Several weeks ago, Google launched a brand new Google tool bar in all its services. This new bar replaces the famous (or infamous?) black bar on top of all Google products, and includes a slick dropdown menu, a new Profile menu and a generally cleaner look.

Surprisingly, not everyone can enjoy the new bar yet. In a previous article, I explained how to enable the new bar by editing a cookie, which worked like a charm. But what if you don’t want to mess with that stuff? There are now some better and easier solutions which will get you that new shiny bar in a snap.

Aside from not letting everyone have it, Google also “forgot” to make the bar customizable. You can’t change the order, you can’t add or remove items – you’re basically stuck with what Google wants you to see. Here are two great ways to get the new Google bar, and to customize it exactly the way you want.

Big G Drop Down Sorter [Chrome]

This handy little Chrome extension will not only give you the ability to sort, add and remove items from the new Google bar, it will also make the bar itself appear if you don’t already have it.

This is what the Google bar menu looks like before changing anything. Not the most convenient thing in the world. Now, install Big G Drop Down Sorter, access any *.google.com domain, and behold the magic!

You can now easily drag and drop any item from the menu to change its position. You can also drag an item into the More section, or drag items from the More section into the main section.

And that’s not all. Are there items from the not-so-accessible “Even more” you would like to add to the toolbar? Big G Drop Down Sorter lets you do that too. Click on “Even more” to find new buttons added to every item on the list.

You can now easily add items from here to the dropdown menu. If you change your mind, you can remove the item from the toolbar from here as well.

Big G Drop Down Sorter is very easy to use, and has worked for me on Google Search, Google Reader, Gmail and Google+. Its only downside is that it only works on *.google.com domains (so if you use google.co.uk, for example, this won’t work), but that aside, this is a great answer to a huge oversight by Google (at least, I would like to think of it as an oversight).

Google Bar+ [Firefox & Chrome]

Google Bar+ is a user script which works on both Firefox and Chrome. Before installing it, you would need to install either Greasemonkey for Firefox or Tampermonkey for Chrome. After installing one of these, head over to the script’s homepage and click “Install”.

To start, if you don’t already have the new Google tool bar, this script will enable it. While not as smooth and easy to use as Big G, Google Bar+ offers some in-depth customization for the Google bar, including the ability to add entirely new items which are not Google related.

To change an item’s location, right-click on any item to open its edit window.

From here, you can choose a different pre-set button from the dropdown menu, and thus change this button into a different button (this basically changes a button’s location). Note that this does not switch between the two buttons, and you will end up with two of the same button. You will have to right click the second button and change that one over as well. From this window you can also change an item’s name, or create an entirely new item, complete with icon.

The icon part did not work perfectly for me every time, but it was very easy to add menu items of my own other than that.

The script also comes with an option called Thinbar. If you find the new bar overly bulky at the top, click the Profile menu and choose “Enable Thin Menu”.

This will change the entire thing into a more manageable size – a welcome change.

As you can see, my MakeUseOf icon does not appear exactly as it should, but this might be solved with some tweaking. Google Bar+ also comes with a built-in Google ad blocker, which you can also enable from the Profile menu.

All in all, Google Bar+ is a useful script, especially if you want to create custom buttons in the menu, or if you’re a Firefox user (until someone comes up with a Big G add-on for Firefox).

Do you know of more ways to customize the new Google tool bar? And what do you think of this new bar anyway? Share in the comments.

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/fritzing-featured.png" alt="sketching electronics"/>Despite sounding like an alcopop, Fritzing is actually an incredible bit of free software you can use to create circuit and component diagrams for use with rapid-protoyping electronics boards such as the href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/arduino-technology-explained/">fantastic open-source Arduino.

As such, it’s open source too, entirely cross platform and well supported – you can almost guarantee that it can be used on any Arduino project to show you how to wire things together using it.

Having just begun on the path of the Arduino href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/hardware">hardware tinkerer myself, I checked it out as way to document any modifications I make to projects I create from tutorials.

Before I get started, let me show the final diagram I put together in less than 10 minutes. Pretty good huh?

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/final-project.png" alt="sketching electronics" width="580" height="514" />

It’s quite messy though and very unclear, I know – but that’s because I’m working retroactively – drawing what I actually made rather than designing what to make. If I had used this first, it would have been a whole neater. It’s a modification of one the first projects in the href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Beginning-Arduino-Michael-McRoberts/dp/1430232404">Beginning Arduino book – a traffic light and pedestrian crossing system – to which I added a simple buzzer.

The circuit itself varies very little, but the programming behind it required some major adjustments to allow for simultaneous buzzing and flashing of LEDs at different rates. I’ve uploaded href="http://pastebin.com/HjaYC2kt">the code portion to paste bin for those of you interested, but it’s not relevant to this review and hopefully I’ll be teaching you the basics of programming the Arduino at a later date if there’s enough interest.

Download

Head on over to the href="http://fritzing.org/download/">Fritzing download page. It’s an executable that needn’t be installed, so just unzip or mount the .dmg file, then just run the application.

Features

I’ll be concentrating on the prototyping functionality today, but it can also be used for both the electronic schematics, as well as designing a full PCB if you decide you want to make your project more permanent. In fact, they even offer a PCB production service, which costs about $40 for an Arduino shield sized PCB (commonly used to place your own PCB on top of an Arduino for a snug fit).

Basic Controls

This is what you’ll see upon first launch:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/first-run.png" alt="electronics application circuits" width="580" height="455" />

Drag components out from the toolbox in the top right. Scroll down for micro controllers and you can find an Arduino. The next box down on the sidebar is an inspector. In my case, I’m using two mini-breadboards, so I added them from the toolbox and changed the sizes using the inspector.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/arduino-and-small-breadboards.png" alt="electronics application circuits" width="580" height="455" />

Note: To rearrange items on the diagram, drag the component anywhere non-functional – that is, not from one of the pin holes – use the edges. You can also zoom in if you’re finding it hard to grab a non-functional bit of the board.

Next, add some more components and join them all up. Here’s the photo of the actual project I’m trying to document here:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/photo-arduino.jpg" alt="electronics application circuits" width="580" height="433" />

Drag out your first component, in my case a buzzer. To connect the terminals, just drag from one point to another. As you hover over a specific pin on the Arduino, a tooltip will let you check the number.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/connecting-pins.png" alt="drawing electronics schematics" width="580" height="285" />

Since the wiring is a little messy like that, you can then click and drag anywhere on the line to add another point and ‘bend’ the wire around.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/bending-wires.png" alt="drawing electronics schematics" width="580" height="163" />

Notice that while you’re doing this, it’s also building a circuit diagram schematic on the other screens. Click over to schematic or even PCB view. It doesn’t automatically tidy those up for you – if you need the PCB to be neat and tidy it’s best if you go over and clean it up as you make the circuit. You can drag and drop on either screen just as easily, and make use of the rotate and flip buttons on the bottom left if needed.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/zoom-and-rotate.png" alt="drawing electronics schematics" width="580" height="58" />

If you hold down the CTRL key while clicking on a component, a option menu will appear with various menu items.

CMD-D (Mac) or CTRL-D (Windows) will duplicate the current item – useful if you’re trying to place an array of LEDs.

To move the entire component, just click and drag on the component itself (not the legs). Moving individual legs can be a little tricky, and you may find yourself drawing a connection instead.

Once the legs are correctly placed, you can hold down ALT and drag around the component without affecting it’s pins.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/moving-components.png" alt="sketching electronics" width="389" height="158" />

Breadboards to show connected lines will automatically light up in green when something is connected to them.

Overall, it’s incredibly easy to use, and the fact that it’s free is a testament to the power of the open source community. I hope you get a chance to play with the software and design some of your own circuits too. If you are interested in learning the basics of Arduino programming, including some fundamental electronics in the process – and building up to a complete robot or something equally impressive – do let me know in the comments. I’d love to publish a full 10 part tutorial, but without feedback from you guys it’s difficult to gauge the interest.

Here’s hoping you have a happy hardware hacking weekend!

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/image-159.jpg" alt="creating flow charts" />In the age of infographics, flowcharts are a great tool for getting your point across without using too many words. If you routinely create flowcharts as part of your work, you may already be using a full-featured product such as class="vt-p" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Visio">Microsoft Visio. But if flowcharts aren’t yet a big part of your process, you may want to give class="vt-p" href="http://diagram.ly/">Diagramly a look.

The best thing about Diagramly is how accessible it is. You just click a URL, and you’re in. There’s no download, no account registration, and you don’t even need Flash to use it. It really couldn’t be simpler to get started. The worst thing about Diagramly (I’ll just get this out of the way right now) is the utter lack of documentation. For example, check out this diagram I made for you, showing the ideal MakeUseOf reader’s workflow:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/image-160.jpg" alt="creating flow charts" width="556" height="246" />

Pretty easy to understand, right? It took about 45 seconds from the moment I first loaded Diagramly in my browser until I had this diagram. But did you notice how all steps use the same icons? That’s not because I think you guys are cogwheels in MakeUseOf’s giant machine – it’s because I simply couldn’t figure out how to change the icon! I clicked all over the interface, right-clicked the bubbles and did just about everything I could think of, and yet I was unable to change the icon. This is where you come in, by the way – feel free to leave a comment and tell me what I missed.

Let’s take a look at the UI:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/image-161.jpg" alt="create flow charts" width="579" height="348" />

I included Chrome’s address bar on purpose, so you’d see it really is a Web app. The border between web apps and desktop apps is growing ever fuzzier, and Diagramly is a good example. The interface is very snappy, too. You can drag a marquee around multiple elements to select them all (or Ctrl-click them one by one, if they’re not adjacent). You can adjust the zoom level, and select diagram components from a rich library of high-resolution icons.

Here are just a few samples I picked at random:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/image-162.jpg" alt="create flow charts" width="380" height="435" />

Why there is a class="vt-p" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shield_of_david">Shield of David there, I have absolutely no idea. I think it’s just supposed to be a star, but it has six points for some reason. At any rate, you can see the icons are very detailed. I believe I’ve seen them before elsewhere. Diagramly’s creators must have obtained permission to use existing icon sets. Having such high-quality icons is very handy when you’re trying to get a visual message across quickly. You can just draw an arrow from the $ icon to the Mac icon — the message is clear.

Once you’re done crafting your masterpiece, you can save it in one of a number of formats:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/image-163.jpg" alt="creating flow charts" width="337" height="230" />

Saving as an SVG is very handy if you have a desktop vector editing application (such as the free and open-source class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/awesome-free-tools-infographics/">Inkscape). As I’ve already mentioned, documentation isn’t exactly Diagramly’s strong suit, so I have no idea what type of XML it saves. I’ve inspected the resulting XML and it lacks a class="vt-p" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Document_Type_Definition">DTD declaration, but you can certainly open it back using Diagramly (I’ve tested this).

Bottom Line

Should you use Diagramly for your multi-million dollar keynote? You can probably guess the answer by now. But if you have an idea you just want to lay down on screen very quickly, and without futzing about with a software download and installation, with opening an account, or with any of the other hassles most diagramming tools present, then Diagramly is the way to go. If you make anything interesting or funny, do share in the comments! />
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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/gnome_tweak_intro.jpg"/>As more and more href="http://www.makeuseof.com/service/linux">Linux distributions start to adopt href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/gnome-3-beta-desktop-linux/">GNOME 3 as their new default desktop environment ( href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/ubuntu-1104-unity-big-leap-linux/">or not), people will quickly find that it doesn’t take long before you’ve seen everything there is to GNOME Shell. In other words, there aren’t exactly a bazillion different customization options for just about anything, as GNOME 3/Shell is still relatively new. Hopefully in later releases it’ll start expanding the customization options of its feature-set, but for now we have to live with the shortened list.

For some people that’s fine, while for others it’s a pain in the neck, as they’ve been spoiled by a worthy selection of options in the past (and why not?). If you’re one of those people who can’t stand GNOME 3 as long as you cannot change a few more things than are allowed by default, I have something that will make you think twice.

Introduction

Sometime before GNOME 3′s official release did the href="https://live.gnome.org/GnomeTweakTool">Gnome Tweak Tool appear in order to solve some of the early customization problems that GNOME Shell has. The purpose of the Gnome Tweak Tool is to simply provide some extra options that cannot be found anywhere elsee in GNOME Shell. In distributions that offer GNOME 3 (this excludes href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/ubuntu">Ubuntu for now), you should be able to find it under the gnome-tweak-tool package name. If not, play around with the wording or leave off some parts to widen the search until you do find it. Once you do, install it and you’re ready to launch it.

Features

The window that greets you is fairly simple. You have categories in the left pane, and options appear on the right, where you can choose from On/Off switches or drop-down menus. The five categories that are currently included are Windows, Interface, File Manager, Fonts, and Shell.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/gnome_tweak_windows1.jpg" alt="" width="588" height="474" />

In the Windows category, you can choose from a number of window themes, as well as choose what actions occur when you double-click, middle-click, and right-click the title bar. The last three are handy options for those who favor different actions from their title bar.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/gnome_tweak_interface.jpg" alt="" width="590" height="477" />

The Interface category lets you choose whether icons should be included in menus and buttons, as well as the GTK+, Icon, and Cursor themes. For those who like to trick out their desktops before doing anything else, these options will help the most.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/gnome_tweak_file.jpg" alt="" width="590" height="476" />

The File Manager category only has one option, which is to let the file manager handle the desktop. In other words, this option should let you put files on your desktop again, though I haven’t tried this out myself.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/gnome_tweak_fonts.jpg" alt="" width="590" height="477" />

The Fonts category, compared to the File Manager category, has plenty more options for you to indulge in. In here, you can choose the text-scaling factor, the default, document, monospace, and window title fonts, the amount of hinting, and the type of anti-aliasing.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/gnome_tweak_shell.jpg" alt="" width="590" height="475" />

The Shell category, which is last, offers some options for the Shell itself and anything else that did not fit into another category. Shell options include whether to show the date in the clock, whether to show the week date in the calendar, the arrangement of window buttons (as well as which ones should be included), and a choice of shell themes, if available. Most importantly, this category includes two options that have long been asked to be included in the default power options: what to do when the laptop lid is closed.

Conclusion

If you’re going to be using GNOME 3, you’ll be doing yourself a favor by installing this little program. It does nothing more than increase the amount of settings that you can configure, which rarely appear in GNOME 3. You never know when you might want to change something that the Gnome Tweak Tool can do.

Will you be using Gnome Tweak Tool if you’re on a GNOME 3 desktop? If you’re not on a GNOME 3 desktop, will this tool change your decision? Let us know in the comments! />
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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/intro13.jpg" alt="linux media player" />The href="http://banshee.fm/">Banshee media player was first released in early 2005 and has since come on leaps and bounds. Probably the closest thing Linux has to href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/itunes">iTunes, Banshee comes with an integrated music store, Internet radio, podcasting and compatibility with Apple’s range of media players, including the iPhone.

Canonical, the Ubuntu overlords, decided to include Banshee 2.0 with href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/ubuntu">Ubuntu 11.04 “Natty Narwhal” – meaning the highly popular href="http://www.makeuseof.com/service/linux/">Linux distribution will be shipping with a fully integrated online music store for the first time. This version of Banshee has been tested on Ubuntu 10.10, and is the current stable release. Mac OS X users can download a temperamental beta, and there is a very buggy Windows alpha version in development.

Get Banshee

For those of you who aren’t already using Ubuntu 11.04, you can get a version of Banshee for your particular distribution over at the href="http://banshee.fm/download/">download page. There are plenty of versions for specific distributions, or you can download and compile from source should you wish to.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/freshbanshee.jpg" alt="linux media player" width="580" height="494" />

Older versions of Ubuntu and Ubuntu-based distributions (with binary compatibility) can download from the official repository opening up a new Terminal window and typing:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:banshee-team/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install banshee

For the latest versions, adding the official Banshee repository (as above) is a must.

Streaming & Downloading

Banshee is very much reliant on an Internet connection for much of its feature set. One of the main features is Amazon MP3 Store integration, which appears in the menu bar on the left. Browsing for music is handled simply by the bog-standard Amazon frontend, and whilst a custom interface would have been nice it serves its purpose.

style="text-align: left;">Anything you stream (preview) is handled by Banshee, which means no Flash plugins and some lightning-fast buffering. Every now and again a preview would timeout when clicked. I’m not sure if this is Amazon’s fault or Banshee’s. Simply clicking preview again loaded the track the few times I encountered the error.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/preferences.jpg" alt="media player for linux" width="431" height="430" />

Downloads (free or purchased) from the href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/buying-music-itunes-store-versus-amazon-mp3-downloads/">Amazon MP3 Store are automatically added to your Banshee library, and you can stipulate the settings for saving this to your hard drive within the preferences.

Also included are integration with Miro and The Internet Archive. Miro is a fantastic way of discovering both audio and video podcasts, with a hearty selection of media to choose from. Much like the Amazon MP3 Store all previews are handled by Banshee. Podcasts can be subscribed to with Banshee’s in-built podcast tool and you can even add a shortcut link to your favourite shows on the main Banshee sidebar.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/listen_miro.jpg" alt="media player for linux" width="551" height="283" />

The Internet Archive is probably one of the better integrated components, with an ever-expanding database of things to watch, listen to or read. The search interface makes it really easy to find what you’re looking for, and it’s a good job as you’ll have so much free content at your fingertips.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/archive.jpg" alt="media player for linux" width="580" height="494" />

A simple href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/internet-radio/">Internet radio streamer and Last.fm integration are also present and functional but nothing particularly special to write home about.

The daily builds of Banshee currently also include experimental eMusic Store support, described by Rolling Stone magazine as “the iTunes music store’s cooler, cheaper cousin“. When this makes it to the stable builds Banshee will come with 2 music stores, and offer a huge selection of tunes.

Playback, Connectivity & Customization

Bolstering the already impressive feature set, presentation and accessible content is the player’s compatibility with other devices. Banshee plays nicely with Apple’s range of portable media players, handy if you need to use iTunes to transfer media to your iPod or similar. If you’ve got a Creative Zen or other MTP device then Banshee will do the trick here too.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/musicbrowser.jpg" alt="media player for linux best" width="531" height="446" />

Adding music to your library is done via the preferences. Simply point Banshee to your music folder, hit Refresh Music Library and wait for the program to do its thing. Video works in much the same way.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/artistbrowser.jpg" alt="" width="576" height="415" />

Browsing for music is done via the artist browser, which uses cover art for navigation (though you can always search). Intelligent shuffle has been included as well, with Banshee preferring songs with higher ratings to those you aren’t fond of. Audio playback displays a minimalist description of the track title, artist and album as well as cover art.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/nowplayingmusic.jpg" alt="linux media player" width="580" height="472" />

There are several extensions included with Banshee from the get-go, including the cover-art downloader, YouTube support and artist information from Wikipedia during playback (in the context window, enabled via the View toolbar). More extensions are listed and href="http://banshee.fm/download/">available for download from the Banshee website.

Conclusion

Banshee is reasonably lightweight and responsive, and certainly doesn’t feel as bogged down and sluggish as the Windows versions of iTunes I have used in the past. If you’re searching for an href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/minitunes-attractive-lightweight-mac-linux-music-player/">iTunes equivalent for Linux, demand excellent integration with radio, video, podcasts and a music store then Banshee comes with everything you need.

Have you tried Banshee? What do you think? Any other similar Linux favourites? Let us know in the comments below.

 

href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/banshee-20-comprehensive-media-player-streamer-podcast-tool-linux/"> src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/banshee-20-comprehensive-media-player-streamer-podcast-tool-linux/"> href="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis/login?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/banshee-20-comprehensive-media-player-streamer-podcast-tool-linux/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/diggme.png"> href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/banshee-20-comprehensive-media-player-streamer-podcast-tool-linux/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/fb.jpg"> href="http://www.google.com/reader/link?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/banshee-20-comprehensive-media-player-streamer-podcast-tool-linux/&title=Banshee 2.0 – A Comprehensive Media Player, Streamer & Podcast Tool [Linux]&srcTitle=MakeUseOf.com"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/gbuzz-feed.png"> href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/banshee-20-comprehensive-media-player-streamer-podcast-tool-linux/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/stumble.png">

 

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View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/intro13.jpg" alt="linux media player" />The href="http://banshee.fm/">Banshee media player was first released in early 2005 and has since come on leaps and bounds. Probably the closest thing Linux has to href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/itunes">iTunes, Banshee comes with an integrated music store, Internet radio, podcasting and compatibility with Apple’s range of media players, including the iPhone.

Canonical, the Ubuntu overlords, decided to include Banshee 2.0 with href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/ubuntu">Ubuntu 11.04 “Natty Narwhal” – meaning the highly popular href="http://www.makeuseof.com/service/linux/">Linux distribution will be shipping with a fully integrated online music store for the first time. This version of Banshee has been tested on Ubuntu 10.10, and is the current stable release. Mac OS X users can download a temperamental beta, and there is a very buggy Windows alpha version in development.

Get Banshee

For those of you who aren’t already using Ubuntu 11.04, you can get a version of Banshee for your particular distribution over at the href="http://banshee.fm/download/">download page. There are plenty of versions for specific distributions, or you can download and compile from source should you wish to.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/freshbanshee.jpg" alt="linux media player" width="580" height="494" />

Older versions of Ubuntu and Ubuntu-based distributions (with binary compatibility) can download from the official repository opening up a new Terminal window and typing:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:banshee-team/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install banshee

For the latest versions, adding the official Banshee repository (as above) is a must.

Streaming & Downloading

Banshee is very much reliant on an Internet connection for much of its feature set. One of the main features is Amazon MP3 Store integration, which appears in the menu bar on the left. Browsing for music is handled simply by the bog-standard Amazon frontend, and whilst a custom interface would have been nice it serves its purpose.

style="text-align: left;">Anything you stream (preview) is handled by Banshee, which means no Flash plugins and some lightning-fast buffering. Every now and again a preview would timeout when clicked. I’m not sure if this is Amazon’s fault or Banshee’s. Simply clicking preview again loaded the track the few times I encountered the error.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/preferences.jpg" alt="media player for linux" width="431" height="430" />

Downloads (free or purchased) from the href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/buying-music-itunes-store-versus-amazon-mp3-downloads/">Amazon MP3 Store are automatically added to your Banshee library, and you can stipulate the settings for saving this to your hard drive within the preferences.

Also included are integration with Miro and The Internet Archive. Miro is a fantastic way of discovering both audio and video podcasts, with a hearty selection of media to choose from. Much like the Amazon MP3 Store all previews are handled by Banshee. Podcasts can be subscribed to with Banshee’s in-built podcast tool and you can even add a shortcut link to your favourite shows on the main Banshee sidebar.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/listen_miro.jpg" alt="media player for linux" width="551" height="283" />

The Internet Archive is probably one of the better integrated components, with an ever-expanding database of things to watch, listen to or read. The search interface makes it really easy to find what you’re looking for, and it’s a good job as you’ll have so much free content at your fingertips.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/archive.jpg" alt="media player for linux" width="580" height="494" />

A simple href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/internet-radio/">Internet radio streamer and Last.fm integration are also present and functional but nothing particularly special to write home about.

The daily builds of Banshee currently also include experimental eMusic Store support, described by Rolling Stone magazine as “the iTunes music store’s cooler, cheaper cousin“. When this makes it to the stable builds Banshee will come with 2 music stores, and offer a huge selection of tunes.

Playback, Connectivity & Customization

Bolstering the already impressive feature set, presentation and accessible content is the player’s compatibility with other devices. Banshee plays nicely with Apple’s range of portable media players, handy if you need to use iTunes to transfer media to your iPod or similar. If you’ve got a Creative Zen or other MTP device then Banshee will do the trick here too.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/musicbrowser.jpg" alt="media player for linux best" width="531" height="446" />

Adding music to your library is done via the preferences. Simply point Banshee to your music folder, hit Refresh Music Library and wait for the program to do its thing. Video works in much the same way.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/artistbrowser.jpg" alt="" width="576" height="415" />

Browsing for music is done via the artist browser, which uses cover art for navigation (though you can always search). Intelligent shuffle has been included as well, with Banshee preferring songs with higher ratings to those you aren’t fond of. Audio playback displays a minimalist description of the track title, artist and album as well as cover art.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/nowplayingmusic.jpg" alt="linux media player" width="580" height="472" />

There are several extensions included with Banshee from the get-go, including the cover-art downloader, YouTube support and artist information from Wikipedia during playback (in the context window, enabled via the View toolbar). More extensions are listed and href="http://banshee.fm/download/">available for download from the Banshee website.

Conclusion

Banshee is reasonably lightweight and responsive, and certainly doesn’t feel as bogged down and sluggish as the Windows versions of iTunes I have used in the past. If you’re searching for an href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/minitunes-attractive-lightweight-mac-linux-music-player/">iTunes equivalent for Linux, demand excellent integration with radio, video, podcasts and a music store then Banshee comes with everything you need.

Have you tried Banshee? What do you think? Any other similar Linux favourites? Let us know in the comments below.

 

href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/banshee-20-comprehensive-media-player-streamer-podcast-tool-linux/"> src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/banshee-20-comprehensive-media-player-streamer-podcast-tool-linux/"> href="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis/login?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/banshee-20-comprehensive-media-player-streamer-podcast-tool-linux/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/diggme.png"> href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/banshee-20-comprehensive-media-player-streamer-podcast-tool-linux/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/fb.jpg"> href="http://www.google.com/reader/link?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/banshee-20-comprehensive-media-player-streamer-podcast-tool-linux/&title=Banshee 2.0 – A Comprehensive Media Player, Streamer & Podcast Tool [Linux]&srcTitle=MakeUseOf.com"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/gbuzz-feed.png"> href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/banshee-20-comprehensive-media-player-streamer-podcast-tool-linux/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/stumble.png">

 

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View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/intro13.jpg" alt="linux media player" />The href="http://banshee.fm/">Banshee media player was first released in early 2005 and has since come on leaps and bounds. Probably the closest thing Linux has to href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/itunes">iTunes, Banshee comes with an integrated music store, Internet radio, podcasting and compatibility with Apple’s range of media players, including the iPhone.

Canonical, the Ubuntu overlords, decided to include Banshee 2.0 with href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/ubuntu">Ubuntu 11.04 “Natty Narwhal” – meaning the highly popular href="http://www.makeuseof.com/service/linux/">Linux distribution will be shipping with a fully integrated online music store for the first time. This version of Banshee has been tested on Ubuntu 10.10, and is the current stable release. Mac OS X users can download a temperamental beta, and there is a very buggy Windows alpha version in development.

Get Banshee

For those of you who aren’t already using Ubuntu 11.04, you can get a version of Banshee for your particular distribution over at the href="http://banshee.fm/download/">download page. There are plenty of versions for specific distributions, or you can download and compile from source should you wish to.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/freshbanshee.jpg" alt="linux media player" width="580" height="494" />

Older versions of Ubuntu and Ubuntu-based distributions (with binary compatibility) can download from the official repository opening up a new Terminal window and typing:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:banshee-team/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install banshee

For the latest versions, adding the official Banshee repository (as above) is a must.

Streaming & Downloading

Banshee is very much reliant on an Internet connection for much of its feature set. One of the main features is Amazon MP3 Store integration, which appears in the menu bar on the left. Browsing for music is handled simply by the bog-standard Amazon frontend, and whilst a custom interface would have been nice it serves its purpose.

style="text-align: left;">Anything you stream (preview) is handled by Banshee, which means no Flash plugins and some lightning-fast buffering. Every now and again a preview would timeout when clicked. I’m not sure if this is Amazon’s fault or Banshee’s. Simply clicking preview again loaded the track the few times I encountered the error.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/preferences.jpg" alt="media player for linux" width="431" height="430" />

Downloads (free or purchased) from the href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/buying-music-itunes-store-versus-amazon-mp3-downloads/">Amazon MP3 Store are automatically added to your Banshee library, and you can stipulate the settings for saving this to your hard drive within the preferences.

Also included are integration with Miro and The Internet Archive. Miro is a fantastic way of discovering both audio and video podcasts, with a hearty selection of media to choose from. Much like the Amazon MP3 Store all previews are handled by Banshee. Podcasts can be subscribed to with Banshee’s in-built podcast tool and you can even add a shortcut link to your favourite shows on the main Banshee sidebar.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/listen_miro.jpg" alt="media player for linux" width="551" height="283" />

The Internet Archive is probably one of the better integrated components, with an ever-expanding database of things to watch, listen to or read. The search interface makes it really easy to find what you’re looking for, and it’s a good job as you’ll have so much free content at your fingertips.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/archive.jpg" alt="media player for linux" width="580" height="494" />

A simple href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/internet-radio/">Internet radio streamer and Last.fm integration are also present and functional but nothing particularly special to write home about.

The daily builds of Banshee currently also include experimental eMusic Store support, described by Rolling Stone magazine as “the iTunes music store’s cooler, cheaper cousin“. When this makes it to the stable builds Banshee will come with 2 music stores, and offer a huge selection of tunes.

Playback, Connectivity & Customization

Bolstering the already impressive feature set, presentation and accessible content is the player’s compatibility with other devices. Banshee plays nicely with Apple’s range of portable media players, handy if you need to use iTunes to transfer media to your iPod or similar. If you’ve got a Creative Zen or other MTP device then Banshee will do the trick here too.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/musicbrowser.jpg" alt="media player for linux best" width="531" height="446" />

Adding music to your library is done via the preferences. Simply point Banshee to your music folder, hit Refresh Music Library and wait for the program to do its thing. Video works in much the same way.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/artistbrowser.jpg" alt="" width="576" height="415" />

Browsing for music is done via the artist browser, which uses cover art for navigation (though you can always search). Intelligent shuffle has been included as well, with Banshee preferring songs with higher ratings to those you aren’t fond of. Audio playback displays a minimalist description of the track title, artist and album as well as cover art.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/nowplayingmusic.jpg" alt="linux media player" width="580" height="472" />

There are several extensions included with Banshee from the get-go, including the cover-art downloader, YouTube support and artist information from Wikipedia during playback (in the context window, enabled via the View toolbar). More extensions are listed and href="http://banshee.fm/download/">available for download from the Banshee website.

Conclusion

Banshee is reasonably lightweight and responsive, and certainly doesn’t feel as bogged down and sluggish as the Windows versions of iTunes I have used in the past. If you’re searching for an href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/minitunes-attractive-lightweight-mac-linux-music-player/">iTunes equivalent for Linux, demand excellent integration with radio, video, podcasts and a music store then Banshee comes with everything you need.

Have you tried Banshee? What do you think? Any other similar Linux favourites? Let us know in the comments below. />
/>Follow href="http://twitter.com/MakeUseOf" target="_blank" >MakeUseOf on Twitter. Includes cool extras. />
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View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/trash.png" alt="print to pdf" />Paper costs money. Save both by printing your PDFs on half-pages. Whether you want a booklet or side-by-side copies, a free tool for Windows not only makes this possible but also simple. Stop messing around with printer settings and get the document exactly how you want it. Many printers allow you to print to PDF as a booklet, or to print side-by-side copies. The interface for doing so however, varies depending on the type of printer you’re using and a number of other factors.

Whether you routinely print our href="http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/">free PDF manuals or find yourself with a steady stream of documents you need to print and read, this is a tool you should probably know about.

Getting Started

To get started, simply href="http://www.noliturbare.com/pdf-tools/simple-imposition">download Govert’s imposition tool. It comes as a single executable file, but you’ll need to href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyid=0856EACB-4362-4B0D-8EDD-AAB15C5E04F5&displaylang=en">download .NET 2.0 to run this program. Once everything’s working, you’ll have a window that looks like this:

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/govert-main.png" alt="print to pdf" width="580" height="421" />

Add a PDF, pick the print mode you want and you’ll quickly make a new PDF file formatting the way you want it.

What do these different modes mean? Great question. Keep reading to find out, and to see pages from a yet-to-be-released manual.

Booklet Printing

Want a booklet you can fold and staple down the middle? This is the mode you’re looking for. Govert’s tool will automatically arrange your document for convenient book making, so try this out if you want something that feels and reads like a book.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/govert-booklet.png" alt="best way to print pdf file" width="529" height="372" />

You can optionally include folding marks, which makes the process a little bit simpler. There will also be a few blank “pages”, depending on your total number of pages, but this is normal in the world of publishing.

2-Up Printing

Want two “pages” per page, but aren’t very keen about the folded booklet? 2-up printing will put two consecutive pages on each sheet of paper, making for easy reading without a lot of extra work.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/govert-2up.png" alt="best way to print pdf file" width="530" height="374" />

Optional lines can seperate the two pages printed on a single sheet, which isn’t necessary but sometimes nice.

Duplicate, Side By Side

Want two copies of your document? This is the tool you need. Every sheet will have two versions of the same page.  Perfect if you are printing out leaflets and flyers.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/govert-duplicate.png" alt="best way to print pdf file" width="530" height="373" />

Cut every sheet down the middle and you’ve got two half-page documents. You can optionally have a cutmark on the top page, which is great if you’re going to use a paper-cutter to slice through an entire document.

2 by 2 1/2 Inches

This is like the duplicate setting, but you only get one copy. Basically: if you cut the sheets in half down the middle you have two stacks. The left side of the page is the first half of the document; the right, the second.

class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/2x1.5.jpg" alt="print to pdf" width="531" height="242" />

Great if you want the document to be a stack of half-page sheets.

Conclusion

I like this tool quite a bit; thanks go to href="http://www.freewaregenius.com/2011/04/19/gimposition-print-your-pdf-documents-or-ebooks-2-pages-per-sheet-of-paper-or-in-booklet-or-book-format-etc/">Freeware Genius for pointing it out.

Soon after becoming the eBook editor I was surprised to learn that many of our readers print our guides. I’m not sure why this surprised me; perhaps it’s because I rarely read anything on paper anymore and print documents even less often. While I do understand the appeal of printing such manuals, using full pages to do so is pretty wasteful. Tools like this make printing our manuals less wasteful, so I recommend all of our readers do so.

Prefer reading PDFs on your e-reader? So do I, but the formatting can be problematic. If this is familar to you, you’ll find href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/pdf-files-ereaderfriendly-briss/">Briss makes PDF files e-reader friendly. Even if you don’t use e-readers, combining Briss with Govert’s tool could have some awesome results. If you try this, share your thoughts in the comments below.

Do you have any other PDF printing tips or tools you use to print to PDF? Share them below, along with your questions about Govert’s imposition tool. />
/>Need Assistance? Ask questions to MakeUseOf staff and thousands of other readers on href="http://www.makeuseof.dev/answers/" target="_blank" >MakeUseOf Answers!

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/calculator-title.png" alt="microsoft mathematics"/>Much to the chagrin of students and parents worldwide, it is not unheard of for graphing calculators to cost upwards of $100. Thanks to software, you have a full-featured graphing calculator that’s designed to work just like a hand-held calculator.

With a simple program from Microsoft named href="http://www.microsoft.com/education/products/student/math/default.aspx#overview">Microsoft Mathematics 4.0, you have the full power of a graphing calculator – and more – right at your computer.

Let’s go over some of the neat features this program provides and how it can help with homework or other math functions.

When you launch the program you have an interface that is very similar to any other graphing calculator. You can enter your numbers and calculations directly into the program by either pressing the buttons with your mouse or just typing it in.

id="more-67659"> /> Think of it as the built-in Windows ‘calc’ program on steroids.

You can also draw your calculations and Mathematics will try to decipher your drawing into an equation. This is helpful if you receive an problem but don’t know exactly how to enter it into the program. It works fairly well, but does have some difficulty decoding some more complicated equations.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/drawing.png" alt="microsoft mathematics" width="235" height="201" />

Of course the core of a graphic calculating program is the graphs it can make. Entering the equations into the “equation” portion of the program allows you to graph multiple lines on the same chart.

Once you get used to the program, you can actually get very fancy with your graphs. Entering the right commands in the software will translate to a graph on the worksheet:

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/worksheet.png" alt="microsoft mathematics 4.0" width="436" height="409" />

Another interesting portion of the program is the equation solver. Once you type in an equation it will help you step through to solve it for one of the variables you have listed. After it is solved, you can then graph it in 2d or 3d to help visualize the equation and learn what it actually does.

If you are interested in learning how you can apply Microsoft Mathematics to help your child or student learn mathematics, Microsoft offers this href="http://www.microsoft.com/education/teachers/guides/mathematics_4.0.aspx">free guide to give you learning ideas.

The Equation Library built into the program also gets you started on some interesting ways you can enter data into the program.

The final feature I’d like to go over is the Triangle Solver. The solver takes all of the legwork out of figuring out the remaining angles or length of a triangle and will also let you know exactly what type of triangle it is.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/triangle-solver.png" alt="microsoft mathematics" width="332" height="467" />

On a personal note, when I was going through high school I relied heavily on a graphing calculator to do all of my work for me. Although I was very good at translating problems into a format the calculator can read, I ignored the underlying concepts which lead me to receive good grades, at least for the mean time. Once I went to college and was no longer able to use a calculator I had a very tough time adjusting. Please make sure to use this program responsibly and actually learn the underlying principles.

Microsoft Mathematics 4.0 can be downloaded href="http://www.microsoft.com/education/products/student/math/default.aspx#overview">here and is free. It is only available for Windows, however if you have VirtualBox you will be able to run it on any other OS.

Have you used Microsoft Mathematics before? Do you know of some alternative software you can use in place of it? Let us know in the comments below! />
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class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/intro6.jpg" alt="social networking tools" width="135" height="135" />There’s no shortage of social networking tools to update your various social networks when you’re on the go, with many manufacturers bundling their own with the handset itself.  class="vt-p" href="http://www.sociallyapp.com">Socially is just another one of those apps and one which probably isn’t going to cause much of a storm on Android devices. class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/symbian/">Symbian users will probably find it a refreshing change with a few nifty features you don’t really see from the usual line-up of networking apps.

Socially is completely free and under active development, Facebook support is provided in the latest version (3.01 beta) although you’ll have to stick to the stable build if you want to use Foursquare.

id="more-63767">

Socially Adept

There is (planned, depending on your handset) support for the “big 4″ social networks built into Socially – class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/facebook-work-nuts-bolts-technology-explained/">Facebook, class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-hot-tools-to-complement-your-twitter-experience/">Twitter, class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/signal-learn-linkedin/">Linked In and the location-aware class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/check-mayor-favorite-venues-foursquare/">Foursquare. The limited choice suited my needs quite nicely, especially since there’s a lack of decent Foursquare applications for Symbian phones.

Adding a network is done via the usual methods. On first load Socially will display a list of available networks, and then ask you to class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/api-good-technology-explained/">authenticate the application to allow access to your chosen service.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/auth2.jpg" alt="social networking tools" width="326" height="580" />

Once you’ve validated your login, your feeds will be delivered straight to your phone and you can post updates, send messages, add location to Twitter and Foursquare and so on.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/facebook2.jpg" alt="internet as a social networking tool" width="326" height="580" />

The interface is clean, attractive and works well on a touchscreen thanks to the well-sized tab headings and buttons. The application’s idle screen serves as an overview of recent updates from your connected services and is also the screen used to compose a new update.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/twitter.jpg" alt="internet as a social networking tool" width="326" height="526" />

Luckily you can choose to post an update to multiple networks at once, although if you’re like me and never update Linked In you’ll have to uncheck it each time (which is slightly annoying). There’s also no autocomplete for Twitter or Facebook usernames, though I’m not aware of any Symbian app that includes this (probably due to the botched S60 text input).

Handset Integration

Socially is able to integrate and sync certain features with your handset itself. Basic push notifications are available and customizable (so you can ignore Facebook and just listen in on Twitter if you like) and appear on your phone’s idle screen.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/notify.jpg" alt="internet as a social networking tool" width="326" height="580" />

I really liked this, as I have noticed a distinct lack of social apps with built-in support for notifications on the Symbian platform. I’m assuming many Android users won’t bat an eyelid as much of this is standard for their handsets and operating system.

There is also the option to query social information for any incoming calls, which means you’ll see the caller’s latest tweet or status update (not that it matters all that much).

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/sync.jpg" alt="social networking tools" width="326" height="580" />

Socially also has the ability to sync Facebook photos with your contacts list and the slightly more useful option of adding Facebook friends’ class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/tag/birthday/">birthdays to your phone’s in-built calendar. You’ll also notice Socially popping up in various parts of your phone, including contacts.

Socially scans networking sites and links any of your contacts to their respective social profiles. There is also the ability to view your normal phone contacts via the app itself, and both of these options are a nice touch.

Conclusion or How I Learned To Stop Worrying & Love The Beta

As I mentioned previously there are currently two versions of Socially – the stable and the beta. You can find download instructions on the website class="vt-p" href="www.sociallyapp.com/download">here. Whilst being largely stable (I haven’t experienced any crashes yet) the Beta does sacrifice Foursquare support for the time being.

That said I was told I needed to update from stable to beta to use Facebook. My phone is a Symbian S60v5 touch Sony Ericsson Satio, so if you’ve got the same handset bear this in mind. There’s a list of officially class="vt-p" href="http://www.sociallyapp.com/handsets">supported handsets here.

Socially is a promising little social networking tool that is on the cusp of excellence. It’s not cluttered with social networks I don’t (and won’t ever) use, the interface is an absolute joy to use, and everything’s beautifully presented to boot.

If you’re not afraid of software that still needs work, are searching for a good social app (probably for Symbian) and like social network integration then Socially is certainly worth keeping a very close eye on. />
/>NEW: href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/makeuseof/id366921965?mt=8" target="_blank">Download MakeUseOf iPhone App. FREE!

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View full post on MakeUseOf.com

class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/intro6.jpg" alt="social networking tools" width="135" height="135" />There’s no shortage of social networking tools to update your various social networks when you’re on the go, with many manufacturers bundling their own with the handset itself.  class="vt-p" href="http://www.sociallyapp.com">Socially is just another one of those apps and one which probably isn’t going to cause much of a storm on Android devices. class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/symbian/">Symbian users will probably find it a refreshing change with a few nifty features you don’t really see from the usual line-up of networking apps.

Socially is completely free and under active development, Facebook support is provided in the latest version (3.01 beta) although you’ll have to stick to the stable build if you want to use Foursquare.

id="more-63767">

Socially Adept

There is (planned, depending on your handset) support for the “big 4″ social networks built into Socially – class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/facebook-work-nuts-bolts-technology-explained/">Facebook, class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-hot-tools-to-complement-your-twitter-experience/">Twitter, class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/signal-learn-linkedin/">Linked In and the location-aware class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/check-mayor-favorite-venues-foursquare/">Foursquare. The limited choice suited my needs quite nicely, especially since there’s a lack of decent Foursquare applications for Symbian phones.

Adding a network is done via the usual methods. On first load Socially will display a list of available networks, and then ask you to class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/api-good-technology-explained/">authenticate the application to allow access to your chosen service.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/auth2.jpg" alt="social networking tools" width="326" height="580" />

Once you’ve validated your login, your feeds will be delivered straight to your phone and you can post updates, send messages, add location to Twitter and Foursquare and so on.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/facebook2.jpg" alt="internet as a social networking tool" width="326" height="580" />

The interface is clean, attractive and works well on a touchscreen thanks to the well-sized tab headings and buttons. The application’s idle screen serves as an overview of recent updates from your connected services and is also the screen used to compose a new update.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/twitter.jpg" alt="internet as a social networking tool" width="326" height="526" />

Luckily you can choose to post an update to multiple networks at once, although if you’re like me and never update Linked In you’ll have to uncheck it each time (which is slightly annoying). There’s also no autocomplete for Twitter or Facebook usernames, though I’m not aware of any Symbian app that includes this (probably due to the botched S60 text input).

Handset Integration

Socially is able to integrate and sync certain features with your handset itself. Basic push notifications are available and customizable (so you can ignore Facebook and just listen in on Twitter if you like) and appear on your phone’s idle screen.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/notify.jpg" alt="internet as a social networking tool" width="326" height="580" />

I really liked this, as I have noticed a distinct lack of social apps with built-in support for notifications on the Symbian platform. I’m assuming many Android users won’t bat an eyelid as much of this is standard for their handsets and operating system.

There is also the option to query social information for any incoming calls, which means you’ll see the caller’s latest tweet or status update (not that it matters all that much).

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/sync.jpg" alt="social networking tools" width="326" height="580" />

Socially also has the ability to sync Facebook photos with your contacts list and the slightly more useful option of adding Facebook friends’ class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/tag/birthday/">birthdays to your phone’s in-built calendar. You’ll also notice Socially popping up in various parts of your phone, including contacts.

Socially scans networking sites and links any of your contacts to their respective social profiles. There is also the ability to view your normal phone contacts via the app itself, and both of these options are a nice touch.

Conclusion or How I Learned To Stop Worrying & Love The Beta

As I mentioned previously there are currently two versions of Socially – the stable and the beta. You can find download instructions on the website class="vt-p" href="www.sociallyapp.com/download">here. Whilst being largely stable (I haven’t experienced any crashes yet) the Beta does sacrifice Foursquare support for the time being.

That said I was told I needed to update from stable to beta to use Facebook. My phone is a Symbian S60v5 touch Sony Ericsson Satio, so if you’ve got the same handset bear this in mind. There’s a list of officially class="vt-p" href="http://www.sociallyapp.com/handsets">supported handsets here.

Socially is a promising little social networking tool that is on the cusp of excellence. It’s not cluttered with social networks I don’t (and won’t ever) use, the interface is an absolute joy to use, and everything’s beautifully presented to boot.

If you’re not afraid of software that still needs work, are searching for a good social app (probably for Symbian) and like social network integration then Socially is certainly worth keeping a very close eye on. />
/>NEW: href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/makeuseof/id366921965?mt=8" target="_blank">Download MakeUseOf iPhone App. FREE!

/>

 

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class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/intro6.jpg" alt="social networking tools" width="135" height="135" />There’s no shortage of social networking tools to update your various social networks when you’re on the go, with many manufacturers bundling their own with the handset itself.  class="vt-p" href="http://www.sociallyapp.com">Socially is just another one of those apps and one which probably isn’t going to cause much of a storm on Android devices. class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/symbian/">Symbian users will probably find it a refreshing change with a few nifty features you don’t really see from the usual line-up of networking apps.

Socially is completely free and under active development, Facebook support is provided in the latest version (3.01 beta) although you’ll have to stick to the stable build if you want to use Foursquare.

id="more-63767">

Socially Adept

There is (planned, depending on your handset) support for the “big 4″ social networks built into Socially – class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/facebook-work-nuts-bolts-technology-explained/">Facebook, class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-hot-tools-to-complement-your-twitter-experience/">Twitter, class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/signal-learn-linkedin/">Linked In and the location-aware class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/check-mayor-favorite-venues-foursquare/">Foursquare. The limited choice suited my needs quite nicely, especially since there’s a lack of decent Foursquare applications for Symbian phones.

Adding a network is done via the usual methods. On first load Socially will display a list of available networks, and then ask you to class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/api-good-technology-explained/">authenticate the application to allow access to your chosen service.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/auth2.jpg" alt="social networking tools" width="326" height="580" />

Once you’ve validated your login, your feeds will be delivered straight to your phone and you can post updates, send messages, add location to Twitter and Foursquare and so on.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/facebook2.jpg" alt="internet as a social networking tool" width="326" height="580" />

The interface is clean, attractive and works well on a touchscreen thanks to the well-sized tab headings and buttons. The application’s idle screen serves as an overview of recent updates from your connected services and is also the screen used to compose a new update.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/twitter.jpg" alt="internet as a social networking tool" width="326" height="526" />

Luckily you can choose to post an update to multiple networks at once, although if you’re like me and never update Linked In you’ll have to uncheck it each time (which is slightly annoying). There’s also no autocomplete for Twitter or Facebook usernames, though I’m not aware of any Symbian app that includes this (probably due to the botched S60 text input).

Handset Integration

Socially is able to integrate and sync certain features with your handset itself. Basic push notifications are available and customizable (so you can ignore Facebook and just listen in on Twitter if you like) and appear on your phone’s idle screen.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/notify.jpg" alt="internet as a social networking tool" width="326" height="580" />

I really liked this, as I have noticed a distinct lack of social apps with built-in support for notifications on the Symbian platform. I’m assuming many Android users won’t bat an eyelid as much of this is standard for their handsets and operating system.

There is also the option to query social information for any incoming calls, which means you’ll see the caller’s latest tweet or status update (not that it matters all that much).

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/sync.jpg" alt="social networking tools" width="326" height="580" />

Socially also has the ability to sync Facebook photos with your contacts list and the slightly more useful option of adding Facebook friends’ class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/tag/birthday/">birthdays to your phone’s in-built calendar. You’ll also notice Socially popping up in various parts of your phone, including contacts.

Socially scans networking sites and links any of your contacts to their respective social profiles. There is also the ability to view your normal phone contacts via the app itself, and both of these options are a nice touch.

Conclusion or How I Learned To Stop Worrying & Love The Beta

As I mentioned previously there are currently two versions of Socially – the stable and the beta. You can find download instructions on the website class="vt-p" href="www.sociallyapp.com/download">here. Whilst being largely stable (I haven’t experienced any crashes yet) the Beta does sacrifice Foursquare support for the time being.

That said I was told I needed to update from stable to beta to use Facebook. My phone is a Symbian S60v5 touch Sony Ericsson Satio, so if you’ve got the same handset bear this in mind. There’s a list of officially class="vt-p" href="http://www.sociallyapp.com/handsets">supported handsets here.

Socially is a promising little social networking tool that is on the cusp of excellence. It’s not cluttered with social networks I don’t (and won’t ever) use, the interface is an absolute joy to use, and everything’s beautifully presented to boot.

If you’re not afraid of software that still needs work, are searching for a good social app (probably for Symbian) and like social network integration then Socially is certainly worth keeping a very close eye on. />
/>NEW: href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/makeuseof/id366921965?mt=8" target="_blank">Download MakeUseOf iPhone App. FREE!

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href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/socially-social-networking-tool-symbian-android-phones/"> src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/socially-social-networking-tool-symbian-android-phones/"> href="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis/login?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/socially-social-networking-tool-symbian-android-phones/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/diggme.png"> href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/socially-social-networking-tool-symbian-android-phones/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/fb.jpg"> href="http://www.google.com/reader/link?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/socially-social-networking-tool-symbian-android-phones/&title=Socially – A Social Networking Tool For Symbian & Android Phones&srcTitle=MakeUseOf.com"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/gbuzz-feed.png"> href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/socially-social-networking-tool-symbian-android-phones/"> src="http://www.makeuseof.com/images/rss-buttons/stumble.png">

 

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class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/intro6.jpg" alt="social networking tools" width="135" height="135" />There’s no shortage of social networking tools to update your various social networks when you’re on the go, with many manufacturers bundling their own with the handset itself.  class="vt-p" href="http://www.sociallyapp.com">Socially is just another one of those apps and one which probably isn’t going to cause much of a storm on Android devices. class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/symbian/">Symbian users will probably find it a refreshing change with a few nifty features you don’t really see from the usual line-up of networking apps.

Socially is completely free and under active development, Facebook support is provided in the latest version (3.01 beta) although you’ll have to stick to the stable build if you want to use Foursquare.

id="more-63767">

Socially Adept

There is (planned, depending on your handset) support for the “big 4″ social networks built into Socially – class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/facebook-work-nuts-bolts-technology-explained/">Facebook, class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-hot-tools-to-complement-your-twitter-experience/">Twitter, class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/signal-learn-linkedin/">Linked In and the location-aware class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/check-mayor-favorite-venues-foursquare/">Foursquare. The limited choice suited my needs quite nicely, especially since there’s a lack of decent Foursquare applications for Symbian phones.

Adding a network is done via the usual methods. On first load Socially will display a list of available networks, and then ask you to class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/api-good-technology-explained/">authenticate the application to allow access to your chosen service.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/auth2.jpg" alt="social networking tools" width="326" height="580" />

Once you’ve validated your login, your feeds will be delivered straight to your phone and you can post updates, send messages, add location to Twitter and Foursquare and so on.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/facebook2.jpg" alt="internet as a social networking tool" width="326" height="580" />

The interface is clean, attractive and works well on a touchscreen thanks to the well-sized tab headings and buttons. The application’s idle screen serves as an overview of recent updates from your connected services and is also the screen used to compose a new update.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/twitter.jpg" alt="internet as a social networking tool" width="326" height="526" />

Luckily you can choose to post an update to multiple networks at once, although if you’re like me and never update Linked In you’ll have to uncheck it each time (which is slightly annoying). There’s also no autocomplete for Twitter or Facebook usernames, though I’m not aware of any Symbian app that includes this (probably due to the botched S60 text input).

Handset Integration

Socially is able to integrate and sync certain features with your handset itself. Basic push notifications are available and customizable (so you can ignore Facebook and just listen in on Twitter if you like) and appear on your phone’s idle screen.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/notify.jpg" alt="internet as a social networking tool" width="326" height="580" />

I really liked this, as I have noticed a distinct lack of social apps with built-in support for notifications on the Symbian platform. I’m assuming many Android users won’t bat an eyelid as much of this is standard for their handsets and operating system.

There is also the option to query social information for any incoming calls, which means you’ll see the caller’s latest tweet or status update (not that it matters all that much).

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/sync.jpg" alt="social networking tools" width="326" height="580" />

Socially also has the ability to sync Facebook photos with your contacts list and the slightly more useful option of adding Facebook friends’ class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/tag/birthday/">birthdays to your phone’s in-built calendar. You’ll also notice Socially popping up in various parts of your phone, including contacts.

Socially scans networking sites and links any of your contacts to their respective social profiles. There is also the ability to view your normal phone contacts via the app itself, and both of these options are a nice touch.

Conclusion or How I Learned To Stop Worrying & Love The Beta

As I mentioned previously there are currently two versions of Socially – the stable and the beta. You can find download instructions on the website class="vt-p" href="www.sociallyapp.com/download">here. Whilst being largely stable (I haven’t experienced any crashes yet) the Beta does sacrifice Foursquare support for the time being.

That said I was told I needed to update from stable to beta to use Facebook. My phone is a Symbian S60v5 touch Sony Ericsson Satio, so if you’ve got the same handset bear this in mind. There’s a list of officially class="vt-p" href="http://www.sociallyapp.com/handsets">supported handsets here.

Socially is a promising little social networking tool that is on the cusp of excellence. It’s not cluttered with social networks I don’t (and won’t ever) use, the interface is an absolute joy to use, and everything’s beautifully presented to boot.

If you’re not afraid of software that still needs work, are searching for a good social app (probably for Symbian) and like social network integration then Socially is certainly worth keeping a very close eye on. />
/> Hey Facebookers, make sure to check out href="http://www.facebook.com/makeuseof">MakeUseOf page on Facebook. Over 24,000 fans already!

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class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/00-My-Home-Page.jpg" border="0" alt="00 My Home Page.jpg" width="250" height="173" />The Internet has already become an inseparable part of our life, so I guess by now everybody understands the importance of a web presence. You can’t call yourself a netizen without a net property: your own website. But even though website building is getting easier by the day and there are more and more class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/website-builder/">web builders available, internet newbies are still reluctant to try to build their own websites.

One of the major hindrances that stops these newbies from progressing is the lack of confidence. They feel that web building requires a high level of skill, and they don’t have what it takes. To prove them wrong, we previously published class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/free-methods-build-webpage-5-minutes/">Some Free Methods To Build A Web Page In Less Than 5 Minutes. If you are still hungry for more, here is one alternative tool to quickly create beautiful personal websites without any class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/webdesign/">web design skill – Orbs.

id="more-61864">

Just Click & Edit

class="vt-p" href="http://orbs.com/">Orbs is a web tool that will allow anybody to build and modify their own websites just by clicking and editing. The process is like creating a new document using a ready-made template: click on an area, edit the text, and save.

You don’t need to sign up to try the web tool, just click on the “Try Demo” button to start. However, you need to sign up and sign in to save your work later.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/02-Orb.jpg" border="0" alt="02 Orb.jpg" width="510" height="280" />

The first step of designing your website is literally “click to edit”.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/02b-Getting-Started.jpg" border="0" alt="02b Getting Started.jpg" width="580" height="380" />

An editing tool bar will appear on the upper area of the page to assist you with the editing process: type, replace, delete, and other basic editing processes.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/02c-Editing-Page.jpg" border="0" alt="02c Editing Page.jpg" width="580" height="400" />

The editing tools range from the basic ones like Bold, Italic, Bullets and Numbers; to the more advanced ones like Link Insert, Tables and HTML Codes.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/02d-More-Tools.jpg" border="0" alt="02d More Tools.jpg" width="580" height="170" />

Don’t forget to save any changes that you made to your page by clicking the “Save Changes” button at the bottom of the page.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/02e-Save-Changes.jpg" border="0" alt="02e Save Changes.jpg" width="580" height="257" />

On the right side of the screen, there is the tool to add a Page and SubPage.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/03a-Add-Page.jpg" border="0" alt="03a Add Page.jpg" width="340" height="160" />

There’s also the “Page Setting” tool under “Add“.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/03b-Edit-Page.jpg" border="0" alt="03b Edit Page.jpg" width="320" height="220" />

Adding pictures is also easy. The “Adding picture” button is located on the editing toolbar on the right. Click on that button and you can add pictures from your hard drive to be uploaded to your site.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/04a-Adding-Image.jpg" border="0" alt="04a Adding Image.jpg" width="580" height="381" />

Similar to other pages, you can also edit the text on this photo page. Again, don’t forget to save the changes.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/04b-Example-Photo.jpg" border="0" alt="04b Example Photo.jpg" width="580" height="450" />

Saving Your Work

So far, we were playing on the demo website, all your work is still located in the temporary location and will be removed within 24 hours. To really save your website, you need to click on the big “Keep Site, It’s FREE” button at the top right corner of the page above the editing toolbar.

A small warning window will pop up notifying you that you will lose any unsaved changes if you leave the page. Since we are going to save the website anyway, just ignore the warning and click on the “OK” button.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/05a-Leave-Page-Warning.jpg" border="0" alt="05a Leave Page - Warning.jpg" width="420" height="229" />

Give your site a name and click “Next“. This name will be appended to “.orbs.com” and will be the address of your site.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/05b-Give-name.jpg" border="0" alt="05b Give name.jpg" width="580" height="160" />

Fill in the fields on the “Signup” form and click the “I Accept” button at the bottom. If you already have an account on Orb, you can just sign in.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/05c-Sign-Up.jpg" border="0" alt="05c Sign Up.jpg" width="580" height="410" />

Modifying Site Design

We’ve seen the editing process and we know that modifying site content in Orbs is easy. But what about the design? Orbs gives us an easy way to customize the site design. Click the “Design” tab and continue with the “Customize Current Design” button.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/06a-Design.jpg" border="0" alt="06a Design.jpg" width="580" height="322" />

Click on the element that you want to edit and the option pane will show up. For example, I wanted to edit the header image, so I clicked on the header and the “Header” option pane showed up at the bottom of the page. There are lots of header images that users can choose, grouped into several categories.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/06b-Custom-Header.jpg" border="0" alt="06b Custom Header.jpg" width="580" height="190" />

Users can also add text to their images by clicking on the “Add Text” button above.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/06d-Add-Text.jpg" border="0" alt="06d Add Text.jpg" width="580" height="250" />

The header’s text can be customized by changing the font type, color, layout and size using the options pane at the bottom of the screen.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/06f-Customize-Font.jpg" border="0" alt="06f Customize Font.jpg" width="580" height="180" />

The last item that we should look at is the “Settings“.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/07a-Site-Settings.jpg" border="0" alt="07a Site Settings.jpg" width="580" height="350" />

The “Site Privacy” menu is the place to determine who can access your site. You can set it to either public or private.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/07b-Settings-Privacy.jpg" border="0" alt="07b Settings - Privacy.jpg" width="580" height="340" />

The “Users” menu is the place to give access to the people that will collaborate with you in building the site. Unfortunately, this feature is only available for paid users.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/07c-Settings-Users.jpg" border="0" alt="07c Settings - Users.jpg" width="580" height="200" />

After playing with Orbs for a while, I can say that it’s a great tool for people without web design skills who want to build their own websites quickly and easily. Advanced users can use their expertise to customize their site even further. If you ever need a quick website, Orbs can be an alternative that you can try.

Reading about the way to do something could never be compared to the actual process of doing it. So, why don’t you try Orbs and then share your stories using the comments below?

 

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class="align-left" style="border: 0px none; margin-left: 20px; margin-top: 5px; float: right;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/intro2.png" alt="daily journal software" width="299" height="103" />It seems like everyone owns a blog or microblog, with the advent of Twitter and increasingly simple blogging platforms like class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-use-tumblr-to-easily-create-a-rich-media-blog/">Tumblr and class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/fill-the-space-between-your-blogs-with-posterous/">Posterous. And why not? You can showcase your talents in writing, spread the word on a cause you care about, and document your whereabouts. But when you simply want a place with no distracting comments to type your thoughts in, and don’t want to store them on someone else’s server, desktop journaling software might be a solution.

There are many note-taking software that would probably suffice for journaling, including class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/zim-desktop-wiki-life-universe/">Zim, class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/quotepad-quick-notes-set-reminders-windows/">QuotePad, class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/sync-tomboy-notes-computers-operating-systems/">Tomboy Notes, class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-sync-notes-with-cintanotes-and-dropbox/">CintaNotes, etc. FOSS class="vt-p" href="http://rednotebook.sourceforge.net/">RedNotebook is, however, geared exactly for journaling and is available as a portable application so you can easily try it on Windows and Linux (you can try building it on OS X with the links on class="vt-p" href="http://rednotebook.sourceforge.net/downloads.html">the Downloads page). Here are some of RedNotebook’s best features.

id="more-60685">

WYSIWYG Editor

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/gui.png" alt="daily journal software" width="580" height="372" />

RedNotebook is a Wiki-style journal, which allows you to easily format text, as well as include links, embed images, attach files, etc, by using a simplified markup language (in a way, like HTML). RedNotebook has the feel of a WYSIWYG text editor as you’ll have buttons to insert media (pictures on your hard drive or direct image URLs) and links, as well as attach files and format the text (e.g. make bold, underlined, etc) easily even if you don’t know all the different syntax.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/insert.png" alt="journal software" width="341" height="284" />

You also have one-click previewing of your styled entry, which would equal Save on Wiki-style websites.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/11.png" alt="" width="580" height="821" />

Even if you’re not familiar with wikis at all, you’ll be guided with instructions from the default template upon loading the program for the first time. Templates can be useful if you’re planning on adding similar entries (e.g. notes or journal entries) on a regular basis so you don’t have to style the text every time.

Calendar Feature

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/calendar.png" alt="journal software" width="580" height="519" />

Each entry can be added to a category and/or tagged and will be loaded every time you click on a date in the calendar on the left pane. There’s a lot of potential uses for an application that can link to calendar dates; in fact, Ryan discussed using class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/create-printable-to-do-lists-to-get-organized-with-idailydiary/">iDailyDiary, a similar journaling tool that also features a calendar, to create to-do lists that you can see upon clicking a date in that built-in calendar. If you use Remember The Milk, you’ll notice that even the weekly planner sheet the site offers you to print does not list the tasks in a calendar view, so this kind of calendar feature can prove more useful for the visual learner.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Another thing worth mentioning would be the fact that you can use keyboard shortcuts to quicken your way around RedNotebook. Some of the less obvious ones (the more obvious ones being the universal Ctrl + F to find a keyword, and Ctrl + N to add a new category) would be Ctrl + P to toggle preview mode, Ctrl + PageDown or Up to see the entry from a day back or forward in the calendar, Ctrl + L to insert links and Ctrl + T to add tags. You can see these on the menus and on the program’s Help section.

Exporting data

Your entries, which you can see all listed by typing a space (” “) in the search box, are saved on regular intervals, and they’ll also be saved when you quit the program, but if you ever wish to try another journaling platform (e.g. blogging), you can export your entries in plain text, HTML, PDF or class="vt-p" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX">LaTeX formats. You can also backup your entries in TXT format in a zip file.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/backup.png" alt="journal software" width="580" height="208" />

If you’re looking to password-protect your entries, however, you’ll have to use something like class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/encrypted-folders-truecrypt-7/">TrueCrypt, or even take each of the entries (each stored as a TXT file) and class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/7zip-a-free-program-to-unzip-and-compress-uncommon-compression-formats/">zip them up yourself in a password-protected file with 7-zip.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/whereIsItSaved.png" alt="daily journal software" width="548" height="463" />

These are the major features that make it a keeper (at least, for me), but one downside of using this tool would be that there’s no direct and easy way to media other than pictures, so YouTube videos are out. Also, I don’t know what was up with the grey interface that you see here (I got the same for both the install and the portable versions), as the screenshots of the program from the class="vt-p" href="http://rednotebook.sourceforge.net/screenshots.html">official website (and other reviews from class="vt-p" href="http://lifehacker.com/5688063/rednotebook-is-a-wiki+style-journaling-tool">Lifehacker and class="vt-p" href="http://www.ghacks.net/2010/09/22/let-rednotebook-be-your-daily-journal/">GHacks) look really great. Overall, this would a great tool if you want to find an alternative to blogging.

Do you prefer blogging or keeping a private journal? If you do the latter, what method do you use? />
/>Got Questions? Ask Them Now FREE on href="http://www.makeuseof.com/answers/">MakeUseOf Answers! />
/>

 

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It is highly recommended for Webmasters to get an advanced “Adding Videos In Dreamweaver” Tool if they wish to easily post video(s) onto their Site. If you look for an easy way to convert your movie(s) to web format, then this technology is definitely an option you should consider. In this quick article learn how VDOs-onto-Websites technology can easily help you on converting and uploading a movie onto any Webpage.

Short overview

In simple words “Adding Videos In Dreamweaver” Tool transforms your videos to the Web’s most popular Web display format called .FLV. After processing your file(s) all you’ve got to do is paste a small HTML code to your Webpage and upload the new file(s) onto your hosting Site. This conversion process creates streaming webvideos – your viewers don’t have to wait to download a large file before watching them.

What is in it for us?

Undoubtedly most of us can find this technology useful and helpful:

* Upload very small file size compared to other similar solutions.
* It helps your visitors feel more comfortable doing business with you online.
* Enables you to download, convert, and play YouTube videos on your Website(s).
* An excellent opportunity for you to display ‘live’ customers’ testimonials.
* Easily upload training or demo-videos to promote your products or services.

There are probably many other benefits provided by this solution simply because it provides many other opportunities that help us promote our online business.

Summarizing this article

A lot of trouble is involved with encoding and posting Flash-Videos, no doubt that “Adding Videos In Dreamweaver” Tool can easily help you bypass these difficulties at almost no effort. Now that you understand how it works the best tip would be to test it live so you could not only read about it but truly experience the various advantages that it provides.