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PatternCooler is a a free Seamless Pattern Background Design Resource. You can add your own colors to contemporary and retro pattern designs, or browse from thousands of pre-colored patterns in the seamless pattern background library.

All artworks on this site can be used freely for blogs, MySpace profiles, Twitter, mobile phone wallpapers, scrapbooking, personal artwork, and non-commercial web projects.

 

jQuery Tools is a collection of the most important user-interface components for today’s websites. This single JavaScript file weighs only 5.8 Kb. This library contains some useful JavaScript tools like tabs, tooltips, accordions, overlays, smooth navigation, great visual effects and all those “web 2.0? goodies that you have seen on your favourite websites.

You don’t need to be a programmer to use these tools. They have lots of Demos you can explore and you can copy their source code to your site and things will work. Each tool is used in a similar manner and by learning one tool you can easily learn the other tools.

And above all, the library is constantly maintained and updated. Expect to see new releases coming out on a regular basis. This library is dual licensed under MIT and GPL 2+ licenses.

 

Tweet or Comment: That is The Question
Not too long ago, I was sitting in the office thinking to myself that I would be doing more service to all of you if I talked about cooler things that would make you go “Hmm” – things that kind of ramble in my head during the day that really could spark a conversation with all of you. More than just the pointing of tutorials and industry news, though you’ll still be getting those anyway. That got me thinking about the entire Is Photography Art? conversation we had a couple of days ago – and while I got a couple of cool comments.. I got more tweets from my Twitter account on it (Follow me on Twitter here). Now, I happen to think that -both- are essential in the grand scheme of things on a blog, but it made me ponder the question: Are comments considered more important than tweets? If you’re considering working a blog I think its worth examining both and drawing your own conclusion.

Commenting on Comments
Let’s take a look at comments- both positive and negative on a blog. You spend some time writing about something you think is interesting and inspiring and you post it. A few hours later, you get some comments in and you’re overjoyed at the fact that someone replied! What does that give you? I believe Comments can be broken down into the following types: The “Pump-You-Up”, The “Know-It-All”, and “The Troll”. Yes there are some obvious exceptions to the rule, and creating a blog with that community is possible.. but we’ll talk about that in a later post. Let’s deal with these 3 first:

The “Pump-You-Up”:
Mostly a “Thank you for saying that” “That’s awesome” “Cheers to you” “I think you rock” as feedback. While this comment is always appreciated because it shows how much someone values what you do, it can be short lived. Think the crash of a candy bar… before you know it, you can spend your time on the blog -waiting- for the affirmation of 150 comments to come in, and you’ll declare anything less a failure on your creative part. In the end, you didn’t create your blog for the immediate adoration of the public, you created it to share a passion, an idea, and in the process of it.. try to make something out of it- some fame.. some money through advertising or promotion, or what have you.. These can be turned into powerful allies, and there are great examples of it on the net.

There are two other types, how it compares to Tweets, a cool tutorial listing, and the contest winners.. all waiting for you at the Read More section. Click below to get to the rest of it.

The Know it All
There are people that just LOVE pointing out inconsistencies for a psychological ‘chit’. Blogs seem to bring people like that out in droves. There will invariably be a misspelling on the blogger’s part, a poor choice of words on one section, a reference to an idiom somewhere that the random person will delightfully bring to the attention of the blogger in an email. People will take offense to the slightest of things, and will make it their mission to construct that correct-o-gram to point out that you, the mighty blogger, have failed in your quest. It doesn’t matter that the content is free. It doesn’t matter that you spent the day coming up with a really interesting idea to contribute to the interwebs- you didn’t know the difference between There, They’re, and Their.. and for this, you must be punished. The great part about this commentor is that you will NEVER have a shortage of free editorial staff available if you retain their services on the blog.

The Trolls
These i’ve pretty much explained out in earlier blog posts.. the people who will comment and say the most incredibly rude thing you will sit back in your chair when you get it, and wonder why you ever began to blog in the first place. The easiest way to deal with these is to just know thy enemy and hit delete. They contribute nothing and don’t really require energy on your part.

Now (as before) there are obvious exceptions to this rules, but I can’t tell you how many people I know that get the “blog” bug.. only to run into these comments and become disillusioned. I also cant tell you how many people I run into that use the comments as the sole marker for the success or failure of a blog. You’ll also notice that over time, the commenting on a blog will be very predictable, making a community of people that traditionally comment on topics. A year later.. a post you make will have 200 comments.. congratulations. But are they the same 200 people that read day after day? Have you -grown- the following any?

The Case for Tweeting
On the surface, Twitter seems like just another fad that everyone’s jumped on – and to some extent that may be true. However, one of the things that Twitter has going for it is a living technology (for the lack of a better explanation). You fire up Twitter and you say “Listening to Depeche Mode while Retouching a Photo in Photoshop” and within seconds, someone can comment on your “Status” – faddish, yes! However, this can be pretty powerful:

• For one, it can ‘humanize’ the person doing the tweeting. Personalities seem more accessible, friendlier, which increases their reach. That accessibility can make you more trustworthy, which makes people more willing to listen to whatever you may pitch to them.
• Because you’re limited to 140 characters, the ‘message’ needs to be concise. No long articles (like this one).
• Because of it’s immediacy, a blog post that you want to have followed on Twitter can be more like a conversation with a group of people. Because the conversation is dynamic and spontaneous, there’s less of a probability of a Flamewar.
• The true power of reach is felt however with something like Tweetdeck. There are people out there that fire up Tweetdeck, click on the magnifying glass, and type “Photoshop” in the search bar. Immediately comes a column of information of people who are talking about Photoshop, in semi-real time! That tweet that I just made about listening to Depeche Mode while Retouching and Listening to Depeche Mode is picked up by anyone searching the Twitter universe for “Retouching”, “Depeche Mode”, and “Photoshop”. Depending on what I have on my profile and on my background graphic, I could get the person to pop by, say “Oh.. this could be cool” and come by my website. I’ve now gained a new follower. How to keep him there is the topic of another blog altogether.

Are there drawbacks to the Tweet? Absolutely. Twitter can sometimes be seen as this technological popularity contest where people aren’t really following you for anything special.. its all about numbers. In that, the message can get diluted and pointless. Because of it’s potential to reach so many different people, there are countless of people trying to find ways to exploit it, which confuses the conversation further. However, it’s a powerful medium, and I dare say one that can take you to a better solution than the comment alone. Which one works? That’s going to be for you to decide. I argue that things like Twitter can give a person operating a blog a tremendous amount of reach, as well as create this technically organic family that can carry your message pretty far, and offer you invaluable information, just by typing 140 characters at a time.

Book to Check Out: SocialCorp
I haven’t read it yet, but I am -really- excited to check out Joel Postman’s SocialCorp. Checking out the Peachpit site the book, “…will help companies of all sizes develop and implement a strategy to become a SocialCorp, a company that has adopted social media intelligently and effectively, in a way that does not compromise the company’s primary obligations as a corporation.” I saw Joel speak at Voices That Matter, and was so taken by the presentation, I couldnt wait to order the book. As soon as it comes in I’ll share what I think.

Using Indesign Multiplace
This tutorial shows a method for using Adobe Bridge with the Multiplace command in InDesign CS3 and CS4. Click on the link below to get to the tutorial:

Using InDesign Multiplace with Adobe Bridge by AJ Wood

Web design can be incredibly frustrating.  You’d think that with the infinite possibilities of what-goes-where it’d be pretty easy to land a design that works, yet somehow we’ve all been stuck before: working hour after hour on a design that refuses to look right.  Throwing away pixels like they’re going out of style.   

These 8 tactics are what I use to get out of that sticky spot.

1. Design from the inside out 
   This is some of the best advice anyone ever gave me about web design (thanks Cameron).  A lot of designers start off a design by focusing on the header.  Often times what’s inside the page is what makes it look good; the header is supplementary.  Try leaving the header alone for awhile and working on some elements in the body, you’ll be surprised at how much easier it is to design a page once you’ve got a solid body going.  The next time you’re designing a header with no body imagine yourself adjusting a tie in front of the mirror, but being completely nude.   (yikes)
2. Sketch something
   My whiteboard is my salvation.  Pencil and paper works too.   I read an article years ago by a designer who would draw dozens of little 2×3" mockups in his spiral notebook before even opening up a graphic design program.  It helped him identify where elements were going to be placed and what options looked best .  The best part of creating mockups this way is the speed at which you can burn through possible layout ideas.  Sketch something, scribble it out.  Sketch something else, scribble it out.  Do this ten times and you’ve probably got a fairly decent idea of how to the page should come together.  I’ve used a few wireframe applications like Axure, but I’ve still found myself to be my most efficient while bathed in the saucy aroma of whiteboard markers.
3. Seek inspiration offline
   If you’ve paid attention to anything design related in the past two years then you’ve no doubt seen a few of the countless CSS galleries and design showcase websites that popped up.  These are excellent sources of inspiration, but sometimes a bit of offline media can be just what you need to spur some fresh ideas.   Open up a newspaper or magazine, go to the grocery store and look at the packaging, watch a television ad.   Pay attention to things that are applicable to your design such as typography, color, and element placement.  Ask yourself questions like "What is it I like about this magazine ad?" and "What is about this packaging that just works?"  There’s a lot you can learn from observing traditional media.  A few years ago a co-worker of mine lent me a book full of Russian posters and print ads from the 1920’s.  The lessons learned from looking at some of the material were invaluable – I was particularly impressed by how they were able to cram a ton of information into a tiny area but kept it from appearing too "busy."
4. Learn to let it go
   Ever make a button that looks ridiculously awesome but just doesn’t belong in your design?  You put so much effort into your ridiculously awesome button, you’ll go to great lengths to make it work.  You’ll bend the laws of space and time to make that goddamn button look right in your page.
   Learn to let it go.  Save the button and file it away.   Although you’ve lost this battle, you’ll soon have an arsenal of ridiculously awesome buttons you can use in designs later on.
5. Step away from the computer
   We’ve all heard this before: If you’re having a difficult time with something, leave it alone for awhile and come back later.  It’ll probably be easier after you’ve had a bit of a break and your mind has settled.  Regarding web design, I’ve noticed this always plays out in a certain way:  If I’m hating a design I’m working on and I shelve it for a few days,  a lot of the time my reaction upon returning will be "Holy crap that’s fantastic!"   On the flip-side, I’ll often toil away long into the night working on what looks like the best design I’ve ever created.  The next morning I’ll look at it again and cringe at the horrible abomination I’ve created.    The moral here is to give your design some space.
6. Be absorbent
   No art is born in a vacuum.  Learn to effectively pinpoint what it is you love about other designer’s work and incorporate it into your own.    Don’t steal designs, but don’t deprive yourself of external stimuli either.  Become better at identifying why you love the way something looks.   When I come across a design that blows my mind, I try to pick it apart what aesthetically makes it tick.
   The Tangerine Tree is a good example.  Sure, it looks wonderful, but why?  Personally, I love the way the designer has taken a very modern set of shapes and applied them against a vintage medium: Cartoonish bubbles and clouds that appear to be cut out of distressed paper.  When looking at this design I ask myself: What could I do with textures like that?  What is it about those shapes and icons that look so remarkable?
7. Don’t be a one-hit-wonder
   Try to avoid using the same techniques over and over again, even if you’ve done really well with them in the past.  Gradient rectangles are my crutch – I have a terrible habit of using them whenever I feel like a design isn’t working.  "This design sucks…I’ll add a rectangle with a gradient fill!"  The result is usually something that I’m unhappy with because it looks the same as all my previous work.  Try imposing yourself with silly rules, such as "No drop shadows today" or  "2D elements ONLY."  Locking yourself out from certain design habits forces you to learn new ones.   My happiness as a designer coincides with my ability to produce something that looks great but is different from anything I’ve done before. 
8. Seek input from others
   This is a tricky one.  There are so many ways to ruin a web design, especially when the wrong kinds of people are involved.  Be careful who you ask and find people who can provide constructive criticism.  I’ve seen many great designs die at the hands of aesthetically-challenged secretaries who have printed a few corporate bake-sale flyers in the past and consider themselves to EXPERTS at all things design.  If anyone ever tells you that your design doesn’t "feel right," or that they "just don’t like it," you might want to look elsewhere for input.  Find someone who can tell you specifically what’s wrong and how it could be improved.   Grow some thick skin, too. Don’t assume every criticism is an attack on your work of art.    Roll with the punches.

In one of the recent posts, we looked at some reasons why some developers switch to the Mac. If you’ve decided to make the switch yourself, you can do a lot to make the transition smoother. We will take a look at some must-have software, configurations and hacks that can make your life easier as you switch and that can get you up to full productivity (and maybe beyond) in no time at all.

We have tried to find as many free solutions as possible, but you have to pay for some applications to get their full functionality. If we have missed a configuration, hack or piece of software that you found helpful when switching, please post it in the comments.

Configurations

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Right-Clicking

One of the most visible differences between Macs and other computers is the former’s lack of a second button on the mouse. The Mac mouse harkens back to the original mouse invented at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, which also had only one button. Eventually, Windows grew to ubiquity, touting its two-button mouse, and the world became comfortable with that configuration. As a switcher, you’re used to that handy right-click, and lucky for you, the habit doesn’t have to end.

All Macs support right-clicking, and it works just as it does on a Windows system, popping up menus and extras. Without messing with your settings, you can always hold “Control” and click to active a right-click on a Mac, but this gets tedious pretty quickly. To make the experience more seamless, go into your preferences and activate “Tap to click” and “Secondary click,” which will allow you to tap the trackpad with two fingers simultaneously to trigger a right click. It may sound odd, but it takes only a few minutes to get used to. You can also just hold two fingers down on the trackpad and click the physical mouse button to get the same effect. Of course, plugging a two-button mouse into a Mac is another way to get your right-click back.

Tweak Mouse-Tracking Speed

The mouse tracking on a Mac feels quite different from that of Windows because it does not accelerate. This can be partly alleviated by turning the tracking speed all the way up. But if you really pine for that Windows feel, you can try SteerMouse, albeit for $20.

Turn Off Screen-Dimmi

While some people want their screen to dim after a period of inactivity, it can quickly become annoying for others. This feature can be turned off in the preferences under the options for “Energy saver.”

Turn on the Firewall

Macs include two firewalls: a packet-filtering firewall called IPFW that filters traffic based on type, port number, origin and destination, and a socket-filter firewall (new in Leopard) that filters based on the application making the request. While the socket-filter firewall in OS X is disabled by default, you can go into “Preferences > Security > Firewall” to enable it. IPFW is short on configuration options, but that can be remedied by downloading either NoobProof or WaterRoof, which give you more security options.

Log-In Items

Setting applications to start upon logging in is actually quite simple on a Mac. If the application you want to start at log-in is on your dock, simply right-click its icon and choose “Open at log-in.” You can also go into “Preferences > Accounts > [your account] > Log-in items” and add applications manually there. Keep in mind that the more applications you set to open at log-in, the longer your systems will take to boot.

You can also change the background for the main log-in screen on your Mac. This handy little piece of freeware takes whatever your desktop background is and mirrors it onto your log-in screen. Or you can use the following command in your terminal to change it to any image you want:

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow DesktopPicture “/Library/path_to_your_pic/your_pic.jpg”

Hot Corners

Hot corners allow you to set up each corner of your screen to be a hot spot that triggers an event whenever you mouse over it, such as shuffling active windows to off screen to show the desktop or displaying widgets. This gets interesting when combined with the “Expose” and “Spaces” features.

Expose spreads your windows out on the screen so that you can focus on a new one. Once you get used to it, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it. To make it really useful, set up a hot corner to activate it. Additionally, Spaces allows you to display multiple desktops from a bird’s-eye view. Add this to another corner and you’ve got something really special. You’ll be able to show the desktop, drag a file, switch to a different space, find a window that’s hidden behind several others and drop the file into that window, all with one mouse click. Check it out in the video below:

Play around with different hot corner configurations to find the one that best suits you. I recommend using three of the four for the “Expose All Windows” and “Show Desktop” functions and Spaces. If you have a laptop, setting one of the corners to put the display to sleep is handy because no button or key does that otherwise.

Configure Spaces

Having multiple desktops to work from can be a boon to productivity. Spaces allows you to create up to 16 different desktops, enough to satisfy even the most spastic multi-tasker. Along with these desktops, you can specify that certain applications only open in certain spaces, as well as specify that some apps display no matter which desktop you’re working in. Here are a few applications we suggest displaying in all spaces: Chat applications (Adium, iChat, IRC), movie players (VLC, QuickTime, DVD player), Twitter clients and any application useful in more than one context. I have a space for general Web browsing, iTunes and iPhoto, email and communications, Photoshop and design, coding and development, Windows virtualization, notes and reminders and one that I keep clean just in case.

Add Activity Monitor to the Dock

Activity monitor is the equivalent of the task manager in Windows. Certain items, when added to the Dock, take on a few extra behaviors. In the case of the activity monitor, those items can display helpful information instead of their icons while sitting in the dock: such as a pie chart showing how much memory is being used, a live graph of processor activity and more. While you can always pop up a window and hit Command + Option + Esc (your new Ctrl + Alt + Delete) to force quit an application, you don’t get any information about programs that are running. Clicking on the activity monitor gives you the force quit option and a wealth of information about your processes.

A Smarter Finder

Finder is a file explorer that people either love or loath. You can do a few things to make it more useful, though. Right-click on the top part of the finder window, much like you would to edit a toolbar in the browser, and you’ll see that you can configure the buttons in the finder window. Choose “Customize Toobar” and add the “Path,” “Delete,” and “New Folder” buttons, along with any others you desire.

In the left sidebar of the finder, you’ll see a list of favorites, including your home folder, main disk drives, any attached drives and the most used folders (photos, music, sites, etc.). You can customize this list by dragging folders and other items onto the sidebar. You can also add “smart folders” (File > New smart folder) that filter files based on a set of rules. For instance, one smart folder I keep in my sidebar is a list of all files over 100 MB, in case I need to free up some hard drive space. If you want to add separators to the sidebar, there’s a neat little guide on how to do that here.

You can download toolbar scripts for even more functionality. For instance, you can add a button that opens the terminal in whatever folder you are currently browsing. Check them out here. Of course, if you end up hating the finder, you can try an alternative, like Cocoatech’s Path Finder

Hacks

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Widgets on Your Desktop

Widgets are Apple’s version of Konfabulator (now Yahoo! Widgets), but unlike Konfabulator, they are doomed to exile in the dashboard (a “second desktop” that pops up when you hit the right keys or hot corner). The problem with Dashboard is that the more widgets you have running, the longer they all take to pop up the first time you activate it after a restart. If you prefer to have your widgets available on demand on the desktop, enter the following command into your Mac terminal:

defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES

To place a widget on the desktop, open up Dashboard, start dragging the widget and close the dashboard. Unfortunately, widgets will stay on top of all your windows. Frustratingly, the only way to override this behavior is to get a paid application called Amnesty Widgets, which makes OS X’s widgets more like Yahoo Widgets. Of course, you could just use Yahoo! Widgets and forget OS X’s widgets altogether.

Change Command to Control

This is an adequate configuration for most, but an absolute lifesaver for some. It took me a while to get used to using Command instead of Control, but I eventually broke the old habit. Some people have been known to give up on the platform because of this issue. For those of you who have a hard time adjusting, simply map the Command key to Control. doublecommand and fKeys are popular utilities that let you do all sorts of custom mapping to make your switch easier.

Maximize Your Zoom

One of the weirdest quirks to get used to when switching to the Mac is the behavior of the “Zoom” button on windows (the green button in the top-left corner of all windows). Instead of sticking the four sides of the window to the very edges of the screen, Zoom will simply expand the size of the window to fit the screen but the window will remain draggable. Often it doesn’t even do this and instead changes the size of the window in unexpected and frustrating ways. Luckily you can download a handy little plug-in to force Zoom to use the window’s maximize function. Other than using this plug-in, you’ll have to get used to dragging the bottom-right corner of the window to force it.

Hidden Applications, Hidden Files

If you ever need to find files that are hidden by default, type this into the terminal:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE

You can hide windows by hitting Command + h, but you get no indication that a window is hidden once it’s gone. To make the application icon more transparent in the dock when it is hidden, type this into the terminal:

defaults write com.apple.Dock showhidden -bool YES
killall Dock

Quick Look Expanded

Quick Look can save you precious seconds by showing you a preview of a file before opening it in its default program. Simply hit the space bar on a file to activate it. This is limited to certain files, but a few handy plug-ins out there give you Quick Look functionality for folders, Zip files and more. theAppleBlog.com has compiled a great list of fours such plug-ins.

Safari Debugger

Safari offers a great browsing experience, despite what you may have heard. It’s quick, clean and powerful, although not that easy to customize. You can apply a few neat hacks to make it a little more useful though. To enable the surprisingly rich Web development debugger tool, type this into your terminal:

defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeDebugMenu YES

For a wealth of Safari hacks and plug-ins, check out Safari Hacks and Pimp My Safari. SAFT is a great extension for Safari that provides a lot of great functionality for $12.

Customize Your Dock

Apple has very definite feelings about how the Dock should look because it does not give you many means of customization. To mess with the look and feel of the Dock, you can try Mirage, which removes all styling, Candybar, which gives you a variety of styling options, and Leopard Docks, a website dedicated to custom Dock stylings.

When the Dock is on the left or right side of your screen, it goes from a 3-D look to 2-D. If you prefer the 2-D and bottom-screen configuration, type this into your terminal:

defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean YES
killall Dock

As far as the Dock’s behavior goes, here’s a must-have hack you can apply. Add a “Recent files” stack to the Dock by entering the following in your terminal:

defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-others -array-add ‘{ “tile-data” = { “list-type” = 1; }; “tile-type” = “recents-tile”; }’
killall Dock

Open-With Defaults

If you want a certain file to open in a certain program, right-click on a file of that file type and select “Get info,” which will bring up a box with all sorts of information about the file. We’re interested here in the “Open with” section, where you can choose its default program. Once you’ve selected the proper program, click the “Change All” button to make it the default program for all files of that file type. One suggestion: make TextEdit your default program for .doc and .docx files: it opens them much faster than Word or OpenOffice.

Software

While the software library on the Mac pales in comparison to the one on Windows in terms of sheer volume, it does have quite a bit of polish. This polish, however, often doesn’t come without a price. Free software for the Mac does exist out there, but it’s not nearly as widely available as you’re probably used to with Windows. That being said, there are quite a few apps, both free and paid, that you should install on your Mac to make the experience much more enjoyable and productive. Here are a few to get you started:

Multimedia

• Flip4Mac
  Install the free version to play WMV with QuickTime.
• Perian
  Every codec you’ll ever need for QuickTime.
• VLC
  The de facto media player for the Mac. Not only does it eliminate the need for the two pieces of software mentioned above, it provides more features than you’ll probably ever care to use. Use VLC instead of the built-in DVD player as well. VLC integrates nicely with OS X, and you can even use your Apple remote with it. Just download it.
• Connect360
  If you want to stream movies, pictures and music to your Xbox 360, this is a great solution for the Mac; some claim it works better than Microsoft’s implementation.
• Transmission
  A very lightweight and solid bit torrent client for the Mac. It fits in very well with OS X, style-wise.
• Songbird
  Not everyone wants to use iTunes to manage their music collection. Many prefer Songbird, the much-loved open-source alternative.

System and General Purpose

• Growl
  If having uniform system-wide notifications for all your applications sounds intriguing, you’ll want to check out Growl. It works with a vast array of software and is extremely customizable. Some notifications you’ll receive let you know when new email, instant messages or Twitter messages arrive, when your downloads are complete, when your computer has been unplugged and when a new song is playing on Last.fm (complete with artist and details). Growl has a myriad of useful plug-ins and uses. Take, for instance, the growl notification that tells you when your tests have passed in your Web application: a must for any Mac user.
• Unplugged
  http://unplugged.en.softonic.com/mac/download (unplugged)
• Quicksilver
  While OS X does have the “Spotlight” feature, which allows you to quickly find files and launch applications, it pales in comparison to the snappiness and customizability of the application-launcher Quicksilver, which is very similar to Firefox’s Ubiquity. Much like Growl, you can install tons of useful plugins to tailor the experience to your needs. When you start using Quicksilver regularly, you’ll find yourself going to the Dock less and less to launch and interact with your applications. It’s lightening fast and quite powerful. Imagine hitting a keyboard shortcut, typing “email,” “tab,” “compose,” , and “enter” to send a quick email to somebody. Another must have.
• Fluid
  If you’re anything like me, you spend a lot of your computer time interacting with Web applications rather than client-side applications. You may miss the neatness of applications existing independently of your Web browser, too. If you do, then Fluid is the solution. It takes any Web page you specify and contains it within its own Mac application, complete with icon and windowing preferences. Imagine having a dedicated app for your Google documents, Facebook, your favorite Twitter client, your Web analytics and more. It draws on the same idea that Adobe is pushing with Air. Fluid is as extensible and customizable as Growl and Quicksilver.
• The Unarchiver
  You’re going to want a program that can handle StuffIt, RAR, ZIP and other compression file types with ease, and the Unarchiver is it. Free and straightforward.
• smcFanControl
  Macs tend to be a bit more of a walled garden than other computers, but that doesn’t mean they have to be. With the right amount of research, you can usually find a piece of software or terminal hack that bends the Mac to your will. smcFanControl is one such application, made for those who want to control just how hot their laptops get.
• Carbon Copy Cloner
  If you ever need to transfer your hard drive to another machine, and you will, Carbon Copy Cloner is truly the best solution to the problem. It’s rock solid, simple to use and makes the whole process extremely pain free.

Communications

• Adium
  Adium is the de facto chat client for the majority of high-end Mac users out there. It covers more networks than are worth listing here. This is another must-have app.
• Colloquy
  Probably the best IRC client for the Mac. Well designed and extremely extensible.
• Thunderbird
  A great alternative to the default Mail application.

Productivity

• Gimp
  Because the Mac doesn’t come with built-in image editing software of any kind, Gimp, the open-source alternative to Photoshop, is a handy install.
• Textmate
  Probably the most popular text editor for the Mac. It’s a hefty $50 but worth every penny.
• Sketchbox
  An improvement to OS X’s Stickies.

WordPress for iPhone, the only iPhone app that lets you write posts, upload photos, edit pages, and manage comments on your blog from your iPhone or iPod Touch. With support for both WordPress.com and self-hosted WordPress (2.5.1 or higher), users of all experience levels can get going in seconds.

Have you recently started a freelance business? Have you been thinking about starting one? Would you like some advice from experienced freelancers who have successfully started the same exact business as you?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, then I have some good news — starting in the next week or two, FreelanceFolder will be launching “Getting Started Guides” aimed at helping new freelancers find their footing and successfully grow their business. Each guide will focus on a specific type of freelancing, e.g. graphic design, writing, web design, and will walk the reader through every single step necessary to start a freelance business in that industry.

From creating a corporation, to getting clients, to establishing a project workflow — these how to guides explain every step in detail, and are written by expert freelancers each individual field. For example, our “How To Start A Freelance Writing Business” guide is written by Laura Spencer, an experienced freelance writer who has been successfully earning a living on her own for over 7 years.

We’ll be launching these guides individually over the next few months — starting with “How To Start A Freelance Writing Business”. The first guide will be out in the next week or two, and will sell for $10-$15.

Want to be notified when each guide is launched? Want to get a serious discount when the guides are released? Sign up for the FreelanceFolder Early Notification List below, and you’ll be the first to get discounts, information, and news 🙂

During my years of working online and interacting with other freelancers, I’ve noticed that most freelancers seem to fit into several personality types. Each type of freelancer seems to have a number of common character traits.

It can be fun and helpful to examine these freelancing personality types. Often times your freelancing personality type can show what makes you act the way you do as a freelancer.

So, what type of freelancer are you?

(This article is intended to take a lighthearted look at the various freelancing personality traits. It is based purely on my own impressions and not any kind of scientific study…)

Freelancing Personality Types

Here are the ten freelancing personality types that I’ve worked with over the years. See if you can recognize any of them. You may even find that you fit into one (or more) of these types.

1. Loner. The freelancing Loner is exactly what it sounds like – a person who prefers to work alone rather than as part of a team. Often, the Loner desires a quiet or isolated environment. He or she may also work unconventional hours. The Loner may be alone, but usually they are not lonely.
2. Social Butterfly. The Social Butterfly freelancer is easily recognized by his or her prominent presence on nearly every available form of social media. While most freelancers participate in a few forms of social media, the Social Butterfly is drawn to and active in all forms of social media.
3. Empire Builder. You’ll probably recognize the Empire Builder because of how quickly their business expands. In a matter of months, it seems, they are expanding their business and hiring others. Often an empire-building freelancer moves out of the realm of freelancing into the corporate realm rather quickly.
4. Controller. For some freelancers, it’s all about being in control. Generally speaking, a controller does not like to have a boss or manager over them. Controllers work best when they are given a general direction and allowed to make most of the major decisions for themselves.
5. All About The Money. While all freelancers work to earn their living, this particular freelancing personality is driven primarily by the profit motive. He or she may move into and out of new ventures rather quickly, dropping activities when they discover that an activity does not provide enough profit.
6. Balancing Act. This type of freelancer is primarily lifestyle driven. They strive for a better quality of life. Often, he or she has other demanding responsibilities in addition to their freelancing work. The Balancing Act freelancer may also value being location independent and being able to set their own hours.
7. Consummate Professional. To the Consummate Professional, their reputation is everything. He or she wants to be known for the high quality of their work. For this freelancer, getting a byline or other recognition for their work is extremely important.
8. Anti-corporate. I just recently ran across this type of freelancer. As I was waiting in an airport, I overheard two freelancers talking to each other. “I’m against anything corporate,” the one freelancer said to the other. “I work mainly for individuals and other freelancers.“
9. Experimental. The Experimental freelancer is someone who is trying on freelancing. Often they are looking for a life-change. He or she may have recently lost their traditional employment. Some experimental freelancers will embrace freelancing permanently. Others will move on after a few months.
10. Semi-retired. The Semi-Retired freelancer is a seasoned professional who has chosen to come out of retirement to freelance. Usually, they have many years of professional experience to offer. Their driving factor is the need to be active and to contribute. Frequently, they prefer to work part-time.

Changing Your Freelancing Personality

If you notice that one freelancing personality type seems to fit you better than the others, ask yourself: “is this personality type good for my business?”

If the answer is “no,” don’t panic. All is not lost. You may be able to take steps to change your freelancing personality type.

For example, if you feel that you are too much of a Loner, make it a goal to take on some projects where you must work with others. If you’re too controlling, make it a point to occasionally accept a project where you will have to follow someone else’s direction. If you’re Anti-corporate, ask yourself if you are missing out on lucrative assignments by not accepting corporate clients.

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To-do lists are great for prioritizing tasks, and writing down everything you need done, before you can forget them. You simply write down whatever you have to get done, and tick things off as you get them done.

There is always the traditional pen-and-paper to do list, but there are many free online to do lists that let you create to-do lists. Here is a list of 9 free online to-do lists. Many of these services also have mobile or iPhone versions; so you’re in touch with your to-do list all the time

Note: There are more good to-do lists out there that I may have missed. If you’ve got one in mind that’s not included here, please do tell us, in the comments. Enjoy your more productive self! 

1. Remember The Milk

One of the most widely known online to-do list services on the internet, RememberTheMilk is one of the leaders. The service is free, but you need to sign up. Signing up takes only a few seconds, and you can quickly get to creating your to do list. RememberTheMilk has many features, such as a “task cloud” (kind of a tag cloud), and a map to locate your tasks. There is even an iPhone application available, so your to-do lists are always with you. A highly recommended tool.

2.Ta-da List

Ta-da List is a project from the creators of Basecamp. Sign up takes about 10 seconds, taking you quickly to the thing that matters: creating a to-do list! Although there are not as many features in Ta-da List as RememberTheMilk has, the simplicity of Ta-da List aids in productivity.

3. Voo2do

Voo2do has a simple interface that might take some getting used to, but it does the job. Sign up takes a just few seconds. You’re able to share projects [collaboration], organize tasks by project, add tasks by email, and more… All in all, it’s a real nice to-do list application

4. Todoist

Todoist has a very minimalistic interface. Sign up takes just a few seconds, as expected, and you can start creating a list immediately. The simple interface of Todoist gains it plus points for productivity-boosting. There are the normal features such as a calendar and mobile access. Other features include keyboard shortcuts [a nice feature]. Plus, there’s also Gmail integration, a QuickSilver plugin and other useful features.

5. Toodledo

Toodledo has a clean, simple interface. Sign up takes 31 seconds [according to the people at Toodledo]. Toodledo has all the features a to-do list normally has, but it also has a scheduler, which can schedule your time for you. Neat, isn’t it? There’s also an online task importer, which can import your tasks from many to-do list software and online lists. Then there are the collaboration tools. It’s also available on the iPhone. All these features make Toodledo a robust online to-do list.

6. ToSimplyDo

ToSimplyDo is the most basic and direct to-do list I’ve ever seen. There’s no signing up to do whatsoever. You arrive at the homepage, and add items. That’s it. There’s nothing else to do; no knobs to play with, and this is what shoots your productivity high up… highly recommended. Since there’s no logging in required, I don’t think you’ll be able to save your lists, so remember that!

7. OrchestrateHQ

OrchestrateHQ is simple and straightforward too, like ToSimplyDo. You do not have to register: you can start creating a to-do list right away! It has a elegant Ajax based interface that allows you to move items around.

8. Springpad

Springpads “are free online notebooks that help you manage your life. Use your springpad to keep track of notes, photos, maps, to-dos, contacts, appointments & more”. There’s a pretty straightforward sign up process, and you can get to creating your “springpads” quickly. The interface might be a little confusing at first, but the learning curve is not steep. There are “springpads” for many different jobs: nursing, job tracking, party planning, and so on.

9. Stikis

Stikis takes on a unique approach to to-do lists. Instead of the traditional list structure, this one adopts that of a brainstorm-ed diagram. You register, and then start making stickers and arranging them around the board. Fun, as well as ensuring that work gets done

There’s something for everyone in today’s summary. Developers might want to look out for the regular expression tutorials and the wordpress plugin guide. Designers will want to check out the tutorials. So which ever category you fall into be sure to have a look!

Essential Guide To Regular Expressions: Tools and Tutorials via Smashing Magazine

Design a Layout for a Non-Profit Organization in Photoshop via Design M.ag

13 Beautifully Designed Mac and iPhone App Websites via Web Design Ledger

Getting Started Writing WordPress Plugins via Fuel Your Coding

9 Online To-Do Lists For A More Productive Day via List fied

Just Get Going: The Single Most Effective Marketing Trick via Freelance Switch

How to Create a Fun, Illustrated Skateboard Design via Vectortuts

How to Create a Moka Express Icon via PSDtuts

The Ten Types of Freelancers: Which One Are You? via Freelance Folder