REVIEW: Basecamp - Project Collaboration Made Easy
While I realize that I already promote the product from Basecamp on my blog, I just wanted to post a quick post to re-iterate my absolute love of this online resource. It’s become a key element of my web/graphics design business and is a key part of my business model to keep my clients informed and up-to-date on any and all project management.
I can track timelines, conversations and it even integrates a great Instant Messenger system to further increase my ability to communicate clients.
As a robust system, Basecamp has quickly become the defacto planning system for many freelancers and with their release of their API’s, many auxiliary web tools can seamlessly connect and share key data with Basecamp. For example - I use Cashboard for all my invoices and time tracking. Cashboard has a built-in Basecamp module that allows me to import all my client contact information directly from Basecamp.
As a further application for those who work in non-profit organizations (churches, etc.) - this is a great resource for managing multiple projects all under “one roof”.
| 3.2 |
Picturesque Releases 2.0 Version
As a web developer, I love cutting as many corners while guaranteeing the best product possible. When it comes to photo editing, however great and fast I may be at Photoshop (and I’ll humbly admit - I’m pretty quick)…it’s great to have a tool that makes the tedious but tasteful work - a snap.
I’ve been using Picturesque for awhile now and it’s been a great and easy way to keep give my web images a little extra “flair” in a short amount of time. It’s also great for a quick resizing…
Now, with the release of the 2.0 version, they’re definitely taking their success to the next level by offering even more photo editing tools while keeping the software itself simple and easy to use - a PLUS with this type of application that is meant to speed things up…not bog things down.
Need a reflection on your photo? Bang! Picturesque does its magic in seconds rather than the “minutes” it would take to do the same thing in Photoshop. Their new feature is entitled “Perspective” and is really nice.
Again - all these photo editing tricks are nothing new. I’ve been doing these in Photoshop for a long time. The beauty of this app is that for QUICK work with low-res images, this is a snap.
Company: Acqualia
Price: $34.95 (worth every cent if you are a web developer)
Check it out at www.acqualia.com
| 3.2 |
Wordpress and Permalinks
If you are a Wordpress user as I am, I wanted to offer a tip to help you maximize your search engine results. Make sure you set your “Permalinks” to the Custom option with the following as the custom field.
/%postname%/
The reason? When you enter new entries, the default settings sets all the pages to a numerical schema such as
http://www.webshoptalk.com/?p=2
Search engines that find your pages and especially links to your content cannot give much weight to a URL with something as ambiguous as “?p=2″. However, with this customized Permlink structure, your pages and links will now be the title of your entry which, in this entry’s case would be:
http://www.webshoptalk.com/wordpress-and-permalinks
That provides two great search engine friendly words and will greatly bolster your sites search engine effectiveness over time.
| 2.5 |
