What can you use the application for?


Aviary Falcon Image Markup helps users quickly capture and markup images they find online. The application works with the Talon screen grab tool. Using Talon, the user can capture any web page they see. The page becomes immediately available to edit in Falcon. A quick cropping tool allows the user to take what they need and get rid of the rest. The application also gives users the tools they need to grab the colors they find, which also makes it much easier to match up colors from existing web pages. Aviary Falcon Image Markup loads quickly, even when used with a slow connection. The user can add markup symbols and notes directly on the image or screen capture. Aviary Falcon Image Markup supplies the user with shapes like rectangles and arrows or the user can write text, doodle or make any other mark. The user can also adjust the size, color and outlines of their markups.

What is the history and popularity of the application?


Aviary Falcon Image Markup belongs to Aviary, the company behind many other web based applications. Aviary Falcon Image Markup was created to provide users with a fast, easy and simple way to capture the things they find on the web and edit them. The creators wanted to provide a tool that anyone could use, but offered as much functionality as the user could possibly need. The parent company, Aviary, was founded in 2007.

What are the differences to other apps?


Aviary Falcon Image Markup provides users with a number of helpful benefits. The application includes numerous features that give the user total control over their markups and the content they capture on the web. The Talon feature allows the user to work quickly (as does the Falcon application itself with its minimal load times).

How does the application look and feel to use?


The Aviary Falcon Image Markup website invites users with the pleasant sky blue and green header found on other Aviary products. The user can access links to other applications produced by the company or learn more about who Aviary is and what they do. The Aviary Falcon Image Markup homepage includes a sleek black and white falcon, winging upwards with a sharp beak and yellow rimmed eye. The homepage also includes an introduction video and a button to install the Talon extension for FireFox internet browsers.

How does the registration process work?


Visitors to the Aviary Falcon Image Markup website are asked to create an Aviary account to access the application. This can be done by clicking the rounded gold “Sign up!” button located in the upper, right hand corner (inside the green header bar). The brief registration form asks the user to supply a username, password and valid email address. The user can also select one of the 3D egg buttons at the top of the page to log in with their Sound Cloud, Yahoo, Google, Facebook or Twitter account. The user can access other Aviary applications with one account.

What does it cost to use the application?


Aviary Falcon Image Markup is available to all site visitors for free. There are no subscription fees or other charges for using the application. Even the registration form asks for very little from the user. This is a great way to encourage more users to spread the word about Falcon and other Aviary applications.

Who would you recommend the application to?


Aviary Falcon Image Markup is a helpful tool for anyone who deals with web design or has any reason to markup an image. The user can take examples or actual images from the web and apply their own notes, changes and other elements.

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Dribbble has quickly become one of the most popular communities online for designers.

It offers the opportunity for designers to get feedback on their works-in-progress, show off the work they’ve just completed, and otherwise network with others in the field.

While Dribbble has been largely successful in the design community, there has also been some controversy surrounding certain aspects of the site.

Dan Cederholm, one of Dribbble’s co-founders, took time from his busy schedule to answer a few questions about where Dribbble has been, where it is now, and where it plans to go next, as well as to address some of the criticism that’s been directed at it.

We thank Dan for this candid interview and invite all WDD readers to chime in and let us know what you think about it in the comments.

Where did the idea for Dribbble come from? Can you tell us a bit about those early days and how the site evolved prior to launch?
The idea for Dribbble started back in early 2007. When I’d catch up with fellow designers, a common question asked was, “what are you working on?”. I was initially fascinated by the idea of being able to peek over the shoulder of your colleagues as they worked. There really wasn’t a forum on the web to do that.

Early inspiration came from Cameron Moll’s Screen Grab Confab posts on his blog, where the constraints of his blog’s column width dictated how much people could share. Inspiration also came from Twitter, where brevity is king.

Having a pixel constraint on the screenshot upload meant folks could share what they were working on without revealing the entire piece. And like tweets, Dribbble shots are quickly and easily digestible. There’s an addictive quality to their consumption.

As a designer and front-end developer, an idea can only go so far though, and thankfully Rich Thornett was sharing an office at SimpleBits a few days a week while he telecommuted to his day job. Rich is a talented developer, UI designer and product thinker, and it was just my luck that he was willing and excited to start building what would become the first working prototype of Dribbble as a side project.

Over the course of many months, we crafted the interface, went back and forth on a lot of features and polished the UI into something usable.  We then mailed out handwritten postcards with invite codes to our friends along with a t-shirt. This initial wave of beta testers was immensely helpful in figuring out the final feature set that we launched with.

Had the Dribbble founders been involved in any collaborations prior to Dribbble? If not, how did this collaboration come about?
Dribbble was the first time we collaborated, unless you count neighborhood “Dad’s Night” beer meetups and kids’ birthday parties. It was actually our wives that got us together. We happen to live about 50 yards from each other here in Salem, both have 2 kids around the same age. When Rich needed a desk to work at part time, I had one open and the rest happened naturally.

Where do you see Dribbble, and similar sites, in five years? What’s the next evolution of this kind of service?
I don’t know that we’re thinking that far ahead. Bootstrapping the business has meant focusing on very specific goals in order to get to the next stage. First it was beta testing with friends, then letting them invite their friends, then letting folks sign up as spectators, then adding Pro features for a little revenue. In that regard I think we’ve really only begun to scratch the surface at what Dribbble could become.

In terms of evolution, we’ll continue to listen closely to the community and do our best to foster it. One of the areas we’ll be enhancing is helping Dribbblers get hired. Dribbble has become a unique way to find amazing design talent and every day we hear about members finding work directly via their Dribbble profiles. We absolutely want to make that process even easier for both hirers and hire-able designers.

What sets Dribbble apart from the competition? Why should a designer choose Dribbble over Forrst, Ember, Favwork, or one of the other, similar sites?
We don’t worry too much about what other sites are doing, so I can’t speak for them specifically. Hopefully people use the sites they find value in. I do have an Ember account, and it’s a completely different animal. While Ember is a place to collect screenshots from around the web, Dribbble is focused solely on _your own_ work. It seems like people love to compare sites and pit them against each other. I suppose that’s natural, but we’re primarily concerned with what’s happening on Dribbble and not other sites.

Does Dribbble plan to become an open platform? Or will drafting continue indefinitely?
Well, we don’t consider ourselves “closed” Dribbble content (other than private user information) is publicly accessible to anyone.

The number one reason for the drafting process is so that we can control the rate of growth. I’ll say that again. The number one reason for the drafting process is so that we can control the rate of growth.

This has been crucial for us. Since we’re a tiny, bootstrapped operation, the scaling has been a challenge. Instead of taking on funding, we’re preferring to create a sustainable business on our own. The downside is that we need to grow carefully, and slowly. But the scarcity of invites has had a positive affect on the quality of shots being uploaded.

Unfortunately the perception is that being drafted is part of an elite process. But that was never the intention. The truth is, 1.5 employees + an intern minding a site that generates a large amount of traffic and support requests dictates the growth rate that we’ll be able to successfully handle. Because growth means traffic, caching, servers, more beer, more support, less sleep, etc. We want to be ready for the growth. So, the drafting will likely remain for awhile. That said, as we make sure our systems are ship shape, we can increase the amount of invitations that are out there, as well as improve the drafting process for prospects (which we’re admittedly not doing a great job at right now).

What’s the number one reason designers already using the service should sign up for a Pro account?
It supports us and helps ensure its future

We tried our best to create some useful features and then price it low enough where it’d be affordable for all. So far, the response has been fantastic, and the use of Projects and Attachments has really added extra dimension to the work players are sharing. We’re really excited about the ways in which the Pro players are taking advantage of the new features.

What’s the most innovative use of Dribbble you’ve seen among your users?
As I mentioned earlier, people use Dribbble in a variety of different ways. We like this. It’d be tough to choose a single innovative use. The shots I get most excited about usually come about because of something spontaneous that the community sparks: Rogie King’s “charity:water” and the “What state do you live in?” playoff . Lately, I’ve also been amazed by Dana Tanamachi’s incredible typography. She creates amazing type pieces with _chalk_ for various businesses. It’s that kind of unique talent and variety being shared that makes Dribbble so special.

What’s your response to the critics out there who contend that a closed ecosystem like Dribbble contributes to a sense of elitism among some designers?
I’d just reiterate that it was never the intention for Dribbble to be a closed “elite” community. I understand there’s a perception problem there, but again, the reason for the invitation process is to control the speed of growth. I’d love for us to be in a financial position where that speed wasn’t as critical, but we’re not there yet.

There’s also been some criticism that what’s popular on Dribbble is all very homogenous and that designs that don’t fit in with the majority of content posted are sometimes shunned or even attacked. Is that kind of behavior something Dribbble, as a company, is concerned with? Or is this just one of the inevitable side-effects of having an invite-only service?
Those that complain that everything on Dribbble looks the same must not explore past the home page. It’s a bit like saying Twitter is nothing but Justin Beiber fans and celebrities.

Dribbble is full of variety—it all depends on who you follow (much like Twitter).

There are icon designers, illustrators, typeface designers, UI designers, game designers, and the list goes on and on. We need to do a better job at exposing that variety, and suggesting people to follow based on your interests. We’re working on that. Far too much attention is paid to the Popular page. Which is natural—but there’s so much more on Dribbble and we’ll be working hard to feature it all.

Originally, Dribbble was set up to offer designers a place to get feedback on their designs, but it seems to have shifted into primarily a community to show off design work, rather than get input. How do the Dribbble founders feel about this shift? Is there going to be any push to encourage feedback or are they happy with the way the community has evolved?
I have to correct you there. Dribbble wasn’t set up solely as a place to get feedback. Feedback has always been a part of Dribbble, but our motto since day 1 has always been, “show and tell for creatives”. One of the wonderful things about Dribbble is that people use it for different things. Some use it share their design process, some use it to gain feedback from their peers, some use it to promote upcoming projects, etc. We’ve been happy to observe how the community uses the site, and react to and support those ways. Many of the features exist today because of things the community started doing on their own: rebounds, playoffs, attaching files—we’re not interested in forcing a mandated use of the service. I think the community has grown organically, and I’m proud of that.

It seems that at least some of the uploads on Dribbble were created specifically for the site rather than being part of a larger project. This has led some to say Dribbble is little more than a glorified online art gallery. Is this a concern for the Dribbble founders, or was this something they predicted might happen?
Glorified online art gallery? Who are these ruffians you’re quoting?

From day one, players have uploaded things specifically for Dribbble. It’s show and tell. We’re fine with that. Rebound playoff contests are good examples: a place to flex your creative muscle on something fun. It’s just adding another window into your creative process as a designer.

What is Dribbble’s business model? Is this more a labor of love for the creators or is profitability a key concern? Are advertising, Pro accounts, and merchandise the only planned revenue generators, or are there others in the works?
Advertising, Pro accounts and merchandise aren’t the only planned areas for revenue. They’re keeping us (almost) afloat right now, but we have some other things planned for the future. I can’t talk about them specifically yet, but a few them are related to hiring talent and being hired.

Interview by Cameron Chapman.

What are the advantages of using Dribbble for you and designers in general? Let us know your thoughts below…

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Although many reports are referring to this as a “redesign”, I think it’s difficult to classify it as such. There certainly are some significant changes, but the changes are not exactly a complete overhaul as was the case for CNN.com in late 2009.

Nonetheless, the changes are significant to web designers, so I’ll briefly look at them here. If there’s anything about the changes that I’ve neglected to mention, feel free to comment.

A Redesigned Navigation Bar

The most significant change (albeit still a somewhat subtle one) is the look of the navigation bar. Apple has one of those navigation bars that, design-wise, everyone loves and envies. It seems impossible that it could be improved. Well, they were somehow able to find ways to make it even better looking and more intuitive.

Here is the old navigation bar:

Here is the new:

Changes include:

• It’s darker
• The gradient has been replaced by bolder glossy look
• The logo’s appearance is simplified
• The search box is smaller (more on that below)

I think it really takes a great team of designers to make what really are fairly significant changes to the look of a very important UI element, while still giving the impression that nothing has changed. It just goes to show that visual details are often not as important as the overall feel of the design.

The Flexible Search Box (WebKit Only)

Being obviously WebKit-biased, the Apple design team have included some WebKit-only enhancements, one of which is associated with the search box.

In most browsers, clicking into the search box will brighten its background to a more readable white. In Chrome or Safari, the search box animates using CSS3 Transitions to become wider and arguably a little more usable. The screen grab below shows the search box in Chrome after it has animated to become wider:

To accommodate the size of the search box, the other navigation items and the logo resize themselves.

I like this feature; it adds a feeling of intuitiveness. But it has, in my opinion, a small flaw: It doesn’t go back to its initial state after you remove focus. Of course, if something was typed into the search box, then you wouldn’t want the size to change back, but I think it should return to its normal state if it loses focus and remains empty.

Of course, since it’s extremely unlikely that anyone will click into the search box and not type anything, I suppose this is an insignificant omission.

The Navigation Bar’s Animated Entry (WebKit Only)

Another small WebKit-only feature is the animated entry of the navigation bar. I don’t remember seeing this effect on their site before, so I am assuming this is another new feature. The animated entry only happens on the home page, and only once per browser session. This is good practice and a good lesson for developers adding animated effects to their interfaces.

As visualized in the screen grab above, the navigation bar enters from off-screen, probably using CSS3 keyframe animation, along with JavaScript to control when the animation should or shouldn’t occur.

The Animated Product Browsers (WebKit Only)

Another recent addition is the use of animation on some of the product pages. CSS3-based animations are used on the Mac and iPod product browsers, one of which is shown below:

The products animate when you first arrive on the page, and if you switch between sub-categories, the visible products scurry away and new ones jump into their place. This is done via CSS3 keyframe-based code, some of which is shown below:

On non-WebKit browsers, the product browser’s animation switches to simple JavaScript-based fading. Although this kind of thing is not ideal in every circumstance (since it essentially amounts to “code forking”), it is a realistic option for developers and designers today who want to code for the best possible browsers and provide less enhanced functionality for the rest.

Search Box Auto-Suggest

[UPDATE] As pointed out by a number of people in the comments, the auto-suggest is not a new feature. Our inclusion of this as a “new feature” was based on another article that reported that the auto-suggest was new. Nonetheless, we’ll keep this section because it is a good feature that has the potential to make a website a little more usable, and provides a good example for other developer and designers to follow, if it fits with their project.

The Ajax-driven auto-suggest drop-down appears as you type a search query:

As shown in the screen capture above, not only does the drop-down show search results that match the typed characters, but the results are accompanied by product photos and descriptions. I think the photos are more valuable in this spot than the descriptions, but overall this has the potential to streamline product search and conversions.

Anything Else?

That seems to cover the major changes in the recent re-tooling of the Apple.com design. Are there any other significant changes to the design or code that I haven’t mentioned here?

This post was written exclusively for Webdesigner Depot by Louis Lazaris, a freelance writer and web developer. Louis runs Impressive Webs where he posts articles and tutorials on web design. You can follow Louis on Twitter or get in touch with him through his website.

What do you think of the changes to the Apple.com design? Are there any changes that we haven’t mentioned here?

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This technique is very useful for any serious marketers of any industry who need create animated banners for ad networks , its also good fun.

Step 1

As this is a tut about banners to comply with most banner ad networks rules we’ll keep this close to 100kb . First off create a new document at 250 x 250.

Step 2

Go to pvm garage .com the site we are creating the banner for. To be authentic and also to save time we can use the already existing graphics at the site.

Either using your own screen grab software or Print Screen which is  “PrtSc” on windows and  for mac hold down Apple key ⌘ + Shift + 3 . Now copy the image into Photoshop.

Step 3

We need the head graphic, the title and the three category titles too separated onto different layers. To do so draw around each area and press Ctrl + j to put it into a separate layer.

Step 4

Once on a separate layers we can place them into our 250 square canvas . Arrange them so they look like the following image. Resize the Title and place the categories at the top. Make sure they are accurate and how you want them to look because changing the animation afterwards can be tricky.

Also you may need to create a layer an fill in with the light brown colour to fill in any gaps.

Step 5

For the animation we need the timeline, so go to window and the fourth one down is animation.

Step 6

In the bottom right corner there is a button that says” convert to frame animation” as you hover over it. Select this so that the timeline changes to frames, which is how we need it.

Step 7

Each frame must have a separate layer for a new graphic, so in other words whatever you want to fade in or appear must be on its own layer.

Now create more frames by clicking the duplicate button, just like creating more new layers. We are going to need a total of five but we’ll create them as we go.

The first one should be a layer filled with this colour dfd8c8, the colour of the website. And underneath the other layers, so switch off the visibility of the other layers.

Step 8

The next step is putting the head in, and animating the fade. To do so click the second frame switch the head’s layer visability on, and thats it.

step 9

Now we need to create the fade with a tween, select both frames using shift , then leaving the tween with these settings press ok .

You should end up with the following when you press play , make sure looping options in the bottom left corner is set to forever.

Step 10

Add a new frame by clicking duplicate frame, add the title pv.m garage move it down 15 or so pixels .

Step 11

Now add another tween between the last frame with the head in and the new one with the title and head in, use the same settings as before. This will make the title fade downwards. This is what you should end up with .

Step 12

Create a new frame and add the category web design , then another for tutorials , and finally another for wordpress.

Step 13

Now all we need to do is add the timings , which for this one are simple – all the frames are set to 0 sec . The last one is set to 2 sec, this can be changed by clicking on the bottom of the frame an selecting no delay .

Finally to set how many time it plays in the bottom left corner select the button that says once and set it to forever. To view the animation press the play button.

In conclusion we could add more fades and different timings with the categories – however we need to keep this low in file size and as this is a 250 square gif we have to keep it simple.

To see this animated in browsers and software that supports gifs save it as a gif . Save for web and devices (Alt +shift +ctrl +s  ) under file menu brings up a menu where you can lower the size of the gif . I put this one on 64 colors  and the result was fine at 104 kb which is quite small really .

Final result

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I know the concept of video email is quite new. Imagine receiving a birthday video email, information on a property you were seeking, or advanced notice of a new car model with a video of it in the email. Certainly providing links to videos on emails is becoming common, and many marketers do that. So why not take the next step?

What You Can and Cannot Do

First, right now, embedding a video in an email is not possible. One day it might happen, but right now email servers don’t have the necessary software for this. This means text links or graphics.

Research suggests that using a graphical representation of your video and then providing a direct link to the video email is the best way to achieve video emailing right now.

The Case For Video Emails

In an article by Mark Brownlow, “Video email: current practices”, he discusses the research on video emailing. There are some interesting statistics.

Looking at this statistic, it is obvious that video is now acceptable to most Internet viewers. “According to comScore, US Internet users viewed 14.8 billion online videos in January, with YouTube alone scoring over 100 million unique viewers in that same period.” Finally video has come of age, and we are all conditioned to use it.

Comparing emails with or without a video link – “When not linking to video his click through rate is between 20-27%…when linking to online video it’s consistently between 51-65%” says Anna Yeaman. We know that a video link receives a much better open rate than a simple text message.

With an image in the email, views are 5-10 times as many!

Campaign Monitor reported that: “the screen grab was clicked on more than 5 times as often as the text link.”

Mark Brownlow says of his own email campaigns: “In my own newsletters, a video image attracts between two and ten times the clicks that the accompanying text link gets.”

Do you get this? If you have a properly constructed image in your email, 5-10 times more people will click on the link and view your video. If you are in sales, information dissemination, or advertising what would you pay to have 5-10 times more people view your message?

Direct Video or Video With a Link

When considering video email, there are three possibilities;

1. A text link.

2. A video thumbnail.

3. The video plays within the email.

Video Text Link

We are all familiar with text links pointing to videos. These are common in emails now. The challenge is that the link is usually a bunch of numbers and meaningless symbols and not very sexy! The author puts a catchy headline in there to entice you to click. Now you get about double click through rates when you direct your emails to a video, so it is pretty good compared to sending them to a text blog entry for instance.

Video Thumbnail

A Video thumbnail is where you get a picture to click on in order to play the video email. A really well produced image looks like a play button. When you click on the image it opens up a browser and plays the email seamlessly. When using a video thumbnail like this, the research suggests a 5-10 times better response than a standard text link! This is huge.

It is not intrusive, as you only see the video if you click on the link. We believe this is the best way to use video email right now, and the research backs us up. Compared to an email with a simple text link to a blog post, you are likely to see a 10-20 times greater open rate. This is phenomenal.

Video Within the Email

There is an email company or two around now that will send an email with a video in it. While this seems great, imagine receiving 20 emails and every time you click on one a video starts paying! I think this is intrusive, and many are likely to get angry at the invasion of their personal space. As well, with most of them you need special software or plug-ins to view them.

Because of this in your face aspect, I would suggest that the best form of video email now and into the future will be the thumbnail version, where with the click of a mouse a high quality video plays seamlessly.

What Video Email Service Should You Use?

I think by now you can see why I am so excited by the concept of video email. It is exciting, new and I believe in the same space as TV was when it first appeared. Right now video emails are not that common. This means sending a message this way is very likely to get opened. As people become more familiar with the technology, expect even better response to video emails and reduced openings of more traditional text links.

After I was Introduced to Video Email, I did my homework to see what was available.

COMF5

Formerly hello, hello, this company has been around for a while. The cost is $39.95 for up to 5,000 email addresses and bandwidth is limited to 40GB. There is no commission payable at this level and to earn residual income you need to pay $99.95 a month.

Their video templates are fairly ordinary and in my opinion, unattractive.

Deliverability is fine. There is no mention of free autoresponders.

EYEJOT

This is a free service if you want to send videos less than 1 minute long. You can upgrade to a 5 minute service for $99.95 a year with tracking. No referral commissions are payable, and there are no autoresponders.

Once again, the actual video template is fairly ordinary and not eye catching. Nevertheless, for a free service, providing you only want to send short messages to people you know, it would be okay.

There is no video conferencing and the basic service can’t be loaded onto YouTube, etc.

JIVE SYSTEMS

At $99.95 a month this is a premium service. You can have up to 60 minute videos, although I am not sure why you would have one that long in an email! There is a free trial, but you have to enter credit card information to do it.

There is no compensation plan, but they appear to have good training. For most people this may be a little expensive, but it appears to be one of the better services.

They suggest the $99.95 price point is for a limited time to increase urgency.

TALK FUSION

Talk Fusion offers a very easy to use interface, enabling video emails to be on their way in less than 5 minutes from the first mouse click. The templates are great and they will even design a professional template for you with the Executive package.

Talk Fusion has a very professional web site and autoresponders and video conferencing. One great feature is the ability to put your videos on your blog and social media sites. The autoresponders include a subscription form you can place on any website. Subscribers are automatically sent a pre-established video and or text email message series. This is very effective in communicating with prospects or customers.

There is an affiliate plan and after an initial joining fee of $175 a month, your monthly spend is just $20 for up to 1,000 clients on your mailing list.

This product has recently had a makeover and features beautiful templates, high deliverability, ease of use, and a very nice feel. With so many video formats, the ability to upload many formats seamlessly is very important.

One more thing – you can combine different video segments in the same email. For instance you could have a video introducing a customer to a new property for sale. This could be a personalized message of 15-30 seconds. Then you immediately switch to the second video, a tour of the property you are offering. At the end you could splice in a third video with a call to action.

Conclusion

Video Email is the new emerging technology in video. Right now you can capitalize from this new wave. Television used to get tremendous response from their ads when it first started. The same is true of video email right now. In future years when it becomes more common, the results will probably diminish, so why not take advantage of it right now.

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Video Email – The Future Of Communication

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Final Image

As always, this is the final image that we’ll be creating:

Step 1

Creating a new document (1000X1000px) and fill your canvas with 0e4b7f:

Step 2

Now create a new layer called ‘header highlight’ and drag out a radial gradient (white to transparent) from the top-center of your canvas. Then change this layer’s blend mode to ‘overlay’ and reduce it’s opacity to 50%

Step 3

Now download this great metal texture. Paste it into your document, and then go to image>adjustments>desaturate to grayscale it.

Then go to image>adjustments>levels and apply the adjustments shown below:

Step 4

Now reduce you metal texture layer’s opacity to 10%.

Step 5

Now apply some guides to your document, set at 50px and 950px (vertical) and 100px and 950px (horizontal). Then fill the inside area with white, using your marquee tool and paintbucket tool:

Step 6

Add some text to your header (b7dbfe) to construct a logo and menu.

Step 7

Now cut out this photo of a laptop and paste it into your document.

Then adjust the levels of your image to give it more impact:

Step 8

Now paste in a screen grab of one of your client’s websites. Go to edit>transform>distort and distort the image to fit over your laptop screen. Then to give it a subtle border, apply a stroke blending option (settings below):

Step 9

Now add some text to the left of your laptop. I used Arial (-50 kerning) and made the heading 408dd0 and the body text 8e8e8e.

Step 10

Now use your rounded rectangle shape tool (10px radius) and create a button under your welcome text. Apply an inner shadow and gradient overlay blending option (settings below):

Step 11

Create a new layer called ‘bottom area’. Use your marquee tool and fill the bottom part of your white content area with . Then apply an inner shadow blending option (settings below) in order to create a subtle divider.

Step 12

Now add in some content to the bottom half of your layout. I just used Arial for my text, and then for the buttons duplicated the button layer I had already created in the top half of my layout:

Step 13

To finish up, add a simple copyright notice at the footer of your design.

And We’re Done!

You can view the final outcome below. I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial and would love to hear your feedback on the techniques and outcome:

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While you may well be excited about the Apple iPad and its iBookstore, iPhone and iPod touch owners choosing not to upgrade to the newest 9.7-inch device can still get e-reading on their iProduct right away thanks to a shelf-full of great e-book reading apps available now in the App Store.

Though it’s unlikely you’ll want to consume War and Peace on your iPhone, having a few e-books on board for a quick read on the train or your lunch break is a great way to pass some time. And who knows, depending on the title, you might learn something new too.

Here we’ve pulled together a list of five free apps that offer you e-book reading abilities on your iPhone. So pick the one that suits you, get a title downloaded, and drift off into good-book bliss.

1. B&N eReader

This free app from book selling giant Barnes & Noble comes with five free “classic” e-books (which we’d probably save for those so-bored-you-could-poke-yourself-in-the-eye-for-amusement moments) and a free copy of Merriam-Webster’s Pocket Dictionary. Any titles you download are stored in the cloud, so you can access them from a Mac or PC as well as different handheld devices.

The ability to change the background and text color to a scheme that suits you is very welcome on a non-e-ink display, while the swishy wow factor comes in with Cover Flow-style book browsing as shown in the screen grab above. Incidentally, Barnes & Noble also owns Fictionwise, the company behind the eReader app, which is also available for free in the App Store.

Cost: Free

2. Kindle for iPhone

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This app can be used by those who are Kindle-less, but really shines for those that have bought into the Kindle ecosystem, as it offers Amazon’s clever “Whispersync” feature. It allows for seamless switching between the Kindle device and Kindle for iPhone. Whispersync knows where you are in a book, so you can read half a chapter on the bus, and when you get home, your Kindle device will give you the option to pick up where you left off, which is pretty clever. Another nice touch is the ability to lock the screen in portrait or landscape mode, so if you want to read in bed, the accelerometer won’t drive you nuts.

Cost: Free

3. Stanza

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Although other e-reader apps support such titles, Stanza makes access to the 50,000 free e-books of Project Gutenberg and Feedbooks easy, and offers a similar number of titles you can pay for though partner stores.

Highlights of the Amazon-owned app include the ability to slide your finger across the screen to turn the page — a real winner for those not quite prepared to turn their back on the paper book experience. The option to make the background black and text white, therefore allowing you to read in the dark, appears to have saved many a marriage if the reader reviews are to be believed.

Cost: Free

4. Wattpad 100,000+ Books

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The iPhone version of the online e-book community, Wattpad is a popular app with over 4 million downloads to date. What differentiates Wattpad from similar apps is the user-generated content. The system offers a publishing platform, meaning the novels, short stories, poetry and essays available through the app are more likely to be written by “Joe Bloggs” than J.K. Rowling. If you’re not one for amateur or fan fiction, or you work for the U.S. Copyright Office, you might want to skip this one.

Cost: Free

5. eBooks by Kobo

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One to watch, with its Borders team-up promising new e-reading hardware in the future, Kobo is a good looking e-library with a focus on new books and best-sellers. Its glossy, image-laden interface is backed up by discounts on current titles (“up to 65% off!” claims the blurb) while one new (and current) e-book is offered as a free download each week, making this app a great option for a casual, or light reader looking for a regular and inexpensive literary entree.

Cost: Free

Bonus: ICDL Books for Children

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Offering just four books at present — two from the U.S., and one each from Palestine and Mongolia — the International Children’s Digital Library brings a small part of its worldwide collection of children’s books to the iPhone, with more promised in the future.

Cost: Free

More iPhone resources from Mashable:

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- 10 Essential Money-Saving iPhone Apps
– 10 Essential iPhone Apps for Runners
– 10 Best iPhone Apps for Dog Lovers
– 10 Fun iPhone Apps for Beer Lovers
– Mashable’s New iPhone App: Download Today!

Tags: amazon kindle, ebooks, iphone, iphone apps, Lists, Mobile 2.0, mobile app

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I don’t recall all the details, but probably sometime in 2008, Dan Cederholm and I had a conversation about an app he was considering building. Fundamentally, the idea was to build a community loosely based on the same concept as the “Screen Grab Confab” posts on my site. (Remember those?) The concept was simple, embracing the brevity and utility of Twitter and adding to it visuals: Share a snippet of what you’re currently designing, but only a snippet. Let others reply.

Dan asked if I had any issues with the idea. I had none. I couldn’t wait to see it be realized, in fact.

In August 2009, I had my first look at Dan’s functional app, and I was floored. Aptly named Dribbble, the entire concept is built around basketball metaphors. Admittedly, this all seemed a little cheeky at first but over time has proven to be a very suitable premise for the community—(screen)shots, rookies, rebounds, uniforms, air balls, and the like. The interplay of these elements, supported by a very well-designed interface, makes for a seriously fun and enjoyable experience.

Currently, shots are read-only. You may browse any of the shots posted to the site, but you must be invited by existing members to comment on others’ shots and to post your own. I have only a handful of invites, and I’ll be giving those away in a contest that will be announced beginning tomorrow.

I suspect Dribbble will quickly become one of the hottest destinations for web designers, and rightly so. Hats off to Dan and Rich.

You can find my shots at dribbble.com/players/cameronmoll.

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Chrome is the newest child added to the constantly feuding web browser family. Although Google Chrome is comparatively new, it has been producing some major buzz around web for its performance, minimalist interface, and usability.

Another useful side of Chrome is the extensions that give the user added functionality for common web browsing tasks. Many of these Chrome extensions can help you increase your productivity and enable you to perform your jobs easier and faster.

Note: Since Google Chrome for Mac OS systems is still in beta, some extensions might not work properly. However, we have tested all of the extensions in brief, and we can confirm that they function.

1. Pixlr Grabber

Taking screenshots and then sharing them is a big process. You copy the screen grab into your clipboard, open a graphics editor and save it into a web format. Then you have to upload it to a web service so that you can share it publicly. Behold Pixlr Grabber, an extension that allows you to take screenshots in Google Chrome and automatically upload it to imm.io, an image sharing service. You can take parts of the visible screen, select only parts of it, or grab the entire web page.

2. Copy Without Formatting

What do you normally do when you just want to copy some plain text without any formatting (font, color, images) from your browser to an office or email software? Copy the text, paste it into a text editor like Notepad, and then copy and paste it again into the destination? Don’t worry, you’re not alone—even the productivity bloggers at Lifehacker have this problem. With the Copy Without Formatting Chrome extension, you can easily and directly copy unformatted text from Chrome and paste it anywhere, allowing you to cut out the middleman and streamline this task.

3. Evernote Web Clipper

Do you often find something cool on the web but forget to bookmark it? And when you need the web page, do you end up spending a lot of time trying to find it again? We all do. The Evernote Web Clipper Chrome extension saves the content of your clipboard along with a link back to the original page quickly and painlessly. You can store text, images, and links into your free Evernote account so that you have ready access to them anytime and anywhere (with an Internet connection).

4. Symtica

If you find yourself using many Google web applications (seriously, nowadays, who isn’t?) and you want a quicker way to access and use them, use the Symtica Google Chrome extension. This Chrome extension can watch out for new emails, create new Google Docs documents, access your contacts list, manage your Gmail task lists, read your RSS feeds, and more.

5. Image Search

Finding images on the web can be a drag. If you’re in need of some serious web scouring to find that perfect LOLcat photo to use in your next killer PowerPoint presentation, check out Image Search, the ultimate image search Chrome extension that searches websites such as Flickr, Picasa, Zooomr, and Photobucket. There are loads of options for customizing your search options by size, type and more, saving you a fair bit of time.

6. AdBlock

This Google Chrome extension blocks any kind pop-ups and ads, enabling you to focus on the information that you are trying to obtain. Using AdBlock can improve your productivity because it can lower web page response times as well as avert you from being distracted by advertisements and pop-ups that can get you on a tangent. But do allow the sites you love to display ads because ad-blocking can affect them dearly.

7. goo.gl URL Shortener

If you are constantly sharing web pages, goo.gl URL Shortener is a must-have one-click URL shortener that makes it a snap to share links and useful resources on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook. The short URL is also automatically copied to your clipboard, drastically shortening this process compared to the conventional method of URL shortening. The extension utilizes Google’s own URL shortening service.

8. Web2PDFConverter

Converting a web page to a sharable PDF file is a long and arduous job. Well, not so if you use Web2PDFConverter, a Google Chrome extension that lets you create PDF files from within your web browser. The extension even allows you to preview how the PDF document looks through Google Docs, saving you even more time in having to open Adobe Acrobat (or the desktop counterpart that you are currently using) to check your work.

9. Shareaholic for Google Chrome

Are you a social media junkie? If you are, you know that this addiction can be a ruthless time drain and can place a huge damper on your otherwise productive day. Making social media sharing easier, faster, and more convenient is always a good thing. Shareaholic for Google Chrome is an extension that will convert the current web page you’re on into a short URL and allow you to share it with your friends across many social media sites.

10. Split Screen

As this Chrome extension’s name implies, Split Screen enables you to split your browser’s viewport. Not only can it reduce the number of tabs that you have open (and thus, make it easier to find the web page you need), it also enables you to effortlessly compare and contrast several web pages at the same time. It is perfect for people that are studying and cross-referencing information.

What Google Chrome extensions do you use? If we have missed any useful extensions, share it with us in the comments.

Related Content

• Performance Comparison of Major Web Browsers
• Top 20 Essential Firefox Add-ons for Web Designers
• Top 6 Internet Explorer Extensions for Web Developers
• Related categories: Tools and Productivity

About the Author

Kawsar Ali is a web designer, graphic designer, and photographer based in NY, U.S. He’s also the founder of Desizntech, a site to find tips about web design, Mac, PC and more. If you’d like to connect with him, you can follow him on Twitter and check out his Personal Website.

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Last week, Pixmac, a microstock photo site (read more about them on the microstock:insider blog) teamed up with Six Revisions to give five readers 20 credits to use on their site. Over 30 participants shared a photos they found on the Pixmac site that they thought to be representative of design or development. Today, we’re happy to announce the winners.

The Winners

The five winners of 20 credits on Pixmac are:

• Anparasu
• Sebastian
• Michael L.
• Mary
• Zach S

Here is a screen grab of the MySQL query used to select the winners at random.

Congratulations to the winners! The winners should already have received an email regarding how to obtain their Pixmac credits.

Thank you!

Thank you Pixmac for sponsoring a wonderful and fun giveaway on Six Revisions, and thank you to the participants of the giveaway.

About the Author

Jacob Gube is the Founder and Chief Editor of Six Revisions. He’s also a web developer/designer who specializes in front-end development (JavaScript, HTML, CSS) and PHP development. If you’d like to connect with him, head on over to the contact page and follow him on Twitter: @sixrevisions.

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UPrinting.com and Six Revisions teamed up to give five Six Revisions readers a chance to win a set of 500 die cut business cards. Today, we’d like to announce the winners of the giveaway.

Winners of the UPrinting Die Cut Business Cards

These are the folks you’ve won the business cards of the "Best Online Resource for Graphic Designers?" giveaway:

• Nikas
• Jose Adan Ortiz
• AJ
• Sandra Kidd
• Annick

Congratulations to the winners and you should get an email soon with details on how receive your prizes.

Screenshot

Here is the screen grab of the MySQL query that was executed to randomly select the winners.

Thank you all!

Thank you UPrinting for hosting this awesome Six Revisions giveaway and for giving away such lovely prizes. Thank you to the participants who voted for what they thought was the best resource for graphic designers. Be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed to get notified of future Six Revisions giveaways.

Related Content

• Best Online Resource for Graphic Designers?
• 20 Useful Websites for Graphic Design Textures and Patterns
• 25 Impressive Character Designs from Behance
• Related categories: Graphic Design and Photoshop

About the Author

Jacob Gube is the Founder and Chief Editor of Six Revisions. He’s also a web developer/designer who specializes in front-end development (JavaScript, HTML, CSS) and PHP development. If you’d like to connect with him, head on over to the contact page and follow him on Twitter: @sixrevisions.

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I haven’t seen it yet, but I can only imagine how awesome it must’ve been: apparently Dwight wears the Three Wolf Moon t-shirt in tonight’s episode of The Office! Actor Rainn Wilson confirmed it earlier on his Twitter account as well.

If you’re not familiar, the shirt is something of Internet lore, and has at this point attracted more than 15,000 reviews, dozens of hilarious parody photos (Steve Jobs wearing it is my favorite), and might lead to a book deal.

Three Wolf Moon has finally fallen out of Amazon’s top 10 in apparel (it’s #13), but that might change after tonight’s episode. Meanwhile, for the first person to leave a comment with a screen grab of Dwight wearing it so I can do this post justice, I’ll send you your very own shirt if you so desire

Update: We have video, via @jonrest … And the perfect image too, via @Error601. Thanks guys!

Tags: the office, Three Wolf Moon

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