Document Your Life & Improve Your Photography Skills With Shuttercal

 

 

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Document Your Life & Improve Your Photography Skills With Shuttercal

via MakeUseOf.com by Steven Campbell on 9/7/10

Taking daily photos is a great way to create a visual history of your life. As time goes by, you can look back at some of the places you have been and experiences you have had. On top of all that, you will get more use out of your camera and improve your photography skills.

The concept of sharing daily photos is nothing new. Nancy wrote an article a few months back featuring 4 great photo websites, and we’ve covered sites like DailyBooth in our directory. However, if you are into taking daily photos and think the idea of calendar-based photography is pretty cool, you are going to love Shuttercal.

In this article, I am going to walk you through the features of Shuttercal, highlighting everything that makes this website useful.

Introducing Shuttercal

I should point out that in Nancy’s article I alluded to earlier, Shuttercal had several favorable mentions in the comments. This tells me that a lot of people are already using the service and it is doing quite well. In fact, Shuttercal’s website states that they are “the world’s leading dedicated daily-photo website.” Whether this is true or not is still unseen, but I’ll let you be the judge.

Shuttercal’s website also covers the ‘what’, ‘why’, and ‘how’ associated with using the service, which I will attempt to expand upon here.

What Is Shuttercal?

In its simplest form, Shuttercal is a calendar.

Upon first signing up for the service, you are taken to your MyCal page, which is your personal calendar where you can begin taking on your photography project.

To get started, you just click on a day and you are taken to the Add Photo screen. There you can upload your photo for that day and write a small caption for it. You can do this for any day you want, so you don’t have to worry about starting in the middle of a month or anything like that.

Explore The Community

If you get bored or don’t know exactly how to proceed with your calendar project, you can take a look at what others in the community are doing with their calendars.

Click on the Explore tab to see thousands of new photos added by the community. New Photos is the default view, but you can also see New Comments, New Users, Top Faves, photos by date added, and a random calendar with Random Cal.

Click on any photo you want to see an enlarged version of it. Once you do that you can add it to your favorites, share the URL or embed the image, leave a comment, or share the photo on Facebook, Digg, or StumbleUpon.

Discuss Projects With Others

One feature of Shuttercal that peaked my interest was the forum. This is where you can discuss projects and learn new things with the rest of the community. Discussions cover everything from general topics to Photo Talk, Projects & Meet-ups, Cameras & Equipment, Life, and Shuttercal-related topics like new features and tips & tricks.

Conclusion

If you’re interested up to this point you might want to check out some of Shuttercal’s premium features like the ability to print your project and produce shoe boxes, postcards, and such. There is also a premium iPhone app as well.

Will you be using Shuttercal to document your life with daily photos and improve your photography skills? Is there another service you’ve been using to accomplish this?

Leave your thoughts, ideas, and comments below, and if you found this article useful, share it with your friends/followers!

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10 Websites To See What HTML5 Is All About

 

 

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10 Websites To See What HTML5 Is All About

via MakeUseOf.com by moin on 9/6/10

HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the most widely used markup language today. Tags, elements and angle bracket with a bit of help from CSS forms the building block of all that you see around on the World Wide Web.

It has been nearly 20 years since HTML started defining how we ’see’ the web. Now, it’s on the verge of its fifth major revision – HTML5. From its first avatar to its fifth, the web itself has been transformed. HTML5 is an attempt to meet current needs which is heavily based around dynamic and multimedia rich content. But how will it change the way we look and work with the web?

The web of today is increasingly interactive and media rich. Applications are moving online. HTML5 covers all of these needs by introducing ways to embed videos and audio, draw simple graphics, work with apps offline; do all these without plugins, and of course, do it all faster than before.

It is after all a standard. Thus, it’s nigh impossible to sweat the details in a few lines. So here are ten resources that give you an insight on HTML5. Let’s get to know it, because we all might be using it soon.

WTF is HTML5

Research group Focus breaks down the latest specification and gives it straight up as a simple to understand infographic. Within ten minutes, you will get a helicopter view of what HTML5 is all about and why we should care.

Dive Into HTML5

Written by Mark Pilgrim, it’s a hand-picked look at select features of HTML5. It’s put together in the conversational style of the ‘For Dummies’ series. If you want to grasp the basics, this is a must read.

And there’s ‘Professor Markup’ to guide you along with answers to common queries. Each chapter is supported by demos and examples. But do check the mentioned supported browser(s) before trying them out.

HTML5Doctor

At HTML5Doctor.com, you have articles that are meant to help you hit the ground running. For example, using the very first article, you can set your webpage to be recognized as HTML5 by browsers. The fourth post helps out with designing a blog with HTML5.

The HTML5 blog also has a Q&A section, where you can upload your questions. Some of the answers come on the homepage as ‘Your Questions Answered’ posts.

HTML5Rocks

This HTML5 web resource asks that you be well versed in coding. If you are, there are a few tutorials that help you understand how HTML5 features can be coded. You can experiment with HTML5 at the Playground and even reuse some of the code samples in your own project.

The tutorials are few but comprehensive. Each is also tagged with the icon of the browsers that meet the HTML5 feature requirements.

HTML5games

HTML5 is giving Adobe a few headaches because it promises to do away with Flash (at least for some apps). Will HTML5 prove as effective as online games as the Flash based games we have become used to? Check it out for yourself by playing the HTML5 games that are hosted on this site.

You can also read a brief mention of this HTML5 games resource in our directory.

HTML5 Readiness

All browsers are readying themselves for HTML5. The half wheel on this site is a visual indicator of each browser’s groundwork so far for HTML5 and CSS3. You can mouseover the 28 features and gauge the stage from the color coded spokes.

From the looks of it, Safari and Chrome are more down the path than the others.

HTML5 Element Reference Table

Periodic Table of the Elements, a project by Josh Duck is a quirky look at the 104 HTML5 elements (and 2 proposed elements) using the layout of a periodic table. Clicking on each cell brings up a brief description with additional references.

You can also read a brief mention of this resource in our directory.

HTML5 Test

At a glance you can tell your (browser’s) score when matched up against HTML5 ready features. As soon as the website loads up, the score from a maximum of 300 gets displayed. You get bonus points if the support extends beyond what the HTML5 specification might lay down.

The scores are also color coded which indicate anything between what’s great and what’s not available on your browser.

HTML5 Gallery

HTML5gallery.com parades other websites that are using HTML5 in some form or the other. You can click on the thumbnail and reach the websites on view. It is also a learning platform to see how web developers are implementing HTML5.

Each website profiled has a small note that explains how an HTML5 element has been used to design the website.

YouTube HTML5 Beta

The ‘Video’ element is touted as one of the bestselling points of HTML5. You can test it out on YouTube by opting to use the HTML5 player instead of the Flash player for most videos. Your tryouts will also tell you how your current browser is coping with HTML5 videos. Do read the Notes section to note the finer points on the beta effort from YouTube.

Everything says its exciting days ahead. These ten websites on HTML5 are just the early starters of a breed that’s going to explode soon. Hopefully, they will help to put you in the right element to work with HTML5.

Image: justinsonmia

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10 Environmental Games That Teach Kids About Earth, Ecology & Conservation

 

 

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10 Environmental Games That Teach Kids About Earth, Ecology & Conservation

via MakeUseOf.com by Saikat Basu on 9/3/10

It has often been said that the kids of today will inherit the Earth of tomorrow. It will surely be one where the challenges of climate change and environmental conservation will be stiffer.

With the right eco-education, we can hope they will hit the ground running. A lot of schools and educational institutions are doing their bit by including the environment as part of the curriculum. Words like ‘carbon footprint’ and global warming’ comes to them as easily as the name of any present-day rock star.

That’s cool. But who said that ecological or environmental education needs to be bookish or donnish?  Thanks to online games, it can be brought out from textbooks into the fun world. Online environmental games games that teach kids about animals and conservation make the task interactive.

Children can immediately learn that each action has a contributing effect. Plus, these interactive educational websites on the environment make both the teaching and learning enjoyable without losing out on the lessons.

Here are ten games and game websites that teach kids about the environment and the world around them.

Planet Science

The Planet Science games cupboard is a collection of online interactive games and other fun activities like quizzes. Try your hand on Planet 10 and see if you can create a perfect world. It’s not that easy because you have to mix and match the building blocks to create a perfect world.

Or you could learn a bit about energy and its conservation from the lighter games like Energize.

BBC Climate Change

Here’s your chance to see if you can do better in the hot seat. The game tests your decision making skills while holding the top job of President of the European Nations. You must tackle climate change and stay popular enough with the voters to remain in office.

Clim’way

The Clim’way game is again about helping the larger community reach some specific climate goals. You have to create a climate plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a certain percentage in a certain time frame. Your plans can include setting up alternative energy sources, reducing human consumption etc.

Web Earth Online

How would you cope in the environment of today if you were an animal or bird? Use this multi player online game to find out. Pitted against you will be species which may be friend or foe. Then you have the natural world to deal with too.

You will get to play through the entire life cycle of the animal you choose. Like all animal species, the objective is to survive and thrive. The basic game is free.

Earth Day Games

Earth Day has passed us by, but the games that were set up to promote it endure on many sites around the web. Kaboose.com has a small collection of simple Flash based environmental games like Clean Up Your World. The games are simple enough to introduce the youngest of the lot to the need for environmental cleanliness.

Recycle City

Continuing in the same spirit of cleaning up the litter around you, head for Recycle City. In the Dumptown Game, as the Dumptown Manager, you can create your own scavenger hunt and learn what it takes to help protect the environment.

World Wildlife Fund

As WWF says, these are games with a message. Nine games listed on one page and a tenth one on Facebook (that’s about looking after a polar bear). My picks are the blaster games. For instance, in the Toxic Blaster, I am piloting a jet-sub into the insides of a polar bear, a whale, and a man to blast away toxic molecules. But be warned, those contaminants can destroy the sub too.

Ecokids

The Canadian website Ecokids has quite a list of little environmental games arranged in categories like Wildlife, Climate Change, Energy, Water, Waste, Land Use etc. The learning based environmental games are also bunched up according to age levels. For instance, in The Journey of a Wildlife Photographer you have to become a wildlife photographer and check out how animals and birds have adapted to the environment.

The Adventures Of Vermi The Worm

Go along with Vermi the worm and learn the basics of vermicomposting and its benefits, plus other waste management strategies like recycling. Along the way you will meet other characters like Bubba the Worm, Hugh Hammer, Sunny Flower, and Trashcan. While learning you have to help your buddies too as they reduce, reuse, recycle what’s waste.

Environmental Education On The Internet

This huge list of environmental games and related learning activities is thanks to the North American Association For Environmental Education. From the Second Life based NOAA Virtual World to the educational Astro-Venture from NASA where you have to design a habitable planet, the web resources cover quite a lot of environmental ground.

Thanks to online games of various hues, learning need not be a chore anymore. So finish all that homework fast. There’s lot of interactive fun to be had on the World Wide Web. And tell us if you have a favorite environmental game that you would like the world to know about.

Image Credit : woodleywonderworks

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How To Create Multiple Columns In Wordpress Pages & Posts

 

 

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How To Create Multiple Columns In Wordpress Pages & Posts

via MakeUseOf.com by Tim Lenahan on 9/2/10

If you blog using Wordpress as your blogging software, you will know that it offers a lot of flexibility in design. You can run a blog, run a normal website, and even a create a  social networking site. You can also run a newspaper or magazine site using Wordpress.

There are specific elements that make a site more magazine-isque (if that’s a word). Some of which have to do with the layout of the front page. Another characteristic of a magazine that you can now implement on your Wordpress magazine site is that of multiple columns of text in pages and posts.

If you have ever read a magazine, you will know what I mean. A normal Wordpress site will typically have only one column of content text much like any blog. If you read a magazine, you’ll notice how there can be multiple columns like in the screenshot below:

Now with the proper plugin you can do this with Wordpress in posts and pages. The plugin is called “Magazine Columns” and it can be found in the Wordpress plugin directory (author’s blog post). We know though, that for plugins found on Wordpress, we can just install them via our Wordpress dashboard. If you search for “magazine columns” it should come up as first on the list. Make sure the author is “c.bavota” for this particular plugin.

After installing the plugin, all you have to do to create multiple columns in pages and posts is to insert “<!–column–>” where you want to begin the next column (up to 5 columns):

You’ll also notice that there are added buttons in the HTML tab for easier implementation.  Using the “start columns” and “stop columns” buttons, you can easily have text before and after columns. The result could look like this:

Here’s a full screenshot of how my BloggerDoggie theme looks with multiple columns:

You may be asking, “And that’s all there is to it?” Yes. Really.

Another cool part of this whole topic is that there is actually more than one plugin that does this for you. Similar plugins to try are:

• WP Post Columns – If you visit the author’s plugin homepage, you’ll see that there are quite a few options via short codes.  This could be a positive or a negative depending on how easy you want the process to be.
• WP Columnize – This plugin also has buttons in the HTML tab.  With them you can highlight the text and just hit the appropriate button.  Check out the author’s plugin homepage.

Whichever plugin you use, you’ll find you have quite a bit more flexibility. Using Wordpress for other anything other than blogging becomes a bit easier. I know you can mess around with tables in HTML but why would you if a plugin can do it for you?

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How To Run A Speed Test On Your Website

 

 

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How To Run A Speed Test On Your Website

via MakeUseOf.com by Tina on 8/31/10

What would you do if your first impression of a website was that it takes forever to load?

If your own website loads slowly, you will lose your visitors’ attention even before your website has had a chance to make an impression at all. Moreover, Google has factored page speed into its search rankings. So you see it’s important to keep a close eye on your website’s page loading speed.

Running a speed test on your website is very simple.

There are many services out there that run automated tests. Below are some useful resources that will help you analyze not only how fast your website loads, but also what is slowing it down. The recommendations show you which changes are necessary to pass the speed test, which is your visitors’ attention span.

Website Speed Test

This is the best tool for a quick and simultaneous speed test of multiple domains. You can enter up to 10 domains and the site will return a result that includes the page size, total load time, and average speed per KB. Apparently, MakeUseOf.com has been optimized for speedy loading.

This test only gives you an idea whether or not action must be taken. It doesn’t analyze which elements of your website slow down its loading speed. What it does reveal, however, is the overall size of your start page. Rule of thumb: the smaller it is ,the faster it will load.

However, as the example above reveals this isn’t always true, hence, a more thorough analysis is in order.

Web Page Analyzer

With Web Page Analyzer you can diagnose a URL or its (X)HTML code. The web page speed report provides a thorough diagnosis as well as clues on how to improve your website.

In the ‘Object Size Totals’ section the total loading time is broken up by objects, including HTML, images, scripts, and multimedia. These numbers clearly show what slows down your website.

Conclusions from the raw data are drawn in the ‘Analysis and Recommendations’ section at the bottom of the report. The list not only shows you where you need to improve and recommends action, it also congratulates you on what was already done right.

Firebug & YSlow

YSlow is a Firefox extension developed by Steve Souders, the guy who was hired by Yahoo! to speed up their website and who wrote two books on the topic of speeding up websites. YSlow integrates into Firebug, so it’s essential that you install both of these extensions. Firebug is a web development tool packed into a Firefox extension. It helps you inspect your HTML, debug JavaScript, and analyze network usage and performance of your website.

Once installed, you will find the Firebug / YSlow buttons in your statusbar. Within the Firebug analysis window, YSlow occupies its own tab. This complex tool will take a moment to digest as there is a ton of features packed into a dozen sub-tabs.

The main aspect is the grading of the website. There are over 20 points that are graded and contribute to the overall performance. For each point, suggestions are made on how to improve the given grade.

The Components are sorted by type into a table that lists their size and response time along with other characteristics. This is useful to find elements that slow down your website. The statistics reveal the site’s weight on an empty or primed cache and breaks up the weight into its components, such as HTML, JavaScript, or images.

Finally, YSlow provides Tools to show all JavaScript or CSS code, receive a printable view of grades, component lists, and statistics, and best of all, Smush.it can compress all images on your website to save size and subsequently page loading time.

With the help of all these services you should now know exactly what slows down your website.

If you have meanwhile developed a deep interest in the topic, read this summary of a PhD thesis on Web Page Performance.

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4 Great & Inspiring Sites For Creative Writers To Visit

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4 Great & Inspiring Sites For Creative Writers To Visit

via MakeUseOf.com by Simon Slangen on 8/29/10

Writing is diminishing in these modern, online times. Most of what’s written online is “scanned”, rather than read.

Rather than being incompatible though, the web and (creatively) written words are perfectly compatible. Don’t forget that the Internet started out as just a bunch of text.

As a creative author – professional or aspiring – the web can be a wonderful place. Below are some of the best and most inspiring places a word doctor can go.

Writing.com

Since being founded in 2000, Writing.com has grown out to be the single largest writing community site on the web – and not only thanks to the convenient web address. Even after a relatively recent design overhaul, the website still looks a bit old school. At times, browsing the website can feel a bit stiff, but what it misses in UI, it makes up for in content.

Users can hone their pen by writing within a number of subgroups, embedded in the Interactive and Non-interactive categories. Non-interactive documents are one-document short-stories, poems, essays, interviews and (despite the article subject) even non-fiction. Sadly, a premium membership is required to use the multiple chapter book templates.

The non-interactive categories include interactive stories, campfire stories (spinning stories in a group of close friends), and even quizzes.

Writing.com is the largest, and quite possibly the most feature-rich writing community. Because of its size, evidently not all writing hosted on the writing site is quality material. But the rich interaction, and support for independent formats, makes it a worthy place to try your pen.

Storybird

Storybird is a rather interesting collaborative storytelling project, focused around picture books. Ordinarily, two or more people connect over the site, and write part of the picture book in turn, in a robin go round style. Additional people need to invited by the one who started the story, so the collaboration is aimed on friends and family – perhaps a parent with child.

If you want, though, you can write the entire story on your own.

The pictures are supplied by a small army of artists. Before you hit off, the site asks you to pick a work of art from the gallery, or browse by art themes. Starting off from your initial pick, the Storyboard story maker, depicted above, is filled with a jumble of other drawings by the same artist. You can drag these drawings on the canvas, and add text. Finished picture books can be shared online, made public on the site or (in the future) even printed!

Protagonize

Protagonize is a modern, aesthetic writing community that’s been around since 2008, and has received much acclaim. It’s entirely based around collaborative storytelling, and is perhaps the only one of these kinds of writing sites that actually feels good to use.

Central are the interactive stories, or so-called addventures. These stories consist of small chapters, after which a choice is presented to the reader. The reader can effectively direct the character through the adventure.

It’s by all means not a new concept, but the web has given it a whole new dimension. It’s not just directing the story anymore. You can start, or continue on a whole new branch of the story, and everyone can contribute!

Apart from the addventures, you can also start a collaborative linear story, where other writers are able to add new fragments, but can’t branch off. If you’re not all the community-animal, you can opt for solo stories as well, but believe me when I say you’re missing out on a lot of fun.

Bibliofaction

Like Protagonize, Bibliofaction is focused on one kind of storytelling, but it’s not interactive. Instead, they believe in the power of the short story, it being “perfect for this busy day and age”. The main goal of Bibliofaction is to re-promote creativity to a generation that has been lulled by fixed-format reality TV, or for that matter, any kind of entertainment.

Like that, Bibliofaction is becoming the modern home of the short story, a day where writers and readers meet, and share experiences. Another nice incentive are the short story competitions, which are held by Bibliofaction. Show off the true might of your pen, and you might even win a couple of attractive prizes.

What do you think of the above writing sites? Do you know any alternatives, that we shouldn’t have missed? By all means, let us know in the comments section below.

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5 Websites With Free Photo Contests To Improve Your Photography Skills

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5 Websites With Free Photo Contests To Improve Your Photography Skills

via MakeUseOf.com by Bakari Chavanu on 8/25/10

One of the ways to take your photography to the next level is by entering photo contests. Photo contests can be both a challenge for you as a photographer as well as provide you with exposure for your skills and creativity.

There are several contests which require an entry fee, but if you’re just starting out, it will probably be best to check out several free options.

All but one of the contests listed below feature regular and monthly contests in which you can enter more than once. While the competition looks stiff for all these contests, the key to winning is submitting a lot and not being discouraged because you don’t win. Above all, just have fun.

When you enter photo contests, you become a part of a community of serious and talented photographers who are sharing their work with the world.

Ampersand Magazine

The UK-based magazine, Ampersand, is holding its first annual open photography competition. It’s open to all photographers, professional and non-professional.

”Submissions may or may not be landscapes, portraits, still lifes, wedding photography, glamour shots, theatrical scenes, wildlife, marketing photography, food photography, fashion photography, paparazzi or photo journalism. They may or may not be spontaneous or staged. They may or may not be natural or digitally augmented.”

The deadline is August 30th. A sample of the photos that have appeared in the magazine can also be viewed on their Tumbler.com site, Capture the Fade.

EverydayBabies

If you have a little newborn or baby whom you no doubt take photos of on a regular basis, everybabies offers a free monthly contest for photos of babies between the ages 0 and 4. Any parent or guardian can enter the contests which are open to contestants from around the world.

The rules and schedule for submissions are very straight forward and easy to enter. TheCuteKid has a similar free contest open to its members.

Soaphoto

The photo gallery website, Soaphoto holds a free monthly contest for its members. Check out the work of past contest winners to get a feel for the competition. The contest is limited to the U.S. and all photos submitted must be shot with a digital camera.

JPGMag

The very popular online photo magazine, JPGMag runs a series of thematic challenges, for self-portraits to urban photos. As a member of the free site, you can both submit and vote on entries for each challenge. Selections from the most favored photos are included in the magazine.

You do not have to subscribe to the magazine in order to participate. The challenges and photo guidelines have no geographic limits.

Photos2win

Photos2win is an international photography contest site that holds a series of contests for both its free and paying members. Open contests are based on a wide range of topics and the monetary prizes are from $50 and up.

See entry guidelines for more information.

The best way to prepare a photo contest is to visit photo sites and view popular and well made photos. Try out various shooting and photo processing and enhancement techniques, and shoot, shoot, shoot. Often your best shots are not planned but come as a result of lots of shooting.

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