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Filed under: Business, Design, Internet, Office, Productivity, Google

Google Docs introduces template gallery

A lot of desktop word processing and text editing apps feature templates you can use to jazz up your documents -- or make them look terrible, depending on your opinion. Now Google Docs gives you the same option, with a new template gallery. There are over 300 templates, featuring everything from resumés to cards to calendars.

The selection of different templates is impressively versatile. Expense reports, presentations, invitations -- it's all there. Styles range from minimal (basic blue bars) to ostentatious (robots!). Something that immediately struck us as clever is the selection the Avery Dennison-sponsored themes, so you can print to those Avery labels and business cards that every office seems to be up to its ears in. If you use templates in your desktop writing app of choice, you'll probably also find a use for them in Google docs. Although the designs are hit or miss, there are enough of them that you should be able to find what you're looking for.

[via Lifehacker]

Filed under: Design, Internet, Features, Blogging, Web services, Google, web 2.0

8 steps to a more professional Blogspot blog

Blogger Layout

So you want to start your own blog. One of the first things you'll have to do is decide which blogging application you want to use. There are a ton of options, ranging from the incredibly simple (LiveJournal), to the infinitely customizable (WordPress). But one of the easiest blogging clients around is Google's Blogger.

Blogger is not as easy to customize as WordPress, but Blogger's simplicity also makes the process of setting up a blog a lot less daunting. You can literally start blogging within minutes of signing up for a Blogger account. Google will also host your blog for free, which means you don't need to pay for domain registration or web hosting. WordPress does also offer free hosting, but WordPress doesn't allow free account holders to include advertising. Blogger does. So if you have dreams of quitting your day job, but don't want to pay a few bucks a month for web hosting, Blogger provides a good way to test the waters.

But while Google offers a handful of widgets for customizing your blog, if you really want to make your web site your own, you're going to have to get your hands dirty editing your blog template and adding some HTML and JavaScript code. Fortunately, you don't have to know much about HTML or CSS to implement the tweaks in this guide. As long as you're handy with the copy and paste keys, you should be all set. So let's get started.

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Filed under: Design, Open Source

100 open source tools templates and resources


When you're trying to knock together a decent looking website and short on time, open source templates and tools can be a real godsend. This list of 100 great tools, templates and resources is a great start for any simple web project, and could even provide a framework for larger projects where you don't have time for design.

Chock full o'goodies like template directories, open source tools, complete templates, CSS layouts and even a few blog themes, you'll surely find something here you can use.

Filed under: Design, Features, Blogging, Productivity, Social Software

A primer for WordPress themes, plug-ins and tips

WordPress is a powerful and very extensible blogging engine that is gaining more CMS (Content Management System) features with each release. As anyone who has downloaded a copy can probably tell, the directory structure is pretty friendly to hacks and plug-ins, but unless you are your own WordPress coding ninja, you might be asking yourself: where exactly can all these themes, plug-ins and hacks be found? Thus the idea for a short roundup of WordPress download sites and communities was born. Following is a starter list of sites for themes, plug-ins, tips and tricks of all kinds, ripe for helping you take your WordPress-powered site as far as you need to go. Since we're sure we haven't found every site for WordPress goodness, feel free to add your favorites in the comments and we'll update this post with the good ones.

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Filed under: Internet, News, Macintosh, Linux, Blogging, Windows Mobile, Symbian, Palm, Web services, Google, Social Software, Unix

Blogger finishes beta period, goes official



A post at Blogger Buzz, Google's own blog that covers everything Blogger, proclaims: "The new version of Blogger in beta is dead! Long live the new version of Blogger!" Indeed, that beta they rolled out last August has gotten all growed up, dropping its beta moniker and introducing its new features to the world. As you might recall, the new Blogger has all sorts of new goodies like labels for posts (a lá Gmail), drag and drop template editing, more powerful WYSIWYG post editing, private blogging, a better dashboard and - of course - being able to sign in with your increasingly ubiquitous Google Account.

If you're still using the old Blogger and haven't switched over yet, the login pane at the top right of the page *should* offer you a 'switch now!' option the next time you sign in. However, the Blogger Buzz post warns that while the new version is live and available to everyone, the switching process is still rolling out slowly for the rest of Blogger users to keep their server load manageable. If you don't see the switch button yet, you should soon, and I highly recommend the new version. I'm still a devout Vox convert (though template editing would be really nice, Six Apart!), but this is a strong upgrade from the Blogger crew for one of the most popular services available.

Filed under: Audio, Internet, Utilities, Blogging, E-mail, Web services, Social Software

Desktoptwo web desktop

desktoptwo web desktopHaving access from your computer desktop anywhere there is a connection and a computer is a dream for some, and a reality for some early beta testers of Desktoptwo.

Created by Sapotek, Desktoptwo is a free web based service that allows complete access of your desktop wherever you are. It has a web instant messenger using the Jabber platform, email, search, MP3 player, address book, WYSIWYG web editor, blog publishing platform, rss feed, layout templates, and 1 GB of free storage.

Subscribers of the tool will find out that Desktoptwo could be very valuable and useful if you're moving from computer to computer. If anyone has experience in using this tool, please let us know how it worked out for you.

[Via TechCrunch]

Featured Time Waster

The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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