Recommended Web Tools Archives

Fixing 403, 404 and 500 errors when using timthumb.php

Many new WordPress templates have been incorporating the timthumb.php thumbnail generator.

If you run into any 403, 404 or 500 errors when implementing timthumb, here are a few tips:

• Make sure the timthumb.php file has its permission set to 775
• Make sure the “cache” folder’s permissions are set to 775. The cache folder is generated the first time you try to run timthumb. It is located within the same directory as the timthumb.php file.
• If you host your website on HostGator, you will need to ask them to change a few settings within mod_security for Apache. This is a documented issue with timthumb usage on Host Gator. Below is an email I sent to them making my own request:
  

  Dear Host Gator,

  I recently updated my WordPress website with a theme that uses the
  timthumb.php thumbnail generator.

  I have learned that in order for it to work properly HostGator needs to
  change a few setting for my website. When I try to run timthumb I receive
  a 403 error.

  I need the following rules [1234234,340151, 340153] added to mod_security
  for www.recommendedwebtools.com.

  Please let me know if there are any questions or concerns.

  Thanks!

  Contact Host Gator at their support email address. They responded within the hour and the setting was changed shortly thereafter.

Happy Thumbnailing!

Free Fonts over at Urbanfonts

Are you tired of the same old fonts available to you through your word processor?

Do you want to make a logo but need a font with a little more edge or pizzazz?

Do you balk at paying stiff prices for the fonts you REALLY want?

Enter Urbanfonts.

Urbanfonts provides free fonts that are available for download. No membership. No cost. Free!

Free fonts are organized by category. For example, Futuristic, Handwritten and Gothic contains a number of fonts that fit that description (more or less; some fonts are hard to throw into any category). Hovering over a category will provide a mini-preview of the a font that belongs in that category. Once inside a category all fonts are provided in a very large type size that make the font easy to read. Hovering over a font provides an alphabetical list of all letters in both upper and lower case. Font are available for both Windows and Mac.

How many free fonts are there to choose from? Well, when viewing the Random category at 12 fonts per page, there are 539 pages. Doing the rough math approximates 6438 fonts.

Urbanfonts also offers a catalog of commercial fonts that are available for purchase.

The beginner can feast not only on the free fonts, but the free font education via the Urbanfont blog. I am not a graphic designer (I did take two classes in college though). So the article on the Scourge of Arial I found fascinating and the post on Typography 101 is essential reading for the graphic design beginner.

If your looking for font ideas for your new website logo, check out Urbanfonts first. There is plenty of selection there to satisfy most font needs.

Disclosure: Paid Review

Online Image/Picture Editors

Caught at a computer without a decent image editor and need to crop a photo or adjust for contrast?

There are two online image/pictur editors that are helpful in a pinch.

MyImager offers basic functionality for editing photos and images.

• Features
  • Resize
  • Crop
  • Rotate
  • Flip
  • Adjust: hue, saturation, lightness, brightness, gamma, contrast
  • colorize, grayscale, B&W, color fill
  • 18 image effects
  • draw lines, ellipses, rectangles
• Cons
  • The process is slow because the screen refreshes on every action
  • only edits gif and jpg files

ImageEditor.net offers a better interface over MyImager. Actions occur quickly, there are no screen refreshes to slow things down. ImageEditor also allows for a greater range of file formats. However, some actions are not intuitive and the features are not as complete as MyImager.

• Features
  • Resize
  • Crop
  • Rotate
  • Flip
  • Adjust: lightness, brightness, contrast
  • colorize, grayscale
  • 20 image effects
• Cons
  • not intuitive as MyImager: cropping based on setting coordinate instead of point and click
  • no online help to explain functionality
  • no basic drawing tools

[tags]online image editing, images, photos, pictures[/tags]

Icons for personal or professional development projects

While this maybe out of the realm of the beginning web developer, IconBuffet offers a series of icon sets that can be used for a variety personal or professional web/software projects. Icon sets contain from 60 to 70 icons, with each icon available in three sizes (16,24,36) and in six file types (png, tiff, bmp, gif, ico, icn). Prices for sets range from $5 all the way up to $240. Of course the higher end icons display far more sophistication then their less expensive cousins. The icon sets represent icons that are used for the most common software/web functionality: home, up, down, mail, admin, web, report, etc.

Icon Buffet also offers a Free Delivery service. Sign up with IconBuffet and receive a set of free icons each month. These free sets consist of approx 11 icons that come in the three sizes and six file types. These icons are typically of the specialty variety. For example, my recent delivery was the Tower Grove Promenade. It includes icons representing: bride, groom, bandstand, dog, duck, etc. This particular icon set was inspired by Tower Grove Park in Saint Louis. Though there is an icon for a ninja in the set which makes me wonder what exactly inspired its creation (do ninjas frequent the park?!? )! Anyway, with each delivery I have the ability to send the set to other Icon Buffet members (or non-members). Thus, I can grow my free icon set by sharing with others. Don’t have a need for a ninja? Share with someone who has the Oslo Finance set and set a set of icons representing finance.

Looking for an icon to symbolize something on a blog or other website? Check out IconBuffet.

Icon Buffet is provided by the good folks at Firewheel Design.

[tags]icons, icon buffet[/tags]

Icons for RSS Feeds

FeedIcons has developed a zip file full of RSS feed icons. Since the Firefox logo for RSS has become the standard icon for feeds, Matt over at Feedicons did us all a favor by providing the logo in a variety of formats and sizes. He also provides grayscale versions that can be colorized to suit ones own web site. Below is an example of the icon:

[tags]rss, feed, icons[/tags]

Using PSD files in Non-Photoshop software

A lot of templates sold for web page design come with a .PSD file. PSD is the extension for Photoshop files. The PSD is included so that the user can modify the graphics as they choose. The question often arises if PSD files can be used in the other image programs. The answer is yes and no. The three middle tier programs (Adode Photo Elements, Paint Shop Pro and PhotoImpact) all open PSD files. However, depending on the complexity of the PSD file, not all functionality/colors/effects will be available. We tested a PSD template that looked whitewashed in all of the three programs and would only look correct if opened in Photoshop. So buyer beware, though having the PSD file is handy, its only good to you if you either have Photoshop or alternatively, the PSD is not very complex so the other tools can handle it.

Button Maker by Blog Flux

I have reviewed Blog Flux a few months back and found it to be a very handy resource. I wanted to take time during this post and my next to review two other tools that Blug Flux offers.

Blog Flux offers a free web button maker that can used to create buttons like this:

It is a simple tool and it works! I know it seems like a working tool is overstating the obvious, but you would be surprised!

With the Blog Flux Button Maker users can control text, color, background and alignment for each of the two sections of the button. It is also possible to change the border and background color of the whole button as well as change the cell alignment and button size. Buttons can be made in two sizes: 80×15 and 88×31.

Digital Imaging Tutorial

Confused as to the nature of printed images versus video images?
Interested in digital photo editing and need help understanding DPI and resolution?

The Scan Tips site will help answer those questions. Though the site is geared towards scanning images, the author addresses all the questions that surround digital imagery. The site provides a very good introduction to understanding digital images.

In particular he addresses the two means of displaying images: 1) printing 2) video display. He spends considerable time discussing how these two means are different and how they require a different approach.

Topics discussed on the site:

• The First Fundamental Concept
• Video Resolution – How much to scan?
• Say No to 72 dpi – It’s a false notion
• Printing Resolution – Scaling and Resampling
• Finding the Scaling and Resampling Menus
• Printer Resolution – How much to scan?
• Line art and Threshold – Copy and OCR, Printed Text
• Line art and Grayscale
• Scanning for Fax
• Descreen to remove Moiré Interference
• Images in magazines/books/newspapers
• Interpolated Resolution – 9600 dpi?
• Photo Resolution – How much can we scan?
• Image File Formats – Which format?
• Video Boards
• Transparent Media Adapter – 35 mm slides?
• What about Film Scanners?
• Dynamic Range – 24 bit or 36 bits?
• The Search for System Calibration

He also offers a printed book for $24 which goes into more detail then the website. It truly is the best education on digital imaging for the price.