Garmahis Design Magazine » Tools

6 Javascript libraries to create stylish online charts

Michael Garmahis — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 13:13:50 +0000

6 Javascript libraries to create stylish online charts

Do you need to visualize some data, build stylish online charts or graphs on your website? Here are six great Javascript frameworks and plugins to help you. They provide tons of options to create beautiful charts using all the latest technologies such as CSS3, HTML5 and SVG. These frameworks are extremely fast and easy to use. Have you ever used any of these in your projects? Speak out in the comments

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Top 15 Google Chrome Extensions

Henry Langam — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 14:04:37 +0000

Top 15 Google Chrome Extensions

Google Chrome is a very fast and powerful browser by default. With its very simple graphical user interface, speedy download and upload, safer and more secure web surfing with built-in malware and phishing protection, fashionable themes and other fascinating features of Google Chrome, it will surely satisfy every user. Chrome extensions are what make it really shine. These Chrome extensions let you add more features in your browser and go beyond being a browser alone. Here is a list of the Top 15 Google Chrome Extension that I have researched

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Tools to test your website in different browsers

Ana-Gabriela Stroe — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 15:08:32 +0000

Tools to test your website in different browsers

Internet users from all over the world are now using a wide variety of operating systems, browsers (Firefox, Safari, IE etc.) and browser versions. With such a range of possibilities, it’s only natural that a website can and will look different to some of the viewers. Therefore it’s a big challenge for every web builder to make sure that their pages are displayed properly to the visitors, regardless of their browser of choice. For example, just because a design looks good in Firefox, it doesn’t mean it will work the same way in IE! This is why testing websites in different browsers in different browsers before they go live is a vital thing, from a design perspective

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Project management templates for Google Docs

Michael Garmahis — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 13:12:22 +0000

Project management templates for Google Docs

Free project management templates for Google Docs is a great way to use Google Docs for collaboration on the projects, project management and tracking progress. It’s ideal tool for freelancers, small business and for projects that need high level of collaboration and online accessibility. These project management templates features include automatic calculations, Gantt charts, project duration, task priorities, risk management, scheduling and budgeting, cost estimates, status of projects and work breakdown structure, lesson learned. Traditional project management templates as well as those using Agile method are included. There are also specific templates for web design projects

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10 Annotation Tools to get Feedback for Web Design Projects

Michael Garmahis — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 22:46:48 +0000

10 Annotation Tools to get Feedback for Web Design Projects

Online annotation tools for collaboration and getting feedback for web design and development projects are reviewed in this post. They are very useful for commenting, review and debugging with client and as well as with the team members. There’s always a feedback stage in the web design process which requires intensive interaction. What in particular should be changed, improved or fixed? Using online annotation tools you can dramatically reduce time spent on reporting bugs, change requests and improvements. Have you tried any of these tools on real project? Do you have a favorite not mentioned here? Please add your opinion in the comments

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IE6 update warning: 6 ways to tell your site visitors to upgrade

Michael Garmahis — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:20:16 +0000

IE6 update warning: 6 ways to tell your site visitors to upgrade

IE6 update warning and suggestion to upgrade Firefox 3.5, Google Chrome or IE8 is currently displayed by Youtube to all IE6 visitors: ‘we will be phasing out support for your browser’. Previously Digg team started to talk about dropping support for IE6 users because IE6 compatible development requires unreasonable amount of resources spent.

The more websites will support IE6 upgrade movement the more users and web developers will be happier. Users will get modern, speedier, more useful browsers and developers get rid of hours and hours of headache, workarounds and hacks.

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Top 10 free website uptime monitoring services

Michael Garmahis — Wed, 06 May 2009 20:10:49 +0000

Top 10 free website uptime monitoring services

It’s crucial for a website to experience minimal downtime (and for site owner to monitor uptime), otherwise visitors or customers won’t return again if the site is always offline and inaccessible. Sometimes it happens that websites are going down even if you have a very reliable hosting with 99% of uptime. The reasons could vary: problems with data center, network outages, server outages, server overload, DNS configuration, or SSL certificate problems. In this case the problem has to be solved as soon as possible.

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Create custom panels in Photoshop CS4 with Adobe Configurator

Michael Garmahis — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 05:44:08 +0000

Create custom panels in Photoshop CS4 with Adobe Configurator

Adobe Configurator is a prerelease of an open source utility for easy creation of panels (palettes) in Adobe Photoshop CS4. Now you can create custom panels in Photoshop CS4 without knowledge of Flash/Flex/ActionScript. Just drag and drop tools, menu items, scripts, actions, audio, video, images, and SWF objects into a panel design, then export the results for use inside Photoshop.

Adobe Configurator lets you not only create panels that make Photoshop easier to use but share those panels with others on Adobe Exchange. Configurator requires Adobe Air installed. If you have not installed Adobe Air during Photoshop CS4 installation than download and install it separately. To Install and launch Configurator double-click the .AIR file on your desktop. After you have exported your panel, it can be accessed within Photoshop CS4 under the Window > Extensions menu.

Create fake HDR photo online with Create HDR

Michael Garmahis — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:12:43 +0000

Create fake HDR photo online with Create HDR

You can create fake HDR photo online for free. Create HDR is a new web service which make process of fake HDR photo creation from 1 JPG easy as pie. You can upload source photo from local computer, from Flickr or using any web URL. After upload (JPG format only, 6MB max) you have only two HDR settings to adjust and have some fun: Radius and Contrast. Click “Apply Changes” after you changed them to see the result. After you finish you have option to download full size HDR image or to save it to gallery for up to 12 hours.

Just now Create HDR is using one JPG to HDR conversion technique but they are promising to roll out Pro version soon. It will include more options, settings and will convert multiple images with various exposures into a single HDR.

Update: Create HDR is offline now. I will update this post if this or similar service will be available.

4 Online favicon tools

Michael Garmahis — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:26:10 +0000

4 Online favicon tools

Bradicon is a simple web tool to quickly convert images in popular graphics formats – JPG, PNG, BMP, or GIF- into an ICO (icon) file online. You can download the results afterwards.

Bradicon has a wider file range than similar tool ConvertIcon and more user-friendly two-step process. It could be useful for quick icon design mockup or for people who don’t want to spend time learning advanced software. To get better results you should use square images with fewer colors and details.

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Convert photo into 3D model with Make3D

Michael Garmahis — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 19:22:01 +0000

Convert photo into 3D model with Make3D

Make3D is a simple online tool from Stanford University that automatically converts your single photo into a 3D model with very impressive results. Unlike Microsoft Photosynth which meshes many images together to create 3D models, Make3D use its algorithm to convert one photo into a quasi-3D image.

Make3D utilize a variety of visual signs that humans use for estimating the 3D aspects of a scene and creates a three-dimensional fly around model that includes depth and a range views.

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Search graphic design blogs for best tips, tutorials, reviews

Michael Garmahis — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 08:29:40 +0000

Search graphic design blogs for best tips, tutorials, reviews

I made a custom Google search engine on graphic design blogs. This search tool uses handpicked blogs about graphic and web design. Using it you can find reliable and essential information on all topics related to graphic design: news, tips, Photoshop, Illustrator and other software tutorials, reviews, interviews. Now you will not lose your time watching fake, irrelevant or ad full pages. Get only info to the point!

Image search bookmarklets: easy find high resolution images, free stock photos, news and portraits photos

Michael Garmahis — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 05:05:35 +0000

Image search bookmarklets: easy find high resolution images, free stock photos, news and portraits photos

I create useful image search bookmarklets for various needs. Now you don’t have to browse a variety of photo sites individually or see tons of ads on image meta search engines. All you need is to click image search bookmarklet link and paste keyword. There are such bookmarklets as high resolution image search on free stock photo sites (morguefile.com, www.stockvault.net, www.sxc.hu, imageafter.com, openphoto.net, photocase.com, www.openstockphotography.org), high resolution photo search on Flickr, inspiration Image search on DeviantART, portrait and news image search, Google, Yahoo and Live.com image search

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