hello, trouble.

hola.
enjoy. ♥ from cami
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Designing CSS Buttons: Techniques and Resources

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/

 

Buttons, whatever their purpose, are important design elements. They could be the end point of a Web form or a call to action. Designers have many reasons to style buttons, including to make them more attractive and to enhance usability. One of the most important reasons, though, is that standard buttons can easily be missed by users because they often look similar to elements in their operating system. Here, we present you several techniques and tutorials to help you learn how to style buttons using CSS. We’ll also address usability.

Links vs. buttons

Before we explain how to style buttons, let’s clear up a common misconception: buttons are not links. The main purpose of a link is to navigate between pages and views, whereas buttons allow you to perform an action (such as submit a form).

In one of his articles, Jakob Nielsen writes about command links, which are a blend of links and buttons. But he recommended that command links be limited to actions with minor consequences and to secondary commands. To learn more about primary and secondary commands (and actions), check out Primary and Secondary Actions in Web Forms by Luke Wroblewski. To learn more about the differences between links and buttons, read Creating Usable Links and Buttons at UXBooth.

Basic Styling

The simplest way to style links and buttons is to add background color, padding and borders. Below are examples of the code for the link, button and input (”Submit”) elements.

Sample button
  <button class="button" id="save">Sample button</button>
  <input class="button" value="Sample Button" type="submit" />

.button {
  padding:5px;
  background-color: #dcdcdc;
  border: 1px solid #666;
  color:#000;
  text-decoration:none;
}

This simple code minimizes the visual differences between links and buttons. And here are the rendered examples of the code above:

The important thing to note is that these three elements render differently with the same CSS. So, you should style these elements carefully to ensure consistency across your website or application.

Images

Adding images to buttons can make the buttons more obvious. Sometimes the image itself clearly communicates the purpose of a button; e.g. a loupe icon for searching or a floppy disk icon for saving. The easiest way to add an image to a button is to use a background image and then position it accordingly. Below are our examples with a checkmark icon.

.button {
  padding: 5px 5px 5px 25px;
  border: 1px solid #666;
  color:#000;
  text-decoration:none;
  background: #dcdcdc url(icon.png) no-repeat scroll 5px center;
}

Button States

In addition to their default state, buttons and links can have two other states: hover and active (i.e. pressed). It is important that buttons appear different in different states so that users are clear about what is happening. Any element in a hover state can be styled by invoking the :hover CSS pseudo-class.

a:hover {
  color:#f00;
}

Though very important, the active state is rarely implemented on websites. By showing this state, you ensure that your buttons are responsive and send a visual cue to users that a button has been pressed. This is called isomorphic correspondence, and it is “the relationship between the appearance of a visual form and a comparable human behavior” (Luke Wroblewski, Site-Seeing). The article Pressed Button State With CSS elaborates on the importance of the active state.

a:active {
  color:#f00;
}

There is yet one more state, one that is seen when navigating with the keyboard: the focus state. When the user navigates to a button using the Tab key, it should change appearance, preferably to have the same appearance as the hover state.

a:focus {
  color:#f00;
}

The examples below shows the common way to style button states. The hover state is a bit lighter than the normal state, while the active state has an inverted gradient that simulates a pressed action. Although you need not limit yourself to this styling, it is a good place to start.

We should talk about how to handle the outline property for the :active and :focus states. Handling this property well is important for the experience of users who employ the keyboard as well as the mouse. In the article Better CSS Outline Suppression,” Patrick Lauke shows how buttons and links behave in different combinations of states and explains why the outline property should be invoked only with the :active state.

The blue “Buy now” button on Apple.com has a slightly lighter background for the hover state and an inset style for active state. Even the main navigation button on Apple’s website implements all three states.

Although it doesn’t implement the active state, this fancy button on Tea Round has a nice fading effect on hover.

The “Read more” button on UX Booth turns green on hover and moves down one pixel in the active state, which simulates the effect of pressing a button.

Useful Reading

The article Rediscovering the Button Element shows the differences between links and buttons and explains how to style buttons easily.

Styling Form Buttons covers the basics of styling buttons, with many examples.

Beautiful CSS Buttons With Icon Set shows how to style buttons using background images. Although not scalable, these are really nice buttons.

Recreating the Button is a very good article that explains how Google ended up with the buttons that it uses on majority of its websites.

Scalable CSS Buttons Using PNG and Background Colors explains how to create really stunning buttons for all states. Although it uses jQuery, it degrades gracefully if JavaScript is turned off.

Sliding Doors: Flexible Buttons

One important consideration needs to be made when styling buttons: scalability. Scalability in this context means being able to stretch a button to fit text and to reuse images. Unless you want to create a different image for each button, consider the “sliding doors” technique. This technique enables you to create scalable, rich buttons.

The principle involves making two images slide over each other, allowing the button to stretch to the content. Usually, this is done by nesting a span element within a link. As shown in the image above, each element has its own background image, allowing for the sliding effect. The two code snippets below show the structure and basic styling for this effect.

Typical sliding doors button

a {
  background: transparent url('button_right.png') no-repeat scroll top right;
  display: block;
  float: left;
  /* padding, margins and other styles here */
}
a span {
  background: transparent url('button_left.png') no-repeat;
  display: block;
  /* padding, margins and other styles here */
}

The advantages of this technique are that it:

• Is an easy way to create visually rich buttons;
• Ensures accessibility, flexibility and scalability;
• Requires no JavaScript;
• Works in all major browsers.

Useful Reading

The “Sliding Doors of CSS” article on A List Apart (part 1 and part 2) covers the basics of this technique. Although a bit old, these articles are a must-read for every Web developer.

Also a bit old, Creating Bulletproof Graphic Link Buttons With CSS is an excellent article that shows how to create bulletproof, resizable, shrunk-wrap buttons. Also a must-read.

Filament Group has a variety of excellent articles and tutorials. Its second article on CSS buttons, Styling the Button Element With CSS Sliding Doors,” explains how to create buttons by combining techniques. Although it doesn’t support the active state, it can be easily extended.

How to Make Sexy Buttons With CSS is one of the best and simplest explanations of the sliding doors technique. It also contains a little fix for the active state in Internet Explorer.

If you want Wii-like buttons, the article Simple Round CSS Links (Wii Buttons) provides all the necessary resources and explanation on how to style them.

The common way to achieve the CSS sliding doors technique is to use two images. However, the article CSS Sliding Door Using Only One Image shows that it is possible to achieve the same effect with only one image.

CSS Oval Buttons and CSS Square Buttons from Dynamic Drive are two other articles that show the effectiveness of CSS sliding doors.

CSS Sprites: One Image, Not Many

With CSS Sprites, one image file contains multiple graphic elements, usually laid out in a grid. By tiling the image, we show only one Sprite at a time. For buttons, we can include graphics for all three states in a single file. This technique is efficient because it requires fewer resources and the page loads faster. We all know that many requests to the server for multiple small resources can take a long time. This is why CSS Sprites are so handy. They significantly reduces round-trips to the server. They are so powerful that some developers use CSS Sprites for all their graphics. The Holy Sprites round-up on CSS Tricks offers some very creative solutions.

The example below shows the simplest use of CSS Sprites. A single image contains graphics for all three button states. By adjusting the background-position property, we define the exact position of the background image we want. The image we’re choosing to show here corresponds to a background position of top: -30px and left: 0.

a {
  background: white url(buttons.png) 0px 0px no-repeat;
}
a:hover {
  background-position: -30px 0px;
}
a:active {
  background-position: -60px 0px;
}

For general information and resources on CSS Sprites, check out The Mystery of CSS Sprites: Techniques, Tools and Tutorials.”

Useful Reading

In this easy-to-follow tutorial How to Build a Simple Button with CSS Image Sprites,” Chris Spooner explains how to create a CSS Sprites image in Photoshop and use it with CSS.

Transforming the Button Element With Sliding Doors and Image Sprites shows how to enrich a button element with a combination of sliding doors and image Sprites. It implements the active state in a very interesting way, not by using different images or colors but rather by positioning.

CSS 3: Buttons Of The Future

CSS 3 allows us to create visually rich buttons with just a few lines of code. So far, this is the easiest way to create buttons. The downside of CSS 3 is that it is currently supported only by Firefox and Safari. The upside is that buttons styled with CSS 3 degrade gracefully in unsupported browsers. By using the browser-specific properties -moz-border-radius (for Firefox) or -webkit-border-radius (for Safari), you can define the radius of corners. Here are a few examples of what can be done with the border radius property.

For better results, you can combine CSS 3 rounded corners with the background image property. The example below shows a typical button with a gradient image, the first without rounded corners, and the second with.

Compared to sliding doors, this technique is far simpler. However, if you want to maintain visual consistency across all browsers, then use sliding doors, because it works in all major browsers, including IE6. To learn more about the capabilities of CSS 3, read CSS 3 Exciting Functions and Features: 30+ Useful Tutorials.” And here are a few good tutorials on styling buttons with CSS 3 features.

Useful Reading

Super Awesome Buttons With CSS 3 and RGBA shows the power of CSS 3 with rounded corners, Mozilla box shadows and RGBA, which is a color mode that adds alpha-blending to your favorite CSS properties. This is one of the best examples of CSS 3 buttons.

Create a CSS 3 Button That Degrades Nicely is a good example of CSS 3 buttons that degrade gracefully in browsers that don’t support CSS 3.

Creating buttons without Images Using CSS 3 explains the drawbacks of using images for buttons and shows several options for creating image-less CSS 3 buttons.

Emulating Google-Syle Buttons Using CSS 3 & dd_roundies JS is a fantastic article that shows how to create Google-like buttons. It goes even further and shows how to create the button pillbox commonly seen on Google pages.

Instant Tools: Are They Useful?

Tools exist for creating buttons, such as Easy Button and Menu Maker and My Cool Button, and for creating CSS Sprites, such as CSS Sprite Generator, but the question is, do they really help you create buttons that fit your needs. Although they are configurable and easy to use, your creativity and control over the results are limited, which makes for average-looking buttons. Using one-size-fits-all buttons is not a good idea.

The solution is to use Photoshop (or a free alternative) and the proven techniques described in this article. If you are a beginner with Photoshop, here are several excellent tutorials on creating amazing buttons.

If you don’t know where to start, iPhone-Like Button in Photoshop is the perfect choice. In only 10 to 15 minutes, you will be able to create the kind of buttons seen on the iPhone.

How to Create a Slick and Clean Button in Photoshop is a very detailed tutorial that guides you through 30 simple steps and helps you learn the Photoshop basics. In addition, the article explains how to use these graphics in combination with HTML and CSS to create fully functional CSS buttons.

Photoshop Button Maker is a fantastic tutorial from PSD Tuts that shows how to create fancy oval buttons (or badges).

Buttons And Usability: Instead Of Conclusion

The techniques described above can help you create stunning buttons. However, because they play a critical role in website usability, the buttons should meet some key principles:

1. First consider the labeling. Always label buttons with the name of the action that the user is performing. And always make it a verb. A common mistake is to label buttons “Go” for various actions such as searching, sending email and saving. Labels should also be short and to the point; no need to clutter the user interface.
2. As mentioned, include all button states (default, hover, active) to provide clear visual cues to the user as to what is happening. Button outlines should remain in the active state only.
3. Clearly distinguish between primary and secondary actions. The most important action should be the most prominent. This is usually done by giving primary and secondary actions different colors.
4. Pay close attention to consistency. Buttons should be consistent throughout a Web application, both visually and behavior-wise. Use CSS sliding doors for reused buttons or CSS 3 rounded corners to maintain consistency.
5. Though obvious, we should note that the entire button area should be clickable.

The articles below provide even more usability guidelines and best practices for designing buttons.

Make Complete Button Surface Active and Enhance Usability is an in-depth article that shows mistakes in button design and that explains why the entire button surface should be clickable.

Creating Usable Links and Buttons explains why users expect buttons sometimes and links other times. It also shows how to choose between the two elements.

How to Design Buttons to Help Improve Usability explains some usability principles that should be considered when designing buttons. It covers the basics of icon usage, appearance, behavior, hierarchy and consistency.

(al)

Video Toolbox: 150+ Online Video Tools and Resources

 

Online video is a huge trend – so huge that’s it’s proving hard to keep track. From video sharing sites to video mixers, mashups and converters, we’ve brought together more than 150 of our favorite sites in this category. Enjoy.

Live Video Communications

Stickam – The best site for live video communications with multiple people. There is no major competition for Stickam just yet.
Blogtv – Blogtv is a recent discovery to the public. It allows you to do a live video show, and you can stream it live, as well as archive it for later use.
ooVoo – This allows you to carry on video conversations with live video through a Skype-like program.
Mogulus – This site is basically an all in one broadcast solution for video. You can create, edit, and add things similar to broadcast companies could add.
Ustream – Allows you to stream live video and you can also embed the player in to your own website.
HeyCosmo – A downloadable application that allows you to connect with other people in many ways, even play games and more.
Operator11 – Go live with your camera and create your own channels. You can also send video comments and remix your videos.

Online Video How-to

Better YT Video Quality – This guide helps you with getting the best possible video quality on YouTube, can be applied to other sites as well.
Make Internet TV – This guide has step-by-step instructions for shooting, editing, and publishing videos on the Internet.
How to put your readers at the scene – A scene-setting guide for online web journalists.
Tips for shooting better online video – learn the equipment, shooting and editing basics from this collection of tips.
Online video tips – a Squidoo lens with several useful online video shooting and editing tips.
Home video tips – Chris Pirillo’s tips for shooting better videos at home.
Camcorderinfo – Every online video comes from a camcorder, so here is the best place to get opinions on your next camcorder purchase.
5 Ways To Create a Great Video Podcast – A great article that applies to both video podcasts and video production in general.

Online Video Editors

Eyespot – add effects and transitions to the videos you upload, or use some of the large amount of free video clips and music from Eyespot’s media partners.
MuveeMix – Upload your movie, mix it with music, add cool effects and share it on MySpace, Friendster, Blogger, and other networks.
Motionbox – This service features the ability to link to a very specific point or “segment” within the clip itself.
Cuts – Insert sound effects in your videos, add captions, loop the best parts and in minutes you can share your creation with the world.
JumpCut – a free service that enables you to upload, edit and share your videos. Offers keyframe-based editing, effects, transitions and actions.
VideoEgg – A video editing platform that you can add to create a social network and offers opportunities for monetization.
Mojiti – Select videos from popular video sharing sites, personalize them with your annotations and share them with others.
Photobucket – Edit videos within a browser using Flash and remix photos and home videos with other elements, such as music, video captions and transitions.
StashSpace – Upload, store and edit your videos online. You can also record videos directly from your camcorder or digital camera.
BubblePly – Video annotating service where anyone can add text bubbles that are synchronized with video.
Veotag – Service that lets you display clickable text, called “veotags,” within an audio or video file.
Vidavee Grafitti – add graphics and text into any video; the service is called a “legal form of artful vandalism” by the creators.
Vmix – Vmix is a community and a hosting provider for your videos, aimed at creative authors who want to create remixes of their music and videos.
MovieMasher – a combination of a video editor with a timeline and lots of various effects, a standalone player and a media browser.
MixerCast – Mix your media with professional video, images, music, and network your MixerCast everywhere.
Fliptrack – Make a free musical photo slideshow and music video. It’s easy to do and you do it online.

Online Video Converters

Zamzar – converts all sorts of file formats, including several video formats.
Media Convert – a media converter with a huge amount of options; resulting videos can sometimes be out of sync with audio.
Vixy – a simple converter that can only convert Flash apps from the web to several other video formats.
Hey Watch! – an online video converter focusing on file formats that works on portable multimedia devices, like the iPod.
MediaConverter – a video converter that can be slow and needs polishing, but can sometimes yield really good results.
Movavi – another video converter that allows you to upload videos and convert them to formats you wish to use.

Video sharing

YouTube – YouTube is the king of the video sharing sites, it has more users and videos than the others. Any video you can think of it probably already on YouTube.
Google Video – Since Google bought YouTube, Google’s Video player is mainly used for for-pay content like TV shows. Also there is a search here that indexes all of the video sharing sites on the internet (well, most of them).
Blip.tv – Blip.tv is the perfect video sharing site for video podcast makers. It’s designed to let them easily upload all types and qualities of media and then send them to their feed for the users. They also let you add ads to you video so you can make some money.
Ourmedia – A great site where you can upload audio, video, images, and text and share them with the world. The OurMedia community contains over 100,000 members.
Veoh – Watch long form, television quality content and publish your own videos.
DailyMotion – Video sharing platform with multiple video search options. You can join groups of people who publish videos based on a common interest.
Metacafe – A site that helps you discover the best videos through a community that filters, reviews and rates new videos every day.
UnCut – Video uploading and sharing community by AOL. Embed all the videos you want in your blog.
ClipShack – video sharing community that allows you to upload video clips, make friends, keep a collection of your favorite videos and comment on clips.
5min – Video sharing site with a particular vision: collecting videos that can visually explain anything in 5 minutes.
Brightcove – Search, click and watch. Music videos, news, travel, recipes, adventure. Thousands of channels, including the best in online video.
Viddler – Viddler lets add tags and comments to video that will show up at specific times. It also has unique features like flickr and twitter integration.
Revver – The first video sharing site that provides users with the possibility to earn money from the videos they upload.
Vimeo – Vimeo is a video sharing site that has an emphasis on it’s users. The video’s you find there are more likely to be home movies or shorts by aspiring film makers, and also a lot of lip dubs.
Yahoo Video – Yahoo’s version of online video. Similar to Google video, but done the Yahoo way.
HelpfulVideo – Share your knowledge and skills with others for free or little charge via video clips.
BroadbandSports – A video sharing site specifically for sharing sports related videos.
Travelistic – A video sharing site that allows users to post video content specific to travel.
Livevideo – Video sharing site that lets you create personal channels. Upload your own videos and share them with the world.
Kewego – A video sharing network where you can upload your own videos and view videos by others.
Godtube – It’s a Christian version of YouTube. All things Christian welcomed.
Coull.tv – An interactive twist to video, this site allows you to view video and add interactive elements to it by using your mouse.
Mediabum – Video sharing site focusing on funny videos.
VMIX – Another video sharing website; All content is screened, so be sure everything you upload is legit.
Grouper – Video sharing site with a big selection of content; enables you to create playlists and easily upload videos to MySpace.
Break – Break is a video site and more for comedic based content.
Videosift – a Digg-like site which lets you submit, vote, and comment on videos.
GeeVee – GeeVee is a video sharing site specifically for sharing videos of game play in video games.
Stage6 – A video site that uses the Divx player so you can upload High Definition video, of course this also means longer upload times, and you need DivX support (usually a browser plugin).
Tube Battle – vote for the best videos, organized by category.

Video hosting

TinyPic  – Host videos and images for free; it is possible to upload videos in the most popular formats and link videos on MySpace, eBay, blogs and message boards
Vidilife – Upload videos and store them online. There is no limit in terms of length of the files you can upload.
Dropshots – Good site that lets you upload videos, share them and embed them on other sites.
ZippyVideos – Upload and store video files (maximum 20 MB) in the most popular video formats.
Supload – Free service to host video clips and images. Maximum video file size allowed is 20 MB.
Rupid – Another provider of free video hosting: you can host your videos and share them with others.
Pixilive – Free images and video hosting for MySpace, eBay, Facebook and other sites. Maximum size for videos is 10 MB.
Mydeo – store and stream your videos online. You will be able to embed a video on any website and send streaming video messages .
YourFileHost – Upload files anonymously and share them with others. You can upload any file format up to 25 MB.

Video organization and management

Aggrega – create and organize your own music video channels and share them with others.
Feedbeat – a fantastic service that lets you create playlists with videos from different sources – YouTube, Google Video and others. Each playlist gets its own subdomain on feedbeat.net.
Ajaxilicious – an online movie catalogue which enables you to manage your movies and share them with others via RSS.
Cliproller - create custom video channels and add as many as you like to your personal Cliproller page.
CozmoTV – CozmoTV is a site that allows you to create and organize channels of video already existing online.

Vidcasts & vlogging

BlogCheese – a simple way to create and share a video blog – all you need is a webcam.
Revision3 – A video podcasting network that’s home to many well made video podcasts, including Diggnation, which is Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht’s video podcast about the top stories on Digg.
Jabbits – Social video blogging: Use your webcam to record your Post or Jab with an easy-to-use recorder.
Ask a Ninja – got questions? Ask a ninja! One of the most popular vidcasts in the world, and definitely the funniest.
Galacticast – a weekly Sci-fi comedy podcast, episodes usually consists of lots of really geeky parodies.
Scriggity – A news podcast, where the viewers send in the news that they think should be on the shows.
SuperDeluxe – A site to find videos that focus mainly on comedic content.
DL.TV – Some of the the old TechTV crew back at it again with their own own show on all things tech. One of the best video podcasts for tech geeks.
Webnation – Amber Mac’s bi-weekly video podcast with news and interviews relating to current events in the tech world.
Tom Green’s the Channel – A daily video podcast that is recorded live and is hosted by Tom Green. He usually has a celebrity guest on the show.
GeekBrief TV – a daily podcast hosted by Cali Lewis, it’s a 3-5 minute update on the latest tech news.
This Week in Tech – famous tech vidcast by Leo Laporte, one of the most viewed vidcasts in the world.
The Broken – tech show for teh 1337 h4×0rz.
Digg Podcasts – a long list of popular podcasts, containing most of the vidcasts on this list and many more.

Video mashups

Virtual Video Map – YouTube videos on a Google map. Find out where do all those cool videos come from.
RealPeopleStuff – a site that combines CraigsList and YouTube, offering video clips related to ads.
TagTV – enter a tag and get results from Flickr and YouTube. Clean and simple design makes TagTV a very neat way to browse photos and videos.
I Love Music Video – combines YouTube with info from your Last.FM account. Great way to get videos (at least until Last.FM signs an evil deal with all those content providers and starts offering music videos).
MusicPortl – information on bands and musicians containing biographies, Flickr images, related blog posts and YouTube videos.
Magg – aggregates videos from several video sites. Also works as a search engine.
RateMyDanceMoves – Hot or Not-style site, presenting you dance-related YouTube videos to vote on.
ReviewTube – a site that enables you to add captions to YouTube videos. Nice idea, but relatively poor execution – the captions frequently overlap, making the text unreadable.

Mobile video apps

Youtube mobile – a stripped down version of YouTube tailored for use on mobile phones.
Shozu – a free service for your phone that makes it easy to send and receive photos, videos and music
Abazab – a universal video player that also works on your mobile phone.
Srobbin Mobile Video – An unofficial search for Google video on your cell phone.
Yahoo Mobile – Yahoo mobile allows you to search, find, and play videos right on your cell phone.
MobiTV – MobiTV allows you to watch television video from popular networks of all kinds.
MTV Mobile Video – Anything MTV related all for download to watch on your cell phone.
ESPN MVP – If you are a Verizon Wireless customer and have the V Cast service enabled, you can watch sports clips and more.
Moblr – Moblr allows you to view videos uploaded to the site directly on your cell phone.
Mobunga – This site allows you to download videos to your mobile phone, as well as iPod and PSP.

Video search

Blinkx – Perform searches within the most popular video networks, such as CBS, Reuters and CNN. Users can search for content and create TV channels that splice relevant content together.
PureVideo – Search within the most popular video directories and video sharing sites. PureVideo features up to six channels and each channel contains about six source sites.
SearchVideo – Search engine and directory created by AOL. Users can also search within specific video channels like MySpace and YouTube.
Search For Video – search engine and video directory that displays results from hundreds of video channels. Search For Video also provides an add-on for Firefox.
Yahoo! Video Search – Yahoo! has a video search engine that gathers videos from Yahoo! directory and from many other online sources. You can also search within specific domains or sites.
TubeSurf – Video search engine that gathers results from popular video directories, such as YouTube, Yahoo! Video, MySpace and Google Video. TubeSurf is also available as an add-on for Firefox.
ClipRoller – Search across popular video sites, such as: YouTube, Metacafe and more. As you continue to search for videos, ClipRoller learns your preferences and delivers content you like to watch.
Pixsy – A video search engine that lets users search content across dozens of video sites. Users are allowed to save searches and single videos.
ScoopVid – Search engine that enables you to either search for videos or browse through channels and categories.
Google Video Search – Google’s Video search recently was updated and now searches many video sites other than just YouTube and Google Video.
AOL Video – once known as the great media search engine, the AOL-purchased SingingFish, AOL Video kept some traits of the crowd’s favorite place to look for hard to find videos, but true fans claim that the site is not as good as its predecessor.
Truveo – Search videos or browse by either channel or category.
Altavista Video – good old Altavista isn’t what it used to be, but it does have a video search section.

Online video downloading services

VideoRonk – Search and download your favorite videos from YouTube, Google Video, Metacafe, DailyMotion, iFilm, MySpace, Vimeo, Blip.tv, Revver and more.
VideoDL – Download online videos available on YouTube, Google Video and Break.com stright to your computer.
Vixy – Grab videos from popular sites and convert them into various video formats (including iPod and PSP).
KeepVid – Download videos from many video sharing sites, including YouTube, Google Video, MySpace Videos, DailyMotion, Blip.tv, Revver and other services.
VideoDownloader – Get videos from video sharing sites. VideoDownloader is also available as a Firefox extension, allowing you to seamlessly integrate it within your browser.
YouTubeX – Download videos from YouTube. It doesn’t have a lot of options in terms of video sites among which you could choose, but it is very easy to use.
DownThisVideo – This site lets you download videos from YouTube, GoogleVideo, MetaCafe, Vimeo and other services.
KissYouTube – A service that provides two interesting and effective ways to download videos from YouTube.
YouTubeDownloads – Another site that lets you download videos exclusively from YouTube (other sites are not supported).
Kcoolonline – Download videos on your hard disk from more than 90 sites, including YouTube, Google Video, Metacafe, iFilm and MySpace, Yahoo and many more.
YouTubia – A YouTube clone that lets you download and save YouTube videos within your IE or Firefox browser.
MediaConverter – A platform that lets you download and convert videos straight from YouTube.

Miscellaneous tools

Hellodeo – Record videos from your webcam and post them on any web page.
Flikzor – Send and receive video comments on your profile, blog and more.
Flixn – Record a video message right in the web browser and share anywhere including MySpace and eBay.
GabMail – Service that enable users to send unlimited numbers of free video email messages.
Bubble Guru – A site for recording webcam video messages and getting them onto your website or sending to others.
CamTwist – Software package (for Mac computers) that lets you add special effects to your video chats.
WebcamMax – Software that lets you add videos, screen, pictures, flash and effects to virtual or real webcam and broadcast on all messengers (Windows
only).
StumbleUpon Video – Just press “Stumble!” and a random video is presented to you, you can also ask for random videos with in categories like Humor, or Cats.
CrowdRules – video answers to your questions.
ClipSync – interact with other users while watching the same video as them.
ClipSyndicate – publish broadcast quality news on your web site.
Broadbandsports – a big collection of sports-related videos.

60+ Great How To Sites and Resources

Ever had one of those moments when you really wished you knew how to do something specific? If only there were someone you could ask…

Thanks to the social web, particularly niche blogs and expert-driven communities, it’s easy to find knowledge, insights and guidance direct from the pros, no matter what the topic area. In fact, online tutorials and how-to sites have been around almost as long as the web itself.

Here’s a run-down of more than 60 great how-to sites and guides covering everything from building a mashup to being more productive, creating a website and more.

Have a great how-to site that will teach us something new? Add it to the comments and tell us more about it!

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General How-to

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wikiHow – A huge collection of how-to guides edited by the community.

eHow – One of the largest collections of tutorials on the web. eHow is a 2008 Open Web Awards Blogger’s Choice winner.

How To Do Things.com – Find articles from experienced contributors on how to do just about anything.

WonderHowTo – A human-edited collection of video tutorials from more than 1700 websites.

Instructables – A community that creates tutorials on an enormous variety of topics, some practical, some not-so.

Expert Village – A collection of more than 130,000 video tutorials.

Howcast – Find how-to videos on a variety of topics. Howcast is the 2008 Open Web Awards Blogger’s Choice runner-up.

MindBites – Watch how-to videos or create your own to earn money.

VideoJug – How to videos for just about everything in life.

SuTree – A collection of how-to videos covering everything from beauty & fashion to language.

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Technology How-To

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Wired How-To Wiki – Get information on how to do technology-related things from linkbaiting your blog to surviving a nuclear blast.

The Java Tutorials – A collection of Java tutorials from Sun on using various components.

the How-To Geek – A collection of computer tutorials covering everything from protecting your children online to using different wallpapers on dual monitors.

How to Make Your Own Web Mashup – A short tutorial outlining the steps necessary to build a mashup.

How to Podcast – A complete, free tutorial that teaches you how to set up your own podcast.

HowtoForge – A huge collection of user-friendly Linux () tutorials.

PCWorld – A huge collection of tutorials for PC users.

HowToJoomla.net – A collection of Joomla () tutorials.

Screencasting: How To Start, Tools and Guidelines – A guide outlining why you should screencast and how to do it.

How to get traffic for your blog – A huge list of things to do to get traffic for your blog from marketing guru Seth Godin.

How to design a website layout in Photoshop – A complete tutorial showing you how to create your website layout in Photoshop.

Tutorialized – A collection of tutorials and how-to guides on a variety of tech-related topics.

How to design a website – A comprehensive tutorial on how to design using HTML and CSS.

How to Design a Website – A web design guide from About.com.

Good-Tutorials – A large collection of web-design tutorials covering Java, HTML, CSS, PHP (), Ruby, and more.

Video-Tutes.com – Free video tutorials for a variety of software programs including Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and MS Word.

A Beginner’s Guide on How to Install Linux Software – A basic guide to installing Ubuntu ().

PSDTuts – A huge collection of Photoshop tutorials and other resources.

PhotoshopStar – How to Photoshop articles and tutorials on a variety of different techniques.

Gimp-tutorials.net – A collection of tutorials on everything from photo manipulation to text effects in GIMP ().

Tutorial Blog – A blog filled with how-to guides and tutorials on design topics.

Blog Tutorials – A blog offering how-to advice for blogging.

Noupe Tutorials – A blog that focuses on web design and development and offers a large repository of great tutorials.

CBT Cafe – The Computer Based Training Cafe offers free tutorials and how-to guides on Flash, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, and more.

Niche Blogging Tutorials – How-to blog posts from DoshDosh covering niche blogging techniques.

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Productivity and Efficiency How-To

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How to be More Productive – A guide from the Blog Herald that focuses mostly on how to be a more productive blogger.

How to GTD – A small collection of blog posts covering how to get started with Getting Things Done.

How to Start with GTD – A basic 10-step guide to starting out with GTD.

How To Be More Productive – A very complete guide to becoming more productive, covering everything from technology to dietary changes.

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Business and Career How-To

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Inc. How To Guides – A collection of business guides for just about every topic.

How To Write A Resume.org – A complete resource for writing resumes and cover letters.

How to Blog Your Way to Small-Business Success – A short guide on using blogging to promote your business.

Startup How-To Guides – A collection of business how-to articles from Entrepreneur.com.

Score – Find how-to articles on a variety of business topics from advertising to management to starting a business.

How to Market in a Recession – A how-to guide from Harvard Business school.

How to Twitter your way to marketing success – A guide to using Twitter () as a marketing platform.

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Mashable How-Tos

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HOW TO: Build Community on Twitter – Build a loyal following and engage those followers.

HOW TO: Market to Bloggers According to Timothy Ferriss – Techniques for marketing to bloggers from the New York Times bestselling author.

How to Track 500 Business Blogs in 10 Minutes a Day – A great guide for all of us who need to keep up with tons of incoming information.

How to Manage Your Social Profiles and Create Virtual Business Cards – A must-have guide for anyone who uses multiple social media sites.

How to Build Your Online Brand – Covers how to use social media and Web 2.0 tools to create a name for yourself online.

How to Know if You Should Fire Your Social Media Consultant – A guide to some tell-tale signs that your social media consultant isn’t all they’re cracked up to be.

How to Develop a Social Media Plan for Your Business in 5 Steps – A simple guide to creating an effective social media marketing campaign.

How to Live Blog a Conference – A guide to live blogging preparation and execution.

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Miscellaneous How-To

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How To Meditate – A complete online guide to teach you how to meditate in the Buddhist tradition.

How to Draw Manga – Manga University has a great collection of how-to articles on drawing different elements of manga characters.

Sushi Eating HOW TO – A complete guide outlining how to eat sushi and sushi bar etiquette.

How to Go Green – A collection of guides to green your life on topics ranging from investing and hybrid cars to workouts and weddings.

The Storque How-To – The how-to section of Etsy’s blog covers all sorts of topics from cooking to selling on Etsy.

How to Clean Stuff – Tutorials for cleaning everything from old photos to ballet flats.

Lowe’s How-To Library – A huge collection of home improvement how-tos.

PopPhoto HowTo Archive – A collection of photography how-to articles covering image editing, composition, lighting, and more.

How to Photograph… – A series of tutorials on photographing a variety of situations and subjects from weddings to urban landscapes to zoos.

Star Wars Episode IV "A New Hope": Obi-Wan Kenobi vs. Darth Vader

First impressions after 18 hours with my Droid (vs my iPod Touch)

First of all, I've used my iPod Touch almost every day for about a year and a half now, maybe two, so it's probably a bit unfair to compare the two operating systems so soon, but it's hard not to because I often looked at my iPod Touch and wished it doubled as my phone. AT&T's lousy service and my loyalty to Verizon kept me using my old 2005 flip phone, though. So when Verizon finally got a phone that was comparable to the iPhone, it just made sense for me to check it out.

My first impressions with my Droid:

• If you use Google Voice, this is a must-have phone. I haven't used the service much in the past, but now that it integrates with the phone so intuitively, I definitely plan to use it more. It's pretty sweet!
• It integrates beautifully with most things Google, except it's oddly missing apps for Google Reader, Google Photos (Picasaweb), Google Docs, and Google Wave. I figured those would be gimmies, but I guess not. I'm sure those apps will become available in the future, though.
• The interface isn't quite as intuitive as the iPod Touch. There's no pinch gestures and you can't swipe through photos and such.
• When you reach the beginning or end of a long menu, it doesn't bounce into place like the iPod Touch, indicating that you're at the end. Sometimes I think the Droid just locked up for a second because the scrolling just stops. Gotta check the scroll bar to confirm that it's the bottom or top of the menu.
• The Droid is FAR more customizable than my iPod Touch. My iPod doesn't even have anything that compares to widgets. The settings for the Droid and individual apps provide much more control over the look, feel, layout, functionality, responses, alerts, everything. No contest here. In fact, in my opinion, the customizable options alone make it worth getting a Droid over an iPhone.
• The media player's sound quality doesn't seem to be quite as good as my iPod. Granted, the Droid is primarily a phone, not an mp3 player, unlike the iPod, and although the quality sounds the same when using headphones, the iPod sounds slightly better through my car's stereo system. Same with the Pandora app -- it sounds fine through headphones, but not through my car's stereo system.
• There's no intuitive way to sync podcasts, pictures, and videos to the Droid. The free software, DoubleTake, does an admirable job, but ya still gotta set up your media in iTunes first.
• I love swiping a security pattern on the Droid's initial unlock screen instead of entering a passcode on my iPod Touch. It's a lot quicker and just feels cooler.
• I wish Tweetdeck was available as a Droid app. Hopefully soon!
• It took me a little bit to get used to my iPod's keyboard and, unfortunately, it doesn't look like my on-screen keyboard skills are going to carry over to the Droid. I'm gonna have to get used to their on-screen and physical keyboard, too.
• When listening to music on my iPod Touch, I can double-press the home button and quickly access some media controls. With my Droid, I have to manually unlock it every time first before I can adjust volume, skip a track, or pause the song (at least as far as I know).
• I'm not sure if it's the phone or my screen protector, but there was a lot of glare when looking at the Droid in the car this morning. I could hardly read the screen. I'll turn up the brightness later today and see if that makes a difference.
• The directional pad on the Droid's physical keyboard seems pretty pointless. I mean, it works and all, but why would anyone think to even include it when you have a touch screen? I would've preferred to have a wider keyboard.
• The speaker on the Droid is surprisingly clear for phone calls, videos and music. Even at it's highest volume, there's no distortion and it sounds great.
• Google Maps definitely has a lot more functionality and features, as you might expect from a Google OS. Definitely much slicker than the iPod Touch/iPhone's Google Maps app.
• I gotta be a bit more firm when I touch the screen on the Droid than on the iPod Touch. It's not a big deal - just gotta get used to it.
• Why doesn't the default Gallery app on the Droid let me create albums like the iPod Touch does? It automatically groups pictures by date and there doesn't seem to be a way to change that.
• Google Lattitude seems to be pretty cool on the Droid, but I don't know anyone else around here to use it with me. Bummer.
• I really like having all my Droid contacts automatically sync with my Google address book and Facebook. Now I just gotta clean out my Google contacts because I have it set to automatically add everyone whose email I reply to. That's well over 1,000 people I don't remember anymore than need to be removed.
• I wish the Droid's Facebook app would let me manage my Facebook Pages and not just my personal profile. I expect that will come later with future updates, though, just like it did with the iPhone's Facebook app.
• I'm guessing that the included 16 GB mini SD card isn't really the highest quality card on the market. I transferred almost 12 GB of music to it last night and several times the transfer just stopped for no apparent reason. Forums indicate that buying a better card fixes that problem, but I just transferred data in smaller chunks instead.
• The Droid screen has a higher resolution than my iPod Touch. Its doesn't make much of a difference during normal usage of the phone, but there's a noticeably higher image quality when viewing videos on the Droid.
• Sharing media seems to be a key feature on the Droid I didn't see in other reviews. Every picture, video, and audio file has quick and easy options to share it with other people: Facebook, Gmail, MMS, Picasa, Twitter, Bluetooth, and more.

Bottom line: Given that more people will be developing apps for the Android 2.0 OS now, that Flash is soon coming to the browser, that I can multi-task several apps at once, and that Verizon's network is so solid and fast, I'm glad I held out for the Droid through the iPhone craze. I'll probably continue to use my iPod Touch for media, though.

10 simple things we should say more often « Bits Of Wisdom

The Most Slamming Church Building I’ve Seen In YEARS via @loswhit

Apples

It was somewhere in 2003 that I was asked by my Mom's friend to rip a couple hundred CDs to her laptop so she could put it on her iPod. Being completely business-minded since a young age I charged her per CD (at the time this was a skill not many kids my age had). I didn't know what an iPod was. Heck, nobody new. I hardly even knew Apple even did anything other than that Mac thing that so totally failed - and anyone who bought one was an idiot.

So there I was with this PC laptop and a boxed third generation iPod and a big stack of CDs to get onto it. As I un-boxed the iPod, you can't imagine the sort of immense 'wow' you get out of it. They don't package iPods like that anymore. It came in a medium-sized cube which folded out, and one was greeted with the 'Designed by Apple in California' on opening it. The type on the box was glossy silver. It came with a Firewire and USB cable, along with a dock, pouch, case and cloth.

I didn't know how to use it. It only took a few minutes to figure the thing out. The backlight to the four top buttons was red. I liked that. The hold key got me confused for a second (why isn't this darn thing working?!) but then you just click it back to white and it lights up on its own. You scroll around, you punch in the center. Hey these headphones came with it... hey this sounds pretty good! Oh shit this thing lasts 8 hours?! How many GB did you say? I don't even have that much music.... Oh wow the metal back is so shiny... and there's a silver Apple etched right in the middle of it... they muse use lasers to do that...

... Holy expletive who came up with this.

So I spent a few days transferring the music onto it and careful sneaking in a couple hours of listening time in between study breaks. Eventually, since it wasn't mine, I had to let it go but the fascination continued and I found myself on Apple.com a few times a week just reading about what they were up to with all this.

I don't remember how long it was till Mom gifted me one of these. 20 gigabytes. Carry all your music in your pocket. Before this I used to listen to music on my phone or carry around a little pocket radio (those were so popular, and when they started making them look like iPods you knew radio is dying). I was addicted to it. A little treasure. Always carried in the case. No keys in that pocket, ever.

Having an iPod in 2003 was very different from having an iPod in 2009 (wow, six years huh). I'm not talking about it being a status symbol. It wasn't just that. Sure, you had to be quite fortunate to have one, but there was more to it. iPods weren't popular at all. Especially in India. Not many people even knew what Apple was all about (me included). So this exciting new device came fresh without any background and could just stun people. If you had an iPod then, you were unique (and again, not only because your parents could afford it). There was something about it that said you knew what good design was all about. It was almost as if you knew Apple was going to take over the world at that point. And you had the first bits of it. The iPod wasn't a trend, it wasn't cool necessarily, it was what is was because of design and function. No other player could carry as much music. No other player was as thin, sleek and well thought out in doing so. As simple as that.

So there was something special in being part of the Apple culture at the time. Was it because it was so small? That's one of the reasons. Another reason is you had to be smart to have one. This is a time when (in my surrounding humanity) the knowledge on how to properly copy a CD wasn't very widespread (this also because most people didn't have CD burners). Sure the thing came with a manual, and everything you needed - but you just had to be a geek of sorts to really use it (this is how we started - with me getting the work of somebody who didn't have a clue about using it). You had to know how to obtain music (P2P was still quite new back then and CDs were expensive) then get it on the thing and then keep it there while knowing how to avoid breaking this delicate glossy godly creation. Not everyone knew it back then, and at age 13 in 2003. You were, essentially, part of the technological elite. And that was something. To this day I consider the 3rd gen iPod the best design Apple has produced for its iPod line.

Today's iPod has retained nothing of the sort. Now, I'm not saying this in a bad way. If iPods didn't become popular, Apple wouldn't have rejuvenated Mac - and the iPhone simply wouldn't exist today. So it was definitely a great thing to happen to the company. But along with this came popularity. Mass popularity. It wasn't because suddenly everyone knew how to use iPods i.e. they became geeky enough to evolve into the culture, its simply because the average-everyday-daily-Joe-Windows2000user people started buying it, and rattled their way around and somehow got it to work. Then it became cool. Then everyone had one. So it became a necessity. A requirement. Not a choice, a requirement (and how and why is another long story).

You know what was the requirement in 2003? Windows XP.

Funny, isn't it.

So Apple has become immensely popular, people flock to the 'Mac Store' (ugh, idiots), buy up their shiny new gear and profess their genius for choosing 'an Apple'. Why did they choose it? Heck they aren't entirely sure themselves. But they knew that they couldn't go PC. Isn't current requirement.

Then Apple started catering to the mass market. Oh yes, this is optional extra. So is this. Hey, new iPod! Hey look guys, time to upgrade your Macs to this one! Yeah isn't Steve Jobs your childhood hero?

And then every time Apple releases something new the whole world goes 'Oh my... honey, get the car' and dashes off to stand in line so they can get one on the very first day, use it to a quarter of its potential, and repeat the process within the very same year. Apple is my life!

Well, I'm portraying Apple as quite evil here. Far from. They still do make better computers than any other company. A better phone. Best portable music device. The people who deny it are doing it because - Apple consumers are now either a) Normal people who bought a Mac because they're ignorant or b) The ultimate fanboys. Neither of the groups give the culture a very good standing.

You know when I used to drool over new products Apple came out with? When I was sure the entire world wasn't behind me willing to stamp me down to get to it first. Now, I'm content with my Mac (and will be for years), don't plan on replacing my iPod for a long, long time (or my iPhone) and the new releases of iMacs yesterday just flew right by me.

Its impossible to get small-company Apple back. When they were generous enough to present us with the full package rather than have us buy additional bits which should've been in the box. What I'd like to see is companies bringing back that innovative charm to technology that won't have the masses swooning - because they won't understand it. Just like the first iPod.

Azhar Chougle | www.azharc.com

A SHORT LOVE STORY

Can it be all so simple?