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

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.

About the Author

Tim Norton started designing websites in his free time in 2005 and it soon became a major source of income for his family. He taught himself coding, graphics, and whatever else relates to designing great websites. Get in touch at 6Webdesign.