure to explicit links pointing to PDF files so that users can handle them properly.

23. Do not confuse the visitor with many versions: avoid confusing the visitor with too many versions of your website. What bandwidth do I prefer? 56Kbps? 128Kbps? Flash or HTML? Man, just give me the content!

24. Do not blend advertising inside the content: blending advertising like Adsense units inside your content might increase your click-through rate on the short term. Over the long run, however, this will reduce your readership base. An annoyed visitor is a lost visitor.

25. Use a simple navigation structure: sometimes less is more. This rule usually applies to people and choices. Make sure that your website has a single, clear navigation structure. The last thing you want is to confuse the reader regarding where he should go to find the information he is looking for.

26. Avoid “intros”: do not force the user to watch or read something before he can access to the real content. This is plain annoying, and he will stay only if what you have to offer is really unique.

27. Do not use FrontPage: this point extends to other cheap HTML editors. While they appear to make web design easier, the output will be a poorly crafted code, incompatible with different browsers and with several bugs.

28. Make sure your website is cross-browser compatible: not all browsers are created equal, and not all of them interpret CSS and other languages on the same way. Like it or not, you will need to make your website compatible with the most used browsers on the market, else you will lose readers over the long term.

29. Make sure to include anchor text on links: I confess I used to do that mistake until some time ago. It is easier to tell people to “click here”. But this is not efficient. Make sure to include a relevant anchor text on your links. It will ensure that the reader knows where he is going to if he clicks the link, and it will also create SEO benefits for the external site where the link is pointing.

30. Do not cloak links: apart from having a clear anchor text, the user must also be able to see where the link is pointing on the status bar of his browser. If you cloak your links (either because they are affiliate ones or due to other reasons) your site will lose credibility.

31. Make links visible: the visitor should be able to recognize what is clickable and what is not, easily. Make sure that your links have a contrasting color (the standard blue color is the optimal most of the times). Possibly also make them underlined.

32. Do not underline or color normal text: do not underline normal text unless absolutely necessary. Just as users need to recognize links easily, they should not get the idea that something is clickable when in reality it is not.

33. Make clicked links change color: this point is very important for the usability of your website. Clicked links that change color help the user to locate himself more easily around your site, making sure that he will not end up visiting the same pages unintentionally.

34. Do not use animated GIFs: unless you have advertising banners that require animation, avoid animated GIFs. They make a site look unprofessional and detract the attention from the content.

35. Make sure to use the ALT and TITLE attributes for images: apart from having SEO benefits the ALT and TITLE attributes for images will play an important role for blind users.

36. Do not use harsh colors: if the user is getting a headache after visiting your site for 10 consecutive minutes, you probably should pick a better color scheme. Design the color palette around your objectives (i.e. deliver a mood, let the user focus on the content, etc.).

37. Do not use pop ups: this point refers to pop ups of any kind. Even user requested pop ups are a bad idea given the increasing amount of pop blockers out there.

38. Avoid Javascript links: those links execute a small Javascript when the user clicks on them. Stay away from them since they often create problems for the user.

39. Include functional links on your footer: people are used to scrolling down to the footer of a website if they are not finding a specific information. At the very least you want to include a link to the Homepage and possibly a link to the “Contact Us” page.

40. Avoid long pages: guess what, if the user needs to scroll down forever in order to read your content he will probably just skip it altogether. If that is the case with your website make it shorter and improve the navigation structure.

41. No horizontal scrolling: while some vertical scrolling is tolerable, the same can not be said about horizontal scrolling. The most used screen resolution nowadays is 1024 x 768 pixels, so make sure that your website fits inside it.

42. No spelling or grammatical mistakes: this is not a web design mistake, but it is one of the most important factors affecting the overall quality of a website. Make sure that your links and texts do not contain spelling or grammatical mistakes.

43. If you use CAPTCHA make sure the letters are readable: several sites use CAPTCHA filters as a method of reducing spam on comments or on registration forms. There is just one problem with it, most of the times the user needs to call his whole family to decipher the letters.

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43 Web Design Mistakes You Should Avoid part 1

43 Web Design Mistakes You Should Avoid

There are several lists of web design mistakes around the Internet. Most of them, however, are the “Most common” or “Top 10” mistakes. Every time I crossed one of those lists I would think to myself: “Come on, there must be more than 10 mistakes…”. Then I decided to write down all the web design mistakes that would come into my head; within half an hour I had over thirty of them listed. Afterwards I did some research around the web and the list grew to 43 points.

The next step was to write a short description for each one, and the result is the collection of mistakes that you will find below. Some of the points are common sense, others are quite polemic. Most of them apply to any website though, whether we talk about a business entity or a blog. Enjoy!

1. The user must know what the site is about in seconds: attention is one the most valuable currencies on the Internet. If a visitor can not figure what your site is about in a couple of seconds, he will probably just go somewhere else. Your site must communicate why I should spend my time there, and FAST!

2. Make the content scannable: this is the Internet, not a book, so forget large blocks of text. Probably I will be visiting your site while I work on other stuff so make sure that I can scan through the entire content. Bullet points, headers, subheaders, lists. Anything that will help the reader filter what he is looking for.

3. Do not use fancy fonts that are unreadable: sure there are some fonts that will give a sophisticated look to your website. But are they readable? If your main objective is to deliver a message and get the visitors reading your stuff, then you should make the process comfortable for them.

4. Do not use tiny fonts: the previous point applies here, you want to make sure that readers are comfortable reading your content. My Firefox does have a zooming feature, but if I need to use on your website it will probably be the last time I visit it.

5. Do not open new browser windows: I used to do that on my first websites. The logic was simple, if I open new browser windows for external links the user will never leave my site. WRONG! Let the user control where he wants the links to open. There is a reason why browsers have a huge “Back” button. Do not worry about sending the visitor to another website, he will get back if he wants to (even porn sites are starting to get conscious regarding this point lately…).

6. Do not resize the user’s browser windows: the user should be in control of his browser. If you resize it you will risk to mess things up on his side, and what is worse you might lose your credibility in front of him.

7. Do not require a registration unless it is necessary: lets put this straight, when I browse around the Internet I want to get information, not the other way around. Do not force me to register up and leave my email address and other details unless it is absolutely necessary (i.e. unless what you offer is so good that I will bear with the registration).

8. Never subscribe the visitor for something without his consent: do not automatically subscribe a visitor to newsletters when he registers up on your site. Sending unsolicited emails around is not the best way to make friends.

9. Do not overuse Flash: apart from increasing the load time of your website, excessive usage of Flash might also annoy the visitors. Use it only if you must offer features that are not supported by static pages.

10. Do not play music: on the early years of the Internet web developers always tried to successfully integrate music into websites. Guess what, they failed miserably. Do not use music, period.

11. If you MUST play an audio file let the user start it: some situations might require an audio file. You might need to deliver a speech to the user or your guided tour might have an audio component. That is fine. Just make sure that the user is in control, let him push the “Play” button as opposed to jamming the music on his face right after he enters the website.

12. Do not clutter your website with badges: first of all, badges of networks and communities make a site look very unprofessional. Even if we are talking about awards and recognition badges you should place them on the “About Us” page.

13. Do not use a homepage that just launches the “real” website: the smaller the number of steps required for the user to access your content, the better.

14. Make sure to include contact details: there is nothing worse than a website that has no contact details. This is not bad only for the visitors, but also for yourself. You might lose important feedback along the way.

15. Do not break the “Back” button: this is a very basic principle of usability. Do not break the “Back” button under any circumstance. Opening new browser windows will break it, for instance, and some Javascript links might also break them.

16. Do not use blinking text: unless your visitors are coming straight from 1996, that is.

17. Avoid complex URL structures: a simple, keyword-based URL structure will not only improve your search engine rankings, but it will also make it easier for the reader to identify the content of your pages before visiting them.

18. Use CSS over HTML tables: HTML tables were used to create page layouts. With the advent of CSS, however, there is no reason to stick to them. CSS is faster, more reliable and it offers many more features.

19. Make sure users can search the whole website: there is a reason why search engines revolutionized the Internet. You probably guessed it, because they make it very easy to find the information we are looking for. Do not neglect this on your site.

20. Avoid “drop down” menus: the user should be able to see all the navigation options straight way. Using “drop down” menus might confuse things and hide the information the reader was actually looking for.

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Photoshop Lady — collection of best photoshop tutorials

One of the fastest ways to learn Photoshop tricks is by following expert’s photoshop tutorial. Photoshop Lady is a website with collection of best photoshop tutorials around the world. You can bookmark your favorite photoshop tutorials on the site too!

Photoshop Lady has a clean and straight forward layout. It sort tutorials in a few categories as well as “most viewed” and “highest rated” tutorials.

Each listed tutorial has a short description, estimated time needed, number of views, and votes.

While browsing, I stumble upon a photoshop tutorial by kai loon, a Malaysian web designer. That’s cool!

"Adobe Photoshop CS3 Classroom in a Book"

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