Internet

activeCollab

I’ve been working on a review of activeCollab for two days now and planned to finish it up today. However, today I found out that Derek from 5thirtyone.com did a review on it last year and recently compared activeCollab to Basecamp and GoPlan. Both articles are great and give plenty of details on the plus of activeCollab. I personally have never used BaseCamp however I planned to before I came across activeCollab and like the thought of everything being on my server (and free/opensource). For anybody who does freelance work or uses BaseCamp (or others like it) you really should check out activeCollab (assuming you have server resources, although it doesn’t take much). It does require php5 though (which shouldn’t be a major problem as most hosts have it). I’ve been running activeCollab for a few months now but only recently started really using it with my clients (the biggest one being the Lawton Soccer Club). Before we went back and forth on emails and phone calls about the site and its hard to keep things organized and took to much time for me to go through emails and find tasks he wanted done. activeCollab took a huge load off me and makes things much easier. Its also easy to customize to match your company site or just a fresh design. Keep an eye on the activeCollab site and blog as the big release is coming soon with a load of new features.

Custom WP Login

I have been looking for an easy way to customize the WordPress login page for clients. I thought about hardcoding it but that would just be a problem when updating the WordPress core. I searched around a little and didn’t find anything I could use but today MattBrett posted a screenshot of his WP login screen and a plugin that he is using. It works great. I thought I would share the site with everybody else using WordPress. You can find the plugin here. There is also a Flickr Group with other screenshots of how others are using the plugin.

The Invoice Machine

I have been looking for a quick and easy way to create invoices. I have tried several web applications and some that you host. I have never really found one that I liked. Today I came across The Invoice Machine which is a quick, no sign-up, web 2.0 invoice creator. It will generate amazing looking pdf’s ready to send. It doesn’t store ANY information on their servers however it does use cookies to store basic information (company name, address, footer). I gave it a few test runs and so far am lovin’ it. So, if your looking for a simple invoice generator I suggest at least giving The Invoice Machine a try.

Top 10 FireFox Extensions

I just recently restored my computer and in the process of installing my programs and getting everything set back up I was download the FireFox Extensions that I use. Everybody knows FF has thousands of add-ons and some of those are actually useful. I personally like my browser to be light and un-cluttered. So, I keep my add-ons very limited however there are a few select ones that I just can’t open FireFox without. So here are my top 10 FireFox Extensions (yes, a top 10 list to add to the other thousands of useless top 10 lists on the internet).

#10 - Greasemonkey
Greasemonkey basically allows you to customize how a page is displayed using javascript. My first contact with Greasemonkey was when using an extension developed for deviantART to allow you to use styles for your profiles. That extension is outdated and no longer needed now. You can find more information about Greasemonkey at DiveIntoGreasemonkey.org.

#9 - ChatZilla
I’m not addicted to IRC as others are however I have my favorite rooms that I do spend time in each week and for that I use ChatZilla. ChatZilla is pretty light and simple to use. I have never really used other IRC clients so I can’t say feature wise how it stacks up but it does everything I need it to. If you don’t have a favorite IRC client or looking for a new one check out ChatZilla.

#8 - Twitty Tunes
Twitty Tunes allows you to post what your currently playing to Twitter. Its basic and simple. I don’t really use it to post all the songs I listen to, however when I find new artists or come across a song that I just love then I will post it. A nice extension for those who use Twitter (which should be all).

#7 - Time Tracker
As a webdesigner/developer I like many others spend alot of time in FireFox. I like to keep track of my time through my work days and since I work from home its sometimes hard. Time Tracker basically keeps track of the time you spend in FireFox at a time. If you only want to keep track of your non-work time in FF then you can create a list of your work sites and the timer will pause while you are on those sites. I start a new session of FF when I start work (mostly to clear memory, etc) and it restarts so I can keep track of my hours spent working for a client.

#6 - del.icio.us buttons
del.icio.us is a great way to keep track of different bookmarks, find new sites, and tag your sites. Helps to organize your bookmarks. I mostly bookmark design sites, resources, tutorials, free software, etc to my del.icio.us account. This extension allows you to tag the site your at with one click and bookmark it to del.icio.us. It can’t get much easier then that.

#5 - ReloadEvery
I use dual-monitors and normally while working I move FireFox to my secondary and open PhotoShop and Notepad++ on my primary. I wanted a way for the browser to refresh every couple of minutes while I was coding so I could keep an eye on changes. ReloadEvery allows you to do exactly that. It will reload a site as often as you want it to. I save often while coding so it comes in handy to be able to look to the right a little at my other monitor and always see an updated version of the site as I’m working on it.

#4 - MeasureIt
MeasureIt allows you to draw a ruler on your screen and get the width and height in pixels of anything. I used to take a quick screenshot and paste in PhotoShop to find the pixel width/height but after finding MeasureIt it saves alot of time doing that.

#3 - ScreenGrab
Sometimes its a pain to take screenshots of your sites. Sometimes you want a full screenshot and not just what fits on your screen. ScreenGrab is a quick and easy way to take screenshots of whatever is in your browser. I haven’t used this extension for that long but it has gotten alot of use.

#2 - FoxyTunes
FoxyTunes is one of the most used extensions for FireFox and its great. It basically allows you to control your music player (I use foobar2000) via your browser. It also allows you to see whats currently playing. It comes in handy while your working and want to switch songs real quick. I’ve used this extension for awhile and its a must have.

#1 - FoxMarks
The extension that I could not live without is FoxMarks. FoxMarks is a bookmark synchronizer that syncs your bookmarks to their servers and allow you to always have a copy of your latest bookmarks no matter what computer your using. Its great if you use more then one computer (maybe home and work) and always want your bookmarks with you. I have used FoxMarks for awhile now and its great. Its nice to know your bookmarks will always be there.

Well that is my Top 10 FireFox Extensions. Its not much but I felt like sharing. There might be a few extensions that some of you didn’t know about but most are pretty popular. Overall if I could only have one extension it would have to be FoxMarks, but thank god I don’t have to pick just one.

Twitter

Twitter is still fairly new and still gaining new members. At first I was among the crowd that kept asking Why. Why would I want to know what my friends are doing every min of every day. More then that, why would anybody want to do what I’m doing every minute of every day. However, like most who have tried Twitter, I have grown to love it. Its had a few problems (like the outages recently) but overall its becoming a great service and I hope to start using it alot more now.

For those who don’t know what Twitter is, its basically where you post via the web or text message what you are doing. Whether your on your way out to eat or sitting at home watching a movie. I have also started seeing more freelance designers/developers use it to keep track of what they are working on, time spent working on each, and allowing clients to see what they are doing. Much like BaseCamp does for organizing and tracking your projects (which I’ve recently tried BaseCamp and plan to purchase a plan soon, but thats for other post). So, if you don’t already have a Twitter Profile then head over there now. Also, let me know and I’ll friend you.

For those who are interested here is my Twitter Profile; twitter.com/twofivethreetwo

Akismet

I’ve been on WordPress for about 2 days and I am already loving it for one reason. Spam Control! Akismet a plugin for WordPress that filters spam has been great. So far in two days it has blocked 10 spam posts. As most know I had a huge problem with spam comments when using CuteNews to the point where it caused me to turn comments off for a little while. However, those days are gone. I’m happy that I made the switch and hope to get my custom layout done soon.