Freelance Projects, Design and Programming Tutorials
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Reading web comics on the weekends could be a nice way to freshen up your mind after five days of busy schedule.
This list contains some of my top web comics for adults, especially geek adults. My love for all things tech is reflected in this list too.
The Joy Of Tech is a popular web comic based on pop culture and sarcastic technology jokes. The comic mainly targets Apple products, their culture and the fanboys. It’s usually a hilarious read.
Indexed is not exactly a web comic. It primarily publishes charts, graphs and diagrams that portray weird, and often sensible but funny statistics. An innovative venture, no doubt.
It’d be blasphemous to not include Xkcd in this list, especially when I’ve already said that most of the comics in the list are geared towards tech jokes and satire. And this one doesn’t need an introduction, does it?
Dilbert’s online version is something I have to read everyday. It’s too funny to ignore. Office humor at its best.
If you are a student, you’d love PHD or Piled Higher And Deeper. It’s mainly about student life hassles and fun.
What are your favorite comic strips on the web?
The 7 Secrets of Running a Wildly Popular Blog
A top direct marketing copywriter shares his tips on using personality and likeability to build your blog’s popularity.
20 Strategies to Defeat the Urge to Do Useless Tasks
Ever find yourself refreshing Facebook or cleaning out your desk instead of doing what’s really important? Read this post!
Three Reasons You’re Not Charging What You’re Worth
Many freelancers and other self-employed folks sell themselves short, but this post shows them how to break this habit and start charging more.
5 Ways To Boost Your Best Business Relationship
These days, finding a job or getting promoted is all about relationships, and this post shows you simple ways to strengthen those contacts.
Freelance Decor: 6 Motivational Posters from the Movies
Lastly, we bring you a fun, light-hearted post from our sister site, FreelanceSwitch, with humorous motivational posters.
I picked up a teach yourself book at a friend’s today about speed reading. It states that with speed reading one can maximize their time and improve their reading efficiency. I’ve never met people who speed read but it seems like such a good idea. If we all could speed read we would be able to go through all of the information we go through every day much more quickly, allowing more time for our work. It leaves me wondering why speed reading isn’t taught in school as a skill – along with algebra shortcuts and writing short hand.
Do you think speed reading techniques should be taught in school? Do you think or know if it really helps?
Here’s another of my favorite fast recipes. How many times have you been slaving away at the computer, trying to squeeze in that last bit of code, those final tweaks to the copy, or the final lines in your design when you were struck with an overwhelming urge for chocolate cake?
Sadly, this happens way too often here in my house. While I feel a bit guilty when I “forget” to tell my wife that I made a chocolate cake – I feel more so when there isn’t any left to share with her.
So I was delighted to come across this recipe – as it’s a personal-sized cake (well, really – what cake isn’t personal sized?). And the best part is it will probably take you longer to eat it than it will to cook it!
This is a “Freelance Favorite” called Cup o’ Cake – but you don’t have to be a freelancer to enjoy it. If you’ve got a microwave at work, you can bring the ingredients and mix them up for your afternoon coffee. Why buy a $5 cupcake when you can make something like this?
Ingredients
Add the dry ingredients and chocolate chips to the mug
Add egg, then milk and oil. Mix very well. (A large mug is handy here, or this might be a bit messy)
Put the mug in the microwave, and cook on high for 3 minutes
Take out of the microwave, empty mug into a bowl. Smother cake with canned chocolate sauce, ice cream, whipped cream or all of the above
Hide bathroom scale.
Enjoy!
I have always been a nature lover and either climbing a mountain or just walking a trail on the weekend is a great way to relax and unwind from the workweek. It is such a stark contrast from sitting in a cubicle and that is what makes it so enjoyable.
My wife and I are lovers of great food. To make great food you need to start with fresh ingredients. We oftentimes visit local farmers markets on the weekend where we get to see fresh produce from farms in the surrounding area. You tend to pay a little bit more than the non-local produce in the supermarket but you are 1) supporting local farms and 2) purchasing the freshest produce you can get for your scrumptious nightly meal.
These days, finding a recipe for a specialty alcoholic beverage is a few clicks away. I love to explore the variety of different recipes that I can find for frozen margaritas, cosmopolitans, or, better yet, a drink that I have never even heard of. Add some spice to your weekend and try something new. It could even be a new wine from a local vineyard. You’d be surprised at the quality of wines you can purchase from local vineyards, even if you don’t live in Napa or Sonoma.
As I write this article, I am on vacation. This time I did not have anything planned, which was different from my typical vacation. As a result, I was able to take day trips to unfamiliar locations. Sometimes we just get stuck in the same routine and don’t explore surrounding areas that may be an hour drive from our home. Venture out and explore your surroundings. You may just find that it is a lot more interesting than you had assumed.
OK this one may sound boring to most of you but recently I have really started to take advantage of my local library. Until I actually checked it out, I didn’t realize that there are a multitude of movies and CDs available for free. And don’t think that you can’t get the latest books to read. I can even go online and check out books from my local library which makes it very convenient.
Weekends can go by very quickly but if you fill them with exciting and interesting activities you may find that, by the time Monday morning comes, you just may be ready to tackle the upcoming workweek. At the same time, you may start planning what your upcoming weekend may entail.
Scope creep is every project manager’s biggest challenge.
When a project’s scope gets expanded to include ambitious work that was never planned for, it can disrupt the original project plan, stretch the timeline and blow away the budget. Some call it featuritis, as in “We’d like to add these features that weren’t included in the initial project.” When software developers are asked to haphazardly include strange, orphaned features, their software becomes bloated with additions that seem out of place. Hence the term “software bloat.”
Are you feeling bloated? You might be due for a surprise addition at any moment. Scope creep can make you the babysitter of someone else’s unplanned brainchild. As a project manager with a new, unexpected addition to the family, all of its needs, complaints, kicking and screaming becomes your problem.
Some try to prevent project scope creep by explicitly defining the plan, timeline and budget of a project on paper. It’s a good strategy, but those set-in-stone documents can often get ignored if someone has a sudden brilliant epiphany that must go into the project. After all, “big picture” people can’t be bothered with silly trivialities like budget, resources and project scope, right?
Have you suffered from scope creep at work? Have you defeated it? How?
Portrait photography is one of the most interesting types of photography. What makes it even more rewarding is the fact that you are making someone else beautiful through your camera. Interestingly, there are several things that one should keep in mind in order to get that “Wow” effect in the final portraits. Let’s take a look at a few Quick Tips!
Your subject is the heart and soul of a portrait composition – the right face will determine the success of your shoot. That’s why you should spend much of your time and effort finding the most suitable subject for your assignment.
Choosing a subject alone is not enough. In portrait photography, every subject has their own individual character. A female portrait with gentle and soft skin defines a character which is very different from a wrinkled, older gentleman. Both are great subjects for portrait photography, but you have to select the best according to the composition you are have in mind.
To add flavour, spice and freshness to your portrait photography, never fear to experiment with position. After you have finalized the model, experiment with different poses, angles and postures of the face and body. This will ensure that you not only end up with great portrait shots, but also very interesting ones. A natural pose is great, but you can also have fun directing unusual an unusual pose or stance.
The fate of your final photograph is largely determined by the lighting conditions. For example, if you have a very bright background, it may overpower your subject and result in a completely washed out photograph.
When you set up your portrait shoot, remember the following key points:
Background can be sometimes as important as the subject itself. You could go for a beautiful bokeh blur effect, or a very high/low key approach with a black or white background. Either way, be sure to consider background in your mental checklist before pressing the shutter.
A great tip is to open your Aperture as wide as possible, to create a shallow depth of field and make your subject “pop” out of the background.
Looking for more information? Check out our article on 9 Tips for a Perfect Portrait Background.
There has always been a debate about natural and artificial expressions of the subject. The most difficult task for a photographer is to make a portrait shot as natural as possible.
To attain this, make sure your subject is comfortable and ready for the shoot. Don’t jump into shooting right away. Spend some time chatting and getting to know one another!
Do you have any more suggestions and tips for portrait photography? We’d love to hear them – feel free to share in the comments!
This article is about the single most important piece of equipment you’re going to buy: the lens. There are myriads of different lenses out there, and it’s easy to get lost. But do not despair – this guide will help you make the right choice. First I’m going to talk about the different characteristics of a lens – among other things we’ll learn about zoom vs. prime lenses, and why the f-number is so important. Then I’ll move on to recommend a few lenses for each different budget!
Each lens is different. At first it can be a little bit intimating to navigate your way through the maze of choices, but once you learn the basics you can easily decide what you need and which lens satisfies your requirements.
The biggest difference between lenses is their ability or inability to zoom. With a zoom lens you can – what a surprise – zoom. But it comes at a price: the image quality suffers and usually (and this is the crucial one) they have a lager f-number. I’ll talk about f-numbers in a second. You can easily spot a zoom-lens as it has a range of focal-lengths. Just take a look at the label:</p
The first number is always the focal-length. In this case it’s 18-270mm. So the range for this lens is 18mm to 270mm. A prime lens would only have one number, like 50mm. While the majority of photographers usually opt for a zoom lens, prime-lenses have their advantages: they are excellent for portraits, and are fantastic in low-light situations.
Don’t underestimate the f-number, like I did at first. It has an influence on lots of things. But what does the number mean? Well, to put it simply, it tells you how much light makes it through the lens and hits the sensor. The smaller the number the wider your camera’s aperture is able to open. Usually it ranges between f/0.9 and f/6.3.
It’s worth noting that zoom lenses don’t always have a fixed f-number. As you can see in the image above, my 18-270mm lens ranges between f/3.5 and f/6.3 – which can be a pain. You can only set your aperture as wide as the f-number, and – in most cases – the lower this number, the better. The are a whole range of benefits that are too extensive to go into in this post alone!
Modern lenses often have some kind of image-stabilization on board. Canon calls it “Image Stabilization”, Nikon “Vibration Reduction” and Tamron “Digitally Integrated”. This is great! They basically let you use a longer shutter speed while maintaining a steady image – to a degree! Usually it’s built into the lens, but a few manufacturers are starting to integrate it into the camera body itself. If you are looking for a new lens, look out for one with this handy feature.
Now that you know what to look out for when buying a lens, I can give you an overview over the market and recommend a lens or two.
These are mostly used for stunning landscape images. As it isn’t hard to get a sharp shot with a low focal-length and the landscape doesn’t move, a larger F-Number will suffice. If you’re not on a budget, grab yourself a Nikkor AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8. To date it is the sharpest lens, but with a price tag: the street price is about $2,000. Although it’s quite expensive, with such unbelievable sharpness it’s still a bargain – a brilliant piece of engineering.
If you’re looking for something cheaper, I can recommend the Tokina AF 12-24mm f/4. For around $500 you’ll get a solid lens with the only downsides being the strong vignetting and the barrel distortions at 12mm.
If you’re looking for a fisheye, the Tokina AF 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5 could be a good choice. You don’t get the best optics, but since a fisheye is an effect-lens this isn’t necessarily all that important. It’s still sharp enough for any purpose and you get good value for your around $600.
This is your standard lens, which will work fine most of the time. To some people, a mid-ranged lens seems boring, because it doesn’t deliver an extreme point-of-view. But think again – this can be an advantage if you need to take a picture “as the eye sees it”. Think about shooting a portrait. This can’t be done with a wide-angle lens.
If you have some money to spend, grab yourself either the Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED ($1,700) or the Canon EF 24-70 mm f/2.8 L USM ($1,400) depending on your system. Looking for a bargain? Then take a look at the Tamron AF 28-75mm f/2.8. It may not be perfect, but can be picked up for a bargain second hand so you don’t have to dig deep in your wallet to afford it. And it delivers a lot for the money you spent: image quality, sharpness, build quality, compact size etc.
A real classic, and favourite of portrait photographers, is a fixed focal length 50mm lens. They are extremely fast, the images are crisp, they work well in low-light situations and best of all, they train your body, as you have to use your legs to “zoom”. A whole range of different lenses are available depending on your camera type, and budget.
Fancy yourself as a wildlife or sport photographer? Then you are in need of a telephoto lens. It brings far away objects nearer, and flattens the distances between objects: just look at the sports page in any newspaper. These images are likely shot with a telephoto lens. Notice how the spectators appears to be the same size as the players, despite being 100 yards further away?
These are the most expensive lenses, due to the fact that it is difficult to build a high quality one. The light has to travel a long way before it reaches the sensor, so it’s hard to conserve it. If you are an enthusiastic amateur, consider grabbing the Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8 G IF-ED VR or the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 USM L. The Nikkor has the better image quality and an image stabilization system (VR), which is quite important to have on a telephoto.
Both have a fast autofocus which is another important thing to look for on a telephoto – just think about trying to shoot fast moving animals. A good third-party alternative is the Sigma AF 70-200mm f/2.8 ($800). It’s almost comparable in terms of quality, but doesn’t come with image stabilisation. You decide!
If you’re on holiday, wandering around a town, you don’t necessarily want to carry all your lenses around all day. This is where super-zoom lenses come in. They provide a vast focal-length range. The best deal around is the Tamron AF 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3 DI II ($625). Since it the newest of all super-zoom lenses, it dominates the market fairly comprehensively.
The only downside is a slow auto-focus, which makes it a pain to shoot wildlife, insects or any fast moving subject. And the autofocus won’t work properly on 270mm, as it needs at an aperture of least f/5.6. On the other hand, it has a superior image quality (compared to other super-zooms of course) and image stabilization. So grab it if you’re looking to shoot landscapes, architecture, portraits and close-ups with only one lens.
Finally, we come to macro lenses. If you have a Nikon body, there is only one choice you really have: the famous Nikkor AF-S 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED VR. It’s one of the sharpest, fastest lenses ever built, along with packing image stabilization. You can get it for around $800, but it’s worth every penny. It’s just pure fun to work with.
Canon offers the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM macro ($600) which is still a great lens. One big downside though is the lack of a image stabilization system, which is very important when shooting macros. For half the price of Nikons lens, you’ll get a Sigma AF 105mm f/2.8 EX macro DG (around $400). It’s inferior in almost every aspect to the competition, but the low price is great if you’re not sure whether macro photography is something you want to pursue.
Choosing a lens doesn’t need to be a difficult task. It’s an exciting process, that always gives you the chance to learn more about photography and improve your skill set. Remember that the second hand market for lenses is always worth considering, and it gives you a fairly inexpensive way to experiment with different lenses and settle upon a kit that’s right for you.
Have fun, and let us know in the comments which lenses we would find in your photography bag!
If you’re reading this, you probably develop websites. We don’t make websites to let them sit on our own computers: we set them free on the web. While it’s often more fun to create the website than to worry about hosting it, web hosting isn’t a decision you should make quickly. In this roundup, I’ll point out 19 things you should look for when choosing your web host.
Ive Drive Unibody External icon by The Iconfactory, Inc.
When choosing your web hosting, one of your primary concerns will obviously be “How much data can I store?” For most small and medium web sites, you’ll find that several gigabytes should be plenty of storage. Some hosts may offer “unlimited storage”: caveat emptor! If you read the fine print (usually, the Terms and Services) you’ll find that it’s unlimited until you go over the “normal site usage.” If you think you might be close to or over whatever “normal” is, make sure you know what you can use before buying … or go with a host that sets clear limits.
When looking for a web host, you’ll often see storage and bandwidth hand in hand. What is bandwidth? It’s the amount of data that your host will let you and your visitors upload and download (cumulatively) in a given month. Say your website is 1 megabyte of data and your monthly bandwidth is 10 MB. At the beginning of the month, you upload the entire site; now you’ve used up one MB of bandwidth. If a visitor to your site views every page, they will have downloaded 1MB of data. That means you can have up to 9 visitors in that month (assuming each views your whole site). After that, your web host will either not allow any more visitors, or (more likely) charge you extra per MB. Of course, your bandwidth is something you’ll want to keep an eye on, especially if you run a fairly popular site or do something media intensive (like host your own video, or high-res photos). Just like storage, some hosts offer “unlimited” bandwidth; again, if you think you’ll be in a grey area, find out the limits or choose a host that sets the bar where all can see it.
Once you’re running one site, there’s a good chance it won’t be long until you’ve got a second one up … and then a third. It would be a pain to have to manage a hosting account for each site you own, so make sure your web host will let you host multiple domains. Often, there will be a limit on how many domains you can have on one account; make sure it will accomodate you! Usually, there will be a section in the admin panel for adding your domains and choosing which sub-folders each one will point to. The same is true for sub-domains.
Many web hosts also offer email account for your domains. You’ll want to know how many email accounts they’ll let you set up; also, don’t forget to check out their selections for receiving that mail. Do they have a webmail interface? Multiple ones that you can select from? How about integration with Google Apps (for the Gmail interface)? Can you get your mail in your client of choice via IMAP, or do they only offer POP?
Database icons (including post preview icon) by barrymieny
Now-a-days, even small websites seem to have a database on the back end. You’ll want to make sure you can use the type of database you’re comfortable with. Most hosts today offer MySQL; that’s probably enough for most people, but if you’d prefer PostsgreSQL, Oracle, SQL Server, or another flavour, don’t settle for anything less. Remember, if they aren’t advertising it, they probably don’t offer it!
A lot of web hosts offer support for popular frameworks, blogging systems, or CMSes. I think it’s safe to say that the majority of Nettuts’ readers are WordPress fans: it’s always nice when your web host offers a one-click install (or at least a super easy set-up) for WordPress or your CMS of choice.
For most people, this will probably be a nice extra; however, I’m sure there’s something who will find having a mobile app to access your site administration / statistics on the go indespensible. While I only know of two hosts (MediaTemple and SliceHost) that currently offer iPhone and Android apps (MediaTemple’s Android app is forthcoming ), I’m sure most hosts will follow their lead. Both offer mobile websites as well, and I’m sure other hosts have the same.
This one is very important: find out exactly what your prospective host offers for tech support: can you phone them? At what times? Do they have a support email address? A ticket system? What’s their promised response time? How about a live chat? Do they have a wiki or library of help articles / tutorials? Don’t choose a host until you know exactly what support they offer; you’ll be happy for it later, trust me!
If you’re a little more advanced, you might want to consider choosing a host that offers shell access: that’s logging into your server from the command line over SSH. You’ll be able to securely copy files up and down, change file permissions for whole groups of files quickly and easily, and perform a multitude of other tasks. If you want this feature, you’ll know all that you do with it!
Here’s another important one: you’ll want the ability to add your own .htaccess files to your directories. What’s a .htaccess file? It’s a configuration file used by Apache server. You can use them to password protect directories, re-write URLs, redirect pages, and more. Check out the many good tuts here on Nettuts+ to get familiar with them.
Cron jobs are another great feature to have on your web host (and there’s a good chance you’ll have them if you’ve got shell access). Cron is a “time-based job scheduler” (thanks, Wikipedia) that you can use to perform tasks on the server at given times. To learn more about how to use Cron and what you can do with it, check out the great Cron tutorial we ran back in January.
This should go without saying, but make sure the host you plan to choose offers support for the server-side languages you want to use. If you plan to pick up Ruby on Rails in the next few months, you probably want to see it on the list of supported frameworks. If you want to use Django, make sure there’s Python support. Don’t lock yourself into having PHP as your only option (unless you’re sure that’s all you’ll ever want or need!).
While not a necessarily something you need, it’s something you’ll probably want to take advantage of: many hosts offer some Google AdWords credit (usually ~$50, I’ve found) or some other form of advertising. Even if you’d rather use another advertising proxy, you can’t beat free: you might as well use it!
Don’t think that your web host is any less suseptible to data loss than your own computers; remember, servers are just big computers that everyone can read files from! What backup options, if any, does your host provide? You’ll want to back up both your site files and databases. If they don’t offer backup, figure out how you’ll be able to do it yourself: this might be one of the places that shell access and cron come in handy!
For most people, this won’t be a big issue. Of course, if you’re developing in ASP.NET, you’ll need Windows hosting; that’s a little harder to find, and often a bit more expensive, but if you’re a Microsoft developer, the extra cost will be worth it. (If you’re interesting in learning about ASP.NET, check out our great tuts on the subject.) If you’re using an open source language, you probably won’t need to worry about which Linux/Unix distribution you’ll get; however, some hosts give you options, and some developers may have preferences, so it’s worth mentioning.
We already talked about content management systems, but sometimes you’ll want a something more. Several hosts offer set-ups for social features like forums, bulletin boards, mailing lists. If you’ll be running an online store, some hosts offer setups for eCommerce solutions.
If you can, find out what software versions the host you are considering offers. Some hosts aren’t quick to upgrade to the latest offering, while others will let you choose which version you want. There are few things worse than signing up for a year of hosting only to discover your host is running PHP 4.x (yes, I’ve made that mistake).
I’m sure I don’t have to convince you that it’s important to know that your visitors will be able to get to your site when they try! Find out how reliable your prospective host is; when you’re doing this, it’s important to read the fine print. Often, hosts will stretch the truth a bit (claiming 99.9% uptime, not counting almost everything that could go wrong), so make sure you understand exactly what “100% uptime” means. It would be a wise move to google around and see what other users and reviewers have said about the host.
While you may already have a domain name, there’s no such thing as too many of them. Most hosts offer this, but all else being equal, a shiny new domain name is a good enough reason to go with one host over the other.
I’m sure you’ve got some great tips for choosing a web hosting solution. If you do, don’t hesitate to share them in the comments! Also, let us know what hosts you’ve found reliable and which ones have come back to bite you.
I am looking to hire content creators, articles have to be between 400 to 500 words. And I need 5-10 articles on each subject written and will have 3-4 keywords per week which you have to research and write articles on… (Budget: $30-250, Jobs: Articles, Copywriting, Research)
I need a javascript to send data to php script, till it gets positive response . I need a script is to transfer balance from sitekiosk (sitekiosk.com) to other system, when user visit specified page 1… (Budget: $30-250, Jobs: Javascript)
Hi, I need 3 mockups of a new website design. One will be picked and converted into a Drupal 6 template (Budget: $250-750, Jobs: Drupal)
Hi ,
I want someone to configure my CKeditor. Quick job for those that know.
I will upload to my server and give you FTP access. All you need to do is configure it to edit 3 pages via one HTML page with links EXAMPLE
Edit page 1
Edit page 2
Edit page 3
Where each link will take the user to the editor to edit contents of each pages text and images.
Non Latin Language Support is required.