06.14.09 Posted in Design, Reviews by Tim
This is nice; a simple to use and fairly robust image cropping tool via a web based application. For designers without a full photoshop application this is perfect for taking a smaller element from an existing image.
The tool allows you to crop and resize acording to specific pixel needs. What is really cool is you can take the image and directly save as a desktop icon, a Skype profile image, Gmail image, AIM buddy, Hotmail messenger icon or emoticon, Yahoo 360° avatar, Facebook profile pictures, MySpace image, blog and forum avatars – or anything else – and the sizing is custom!
The site allows you to take the image from your drive, a gallery or a URL.
Better Crops
Features include maintaining aspect ratio, tint, background, flip and more. The big boon for this is the ability to very quickly create the custom sized icons – this is a tool I’ll be keeping handy.
Let me know what you think.
Tim at greenseedwebdesign.com
06.13.09 Posted in Reviews by Tim
Something a bit lighter for the weekend. Firefox has a brand new range of ‘Personas’ that can be added to your browser. It’s a free download that allows you to change the entire skin of your browser to suit your mood/passion. 
I know Opera had something similar to this a few years back and it never seemed to get much independent design support, but judging by the number of newly added skins on the Firefox platform this has some momentum. Installation is a cinch and design themes include Music, Nature, Sports, Fashion and many others. Dependent on your taste they all have merits but the solid color themes are simultaneously the smoothest looking and least distracting.
Give one a try and let me know what you think.
Tim at greenseedwebdesign.com
06.12.09 Posted in Design by Tim
Adding just the right stock images can add such an extra dimension to a well designed site. Building a good catalog of stock images can help a designer with drafts, marketing and completing designs. While the competition offers well priced downloadable images, for those on a budget I’ve found a free alternative for stock images.
Everystockphoto.com offers a free database of over 4.4 million images. I’ve browsed the site and these are high res images that are ideal. Just as importantly the navigation on the site is very smooth and user friendly. The filtering is extremely relevant and the advanced search options allow phrases to be added and the results can be organized by resolution, shape (I love that), dimensions and more.
If you have 15 minutes to spend take a visit to the site, it’s well worth the time and bookmark.
Tim at greenseedwebdesign.com
over 100 custom twitter logos when I did a search last night ranging from the very cartoon based images to modern and metallic. There are so many great designers providing these icons for free and awareness of them is key.