Posts filed under 'Free Web and Marketing Tools'
Ian Traynor - out of the UK - is one of the few Internet Marketers whose email newsletter, Marketing Update, I find rather useful. Most months, I am too busy to read all the newsletters I subscribe to, but when I do find time, I always know I am going to find at least one helpful tip in Ian’s.
This last issue was no exception, because it offered a tool I have been searching for: A screen shot capture tool that is free.
His recommendation is Screen Shoot It. And, if you are on a PC, get it free and see a tutorial from his page at: http://www.webmasterstricks.com/wt-10-screen-capture.php
Since I work with lots of clients who are on PCs, I have been meaning to look for a good screen shot tool. So was delighted by Ian’s post.
I have not tried this tool and can’t vouch for it, but I can tell you I have continuously been impress enough with Ian’s email newsletter that I bet this tool works well.
So, why haven’t I tried it myself?
Because this (and most of Ian’s recommended products) are on PC, and I am on a Mac.
By the way, in case you are a Mac user and don’t know this, Apple allows you to easily capture a screen shot by just hitting Shift Apple 3 (for the whole page) or Shift Apple 4 to crop a section of the page. This option makes a .png file for you, which can easily load to a web page.
And, yes, I know with a PC you can hit the Print Screen option and then open a word document and place it in there, but then you have to still make it a .png or .jpg file. Screen Shoot It automatically does that for you. And it is free.
I did see a screen shot tool by Gadwin called PrintScreen, but the screen shot examples they use are blurry, and since I am not able to test it, I can’t tell if the actual ones created by this screen shot software are going to be clear or not. Here’s the link, if you want to try Gadwin’s free Print Screen software: http://www.gadwin.com/printscreen/
Again, I have not gotten to try either of these softwares out, because - as I mentioned above - I am on a Mac. So if you have tried them - or another free screen shot application, please let us know by commenting below.
*As with all tools mentioned on this site, they are just suggested options, UniqueThink can not be responsible for support or problems associated with downloading or using these tools. However, please let us know if you have serious concerns about this or any tool mentioned, so we can let others know as well (or remove the tool from this section).
April 13th, 2008
http://snipshot.com/
This is a basic editing tool for photos. I have Photoshop, and though I love it, when all I need is a quick crop (say to add a logo to this page), I head over to Snipshot. Before Photoshop can even launch, I’ve already edited and loaded the image!
Here is an example:
I started with this one:
and I wanted to crop out the cup only:
This only took seconds to do.
I then wanted to round the corners - so I need to use another site called roundpic - which is also a free tool and I talk about here - and to the right is an example of the finished image with rounded corners:
Keep in mind, I did these quickly, to give you an example, but it does show how easy it is to do.
*As with all tools mentioned on this site, they are just suggested options, UniqueThink can not be responsible for support or problems associated with downloading or using these tools. However, please let us know if you have serious concerns about this or any tool mentioned, so we can let others know as well (or remove the tool from this section).
December 7th, 2007
http://www.roundpic.com
RoundPic: Just found this one - did you ever want to add rounded corners to your images, but couldn’t figure out how or didn’t have an application that would allow it.
I just came across this free online tool and thought it worked fairly well. If you need a quick image with rounded corners - any color background - and need it a specific size, this is a good tool to try. Nothing to download, just go to the site and decide how rounded you want the picture to be. Here is a sample of how it looks - only took seconds:
My only request for improvements would be for them to allow me to crop the image - so, for instance, if I wanted just to have the cup - itself - with rounded corners, I could do that all from this one site. However, it is easy enough to crop an image online through snipshot, which is another free tool I mention here. Go to read about snipshot on my other post and see the final example of the cup - itself - with rounded corners.
*As with all tools mentioned on this site, they are just suggested options, UniqueThink can not be responsible for support or problems associated with downloading or using these tools. However, please let us know if you have serious concerns about this or any tool mentioned, so we can let others know as well (or remove the tool from this section).
December 7th, 2007
SEO Keyword Search Tool - I recently found this great, free keyword search tool
Just put in your keyword and hit suggest - it will then take you over to Aaron’s site to give you a lot more information than some of the other free tools - and you can put it on your own site, just like I did, if you choose:
*As with all tools mentioned on this site, they are just suggested options, UniqueThink can not be responsible for support or problems associated with downloading or using these tools. However, please let us know if you have serious concerns about this or any tool mentioned, so we can let others know as well (or remove the tool from this section).
December 4th, 2007
http://basecamphq.com/?referrer=stompersimple
Do you need a tool to help a group project keep organized? Are you working with multiple people and finding communications are getting lost along the way? Or hearing those fatal words, “Oh, did we tell you that? Sorry, we must have forgotten to cc you.” If so, you are gonna love Basecamp.
I just started using Basecamp on a project with 4 others. Lynn - from this group - suggested this tool. It allows us to share information and have one central location to review past comments. It’s brilliant, just try it.
*As with all tools mentioned on this site, they are just suggested options, UniqueThink can not be responsible for support or problems associated with downloading or using these tools. However, please let us know if you have serious concerns about this or any tool mentioned, so we can let others know as well (or remove the tool from this section).
December 4th, 2007
http://www.stcassociates.com/lab/timetracker.html
I loved this tool and used to for the first couple of years as a consultant. Since then, I have moved on to OfficeTime, a more powerful tracker (which lets me have categories for multiple projects and has an invoice system built in). If you are just starting out, enjoy this free tool and when you are ready to expand, consider OfficeTime - they are inexpensive, reliable and offer great customer service.
*As with all tools mentioned on this site, they are just suggested options, UniqueThink can not be responsible for support or problems associated with downloading or using these tools. However, please let us know if you have serious concerns about this or any tool mentioned, so we can let others know as well (or remove the tool from this section).
December 4th, 2007
http://www.javascriptkit.com/cutpastejava.shtml
This one is for when you want a form or special script for your site, yet don’t want to pay a developer to create it. Some take a little more know-how than others, but most work easily to produce great results. On many, you still need to customize them and add your own links for the procedure - so, this one is a bit more advanced.
*As with all tools mentioned on this site, they are just suggested options, UniqueThink can not be responsible for support or problems associated with downloading or using these tools. However, please let us know if you have serious concerns about this or any tool mentioned, so we can let others know as well (or remove the tool from this section).
December 4th, 2007
http://www.1001freefonts.com/
I think it was my 11 yr old niece that showed me this page. Great source to get more fonts then you will ever need. She liked the ones with little icons in them.
*As with all tools mentioned on this site, they are just suggested options, UniqueThink can not be responsible for support or problems associated with downloading or using these tools. However, please let us know if you have serious concerns about this or any tool mentioned, so we can let others know as well (or remove the tool from this section).
December 4th, 2007
http://www.nvu.com/index.php
I have to say, I hate their logo, looks like a pharmaceutical company or something, but Nvu came recommended to me recently. I downloaded it, installed it and tested it in about 11 minutes. It basically lets you go from WYSIWYG Editing Mode and HTML. I haven’t used it a lot, because I am a big fan of Dreamweaver, but I did do the test of the free template (above) using this tool and it worked great. Really easy for non-technical types with no HTML experience.
*As with all tools mentioned on this site, they are just suggested options, UniqueThink can not be responsible for support or problems associated with downloading or using these tools. However, please let us know if you have serious concerns about this or any tool mentioned, so we can let others know as well (or remove the tool from this section).
December 4th, 2007
Speaking of web graphics and images - here are a couple of other options:
http://www.istockphoto.com - some are free, some are really inexpensive (especially compared to setting up a photoshoot and hiring a model) - both photos and graphics
http://www.sxc.hu - sister company to istockphotos - in fact has many of the same images - but some things about it are different, so if you can’t find it at one, check the other - it is fast becoming my favorite place to look!
http://www.graphicfreebie.com - ok, some of these are not what I would choose - however, the background images alone are worth picking this one up
*As with all tools mentioned on this site, they are just suggested options, UniqueThink can not be responsible for support or problems associated with downloading or using these tools. However, please let us know if you have serious concerns about this or any tool mentioned, so we can let others know as well (or remove the tool from this section).
December 4th, 2007
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