LoudStyle Links 70

• Admiring the amazing laser-etched moleskines on Etsy via friendfeed.com/kfury
• Awesome, Barack Obama dedicated a song to me, barackobamaisyournewbicycle.com
• Listening to the funky perfection of Jamiroquai. A live show from 2003 is playable on Stage6
• Resisting the urge to dive into the freshly published panel schedule for SXSW Interactive
• Listening as "Thom Yorke shares some of his favorite music with All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen" on NPR
• Bookmarking the videos from Interaction08 "geared at anyone who practices Interaction Design"
• Thinking Zero 7's "In The Waiting Line" sounds nice live

As seen on Twitter.

LoudStyle Links 60

• Giving permission for one of my photos to be used in an online Austin guide (the photo) #
• Impressed by the online editing options available inside Flickr with Picnik. Just click "Edit Photo" on any of your Flickr photo pages.
• Bookmarking the PolarClock screensaver to try later. The colorful and swirly display looks neat.
• Received an alert that Amazon had the Wii in stock @ retail price & put 1 in my cart successfully. It was stolen from cart during checkout.
• Activating photo statistics on Flickr (thanks @garrettdimon).
• Flipping through Stephen's slides from his Refresh Dallas presentation on Star Wars & User Experience Design.

LoudStyle Links 59

• @cgriego It is always fun to make changes to a site with shuffled, non-semantic classes (i.e. p.green is red & div.rightCol is on the left). #
• Listening to Dev/Null spin a high bpm "oldskool-rave set at a Beat Research party" tinyurl.com/yq3ngg #
• Bookmarking the Flickr set of Ralph McQuarrie Star Wars Concept Paintings, tinyurl.com/34n8no (thanks @stephenanderson & @Kraemer) #
• Starting to think that if you add the words Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger to a song (any song), I will like it, tinyurl.com/2g88g3 #

Automatically posted by LoudTwitter.

LoudStyle Links 58

• Reading about Georges Seurat's 19th century drawings (tinyurl.com/yq4cnj) & viewing the online exhibition (tinyurl.com/yw3b5y) #
• Listening to Girl Talk live with "completely new remixes and mash-ups alongside his officially released material" tinyurl.com/23cmka #
• Realizing that to open animated GIFs in Photoshop CS3, I have to Import > Video Frames to Layers > File Name *.*, tinyurl.c ... #
• Realizing I can't cleanly import animated GIFs with transparency into Photoshop CS3. I'm opening with Flash first to export as movie frames. #
• Switching to Fireworks to perform animated GIF hocus pocus since there is no ImageReady CS3. #
• Bobbing my head to DJ Z-Trip, a mashup master before they were called mashups. Lots of free downloads: djztrip.com/downloads.html #

Automatically posted by LoudTwitter.

LoudStyle Links 56

• Listening to DJ Vin Sol mash 'em up (tinyurl.com/3bf6tp) after seeing him on Mahalo Daily w/ Veronica B (tinyurl.com/2f93ws). #
• Watching the history of evolution according to Fatboy Slim, AKA the big beat hit "Right Here Right Now" tinyurl.com/3xl5vz #
• Preparing my acceptance speech after being appointed "Prince of Edgy Arts, Entertainment & Music" in the Rohdesign Facebook group. #
• Jamming to "Pet Sounds: In The Key Of Dee" from Bullion, who cut up the Beach Boys with beats inspired by Jay Dee, tinyurl.com/2jfhoc #
• Listening to Spoon perform at the 2007 Treasure Island Music Festival - a free download from BayTaper, tinyurl.com/2wcfhb #
• Facebook's Rock Your Firefox app detects most add-ons, so I was able to list all of mine except Google Browser Sync, apps.facebook.com/add-ons #

Automatically posted by LoudTwitter.

LoudStyle Links 54

• Watching Jared Spool in an excerpt of "Delight by Functionality" from User Interface 12 Conference, tinyurl.com/3aa2fh #
• Bookmarking Jared Spool's 45-minute Google TechTalk video "Strike Up The Brand: How to Design for Branding" tinyurl.com/2o369d #
• Posting an image of my overhauled Windows desktop to Flickr. I swapped the XP taskbar for a Mac-ish ObjectDock, tinyurl.com/2va6jl #
• Listening to Spoon on Sound Opinions. They played a couple songs in between talking about the band & their music, tinyurl.com/2qb3b4 #
• Trying out drop.io for retrieving a large file (a mixtape) from a friend. The site is clear & easy to use. #

Automatically posted by LoudTwitter.

LoudStyle Links 37

• Looking forward to the long awaited return of Photoshop Tennis, AKA Layer Tennis, layertennis.com. Friday's match is online. #
• Wow, the Hampton is already sold out for SXSW Interactive, Film, and Music, tinyurl.com/2l5odx (glad I booked for Interactive early) #
• Watching artist Phil Hansen create a portrait of Bruce Lee with karate chops of black paint, tinyurl.com/37qvl2 #
• Looking through Time Magazines's list of the 100 Best TV Shows of All Time (many with clips), tinyurl.com/2mzqkm #
• Listening to Electrocast 504 with Gorillaz, Daft Punk, Le Tigre, and LCD Soundsystem, tinyurl.com/yu2l38 #
• Subscribing to the Radio Lab podcast. "What is music? How does it work? Why does it move us?" http://tinyurl.com/3b4ud4 (via @hotdogsladies) #

Automatically posted by LoudTwitter.

Twitter: LoudStyle Links 36

• 12:56 Khoi describes icon creation skills as "a special combination of artistry, patience and visual economy" tinyurl.com/2hoacx #
• 13:34 Amazed by Josh's Star Wars collection and its documentation (via SimpleBits), www.joshuabudich.com/SWCollection/ #
• 21:01 Looking through an awesome set of images of tattered posters in Paris, tinyurl.com/ys54m5 #
• 21:05 Favorite quote from Letterman while he interviewed Kevin Smith, "When you're operating in the world of blogs..." tinyurl.com/22ese5 #

Automatically posted by LoudTwitter.

Twitter: LoudStyle Links 35

• 11:03 "Well, perhaps Amazon can find a book or something about how to build a successful high-volume online store." tinyurl.com/2wd6wc #
• 11:52 Considering the Geek Entertainment video podcast - I'm currently subscribed to CommandN, GeekBrief, Jetset, Mobuzz, and WebbAlert. #
• 21:08 Loving the mixed media paintings of Nina Bovasso, tinyurl.com/23g6sa #
• 21:25 Reading about new IT support, "The expertise you have as a 9-year-old may be obsolete by the time you're 12 or 13" tinyurl.com/2dqaex #

Automatically posted by LoudTwitter.

Twitter: LoudStyle Links 34

• 14:33 I'm optimistic about Amazon's new music download store with DRM-free MP3s at 256kbps VBR, tinyurl.com/yruhvk #
• 15:05 Sonny J's "Can't Stop Moving" reminds me of the infectious tracks put out by the Avalanches a few years back, tinyurl.com/yt7tl7 #
• 17:17 Reading Jeff Croft's summary of the Webmaster Jam Session this past weekend, tinyurl.com/32anqu #
• 17:20 Digging Helen Durant's mixed media goat (third image down), tinyurl.com/2rubny #
• 20:18 Watching John Maeda's Ted Talk, Simplicity Patterns. Rather than call his work "Eye Candy," he prefers "Eye Meat" tinyurl.com/3xh9wy #

Automatically posted by LoudTwitter.

Twitter: LoudStyle Links 33

• 11:07 Reading Eric's Top 10 ways to NOT be a Web Designer Rockstar, tinyurl.com/2k66az #
• 13:14 Noticing that admission to the Nasher sculpture museum is free from 10a-2p on the first Saturday each month, tinyurl.com/3446cy #
• 13:20 Great design-related quote from Hans Hofman: "The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak." #
• 16:01 Agreeing with Rands' First Law of Information Management, tinyurl.com/2kq3ya #
• 17:27 Checking out Stephen's poster "Getting from Tasks to Experiences: What's Next in Interface Design" tinyurl.com/2lvx7y #
• 18:13 Reading that Nick Finck (@nickf) gives the Webmaster Jam Session a thumbs up, tinyurl.com/ysqljv #

Automatically posted by LoudTwitter.

Twitter: LoudStyle Links 32

• 15:52 Following along with Jeff Croft's presentation slides on typography at tinyurl.com/2wws8o #
• 17:10 Attending Molly's presentation on browsers and standards. The slides are online (from an earlier conference), tinyurl.com/22eggc #
• 18:12 Great quote for design: "Make all visual distinctions as subtle as possible, but still clear and effective." Edward Tufte (via Jeff Croft) #

Automatically posted by LoudTwitter.

Twitter: LoudStyle Links 31

• 09:11 Looking through Griego's iPhone photos from the Sabre Usability Labs on Tuesday night, tinyurl.com/ynqw84 #
• 14:31 Listening to a big fave, Depeche Mode's Black Celebration, after seeing it at #3 in TMN's Top 10 Albums of 1986, tinyurl.com/254j8o #
• 17:46 Flipping through all of the record sleeves on Record Envelope, "A reference for vinyl geeks and graphic artists" tinyurl.com/yr5xp4 #

Automatically posted by LoudTwitter.

Twitter: LoudStyle Links 30

• 16:50 Love this low tech video of the high tech features in Google Docs, tinyurl.com/yqebxa - More on www.commoncraft.com/show #
• 21:01 Watching the video for "The Girl Who Fell Through The Ice" by Aim featuring Kate Rogers (via @stoplookingswan), tinyurl.com/3xa3lp #
• 21:11 Considering paying way too much for a dozen black on black Faber Castell design pencils ($28 w/ S&H), tinyurl.com/24ssyv #
• 21:25 Recommending a couple web books to a friend from the review list on 456 Berea Street, tinyurl.com/29roz8 #
• 21:28 Liking the coloful patterns in this colorful bedding collection, boodalee.com/spacecollection.html #
• 22:58 Really digging this ISO50 turntable poster, tinyurl.com/3cgb3h and a t-shirt there too, tinyurl.com/2lkhbn #

Automatically posted by LoudTwitter.

Twitter: LoudStyle Links 29

• 22:03 RSVPing for Tuesday night's Usability Professionals Association tour of the Sabre Usability Labs, www.dfw-upa.org/ #
• 22:05 Pleasantly surprised to find a couple new Photoshop shortcuts I had not see before, tinyurl.com/22yu56 #

Automatically posted by LoudTwitter.

Twitter: LoudStyle Links 28

• 20:49 Watching Good Copy Bad Copy, a great (so far) documentary on sampling in music, on Google Video, tinyurl.com/32bj3o #
• 21:03 Listening to Girl Talk mash up Elton John's Tiny Dancer with Biggie's Juicy. It starts at 4 minutes - pure magic, tinyurl.com/36jww2 #
• 21:37 The documentary Good Copy Bad Copy covers the affect of copyrights in music and film throughout the world, tinyurl.com/32bj3o #
• 21:39 Thinking these would be interesting questions to ask candidates being considered for your web team, tinyurl.com/2k7daq #
• 21:47 Loving the abstract art of Jennifer Sanchez, tinyurl.com/3d7cha. A print is available here, tinyurl.com/358pky #
• 22:40 Watching John Stewart, "Dave Petraeus, Dave Petraeus...Iraq Me Dave Petraeus!" & the finale "It's a worm hole!" tinyurl.com/2l7djw #

Automatically posted by LoudTwitter.

Twitter: LoudStyle Links 27

• 14:28 Disabling Firefox extension Firebug to slow any memory leak (right click on its icon). I can re-enable it for use, tinyurl.com/2caxvn #
• 13:03 Thinking I'd rather update Twitter from my browser sidebar & not in a slick standalone app line Snook's Snitter, snook.ca/snitter/ #
• 13:05 Reading "25 Art Forms to try and Artists who already use them" and thinking I have a lot of catching up to do, tinyurl.com/ytc7q3 #
• 13:09 Listening to the latest CMG Podcast that includes tracks by Spoon, Coconut Records, Wheat, and Vampire Weekend, tinyurl.com/yu4pa8 #
• 13:15 Reading "Beyond The 'T' - Coordinating Realistic Design Teams" www.peterme.com/?p=580 via www.xplane.com/xblog/ #
• 16:10 Digging this typographic collage print by Enja Wong, tinyurl.com/25f996 #
• 22:25 Buying a pack of Moleskine Cahiers - small journals for notes or sketching, tinyurl.com/25hpzb #

Automatically posted by LoudTwitter.

Twitter: LoudStyle Links 26

• 19:18 Watching a narrated slideshow about Zhang Huan's massive art studio in China, tinyurl.com/2s5r88 #
• 19:23 Contemplating the Deborah Kass painting of colorful rings on ArtCal, tinyurl.com/35rpwz #
• 20:57 Subscribing to the @media 2007 podcast feed. There are 16 sessions online for your listening pleasure, tinyurl.com/33ory8 #
• 20:58 Listening to Tegan & Sara on Jared's post, tinyurl.com/37hzdk - I had only heard a rad T & S mashup prior, tinyurl.com/38apgg #
• 21:03 Changing my USB drive's assigned drive letter after reading the first response on an existing Metafilter post, tinyurl.com/29tyy4 #
• 22:55 Reading a new site from Khoi & Liz featuring "design opinions expressed in short form - 200 words or less." abriefmessage.com/ #
• 23:01 And the winner for the most crazy long URL is . . . httpcolonforwardslashforwardslashwwwdotjenniferdanieldotcom #

Automatically posted by LoudTwitter.

Twitter: LoudStyle Links 21

• 20:51 Flipping through the latest favorites of my Flickr contacts in an RSS feed created with Yahoo Pipes, tinyurl.com/2co2y5 #
• 20:55 Thinking this island near New Zealand would be a nice place to spend a few days (via Google Sightseeing), tinyurl.com/yorox2 #
• 20:59 Reading the WSJ: "the IN UR phrasing is a recurring source of riffs and references within the lolcat community," tinyurl.com/2xocrl #
• 21:28 Accepting the productivity loss caused by resubscribing to Dooce's RSS feed because of posts like this, tinyurl.com/27v6n9 #
• 22:01 Realizing I had never seen the video to one of my favorite songs from the 80s, Inner City's Good Life, tinyurl.com/2zc653 #

Automatically posted by LoudTwitter.

Twitter: LoudStyle Links 20

• 12:44 Reinstalling the GreaseMonkey script that shows TinyURL targets and adding "link.href = match[1]" per comment 3, tinyurl.com/mgd2g #
• 16:28 Rocking to DKR's "old school mix tape" that includes Cloud Cult, The Lodger, and The Cribs, tinyurl.com/yw7xgu #
• 19:23 Admiring the vintage watches on www.watchismo.com/gallery.htm #
• 20:51 Reading a comparison of poor audio quality in compressed MP3s to that of cheap transistor radios in the 50s & 60s, tinyurl.com/3d39yp #
• 20:58 Looking at a photo of the wildfires in Greece w/ an ancient statue "appearing to gasp for air through the smoke", tinyurl.com/2xfx7u #
• 22:36 Listening to great 2004 releases from MIA & Diplo. They're reviewed & available for download on Coke Machine Glow, tinyurl.com/7e2wt #

Automatically posted by LoudTwitter.

Twitter: LoudStyle Links 18

• 09:15 Checking the browser war stats as Firefox continues to expand. It will soon pass IE6 & is still ahead of IE7, tinyurl.com/yoxq8r #
• 19:39 Looking at a cool painting/drawing/collage piece called Fluctuation by Lisa Carney on Boundless Gallery, tinyurl.com/24tkgf #

Automatically posted by LoudTwitter.

Twitter: LoudStyle Links 17

• 11:42 Refreshing the CSS Sculptor page to hear Eric Meyer say "Rock!" one more time, tinyurl.com/354z9f #
• 14:52 Listening to Refinery29's late summer playlist, which is "smoother than our third afternoon mojito." tinyurl.com/2gwkze #
• 15:39 I'm mesmerized once again by the work of Charley Harper, tinyurl.com/ys8m2p which I blogged about recently, #
• 21:24 Listening to a classic from 1988 - the Jungle Brothers "I'll House You" #
• 23:14 Listening to an industrial track from 1988, Front 242 "Headhunter" #
• 23:20 Posting a third song I liked in 1988, "What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)" by Information Society #
• 23:33 Thinking some may not like the 1988 song by My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, "And This Is What The Devil Does" #

Automatically posted by LoudTwitter.

Twitter: LoudStyle Links 15

• 13:59 Planning to attend the DFW Usability Pros 8/21 meeting on rich internet applications, dfw-upa.org/ #
• 14:06 Loving the events calendar treatment on FOWA. Past events have check marks and links to Flickr, tinyurl.com/ypzwse #
• 22:57 Watching crash test videos for a couple cars on the Consumer Reports site, tinyurl.com/3ylz4j #
• 23:19 Resisting the urge to buy a Ryde "Everybody Wants To Be In A Band" t-shirt . . . for now, www.theryde.com #

Automatically posted by LoudTwitter.

Twitter: LoudStyle Links 14

• 08:56 Laughing at the definition of interweb in Neil's photostream, tinyurl.com/2fmt2g #
• 12:21 Annoyed that "preschoolers say food tastes better when it comes in a McDonald's wrapper," tinyurl.com/2wonlw #
• 16:15 Bookmarking the online version of the accessibility book "Just Ask" reviewed on 456 Berea Street, www.uiaccess.com/accessucd/ #

Automatically posted by LoudTwitter.

Twitter: LoudStyle Links 9

• 12:38 Finishing Merlin's Inbox Zero presentation he gave at Google recently and thinking I need to tighten my process, www.inboxzero.com #

Automatically posted by LoudTwitter.

Twitter: LoudStyle Links 8

• 09:36 Wondering why I should add the Rock Your Firefox application to Facebook, tinyurl.com/2y46ts #
• 11:10 Testing pages with the unofficial standalone Internet Explorer 7 (which will run side by side with IE6), tinyurl.com/eb37c #
• 19:21 Laughing about how jealous Eric is going to be when he sees my Pandora t-shirt, tinyurl.com/3xbojd #
• 23:33 Setting up OpenPandora, a standalone version of Pandora's music player w/ global shortcuts and Last.FM reporting, tinyurl.com/2guhcp #

Automatically posted by LoudTwitter.

Twitter: LoudStyle Links 7

• 08:52 Registering for the 2008 SXSW Interactive Conference in Austin and booking a room at the Hampton, sxsw.com/interactive/ #
• 12:56 Gawking at Fichey: it visually flips through full-size screens from the top links on delicious, digg, stumble, etc, www.fichey.com #
• 23:35 Spoofing an iPhone with Firefox just to see if I could, tinyurl.com/38wmw5. Testing it with free magazines: tinyurl.com/39e9dm #
• 23:52 Watching Kevin Rose and Jason Calacanis discuss Digg, Netscape, Pownce, and Mahalo on the GigaOM Show, revision3.com/gigaom/seconds #

Automatically posted by LoudTwitter.

Twitter: LoudStyle Links 5

• 11:09 Admiring the beautiful design of the Web Designer Wall site by Nick La (via ThinkVitamin), tinyurl.com/2qfwah #
• 16:29 Grooving to the music and creeped out by the video, Hawker Beat, with cameos by Richard Simmons and Bart Simpson, tinyurl.com/34wj39 #

Automatically posted by LoudTwitter.

Twitter: LoudStyle Links 3

• 12:38 Trying XRAY, a cross-browser bookmarklet that exposes web page element attributes, westciv.com/xray/ #
• 14:26 Watching the World Clock increment births & deaths versus cars and bikes produced in the world among other stats, tinyurl.com/2yp2dr #
• 15:09 Subscribing to only the best posts of a blog by using aideRSS, a service that filters feeds by ranking posts, tinyurl.com/29ju73 #
• 21:56 Watching a couple Kanye videos with farmers and robots (thanks Merlin and Eric). #

Automatically posted by LoudTwitter.

Web: Twitter

After all the exposure during SXSW Interactive, I joined Twitter and have been posting short messages there for a couple weeks. No, I don't plan to Twitter about what I'm having for dinner or which couch cushion I selected as the best vantage point to view 24. I've been trying to stick to topics like music and the web and I often include links when they fit within the 140 character limit.

Join the conversation: twitter.com/jabbott.

Category: Web

Web: Firefox Extensions I Use

Updated December 18, 2006

Firefox extensions allow us to add great functionality to an already great browser. I'm currently using Firefox 2.0 and the following extensions (listed with each author's description). Click the links to read more or install.

• 1-ClickWeather 1.1.4 - Instant local weather, alerts, radar in motion, satellite maps, and forecasts.
• Adblock Filterset.G Updater 0.3.0.4 - Synchronizes Adblock with Filterset.G
• Adblock Plus 0.7.2.3 - Ads were yesterday!
• All-in-One Sidebar 0.7.1 - Sidebar control with award-winning user experience!
• Answers 2.2.21 - Alt+Click on any word or term for quick info (definitions, up-to-the-minute reference, and more). No selection is necessary!
• Autofill 0.3 - Automatically fill out HTML forms
• Bookmarks Synchronizer SE 1.2.0 - Bookmarks Synchronizer SE is a Mozilla Firefox extension that let you connect to an FTP/WebDAV server and synchronize your bookmarks that are stored in an XML file. Setup is easy: just write in your FTP/WebDAV server address, username, password and a name for the XML file (by default called xbel.xml). To start, press Upload to create the file on the server and set if you want to automatically download the file on startup or upload it when you close your browser.
• BugMeNot 1.3 - Bypass compulsory web registration with the context menu via www.bugmenot.com.
• ColorZilla 0.8.3.1 - Advanced Eyedropper, ColorPicker, Page Zoomer and other colorful goodies.
• CSSViewer 1.0.2 - A simple CSS property viewer
• del.icio.us Complete 1.3 - del.icio.us is a social bookmarks manager. It allows you to easily add sites you like to your personal collection of links, to categorize those sites with keywords, and to share your collection not only between your own browsers and machines, but also with others.
• DOM Inspector 1.8.1 - Inspects the structure and properties of a window and its contents.
• Drag de Go 0.2.5 - This extention allows you to execute several commands using Drag and Drop Gesture.
• Firebug 1.0b4 - Web Development Evolved
• FireFTP 0.94.6 - FTP Client for Mozilla Firefox.
• Flat Bookmark Editing 0.8.1 - Edit bookmarks in the bookmark organizer, without opening the properties window.
• Greasemonkey 0.6.6.20061017.0 - A User Script Manager for Firefox
• Hide Tab Bar 0.2.2 - Toggles the Tab Bar via chosen key.
• Html Validator 0.7.9.5 - Adds HTML validation to the View Page Source of the browser. The validation is done by Tidy from W3c.
• IE Tab 1.2.0.20061120 - Enables you to use the embedded IE engine within Mozilla/Firefox.
• Link Alert 0.6.1 - Changes the cursor to indicate the target of a link.
• MeasureIt 0.3.6 - Draw out a ruler to get the pixel width and height of any elements on a webpage.
• Mouse Gestures 1.5.2 - Allows you to execute common commands using mouse gestures.
• MR Tech Local Install 5.3.2.1 - Local Install power tools for all users. (en-US)
• OpenBook 1.3.4 - Allows for customization of the Add Bookmark dialog
• Pearl Crescent Page Saver Basic 1.3 - Save an image of a web page to a file.
• Print/Print Preview 0.4 - Replace the default "Print" button with the Mozilla Suite style "Print/Print Preview" toolbar button/menu. Adds new options to context menu as well.
• QuickNote 0.6.0.2 - A note taking extension with advanced features
• Sage 1.3.8 - A lightweight RSS and Atom feed aggregator.
• Searchbar Autosizer 1.3.1 - Expand the searchbox as you type
• ServerReplace 1.1 - Replaces the server in an open URL with a bookmark if you hold ALT+CTRL.
• Tab Mix Plus 0.3.5.2 - Tab browsing with an added boost.
• Tiny Menu 1.4 - Replace the standard menu bar with a tiny menu popup.
• TinyUrl Creator 1.0.1 - Convenient tool to create small url redirects from longer ones.
• Update Notifier 0.1.5.2 - Notifies you when updates are available for your extensions and themes.
• Uppity 1.4.11 - Navigate up one level (directory).
• Web Developer 1.0.2 - Adds a menu and a toolbar with various web developer tools.

Additional customizations and software I use with Firefox:

• The Inline Mp3 Player script with Greasemonkey
• BackupFox saves a profile containing my extensions and preferences

Category: Web

Web: Finding the Right Book Cataloging Application

I definitely appreciate having a nice collection of books about the web, art, and graphic design along with many other topics that inform and inspire me as an artist, web designer, and person. I recently decided to post a list of my books online so I ventured off into evaluating the different options:

• I used a trial of Collectorz to create a book list a couple years ago. I entered 75 ISBN numbers and it pulled up the data on most entries. I would need the full version ($40) since my collection exceeds the trial limit of 100 books. It isn’t web-based but I could export the list and post it to my site.
• I thought MediaMan used to be free but it is now also $40. I’m not sure if the export will generate as clean a list as Collectorz did but I like that MediaMan has tagging rather than just categories. It is not web-based.
  
• LibraryThing has import and export features and is web-based. It also has a very engaged developer who appears to listen to the users and upgrade the application frequently.
  
• Listal is web-based and looks great but doesn’t have import functionality. I don’t really want to start over entering books manually. There is no export either so the data would not be portable.
• I've heard good things about Delicious Library but it is Mac only and therefore not for me.
• Reader2 doesn’t have import or export.

I decided to go with LibraryThing and have been very pleased with the application. It imported my existing book list quickly and it is easy to add more books. The web interface and tagging work great. There are even a couple RSS feeds for recent additions and reviews of books in my collection. I highly recommend LibraryThing. Here is my collection and the tag cloud to click directly to each topic (I still have more tagging to do!).

Category: Web

Web: Desktop Zen

I followed the instructions on AJ's Blog to achieve "Desktop Zen" by ditching all of the icons from my Windows XP desktop. They're still accessible from an organized taskbar menu rather than all over the place.

Next I grabbed an ocean view photo from my Flickr favorites to use as the wallpaper (click through to the photo page and then select "All Sizes" to get the large version). Now it is nice and calm.

[via Digg]

Category: Web

Web: SXSW Interactive Schedule

Here is my optimistic schedule for SXSW Interactive - we'll see if I can squeeze it all in. See you there.

Friday, March 10th

• 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm: Friday Night Mix

Saturday, March 11th

• 10:00 am - 11:00 am: Traditional Design and New Technology
• 11:30 am - 12:30 pm:How to Be A Web Design Superhero
• 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm: Jim Coudal / Jason Fried Opening Remarks
• 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm: How to Bluff Your Way in DOM Scripting
• 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm: Web Business for the Rest of Us
• 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm: frog design SXSW Opening Party
• 10:30 pm - 2:00 am: South by Northwest

Sunday, March 12th

• 10:00 am - 11:00 am: Design and Social Responsibility
• 11:30 am - 12:30 pm: Tagging 2.0
• 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm: Conversation with Henry Rollins (joint session)
• 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm: Keynote: Heather Armstrong / Jason Kottke
• 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm: Web 2.1: Making Web 2.0 Accessible
• 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm: Holistic Web Design
• 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm: Yahoo! Happy Hour
• 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm: Adobe 9th Annual SXSW Web Awards Ceremony
• 9:30 pm - 12:00 am: Web Awards After Party

Monday, March 13th

• 10:00 am - 11:00 am: CSS Problem Solving
• 11:30 am - 12:30 pm: Standard Deviation: Hacks and Dirty Tricks
• 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm: Craig Newmark Keynote Interview
• 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm: WaSP Task Force Panel
• 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm: Design Eye for the List Guy
• 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm: Blogger Party

Category: Web

Web: Freeware File Manager ExplorerXP

I thought I'd share a great little program I've been using.

ExplorerXP is a very fast, small, compact and innovative FREEWARE (for non - commercial use) file manager for Windows 2000/XP.

Here are my favorite ExplorerXP features:

• Displays the size of each folder
• Tabbed interface to open multiple locations
• Batch renaming of files
• Batch copying of file or folder names
• Splitting and merging of large files
• A small 410KB download

Categories: Web

Web: Firefox Extensions I Use

Update: This post is out of date. Please read the newer post.

Firefox extensions allow us to add great functionality to an already great browser. I'm currently using Firefox 1.5.0.6 and the following extensions. The creator's description follows each name. Click the link to read more or install.

• 1-ClickWeather 1.1.2 - Instant local weather, alerts, radar in motion, satellite maps, and forecasts.
• Adblock Filterset.G Updater 0.3.0.4 - Synchronizes Adblock with Filterset.G
• Adblock Plus 0.7.1.2 - Ads were yesterday!
• All-In-One Sidebar 0.6.4 - Quickly switch between sidebars, view dialog windows such as downloads, extensions, and more in the sidebar, or view source or websites in the sidebar. It includes a slide-out button and a toolbar, all of which can be extensively customized.
• Answers 2.1.12 - Alt+Click on any word or term for quick info (definitions, up-to-the-minute reference, and more). No selection is necessary!
• Autofill 0.3 - Automatically fill out HTML forms
• BlogThis 0.3 - Adds right-click access to Blogger's BlogThis popup.
• Book Burro - Remixing the bookstore 0.27 - Find the cheapest books
• Bookmarks Synchronizer 1.0.2 - Bookmarks Synchronizer is a Mozilla Firefox extension that let you connect to an FTP/WebDAV server and synchronize your bookmarks that are stored in an XML file.
• BugMeNot 1.3 - Bypass compulsory web registration with the context menu via www.bugmenot.com.
• ColorZilla 0.8.3.1 - Advanced Eyedropper, ColorPicker, Page Zoomer and other colorful goodies.
• CSSViewer 1.0.1 - A simple CSS property viewer
• del.icio.us Complete 1.1 - del.icio.us is a social bookmarks manager. It allows you to easily add sites you like to your personal collection of links, to categorize those sites with keywords, and to share your collection not only between your own browsers and machines, but also with others.
• Flat Bookmark Editing 0.7.5 - Edit bookmarks in the bookmark manager, without opening the properties window.
• Greasemonkey 0.6.5.20060727 - A User Script Manager for Firefox
• Highlighter 0.1.3 - Select some text, right-click on it, and choose Highlight.
• Html Validator 0.7.9.4 - Adds HTML validation to the View Page Source of the browser. The validation is done by Tidy from W3c.
• IE Tab 1.0.9.5 - Enables you to use the embedded IE engine within Mozilla/Firefox.
• IE View 1.3 - Open pages in IE via Firefox menus
• MeasureIt 0.3.5 - Draw out a ruler to get the pixel width and height of any elements on a webpage.
• Mouse Gestures 1.5.1 - Allows you to execute common commands using mouse gestures.
• MR Tech Local Install 5.2 - Local Install power tools for all users. (en-US)
• OpenBook 1.3.4 - Allows for customization of the Add Bookmark dialog
• Pearl Crescent Page Saver Basic 1.2 - Save an image of a web page to a file.
• QuickNote 0.6.0.2 - A note taking extension with advanced features
• Sage 1.3.6 - A lightweight RSS and Atom feed aggregator.
• Super DragAndGo 0.2.4d1 - Drag a link or anything like a uri (e.g. "abc.com" ), and throw it to anywhere blank on the webpage to open the it in a new tab.
• Tab Mix Plus 0.3.0.5 - Tab browsing with an added boost.
• TinyUrl Creator 1.0.1 - Convenient tool to create small url redirects from longer ones.
• Update Notifier 0.1.4 - Notifies you when updates are available for your extensions and themes.
• Web Developer 1.0.2 - Adds a menu and a toolbar with various web developer tools.

Additional customizations and software I use with Firefox:

• The Inline Mp3 Player script with Greasemonkey
• The slick Crystal Dream theme
• BackupFox saves a profile containing my extensions and preferences

Categories: Web, Firefox

Web: Join Refresh Dallas

Refresh Dallas is a community of designers and developers working to refresh the creative, technical and professional aspects of new media endeavors in the Dallas area.

The first meeting is November 10^th with Garrett Dimon and Stephen P. Anderson speaking about Information Architecture. Head over to the new website for more information or jump into the Refresh Dallas Forum.

Categories: Web

Web: Treehouse Magazine

The first issue of Treehouse, a PDF magazine dedicated to web development, is now available. To celebrate the creation of something new and good, the Particletree team is giving away the inaugural issue for free.

Looks like Treehouse is trying to pick up the PDF magazine baton from Design In-Flight. Here are a few of the article titles:

• The Brief History of Javascript
• Inheriting Expectations
• The Enterprise Mentality
• The Hows and Whys of Degradable Ajax
• An Argument for Small Business Blogging
• How to Stop Talking About the Future

Categories: Web

Web: The Label Tag

I definitely need to start using the label tag in my HTML forms. Garrett states his case for the label tag over on YourTotalSite.com:

With forms, there seems to be one basic tag that is either overlooked or not common knowledge. That would be the label tag. Unfortunately, there are still many major sites that don't use this simple and powerful tag.

Categories: Web

Web: Find And Replace With Dreamweaver

Jonathan delves deeply into the Dreamweaver Find and Replace tool:

After seeing Dreamweaver pulled through the mud by people who deem it a poor tool for development, I’ve decided to shed some light on features that I feel have saved me countless time and may help you in your quest to produce better web sites faster. One specific feature that stands out for me is the Find and Replace tool.

Categories: Web

Web: Firefox For Developers

The Rapid Web Development and Testing with Mozilla Firefox presentation highlights ways developers can utilize Firefox in their work. Here are a few extensions in the presentation that I have not posted about before:

• The ColorZilla extension captures color codes from any element on a page. Selections can be added to the color favorites palette or adjusted in the color picker window. The color codes can easily be pasted into Photoshop or a style sheet.
• LinkChecker checks every link on a page, highlighting broken links and other issues. You can run LinkChecker on your bookmarks after exporting them to HTML.
• MeasureIt allows you to draw a box across a web page to check height, width, and alignment of elements.
• The Screen Grab! extension captures an entire web page (not just the visible window) and saves it to a PNG image. Requires Java.
• Here's the current list of Firefox extensions I use.

Categories: Web, Firefox

Web: Goo Goo Google

Here are several of the amazing sites and services that leverage Google Maps along with a story about Google Maps testifying in court:

• Gmaps Pedometer
• Google Sightseeing
• Google Moon
• Housing Maps
• How Google Maps Got Me Out Of A Traffic Ticket
• Hurricane Data Maps
• Workout Tracker

Category: Web