Archive for the 'Knowledge Networking' Category

Facebook is Freelancer’s Favorite- Survey Reveals

Published
by
LimeExchange
on November 12, 2009
in Freelance, Knowledge Networking and LimeExchange
. 4 Comments

Freelancers utilize social media websites to join networks and community of professionals that can help them in finding jobs or establishing credibility in the freelance market. Facebook is one such social media website, which connects individual and companies to connect and build networks.  Its rising popularity among freelancers has been confirmed with our freelancers survey reports conducted last month. Surprisingly 56% of freelancers who participated in the survey voted for Facebook as their favorite social networking website which they use most often.

Facebook general growth statistics also reveal that it has more than 300 million active users out of which 50% of active users log on to Facebook in any given day. It gets more than one million developers and entrepreneurs from more than 180 countries.

Twitter and Linkedin are generally seen as business networking platforms for setting up strong networks to collaborate but freelancers on the contrary didn’t feel the same way as only 13% preferred Twitter,  and only  9% opted for  Orkut as well Linkedin.  12% of freelancers also use other websites like myspace, youtube, ning etc. (the data is based on our freelancer survey)

One of the reasons for this favoritism could be the huge list of applications provided by Facebook. People in almost every business domain love to use its personal, business  and commercial applications. Its applications support desktop as well as mobile devices as there are more than 65 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices.

Reasons could be many but Facebook has outpaced other established social media giants like linkedin, orkut and twitter. We welcome your feedback and suggestion on the same.

20 Useful Open Source Applications for Web Designers

Published
by
LimeExchange
on September 10, 2009
in Knowledge Networking and Technology
. 3 Comments

Open source software are freeware that permits the user to use, design, modify, improve and redistribute in modified or unmodified forms. An open source application would not only help in saving money but also provide access to diverse production models, communication paths, and interactive communities as it is developed in a collaborative manner.

Here we are listing some useful open source applications every web designer can use to enhance his creativity and productivity.

Text Editors & WYSIWYG Editors

Aptana- This is a free open source application, which provides editors for CSS, JS, PHP, HTML etc. Similar to Adobe Dreamweaver, it has an in built site manager enabling you to make edits to your copy and then synchronizing for instant gratification.

Notepad2 – Another open source application to edit text and can also be used as Windows Notepad. This application can easily run without installation, and does not touch your system’s registry.

Bluefish Editor- It is a useful open source application for web designers and programmers. It allows you to write websites, scripts and programming code. It supports many programming and markup languages, and it focuses on editing dynamic and interactive websites.

Amaya- It is a free open source web editor and web browser developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).  It started as an HTML/CSS editor and now it is supporting number of XML applications such as the XHTML family, MathML and SVG. It also allows all those vocabularies to be edited simultaneously in combined documents.

Selida HTML Editor- Another free open source application that works as an HTML editor. It offers a lot of features that make it easy to edit Web pages such as HTML validator, text HTML editor, WYSIWYG editor, color coding, tag completion etc.

Graphics image/ video editor

GIMP- This open source application is really popular among web designers. Similar to Photoshop, GIMP is an image editing application providing features including channels, layers and masks, filters, effects, tabbed palettes, editable text tools, perspective clone, improved printing, and color operations etc.

Avidemux – This open source application is a simple video editor designed for simple cutting, filtering and encoding tasks. It supports files including AVI, DVD compatible MPEG files, MP4 and ASF, using a variety of codecs.

Cinelerra– This open source application is the most advanced non-linear video editor and compositor for Linux. It provides a huge list of features such as compositing, editing,  still image panning, audio effects compressing, video effects editing , HDTV Standards conversion and more.

Inkscape- Another open source vector graphics editor application, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format. It supports advanced SVG features such as markers, clones, alpha blending, etc. It enables you to edit nodes, perform complex operations, trace bitmaps and much more.

Paint.NET– Included in the list of “Top 100 products of 2007 by PC world”, Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software for computers that run Windows. It supports common image formats–JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, and others–but not high-resolution RAW files. Also includes tools to crop, rotate, resize images, adjust colors, and create collages.

File sharing & FTP Clients

FileZilla -  This open source application is a very popular FTP client. It allows you to transfer files easily and instantly. It supports FTP, FTP over SSL/TLS (FTPS) and SSH File Transfer Protocol. Its features include site manager, transfer queue, drag & drop support, configurable transfer speed limits, filename filters, directory comparison etc.

FrostWire– This application is a completely open source peer to peer client. It allows you to make use of its interesting features such as community chat room and itunes integration.

Ares – An open source file sharing application that lets you share any digital file including images, audio, video, software, documents, etc. You can easily publish, share and download files using its network.

Cyberduck- This is an excellent open source FTP client for the Mac OS. It allows you to browse through a large folder structures and you can quickly preview files with Quick Look feature. You can also edit files using several external editors and change content quickly.

WinSCP – It is an open source free SFTP client and FTP client for Windows. Legacy SCP protocol is also supported. It enables you to copy files between a local and a remote computer.

Other utility applications

ColorMatch Remix- An online opens source application to choose color and also to generate several colors complementing the main color. You can also export your color palette as a Photoshop or Illustrator file.

CSS Creator – This open source application helps in generating the framework for your CSS based layout. You can create fixed or fluid column layouts that have even three columns, a footer and header. You can give specifications of values using percentages, ems or pixels. It supports JavaScript enabled DOM capable-browser.

Firdamatic – Another open source application for creating CSS layout that can be used for either 2-column or 3-column layouts .  It is a table less layout generator that allows you to create and customize layouts easily only by completing forms.

ColorPicker- This open source application allows you to pick colors from photos and other images. It can output colors in either RGB mode or hex, which is useful for us CSS designers.

AllChars – It  is a useful open source application for creating accents like é Ü ç î æ and special characters like ƒ ² ‰ © £ ± ß ° 1/2 ¿ « » ™ „ in most Windows programs.

Now use these open source applications to maximize your growth and productivity as a web designer. Please share with us your feedback and suggestions as always.

15 Great Photoshop Photo Effects

Published
by
LimeExchange
on August 31, 2009
in Freelance and Knowledge Networking
. 2 Comments

There are many online tools available to edit, retouch and manipulate photos. But a nice effect on an image can make your web page look visually attractive and appealing. Photoshop provides a huge list of great photo effects to give a new look to every image you want to edit.

Here we are listing some great looking easy-to-use photo effects using which you can sharpen your photo editing skills and also make an impressive image out of any dull image.

Halftone Pattern Photo Border

This photo border effect can be easily made using a couple of Photoshop’s filters, a basic selection tool, a layer mask, and a layer blend mode.

The smart filters can be used in CS3 and CS4 to create a fully editable photo even when it is completed. This effect is compatible with any version of photoshop, including photoshop elements.

Smoke effect on grungy background

This photo effect looks great on rough backgrounds. This tutorial is written by a young Belgium designer, Arno Van Waeyenberg.

You need Smudge and Warp tools to create this smoky effect on a photo with grungy background.

Rainbow Light Painting Effect

This easy to create painting effect gives your photo a unique retro effect. This simple effect can be created with just one layer and three colors.

This effect gives best results if used on isolated objects or black backgrounds. You can put this effect by directly opening the image in Photoshop.

Vintage Clouds

If you have an image with ordinary blue skies and want to give it a dramatic cloudy feel then this is the right photo effect for you.

You can easily apply this effect with a simple color and contrast adjustment. You can use any selection tools such as the quick select tool or the magic wand tool.

Realistic View Stamp

This photo effect allows you to create your own realistic stamp, which you can use for personal or other design purposes.

You need to create a new document with the size of canvas 500×300 pixels, white background. Then find some texture for the paper by searching Google Images or my texture.

Fashion Advert

This photo effect can be used for promoting a product or designing a simple but stylish fashion-themed advert.

You can simply download/ use a relevant photo and apply this effect in photoshop. You can try a few different layer modes and shapes to see which one looks best on your photo.

Advanced Glow Effects

This effect helps in creating some really sharp-looking glow effects using a combination of layer styles, the pen tool and color blending.

The end effect gives a stunning look to your photo while attracting many eyes to your web page.

The Magic Night

This effect by Photoshop offers simple steps to create a beautiful and interesting collage.

You can apply this effect with little adjustments in reflection, layers, color balance and by using effective tools such as crop tool, burn tool and eraser tool.

Split toning effect

This is another unique photo effect to give dramatic look to your photo. This is an ideal alternative to black and white.

Split toning creates a multicolor toning effect where the shadows and highlights are of two different colors. This effect, is also knows as a popular film developing method, can now be done digitally in minutes.

Watercolor Painting Effect

This Adobe Photoshop effect is used to maintain colors and strong contrast in the image.

The process of applying this effect takes only a couple of minutes by duplicating some layers, applying a few filters, and using a few different layer blend modes. It is compatible with any recent version of Photoshop.

Golden Ribbon

You can use this photo effect for announcements, special offers, events etc. Using this multi purpose ribbon you can highlight important content on your web page.

You can create a golden ribbon by adjusting its shape, texture and give finishing touches such as drop shadow, gradient overlay etc.

Silhouettes and Gradients

Sometimes we need an outline-type silhouette instead of an actual photo for our online and print projects.

By using the threshold tool and the gradient tool, you can make a few unique effects to complement a print or an online design.

Two-Color Technicolor

This photo effect simulates the colors of two-color Technicolor film and applies color bleeding to photos.

It blends the two colors together to give a new and appealing look to your photo.

Natural Film Grain

This photo tool allows you to create natural film grain on digital photographs. This effect gives a natural looking noise using a non-destructive process.

Non-destructive process/editing means that all effects are on their own separate layers so that they can be edited or removed anytime without touching other layers. You can simply create this in Photoshop CS3 using Smart Filters.

White Noise

This Photoshop photo effect gives ghostly effect to your photo. You can use the grain and shear filter to create this ghostly effect.

Smart Filter feature from Photoshop CS3 can also be used and it can be done with older versions of Photoshop as well.

Now you can apply these effects to create an impressive photo for your design project. Please provide us your suggestions and feedback on the same.

10 Useful Online Presentation Tools to Promote Business

Published
by
LimeExchange
on August 20, 2009
in Knowledge Networking
. 1 Comment

Online presentations are considered as one of the effective marketing and communication tools. Publishing value-added content on variety of presentation websites can help you in keeping your clients informed, updated, and aware of information that is important to them. It also provides a platform to reach out to your target audience by increasing brand loyalty and customer satisfaction. Your online presentations include motivating messages for your employees, sales teams, product announcements, facts, figures, news, achievements, training material etc.

We have listed here some useful online presentation websites, which provide excellent features to increase your market reach and provide a channel for regular communication with existing and potential clients.

SlideShare

This is one of the popular presentation sharing websites, which allows you to upload and share your PowerPoint presentations, Word documents and Adobe PDF Portfolios with clients, employees, associates etc. You can share presentations publicly or privately as per your choice. It enables you to add audio files to make a webinar to share ideas, connect with others, and generate leads for business. Your clients can tag, download, or embed presentations into their own blogs & websites. You can also join groups to connect with members with common business goals.

Scribd

With more than ten millions of readers, Millions of documents and billions of words, Scribd allows it users to publish their documents in varied categories ranging from books, brochures, catalogs, business, law, creative writing till guides, manuals, illustrations and maps. You can find people from same business by using its community page, create personal reading lists and share presentations, comment on other presentations, subscribe to favorite authors or readers, and receive notifications as they publish new work, rate a document, or Scribble.

Myplick

Another website for online slideshow presentations. Myplick.com is a free service that users can use to create slide shows with previously existing files, improve them using its resources, and easily share them with their network. You can upload files in PowerPoint, Pdf, Openoffice, odp etc. You can also sync audio files to your slides and share them publically or privately to with your group. They also provide you stats on slide navigations, popular slides and which slides were people most likely to leave from, etc. They have variety of categories to choose from including hot plicks, featured plicks and recent plicks.

Sliderocket

It is a web-based application to create presentations, manage presentation directories and share them with people, employees, clients etc. online. You can choose from a variety of stunning themes, add charts, images, videos and also add some transitions and effects to your presentations. It offers you version control on your presentations so that you have a revision of the changes you made to the presentation and you can revert back to a previous version in case you make any mistake. It allows you to track your presentations and gives you access to some metrics, which enables you to see who is viewing your presentation, where they viewed it, who they’ve shared it with, which slides they looked at and duration.

Slideboom

It is a high quality and easy-to-use online presentation sharing service. SlideBoom supports PowerPoint presentations, PPTX and slideshows (PPS, PPSX). It allows you to share and search presentations in 100+ different languages and across 30+ categories. It also provides a platform to discuss your presentations, create or join an interest group and embed presentations into your blog or website.

Empressr

It an Ajax/Flash-based website that lets you create, share and store presentations online. Using this online presentation tool, you can integrate streaming videos, audio files and animations into Flash presentations. It also enables you to create business charts and graphics, which you can edit as and when required. It provides over hundreds of fonts and dozens of stock images for creating an attractive presentation. You can also store your documents in personal libraries.

Zohoshow

This online tool helps in making powerful presentations to promote your product and business. You can create, edit and share your presentations from anywhere and anytime. Zoho Show’s pre-built themes, clipart and shapes coupled with features like drag-and-drop makes it an easy application to use. The chat feature is a great tool to complement your remote presentation, if you wish to have a private conversation with your client, just click on their names to bring up a private chat window. You can make presentation public by embedding them in your blog, website etc.

PreZentit

This online presentation sharing website lets you create, edit, and show online presentations easily and instantly. It provides you with 250 MB storage space for images and presentations. It also offers a few stock images you can use for your presentations. You can save your documents in your account and edit them to upload again. You get a URL for your presentation, and you can make your presentations public or private. It supports different browsers such as Firefox, Internet Explorer, Camin etc.

SlideLive

It is a web conferencing and live PowerPoint presentation sharing service. You can upload and save up to five PowerPoint presentations. It allows you to manage and schedule your presentations by inviting clients and share live PowerPoint presentations with hundreds of clients at the same time. You can also store your presentation privately for your connections. You can also keep a history of all the presentations you have seen.

SlideServe

This online tool enables you to easily share, discover and view PowerPoint presentations online. It allows you to add special effects in your presentations like narration & continuous audio, video, animations & transitions and hyperlinks. Its “Presentation of the Week” section is included for additional reference purposes. The presentations that have received the best ratings and the ones that have been viewed the most are equally highlighted. You can share presentations publically and privately and you can also add them on your social media profiles.

These tools would help you in sharing your presentations with the world while establishing your brand and achieving business goals successfully. We are looking forward to your suggestions and views on the same.