AainaA

When you design something virtually {in other words, when you’re working on a design online and in real-time collaborating with your peers in some other city across the digital transit points } ..

… sometimes you just need a small nifty tool to determine the screen pixels of an image without having to recourse to jumpstarting your Adobe PS or some other resource-hog application. I’ve been looking for such a tool for a very long time, that when I found it, I somehow knew that in this beautiful rancid kind of world there is someone out there who had the same frustration as I had years ago. Instead of pulling out my swatch of flexi-rulers to determine screen point size {fonts}, I’d just click this application and voila, I know exactly the size of a particular advert that needs to be fitted in that particular box in that other particular site.

These are some nifty toys you might want to add in your repertoire, if you’re designing the non-traditional way.

Pixel Ruler is one of my favourites primarily because I work across digital transit and need a gauge to measure things visually – you’d be glad to find this much used utility in your zap-em-up tool box !

Founders of Worth1K, they’ve recently launched Crane {Web’s first paper-based image editor} another nifty tool to be considered for your list ! Aviary is apparently a Web 2.0 tool that facilitates your life – don’t we all need one or two of those when working in the 21st century ? With four other great apps under their belt you might consider giving them a go before investing in your dream list for an Adobe CS {yeah yeah.. I know .. we’ve gone through that a quadrillion times before !} – Aviary has a free basic plan which is a great way to get to learn the tools. They also have a premium Pro plan which allows a lot more control over the applications usage. Check them out ?

Do you work with the World ? No seriously, if you’ve ever worked online, you’d know exactly what I’m talking about – working with someone in your cubicle is so not similar to working with someone of a different cultural and upbringing background as you are – its a lot more fun ! and when it comes to getting paid or paying, you’d need the most reliable currency / forex tool ! I personally use XE since I can remember and have always been paid or paid out correctly. And when it comes to Invoicing, nothing can be easier than FreshBooks !

While you’re getting on that frenzy sign-up toll – would you want a full suite of customer relationship management tools ? There are a lot of features to WORKetc, including time management, document management, sales management, project management, billing and invoicing, reporting and more… and if that is not enough, you can always ask R2D2 to serve you coffee whilst you’re getting up and about doing what you love doing !

O yes.. I know I’m straying .. we were just talking about designing tools – but money is equally important too

Want to ‘create’ those cute ‘steal-me’ buttons for your websites or to get your affiliates to just snag-em for your affiliate marketing programs ? Try Button Boost – its simple and fast !

Want beautiful typography ? When it comes to typesetting … CSS Typeset is one of my favs … yes, just make sure you’ve got javascript turned on silly ! not that gorgeous hunk in the copy room ! and while you’re there, you might even want to get your hands dirty with the Typetester, an online application for comparison of the fonts for the screen. Its primary role is to make web designer’s life easier – “easier” must have a web overstatement award’ for something !

The key thing is to experiment, try new things – not at the expense of readability, but in the name of design.

Want some cheat tips ?

The Advanced WordPress Help Sheet includes snippets from Styling Different Categories to Dynamic Page Titles.

The Ruby On Rails cheat sheet is designed to be printed on an A4 sheet of paper and live by a developers desk, to make life a bit easier.

The mootools 1.2 sheet includes cheat sheet like documentation for Core, Native, Class, Element, Utilities and Request.

Oh you’ve seen one of these before – images with reflection, and you simply can’t live without it, because without it, you can’t see your own reflection .. duh so here’s the deal, click here, and play with it

Want a dotted worldmap vector without having to jumpstart your favourite application and wasting another day or two getting the perfect pixel out ? Get Sim Jun Han’s vector pronto, and get your job on-time and make your clients giddily happy !

Want to know how to design amazing graphics for your print design as well as download these PS brushes for free ?

When you live in a translucent world, you’ll appreciate this energy colour swatches – Uber NEATO – you’ll find the color design tool and organizer for helping with your web or print design.

postscriptum: This blog has been on the benchburner for quite some time, but never was published until today, thanks to how things are managed and dished out by service providers in Asia Pacific.

Enjoy! & Do have a great weekend, and a greater week ahead :-*