Webdesignlessons.com » Freebies

Four Great & Free FTP Programs

digitalpacific — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 09:03:25 +0000

If you are new to the world of creating your own site and find yourself asking, “How do I upload my website?” then the FTP program is your answer.

An FTP program assists you in transferring files from your local computer to the server containing your website files. If you have files, images, videos or documents that you would like to put on a website, then you will need an FTP program to put them there. Plenty of FTP programs are available on the internet, some costing quite a bit. We, however, don’t feel that you should have to pay anything when there are so many great ones available for free! Here are four that make our list:

1. FileZilla – FileZilla runs cross-platforms (Windows, Linux, BSD, Mac OS X and more) and supports FTP, FTPS and SFTP. It features an easy to read comparison screen of both the local files and server folders with drag and drop support, remote file editing, and readability in many other languages. There is even an FTP Server version available.

2. Core FTP – Core FTP offers most of the same features as FileZilla. Visually, it also appears much like FileZilla and boasts drag and drop support, file editing and viewing and command line transfers to name a few.

3. FireFTP – FireFTP is interesting because it actually works as a Firefox add-on. So, if you are a Firefox supporter, you can now FTP your website files in another tab of your browser. FireFTP also runs cross-platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac OS X) and supports a secure connection. It features drag and drop use, directory comparison and is made to work in over 20 different languages.

4. Cyberduck – Cyberduck is an open source FTP program made for use with Mac OS X. It supports both FTP and the secure SFTP protocols and allows for server side file editing. Cyberduck is available in over 30 languages so users around the world can enjoy its added features of being able to manage Amazon CloudFront and Rackspace Cloud files.

And, there you have it! These are four great and free FTP programs that will have you uploading your websites in no time!

This tip has been brought to you by Digital Pacific, a Sydney-based web host and domain name provider.

Free Stuff for commercial web designers

John — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:40:06 +0000

There is plenty of ‘free’ stuff available for web designers online, and it is great for building personal web sites, and really handy for increasing your skill-set however most of the stuff that is available comes with a proviso. The proviso is “For Non Commercial Use”.

So you can find everything you could possibly desire from Photoshop Brushes and Vectors to icon sets, graphics, images and backgrounds. However after hours of searching for that perfect resource you find that it is for “Personal Use Only”. This can be extremely frustrating, however there are plenty of artists, designers and creatives who make their stuff completely and freely available for commercial use.

So if your looking to complete a project on a very tight budget then you should take a look at some of these resources. The sites listed offer more than a single freebie for webmasters so they will be useful for future projects too, so well worth bookmarking.

I have tried to find as many resources that do not require credit or attribution, however proceed with caution. The sites do allow commercial use, but you must check for, read and understand the terms as listed by the authors.

So from themes to vectors and brushes to PSD templates you will find gigabytes of content at these sites. Remember all the templates at WebDesignLessons.com are free for commercial use too. If you have a resource yourself then feel free to let us know by using the comments function, we look forward to checking them out.

Smashing Magazine
Possibly the best of the best. It includes Themes, Iconsets, PSD Templates and Brushes all free for commercial use.

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/category/freebies/

Bittbox
Another great resource which provides free textures, brushes, and vectors. This site is constantly releasing more freebies.

http://www.bitbox.com

DesignShard
Various collections or packs of high quality textures some containing as many as 300 textures. Some awesome grungy stuff.

http://www.designshard.com/category/freebies/

Creative Commons Photos
Public Domain Photos offers free audio, images, text, video, and other formats that are available for commercial purposes depending on the license.

http://creativecommons.org

FreeVectors.com
Free Vector Graphics to help you create your clipart. All the Vector Art is available for commercial use.

http://freevectors.com

Colourburned.com
Colorburned provides lots of free stuff for commercial use including particulalrly fantastic brushes for Illustrator, they also offer photoshop brushes, vectors, textures and much more.

http://colourburned.com

The 5 Top Free Themes for Video blogs

John — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 20:01:20 +0000

As the web becomes a more interactive medium, many bloggers are making the transition to include more multimedia elements into their blog, such as photos and videos. While the majority of bloggers still use text as their primary communication medium and simply supplement it with the other multimedia elements, there is a small but growing percentage of bloggers who are making the complete transition to video.

Whether you call them videobloggers, vloggers or simply bloggers, these people are using a different method to connect with their audiences. Therefore, it seems logical that they would want a theme with different features than a standard blog. Whether you are just getting into the world of video blogging or have been doing it for some time, I’ve gathered the five best free themes for any blogger focused on video. You can use one of these themes to launch a new video blog, or to give your existing vlog a fresh look.

Revolution TV: The official video blog theme of Brian Gardner’s new line of free Revolution themes, Revolution TV is a clean looking theme for video bloggers. In addition to highlighting the latest post, the Revolution TV theme does a good job of showcasing other recent posts. Because it allows you to display text, this theme can be a good choice for bloggers who are making the transition from a more traditional blog to a primarily video based blog. (although the most prominent download links for this theme are paid support versions, you will see that Brian offers a free download link at the bottom of the page).

Videographer: If you are uploading your video blog posts to YouTube, this is the perfect theme for you. The Videographer theme uses the WP YouTube plugin to create a wonderful looking video blog. The latest posts are displayed in a column on the homepage and feature a screenshot from the video, along with the title and description. Additionally, the theme uses the WP PostRatings plugin, so your visitors can rate your posts on the homepage or within the post themselves.

Video Blog: While the other four themes on this list all have two columns, if you are looking for a theme with three columns, Video Blog is the choice for you. This theme displays your video posts in two columns, and then uses the third column on the right side of the theme to display the standard navigational units and other sidebar content.

Tumblelog: In response to the popular Tumblr platform, Zeo created the Tumblelog theme for WordPress. As you would expect from a theme that emulates Tumblr, the theme is focused on providing a clear stream of the latest posts. Because of the elegant but minimalist design of this theme, it’s a great choice for bloggers who want a simple way to showcase their video content.

VideoBlog: With a primarily gray color scheme, VideoBlog is a well laid out theme with two columns. Like the Videographer theme, this theme allows users to rate each of the posts that you make on your video blog.

The 4 Best Free Photo Themes for WordPress

John — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 20:00:06 +0000

As anyone who has spent time playing with the WordPress platform knows, it is extremely flexible and can be used to achieve a lot of different purposes. One use of WordPress that has continued to gain popularity is creating a photoblog. Whether you are a professional photographer or just a photography enthusiast, WordPress makes it easy to publish and organize your photographs.

Although photographs can be added to a blog with any theme, I’ve tracked down the best free themes for individuals who want to use WordPress to create a true photoblog.

Snapshot: Although all of their other work is premium themes, WooThemes was kind enough to release a top of the line photo theme for free. The main page of the theme displays the most recent ten photographs added to the blog at a size of 330×190px. When one of these photographs is clicked, the main photograph is displayed, which can be up to 690px wide.

The theme takes advantage of the WP-PostRatings plugin, which allows users to rate each photo on a scale of one to five. This theme includes a theme options page, which allows you to change the logo, add your Google Analytics information and add your Feedburner details. Snapshot is available in three different color schemes.

Revolution Canvas: Although the Revolution line of themes used to be premium themes, Brian Gardner has just recently made the transition to an open source model that offers free themes and the ability to purchase paid support. Luckily for you, this means that you can get an amazing photo theme for free.

The Revolution Canvas theme is available in Black or White versions. It’s a simple but elegant two column theme that does a great job of showing off photos. Both versions of this theme support widgets, and a “Recent Photos” stream can be displayed at the bottom of the theme.

Nishita: If you are an active user of a photosharing service (such as Flickr, Photobucket, Shutterfly or 23hq), Nishita may be the perfect WordPress photo theme to fit your needs. Nishita was created specifically to give individuals the ability to post photos directly from Flickr or other photosharing services. The Nishita theme is clean and minimalist, and provides plenty of space on each page to display a large photograph.

I think the best feature of this theme is that the main photo and thumbnails are sized internally, so you can post any photo and the theme will take care of all the necessary sizing issues. Also, in addition to photos, Nishita makes it just as easy to post videos.

Free Photo Gallery: Like WooThemes, ShutterThemes normally offers premium themes, but the Free Photo Gallery is an exception. This photo theme is available in Light and Dark versions. The Free Photo Gallery theme gives you control over how many thumbnails are displayed on the homepage of your photoblog. Given the design of this theme, it is a perfect choice for individuals who want to display wide photographs.