The URL says it all. Here is a free site that monitors up to 20 of your Web sites and notifies you if they go down:
I’ve looked at a dozen similar services over the years, and this one is as straightforward as it gets. You can also upgrade to a paid account at $75/year that checks your sites more frequently, as well as adding additional options to test for specific words or phrases on your site.
I teach monthly online marketing seminars at our Seattle training partner Luminous Works. Last night I led a new class on Google AdWords & Online Advertising. There will be tips from that class coming up in future weeks, but I wanted to share a quote from an email I received this morning from one of last night’s attendees:
“Craig, This was a GREAT class. The informal and succinct presentation provided simple and manageable solutions to what for most is mind-numbingly complex material. Best of all, I can implement 90% of your recommendations myself. In short, a comprehensive class in very professional and comfortable surroundings… worth 10X the price! I would recommend the class for anyone — except my competitors!” – Alan Burke, Classic Nursery & Landscape Company
Before anyone asks, yes, one day we’ll offer these online marketing classes via our workshop/webinar format. Probably not for several months however.
Recently, I needed a photo of my friend Steve Laskevitch’s new book to illustrate a tip. The problem, his book doesn’t ship until the end of February.
That’s where a remarkable set of scripts from Photoshop trainer Mark Monciardini saves the day. Mark has designed Cover Action Pro, a collection of specialized Photoshop Actions that magically turn your flat artwork into book covers, software boxes, dvd cases, magazines, and other images perfectly suited for e-commerce sites. The full collection of Photoshop Actions costs $127.
Read on to download two free Photoshop Actions from this collection.
One of the best features Apple incorporated into Mac OS X Leopard is their built-in Time Machine backup system. For small studios, or individual designers, Time Machine is one of the best automated backups available.
You can click on the small backup-clock icon in your menu bar to access many Time Machine features: Check the date of your last backup, force an immediate backup, or jump back to search through the recent backups of your computer.
But what if you want to look through the files from another computer? By default, Time Machine’s restore interface only shows you files from your computer. But hold down the Option key and a menu option named “Browse Other Time Machine Disks” will appear in that menu.
We are looking for a local web developer to help with several upcoming projects over the next couple months, including updates to our main WordPress-based tips blog. We are looking for a web designer with experience in:
» Custom WordPress Themes
» Email Newsletter Templates
» Light E-Commerce Design
We need someone who is available for smaller projects.
Ideally, we’d prefer to work with a web designer in the greater Seattle area.
Know someone good? Are you someone good? I’d appreciate the lead.
PS. Email me directly at craig at creativetechs.com or connect with me via LinkedIn. I’ll share more details about our needs one-on-one.
Last week, Extensis quietly released an update to their excellent Font Management Best Practices Guide. This is the 5th edition of their font management white paper, and it remains an excellent resource for designers who struggle with how to best manage their huge font libraries.
Managing Fonts in Mac OS X – 5th Edition (January 2009)
Simplifying the complex topic of font management in Mac OS X isn’t an easy job. Extensis does a good job describing the underlying challenges designers face when managing fonts on Mac OS X today. Their solutions are expectedly biased towards their own software (Suitcase Fusion 2, or the new Universal Type Server) but not unfairly so.
As someone who writes lots of tips about the Mac, I spend plenty of time working with screen captures. A new $15 screen capture utility named Layers is going to save people like me a lot of time each week.
What does it do? Simple. Layers captures your screen as a layered Photoshop PSD file. All windows, menubars, and (in some cases) icons are isolated on individual layers. Even better, it creates layer groups like “Main Menu”, “Dock”, or “Desktop” to group related elements together.
Layers — Capture your screen as a layered Photoshop document.
In the image above, I took a single screen capture of my Mac using Layers. Then I created a quick animation showing how different elements can be turned on and off, showing what is below or above them.
Read on for a striking example showing one reason font management is so important for today’s Mac-based graphic designer.
I took a fresh out-of-the-box iMac, and installed Adobe CS4, and Microsoft Office 2008. Then I stitched together a screen capture showing what the InDesign CS4 font looks like. The results speak for themselves.
I hate it when I can’t find a certain menu item. It happens a lot these days as I jump between multiple versions of different software.
Mac OS X Leopard adds a search field to the top of the Help menu. In addition to various help topics (which I usually ignore) it pulls up a list of all the menu items that include any search terms you type.
Highlight those menu items (using the arrow keys on your keyboard) and the appropriate menu pops up with a floating pointer showing you where the command is located.
With typical Apple finesse, a subtle animation helps draw your eye.
The keywording of images is both a laborious task, while you’re doing it, and one that will save you tons of time later when you search for images. That’s our way of saying, “take your medicine and do your keywording.”
Here is a quick tutorial walking you through creating and importing a text file of keywords into Adobe Bridge CS3 and CS4. We also have a second tutorial for Importing Keywords into Adobe Lightroom 2.
