Web Designers' Edge - The Self-Taught Designer's Best Friend » Downloads

Indispensible Free Download – Best FTP Program I’ve Used

Tim Norton — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 07:00:17 +0000

An FTP program is an essential part of your tookit. It allows you to install scripts on a website if needed, upload a ton of pictures or content quickly, even edit files on the server without logging into your text program.

FileZilla is the program I’ve used for years, and I RELY on it. It’s pretty comprehensive, works on Mac or Windows, and it’s FREE!

Learn more or download it here:

http://filezilla-project.org/

A Secret Source For Stunning Designs

Tim Norton — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 07:00:50 +0000

When just getting started in web design, or even if you’ve been around for a while … you can sometimes feel like you are running out of ideas.

OK maybe you can get started pretty well, but then you kind of fizz out on your design and can’t seem to do anything that looks good.

So what can you do? Rip off someone else? NO!!

But how about using designs that you can get the rights to and modifying them for your clients? It’s like legalized stealing …

I’m referring to theme clubs.

Theme clubs have been around for years and many of them are so-so in the quality of the output. So you really need to check around to find theme clubs that have themes that are of the quality you want to show off.

I don’t really recommend using a theme in it’s complete form directly as you get it. Make some changes to make it unique.

Your clients will appreciate it. IF they know it’s a club theme that is :)

My web design buddy and myself shopped around for years for good theme clubs, and paid for several. We never found a better one than this.

Click the link and then find the ‘demos’ link in the orange menu bar.

They are literally stunning.

See for yourself …

http://tw5.us/xu

Resource Bin – 2 Awesome Resources I Can’t Do Without

Tim Norton — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 07:00:44 +0000

When designing a website for a client, it’s nice to have easy-to-use free tools you can rely on. Here are a couple of my favorites.

1. Favicon Generator – some clients ask you to create a favicon, you know, that little icon that shows up in the address bar in the browser and in the bookmarks list.

What I do is first take a letter or two from their site title or logo, and put it into a .png file that is square. I use colors that match the site, and I try to be careful not to be tempted to use every last bit of space. I usually create a file about 100 x 100 pixels for easy working.

Then, all I do is go to the favicon generator that DynamicDrive.com has available and I generate a favicon from the .png file I created.

They also remind you of the code you need to include in the tag on the website.

Very handy, very simple, and I always use it.

Remember, the favicon might take a day to start showing up in the browser. Delete the browser cache to speed it up for yourself.

2. Forms WordPress plugin – Called Contact Form 7, this is the best way to generate contact forms, surveys, or whatever you can think of, to capture visitor information. I know, you can use a contact capture tool like iContact or Aweber. But if you don’t want to tell your client to spend money every month, Contact Form 7 is very robust and flexible.

First you download the plugin here, and install it on the website. Then, you use the link on the WordPress settings sidebar to create a form.

You use the same fields you created in the form to define the information you want to receive in the email, and every time someone fills out the form, an email is generated to the address you specify, so you can collect all the info.

Again, a simple solution, and once you get used to it, you use it a lot for your clients, and you love it.

Design Lessons For Free, And You Don’t Have To Search Google

Tim Norton — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 07:00:06 +0000

One of the best websites I know of to get great lessons on web design, especially if you didn’t get a masters in design at a big name school (or a design degree at any school at all :) is Smashing Magazine.

Just do a search on their website or just browse the articles for really good insight and tips on making your design a lot better.

Here are a couple of my favorite articles:

‘Clever PNG Optimization Techniques’
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/07/15/clever-png-optimization-techniques/

‘60 Brilliant Typefaces For Corporate Design’
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/03/20/60-brilliant-typefaces-for-corporate-design/

‘35 CSS-Lifesavers For Efficient Web Design’
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/06/25/35-css-lifesavers-for-efficient-web-design/

Website Tool Might Save You Some Time – You Could Even Promote It For Extra Income

Tim Norton — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 07:00:31 +0000

In case you don’t remember what it’s like to be a total beginner online, putting up a website and monetizing it can be very difficult.

So most people spend months or years searching for tools that can help them speed it up. That is if they can’t afford your web design fees. After a polite look, they will keep looking.

But there are tools that you can promote, that will solve the problems that newbies online face, and that you can make income from. If you have a list of people who have been on the fence about web design, try this tool. It’s a quick way for beginners to build a website and monetize it. And if you were the one to tell them about it, you make residual income.

Sounds like a good deal!

Learn more here, sign up for an account, and tell your fence sitters :)

Really Cool Web Design Tool You Can Make Residual Income From!

Managing Your Calendar And Tasks For Free – Google Tools Just Keep Getting Better

Tim Norton — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 07:00:01 +0000

Google has tons of cash laying around and they seem to have plenty to throw at developing their online tools into really awesome ones …

The calendar tool works extremely well, and has some syncing programs that you can use to keep it synced up with Outlook, an exchange server, Mac calendar, lots of different ones.

I use both a blackberry and an iphone, for different uses, and I keep everything synced up between them and with my computer, using Google Calendar.

If you haven’t tried it, this might just be your time!

Learn more about Google calendar here:

Google Calendar

Cool Free Tools ALERT – Forms Wordpress Plugin

Tim Norton — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:00:57 +0000

When designing websites or even on your own blog it can be a challenge to create a form. I mean where you have people fill out their name and email, etc. Well there’s a really cool plugin that I’ve used on Wordpress websites to generate rather complicated forms on pages on the website.

I’m a believer :)

Get the plugin free here:

http://ideasilo.wordpress.com/2007/04/30/contact-form-7/

Awesome Website Themes Starting For $10

Tim Norton — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:00:32 +0000

I know I’ve mentioned it before, website themes are a great way for you to kick start your creativity sometimes. You can start with something and take it from there, rather than having to begin from scratch.

And I have to admit it … I’m sick of all the hyper-expensive website templates. SICK …

When you are looking for a kick start the last thing you want is to pay through the nose for it.

And the QUALITY suffers too …

But there is a great source of website templates that start at only $10 and they are awesome!

Or, if you want to try your hand at creating some themes for sale, you can also list them on the same website, if they are good enough.

Go take a look and see if there might be a theme for you, or if you want to try to make some money selling your own themes too:

http://themeforest.net

Imitate Apple’s Coverflow With jQuery – Animated Effect Driven by the Scroll Position

mvancreij — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:00:11 +0000

NOTICE: Welcome to the first guest author post on Web Designers’ Edge! Maurice is a plugin developer and jQuery expert. I’m really happy to have this to share with you.

If you haven’t seen the really cool coverflow effect on Apple’s website, or actually even on an iPhone in the iPod or other apps that use it, you’re missing it!

Why display things in static ways when you can do it with loads of style?

Maurice shares with us the effect and the explanation of how it works, as well as the code. Enjoy!

Get The Full Tutorial Here

Get The Best Reseller Hosting AND MotherTheme! – Only This Week … Don’t Miss It!

Tim Norton — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:00:28 +0000

Every web designer needs a reliable hosting company where the servers are clean of spammers (so you don’t get taken down with them).

This hosting company is the BEST there is. Hands down …

And for a limited time, when you sign up with a reseller account, I’ll give you a FREE copy of the MotherTheme developer license. That means you get an awesome WordPress theme you can use on all your client websites (like I do) and a great place to host them all.

CONDITION: Just go get your hosting package now and once you purchase, just send a copy of your receipt to 6webdesign (at) gmail (dot) com. I’ll reply and send you a link where you can download MotherTheme FREE! (currently sells for $59).

Don’t miss out, this special ends before the weekend begins … so do it now!