I recently bought a 160GB Wester Digital portable hard drive and had it partitioned but wanted to create custom icons for each drive for personalization and also for fun. Here’s a detailed step by step instruction on how to do it.

Continue reading this post »

Popularity: 34% [?]

Xpango is a site that claims to give you the latest mobile phones, gaming consoles and mp3 players for free. The concept is pretty simple and believable, but is it real?

Continue reading this post »

Popularity: 54% [?]

With the popularity of the WordPress platform nowadays, a lot of Premium Magazine Style WordPress Themes have emerged. As a web designer myself, I’m a big fan with the idea of selling premium designs. But then again, are you willing to pay for a WordPress theme when you can get a lot of them for free?

Continue reading this post »

Popularity: 40% [?]

Friendster has launched their own platform for developers with a big Friendster Apps advertisement splattered across the main members page. And they call it Friendster Widgets. Sounds familiar? It should. Every other social media website is doing it.

The documentation page tells you all you need to know to get started on making your own Friendster Widget.

I think it’s great that friendster is doing something to improve on their current features. But the big question still remains to be unseen.

Will Friendster Apps Click?

I think it could cater to some local developers hoping to make a name for themselves. And it could be a good addition to your resume especially when you’re applying for a local job as a developer or web programmer. But other than that, I really don’t see this taking off.

What do you think? Can you really see this thing click?

Popularity: 24% [?]

What is a favicon?
Favicon, which is short for favorites icon, is a little icon that is associated with your website. Browsers that support favicons may display them in the browser’s URL bar, next to the site’s name in lists of bookmarks, and next to the page’s title in a tabbed document interface.

Why is this important to me?
There are a lot of advantages why it is important to install your own favicon. Here are several of them.

Get noticed in the Tab.
With the tabbed browsing emphasized as a main feature in both Firefox and Internet Explorer 7, it is no doubt one of the best features in browsers today. It would be an advantage to have a favicon installed in your site so that you can easily be seen. Just be sure to make your favicon noticeable.

Stand out in the feed reader.
The same concept with the tab applies here. Because your reader has subscribed to many blogs and rss syndications, having a favicon can increase your chances of being noticed and so being read by your subscribers.

Stand out in your readers Favorites List.
Exactly the same idea with standing out in feed readers. Although, standing out in the favorites list plays a bigger factor because your blog will be highlighted in rss readers if you have posted a new article while the favorites list only shows a static listing.

Gives the reader something to associate you with.
Branding is very important, period. And having a favicon can help your readers unconsciously associate your blog or site to a specific logo or picture, because it will be shown on all pages on your site. It will be reloaded over and over again to your readers so the next time they see that logo or picture, chances are they will remember your site.

Things to remember when making your favicons:

• Be unique as you can be
  One if the main reason you are making a favicon is because you want to stand out among your competitors, so make it unique.
• Make sure it is understandable
  Since the icon is very small, make sure it will be understood by your readers. The last thing you want to have is a favicon that makes no sense.
• Color should blend with your design but stand out as a whole
  Your favicon might become a disadvantage instead of an advantage if you don’t blend it with your site’s theme or design. Why? Because it would just look plain ugly. Make it stand out but not too much.

Do-It-Yourself Favicon
Because of the size of the icon. It would be very hard to design or draw, right? So, what I do is I make the design on a big resolution (I use 300 x 300) and then just convert it using this Favicon Generator. You can also convert your pictures.

Other Favicon Generators you can use:
Favicon Editor
Favicon Converter
Favicon Generator
Online Icon Maker

Hope you enjoyed this sharing of mine. I’d love to hear feedbacks from you. By the way, please subscribe to my rss feed for more of my upcoming resources. I’m sure you’ll love them.

Popularity: 36% [?]