Fedmich Designs

gameQuery is a jQuery plug-in to help make javascript game development easier by adding some simple game-related classes. gameQuery has the following features: multi layer-sprite animations, sprite hierarchies, collision detection, swappable sound support, periodic callbacks and keyboard state polling.

Javascript games are still in their infancy but but there is many reason why they are more than a curiosity: Modern borwser provide very good javascript engine and impovement keeps comming. Then to develope javascript games you don’t need an expensive proprietray IDE, widly available, free, open source software are there wating for you! Sometimes Flash is not available in some platform, even very recent ones (Wii, iPhone …).

Requirements: jQuery Framework
Demo: http://gamequery.onaluf.org/demos.php
License: MIT License

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You can find a tool for just about anything online, there’s only one problem: they cost money, and in some cases, lots of it! Many online tools offer a free basic package for anyone to use, but these packages are often strictly limited, rendering these tools practically useless until you stump up the cash. In most cases, however, there are free alternatives available, many of which are very, very good indeed.

Below, you’ll find 15 Best Free Online Tools for Web Design and Development. Rather than narrow our focus, we’ve covered various aspects of the design and development process, to include the admin side of freelancing or running a small business.

No two tools listed below perform the same function; we’ve chosen our favorite tool for doing each job. You’ll find the best free online tool for project management, one for invoicing, one for screen sharing, one for instant messaging, one for mocking up layouts, and much more besides.

1. Redmine

Redmine is a great, free alternative to other pricey project management apps available online. It does pretty much everything you could possibly desire, albeit in a less polished way than some of its more expensive rivals. With Redmine, you can manage a large number of projects simultaneously, defining personal roles and assigning tasks to specific team members if necessary. You can track time and issues, create Gannt charts and calendars, create project wikis and forums, and manage documents and files.

2. Billing Boss

Billing Boss is a fantastic, free invoicing tool, designed especially for small businesses and freelancers, which lets you send an unlimited number of invoices to an unlimited number of clients, quickly and easily. All of your invoices are saved automatically and catalogued in a logical, understandable way. Billing Boss supports multiple currencies, is integrated with PayPal and is mobile friendly. You can even share your account with your bookkeeper or accountant.

3. Yuuguu

Yuuguu is a multi-platform screen-sharing tool, which allows Windows, Mac and Linux users to collaborate. You can quickly initiate an instant messaging session with a client or team member, sharing each others’ screens at the touch of a button. It’s perfect for working together on document presentations or for writing and editing documents in a group.

With Yuuguu, there’s nothing to download at either end, which means you can start sharing and communicating in seconds. The free Yuuguu package includes unlimited use with other Yuuguu users and 100mins/month use with non-Yuuguu users, as well as up to 5 participants in a single session.

4. FavIcon Generator

Looking for a quick and easy way to create favicons for your website, then look no further than Dynamic Drive’s excellent FavIcon Generator. It’s effortless to use, just select any image (provided it’s a gif, jpg, png, or bmp) you want to turn into a favicon and press Create Icon. Follow the simple instructions generated to create an eye-catching favicon that will help your website stand out in your users’ favourite lists.

5. Dropbox

For online storage, look no further than Dropbox, an ingenious tool for storing and sharing files between all of your computers and with other team members. Once installed, a Dropbox folder appears on your computer’s desktop. Drag files into the folder and they will automatically appear in the Dropbox folder on each one of your computers, laptops and smartphones. What’s more, every file is automatically added to another Dropbox folder on the Dropbox website, which is accessible from any computer in the world. Invite associates to access your Dropbox folder, for quick and easy file sharing.

6. BrowserShots

BrowserShots is a straightforward, free tool for checking what your website looks like in a wide range of different browsers. It really couldn’t be simpler to use. All you have to do is enter your website’s URL into the address bar at the top, check or uncheck to select which browsers you would like to get a screenshot from, and press Submit. You can fine-tune your search by screen size and color depth, as well as enabling or disabling JavaScript, Java and Flash.

7. toggl

toggl is the perfect time tracking tool for freelance web developers and designers who tend to get paid by the hour. As an online tool, it’s available from anywhere, which is great for those of us who frequently work away from the office. As well allowing you to create projects and start timing in a few clicks, toggl produces performance charts and other reports for you and your whole team to analyze. Toggl can be embedded in iGoogle, Netvibes and Gmail so that you can share your performance with others. It’s free for up to 5 users.

8. Google Docs

Google Docs is an online word processor and spreadsheet tool that’s free to everyone with a Google account. It works in much the same way as Microsoft Word, offering similar features in the form of multiple fonts, font sizes and colors, page numbering, bullet points, alignment, tables and spacing etc. It does not, however, offer headers and footers, footnotes or a powerful find and replace feature, which some people simply can’t live without.

The best thing about Google Docs is that it works seamlessly with Word, so you won’t have to worry about compatibility issues when working as part of a team. Google Docs really comes into its own when it comes to collaboration, however. Press the Collaborate tab to work on a document with several people at once.

9. mockingbird

mockingbird is a wonderfully useful tool, which lets you create mockups of websites in minutes. Simply drag and drop user interface elements into mockingbird, rearranging and resizing as you go to create a perfectly balanced page. You can add as many pages as you like, linking them all together to show clients or associates how users might navigate through your site.

Once you’ve created and saved a mockup, mockingbird issues you with a link which you can share with other people, or an embed code so that you can embed a mockup in your own website. It’s a lightweight tool with few features (there are, for instance, no templates to follow), but this makes it really quick and easy to use.

10. kuler

If you find choosing colors tricky, then take a look at kuler, a fully database driven Flash site created by Adobe Labs. With kuler, you can choose, create, modify, mix and match colors to your heart’s content, for free of course, until you happen upon the perfect color scheme for your website. Not only can you create your own color swatches, complete with RGB and HEX codes, you can save them and download other peoples’ swatches too. You can even extract color palettes from illustrations and photographs, uploading them or selecting them on Flickr. Once you’ve chosen the ideal color pallet, you can download it for use in Adobe Creative Suite.

11. Bespin

Bespin is a browser based code editor which attempts and succeeds to match the quality of traditional desktop editors. It offers standard editing features, as well as syntax highlighting, support for large files, undo/redo, preview files in browser and import/export projects. Bespin not only gives you access to your entire coding environment from any computer, it lets you collaborate in an effortless way, without the need for firewall configuration. Tweak away to your hearts content by using various plugins until youve created the perfect editor for you.

12. Pingdom Tools

Pingdoms Full Page Test imitates the way a web page is loaded in a browser, showing you exactly how long it takes for each object, including images, CSS, JavaScript, RSS, Flash and frames, to appear. The load time of each object is shown as a series of colored bars for quick and easy visual comparison. Order each object into a hierarchy to identify any problem areas. The Test also uncovers useful, general stats, such as total number of objects and total load time.

13. W3C Markup Validation Service

If youre stuck on a computer without an FTP client, you should use net2ftp. Its a free, web based FTP client which features all the standard FTP functions youd expect as well as various other features, including the ability to extract files and directories and download a selected group of files or directories as an archive. There are numerous plugins available to enhance your net2ftp experience and its integrated with Drupal, Joomla, Mambo, XOOPS and other Content Management Systems.

14. net2ftp

If youre stuck on a computer without an FTP client, try net2ftp. Its a free, web based FTP client which features all the standard FTP functions youd expect as well as various other features, including the ability to extract files and directories and download a selected group of files or directories as an archive. There are numerous plugins available to enhance your net2ftp experience and its integrated with Drupal, Joomla, Mambo, XOOPS and other Content Management Systems.

15.Pixlr

Looking for a solid image editor that doesnt cost an arm and a leg? Available in 13 languages, Pixlr provides a great, free alternative to Adobe Photoshop. Of course, it offers nowhere near the same level of functionality or performance, but you wouldnt expect it to. It can, however, handle most editing that designers do on a day-to-day basis. You can use layers and an array of filters and effects.

About the Author

Tom Walker is a writer and designer from Great Britain where he works for a Manchester based supplier of printing supplies including HP laser cartridges, inks and paper. His other creative writing is available on their blog, CreativeCloud.

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We’ve all seen the basic file upload form for uploading avatars, images, memes, etc. The problem with these is that once you upload your image it’s hidden from you.

The solution is to use a little bit of JavaScript to upload the image as soon as it’s selected and display a thumbnail so we can easily review the form before we submit it. Head on over to the ZURB – Image Uploads with 100% Less Suck to see a complete demo and breakdown of the JavaScript they use to accomplish this.

Requirements: jQuery Framework
Demo: http://www.zurb.com/playground/ajax_upload
License: MIT License

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Pixmac: Stock Photos, Royalty Free Pictures and Images

Few days ago, we have mentioned Qhub, which is a simple way to create a Q&A website. However, hosted version is only available to us only. How about a Q&A system that is open source and also let us install on our own server? Our readers have pointed out the following Open Source Q&A Systems.

OSQA is an Open Source Q&A System written using Django. Users can ask and answer questions, comment and vote for the questions of others and their answers. Both questions and answers can be revised and improved. Questions can be tagged with the relevant keywords to simplify future access and organize the accumulated material. OSQA can be downloaded from the project’s GitHub repository at http://github.com/rickross/osqa. It is under GNU General Public License.

Shapado is another Stack Overflow-like app written in Ruby on Rails, mongomapper and mongodb. It is available under the GNU Affero General Public License. Shapado can be downloaded from Gitorious at http://gitorious.org/shapado.

Requirements: Django or Ruby on Rails Framework
OSQA: http://osqa.net/
Shapado: http://shapado.com/
License: GPL License

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Web Icon Set has released a set of Free Mobile Icon Set recently. Mobile Icon Set includes Phone Call, Photos, Messages, Calculator, Wireless, Calendar, Settings, Contacts, Notes, Map. You are welcome to use them on both your Personal and Commercial Projects. The sizes of the icons include 128, 64, 48, 32px. You can use these icons on your mobile applications or mobiles.

Requirements: -
Demo: http://www.webiconset.com/mobile-icon-set/
License: License Free

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The two Clocks are pure HTML using JavaScript and CSS rotation. There are no Adobe Flash files or <canvas> going on, just regular <div> and <img> tags. The way it works is by taking those images in an { overflow: hidden } <div> and rotating them, via JavaScript, using the proposed CSS transform property.

However, this isn’t going to work in any currently available version of Internet Explorer or many older browsers. It only works in Google Chrome, Safari and Firefox 3.5+ browsers support the CSS transform property.

Requirements: Browsers support CSS transform property
Demo: http://joncom.be/code/css-clocks/
License: License Free

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Pixmac: Stock Photos, Royalty Free Pictures and Images

YoxView is a free image viewer for websites. It’s written in javascript using jQuery and is available as a jQuery plugin. YoxView is inspired by Lokesh Dhakar’s Lightbox. Like it, YoxView displays images above the website’s content, as a separate layer.

Users always see the whole image, even on small screen resolutions or resized windows. Images smaller than the browser’s window are displayed at their original size, larger images are resized to fit. Images are loaded in the background, to improve the viewer’s performance and shorten wait times for users. Forward caching continues while viewing images.

Requirements: jQuery Framework
Demo: http://www.yoxigen.com/yoxview/
License: MIT License

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TutorialZine has written a tutorial and shown us how to create a “Who is online” widget with PHP, MySQL and jQuery. It will display the number of visitors, currently viewing your site, and it will even be able to detect the country your visitors are from and display it in a slide out panel.

Having access to real time data on your site userbase is a dream to any webmaster. Tools like Google Analytics give a great perspective on your site's reach, but lack the real time feel a simple widget like this can provide.

Requirements: PHP, MySQL, jQuery Framework
Demo: http://demo.tutorialzine.com/2010/03/who-is-online-widget…
License: License Free

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BubbleUP jQuery Plugin is a fun and easy plugin to get you started in jQuery. The effect is a nice starting point for learning the basics and many of the steps involved in creating other more intricate plugins you will make in the future.

With BubbleUP, images in a list will enlarge with a smooth animation when you move your mouse over it. Then, if you move the mouse out, it will reset to the original size with the same smooth animation. It has been tested on IE 7, Opera 10, Firefox 3.5, Safari 4, and Chrome 5 Beta.

Requirements: jQuery Framework
Demo: http://aext.net/jquery-menu-plugin-bubbleup/
License: License Free

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Building with progressive enhancement is essential to ensuring a usable experience for all. But how do you determine which browsers should receive the enhanced experience and which should stick with the basic experience?

Introducing EnhanceJS, a JavaScript framework designed specifically to deliver a usable experience to the widest possible audience, by testing the browser to determine whether it is capable of correctly supporting a range of essential CSS and JavaScript properties, and delivering features only to those that pass the test.

Filament Group is releasing EnhanceJS as an open source (MIT license) project to allow everyone to start building sites with test-driven progressive enhancement. They explained how to use EnhanceJS in your own projects so you can take advantage of new CSS and JavaScript features while ensuring a usable experience to all.

Requirements: jQuery Framework
Demo: http://www.filamentgroup.com/lab/introducing_enhancejs…
License: MIT License

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WebDesignerWall has shared the way he made the Mac-like multi-level dropdown menu using border-radius, box-shadow, and text-shadow. It is called CSS3 Dropdown Menu, which renders perfect on Firefox, Safari and Chrome. The dropdown also works on non-CSS3 compitable browsers such as IE7+, but the rounded corners and shadow will not be rendered.

There is one gradient image is used. A white-transparent image is used to achieve the gradient effect. Because the new CSS3 gradient feature is not supported by all browsers yet, it is safer to use a gradient background image.

Requirements: -
Demo: http://www.webdesignerwall.com/demo/css3-dropdown-menu/
License: License Free

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Pixmac: Stock Photos, Royalty Free Pictures and Images

Traffic Light Feedback is a web application that helps gathering customer feedback quickly and efficiently. It sends out a positive message about your company – showing how proactive you are and that you care about meeting your customers’ needs.

You get back immediate information about your customers’ current requirements – so you can prioritise and respond promptly, seizing opportunities to win additional business and acting to address any concerns, helping to cement the customer relationship.

What’s more, Traffic Light Feedback retains the details of all customer feedback over time, so you have the complete history of all your customers’ feedback at your fingertips.

With £15.00/month, you can send an unlimited number of feedback requests and feedback templates. TLF is very kind to giveaway 3 x 12 Month subscriptions of Traffic Light Feedback to our readers. All of them cost total £540 usd (£180 each). Simply leave a comment and tell us what you think about TLF under this post. We will randomly select 3 lucky people and announce the winners on 13th March. What are you waiting for?

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TinyTips is a very lightweight jQuery plugin that gives the ability to add tooltips to pretty much any element on a page. Thoroughly documented and designer friendly. TinyTips is very easy to install and use. Simply include TinyTips and the latest release of jQuery in the <head>.  You can also give it a nice style by editing the stylesheet.

Requirements: jQuery Framework
Demo: http://www.digitalinferno.net/demos/tt-1-0/index.html
License: License Free

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Pixmac: Stock Photos, Royalty Free Pictures and Images