We’ve included a diverse range of tools that allow you to comment, highlight text, draw shapes, and even electronically sign your documents. These tools are compatible with multiple platforms, including Windows, Mac, and mobile devices. So, irrespective of the device you’re using, you’re likely to find a suitable tool here. Whether you need a comprehensive PDF editor or a simple annotation tool, we’ve got something for everyone. Let’s delve into the best free PDF annotation tools available today.

SwifDoo PDF

SwifDoo is a simple and easy-to-use tool that can be your go-to solution for working with PDF documents. With just a few clicks, you can edit, convert, secure with a password, view, shrink, combine, or even electronically sign a PDF file.

Download SwifDoo PDF for:

Windows

Sejda

Sejda provides a comprehensive set of basic PDF editing and annotation features. These include options for text highlighting, strikethroughs, adding comments, and free-hand drawings. The tool also allows you to customize the style of your annotations.

Download Sejda for:

Windows Mac Linux

PDFsam Basic

PDFsam Basic offers a straightforward PDF editing experience, complete with annotation tools like text highlighting and underlining.

Download PDFsam Basic for:

Windows Mac Linux

LibreOffice Draw

LibreOffice Draw serves as a free vector graphics editor, complete with PDF annotation capabilities.

Download LibreOffice Draw for:

Windows Mac Linux Android iOS

Xodo PDF Reader & Editor

Xodo PDF Reader & Editor is a free tool that serves both as a PDF viewer and editor, featuring annotation tools like highlighting, underlining, and commenting.

Download Xodo PDF Reader & Editor for:

Windows Android iOS

Skim

Skim is a macOS-exclusive free PDF reader that comes with annotation features like highlighting.

Download Skim for:

Mac

Okular

Okular is a free PDF viewer that offers annotation features like highlighting, underlining, and note-taking.

Download Okular for:

Windows Linux

Adobe Reader

Adobe Reader is the official mobile app for iPhone and iPad users. It offers a range of features including form filling, electronic signatures, and various annotation tools like highlighting, strikethrough, underlining, freehand drawing, sticky notes, and text addition.

Download Adobe Reader for:

Windows Mac Linux Android

PDF-Notes free for iPad

PDF-Notes free for iPad is a free version of the premium app, pdf-notes. It offers a variety of annotation tools like pens, highlighters, and text notes, along with AirPrint support. The app also features smooth finger writing and a palm rest to prevent accidental marks.

Download PDF-Notes free for iPad for:

iOS

UPAD Lite

UPAD Lite is more than just a note-taking app; it also includes PDF annotation features. You can handwrite notes, highlight text, add sticky notes, and even include reference images. The app uses smooth retina ink for high-quality handwriting and allows exporting documents as PDF or PNG files.

Download UPAD Lite for:

iOS

Mendeley

Mendeley is a companion to its desktop version for Windows. It serves as a digital library where you can read, annotate, and organize various file types, including PDFs. The app offers features like citation generation, sticky notes, highlighting, and team collaboration.

Download Mendeley for:

iOS

PDF Max

PDF Max is a free iOS app that is excellent for annotating, form-filling, and note-taking. It supports Adobe’s Rich Text Format Typewriters and offers various annotation tools like highlighting, underlining, and commenting. The app also supports threaded conversations, making it ideal for collaboration.

Download PDF Max for:

iOS

PDFescape

PDFescape is a versatile tool for editing, annotating, and creating PDF forms. It also allows you to fill out forms, secure your files with passwords, and share them. The tool offers various annotation features like text comments, shapes, images, sticky notes, and highlights.

Download PDFescape for:

Windows

Foxit

Foxit is a robust PDF reader and editor that enables sharing, collaboration, and feedback through text markups, comments, highlights, and drawings. It also features an annotation management tool that allows you to view, import, export, and share comments via email.

Download Foxit for:

Windows Mac Linux

Nitro PDF Reader

Nitro is a professional PDF manager offering a range of text markup tools for highlighting, underlining, replacing, and crossing out text. You can also add comments, edit annotation details, and customize the visual elements of your markup.

Download Nitro PDF Reader for:

Mac iOS

PDF-XChange Editor

PDF-XChange Editor is an advanced PDF reader and editor offering a variety of free features, including 3D comments and linear measurements. You can also add audio files, file attachments, cloud annotations, and various distance and measurement annotations.

Download PDF-XChange Editor for:

Windows

Preview (Mac)

Preview is the built-in app for Mac users that allows basic PDF annotation. You can add highlights, text in various colors and fonts, and hand-draw on the document as needed.

Master PDF Editor

Master PDF Editor is a comprehensive PDF editing tool that also offers robust annotation features. You can add sticky notes, comments, shapes, and drawings to your documents. The tool even allows you to create custom stamps for use in your PDF reviews.

Download Master PDF Editor for:

Windows Mac Linux

MuPDF

MuPDF is a lightweight PDF viewer that offers a range of features for PDF editing, compression, and annotation. The tool provides a dedicated annotation toolbar for basic annotations like adding comments, graphics, highlights, and drawings.

Download MuPDF for:

Windows Mac Linux

Kami PDF Editor

Kami provides a wide array of PDF annotation features, allowing users to draw in various colors, add mathematical formulas, and highlight text freely. One unique feature is the ability to add video and audio comments to your documents. Additionally, you can save all annotations in a feedback bank for future use.

The post 20 Free PDF Tools to Annotate PDF Documents appeared first on Hongkiat.

With an eyedropper tool, you can click anywhere on your computer screen to grab and copy specific colors for your own personal use, such as making palettes or color schemes, and we want to save your resourcing troubles by listing more than 20 eyedropper tools with convenient features for PC and mobile phone.

No more trouble getting or memorizing the color codes; grab them to speed up your design work!

Eyedropper Desktop Apps

Colorpicker (Free)

A minimal desktop app, Colorpicker comes with a simple interface. It comes with a picker that allows you to grab any color on your screen and check its Hexadecimal or RGB code. You can also save your colors in a color book. Plus, there’s a tinting tool that helps you find the best tint.

Download for:

Windows

Just Color Picker (Free)

Just Color Picker is not just your average color picker. It displays colors in HTML, RGB, HEX, HSB/HSV, and HSL formats. It has a magnifier with three different settings, RGB and RYB color wheel to display triads and complementary colors, a color finder for harmonious matching, color code conversions, and much more!

Download for:

Windows Mac

Digital Color Meter (Native Mac)

Digital Color Meter is a macOS app that lets you find the value or code of any color by moving an aperture over any part of your screen. You will see the colors in a Digital Color Meter window. You can also increase or decrease the size of the aperture, lock its position, and change the format of the displayed color value.

ColorSlurp (Free)

Available as both an iOS and macOS app, ColorSlurp features a high-precision magnifier to get the color code information of any color on your screen. It enables you to organize palettes, check color contrast for accessibility, choose colors will your camera, and sync with iCloud.

Download for:

Mac

Color Peeker (Free)

A real-time digital color meter, Color Peeker that tells you the hex code of any color under your mouse pointer. The macOS app creates an icon in your menu bar so you can easily use it at any time. Plus, a simple right-click lets you copy the color code and you can use it anywhere.

Download for:

Mac

System Color Picker (Free)

System Color Picker sits quietly in your menu bar and gets up to work as you toggle it on. Through a small color sampler window, you can pick any color and check its information. You can copy the colors as Hex codes, RGB, HSL, or LCH.

Download for:

Mac

Pikka Color Picker (Free)

Pikka is a color picker and palette-generator tool that works perfectly with multiple screens. Just pick any color through the pointer and simply copy its value to the clipboard. Moreover, you can organize colors, upload selected colors on iCloud, create color schemes, create color shades and tints, and export colors as .ase or .clr files.

Download for:

Mac

RCWebColorPicker (Free)

RCWebColorPicker is a very simple tool that displays RGB value in HTML-friendly HEX value. You can limit the slider to show only web-safe colors if you prefer. This tool should show up in the color panel of most Cocoa and Carbon apps.

Download for:

Mac

Instant Eyedropper (Free)

Instant Eyedropper is a free tool that helps you find the HTML color codes of any pixel on your screen. With just a single click, the code will be copied to the clipboard, then you can paste it wherever needed.

Download for:

Windows

GetColor! (Free)

GetColor! is a very simple color picker that displays colors in RGB, HEX, HTML, and WinAPI formats. You can then copy one or all of them to the clipboard. It can also be minimized to the system tray.

Download for:

Windows

Color Cop (Free)

Color Cop may be small, but it has a lot of great features. You can use the eyedropper to grab colors from anywhere on the screen and even use the magnifying glass to zoom in for a closer view. Colors can be displayed in HTML hex, Delphi hex, Powerbuilder, Visual Basic, Clarion, Visual C++, RGB float, and RGB int formats, which will be automatically copied to the clipboard. You can save up to 7 colors in the history, find complementary and web-safe colors, minimize the app to the system tray, and more.

Download for:

Windows

ColorMania (Free)

ColorMania lets you pick colors from anywhere on your screen. There is also a built-in magnifier for greater accuracy. Colors can be displayed in RGB, HSV, HSL, and CMYK values. You can also save up to 6 colors in the palette.

Download for:

Windows

Eyedropper Mobile App

Pixolor (Free)

Pixolor is a live color picker Andorra app. It gives you a circle floating over your Android screen and shows you a zoomed view at pixel level and the color information of each pixel. You can copy the color code and use it in your image editing tool. It also shows you the coordinates of the central pixel.

Download for:

iOS Android

Eyedropper for Browsers

Color by Fardos (Free)

An intuitive color picker Chrome extension, Color by Fardos lets you pick and save colors from any site on the browser. You can also customize colors, save multiple colors and liner and circular gradients, adjust the keyboard shortcuts to your liking, find complementary shades and tints for any color, and much more.

Download for:

Chrome Firefox

Live color picker (Free)

Live Color Picker is a Chrome extension to select any color from any website and save it right through your browser tab. It lets you copy colors in different formats like HEX, RGB, and HSV. You can also adjust colors using the RGB ring and use it in your image editing tool.

Download for:

Chrome

Color Picker for Chrome (Free)

Color Picker for Chrome is an advanced eyedropper tool to find the information on any color in your browser. With the tool, you can copy colors in the HEX and RGB codes and use the copied codes anywhere. There’s a color picker palette pop-up to choose any color that you want, plus you can see a history of all colors picked.

Download for:

Chrome

PixelZoomer (Free)

PixelZoomer is great for grabbing colors and displaying them as HEX code. It works slightly differently from the norm because it renders web pages as screenshots and zooms in using a new CSS attribute. This is done so that the pixels are rendered crisp without using anti-aliasing.

Download for:

Chrome Firefox

ColorZilla (Free)

ColorZilla is just like your basic color picker, and eyedropper tool, except it lives in your browser. It’s an addon for Firefox that lets you grab the color of any pixel inside your browser. The built-in palette browser allows you to choose colors from pre-defined color sets and save the most used colors in custom palettes.

Download for:

Chrome Firefox

Eye Dropper (Free)

Eye Dropper is a great extension with an advanced color picker that lets you see the HSV, RGB, and HEX color values of the grabbed color. Colors are stored in your history for later reference, and it can also be copied to the clipboard.

Download for:

Chrome

Color Pick (Free)

Color Pick is a very simple eyedropper with an attached magnifier. Once you’ve picked your desired color, the extension will save it for you until you pick a new one. Colors are displayed in RGB, HSL, and HEX formats.

Download for:

Chrome Firefox

The post 20 Best Free Eyedroppers & Color Pickers for Designers appeared first on Hongkiat.

Here is a collection of iOS apps to have some fun with your photos. From amazing pencil sketches and frames to funny cartoons and caricatures, you can create just about anything with your photos. Take a look at the list and see which app piques your curiosity.

SketchMee

SketchMee turns your photos into pencil sketches in seconds. Unlike the apps that apply edge filtering to your photos, this one analysis and then redraws your photos into sketches from scratch.

You can upload any photo and use a range of sketching styles to apply to your pictures. You can even zoom into any part of your image and see the strokes. The sketches created are high-quality vector images that you can share or use in a project.

Pricing: $2.99

My Sketch

My Sketch lets you create high-quality pencil sketches of any photo or image. Using complex algorithms to create realistic sketches, this app gives you full control over the resulting sketch with multiple customization features.

There are more than 20 sketch styles you can choose from and add several effects to them. Plus, you can share the final product on Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, Flicker, or via email.

Pricing: $1.99

Selfish

Selfish is an AI-powered app to change your mundane selfies into fun photos. You can apply a number of cute and fun filters, effects, and masks to your selfies and check out each in the preview.

With 1000+ cool face filters, you can turn yourself into anything from a comic character to a baby. Once done, you can share your funny selfies on social media or other messaging apps.

Pricing: Selfish is free (Offers In-App Purchases).

INCREDIMOJI Celebrity FaceSwap

Incredimoji Celebrity FaceSwap is a face filter emoji creator app. It turns your face into an array of emoji filters, and you can preview each effect in real-time. The face-swap filters include celebrities, cartoon characters, famous people, and movie stars.

You can record yourself as singing karaoke with your face swapped with a favorite character or create your celebrity impersonation. Moreover, you can save your emoji and use it in iMessage chats.

Pricing: INCREDIMOJI is free (Offers In-App Purchases).

Faceover

Faceover is a face swap app for your photos and images. With it you can swap your face with another in a photo or add a celebrity’s face to your own.

It offers many photo editing features including cop, cut, paste, and edit which means the only limit is your imagination. Apart from creating fun photos, you can do some serious photo editing with it as well and save or share your photos on any platform.

Pricing: Faceover is free (Offers In-App Purchases).

MRRMRR

MRRMRR is a face filters app to have fun with your selfies. With dozens of unique and cool face filters, you can turn yourself into any character or celebrity or add interesting masks to your face.

The app keeps adding new filters or masks to the list, so you never get bored with it. You can share your fun images on social media or messaging apps or save them to share later.

Pricing: MRRMRR is free (Offers In-App Purchases).

Funny Face

Fun Face Photo Editor lets you create interesting images and add masks to your photos. There are filters for different occasions like Christmas, Birthdays, or Halloween.

You get more than 2000 animated stickers in the app, plus an array of frames and masks. The app is lightweight. However, it lacks the option to share your images directly on social media.

Pricing: Funny Face is free (Offers In-App Purchases).

InstaRage

InstaRage Photo Editor offers dozens of popular meme stickers that you can put on your photos and create instant memes yourself. With an intuitive interface, the app is really lightweight and simple to use.

There’s a collection of more than 480 meme stickers that you can apply to your photos. Plus, you can add text and add filters or overlays. give another life to famous memes with this app.

Pricing: InstaRage is free (Offers In-App Purchases).

YouCam Fun

YouCam Fun is a live face filters app. You can add crazy photo effects and fun backgrounds to your selfies in real time or create fun videos with face filters.

You can either edit your existing photos in the Camera Roll or add live filters, masks, or effects through your phone’s camera. Plus, you can save your creations of share on social media right through the app.

Pricing: YouCam Fun is free (Offers In-App Purchases).

AR Pho.to Cartoonizer

Augmented Reality Pho.to Cartoonizer lets you add various effects to your photos, including a cartoon effect. One of the unique things about this app is that you can apply realistic emotions to a face and then animate them. You can even turn yourself into an alien, troll, and other weird things just for fun.

Pricing: AR Pho.to Cartoonizer is free (Offers In-App Purchases).

BeFunky Photo Editor Pro

BeFunky has over 50 high-quality photo effects and 40 photo frames to add to your images. When you take a photo or upload one from your library, you’ll get real-time preview thumbnails showcasing each effect. This gives you a chance to decide which effect will look best.

Pricing: BeFunky is free (Offers In-App Purchases).

Paint FX Photo Effects Editor

Paint FX is an advanced app with filters, effects, enhancements, and more that can be applied to any part of your images with just a tap or swipe. This means that you don’t have to change the entire image at once; you can pick and choose which parts you want to change. You can also apply more than one effect to each part. This gives you an unlimited amount of possibilities to play with your images.

Pricing: $3.99

PhotoToaster

PhotoToaster is an advanced, well-designed app for iPhone and iPad. It gives you total control over your images and includes 60 different presets that can be used to change and enhance your photos. Its “sophisticated noise reduction’ feature is what makes PhotoToaster stand out from the rest; this helps to greatly enhance photos that were taken in low-lit areas.

Pricing: $2.99

Sketch Me

With Sketch Me! you can apply up to 7 different effects to your images, including a split screen mode. This means you can have half of your image sketched and the other half in its original form.

Pricing: Sketch Me is free (Offers In-App Purchases).

The post 10+ iPhone Apps to Have Fun With Your Photos appeared first on Hongkiat.

Let’s not forget the optimization part (SEO, keywords, etc) and sharing your content on the Web so that others will read it and hopefully share it.

With all of these steps involved, blogging can be quite time-consuming and many bloggers get burnt out rather quickly doing these things on a daily basis.

Lucky for us, the process doesn’t have to be so difficult anymore. Thanks to the web and technology, there are hundreds of tools out there to assist your blogging process and make it less of a headache.

This list will take a look at some of the top tools for and applications for making blogging easier.

Grammarly

Either you’re native or non-native English-speaker, chances are that you may often fall into spelling and grammar pitfalls while writing your blogs. So for such people who are doubtful about the strength of their writing, Grammarly is nothing short of a boon.

Grammarly, with the help of its AI-powered writing assistant, allows you to compose bold, clear, mistake-free writing. Moreover, you can organize your writing feedback according to your readers and even get suggestions on finding the perfect words to express yourself.

Canva

No matter how strong your textual content is, you always need graphical content to make your posts more enticing for the reader. But not everyone is a graphic designer and this is where Canva comes in handy.

With Canva you can design stunning graphics (flyers, posts, invitations, presentations, business cards, etc.) via pre-made templates or simply drag-n-drop elements like fonts, filters, icons, and stock images. Once done, you can save and use these graphics freely on your website.

My Stock Photos

A blogger never gets enough of stock photos. My Stock Photos offers 1259+ high-quality and creative stock photos that you can use in your blog posts and other projects. The images are added by a community of brilliant photographers and are regularly updated.

There are different categories to choose from and the interface is so simple that you won’t find any difficulty navigating the site. Also, all photos are licensed under CC0 license – meaning you can do whatever you want with our photos, including their usage in commercial projects.

Google Trends

An amazing service by the tech giant, Google Trends shows you the most searched phrases or terms on Google over a given period of time. For a blogger, it can be a useful source for comparative keyword research and to find out about event-triggered spikes in keyword search volume.

The tool shows you trending keywords from top to down. You can even enter a specific search term that you’re curious about and it’ll show you how search volume has varied for that term over time and in different locations.

Todoist

Creating new ideas, writing the blog posts, tinkering with the SEO, coordinating with writers, checking the analytics… there is a whole gamut of tasks that a blogger has to take care of. So to organize their personal and professional life better, Todolist can be a helpful tool.

You can use the app’s intuitive dashboard to create a list of things that you want to work on along with their priority and schedule. Within these tasks, you can create subtasks, designate the person responsible, see the task’s progress, and keep a record of the tasks completed.

Sumo

Sumo offers a set of different useful tools that help optimize your site’s growth and make your visitor’s experience easier on your website. From analytics and ecommerce to audience development widgets and viral components, there are a variety of tools that you can use right out of the box.

There are different ways you can use Sumo to grow your blog like, boost social shares on your website, give a hike to your site traffic, get more email subscriptions, and a lot more.

Keywordtool.io

In order to optimize your blog for search engine rankings, the best practice is to do a good keyword research. And so, the Keywordtool.io allows you to find out what your potential customers or readers are searching for on Google and create content around these topics.

The tool offers you to generate up to 750+ long-tail keyword suggestions for every search term and all the results are reliable. The best part is, you can use this tool for free and without even having to create an account on their website.

Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO is perhaps one of the most famous WordPress SEO plugins on the internet. And there is a good reason for that. It provides users with an array of useful features to optimize their website for higher SEO ranking.

Yoast allows you to optimize your site for keywords and keyphrases, provide readability check, making it easy for bots to crawl your site, ability to work in every WordPress editor, and a whole lot more. Moreover, the plugin is regularly updated for efficiency.

Hemmingway

A boon for blog writers who have to write professionally and frequently, the Hemmingway app points out grammatical mistakes, lengthy, complex sentences, and common errors in your writing.

When you enter a text in the Hemmingway app, it highlights different errors in different colors so you can easily make changes in your writing. Moreover, you can format your text right in the app and use it wherever you want.

Ahrefs

Bloggers cannot get enough SEO tools so here is one more in the list. Ahref is a set of comprehensive SEO tools that help you in optimizing your site for better search engine ranking.

With Ahref, you can research keywords or keyphrases that your readers are searching for, analyze your competitors, track your ranking progress, and a lot more. What’s more, is that there are free learning resources and great support available for the users.

Buffer

To keep abreast of your website’s performance and analytics on social media, you need a tool like Buffer. It is a simple tool that helps you publish your brand’s story on social media and measure its engagement rate among the audience.

Buffer allows you to schedule your social media postings for maximum effects. You can also use it to measure your performance on different social media platforms, create reports, and get insights on your campaign’s reach, engagement rate, and sales.

Meme Generator

Every blog can do with a good meme. And why not. It’s a fun way to put your message across. So, if you want to put up a meme in your post, instead of looking all over the internet for the perfect one, you can take help from the Meme Generator.

It is a simple app with an easy interface that allows you to search or generate any meme. There are different categories of the most viral memes that you can use as visual and add your own text to it.

Pocket

With this tool, you can save Web pages to your read-it-later list to be read at a later time. Items can be saved from your computer or mobile devices via numerous applications and integrations. You can access your list just about anywhere for online or offline reading.

A similar tool is Instapaper, which works in the same way, but doesn’t have as many applications. One of the best things about Instapaper is that you can forward full emails to save for later (Read-it-Later only allows you to save links via email).

Evernote

You can capture anything from Web pages to images, text, and voice notes with Evernote. Just like Pocket, there are numerous applications and integrations that let you save items to your account.

Your notes can be accessed from just about anywhere via a computer or mobile device. Plus, with the ability to search through all of your notes (even text within images), you’ll be able to find things super fast.

Diigo

With Diigo you can annotate the Web by highlighting, adding sticky notes, bookmarking, taking screenshots, saving images and more. You can then manage it all and reference your findings from your Diigo account for later use.

Best of all, whenever you return to a page that you’ve annotated, your notes will still be there. You can even see annotations that others have added to pages as well. You can use Diigo to annotate specific parts of Web pages that you want to use for a blog post or to save items that you want to read at a later time.

Open Live Writer

Open Live Writer is one of the most popular blog editors for the Windows platform. You can create new and edit previous blog posts, see what they’ll look like on your blog before publishing and set up multiple blogs.

You can add things like images, videos, Bing maps. There are also 100+ plugins that you can use with Open Live Writer in order to add more features and increase its functionality. Best of all, Open Live Writer is complete free.

BlogJet

BlogJet considers itself to be the “most advanced Windows blog editor and manager.” With it’s WYSIWYG editor, you don’t have to have any HTML knowledge. It’s very speedy and lets you add Flickr images, YouTube videos and file attachments.

There are numerous other amazing features and it works with numerous blogging formats. Unlike Windows Live Writer, BlogJet isn’t, but there is a free demo version.

ScribeFire

ScribeFire is an extension that you can get for Firefox, Chrome, Opera and Safari. It’s a full featured blog editor that lets you create and publish blog posts right from your browser.

You can drop and drop text and images, schedule blog posts for later, tag and categorize, edit pages, post to multiple blogs and more. While some find the endless features in ScribeFire overwhelming, others just can’t live without them.

Dropbox

Dropbox is the ultimate tool for syncing files between your computer and mobile devices. There is a Dropbox app for just about every device and system and there even more integrations with other apps.

So not only are your files always secure, but they’re always with you wherever you go. If you need to save files for use later, just add them to Dropbox or sync them using a supported app.

Google Docs

If you’re looking for a way to access your blog posts from anywhere, one of your best options is to create and save them in Google Docs. Since Google Docs is a web-based word processor, you can access your account no matter what device you’re on – computer or mobile device.

This allows you to work on the go, from anywhere. You can also collaborate in real-time with others, which makes Google Docs great for collaborative posts and projects.

Awesome Screenshot

Awesome Screenshot is a capture, annotation, and sharing tool by Diigo for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. You can capture the visible part of a page, selected area or entire page. Annotation tools include adding shapes (rectangles, circles), arrows, lines, and text.

There is also a blur tool that is great for protecting your privacy and personal information that you may capture. There are 3 options for saving your screenshots; you can save to the Awesome Screenshot website for a month, save to Diigo forever, or save on your computer.

FireShot

FireShot is an extension for Firefox, Chrome, Thunderbird, SeaMonkey, and Internet Explorer. It lets you capture, edit, annotate, organize, export, upload, and print screenshots from the Web.

There are quite a few capture options: entire page, visible part of page, selection or browser window. One of the unique things about FireShot is the full set of editing and annotation tools that it provides. Plus, it can even allow you to capture flash content.

More:

• Desktop File & Image Sharing Tools
• Screen Capture Tools: 40+ Free Tools and Techniques

Word Tracker

With SEO Blogger, you can “find the most sought-after keywords for your subject without ever leaving your blog editing screen.” It currently works only in the Firefox sidebar via an extension.

It allows you to research keywords, see how popular they are, and compare them instantly with other keywords.

You’ll also be able to see how many times you’ve used specific keywords in your content. This is great for keeping track of the keyword density in your posts which is a big part of SEO.

Desk

Desk is a wonderful little tool for writers and desktop publishing clients to work on writing, blogging, and note-taking. It is a simple yet intuitive app that helps you organize your thoughts and ready the content for publishing on your website or blog.

Desk supports different publishing platforms including WordPress, Blogger, Medium, and Tumblr etc. The app offers an array of writing modes, visual styles, and shortcuts. There’s also a preview mode for real-time editing and meta information section.

The post 20+ Essential and Free Blogging Tools appeared first on Hongkiat.

Granted, there are other things that can only be done from the backend like uploading media, creating categories, switching themes, creating new posts, and more. But having to constantly go to the WordPress Admin area just for a small change can be a huge setback if you have other things that require your attention.

Wouldn’t it be much easier if you could edit your content, add new posts, add new categories and such from the front-end? Thanks to the plugins on this list, you can. Below you’ll find 12 useful front-end plugins to use on your WordPress blog.

Recommended Reading: Beginner’s Guide To WordPress Plugin Development

Front End Upload

With this plugin, your visitors can upload files to your Media Library from the front-end of your blog. Just add a simple shortcode where you’d like the form to appear. You’ll get a notification when new items have been uploaded. The plugin has taken a number of precautions to ensure your safety and to protect you against malicious file uploads. [Get it here]

Front End Login Form

As the name suggests, this plugin adds a login form to the front-end of your blog. It’s a huge timesaver and really convenient. No longer will you or your members have to go to /wp-login or /wp-admin to log into your blog; you’ll be able to do so from wherever you’d like – via a shortcode. [Get it here]

WP Front-End Repository Manager

WP Front-End Repository Manager gives members of your site the ability to upload files and create directories. It includes AJAX-based validation, progress bar for uploads, customizable dialog messages, and you can restrict file types and sizes. Your members can add details to their files, and you can add custom file meta input fields for them to fill in when uploading files. [Get it here]

Front-End Editor

Don’t want to go to the WordPress dashboard for quick fixes? This is the plugin for you. With Front-End Editor, you can make quick changes to your content (pages, posts, comments, widgets, and more) from the front-end of your blog. It uses the same permissions as your backend so if a user isn’t allowed to edit from the Admin area, they won’t be able to edit from the front-end either. [Get it here]

Front-End Help / Feedback Widget

This plugin adds a quick messaging widget to your blog’s sidebar. Visitors can use it to send queries, request help, provide feedback and create support tickets. You’ll receive a simple email letting you know that a message was received, and you’ll get a link in the email so that you can quickly respond to the user. [Get it here]

Front End Theme Switcher

The Front End Theme Switcher plugin adds a drop down menu to your blog (in 1 of 4 locations) so that visitors can change the theme of your blog. With this plugin, you’re not limited to a single theme, and your visitors can choose their preferred look in seconds. [Get it here]

Back End Instructions

Back End Instructions delivers instructions to clients who require instructions on how to run their new WordPress site (built by developers) or readers with instructions on how to use a site. This plugin also serves multi-author blogs; the owner can add a checklist to the front-end of the blog. [Get it here]

DJD Site Post

If you accept guest posts on your blog, DJD Site Post adds a responsive front-end blog post editor to your blog (on a page or in the sidebar) letting guests write posts without having to go to the backend. There’s also translation options. [Get it here]

Frontend Publishing

Have a group of writers you regularly publish on your blog? Frontend Publishing allows them, once registered, to submit, edit, and delete posts from the front-end of your blog. All posts that meet your guidelines will be added to the pending queue, those that don’t will automatically be filtered out. You can also add instructions into the form, letting members know what can and can’t be included in their posts. [Get it here]

Guest Posts

Guest Posts allow both registered and unregistered users to use this front-end publishing form to submit posts. New submissions will then be added to the pending queue. It also saves the author’s name and email, making it easy for you to give credit to your guest authors. You can also automatically send a custom Thank You message after a post is submitted. [Get it here]

Live Edit

If you need to edit the title, content or any Advanced Custom Fields on your template, this is the perfect plugin. It provides a slide out panel for editing. With this plugin, you can specify the DIV elements that you want to be able to edit, thus creating multiple edit regions on a single page. [Get it here]

User-Dashboard

The name says it all: this plugin adds the user dashboard to the front-end of your blog. The registration/login form along with forgot password, edit profile, and edit profile picture will all appear on the front-end. Just add the shortcode to a post or page and the dashboard will appear. [Get it here]

Conclusion

As you can see, these plugins can prove to come in handy for different tasks in WordPress. It’s just a matter of figuring out what you need and what works for you. Do you use front-end plugins on your blog? If so, which ones are you using? Let us know in the comments.

The post 12 WordPress Plugins To Manage Front-End Content appeared first on Hongkiat.

Firefox Collections make it easy to keep track of your favorite add-ons and share them with the world. You can follow any collection to keep track of updates (newly added add-ons), try out recommended add-ons and even test out brand new ones. Most of these collections bear the ratings for the add-ons to help you decide, and these collections are often better-targeted and more actively curated by the collection owners.

Here are just some of the Firefox collections that I have come across that I’m sure will help you out one way or another. From travel and social network add-ons to productivity and privacy-focused add-ons, you’ll find a whole spectrum of items in the list. Let’s take a look.

Web Developer’s Toolbox

Firefox has a great selection of Web development add-ons and this collection brings the best of them together. So far there are 14 add-ons to help you troubleshoot, edit and debug Web projects all from within Firefox.

Top Add-ons: Firebug, Greasemonkey, Stylish, iMacros, User Agent Switcher, Web Developer.

Reference Desk

Looking for the best way to document useful Web pages, links, text and images? This collection is great for students, researchers, writers, bloggers or anyone else who does a lot of Web research or maybe those who just like to save things for later.

Top Add-ons: Evernote Web Clipper, Pocket, ScrapBook, StumbleUpon, SimilarWeb.

Family Organizer

As the name implies, this collection is aimed at families. The add-ons listed can be used to create a “safe and fun online experience” for mothers, fathers and children. So far there’s only 6 on the list, but let’s hope that it is actively updated.

Top Add-ons: Web of Trust, ReminderFox, Integrated Inbox, FoxFilter.

Traveler’s Pack

If you travel a lot and usually plan the trips yourself, having add-ons to help with the process (planning, booking, documenting) can help tremendously. That’s just what this collection aims to do.

Top Add-ons: Self-Destructing Cookies (useful if you’re planning a surprise trip), Forecastfox Weather, FoxClocks, Simple Currency Converter.

Firebug Add-ons

Firebug is a very popular Web development tool that integrates with Firefox. You can use it to edit, debug and monitor CSS, HTML and JavaScript for any Web page. If you use Firebug frequently, this collection is a great way to keep up with add-ons to help extend this amazing tool.

Top Add-ons: Firebug, YSlow, FirePHP, CodeBurner, FireQuery, Firefinder.

The Paranoid Kit

There are quite a few privacy/security collections, but I really like this one because the collector has taken the time to write a useful note for each add-on featured. The selected security add-ons are said to be “relatively passive and produce minimal disturbance in typical day-to-day browsing.”

Top Add-ons: Adblock Plus, NoScript, LastPass, User Agent Switcher, BetterPrivacy, Lightbeam.

Online Shopping

This collection will really come in handy for any special holiday when shopping deals are at their best. Whether you’re a shopaholic or just like saving money when shopping, these add-ons can help you to do just that. Now you’ll never miss out on those great sales!

Top Add-ons: CouponsHelper, Ciuvo – Price check in your Browser, PriceBlink, Boo.ly Shopping, The Amazon 1Button App, InvisibleHand.

Add-ons for Google Products

Do you use all or most of Google’s products like YouTube, Gmail, Google Calendar and Google search? If so, this collection can help make using these tools even easier. The add-ons on this list can extend the functionality of Google’s most popular services.

Top Add-ons: Video DownloadHelper, Feedly (a Google Reader replacement), Gmail Manager, SearchPreview, Google Shortcuts, Shareaholic.

Social Circuit

Are you a social networking addict or just like sharing cool things on to your social networking accounts? Then this collection is for you. It includes social networking add-ons to help make sharing easier, and to give you easy access to the most popular social sites.

Top Add-ons: ChatZilla, StumbleUpon, Facebook Toolbar, Yoono, Thumbnail Zoom, Shareaholic.

Sports Fanatic

The name says it all. If you’re a sports fanatic, the add-ons in the collection are sure to help cater to your sports addiction. These add-ons can help you get the latest scores, highlights and news for your favorite sports team.

Top Add-ons: FootieFox, Are You Watching This?! Sports, Pickemfirst Fantasy Sports.

Privacy

In case The Paranoid Kit collection doesn’t meet your needs, this is another privacy collection that is also useful. The add-ons listed are more geared toward making you anonymous on the Web as well as covering and erasing your tracks.

Top Add-ons: Adblock Plus, anonymoX, NoScript, Ghostery, Web Of Trust, BetterPrivacy.

Gmail Add-ons You Must Have

Gmail is a great online email service, but you can make it even better with the add-ons in this collection. Whether you want to get notifications of new email messages, bring all your favorite Google services to Gmail or add a cool email signature, this collection is perfect for the job.

Top Add-ons: X-notifier, Gmail Manager, Integrated Inbox, WiseStamp.

Web Application Security Penetration Testing

This is definitely an interesting collection; it is said to include “Web hacking tools” for Firefox. Besides the usuals like Firebug, Greasemonkey and User Agent Switcher, you’ll find add-ons on the list to help you debug JavaScript, view and modify HTTP/HTTPS, view JSON documents, test for SQL injection vulnerabilities and much more.

Top Add-ons: Firebug, Greasemonkey, iMacros, User Agent Switcher, Web Developer, FoxyProxy.

Web Pro

The earlier mentioned Web Developer’s Toolbox is a collection just for Web developers, but this Web Pro collection is for Web developers and designers. Some of the add-ons listed may overlap, but you’ll find a lot of useful add-ons for designers and even some different ones for developers.

Top Add-ons: Video DownloadHelper, Firebug, DownThemAll!, Greasemonkey, iMacros, Flagfox.

Firefox Accessibility Add-ons

This is a really thoughtful collection to say the least. The add-ons listed have been tested by the Collector and are found to be very helpful for people with visual impairments. The collection has a focus on “a user’s interactions with sites and Firefox.”

So if you have some type of visual impairment (partially sighted, low vision, legally blind), or just have a hard time seeing specific Web pages, these add-ons should be able to help you see better in Firefox.

Top Add-ons: Adblock Plus, Stylish, Tab Mix Plus, Web Developer, FireGestures, ColorfulTabs.

The post 15 Firefox Collections To Suit Your Online Browsing Needs appeared first on Hongkiat.

If you are active on Google+ there are a lot of communities for web designers or UI designers to join. Google+ Communities are like online groups or forums where people can come together to talk about a common hobby, interest or career (such as Design). Only members of a given community can see your posts in their stream. As a designer, this is great because you can share your work and get feedback from thousands of other designers, for free.

In the design communities below, you’ll find lots of great information, freebies, tips and tricks, and personal design work from members. Plus, you can ask for help or offer help to others. Let’s find the perfect Google+ design community for you. (Note: Number of members listed for each community is accurate as of time of writing.)

Web Developer, Web Design, Web Coding

Whether you’re a Web designer or developer, you’ll love this community. It’s the perfect place for discussions, question and answers, brainstorming and anything else related to Web design and development. There’s even a category for job postings, so if you’re looking for work be sure to check it out. You could find a side project to work on, or even a full-time job. There’s plenty of information for beginners and even for seasoned designers and developers.

Categories in the community: HTML5 / CSS, Graphic Design / UI, Ajax / Javascript, PHP, ASP / .NET, Python / Django, Ruby / Rails, Perl, DBMS, Java / C / C++

Members: 88,000+

Android App Design

This community is the place for Android app designers. There’s a special category just for beginners, which is great for those just starting out. If you’re looking to improve the design of your app(s), you can request feedback and suggestions from over 70k members. Of course, you can also share design tips and tricks, screenshots from your favorite apps, design mockups and more.

Categories in the community: Design Feedback Requests, Documentation and Resources, Design Tools, Design Tips and Tricks, General Discussion

Members: 86,000+

Web Development

Although this community is called “Web Development,” the description states that it’s a community for Coders, Web designers, clients and anyone who loves Web development. Despite its focus on development, you’ll find a lot of information, tips and tricks regarding Web design as well. It’s also great for designers who may be looking to get into development and want to start learning the ropes. You’ll find that most design related topics are in the general "Discussion" category.

Categories in this community: PHP, Joomla, WordPress, Adobe Flash, HTML5 / CSS, Drupal, MySQL, Perl, Python, Ajax, Tutorials, Tips, Projects

Members: 41,000+

SEO+ – Search Engine Optimization / Website Design

This is an SEO community that also focuses on Web design, among other topics. If you want to learn about SEO and how it’s affected by web design, this is a great place. You can also learn about designing landing pages for SEO, designing viral content, responsive Web design, WordPress design and more. If you manage your own website or blog and want to learn how SEO and Web design work together to help boost your rankings, this is a great community to join.

Categories in this community: Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, Mobile SEO, Google Webmaster Tools, Google+ Tips, Blogging for SEO, Web Design, Responsive Web Design and, SEO / Tech Humor

Members: 31,000+

Graphic Design

The graphic design community focuses on all things creative such as: typography, logo design, print design, illustration, infographics, branding, motion graphics and Web design. You can share your design work and get feedback, discover great tips and tricks, find design freebies to download (UI kits, backgrounds, vectors, icons, etc) and more. This community is slightly more strict. There’s quite a few rules to follow (mostly don’ts), so be sure to read through them before posting.

Categories in this community: Adobe Suite, Advice, Inspiration, Professional, Package Design

Members: 14,000+

Web Design

This community is all about Web design. From tips and tricks to freebies to actual design work from members, you’ll find it all here. Be warned that you must post in the correct category, or your post may disappear completely (get deleted) from the community. As with any community, you’re expected to not just post, but also contribute and interact with other members and posts. Although “all topics are covered,” there aren’t very many categories to choose from.

Categories in this community: Ask Someone, Inspiration, Trends, UX, UI, Ask for Feedback, Self Promotion (which should be done tastefully and in moderation)

Members: 10,000+

UI Design

This is simply a community for sharing thoughts and ideas on UI design. If web, desktop or mobile UI (user interface) is your thing, this is community is for you. You’ll get to see a lot of UI design work from other members and can provide feedback. Freebies are also posted like templates, UI kits, mobile GUIs among others. You’ll also come across occasional job listings, questions and of course, tips and tricks.

Categories in this community: Intro, General Discussion, iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Web, UI Patterns/Framework.

Members: 5, 900+

Final Thoughts

Thanks to these top Google+ communities for designers, you really have some great sources for things like tips and tricks to freebies that you can download. Plus, you can connect, find and even colloborate with other designers.

I encourage you to read the Community Policy/Guidelines for each community (most have them). You’ll usually find a link in the description box (“About this community”), so that you can understand the do’s and don’ts for that specific community. You don’t want your posts or yourself removed from a community for not following the rules.

Are you a member of any of these communities? If so, which one is your favorite?

The post Top Designer Google+ Communities You Should Follow appeared first on Hongkiat.

In a nutshell, a shortcode is basically a shortcut to a long script or piece of code. Even though WordPress has its own set of shortcodes that you can use within your blog’s posts and pages, there are a whole lot more shortcodes available out there, with a ton more flexibility to offer.

Shortcodes can be inserted manually into your blog theme or via a plugin. The problem is finding one that suits what you want to do on your blog. Fret not, in this post, we’ll showcase 10 WordPress plugins that add shortcode functionality to your blog, along with 10 codes that you can add yourself.

WordPress Plugins

Here are some plugins that allow you to use or custom-build shortcodes for use on WordPress. Where relevant, an alternative plugin that does pretty much the same thing is suggested after each plugin.

Shortcode

A simple plugin that adds several useful shortcodes for you to show off your blog’s contents quantitatively. A few of the codes include:

• [postcountbr] – displays total number of published blog posts
• [catcountbr] – displays total number of categories that contain one or more posts
• [tagcountbr] – displays total number of tags that contain one or more posts
• [totalwords] – displays total number of words in published posts
• [commentcount] – displays the total number of approved comments
• [pagecount] – displays the total number of published pages

WordPress Shortcodes

This plugin includes more than 20 WordPress shortcodes and an easy-to-use shortcode editor. You can use it to add cool elements like:

• SEO-ready tabs, buttons
• author cards
• message boxes
• smart links
• sections
• lists, etc to your blog.

You can even combine multiple nested shortcodes to create unique elements like a list of buttons or links.

More: Two similar plugins are J Shortcodes and Arconix Shortcodes – which also have a collection of useful shortcodes for use, e.g. to create content and information boxes, buttons, tabs, accordion panels, toggles and more.

Post Content Shortcodes

This plugin adds two shortcodes:

[post-content] – lets you display the content of a single post or page, within another post or page. You must use an argument within the shortcode to specify the post ID. You can also use arguments to display a featured image, post excerpt, and post title.

[post-list] – displays a list of posts within another post. It also supports optional arguments for customizing the list such as order options, post types/statuses to use, display images, excerpts, etc. You can even pull a list of posts from another blog, by adding the blog’s ID as an argument in the shortcode.

More: If want to display a list of attachments within a post, check out the List Attachments Shortcode plugin (by the same developer).

Shortcoder

Shortcoder lets you create custom shortcodes via a visual editor. You can also store frequently used text, HTML, and JavaScript snippets. It has a tinyMCE button that you can use from the blog editor to insert shortcodes, thereby allowing you to add your own custom shortcodes.

More: If you’re looking for something similar, try out Shortcode Manager, which lets you create, manage, import and export shortcodes.

Hide Broken Shortcodes

Sometimes, you may have accidentally disabled shortcodes, leaving their functionality somewhat disrupted. Rather than go through each page or post to remove these "broken" shortcodes, an easier way is just to hide them. This plugin will help you do that.

More: Hide Unwanted Shortcodes is a similar plugin that works to prevent broken shortcodes from showing up on the site. You can then edit the shortcode from the plugin’s settings page.

Column Shortcodes

If you’re looking for an easy way to create columns within your posts and pages, this is the perfect shortcode plugin. Just choose your desired column width from the shortcode selector pop up, and it will be added to the post editor. There are 10 column widths to choose from full width down to one sixth. You can also customize the padding of each individual column.

Metaphor Shortcodes

If you’re looking for a responsive column grid for your posts and pages, try out the Metaphor Shortcodes plugin. You can set certain attributes for your columns such as span, start, end, and class. This plugin also comes with a few other handy shortcodes, including:

• Post Block Shortcode – display the title and excerpt of any post type, anywhere on your blog
• Post Slider Shortcode – create a horizontal slider of any post type and display within your content
• Pricing Table Shortcode – create various types of pricing tables to display within your content

ShortCodes UI

ShortCodes UI is another plugin for creating shortcodes that come with its own tinyMCE and Quicktag buttons. You can easily insert shortcodes in your posts and pages from both the visual and HTML editors.

It is great for beginners who know little about code, and there are video tutorials to help. For those who know a little more about code, they would probably appreciate the syntax highlighting code editor. There is also an import/export feature so you can move your shortcodes from one site to another and even share with friends.

More: My Shortcodes is a similar plugin with a beautiful UI that lets you create custom shortcodes. Within the plugin’s admin panel, you can manage, edit, activate/deactivate, and export elements and shortcodes. The live preview lets you see how your shortcode looks without adding it to a post or page.

Last Updated Shortcode

This is a very simple plugin that lets you add the [lastupdated] shortcode to your posts and pages. It will then display the date and/or time of the last update. There are also options to change how the date/time is formatted.

Geoportail Shortcode

This one adds a Geoportail map into your posts and pages with a shortcode. You can then set the map size, zoom level, location (latitude and longitude), size (normal, mini), territory, layers and more. The map supports geotagging (which you can enable with this plugin Geolocation), so the location of your posts will be reflected.

The plugin also includes a shortcode builder, for custom map shortcodes, and a live preview, so that you can see your map before posting it.

Shortcodes

These are fun and simple shortcodes that you can use on your blog – no plugin necessary. For each shortcode we will provide you with:

• The meat of the shortcode – a long piece of code that must be pasted into the Theme functions file (functions.php) for your blog, from the Editor in the WordPress dashboard (Appearance > Editor).
• The shortcode, which can be placed anywhere within your posts and pages, to add functionality.

Some of these may need a little customization (i.e. adding your own Google AdSense code), so you’ll need to know a thing or two about editing codes. Others may have optional parameters that you can add, like width and height. You can find out more by clicking on the link for each shortcode.

Insert AdSense Ads

Insert AdSense ads within your content, wherever you’d like.

Shortcode: [adsense]

Code:

function adsense_shortcode( $atts ) {
		extract(shortcode_atts(array(
        	'format' => '1',
        ), $atts));
        
        switch ($format) {
        		case 1 :
               		$ad = '<script type="text/javascript"><!-- 
        				google_ad_client = "pub-6928386133078955";
						/* 234x60, created 16/09/08 */
						google_ad_slot = "0834408702";
						google_ad_width = 234;
						google_ad_height = 60;
						//-->
						</script>
						<script type="text/javascript"
						src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
						</script>';
				break;
		}
		return $ad;
}
add_shortcode('adsense', 'adsense_shortcode');

Show Related Posts

Show related posts above or below your content.

Shortcode: [related_posts]

Code:

function related_posts_shortcode( $atts ) {
		extract(shortcode_atts(array(
	    'limit' => '5',
	), $atts));
    
    global $wpdb, $post, $table_prefix;
    
    if ($post->ID) {
			$retval = '<ul>';
			// Get tags
			$tags = wp_get_post_tags($post->ID);
			$tagsarray = array();
			foreach ($tags as $tag) {
					$tagsarray[] = $tag->term_id;
			}
			$tagslist = implode(',', $tagsarray);
			
			// Do the query
			$q = "SELECT p.*, count(tr.object_id) as count
					FROM $wpdb->term_taxonomy AS tt, $wpdb->term_relationships AS tr, $wpdb->posts AS p WHERE tt.taxonomy ='post_tag' AND tt.term_taxonomy_id = tr.term_taxonomy_id AND tr.object_id  = p.ID AND tt.term_id IN ($tagslist) AND p.ID != $post->ID
								AND p.post_status = 'publish'
								AND p.post_date_gmt < NOW()
					GROUP BY tr.object_id
					ORDER BY count DESC, p.post_date_gmt DESC
					LIMIT $limit;";

			$related = $wpdb->get_results($q);
			if ( $related ) {
					foreach($related as $r) {
							$retval .= '
	<li><a title="'.wptexturize($r->post_title).'" href="'.get_permalink($r->ID).'">'.wptexturize($r->post_title).'</a></li>
';
			} else {
					$retval .= '
	<li>No related posts found</li>
';
			}
			$retval .= '</ul>
';
			return $retval;
	}
	return;
}
add_shortcode('related_posts', 'related_posts_shortcode');

Insert PayPal Donation Link

Add a PayPal button, making it easy for readers and visitors to donate.

Shortcode: [donate]

Code:

function donate_shortcode( $atts, $content = null) {
	global $post;extract(shortcode_atts(array(
		'account' > 'your-paypal-email-address',
		'for' => $post->post_title,
		'onHover' => '',
	), $atts));
	if(empty($content)) $content='Make A Donation';
			return '<a href="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?
$account.'&item_name=Donation for '.$for.'" title="'.$onHover.'">'.$content.'</a>';
}
add_shortcode('donate', 'donate_shortcode');

Display A Google Map

Add a Google Map of any location to your posts.

Shortcode: [googlemap src="google_map_url"]

Code:

function rockable_googlemap($atts, $content = null) {
   extract(shortcode_atts(array(
               "width" => '940',
               "height" => '300',
               "src" => ''
   ), $atts));

return '<div>
			<iframe src="'.$src.'&output=embed" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" 
marginheight="0" scrolling="no" width="'.$width.'" height="'.$height.'"></iframe>
		</div>
		';
}

add_shortcode("googlemap", "rockable_googlemap");

Display External Files

Add external files like text and images into your posts.

Shortcode: [show_file file="http://www.test.com/test.html"]

Code:

function show_file_func( $atts ) {
  extract( shortcode_atts( array(
    'file' => ''
  ), $atts ) );

  if ($file!='')
    return @file_get_contents($file);
}

add_shortcode( 'show_file', 'show_file_func' );

Add A Login Form

Add a login form to your posts and pages, not just the sidebar.

Shortcode: [devpress-login-form]

Code:

function devpress_login_form_shortcode() {
	if ( is_user_logged_in() )
		return '';

	return wp_login_form( array( 'echo' => true ) );
}

function devpress_add_shortcodes() {
	add_shortcode( 'devpress-login-form', 'devpress_login_form_shortcode' );
}

add_action( 'init', 'devpress_add_shortcodes' );

Display Private Notes

Add a private note to your post or page that will only be visible to admins.

Shortcode: [note]Your Note Here[/note]

Code:

add_shortcode( 'note', 'sc_note' );

function sc_note( $atts, $content = null ) {
	 	if ( current_user_can( 'publish_posts' ) )
				return '<div class="note">'.$content.'</div>';
		return '';
}

Registered Users Only Content

Add content that only registered users of your blog can see.

Shortcode: [member]For Registered Users Only[/member]

Code:

add_shortcode( 'member', 'member_check_shortcode' );

function member_check_shortcode( $atts, $content = null ) {
		if ( is_user_logged_in() && !is_null( $content ) && !is_feed() )
				return $content;
		return '';
}

Embed YouTube Videos

Not only can this embed YouTube videos, but it can also be used for other media like audio and images.

Shortcode: [youtube id="_ggWarwhv9M"]Check out this video![/youtube]

Code:

function wptuts_youtube($atts, $content=null){  

    extract(shortcode_atts( array('id' => ''), $atts));  

    $return = $content;  
    if($content)
		$return .= "<br /><br />"; 

	 $return .= '<iframe width="560" height="349" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/' . $id . '" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>'; 

	 return $return;
}  
add_shortcode('youtube', 'wptuts_youtube');

Obfuscate Email Address

Keep your email safe from spammers by rendering it unclear when scraped from a page.

Shortcode: [email address="you@email.com"]

Code:

function emailbot_ssc($attr) {
    extract( shortcode_atts( array(
        'address' => '',
    ), $attr ) );

	 $email = '<a class="email_link" href="mailto:'.antispambot($attr['address']).'" title="Send Us An Email" target="_blank">';
	 $email .= antispambot($attr['address']);
	 $email .= '</a>';

	 return $email;
}
add_shortcode('email', 'emailbot_ssc');

The post 20 WordPress Shortcodes and Plugins You Might Want To Try appeared first on Hongkiat.

However, what happens when you don’t have access to the internet or have a slow connection? It’s not uncommon for people to find themselves in situations where they need to work offline. This is where offline Chrome extensions come in handy. These are extensions that can be used even when you don’t have an internet connection. In this blog post, we’ll be exploring ten of the best Chrome extensions for productivity that you can use offline.

1. Momentum

Momentum is a personal dashboard designed to eliminate distraction and provide inspiration. It replaces the default Chrome new tab page with a beautiful dashboard that includes a to-do list, inspirational quotes, weather updates, and more. Even if you are offline, you can still access your to-do list and see the beautiful background images.

2. StayFocusd

StayFocusd is a productivity extension that helps you stay focused and avoid distractions. It allows you to block or limit access to time-wasting websites and apps. You can customize the settings to your liking, and it works even when you’re offline.

3. Grammarly

Grammarly is an AI-powered writing assistant that helps you improve your writing by checking your grammar, spelling, and punctuation. It works with many online writing platforms like Google Docs, but it also has a standalone app that works offline. You can write your documents offline and then copy and paste them into Grammarly to check for errors before sending them.

4. MomoNote

MomoNote is a personal memo application that can serve as a private diary, personal journal, or just a place to jot down your notes and ideas.

If you’re using the iPad or iPhone version, this Web version can sync with the mobile versions and via your Google account.

5. Task Timer

If you need help managing your time, for example, keeping track of how much time you waste on your social networks, Task Timer can help you manage your time better, by showing you how you are spending your precious 24 hours.

You can also add goals to your tasks, and get desktop notifications with sound.

6. Scribble

Scribbles is described as “stickies on steroids.” With it, you can create sticky notes on a single Chrome tab and access them whenever you like.

It’s a great way to organize your quick thoughts, ideas, reminders, tasks and more.

7. SocialBro

SocialBro is a great Twitter CRM dashboard that’s especially great for social media and community managers.

It includes analytics reports, Twitter list management, competitor analysis, hashtag and keyword monitoring, advanced search, filters, and more.

8. Color Piano!

If you get too bored while being offline, you can use this app to learn the piano. Much like the old-school game Simon Says, Color Piano uses colors to teach you songs; there’s no need for sheet music.

9. Stellarium on rollApp

If you’re into astronomy, you’ll love Planetarium. It’s an interactive sky map that lets you explore the stars and planets. You can see over 1500 stars, up to a magnitude of +5.

10. Scientific Calculator

The Scientific Calculator app is great for simple as well as advanced calculations. Not only is the calculator programmable, but it also lets you save scripts online and into a local library.

The post 10 Chrome Extensions For Productivity You Can Use Offline appeared first on Hongkiat.

Some WordPress Themes that scroll horizontally may put you in the mind of reading a book – something that many readers are sure to appreciate. Horizontal-scrolling themes are also great for designers, artists and illustrators who want to showcase their work since it’s a more natural way of looking through designs and artwork.

No matter your reasoning for wanting to use a side-scrolling theme, you’re sure to find one below that really suits you. Here are 17 premium horizontal-scrolling WordPress themes.

Fluxux

Fluxux is a beautiful magazine-inspired portfolio theme with three different homepage types: slideshow, "hello," and portfolio with horizontal scrolling. It also features horizontal portfolio pages, a horizontal blog, a contact page with Google Maps integration, shortcodes and integrated social sharing.

[Features | Demo | $45.00]

Parkour

Parkour is a responsive theme that comes with three different types of blog styles, two of which scroll horizontally. It’s loaded with features like a full-screen portfolio page, six color schemes, custom widgets, contact page with Google Maps integration, shortcodes and much more.

[Features | Demo | $40.00]

The Curator

The Curator is a unique semi-responsive timeline theme for museums, artists and designers that want to display their work in chronological order. Your content can be sorted by year, decade, century, or millennium. It includes image sliders for each post and Theme Options thanks to the OptionTree plugin.

[Features | Demo | $50.00]

Crea WP

Crea WP is a really unique flash-like theme built with HTML5 that features a full-screen layout, horizontal page transitions, parallax background, two types of sliders (fade and carousel) and three custom content types (photo albums, portfolio, slides). With the integrated background builder, you can customize the colors and position of your background and even add layers.

[Features | Demo | $35.00]

Horizzon

Horizzon is a creative theme with multiple columns; you can choose to use the columns layout, wide columns layout, or classic wide layout. You can also navigate the theme using your mouse or keyboard. With unlimited color variations, a custom background, Google fonts, shortcodes and four portfolio styles, this theme really gives a lot of flexibility.

[Features | Demo | $35.00]

KIN

KIN is a minimalistic theme made for photographers. While the homepage and galleries scroll horizontally, all other page types scroll vertically. KIN has two theme skins (black and white), includes Google fonts, has a built-in image zoom feature and comes with a contact page.

[Features | Demo | $40.00]

Sideways

As the name suggests, this is a theme that scrolls sideways; it includes a horizontal blog and portfolio page. The unique full-screen image background is unique because it allows you to use a different image for each of your pages. You can also use a full-screen slideshow as your background. In addition, there are custom widgets, shortcodes, Theme Options and a contact form with basic spam protection.

[Features | Demo | $45.00]

Modern Metro

Modern Metro is a responsive column-based theme with unlimited colors options. While its Web version scrolls horizontally, the mobile version still adopts the vertical scrolling orientation. You can even set multiple featured images for each of your pages and posts. With the built-in share panel, visitors can share your work with ease.

[Features | Demo | $40.00]

Montana

Montana is a simple portfolio theme with five color variations, shortcodes and a contact form with Google Map integration. This is a great theme for designers, photographers, artists and illustrators. There are numerous page templates to choose from, including a horizontal-scrolling blog.

[Features | Demo | $35.00]

Stuff

Stuff is a column-based theme with horizontal-scrolling pages and would work great for a blog or portfolio. There are 12 color schemes, two portfolio templates and two page templates. There’s also a simple contact form with spam prevention. You can easily add your Google Analytics script (or any other tracking system) in the admin options.

[Features | Demo | $40.00]

Acid

Acid is a unique and responsive and comes in three different themes: colorful hipster, serious black and retro grandma. It would work great as a portfolio or blog. There are two different ways to display your portfolio and it features unlimited scrolling and retina-ready social icons. There’s a footer that can be switched on/off when you choose and there are unlimited background patterns and images.

[Features | Demo | $45.00]

Have you considered using or are you currently using a horizontal-scrolling WordPress theme on your blog? Share your thoughts.

The post 10+ Premium Horizontal Scrolling WordPress Themes appeared first on Hongkiat.

Various tools help you backup your data from various several sites all at once, like SocialSafe and Backupify but if you’re only looking to archive only a site or two, then these may not be the best options for you. Plus, they don’t let you backup your data to your Cloud storage be it Dropbox, Google Drive, SkyDrive, Evernote or Box.

But there is an alternative: IFTTT recipes.

IFTTT, In A Nutshell

If you’re unfamiliar with IFTTT, it’s an online automation tool that lets you create ‘recipes’ (Internet tasks) using triggers and actions. IFTTT stands for: If This, Then That. The best thing about the service is that you get to fill in what happens for ‘this’ and ‘that’ with a large variety of channels like Facebook, RSS, email, Pocket, Evernote, HootSuite, and more.

So without further ado, here are 35 awesome IFTTT recipes to archive your social media data.

Facebook

Facebook to Google Spreadsheet

Archive your Facebook posts to Google Spreadsheet.

[Recipe]

Facebook to Box

Archive your Facebook photo uploads to Box.

[Recipe]

Facebook to Dropbox

Archive the photos you are tagged in on Facebook to Dropbox.

[Recipe]

Facebook to Dropbox

Archive your uploaded Facebook photos to Dropbox.

[Recipe]

Facebook to Evernote

Archive links that you share on Facebook to Evernote.

[Recipe]

Twitter

Twitter to Evernote

Archive tweets marked as a favorite to Evernote.

[Recipe]

Twitter to Evernote

Archive all your tweets to Evernote (gets around policy changes) .

[Recipe]

Twitter to Dropbox

Archive all your tweets to Dropbox.

[Recipe]

Twitter to Instapaper

Archive tweets marked as ‘favorite’ to Instapaper.

[Recipe]

Twitter to Pocket

Archive tweets marked as a favorite to Pocket.

[Recipe]

Instagram

Instagram to Evernote

Archive all your Instagram photos to Evernote.

[Recipe]

Instagram to Dropbox

Archive all your Instagram photos to Dropbox.

[Recipe]

Instagram to Dropbox

Archive your Instagram liked photos to Dropbox.

[Recipe]

Instagram to Box

Archive all your Instagram photos to Box.

[Recipe]

Instagram to SkyDrive

Archive all your Instagram photos to SkyDrive .

[Recipe]

Foursquare

Foursquare to Google Calendar

Archive your Foursquare check-ins to Google Calendar.

[Recipe]

Foursquare to Google Spreadsheet

Archive your Foursquare check-ins (maps included) to Google Spreadsheet.

[Recipe]

Foursquare to Dropbox

Archive the photos you share on Foursquare to Dropbox.

[Recipe]

Foursquare to SkyDrive

Archive your Foursquare check-ins to SkyDrive.

[Recipe]

Foursquare to Box

Archive the photos you share on Foursquare to Box.

[Recipe]

Flickr

Flickr to Dropbox

Archive all your Flickr photos to Dropbox.

[Recipe]

Flickr to Dropbox

Archive Flickr photos you mark as favorite to Dropbox.

[Recipe]

Flickr to Evernote

Archive Flickr photos you mark as favorite to Evernote.

[Recipe]

Flickr to SkyDrive

Archive all your Flickr photos to SkyDrive.

[Recipe]

Flickr to Google Drive

Archive all your Flickr photos to Google Drive.

[Recipe]

Misc

StumbleUpon to Evernote.

Archive your StumbleUpon likes to Evernote.

[Recipe]

Pinterest to Dropbox

Archive your Pinterest photos to Dropbox.

[Recipe]

Pinterest to Evernote

Archive an individual Pinterest board to Evernote.

[Recipe]

YouTube to Dropbox

Archive your YouTube videos marked as favorite to Dropbox.

[Recipe]

YouTube to Pocket

Archive YouTube videos marked as watch later to Pocket.

[Recipe]

Tumblr to Evernote

Archive all your Tumblr posts to Evernote.

[Recipe]

Tumblr to Dropbox

Archive just your Tumblr photo posts to Dropbox.

[Recipe]

LinkedIn to Evernote

Archive your LinkedIn updates to Evernote.

[Recipe]

LinkedIn to Google Spreadsheet

Archive your LinkedIn updates to Google Spreadsheet.

[Recipe]

Google+ to Evernote

Archive your Google+ posts to Evernote.

[Recipe]

And that’s that. Now, tell us: will you be using IFTTT recipes to archive your online data or would you prefer using backup tools?

The post 35 Awesome IFTTT Recipes To Archive Your Social Media Data appeared first on Hongkiat.

Without extensions you can bookmark pages, perform basic calculations and conversions, add various search engines for better search results, and receive alerts (security, pop-ups, extensions).

In this post, we are interested on how to further enhance the Omnibox to help speed up everyday tasks and searches with the help of extensions. Let’s take a look at Chrome extensions that can power more customized and optimized searches for better results.

Recommended Reading: 10 (More) Awesome Things Google Search Can Do For You

1. Better Omnibox

Better Omnibox is an extension that improves the relevance of your search results, thanks to a combination of your bookmarks and search history. To use Better Omnibox, type “#”, press tab, and then type your search query. When you select one of the results displayed below the Omnibox, that result will rank higher in future queries.

Usage: # [TAB or space] [search query]

2. Omnibox Site Search

Are you looking for an easy way to perform a search site for any website that you visit? With Omnibox Site Search, you can do just that by typing the word “site” along with your search query. The extension will then perform a Google search on the website you’re viewing. It’s much like using the Google site operator to search for results from a specific website i.e. site:hongkiat.com "web apps”.

Usage: site [TAB or space] [search query]

3. OmniDrive

If you use Google Drive often, this extension is sure to come in handy. OmniDrive lets you search through your Google Drive from any Web page, via the Omnibox. Just type “drive” in the Omnibox, press tab, enter your search query, and choose the item (below the Omnibox) that you want to open. You’ll need to allow OmniDrive access to your Google account before you can begin using this.

Usage: drive [TAB or space] [search query]

4. Switch To Tab

If you’re someone who always have a lot of tabs open in Chrome, I’m sure you know what a pain it can be to search for a particular page through all of them. Luckily, the Switch to Tab lets you quickly search through your open tabs and switch between them, via the Omnibox. Type “sw”, press tab, and then enter one keyword or multiple keywords to narrow down your search.

Usage: sw [TAB or space] [keyword(s)]

5. Quickmarks

This Quickmarks extension makes it really easy to search through and open your Chrome bookmarks. To do so, type “b”, press tab, and then type a keyword; you’ll see all of your bookmarks that match that keyword. You can press Enter to open the first bookmark or use the arrow keys (or your mouse) to choose any of the other options below the Omnibox.

Usage: b [TAB or space] [keyword]

6. History Search

As the name suggests, History Search lets you search through your Chrome browsing history. This is great if you need to go back to a page that you viewed at an earlier time or a few days prior. Just type “h”, press tab, and then the right keyword(s). Your results will open on Chrome’s history page. In History Search’s options, you can choose to open your results in a new tab instead of the current tab.

Usage: h [TAB or space] [search query]

7. Quick Search In Chrome Web Store

Does it take you too many clicks to search for something in the Chrome Web Store? Well, Quick Search in Chrome Web Store as the name suggests, makes searching through the Web Store a breeze. Once installed, you can search for any Chrome app, extension, or theme right from the Omnibox. Just type “ws”, press tab, and then enter your search query. Your Chrome Web Store results will appear in the current tab.

Usage: ws [TAB or space] [search query]

8. Search+ For Google Chrome

I don’t know about you, but Google+ is slowly growing on me. I really find its search function useful because I can find interesting articles to read, interesting posts to comment on, and interesting people to follow. Thanks to the Search+ for Google Chrome extension, this makes the search even faster. On the Omnibox, type a plus symbol, press tab, enter your search query, and then click on the result that you want to open.

Usage: + [TAB or space] [search query]

Bonus: 5 more Handy Extensions

If you think that the Omnibox is only good for searches, check out these five bonus extensions that let you do more.

Send from Omnibox

With Send from Omnibox, creating a new email message is as easy as typing in the Omnibox. In a single line you can put in who you are sending the email to, the subject and even the contents of the email. Once you hit enter, a compose window will open up (using mailto), and you’ll be able to edit or send out the message.

Usage: . [TAB or space] [email address] sub [subject] [email message]

Twitter Omnibox

If you’ve ever wished that you could type @username into the Chrome Omnibox to go to a user’s page on Twitter, try Twitter Omnibox. Just type "@", press tab bar, enter any Twitter username, and then press Enter to go directly to that user’s page on Twitter.

Usage: @ [TAB or space] [Twitter username]

Omnibox Timer

This extension, Omnibox Timer adds a timer to the Chrome Omnibox. You can set timers for any amount of time from 30 seconds to 5 minutes to 2 hours, etc. You can also type a name or short message to go along with the timer. When the timer is up, Chrome will display a desktop notification letting you know. Additionally, you’ll also hear your timer’s message spoken out loud in your computer’s default voice.

Usage: tm [TAB or space] [time] [message]

IP from Omnibox

If you need a quick way to view and copy your IP address, try this extension called IP From Omnibox. By typing "copyip" in the Omnibox, press tab, then press enter; your IP address will be automatically copied to your clipboard. You can then paste it wherever you’d like.

Usage: copyip [TAB or space] [ENTER]

Chromnitweet

How would you like to send a tweet right from the address bar? With Chromnitweet, just type "tw", press tab, enter your tweet text, and then press Enter. That’s it, you’ve just sent out a tweet; there’s no need to go to Twitter.com or use an app. One of the cool things about Chromnitweet is that it even has a character counter, so you won’t go over 140 characters. You’ll also see a desktop notification letting you know that your tweet has been posted.

Usage: tw [TAB or space] [tweet text]

Over to You

Now it’s your turn to chime in and share your favorite Chrome Extensions that help to enhance the Omnibox. Do you use any of the extensions on this list, or do you use a different extension? Let us know in the comments.

The post 8 Chrome Extensions To Supercharge Your Omnibox Searches appeared first on Hongkiat.

While many of the tools seem to accomplish the same task, there are quite a few unique extensions and add-ons that once you start using them, it’s hard to live without them. So let’s take a look at some of the most useful and helpful extensions for Gmail service, and make your Gmail experience better than ever!

Chrome Extensions

Send from Gmail

The genuine benefit of having Send from Gmail is that any time you click on an email address on any web page, it will automatically open a Mail Compose window in Gmail – right within your browser. The extension also provides a browser button so that you can open the Mail Compose window quickly by just clicking on it.

If you’d rather have this feature without a button, check out the Send using Gmail extension.

Minimalist for Everything

The extension lets you hide elements within Gmail, and it has a huge options page with tons of things to customize. You can also add custom row highlighting, show attachment icons, enable desktop notifications, as well as customize the graphics, colors, and top menu.

There are so many options that you can remove or change just about every element within Gmail. This gives you the ability to make your Gmail as clean as you like.

Boomerang for Gmail

Boomerang for Gmail allows you to schedule email messages to be sent or returned to your inbox at a later time. The extension is great in helping you reach "inbox zero" quickly because you can archive messages and have the important ones return to the top of your inbox at the specified time, when you have time to read them.

The extension also lets you schedule follow-up reminders and it can return messages to the top of your inbox if you don’t hear back from the recipient within a certain amount of time. It is also available for Firefox, and Mobile devices.

ActiveInbox for Gmail

This is one of the best tools available for getting your Gmail and Google Apps email account under control. It helps to manage your inbox so that you can focus on the more important messages, thus reducing overload.

There are numerous features like email prioritization, deadline tracking, a snooze button for messages, project folders, email notes, previous conversation viewer, 1-click shortcuts and much more. If your inbox is out of control, you need this extension! It is also available for Firefox.

Better Gmail

With Better Gmail you can remove features in Gmail that you may not want, like chat, ads, web search, etc. You can also add attachment icons to make Gmail your default email application, enable desktop notifications, and add row highlighting.

If you’re just looking to remove ads within Gmail, you may prefer the Ad-blocker for Gmail Chrome extension or Gmail Ad Remover add-on for Firefox.

OmniMail for Gmail

With this extension you can send email messages right from the address bar (also known as the omnibox) in Chrome. Just type in “mail email address“, then press enter to open up a new Mail Compose window, right within the Chrome!

Firefox Add-ons

Meeting Scheduler for Gmail

This is a great meeting scheduler that will help you find meeting times that are convenient for all attendees. You can create and manage meetings from ScheduleOnce right from your inbox.

The add-on also helps to track replies from attendees, then automatically displays the best meeting time to accommodate everyone.

Integrated Gmail

Have you ever wished that you could have Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Reader, and your other frequented online tools all in one place? Well your dream comes true with the Integrated Gmail add-on.

What this add-on does is it makes your inbox collapsible and gives you the choice of adding other Google tools or custom URLs right into the Gmail interface. It’s a great way to access all of your most commonly used tools right from one location.

Gmail Watcher

Gmail Watcher can alert you of new messages, and the notification can be limited to inbox only, mails with labels only, unread mails only, or newly arrived mails only. You’ll also get a toolbar button with unread mail count on it.

FollowUpThen

An email reminder service where you can forward messages, then later get reminded to respond back to them. Much like a few of the tools mentioned above, this service reminds you to follow up with important emails. If you happen to be on a mobile device where you can use a Chrome extension or Firefox add-on, this tool is the next best thing available.

Find Big Mail

If you’ve run out of space in your Gmail account, this tool will help you find out just what messages are using up all of your space. Just enter your email address and it will scan your account and create new labels displaying the message’s size.

You can then review those messages and delete the ones (preferably of larger size) that you don’t need any more in order to make more room in your inbox.

That’s all from us! What is your favorite Gmail tool?

The post 20+ Browser Extensions For Better Gmail Experience appeared first on Hongkiat.

Of course it’s not just about budget planner, with thousands of free templates available in the Microsoft Template Gallery and Vertex42, you can download any template you needed for your household planning, work project, debt calculation, just about anything you need!

To make things even easier, we have compiled 25 useful and nicely designed Word and Excel templates for you, ranged from planner to report and even calculator. Now all you need to do is download and use them right away!

Shortcuts to:

• Excel Templates
• Words Templates

Microsoft Excel Templates

Money Management

This spreadsheet is a combination of a budget planner, monthly budget and checkbook register. It helps you track your expenses and manage your budget very efficiently. You can create a yearly budget, record transactions from multiple accounts, track your monthly spending and more.

Monthly Household Budget

This spreadsheet lets you plan your house budget one month at a time. It’s a great way to compare your projected spending to your actual spending and see where you should cut back (if needed). Negative numbers are noted in red so that you can see right away if you’ve overspent.

Yearly Budget Calculator

If you’re just looking to create and manage your budget for the entire year, this is for you. It’s a combination of family budget and monthly budget planner. It comes with a decent list of budget categories and you can add your own if needed. It also helps you plan ahead for unexpected expenses and compare your spending for each month.

Monthly Budget

This spreadsheet is used to track your current spending for the month. Each time you spend money you can record it in its appropriate location and the amount will be subtracted from your budgeted amount for the month. You can then see how much money you have to spend for the month so that you won’t go over budget.

To Do List

This simple spreadsheet is used to keep track of your daily tasks. You can then filter your items by status, priority, due date or name. This is great for people who still like to do things the old fashioned way by writing down to-do items and them marking them off manually. Columns can be added as needed.

Business Startup Costs

Since there are so many start-up businesses popping up on a daily basis, I thought it was imperative to include on this list. This spreadsheet will help you estimate your business startup expenses prior to jumping in. There is no need to start a business if you can’t afford it, so be sure to use a spreadsheet like this then you’ll know whether or not you’ll have ample funding.

Food Log

If you’re dieting or just trying to maintain your weight, this daily food log can help you out a great deal. You can keep track of everything you’re eating along with calories and fat so that you don’t eat too much. You can also track how much water you drink each day as well as any exercise you do. Why pay for expensive weight loss sites when you can do it yourself for free with this easy to use food log?

Gas Mileage Log and Calculator

This spreadsheet lets you calculate gas mileage and track over time. This is useful for figuring out your average gas mileage and cost per mile, so that you can estimate how much you’ll spend on trips and long distance travel. You can do measurement in kilometer unit or miles unit. If you’d like to see how you can improve your mileage, this will definitely help.

Contact List

Most people use their mobile phones, email client or some other type of web app or software to keep track of contacts, but a spreadsheet can be just as handy. This easily customizable contact list is great for collaborative events or your own personal needs like mailing lists. It also allows sorting by category, last name, first name, company, email and more.

Savings Goal Tracker

While it’s good for everyone to have a savings account, many didn’t make it because they feel they can’t afford to save. With this spreadsheet you can calculate just how much you can afford to save. You can set your goals to save then see how much money you’ll have left. This spreadsheet can be used as a savings account register and goal tracker so that you’ll never be put in a bind by unexpected expenses again.

Credit Card Payment Calculator

This will help you calculate the minimum monthly payment for your credit cards, then let you see how long it will take to pay them off. If you’re interested in seeing just how much it will really cost you to pay off your credit cards by only paying the minimum amount (including interest), this spreadsheet will come in handy. This is the best way to calculate whether or not you can afford to increase your payments.

Credit Repair

The main purpose of this spreadsheet is to help you repair your credit score by using the snowball effect to reduce your credit card balances to specific levels. Meaning, it will help you reduce the amount of debt you owe in relation to your credit limits, and it does this in two stages. Stage #1 involves using the debt reduction calculator to help you pay down your balance. Stage #2 involves paying off your balance entirely.

Photo Calendar

When you think of calendars, you probably think of them being made in Microsoft Word, not Excel. Well, this is a very useful spreadsheet in calendar form. You’ll get calendars for the whole year and each month, and even featured photos taken by a professional illustrator named Hala Swearingen. You can of course add your own photos as well as events, appointments, etc.

Weekly Planner

This spreadsheet was designed to let you print out weekly planner pages for a 3 ring binder. It can also be used along with the daily planner spreadsheet (mentioned below). If you prefer to write out events, appoints, tasks, notes, etc or just want to save money (on an expensive app or yearly planner), then these will be very useful to you.

Printable Daily Planner

This spreadsheet is pretty much identical to the weekly planner (mentioned above) except it’s for daily planning. If you have a really busy schedule and a weekly planner isn’t enough, this will keep you organized on a daily basis. This is great for printing out and creating your own planner via a 3 ring binder. You can also customize it to fit your needs (unlike a store-bought yearly planners).

Event Planner

If you have an event to plan, this spreadsheet will help you manage your budget for it. You can track expenses and set a budget so that you don’t go over. You can also calculate the cost per person.

Microsoft Word Template

Things to Do

If you like the above-mentioned to do list in Excel, you may like this colorful to do list in Word. It’s broken up into different sections (phone calls, errands, correspondence, projects, miscellaneous tasks) for better organization. Again, this is great for those who prefer printing out a template and writing down tasks by hand.

Project Status Report

This document gives you an easy way to keep track of your progress on a single or group project. If you have to report regularly to a project manager or client, you can use this to update your status. Each time you make a change you can note it along with the date, author and a short description.

Weekly Report

This document has many uses, but it’s mainly created for weekly reports. If you have to report to a manager or even a client about your weekly activities, this is a great way to fill them in. There is a box for each day of the week (except Sunday) so that you can write a short description of your progress, completed tasks, project status, etc.

Travel Expense Report

If you have to travel for business or just for your own personal pleasure, this is a great document to help you keep track of your travel expenses. It has customizable expense options including an option to include any money that is paid for by your place of work or personal business.

Weekly Schedule

This is a great way to keep track of tasks and chores for the week. It shows the days across the top row and time (in 1 hour increments) in the left hand column. If there are things like housework, school work or business tasks that you repeat on a weekly basis, this is a nice way to keep them organized and see them all at a glance.

Brand Loyalty Survey

Many companies use market research surveys to find out more about their customers. Many times it also helps them to decide on new products and features to offer. This template is great for companies that want to gauge the loyalty of consumers to a specific brand or product.

Product Press Release

Going along with Business Startup Costs template mentioned above, here is a press release template that can be used to help you to spread the word about your new product or service. If you don’t like this setup, you can try the professional or elegant design. Both of these give you instructions on how to customize and create an effective press release document. Having a professional looking press release can really help jump start your new startup.

Fax Cover Sheet

If you ever need to send a fax, it’s important to have a cover sheet so that you can include the sender and recipient information. This professional cover sheet is sure to do the job. If you’re looking for something more creative, the Clipboard and Arc designs might suite your needs better.

Labels

Labels are great for mailing lists for your business or for your own personal tasks, like mailing out holiday cards. These are very easy to create, especially when you’re using a Word template. You’ll see that there are many sizes to choose from; you can have large or small one depending on your needs. Labels are also great for organizing your home or office.

That’s all. We hope you find them useful!

The post Useful Microsoft Word & Microsoft Excel Templates appeared first on Hongkiat.

These are what I found to be the best bang for zero bucks (with an added bonus). Feel free to share your personal favorite in the comments.

Notepad ++

Notepad++ is an open source replacement for the original Notepad program (which comes with Windows) and supports several languages. Even though it is built for Microsoft Windows, it can also run on Linux, Unix, BSD and Mac OS X (using Wine).

Immediately upon starting Notepad++ you will notice the difference between it and the original Notepad. There are loads of additional buttons and features like plugin support, tabbed editing, drag and drop, split screen editing, synchronized scrolling, spell checker, find and replace over multiple documents, file comparison, zooming and much more.

"Notepadd++ supports syntax highlighting and syntax folding for 48 programming, scripting, and markup languages" (source).

As the website explains, the program is written in C++ and uses pure Win32 API and STL which ensures a higher execution speed and smaller program size. If you want to learn how to make Notepadd++ your default text editor, you can find instructions here.

Pros

• Lightweight and launches quickly
• Tabbed editing interface
• Plugin support and macros
• Ability to add bookmarks
• Drag and drop support
• Find and replace across multiple documents
• Full screen mode
• Minimize to system tray
• Style configurator for a customizable interface
• Syntax and brace highlighting
• Auto indentation
• Auto completion
• Code folding
• Text folding
• Compiler integration
• Search and replace
• Spell checker (via plugin)
• Collaborative editing (via plugin)
• FTP support (via plugin)
• Multiple instances
• File comparison

Cons

• No HTTP, SSH or WebDav support for remote file editing
• Does not support large files
• Another program is needed in order to run on Mac OS X

BBEdit

Unlike Notepadd++ mentioned above, BBEdit is a Mac-only program and a very "powerful text editor, and Unix and server administrator’s tool."

While on the surface it looks like just a plain and basic text editor, it possesses a lot of powerful features. There’s a complete set of HTML Tools for fast, easy, and correct markup and supports current standards including HTML5, HTML 4.01, XHTML 1.0, and XHTML 1.1.

As a code editor it includes editing Markdown with syntax coloring and navigation. With BBEdit, you can automatically backup files when saving and an option to multi-file search and replace with multiple simultaneous search and replace operations.

BBEdit gives an extensive FTP and SFTP support with open and save text files located on remote FTP/SFTP servers, use of alternative ports and the FTP/SFTP Browser provides persistent view of remote site directories.

Pros

• Syntax coloring and navigation
• Multi-file search and replace
• Great file tools that access the file system, including hidden files and folders
• change file encoding
• extensive FTP and SFTP support
• Automatic file backup with saving
• complete set of HTML Tools

Cons

• Doesn’t give you hints about ways to improve or optimize your code
• Syntax checking is relatively basic
• Doesn’t work on Tiger on the Power Macintosh G4 (Quicksilver) series
• Some of the best features can only be accessed in the paid version

jEdit

jEdit, a program for Windows, Mac OS X, OS/2, Linux, BSD, Unix and VMS, is said to be for mature programmers only. Written in Java, it is open source and supports hundreds of plugins and macros. The main window can be split horizontally or vertically and also comes with "auto indent, and syntax highlighting for more than 130 languages."

There are many customization options for making everything from the dock to the status bar to the toolbar look and feel exactly the way you want. You can even "copy and paste with an unlimited number of clipboards."

Programming languages supported include: ActionScript, ColdFusion, LOTOS, Ruby, Python and COBOL. All of jEdit’s features cannot possibly fit into this paragraph, but you can view them all here.

Pros

• Powerful search engine for regular expressions
• Syntax highlighting with customization options
• Auto-indentation
• Auto completion
• Code folding
• Text folding
• Compiler integration (via plugin)
• Plugin support and macros
• Tabbed editing interface
• Integrated FTP browser
• Spell checker (via plugin)
• FTP support (via plugin)
• HTTP and WebDav (via plugin) support for remote file editing
• Multiple instances

Cons

• Heavyweight and often slow on startup
• Inistant spell checker
• Can be buggy on the Mac
• No collaborative editing
• No large file support
• No SSH support for remote file editing

Crimson Editor

Crimson was written in C, is open source and is known as a professional source code editor for Windows only. It is also a suitable replacement for Notepad and supports programming in 60+ languages like Maple, LotusScript, C/C++, MySQL, Ruby, Perl and JScript.

Currently it only supports the English language. Unfortunately, the last release of Crimson was in 2008, but it has been replaced by Emeral Editor.

As you can see from the image below, it resembles Notepad++ from the toolbar to the tabbed editing. It also supports plugins, which are called "tools," and macros. There is even a built-in FTP client and you have the ability to manage groups of related files and save them as projects.

Pros

• Syntax highlighting
• Auto indentation
• Compiler integration
• Ability to add bookmarks
• FTP support
• Instant/live spell checker
• Macros
• Multiple instances

Cons

• No auto completion
• No code folding
• No text folding
• No collaborative editing
• No large file support
• No HTTP, SSH or WebDav support for remote file editing

Araneae

Araneae is an editor for Web professionals that runs on Windows only. You can download extensions to use with it and it includes syntax highlighting, drag and drop support, tabbed editing and the ability to insert customizable quick clips.

"Araneae includes several extensions and localizations right out of the proverbial box’”no extra downloading required! This includes HTML, XHTML, CSS, XML, JavaScript, PHP and Ruby files, as well as English, French, Greek, Spanish, and Estonian localizations!" All toolbars are viewable by default and can be rearranged to suit your preference.

Pros

• Syntax highlighting
• Drag and drop support
• Tabbed editing interface
• Quick clips
• Search and replace
• Multiple instances

Cons

• No plugins or macros

EditPad Lite

EditPad Lite is another Windows-only, general-purpose text editor and is written in 10 different languages. It was built with Delphi and is small, compact and free for non-commercial use only.

So, if you will be getting paid for the work that you do with it, then you’ll need to purchase EditPadPro. Features are limited, but it does have tabbed editing, can remain running in the system tray, supports auto indenting and can be configured to suit your own taste and eyesight.

EditPad Lite also resembles Notepad with the exception of the formatting toolbar and tabs.

Pros

• Tabbed editing interface
• Auto indentation
• Unlimited undo and redo even after saving a file (as long as it remains open)
• Large file support
• FTP support
• Multiple instances

Cons

• No syntax highlighting
• No auto completion
• No code folding
• No text folding
• No compiler integration
• No macros
• No collaborative editing
• Spell checker not included in free version
• No HTTP, SSH or WebDav support for remote file editing

ATPad

ATPad is not much different than most of the others mentioned above: it’s another rendition of Notepad with a few upgrades. Besides English, you can get ATPad in 11 other languages.

You get tabbed editing, customization options, line numbering, word wrapping, bookmarks (so that you don’t lose your place when returning), customizable snippets, sending via email and more.

Since ATPad doesn’t require installation, you can open it from virtually any kind of drive and it doesn’t leave any traces behind. To remove it simply delete the ATPad directory.

Pros

• Allows tiling and cascading of windows
• Tabbed editing interface
• Line numbering
• Text snippets
• Can send documents via email
• No installation required
• Ability to add bookmarks
• Unlimited find/replaces and undo/redo

Cons

• Does not come with spell checker

RJ TextEd

RJ TextEd is for Windows only and supports 18 different languages and 20 programming languages. It was built on CodeGear Delphi and is not open source. There is both a PC and portable version for download along with a handful of plugins and tools that you can download separately.

Unlike most of the clean cut programs mentioned above, RJ TextEd has toolbars, panes and tabs galore. You can also create projects and macros and customize your work environment.

Pros

• Has a portable version
• Syntax highlighting
• Spell checker
• Auto indentation
• Auto completion
• Code folding
• Text folding
• Compiler integration
• Macros
• FTP and Secure FTP support
• SSH support for remote file editing
• Multiple instances

Cons

• No collaborative editing
• No large file support
• No HTTP or WebDav support for remote file editing

Komodo Edit

Komodo Edit is a fast open source program that can be used on Windows, Max OS X and Linux. It supports the following programming languages: PHP, Python, Ruby, JavaScript, Perl, Tcl, XML, HTML 5 and CSS 3.

It also comes equipped with "customizable syntax coloring, folding, background syntax checking, and excellent auto-complete and calltips (called ‘code intelligence’)." Their pages and pages of extensions are equivalent to Firefox’s and their "tricked out" editor is one of the most advanced featured on this list.

Along with all that you get remote file editing, a toolbox with shell command integration, macros, snippets and the list goes on. For more advanced features you can purchase Komodo IDE for Teams.

Pros

• Extension support and macros
• Syntax highlighting
• Auto indentation
• Auto completion
• Code folding
• Text folding
• Code snippets

Cons

• Spell checker not included
• No compiler integration
• No collaborative editing
• No large file support
• No multiple instances
• For more advanced features you’ll need to upgrade for a hefty fee of $295 (without support and upgrades) or $382 (with support and upgrades)

TouchQode

As an added bonus we have TouchQode, which is an editor just for smartphones. It’s currently only available for Android, but you can subscribe to be notified about the iPhone release.

For a smartphone editor, it has some great features like syntax highlighting, the ability to run (simple) scripts, an integrated FTP client, file syncing and more. TouchQode really gives the the ability to code anywhere you go!

Pros

• Android app
• Syntax highlighting
• Code suggestions
• Incremental search
• File synchronization

Cons

• No iPhone app (but coming soon)

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