Top 20 Most Valuable Websites
I wanted to take a break from the rants on accessibility, and post a top 20 list of the most useful websites that I have found. These are sites that I use all the time and feel their services are incredibly valuable to me, both in my daily workflow, and in my freelance workflow. Top 20 lists appear to be very popular so here is my contribution to the community.
Web Service
www.browsershots.org
Browsershots makes screenshots of your web design in different browsers. It is a free open-source online service created by Johann C. Rocholl. You can submit your web address, it will be added to the job queue. A number of distributed computers will open your website in their browser. Then they will make screenshots and upload them to the central server. This is a free service but does have an option for priority processing if you need it.
www.xml-sitemaps.com
Creating Sitemaps for Google, MSN and Yahoo! – The Easy Way. If you own or maintain a website or intend to own one, wouldn't it be great if you get frequent visitors who find satisfaction in getting exactly the information they need from your page? XML-Sitemaps make it easy to index your small websites and generate an XML sitemap for free.
www.foxmarks.com
UPDATE: Google Browser sync is no longer supported in FireFox 3.0. So I have taken it off this list. I am now reccomening Foxmarks. Foxmarks will automatically
synchronize your bookmarks across all your computer systems that have foxmarks installed, ensuring your bookmarks stay the same
everywhere.
www.malevole.com/mv/misc/text
Tired of using Lorem Ipsum for dummy text in your latest masterpiece? This text generator has been developed based on years of careful research and is guaranteed to improve even the most lacklustre of designs. Really it's just a more colorful dummy text generator.
Inspirational Sites
www.smashingmagazine.com
Smashing Magazine delivers useful and innovative information for designers and web-developers. Their aim is to inform their readers about the latest trends and techniques in web-development. I highly recommend that you bookmark this site or subscribe to it’s rss feed. It’s a constant delivery of valuable content.
www.noupe.com
NOUPE passionately delivers stylish and dynamic news for designers and web-developers on all subjects of design, ranging from; CSS, Ajax, Javascript, web design, graphics, typography, advertising & much more. Just as cool as Smashing Magazine but seams to be more technically focused.
www.cssglobe.com
CSSG is a community driven site dedicated to web standards. Members keep the content fresh by contributing various articles and links to current trends.
www.cssmania.com
One of a kind resource for all things inspirational on the web. CSS mania has an constant flow of new inspirational designs from really great designers and developers.
Recommended Downloads
www.960.gs
The 960 Grid System is an effort to streamline web development workflow by providing commonly used dimensions, based on a width of 960 pixels. There are two variants: 12 and 16 columns, which can be used separately or in tandem. I do not use the included css templates, but I do use their PSD templates as a starting point for all my current designs.
www.famfamfam.com
Excellent free icons that are perfect for just about every web application.
www.dezinerfolio.com
Excellent free downloads of some great gradient packs for many design softwares. There is also a free download of some cool layer styles for photoshope that make an great starting point for buttons and web 2.0 panels that are really popular.
www.webdesignerstoolkit.com
You need an active checkbox for your screendesign? A radio button, a select box? And you're tired of making the same screenshot over and over again? Look no further: free photoshop form element templates, popular browser chrome, butons and more.
Killer Applications
http://klok.mcgraphix.com/klok
Klok was created by Rob McKeown, co-owner of Mcgraphix, Inc., as a way to track hours spent on consulting projects and as an entry in Adobe's AIR developer derby contest. It became evident that it would be useful to others so it was released as Freeware. It has since been downloaded over 7000 times.
www.colorschemer.com
ColorSchemer Studio is a professional color matching application for anyone from hobbyists to advanced professionals. Work with a dynamic visual color wheel, instantly explore harmony relationships and even let ColorSchemer Studio intelligently suggest color schemes for you!
www.jeroenwijering.com
The JW FLV Media Player (built with Adobe's Flash) is an easy and flexible way to add video and audio to your website. It supports playback of any format the Adobe Flash Player can handle (FLV, but also MP3, H264, SWF, JPG, PNG and GIF). It also supports RTMP and HTTP (Lighttpd) streaming, RSS, XSPF and ASX playlists, a wide range of flashvars (variables), an extensive javascript API and accessibility features.
www.monoslideshow.com
Monoslideshow is a Flash slideshow to view your images in a web page. It can be placed on every website, in whatever size you want and filled with whatever content you like. It's designed for maximum flexibility, whether you want to have a professional looking portfolio, or just an image rotator on your website.
The Kitchen Sink
www.brandsoftheworld.com
Best brands of the World is the most comprehensive resource and one of the most visited web sites where visitors can browse and access copies of the world's famous brands and logos. Through our site, visitors will be able to access and obtain Vector format versions of thousands of brands and logos for use in the mock-ups and presentations pending the permission of the copyright owner(s). Best Brands of the World is also a great resource center for designers to upload their own logo design works and professional details to showcase their work and latest design styles.
http://en.gravatar.com
A gravatar, or globally recognized avatar, is quite simply an avatar image that follows you from weblog to weblog appearing beside your name when you comment on gravatar enabled sites. Avatars help identify your posts on web forums, so why not on weblogs?
http://www.favicon.cc
A great free favicon service that lets you upload your image and make a favicon for your site. You also have the tools to make one from scratch one pixel at a time.
Thanks, Very nice post.
Interesting website's you pointed out in this post.I appreciate all the information you shared!
Use for your website http://www.sitemapwriter.com/ .This powerful webtool generated the sitemap for your website in just seconds. Mayor search engines (Google, Yahoo, Ask, MSN, Moreover) were able to index and read your sitemaps without any problems. Not expensive and easy to use!
ADMIN EDIT: Fixed broken hyperlink