tinym creative

Tracking Client Data

tinym — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 16:45:31 +0000

If you're a freelancer or a lone developer, you may find yourself with a heap of client login information and a less than perfect storage solution. I am such and have found myself in this very spot. I tried different record keeping methods over the years and have not found one I like much. I have tried keeping a master spreadsheet, then completing one for each client containing this information to combine with other help docs. This proved to be a bad match for me. I have added login information to client accounts using Google Docs but not every client does. I have kept individual txt files within the client's project folder on my local machine, it works ok, but I want a better way. I have found plenty of invoicing, time tracking, and host management web services I like very much. Client data tracking doesn't seem to fit in so easily. I have thought about using pen & paper but I really don't want to. Maybe I'm just not looking at the common spreadsheet with eager eyes...

This is the part where I ask the great question: How do you track and store sensitive client information (i.e. account logins)? Should I be using a CRM to track clients from quote to project completion, adding login details to this system?

Web Developer may be Available for New Projects

tinym — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 12:00:34 +0000

In an attempt to be both clever and interesting (?!?), I purchased a 60+ character domain name. I have a few uses in mind for the future. For now, I'm would like to take a few seconds to introduce it [pause]

Ready? Go: WebDeveloperAndInfrequentFreelancerMayBeAvailableForNewProjects.com

Fully coded project to arrive @ this nifty domain in the future. Stay tuned.

Free Weekly Task Calendar

tinym — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 13:00:56 +0000

chore chart

I've been looking for a cute and useful chore chart for use at home with the family for a while now. I haven't found one I like so I decided to try creating my own.

While I had multiple family members in mind, you can use this calendar however you like. It has the days of the week printed across the top, and space along the left-most column for names or tasks. Each day has a little bit of writing room when the calendar is printed on 8.5x11 paper. Get the biggest writing space by printing on 11x17 paper. The calendar is saved in color but prints well in black in white too.

Download Weekly Chore Calendar 300kb [pdf]

Curly background image available at sxc.hu
Font available at fontsquirrel.com

This item cannot be sold in any format without prior consent from it's author as well as the background image creator. By downloading this calendar, you agree not to sell this item or claim it as your own.

Get to Work in 2010

tinym — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 13:00:39 +0000

Congratulations, you've made it to 2010. Now what? Don't give up.

Copyblogger's Jonathon Morrow writes candidly about his own life, struggles, and the value of fighting for your ideas.

Read at Copyblogger: On Dying, Mothers, and Fighting for Your Ideas

What Matters Now

tinym — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 13:00:39 +0000

Seth Godin has released a new, free, ebook perfect for your 2010 forward-looking time. Maybe you have a few hours off from work, or if you're lucky it's days or weeks... In true viral Seth fashion, this 82 page book is totally free to download and distribute. Comprised of 200 word helps, hints, and hooks from seventy well-known (famous even) big thinkers. You may be familiar with some of these folks: Tim O'Reilly, Gina Trapani, Dave Balter, Jason Fried...[and more, more, more]

Download What Matters Now [pdf]

17 Essential WordPress Plugins for Developers

tinym — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:00:23 +0000

I find myself using the same plugins over and over on different WordPress projects. Here's the list of my 17 most-used plugins... I hope you find it useful. Is there something you use that's not on this list? Add it to the comments below for the rest of us

The List Starts Here...

SEO Tools

User Interactions & Social Media

Shopping & Mailing Lists

WP Shopping Cart
Campaign Monitor (integrates well with WP Shopping Cart)

Utilities

Lightweight CSS Fisheye Menu

tinym — Thu, 28 May 2009 12:00:54 +0000

Before you read about why I decided to use this technique (& how it works) - see it in action.

A few weeks ago I spent a considerable amount of time troubleshooting various JavaScript conflicts in a WordPress site I was working on for my employer. Part of the page design included a neat JavaScript-based fisheye navigation menu. I was happy with the icons and their behavior on the page until we activated a featured content plugin. That plugin caused all kinds of strange behavior on the site...

After much frustration turning plugins on and off then refreshing the pages I decided to scrap unnecessary JavaScript [the cute stuff I liked most] on the page. As things were removed the site began to behave again. Alas, I really wanted that fisheye navigation menu...

I hatched a simple plan to produce a similar effect minus freakish js conflicts. I decided to use an image map styled with CSS. I didn't have a lot of time so I turned to my favorite image map generator at image-maps.com. I created the background graphic with all the pretty navigation icons and created an image map using their online tool. You'll need use some specific settings in the Advanced section. The roll over image should be larger than the image you used on the background. This creates the fisheye effect in the menu.
Image-Maps.com Advanced Settings

Here's the background I used for this demo:

After I generated the image map at image-maps.com I saved the code and edited it in my favorite code editor .

See the css fisheye menu in action. This version will load a little slow since the images are hosted at flickr.com to save bandwidth here. A link to the demo, source files, and icons are listed below.

The Goods

Icons:PRACTIKA by Smashing Magazine
Layered Gimp File for this demo: layered file
Source Files: css fisheye menu source
Also available at the tinym Project Support Wiki: downloads.tinym.com

Free Happy Spring Background

tinym — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 20:32:36 +0000

Happy Spring! I'm celebrating with a free background. Available for non-commercial use only. Please be kind and leave the credits intact somewhere on the image once you download.

download (618 kb)

flickr (618 kb)

More free downloads: downloads.tinym.com

Free Background Images & Textures for Web Designers

tinym — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 16:33:30 +0000

Green, Yellow, and Pink oh my!Â Background Labs gives them away for free. Seamless backgrounds and textures in a variety of colors and patterns. These are perfect for the usual projects - your blog, social networking profile pages, and other web design projects too.Â I'm a little crazy for cute and retro backgrounds,Â I hope you enjoy these as much as me.

Some of my faves from the site:

More cute backgrounds

More retro backgrounds

Fancy Ajax File Upload with Progress Meter

tinym — Mon, 05 May 2008 21:25:28 +0000

I stumbled upon FancyUpload while looking for a new, and pretty, ajax upload script. It automatically logs all uploads, shows pretty little icons for each file, and lets you clear the list all without leaving the page. It's even got fancy progress meters to keep you on track.

The official description reads like this: "FancyUpload is a file-input replacement which features an unobtrusive, multiple-file selection menu and queued upload with an animated progress bar. It is easy to setup, is server independent, completely styleable via CSS and XHTML and uses MooTools to work in all modern browsers."

Ajax is so nice.