Monday, July 05, 2010

Awesome Open Source Disposable Chat Application: Anologue: "

Similar to the popular disposible chat websites (check 7 Free Disposable Chat Systems For Instant Communication), Anologue is an impressive one which is open source.


It works by simply clicking on a "new room" link and the application instantly creates a chat room with a unique URL where you can invite others.


Anologue Disposible Chat


The application is totally Ajaxed, built with PHP and uses the Lithium Framework, CouchDB and jQuery.


And, if you don't prefer to install your own, you can still use Anologue as the hosted version is free for everyone.

Friday, July 02, 2010

SuperFreeDraw.com

SuperFreeDraw.com: "

http://www.superfreedraw.com/

"

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Identify A Font With “What Font Is”: "

What Font Is is a free web-based service that helps identifying and/or finding alternatives of a font.


It works by simply uploading (or mentioning the URL of) an image including the text.


The service offers the option to include only free and/or commercial fonts in the results.


And, you can browse a gallery of 70,000+ fonts inside the "All Fonts" menu.


What Font Is

Saturday, June 05, 2010

Hard Drive Diagnostics Software GSmartControl

Hard Drive Diagnostics Software GSmartControl: "

Nothing is worse for a computer user than a hard drive that is nearing the end of its life cycle as hard drive crashes or unreadable sectors could lead to data loss if the user was not prepared for the worst case. But when is the right time to start preparations? Should you start feeling worried when the hard disk begins to make strange noises that seem to grow by the hour? What about the silent Solid State Drives then?

Hard drive diagnostics are essential in analyzing hard drives to have enough time to react when signals indicate a failing hard drive. The only viable option here is to backup all relevant data to other drives or storage devices and disconnect the failing hard drive from the computer.

GSmartControl is a free hard drive diagnostics program for Windows, Mac and Linux that is offered as a portable version, installer and Live CD to suite all work environments and scenarios.

The name implies that the software is only able to analyze hard drives that support S.M.A.R.T., the Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology, which most modern hard drives support. GSmartControl will automatically scan and display all connected hard drives on startup.

gsmartcontrol

Each hard disk is displayed with a drive icon and name which usually is enough to identify it. Basic drive information are displayed at the top of the screen after a drive has been selected with the mouse. Information displayed there include the drive’s capacity and if it did pass the basic health check.

Some users might not see the basic health check information after selecting a drive. This usually means that SMART is either not activated or that the drive is not supporting SMART at all. SMART can be activated by right-clicking a drive and selecting Enable SMART. This will not work if the hard drive is not supporting the SMART technology or if SMART is disabled in the computer bios.

The best option in this case is to reboot the computer and check the BIOS to make sure that SMART is enabled there. If SMART cannot be activated after this it is not supported by the hard drive.

A double-click on any drive will open the Device information, a tabbed window with extensive information about the selected hard drive.

harddrive information

The Identity tab displays important information about the drive. It will list the device model, serial number, firmware, capacity, ATA version, if SMART is supported and enabled and if the overall health self-assessment test has been passed.

The attributes tab displays SMART attributes data. The important information are listed in the failed column which should show never to indicate a good drive health. Another indicator are the norm-ed value and worst which should not diverge at all for best results.

smart attributes

The Error log tab displays the five most recent errors that the hard drive has encountered. No errors are another indicator of a good drive health.

The Perform Tests tab lists various tests that can be performed. This includes a short self-text, extended self-test and conveyance self-test. It is usually a good idea to begin with the short self-test and execute the extended self-test afterwards.

hard drive diagnostics

  • Short self-test consists of a collection of test routines that have the highest chance of detecting drive problems. Its result is reported in the Self-test Log. Note that this test is in no way comprehensive. Its main purpose is to detect totally damaged drives without running the full surface scan.
    Note: On some drives this actually runs several consequent tests, which may cause the program to display the test progress incorrectly.
  • Extended self-test examines complete disk surface and performs various test routines built into the drive. Its result is reported in the Self-test Log.
  • Conveyance self-test is intended to identify damage incurred during transporting of the drive.

A log file is generated for every test that can be viewed by clicking on the View Output button. The log file contains detailed information about the hard drive and a final assessment. Completed without error indicates that the drive is in good health.

GSmartControl comes with an option to perform a self test every few hours. This test is not affecting the performance of the drive or computer system and can be helpful in monitoring a drive’s health over time.

The hard drive diagnostics tool can also be executed from the command line. All command line options are explained in the program’s help file or by adding -? to the executable.

GSmartControl is a invaluable diagnostics software for hard drives. It’s tests and automatic options make it a recommended tool for every system administrator and end user.

Versions for all operating systems are available at the developer’s website.

Microsoft Outlook Tools

Microsoft Outlook Tools: "

Outlook Tools is a third party software for Microsoft Outlook that provides support and advanced settings for users working with the email client on a regular basis.

The free software program will automatically scan the PC on startup for an installed version of Microsoft Outlook. The relevant file paths and information are displayed in the first window that is displayed to the user. It is here possible to change the paths (outlook path, roaming Outlook data, local Outlook data and temporary folder to open attachments) if necessary.

The very same menu links to tools like the Outlook inbox repair tool, account settings and the Windows Event Viewer. A Microsoft Update can also be initiated right from that window.

Lastly it is possible to minimize Outlook to the notification area and to configure Outlook to display all emails in plain text.

outlook tools

But that window was just the startup page. Outlook Tools comes with four additional tabs that can be used to configure startup switches, clear the MRU, configure new mail alerts and blocked attachments.

All known Microsoft Outlook startup switches are displayed on the second page. Here it is possible to select one of more than 40 different startup switches. They are all explained on the developer’s homepage and it is probably a good idea to take a look at the descriptions before tinkering with those settings.

Clear MRU will creal the most recently used lists of Outlook. This is an automatic process that can be initiated manually as well. Outlook Tools offer options to clear individual lists from selected profiles easily.

The new mail alerts page can be used to configure the desktop notifications that appear when new emails have been received. The Outlook user can change the interval from seven seconds to another value to better suite the needs of the user. The transparency of the notifications can also be changed on this page.

microsoft outlook tools

The last page lists the blocked attachment types in Outlook with the option to enable them individually again.

Outlook Tools is a free software program for Windows that requires the Microsoft .net Framework. It is compatible with the following systems:

Outlook 2000, Outlook 2002/XP, Outlook 2003, Outlook 2007 or Outlook 2010
Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003 Server (+R2), Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 (+R2) or Windows 7

The software program can be downloaded from the developer’s website over at How-To Outlook.

Roomle Brings Your Room Designs to Life; Furnishings and All [Design]

Roomle Brings Your Room Designs to Life; Furnishings and All [Design]: "
If you're thinking about doing some remodeling, room rearranging, or you just want to daydream about it in 3D glory, Roomle is a polished, free web tool for designing in three dimensions. More »






"

Monday, April 12, 2010

Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates: "

Sketching and wireframing are a specialized style of drawing, used for fleshing out preliminary complex ideas, group brain-storming, a lo-fi method for evaluating interaction concepts, and as a way of roughly perfecting a design technique.

Sketch and wireframe paper is essentially drawing paper that is designed specifically for this purpose. You could use it for web page design, web app design, architectural or structural design, graphic design, movie direction, animation… basically any type of design that needs a physical creative outlet or group collaboration.

Not all sketch and wireframe sheets are universal, most are specialized for a particular medium, such as storyboards and specialized grid paper (axonometric perspective templates).

Below you will find a concise collection of ready to print sketching, wireframing and note-taking templates. Most, as expected, are geared towards the design community, but there are also templates that could be used within any industry and for any purpose.

You may be interested in the following related posts:

[Offtopic: by the way, did you know that Smashing Magazine has one of the most influential and popular Twitter accounts? Join our discussions and get updates about useful tools and resources — follow us on Twitter!]

Wireframing and Sketching Paper

Paper Browser – It's a browser, only in paper
This PDF can be used for creating a website’s wireframe. The entire PDF is proportionally scaled at a 1024×768 screen resolution, with guides for designs that use a 960px or 800px layout and with each grid sized at 32×32px. The PDFs are available in both A4 and A3.

Paperpdf 01 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

Web Sketching Template – Single Page
This A4 template has been designed for sketching a website with a resolution of 1024×768.

Paperpdf 02 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

iPhone Wireframe Templates for Sketching
These iPhone paper prototyping and design templates are available to download in two different styles: the basic iPhone design template and a more advanced one that also has the iPhone sketch template but leaves space for making notes. Both can be downloaded in a .zip-file which also contains the templates in Viso (VSD) format.

Paperpdf 03 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

iPad Idea Sheet
This template has been designed for wireframing iPad apps. There are three templates within the zip-archive: The first template allows for full size iPad sketching (100%), the second has two iPad templates (at 70% of the normal size) and the last has four iPads sized at 50% of the regular size.

Paperpdf 04 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

iPhone Idea Sheet
This iPhone idea sheet has been designed by the same people that released the iPad Idea Sheet above. The .zip-file contains 4 different printable templates: two templates are sized at 100% of the actual iPhone with a choice of horizontally or vertically aligned sheets and the other two sketching templates each have 9 iPhone designs (sized at 75% of the actual iPhone) and again with a choice of either horizontal or vertical orientation.

Paperpdf 05 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

iPhone Application Sketch Template
This iPhone template has a grid with the grid squares sized at 10px; it is designed with tick marks to indicate the heights of the status bar, nav bar, keyboard, tab bar and toolbar. The download is a 300dpi A4 JPEG.

Paperpdf 06 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

Android Wireframe Templates
This sketching set for Android contains templates for Nexus One, HTC Dream, HTC Hero, HTC Magic, HTC Tattoo and Motorola Droid.

Paperpdf 08 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

Wireframe Print and Sketch Template

Paperpdf 09 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

A4 & A3 Sketching Paper
This printable grid sketching paper can be useful for the initial stages of web design, concept designing. You can choose between the A4 size or A3.

Paperpdf 11 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

Basic Wireframing Paper
This is a basic grid box which you can use for concept diagrams, sitemaps, spectrums, tables, and whatever else you may need to sketch.

Paperpdf 13 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

Wireframe and Notes Paper
This is a wireframe grid divided into 24 columns with gutters between each column. The column units are numbered along the top of the grid. To the right of the grid there is a ruled column for adding labels and annotations.

Paperpdf 14 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

Two-by-Two Wireframe Paper
This template is a two by two grid with 4 cells divided by an x-y axis.

Paperpdf 15 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

Blank Grid and Graph Paper

ZURB Grid Paper
With this grid paper you can connect the dots to give your sketches a little more structure while exploring refined concepts on paper.

Paperpdf 17 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

Graph Paper with Two Lines Per Inch – Letter-Sized
This basic letter-sized graph paper has two aqua blue lines per inch.

Paperpdf 18 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

Four Dots Per Inch A4 Paper
This printable dot paper has four dots per inch and is in portrait (vertical) orientation on letter-sized paper.

Paperpdf 26 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

Storyboard Templates

4 Cell Storyboard Paper
This is a basic storyboard sketching template with 4 cells with each cell having a simple grid.

Paperpdf 19 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

MBTI Sketching Paper for Ideation
With this MBTI sketching paper for ideation sessions, you can describe a design challenge on every piece of sketching paper which represents the problem you want to solve. There’s also some space for annotations. You can download the PDF in A4 and A3.

Paperpdf 10 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

ZURB Sketchsheets
A set of editable PDF sketchsheets ideal for rough ideas and presentation to clients. There are five slightly different templates in the .zip-download package.

Paperpdf 12 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

Storyboard Template

Paperpdf 20 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

Storyboard with Notes
A storyboard template with 4 cells, with the area space beneath each cell for notes.

Paperpdf 21 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

Web Sketching Template – 6 Pages
An A4 web design sketching template with space for notes.

Paperpdf 22 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

Scenario, Taskflow and Grid Sketchsheets
This all-in-one PDF download package contains scenario, task-flow and grid templates. All can be useful during the early stages of web development process. Here are the three templates:

Paperpdf 23 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

Paperpdf 24 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

Paperpdf 25 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

Lined and Notepad Paper

A4 Narrow-Ruled
This letter-sized lined paper is narrow ruled in portrait (vertical) orientation.

Paperpdf 27 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

8.25" x 11" Lined and Squared Paper
This lined and squared paper template is sized 8.25"x11", and available in both PDF and JPEG.

Paperpdf 28 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

Speciality Paper

Printable Cornell Note Paper
This Cornell Notes paper is lined and additionally formatted with two large blank areas for a summary and a cue (on which to later note and review main ideas, ask questions, or draw diagrams).

Paperpdf 29 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

Moleskine Writing Template by Rod Graves
This template is based on a medieval page layout principle described in Robert Bringhurst’s classic book on typography, The Elements of Typographic Style. The Large sized notebook’s dimensions are nearly equivalent to a Golden Section rectangle (1:1.61803…). The design of the template is related to the golden section / the Fibonacci sequence.

Paperpdf 30 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

Penmanship Paper
You can use this dashed paper to practice penmanship. The PDF is in the size A4 and has twelve lines per page, in portrait (vertical) orientation.

Paperpdf 31 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

Calendars

Weekly Printable Calendar
This calendar's overview format lets you prioritize tasks, schedule appointments, and jot down notes all on one page. Custom options include Letter and A4 printing sizes, start day of the week, time range, and multiple languages.

Paperpdf 32 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

Monthly Printable Calendar
This template lets you create printable monthly calendars for letter and A4 paper sizes.

Paperpdf 33 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

5-Day Monthly Calendar
Create and print a 5-day calendar with holidays and your choice of start day by using the generator.

Paperpdf 34 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

Lined Weekly Printable Calendar
Create and print lined weekly calendars in horizontal or vertical format with your choice of start day.

Paperpdf 35 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

Index card sized Printable Calendars
Choose from 4 different compact templates for printing directly to3×5 and 4×6 index cards (with the dates already filled in). Here are the download links: Monthly Calendar, Split Month Calendar, Yearly Calendar and 2-Year Calendar.

Paperpdf 36 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

Music Sheets

Music Paper from the University of Virginia
There are many sites where you can download blank music sheets, but none are as a comprehensive and detailed as this resource. You can select PostScript or PDF formats for your templates; they are all sized 81/2 x 11 (portrait orientation). Overall, there are 37 templates available and they are split into the following categories: General (9 templates), Solo (3 templates), Ensemble (8 templates), Band (4 templates), Orchestra (4 templates) and finally templates for Choral (8 templates). Below you can see examples of the Basic template and the Full Orchestra templates:

Paperpdf 37 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

Paperpdf 38 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

Generators and Tools

Incompetech Grid and Graph Paper Generator
On this site you can generate basic graph templates in any size, color and even by grid spacing, you can also choose from the scores of different graph variations: Axonometric Perspective, Cross Grid, Inverted, Equilateral Triangle, Octagonal, Hexagonal, Semi-bisected Trapezoid and Tumbling Block – Trapezoid.

Notepad Generator
This tool allows you to customize a PDF notepad which you can then print it out on standard 8 1/2 x 11 paper.

Print Free Graph Paper
Here you can choose the size (Letter or A4), paper type (Cartesian, Polar, Isometric…), measuring units (Millimetres or Inches) and finally whether you want the paper formatted or un-formatted.

All work and no play PDFs

Downloadable Origami Templates
You know the saying “all work and no play…”. Well, not all printable PDFs are geared towards work. How about a fun stress reliever? This site offers a huge database of printable origami models that will keep you amused for hours. Best not to make these during collaboration and brainstorming meetings though!

Paperpdf 41 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

Paperpdf 42 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

Design Police – Bring bad design to justice
Fed up with the bad design choices of your colleagues? Design-Police.org has created, as they call it, “visual enforcement kit” for designers. Help bring bad design to justice!

Paperpdf 43 in Free Printable Sketching, Wireframing and Note-Taking PDF Templates

Related Posts

You may be interested in the following related posts:

What other goodies would you like us to collect?

Would you like us to collect other PDFs, files, download kits? Let us know what you need in the comments below and we will collect them and present them in one of our upcoming posts!