Get all your favourite applications installed in 3 hot steps:

1. Select your applications.
2. Download the installer.
3. Run it and voila! You’re done like turkey.

Benefits:

• Doesn’t install all the extra features like toolbars and suggested applications
• Save time from searching for the latest applications and installing them one by one
• Smart enough to install the correct version and language for your PC (32/64bit)

Cons:

• Free version requires online access to automatically check/request the latest applications
• Premium version is required to create an offline installer
• Premium version follows a monthly subscription based model (um, I don’t think its worth especially when all these programs are free)
• Doesn’t have all my essential applications (Vuze, Media Monkey, WAMP, XAMPP, Windows Live Writer) but then again, it might have all that you need

I’m willing to give this a try because it really does include the majority of what I need and use on a daily basis. However, I’m not made of money and this is something I wouldn’t want to spend monthly on when I hardly install programs on a near-constant basis. I’d rather geek out with some toys.

Do you think this something that might help you? What’s your own time-saving tools?

Just the tip of the iceberg of features that I’m ♥ loving ♥:

1. New user registration for installation: Solves the tedious extra step of having to manually edit the default “admin” username for security purposes.
2. Custom post types: In previous releases, we only had the ability to designate a content item as either a “post” or “page” and site architecture planning had to work around these limits. For a review blog, now I can set content items to “movies”, “books” and “music” without having to hack with categories and tags.
3. Custom taxonomies: In the same vein as the previous point, this ability now allows content to be more extensible, easily and natively. A common example would be to add a custom taxonomy “Rating” and set R, PG-13, PG, G for the reviews.
4. Multi-site capability: Personally, this one would make my life super duper easy by allowing me to manage WordPress websites through the development cycle without going through the hassle of setting up each one on its own. I could set up websites either with as “subdomain.domain.com” or “domain.com/subdirectory”. I haven’t worked much with networked websites but I still see the major benefit of this in the future.
5. Menu management: Oh yeah! They finally added this feature which allows you to create multiple menus, categories, external and internal links right in the admin user interface. Sweet jebus! I’m in heaven.
6. Get Shortlink: Build your own shortened, branded URLs natively to share with your friends in social media.
7. New “Twentyten” default theme: Easily set custom header and background images in the admin user interface.

Have a quick look at this WordPress 3.0 video tour to wrap your head around this awesome release.

Read the official release. Get started and download WordPress 3.0 “Thelonious”.

Now, I just have to test this upgrade and hope it doesn’t break anything. Have a delicious day folks.

Sprinkle hearts and cupcakes!

Depending on the project or budget, things can start to get expensive when you start to calculate the cost of typeface licenses and stock photography. Fortunately there are plenty of resources online that offer free assets. In the case of free images, one should be wary of using them in branding projects because they are free, more people will likely use the same images and negate your uniqueness.

These are a few fonts I found at www.urbanfonts.com that I really like.

1. Franciscan
2. Mighty Zeo
3. Swing Set
4. Saginaw
5. Komika Display
6. Komika Axis
7. Komika Title (There were other Komika styles but I didn’t like them as much)

I don’t often peruse font libraries but on this particular evening, I found a few that I thought were pretty clean, well-made and very readable. I always found that the trouble with free fonts is that there are so many that are poorly made, illegible and just not pleasing to my eye. Now these ones, I’m not saying that they’re perfect, but I do consider them a gem amongst the rest.

Don’t forget to be sparing when using decorative typefaces! Use only for special occasions and if possible, don’t use more than 3 different typefaces for one project.

Keep trucking, good looking!

I’m a big fan of Selene and she’s currently being featured on Michael Beckwith’s website, Michaelbox.net. I don’t even remember how long ago I came across her website, iDesign Studios but since then she’s been an inspiration and helpful guide to me. You can look back on her portfolio and blog to see her beautiful work and informative posts on the process of design of which I can closely align to how I personally work.

Don’t forget to check her out on Twitter @idesignstudios, she’s pretty fun!

I’ve recently embarked on a recent journey that has taken me across the world to Brisbane, Australia. I’m super excited to take on this new adventure and the challenges that come with being out of my own element. Certainly there are doubts and questions in my mind, but I ask the universe for divine inspiration and strength to make this experience a wonderful and fulfilling new chapter in my life. This is my chance to really become a more inspired person, professionally and spiritually.

Thank you for coming along with me during this transition!

One particular CSS3 technique, the letterpress, embossed text effect is so, very cool right now and can be achieved by using the text-shadow property (see Line25′s Tutorial Create a Letterpress Effect with CSS Text-Shadow). I recommend that you keep this effect to headlines and short amount of text because instead of looking cool, it can be visually jarring similar to print text with incorrect registration. Be aware that by limiting and properly using this effect, you can increase readability and decrease eye fatigue.

My favourite tips:

1. Apply padding (Improves usability by increasing the user’s clickable area)
2. Make anchor text descriptive (Removes the need to read the link’s context before understanding where the link goes)
3. Don’t open new windows (Let the user decide how they want to interact with your site, unexpected actions are a turnoff)

Exceptions are always applicable, but why bother messing with a good thing?

The Best Open Source CMS Mainly Used for Blogging

Posted by Ray Cheung as Framework

All websites require their content to showcase in a very professional manner. Since it is very hard for a single person or team to do it by himself/herself, they look for help in designing and maintaining the websites. This is where the importance of CMS systems props up. These systems not only help in creating a good website but also help in managing and updating the website. Given below are some of the very Best Free CMS which are Mainly used for Blogging Purposes.

This is a very cool introduction to many open source CMS which are mainly used for blogging. Some of which I am familiar with and some I am now interested in looking into, simply wondering if it will improve development.

In this article, Ray covers the following:

• Typo 3
• Frog CMS
• Symphony
• Textpattern
• WordPress
• DotCMS
• Umbraco
• Habari
• ocPortal
• GetSimple
• Squarespace
• Movable Type
• Xoops
• Radiant
• Drupal
• Free Flux
• Silverstripe
• Melody
• Joomla
• b2evolution

Unless you’re creating a simple brochure site in which the content hardly change, you may not need a CMS at all. And if you were looking to develop a rather complicated and comprehensive website/portal then you may want to have a more in-depth research on these CMS. Some of these platforms range from what I would consider light (easy and straightforward) to heavy (complicated and will do much more than just building a blog).

So do you’re own research, try them out and see what fits your needs.

Of course, being interviewed makes me a bit nervous but Paul listened well and the interview started to feel more like a casual conversation. I explained as best as I could on how easy it was to use the service, how much easier it made my life and the very awesome support I received when things didn’t go as expected (which were few and far between) with support tickets and forum discussions.

“FreshBooks was not a tech company, it was a service company…”

Mike McDerment, The President and CEO (Co-Founder) of FreshBooks is a great guy too. He’s been really active in the digital technology community in Toronto and has a vision of Toronto being “start-up minded as California’s Silicone Valley” which I’m in total agreement with, Toronto has so much talent and potential. I also recall a very awesome Meetup back in 2007, Billable Hours, where Mike discussed the secrets and hurdles to creative success!

FreshBooks Co-Founder, Mike McDerment - Tanja Tiziana

So yeah, I’m a client and a fan of FreshBooks and the people behind that company. They provide super easy solution to send, track and collect payments quickly! It is so perfect for a freelancer like me.

Read Starting Fresh by Paul Gallant.

For the longest time I have hesitated and shelved this website because I could never settle on the direction or format it should take. I argued with myself that it should be more professional, more personal, less words, more visuals. I just couldn’t decide for myself what I wanted or needed.

Well, I just don’t feel like I can put this off any longer and for now, I want to keep moving forward and put it out there. I design and develop some pretty damn good websites and people oughta know it. I consider this my step into finally having a platform and purpose for this site, to share my work and inspiration in design. Thanks for sticking around.

Cheerios!