Create Forms easily with Google Docs

Now you can create forms easily with Google Docs.
In few clicks you’ll have your form up !
The Benefits :

• You’ll be able to send forms online by e-mail which is a great advantage for a customer service departement for example.
• You can customize the form by choosing the input types (text, paragraph, multiple choices, scale, checkboxes and list).
• You can mark a question as “Required Question” to get the info you need from the user.
• You’ll have a URL (or “link”) for the form so that you’ll be able to have access to it from anywhere on the web.

Google Docs
(No need to mention that the user needs to have a Google Account)

A quick look on Workrave

Workrave is a program that assists in the recovery and prevention of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). It will alert the user to take a micro-pause, a rest break and prevent him from using the PC more than the daily limit set. During the micro-pauses, the user will be able to take a snack, walk a little bit … and rest eventually!
During the rest break which is takes normally around 10 minutes, the user will have a physical exercise session. In this session, the user will have exercices for the eyes, shoulders, arms …etc.
This program is free and available for Microsoft Windows and for Linux. It provides also a status information in the taskbar,  sound alerts, along with statistics. Workrave will freeze your window when the time for a micro-pause or a rest break come. You won’t be able to shut it down, not even lauching any other application, the only way to bring it down is to close the process in Microsoft Windows (Ctrl + Alt + Del  > End Process). Yep, you might get angry about this new work process, but think twice, you’ll find you’re productivity raising up again. You can also postpone a micro-pause or a rest break according to the number of attemps set, giving you some time to finish up your work or save any document.
There’s an alternative software called Workpace. It supports the same functions except the applet that provide you the alerts in the taskbar. Well, it’s a commercial software (39$) and I haven’t personaly used this product but I still recommend Workrave as a free/open-source software.
Download Link :
Workrave : http://www.workrave.org/

Workpace : http://www.workpace.com/

Need more organisation in your office ??

These will be your new office applications ! A set of “to do’s”, calendars, address book … and more over websites that manage your bank accounts, your meetings …

1- Task Manager and “To Do” :

One of the best online task manager is “Remember The Milk“. It lets you share your tasks and provide access to them through Google Calendar, iGoogle and even through your mobile, PDA or iPhone. You won’t forget anymore what you have to do during the day now that you can set e-mail reminders with your Gmail account.

2- Office Suite :

There’s 2 great office suites online : Google Docs and Zoho. With Google Docs you can easily create a document, a spreadsheet or a presentation. It provides also an upload feature, and moreover an easy-to-use user interface. Document sharing gets even better. In fact, you can design a “Collaborators group” and a “Viewer group”, and you can share your files by sending e-mails (not necessarily a Gmail user !).
The lack comes when you need a database application.
This problem should have been solved through 2008 (as mentioned in the post).

Now let’s talk about Zoho : A full free office suite !!
You’ve got all the application you need : a document writer,a spreadsheet tool, a presentation tool,a database creator,a note taker,a online planner,a web conferencing tool,a chatting application,a wiki encyclopedia, an inventory service, a marketing and sales planner … and much more !
The personal use of this online office suite is completely free and it’s great to check this out. Now when it comes to business use with many accounts, you can expect a fee around 12$/month.
You can use Skype to call or send notifiers for yours collaborators when creating a meeting. Also Zoho provide a great support service and you can access your account through your iPhone and Facebook account.

And the best thing ever is that it provides a support with Microsoft’s Office applications and with its known document formats.

3- Calendar :

As mentioned above, you can use Zoho Planner, or even Google Calendar to create to do’s lists, track your notes, or set e-mail reminders.
As a desktop calendar, I would choose Rainlendar. It’s a free open source desktop organiser docked on your window (like a widget). You can adjust his opacity and change the skin. Events and to do’s list can be easily set with reminders and visual icons to skim your tasks. You can import and export through the iCalendar format (for MAC users), and even backup, restore or print your data.

4- Bookmark organisation :

If you have a lot of pages saved on your PC and you want to reorganize them you’ve got 2 great solutions :

First, if you have Mozilla Firefox installed on your PC, you can use this powerful add-on named Foxmarks.
You may say that Firefox have already a bookmark organizer, but Foxmarks let you share your bookmarks between your PCs or even through the web by accessing your account at MyFoxmarks.
You can also use Google Notebook and download its extension here.

Second, for the people who use a lot of offline pages, I would suggest :
Evernote, which lets you clip whatever you want on a page (or even the page itself) and search for them later on with label support.
Local Web Archive

5- Address Book :

I’ve been searching for a great address book synchronizing application and I’ve found Plaxo, an online application. You can easily share everything through its large support for social bookmarking websites (like Digg, Del.icio.us, Webshots, Flickr …) and other great websites like YouTube, Last.FM …

Plaxo Mobile lets you share your address book with your PDA, your mobile phone (if you have Windows Mobile) or even your iPhone. Plaxo Toolbars can be downloaded and easily installed in Mozilla Thunderbird, MS Outlook or MS Outlook Express.

6- Financial Organization :

Most of us spend money online during the month and finish the month without a penny !!
So now with these 2 online money management websites (Mint and Geezeo) you could expect to invest more smartly you money !
I’ve tried both of them, but Geezeo’s user interface was more appealing to me, considering the fact that you can assign goals, check your visual budget, create groups with your friends, manage your bank accounts …
You can upload your OFX (MS Money) Data.

7- Now comes some great apps !

Flashnote, indispensable one ! It lets you write notes within a shortcut key and then disappear in the taskbar of your window. You can also create subnotes and one of its best feature is autosaving while you write.
Stickies lets you put notes on your desktop (like a widget) and got some great features :

• Many colors for your notes
• Reminders
• Icons
• Recurrence
• To Do’s and Events
• Categories …

Hob Comment let you write comments on a “File/Folder Comments” in Windows details view, and a right-click “Add Comment” extension in Windows Explorer.

How to deal with a PC infected by a virus ?

Most of our PCs are vulnerable to viruses, spywares, worms … This article is meant to let users protect and repair their PCs, so that they create a protection shield for their PCs.

First, you must scan your PC to know what kind of viruses are infecting your PC. I would suggest Ad-Aware 2007 from Lavasoft from the fact that it can specify what is infected : files, folders, registry keys, registry values, modules, processes …
Now that you have scanned your PC for viruses and removed as much as you can, you can install a great Anti-spyware, Spyware Terminator which provide all the features you need (guard, auto-update …) for FREE !
It can remove many types of spyware like Backdoors, Trojans, Worms …
Now you need a firewall program like Comodo Firewall Pro 3 which won many awards in 2007 and is FREE.

If you check your e-mail on your desktop (MS Outlook, Thunderbird …), you have to use a E-mail Scanner which is provided in most of the Anti-virus softwares in the market. In my opinion, using AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 7.5 is good enough to protect your inbox.

You have a big problem ?? Check this

The viruses don’t let you install an Anti-Spyware or any kind of virus remover?
The viruses can’t be removed from your PC (with an error like “This process is in use”) or you’re receiving message alerts “from NOWHERE” !
Try this :

• Restart (or Reboot formerly) your PC
• Press on “F8″ before you reach the Windows Screen
• Choose “Safe Mode”
• Use Ad-Aware 2007 Free Edition to scan your PC
• Remove the viruses
• … and Restart (or Reboot) to get as normally to your Windows Account.

Still got problems ??

You’re PC may have lost some important files from Windows Folder.
You will have to backup your files before doing this.
(Try not to backup the folders containing the viruses !!)
Now :

• Insert the Windows CD
• Wait for the Autorun or run the CD from My Computer
• Choose the setup: “Update” (don’t choose :”New Installation”)
• … and Click “Next”
• Choose the Directory : “C:/” for example (and as a default in most PCs)
• Click Next …
• … and the setup will go on and your PC will be restarted so to finalize the installation.

By choosing “New Installation” you’ll delete everything in your Hard Disk, which mean s you’ll format your PC.
By choosing “Update” you’ll loose everything in My Documents, My Music, My Pictures … and your Address Book if you didn’t backed-up. Your programs (or applications) will still be installed but not all of them will work properly. (:S I’ve tried so on my PC, it didn’t worked). Your files outside these folders won’t be deleted :

• Desktop
• My Documents
• C:/Program Files/ (some files or folders might be deleted if they are related to Windows OS)
• C:/Documents and Settings/ (this folder will definitely be deleted because it contains the user’s data (Desktop, Mails, Address Book …)

The safest place will be something like : C:/My Backup Folder/
or if you have another Hard Disk, it will be easier and safer !

N.B: Don’t get confused between a “Hard Disk” and a “Hard Disk’s Partition” because both of them are mentioned in “My Computer” Folder.

How to identify a “Hard Disk” ?

• Click right-click on “My Computer”
• Choose “Manage”
• Then click on “Device Manager” then “Disk Drives”
• Now you can view how many Hard Disk are attached to your PC

Why asking ??
A “Hard Disk’s Partition” will be deleted (through “Update” and “New Installation”) if it’s a partition of the Hard Disk containing Windows, while a secondary “Hard Disk” (not containing Windows) won’t be deleted.

Finally,
I would suggest these 3 programs installed on a PC :

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 7.5
Comodo Firewall Pro 3
Spyware Terminator

How to download videos from YouTube ?

You need to download videos from YouTube ? You need to view YouTube videos in a media player ? You need to convert your videos to a video format of your choice ?
Here you got the best freewares and open source programs !

N.B: This can also work for most of the video websites on the internet ( YouTube, Google, iFilm, Metacafe, DailyMotion, MySpace … )

• Enter this website : http://keepvid.com/
• And then enter the URL of the webpage containing the video. For example : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptnPFsOJtVA
• Then choose the video provider. For example : YouTube.
• Now click on “Download”
• Right-click on “›› Download Link ‹‹″
  >> Click on “Save Link As …”
  Choose a name and then add “.flv” extension.
  For example : video1.flv
  Click on “Save”

Now you need a FLV Player to view your downloaded video.
These are great enough and FREE.
Download it here :

FLV Player 1.3.3 (1.13MB)
(the smallest one with a clean and neat user interface)

Wimpy Desktop FLV Player (2.5 MB)
(available for Windows and MAC users; stylish player with skin customization)

FLV Player (3.18MB)

Now you need a FLV converter so that your video can be viewed on other video player (like Winamp, Windows Media Player …) or also your iPod Video or any portable video player …
Download it here :

FLV to video formats (.avi .wmv …) :

Free FLV Converter 1.6 (5.8 MB)
Pros :
- Large language support (Arabic, French, English, German, Spanish …)
- Most used video formats including “.avi”
- You’re able to search directly for videos from YouTube, DailyMotion, Google and Metacafé.
- You can change the format of your video before downloading it.
- You can preview the video you want.

Cons :
- Conversions can be slow.

Digital Video Converter 1.2 (8MB)
- Convert any video to AVI, MPG, WMV, iPod, 3GP and more …
- Support for Mobile Phones.

You only need the sound in your video ? Check this one !
FLV to audio formats (.mp3 …) :

Free YouTube to MP3 Converter 2.4 (4.8 MB)
- Easy-to-use interface.
- You can choose to convert the a local video or a video on the internet by copying the URL
- You can choose the quality of audio through presets.

Freez FLV to MP3 Converter (2.8MB)
- You can set the output MP3 audio’s bitrate, frequency, channels, or simply set the same values as the FLV video’s audio stream.
- Friendly user interface.

FLV to iPod : For iPod fans !

Koyote iPod Video Converter
- You can automatically download videos from YouTube
- You can customize iPod Standard Video format by changing the audio and video presets.
- Supported formats : .flv, .avi, .mpeg, .wmv, .vob, .asf …
- An option to shut down the PC when the video conversion is done.

FLV to PSP videos formats (mpeg-4): for PSP geeks !

Moyea FLV Downloader
- Manage and convert easily your videos.
- Support for iPod, iPhone, PSP, Cell Phone, Windows Media Player, MP3 …

N.B : All these programs are free. (Freeware Licence)

I’ve only mentioned Keep Vid but you can also try these great websites :

• Javi Moya
  The great creator of this download process
  Same user interface as Keep Vid
• Media Pirate

… and I’ll mention as a great Free Download Manager :Orbit Downloader

Because of its easy-to-use interface and great support with Firefox and other internet browsers like Microsoft Internet Explorer, Maxthon and Opera.

The “Grab it” feature lets you download more easily all the media on a webpage (videos -and FLV- and audio files) with a simple click.

Extensions for Mozilla Firefox :

Video DownloadHelper 4.2 (Works on Firefox 1.5 – 3.6*)
Media Pirate – The video downloader 2.3 (Works on Firefox 1.0 – 2.0.0.*)

Software working with Microsoft Internet Explorer :
Web Video Downloader

• Download video easily from YouTube, MSN, Google …
• Automatically capture videos which you’re viewing on the web.
• Extensions for Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera …
• Supported formats including .flv, .wmv, .asf, .avi, .mov, .mp4, .m4v, .3gp, .rm, .rmvb …
• Support for Mobile Phones and PSP.

You want to plan something ??

You want to plan an event, invite your friends or even manage your contacts ?
Running an association, an NGO or a small enterprise, you will need this program to manage your membership database, to get in touch with the members, to plan events …

Wild Apricot :

For 25$ per month (less than 1$ per day), as an NGO, you can accelerate your activity by contacting more people in few clicks, creating events frequently.
Features :
- Membership database
- Member-facing website customization
- Online event registration
- Donation and payments handler
- Automated membership renewal
- E-mail sender
… and much more

Web Design For the Ultimate Beginner !

Nowadays everybody can design his own webpage easily with all the tools and support given from Open Source communities.
And because information MUST be free, i’m gonna provide you with some Open Source tools to build easily a webpage.

First you need to get familiar with HTML :
You can learn HTML basic on W3 Schools.

Second you need to learn CSS basics :
This is the best site for learning CSS !
Check it here at CSS Basics !

Great links and ressources :
We do your coding ?
You stay hours creating great layouts on Photoshop, Gimp, Free Hand, Illustrator, Inkscape …
You know about HTML and CSS, but you’re very weak in coding ?
Open Source Community is here to help you !
Use Web Form Factory to add PHP code to your forms in HTML, so that they can have more value ! Web Form Factory is a great tool because I’ve searched for years how to implement databases in my HTML forms, and I tried many languages (PHP, ASP …), still I’m weak !

Your CSS templates are weak ?
They don’t give a great layout ?
Check this site : My Celly
This open source website provide you with simple CSS codes that will change the look of your webpage !

CSS professional tutorials :
You want to do some complicated code in CSS ?
You will see some javascript codes (for example : alerts …).
All the codes you need are written in this website : CSS Design Patterns

Check your webpage in different browsers !
Now you can check your webpage in different browsers without having to install them on your PC. You just have to enter the URL of your webpage and you will be able the view screenshots of your webpage in many browsers versions.
Supported browsers : Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari, Epiphany, Galeon, Iceweasel and Konqueror.
Check it here : Browser Shots

Change the look of your picture with Javascript :
You want to add some “Photoshop” image effects to your pictures with having to edit them manually ? Use these Javascript codes to add : blur, bevel, curl, reflect, edge, corner, glossy … effects on your pictures.
Check it here : CVI Projects
Must-have softwares :

Gimp – Pixel Graphic Editor, similar to Adobe Photoshop.
Inkscape – Vector Graphics Editor, similar to Adobe Illustrator.
NVU – Web Authoring Program, similar to MS Frontpage and Dreamweaver.
EditPad Lite – Text and Source Code Editor, similar to Notepad.
Amaya – Web Browser and HTML/CSS Editor, an great open source software !

Other great softwares :

PSPad – Web Authoring Program, similar to MS Frontpage and Dreamweaver.
Includes the free version of CSS Editor, Top Style Lite.
NotePad ++ – Text and Source Code Editor, similar to Notepad.
It supports a huge number of programming languages !
N.B : All these programs are free and/or open source.

Some external great links :
Need more HTML/CSS Editors ? A full list of free HTML/CSS Editors is available here.
A Open Source Web Design Toolbox : a full list of great web design tools.
(Templates, Editors …)

Need to create working forms in HTML ??

That’s one of my favorite because when I began to learn HTML, I was lost in my development project … I didn’t knew how to make these forms work …
Now everyone can build forms easily with these new tools :
http://www.webformfactory.com/
http://www.phpform.org/

Using Web Form Factory :

1- Upload your HTML file (with the “<form></form>” tag in it.
2- Choose the Form Type : database form or e-mail form.
N.B : In the database form, you must have a MySQL Server installed since it works very well with PHP scripts.
You can get it here for free. Note that ASP.NET / SQL Server aren’t supported.
3- You choose the PHP language you want : PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 5.1
4- You locate the file that you will upload (HTML file) and the “Thank You” file which is most known as the Destination Page.
5- You name your form.
6- You click on GO !
and you’re DONE !

“When you generate a database form, WFF generates all the necessary code which collects and inserts data into a MySQL database. You don’t have to write any code. Once the form is ready, all you need to do is edit the configuration file provided by WFF (configuration.php) with your database login and password and your form is ready to start collecting data. WFF even provides an admin interface for you to view the collected information.” >> from the Authors (link).
Using the e-mail form, you can send the data to an e-mail address if you don’t want to store it in a database.

Using PHP Form :
This one lets you create the form online and then download it to your PC.
You can choose the fields and fill up all the details you need.
You can even choose the color scheme.

Got some color and fonts problems ?

You have problems choosing colors and fonts ??
Here you have some great tools :

Color Chooser :
Color Scheme Generator 2 : it gives you an idea for choosing background, foreground, text and box colors.
And you can know how many people with vision problems can view your colors. (a great step for handicapped persons).
Site Pro Central : You can choose complimentary colors and adjust the brightness and many other options.
Color Schemer Online 2 : This is one gives you HEX and RGB with many a “lighten” and “darken” button to adjust the brightness of the color you need. It can also be downloaded to your PC or MAC.
Color Chooser from Emory : This tool give a real idea of the color you’re about to choose with its great preview. (:( but you don’t have all the colors you want !)
Akgupta Java Color Chooser : With its simple interface (but bad design … ) this tool has the ability to show you a colored text within a colored background ! Very useful when it comes to use colored text on a dark background !

Fonts :
Smashing Magazine : I checked this great post about fonts. More than 40 excellent fonts for your everyday web design !
Type Now : This site offers fonts from Movies, Games, Music Bands, Brands … (for example you will see fonts for Metallica, Addam’s Family, CNN … ).
Show Font : My first resource of fonts when I began to design web pages. You choose the font you want with a simple interface and you download it within a click !
Simply the Best : This website provide free categorized fonts, which lets u find easier what you want if your building a specific web page (”Creaminal” is one of my favorite with its Web 2.0 style).
Advanced Font Viewer : It’s a desktop software that let you compare all of the fonts you want, changing the style, the size …
A great tool but it needs a registration.

Your Windows is slow ??

Many people works on a Windows XP or Vista and realize how slow these operating system are. Now you can remove any of the useless programs built in it with these tools :
nLite : for Windows XP users.
vLite : for Windows Vista users.
You can remove components and enable hotfixes, drivers and language packs.
But you must read carefully what you’re about to remove because you won’t be able to bring them back again and some of them might be needed by your operating system.
So the best way to avoid problems is to read the details next to each of the components.