Favourite Scripts & Tools

Below are a selection of resources I have come across on the internet which I think any designer or developer can benefit from.

MobiSiteGalore.com

Source: http://www.mobisitegalore.com

Need a simple .mobi site in a hurry? MobiSiteGalore provides on online build tool which allows you to build a standards compliant mobile site very quickly. You are also able to FTP the files created on to your own server. The tool is supported by the W3C and dotMobi working group. It also automatically tests every page of your site and tells you whether it is fully compliant or not. Very clever and easy to use tool.

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AddThis.com

Source: http://www.addthis.com/customization.html

AddThis.com provide a widget which you can use on your website so your visitors can bookmark your page with there choosen bookmarking application. The have recently introduced a new feature which allows for some customization and quicker link through to individual bookmarking applications. If you loved AddThis.com before, you’ll love it even more now!

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MiniAjax.com

Source: http://miniajax.com

This website is simple and sweet. It lists about 30 AJAX applications which are simple to use and customize. This licenses do vary, as does the quality on a couple of the apps, but on a whole an excellent source of some of the best AJAX scripts written.

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DoJo - The JavaScript Toolkit

Source: http://dojotoolkit.org/

This looks like an awesome toolkit making DHTML development a breeze. I haven’t quite got round to playing with it, although I now have it installed. I’ll update this description shortly when I have learnt a bit more.

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Feed Icons

Source: http://www.feedicons.com

This website provides photoshop templates and standard gif icons for RSS feed links. There is nothing amazing about this service, however it provides a very useful resource to busy designers like myself, who don’t always have time to design small details from scratch, and to those who don’t have the abilty to create their own icons. Having such a web site with these free quality resources also encourages a standard icon across the web which can only aid accessibility.

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Rsizr

Source: http://rsizr.com/

Rsizr is an amazing flash application which is used to resize and crop images. It is ideal for those who don’t want to spend any money on image rendering software. It is also good for those who regard any spare space on their hard drive as precious. There is no need for installing any software as it all runs through your browser. The application is easy to use and also benefits from some special effects.

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TextPattern

Source: http://www.textpattern.com

TextPattern is a PHP-based open-source content management system. It comes with Textile which is an editor which writes clean accessible XHTML code. It is also very well organized as a CMS, which is why I build it in to my sites for use by my clients.

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Nifty Corners

Source: http://www.html.it/articoli/niftycube/index.html

Nifty Corners is a JavaScript library which dynamically adds rounded corners to HTML elements. This is a really tidy bit of script which aids clean accessible design. It will aid the quicker loading of pages as no images are required. When JavaScript is disabled in a browser, the elements will just appear with square corners.

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sIFR 2.0

Source: http://www.mikeindustries.com/sifr

sIFR 2.0 is a fantastic script and Flash file which work hand-in-hand with both accessibility and design. It works by basically replacing standard elements on a page with custom fonts. This allows the designer to produce a selectable font which is visually attractive but also accessible. Depending on the use of the code, the text can also be scaled with font sizes which again aids accessibility. An example of this code can be seen in the header of this site.

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Custom Corners & Borders

Source: http://www.456bereastreet.com

This is a really neat script. When styles are switched off is leaves you with completely accessible content. When styles are on you have pages and effects that othes dream of. Really neat and works really well.

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