We like free tools. A lot.
How many freelancers do you know that’s got wads of cash stashed under the mattress, waiting for the latest Microsoft software to hit shelves? You know the software I’m talking about – the one’s promising to save you oodles of time (not to mention your hairline). Quite often there’s free (some technical minded ones dare call it “open source”), online alternatives that looks amazing, works perfectly, and leaves you with a warm fuzzy feeling of accomplishment.
A new year always signifies (or ought to?!) efficiency, resolutions, motto’s and in general… a big change. We’re a bit different – we like consistency. Toolwatch is one of those consistencies. For those of you that’s a bit clueless as to what Toolwatch is all about: it’s our weekly review of jaw-dropping tools available on the web that’s (1) useful, and (2) free. Yeah, we know how you go all weak-kneed when we use the word “free”.
This quick reference guide aims to bridge the gap between Jedi coders and aspiring ones. This article will require you to get knee deep (not waist!) into some code, so beware! We’ll be playing around with how to go about doing this elusive Gzipping thing that Interweb grandpa’s keep hammering on about as well as learn how to set future expire tags on our images.
If you’re a web design or development ninja (even aspiring ones count) and you’ve designed your own theme with gadgets and gizmos and plugins and tracking stuff, then you’ll undoubtedly be aware of the load-factor. Even worse, if you’re located in some third world country where dial-up modems are this year’s Christmas gifts to yearn for – this might present a significant problem.
For our fellow designers and developers, Christmas usually emphasises the apparent lack of time we’ve got as every job is a “rush job”. Demanding clients, family and friend make for excellent reasons why you should use your time as efficiently as possible… without having to incur a significant cost either. With that in mind, we bring you tools that (1) EXTREMELY useful, (2) free, and (3) online.
"We're a funky web design company based in St. Albans, Hertfordshire. It's the place where we excel in building websites, communicate in a way that doesn't leave the client confused, and have loads of fun! Drawing from years of experience, our aim is to help forward-thinking individuals and businesses equip themselves with the modern day handbag - a website."
Our small, but experienced team is paramount to our success. You won't find any sales people in our business - In fact, we only focus on websites and making them look fantabulous! Everyone plays an integral part to ensure each project is delivered on budget, on brand and on time.
