tools Archives - What Does This Mean to Me, Laura?

tools

Is working from home too quiet for you? Three tools to help

However, even I will sometimes admit that things can get just a little too quiet. Granted, if you've got kids or family trapped in the house with you right now, that might not be one of your problems. For myself,…

tools

No Photoshop? Try free LunaPic instead

I work with a good number of smaller libraries that don’t have professional graphic artists on staff and also rarely have the money or expertise to use high-level design software, such as Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro. Oftentimes, our clients…

tools

Cliphy: Add fun to words

I spend a fair amount of time testing out new online tools, usually of the free variety. Some don’t work as advertised. Some are cool, and I sing their praises to the virtual rooftops. Others are just useful in very…

tools

Free online tools you didn’t know you needed

I had the privilege of speaking to a packed house at the Computers in Libraries 2018 conference last month. Here’s my slidedeck, featuring a small sample of some of my favorite online tools. Enjoy! Free Online Tools You Didn’t…

tools

Make your own animated GIFs from video captures–easy

Animated GIFs are everywhere, especially in social media. Even my Android phone has many built into its SMS app. They’ve become a very common part of modern communication. Not only do they effectively communicate emotions, but they have a significant…

surprised man using smartphone dollar bills flying away from screen

tools

Is your library’s website costing your patrons money?

For several years, I was a lucky customer of Verizon with a grandfathered, unlimited data plan. Last year, in an attempt to shove us freeloader-types overboard, Verizon jacked up the price of unlimited plans by an insane amount. Rather than…

tools

5 tools to ease your font headaches

Fonts are complicated. I won’t pretend that I’m anything like an expert, because I can barely differentiate between a typeface and a font to begin with*. But I have to work with fonts all of the time, and I’ve come to…

Big news story being typed on typewriter

tools

Absolutely honest tool tells you if you need a better headline

There’s a heck of a lot of information out there about how important it is to have a good headline for blog posts. Many people will make their decision to read or not, based purely on the headline. So, headlines…

tools

Get the web details you need–FAST

Today’s post discusses my latest “Headache Avoidance” tool. If you work on designing and/or developing websites, you are almost certainly accustomed to vague conversations, that don’t give you all of the details you might need in order to troubleshoot an issue. In…

tools

Make your web colors better

Colors can be fun, but they can also be complicated. There’s a lot of psychology involved with choosing colors as well. I really enjoy putting together or finding color palettes for different websites or projects that I get to work…

tools

How hard is it to delete your account?

How many accounts do you have spread across the Internet? I couldn’t even begin to guess how many accounts I have. Social media accounts, accounts to comment on blogs, ecommerce-related accounts, gaming accounts…the list goes on. Every once in a…

tools

My teddy bear web design tools

Some people have a teddy bear. Some people have a security blanket. I have some little browser extensions that make me feel better on a daily basis, that are far more useful than Mr. Teddy. I’m willing to share these;…

tools

Get help understanding your website’s data

Many libraries devote significant resources to their website. It’s important to know how it’s being used (and not being used). Google Analytics is a popular tool for website analytics, but I have to admit – it scares me. It’s an…

Tool Tuesday: ReciteThis

So…you probably already know that social media has become increasingly visual. Images and photos typically get more engagement than plain text. But, what if you don’t have a fun photo to share? What if you have a great quote, but…

tools

Too quiet for you?

I’ve mentioned before how I primarily work from home nowadays, where it’s very quiet. So, I’m often looking for ways to jazz up my work environment without actually playing music, which I often find to be too distracting. I’ve written…

Social sharing widget Flare tool Tuesday

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Tool Tuesday: Flare by Filament

Getting people to share stuff, especially via social media channels, is always a challenge. I’ve tried various WordPress plugins and sharing buttons for my blog, but never been really happy with how most operated; typically, most required being at the…

tools

Tool Tuesday: TL;DR

Perhaps you’re like me, and you have the attention span of a gnat. Or, maybe you’re just like most people, and you don’t have time to read today’s news, in depth. That’s where this handy site comes in: TL;DR. (You…

Which tool do you wish you had known about at the beginning of the Internet? This one.

tools

Tool Tuesday: NameChk

If someone were to ask me “Which tool do you wish you had known about at the beginning of the Internet?” it wouldn’t be that difficult to answer. It would almost certainly be NameChk. NameChk does pretty much one thing. …

Imagine How fast you could get your work down without all those distractions! Cold Turkey"

tools

Going “Cold Turkey”

I admit it. Sometimes, the siren call of Facebook or Twitter gets to me, and I head over to social media to see what’s going on. Maybe it happens to you, as well? Or, perhaps instead of social media, you…

tools

Need a timeline?

Have you ever needed to create a timeline? Or had a student ask you how to create one? Just like most other things nowadays, there’s an app/online tool/thingy for that. One of these is called When in Time. This is…

tools

Can’t work in a coffee shop? This might help

It’s true: I have a yen for weird little apps and web services that are truly niche in purpose and yet are helpful. I’ve mentioned some of my favorites previously, such as Newsle and Sunrise. I’m not sure the one…

tools

Voicemail for your website

Now, they may be out there, but I have yet to run across a library that accepts voice messages via its after-hours answering machine. (I’ve never been clear on whether this was an active choice or a limitation of the…

Newsle extra extra...read all about your friends

tools

All the news that’s fit to email

I love just about anything that will organize my crazy life for me, and I especially love those services that collate and push data, so I don’t have to go chasing after it. A few weeks ago, I wrote about…

tools

Sunrise: a handy little tool

While there’s lots of ground-breaking technology happening right now, sometimes it’s the little things that catch my attention. I sign up for all sorts of new web things. If it’s in beta, I usually want an invite. I like testing…

tools

Getting web images down to size

Generally speaking, most library staff I work with understand that, when you take an image off a digital camera, it’s huge. It’s easy to see that it’s huge; often, the photo may take up more than your monitor. So, most…

tools

Social search & grokking Greplin

Many times, only half-jokingly, I have told people that I have the memory of a sieve. That is to say, none at all. I suspect that, in this age of the information barrage, I’m not alone. How many times have…