I will no longer be posting

I am sorry to inform you that The Web Tools Blog will no longer continue. For a number of reasons which I won't go into.

Thanks for reading,
Thomas

The Web Tools Blog Will be Back After this Short Break

I'm sorry to announce that I will not be posting for one week. After which I will start posting regularly.

I'm planning on making the move to wordpress, as well as some design changes.

I hope you join me when I start posting again.

Great Resource for Finding Web-based Apps

Apps Mania is a showcase for web applications. but it can be useful for finding great web apps.

Cousin to CSS Mania, Apps mania was started June 2007 and has been going strong since. It has about 400 subscribers as of this writing.

All the apps are nicely organized into categories such as social networking, blogging, mobile etc.

Check it out here.

Changes - Stick with me!

As some of you might have noticed I'm making some changes to the design, title and subject of this blog. Sorry to throw you around.

Please hang with me as I make some updates over the next week or so. When I'm finished it will be worth it.

If you have any ideas on how to make The Web Tools Blog better let me know. I will write a post with all the suggestion you give me and would be glad to link to your blog.

Thanks,
Thomas

Make a "What I'm Reading" Blogroll with Google Reader

With a click of the mouse you can add an a blog post to your own "What I'm reading" blogroll, here's how.

For this you need to be using Google Reader. Just log in and click the "settings" button then hit the "tabs" link. You should see a "your shared items" tag that's set at public. Go over and click the "add clip to site" link.

Click images for larger versions.




Once you install the code on your blog you can share stuff you like by hitting the "share" button in Google Reader.and it will be added to your "blogroll."

Here's an example:

Squidoo's new Project: ever.com

If you like Squidoo, you'll love The Ever Project.

The Ever Project lets you easily build a Squidoo lens (what's that?) with you current Squidoo account. The only real differences are that you can choose you own unique ever.com sub-domain, and there is a little different look.

You simple pick a superlative, then a keyword and your set. Example: best.stuff.ever.com. You then simply set up a Squidoo lens to put on that sub-domain.

To see an example go to best.webtools.ever.com that I mentioned yesterday.

Vote for Your Favorite Web Tools

Now there is a Squidoo lens where you can vote for your favorite social bookmarking site, blogging platform or just your overall favorite web tool. Made by me!

Check it out, vote, leave feedback or submit a tool to one of the lists. You can even subscribe to the RSS feed to keep track of updates.

An Introduction to Technorati

The best way to describe Technorati is a blog compiler. It collect information from blogs and compiles it to help you find things your interested in. Turns out, Technorati can also be a great tool for promoting your blog. Here are some ways you can use it to do that.

Getting started

First you need to create an account. If you already have one, good. You're set to go.

Watchlists

A watchlist is a simple way that you can track the buzz about anything on the web. They are very easy to setup and fun to use.

Tags

The next great thing about Technorati is that every blog post, blog, etc. is tagged. So you can easily move between similar posts/blogs.

Claim your blog

This is a little more complicated, but it's worth it. Once you claim you blog you can tag it and give it a description. This helps other Technorati users find your blog.

How to setup a Crazy Egg Heatmap for Your Blog or Website

A heatmap is an image that lets you see where people clicked on your site/blog. They can be very useful in test design or ad placement. Today I'm going to show you how to set one up with a web tool called Crazy Egg.

This tool cost from free to $99-a-month. The free account lets you track up to 5,000 visitors, on up to 4 different pages. That's all you need for now.

To get a feel for how the interface looks you can hit the "Demo" button.

Setting up a snapshot

Once you have sign up, log into you account and click the "add new page" button.

It will take you to the setup page where you will need to fill in information such as name of page, URL, length of test and description.

You will then need to add a bit of code to you site/blog. Unfortunately this is a javascript so if readers have that blocked you won't see them.

After you add the code you simply head back to the dashboard to see results. You can login every so often and hit the "view results" button for one of you pages to see the overview, list of clicked links, heatmap or confetti.

Sick of the Plain Old Google Interface? Have Some Fun Searching With Tafiti

Sometimes I feel just sick of the plain white Google interface. Don't get me wrong, I love Google and the white user interface can be refreshing. But day after day all I get is white. Not fun.

But I've found the answer! Tafiti is a great new beta search engine powered by Microsoft Live and Microsoft Silverlight.

Okay, so Microsoft live search doesn't rock, but Tafiti is definaty cool! Don't believe me? See for yourself!

Click the images to see larger versions.



That's the basic layout. Here are some more cool features.

You can go back through previous searches:


Or drag search results to the sidebar for later:




It even has this funky thing called tree view:



Dare I say it, this is search 3.0 Check it out!