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COOL TOOLS

Y'know, the truth is, everyone has little things they just can't live without. And, when you spend as much time online as I do, some of those things are bound to be found on the net. OK, OK...quit twisting my arm. I'll give up the goods. I hope you find them useful!

1. Currency Converter - The world is becoming a smaller place. It makes me crazy when I am visiting a site in the UK and they quote a price in pounds...and I have no idea what that translates to in dollars. This little tool is the quickest and best tool I've found so far. I have never even HEARD of half the currencies you can convert to or from with it.

2. Web Color Chart - I built this on my own site some time back because I hadn't found another one on the web that I thought was exactly what I needed. All the info in it is public domain, I'm sure. And there are some pretty cool other ones out there...but I just needed something simple and easy on my eyes. I use it constantly when I'm building sites.
3. Online Virus Scan - Since I've never really dealt in "warez" (pirated software), I haven't learned to worry about viruses. And yet...you're never really safe. I have used this online scan a couple times (yes, it actually scans the files on your drive and tells you if you have a virus). The first time, I was clean. The second time (when I was storing some files on my drive for a friend), it found eight infected files. Definitely a useful tool...
4. Merriam-Webster Online - Cool dictionary and thesaurus. And here's one that I hadn't heard of before: You can actually hear the word spoken. Gotta love it!
5. Web Color Wheel - This one can only be referred to as "spiffy"...this seems to have WAY too many colors to be "web safe" (in fact, there are 4096 colors...), but it sure is easy to use and works with my eyes. If you're looking for a good, complete and exceptionally quick-to-use tool to find web colors, check this one out.

6. Tiny URL - I first discovered this tool when my friend David Nevue used it in one of his newsletters. If you do anything...I mean ANYTHING...related to email newsletters, web pages....yea, verily, ANYTHING where you have to deal with long web addresses, then this resource is for you. Here's an example. And if you like it, you can send me a dollar! ;-)
Here is the original address (broken into 3 lines):
https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=chuck%40chuckbrown.com&
item_name=Send+Chuck+a+Dollar%21%21&item_number
=SCD+0001&amount=%241.00
And here is the address after Tiny URL (voila!...now don't forget that dollar! <grin>):
http://tinyurl.com/1cs9

7. Sitemeter - I have been using Site Meter for years. It's simply a free counter for your web site. But it's more than that. It also includes a fairly decent stats package so you can check where your visitors are coming from. They also predict (based on recent traffic levels) how much traffic you're likely to get in the near future.
8. Photographer's Friend - Recently, my son and I went on a drive, grabbing shots with a digital camera as we went. The shots were to be used for a web site I was working on at the time. We invested a good couple hours in the trip, plus the cost of gas. And this wasn't my first time out. I had gone out the day before and taken the same pictures for the same reason, but they didn't come out. So now, I've got close to 5 hours and a lot of gas money in this. And, when I got back...there was not a single readable picture on the smartmedia card! The camera could play them back. My computer could see that there were files there...but I couldn't view or use the pictures. I couldn't import them into Photoshop. Nothing. So I looked around the web to see if all was a total loss. I couldn't believe the number of people who were struggling with the same exact problem! I downloaded a bunch of programs that claimed they could help. I tried them all and found most to be a real pain and would only find a few of them. But there was one that saved EVERY ONE OF MY PICTURES. It worked quickly and smoothly. It's called PhotoRescue. It's $29. I own it now. 'Nuff said, eh?