cool tools for library webmasters - internet librarian 2008

Cool Tools for Library Webmasters

Internet LibrarianOctober 20, 2008

Darlene FichterData LibrarianUniversity of Saskatchewan

Frank Cervone, Director Library, Information, and Media StudiesChicago State University

Let’s take a look at where we’re heading today.

We’ll explore new free and inexpensive tools.

Briefly mention some of our all time favourite tools.

There will be tools for everyone.

Let’s get visual.

VisCheck

• A computer simulation of the entire process of human vision

• Way of showing what things look like to someone who is color blind

• Online serviceo Image fileso Web pages

• Downloadable o Windows and Mac

www.vischeck.com/vischeck

Tritanope

Protanope

Deuteranope

Full color

Full spectrum

Red/green deficiency

Blue/yellow deficiency

Thumbalizer

www.thumbalizr.com

ImageFlow

194.95.111.244/~countzero/scripts/_myImageFlow/

Generate a color palette from an image.www.degraeve.com/color-palette/

Create graphs as widgets. widgenie.com

Add sounds.freesound.org

Call Graph – free Skype call recorder.

callgraph.in

Let’s look at productivity and security tools.

Freemind

freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Firefox tools

• SafeCache• SafeHistory• FoxMarks• FEBE

SafeCache

• Protects your privacy• Defends against cache-based tracking techniques • Embedded content is cached

o Segments the cache according to the domain of the originating page.

• Enable/disable in the Privacy pane of the Options menu.

• Learn more about Protecting Browser State using Same Origin policy (paper)

www.safecache.com

SafeHistory

• Protects your privacy by defending against visited-link-based tracking techniques.

• It allows offsite visited links to be marked only if the browser's history database contains a record of the link being followed from the current site.

• Enable/disable SafeHistory in the Privacy pane of the Options menu

www.safehistory.com

FoxMarks

• Automatically synchronizes bookmarks• Access your bookmarks anytime at

my.foxmarks.com. • Works in the background to keep your

bookmarks up-to-date on all your computers

www.foxmarks.com

mysteryuser

FEBE

• Firefox Environment Backup Extension• Quickly and easily backup your Firefox

extensions• Easily synchronize your office and home

browsers • May specify user defined items

o Backup virtually any data on your computer

customsoftwareconsult.com/extensions/febe/febe.html

LinkBunch

• Lets you put multiple links into one small link

• Firefox extension creates a bunch from all your open tabs

• Twitter bot in the workso Isn’t finished yet

linkbun.ch

DocSyncer

• Automatically finds and syncs your document files to Google Docs o This means everything

• “Users are even reporting that launching a document directly from their desktop using DocSyncer is FASTER than launching the document natively in Microsoft Office!”o Yeah…right

www.docsyncer.com

Encrypt your USB stick.http://www.truecrypt.org/

File Hamster

www.mogware.com/FileHamster

• Real-time backup and archiving of your files while you work

• Monitors files or directorieso Automatically creates incremental backups o Store notes about the changes that have been made

Syncback Freeware

• Backup all files anytime with a single click• Scheduler to automate backups• Versioning• Synchronization• Incremental backups • Machine to machine via ftp

o Encryptiono Compression

www.2brightsparks.com/downloads.html

FreeUndelete

www.officerecovery.com/freeundelete/

Usability

Browsershots

• Creates screenshots in different browsers

• Open source, online service • How it works:

o Submit your web addresso Added to the job queueo Distributed computers open the website in their

browsero They create screenshots and upload them to the

browsershots server

browsershots.org

Feng GUI

www.feng-gui.com

• Automatic alternative to eye-tracking• Creates heatmaps based on an algorithm

that predicts what a real human would be most likely to look at

www.fenggui.com

© 2006-2008 Feng-GUI - Feng Shui for graphic user interfaces.™

google.com

flickr.com

useit.com

Create a favicon forbrowser address bars, favourites and tabs.

www.html-kit.com/favicon/

Improve your site and manage site feedback. www.suggestionbox.com

More fun tools

DamnIT

damnit.jupiterit.com

• Sign up for DamnIT• Include damnit.js• An error happens• Optional description• You get an email

Careful with that URL!

.htaccess password generator

tools.dynamicdrive.com/password/

Cropper in C#

blogs.geekdojo.net/brian/articles/Cropper.aspx

Steal from the best.

LGR Blog Webmaster Blog. The Five Best Website Templates

Save time with a website template.

• Open Source Web Design> 2000 layouts

• Open Web Design > 2100 layouts

• themesBase.com > 1000 for Joomla and Mambo plus other CMS website layouts,

• FreeCSSTemplates.org > 100 layouts

• Free Layouts < 100 templates

Design 404 Pageswww.zug.com/mp3/nothere.htm

Find even more tools.

Browse links to past presentationshttp://library2.usask.ca/~fichter/cool_tools/

A sample of the all time best tools

– Firefox• Firefox Web Developer Extension

– Image Editors– Gimp – Picnik – Photoshop Express

– Meebo Me Widget– MailBigFile

More all time winners

– Primo PDF– Drupal– Google Analytics– Yahoo Pattern Library – Surveys

• SurveyMonkey• Poll Daddy• QuestionPro

Photo Credits – Creative Commons

• Roadmap by Brain farts• Chick by ap.• Pig Ribbon by brandichu123 • Laptops by Irregular Shed• Cosplay (red hair) by colodio• Wrench Wench by Tojosan• Capitol Place Shower Instructions by ATIS547• Japanese Tea Flavoured Ice Cream by timtak• Toolbox Full by Austin ampersand Zak

Questions?

Darlene FichterData LibrarianUniversity of SaskatchewanDarlene.Fichter@usask.ca

Frank Cervone, DirectorLibrary, Information, and Media Studies

Chicago State Universityf-cervone@csu.edu