Software You Didn't Even Know You Needed

Technology has become a huge part of our daily lives, and I am sure you could pretty easily come up with a list of devices or applications that you simply couldn't live without. But with so much technology out there, I'll bet there are programs out there that can make your life easier or more efficient that you never even thought to go searching for. The software surprises listed below will quickly climb to you must have list once you give them a try.

Shorthand Text Expander Software

Ever find yourself typing the same words, phrases or paragraphs repeatedly? Stop typing things over and over again with text expansion software. You might not think much about what you type out all the time, but if you really stop to think about it, I'm sure you could find multiple ways to use keyboard shortcuts that would save you time. Anything from inserting signatures in emails, filling out online forms, and writing long responses to customer questions don't need to be more than a few keystrokes away, instantly improving your typing speed and productivity.

Invoicing Software

Managing invoices is a never-ending process, and if you're doing them all by hand or in Excel you might be spending more time on invoicing than you need to. Invoicing software like Express Invoice allows you to set up automatically recurring invoices, where invoices can be automatically generated and sent as e-mails or faxes from the program. Express Invoice has other time saving features including mobile access, reminders for payments past due and storing item information to eliminate repeat data entry.

Timesheet Software

Another way to make invoicing easier for freelancers and other businesses that charge by the hour is using timesheet software to not only create a timesheet but track the amount of time spent on individual projects or clients.

Automatic FTP Uploading Client

Every web designer already knows that an FTP client is a must, but not all FTP clients are created equal. I personally couldn't live without Fling Automatic FTP Software, which can be used to automatically detect and upload changed files to keep files synchronized. Fling can also be used to upload files from your right click menu, so you can upload a change live without needing to open and browse through your files in the FTP client separately.

File Converter Software

If you've ever had trouble opening up an audio or video file, then you already know how helpful it can be to have a file converter on hand. With Switch Audio Converter, you can convert and compress sound files within minutes of downloading. For video files there is Prism Video Converter, plus Pixillion Image Converter, for images and Doxillion Document Converter to convert document types. Combined these software converters can help you get out of just about any file format compatibility problem.

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Web Designers: Why You Don’t Need DreamWeaver

DreamWeaver is supposed to be a one-stop shop for web design. The package offer is very tempting to the beginning web designer in search of web-design training wheels, or even the small business owner who is comfortable working with HTML but needs help with everything else. But unless you can get DreamWeaver as part of a larger Adobe Suite, buying it alone is hardly worth it. Here, we break down the stages of designing a basic website and show how to avoid paying hundreds of dollars for something you really don’t need.

Concept Design

Obviously, the first place to start is with a paper and pencil. If you’re putting a site together for a client, ask as many questions about their design aesthetic as you can think of. If the site is for you or your business, make sure you cover all the functionality you need. Jot down the structure of the website as a chart or on separate pages. Plan everything out before you go to the computer.

Cost of Concept Design: $0

Graphic Layout

Not only is it nice to see what the site will look like before you do all the hard work, but a good digital mockup of your site will be easy to slice up for the images you’ll put in the code. Many designers use PhotoShop, but if your site doesn’t need to do back-flips and speak Martian, you can easily get away with using a more basic image editor.

PhotoPad Image Editor allows you to work with digital pictures, resize, and edit as you need for your website, then save in a web-friendly format. You can also add text and get a good feel for the layout you’ll be building into the site.

Cost of Graphic Layout: $0

To the Trenches: the Text Editor

This is where I geek out, so there’s no way I want a program that is going to do the coding for me! And the sooner you can wean yourself off the idea that web design can happen like any WYSIWYG word processor, the better. Plain and simple, you will have to know HTML and CSS to build a website. Once you’re comfortable with these two peas in a pod, any text editor will do. You want a fancy one, you say? Sure! Get one that color codes your tags for easy readability. Go big, but be sure to go free. There are several free, quality text editors out there that are more than qualified for this job.

Cost of Text Editor: $0

Test, Test, Test

Testing is a matter of opening your .html files in a browser and making sure they don’t look funny. And last time I checked, browser downloads are free.

Cost of Browsers for Testing: $0

FTP to Your Web Host

Your website is ready for the big time, finally! But how to get it off your local machine, and out into the World Wide Web? FTP, of course. You’ll do yourself a favor to find one that is easy to use, reliable, and can guide you through the initial setup with your web host.

Classic FTP is all of these. It has an intuitive interface that doesn’t get in the way of the functionality, and it stores your connection settings so that making updates to your site later on is absolutely painless.

Cost of FTP Software: about $45

There you have it. Web design without DreamWeaver, for a highly reasonable price. Try it. You’ll probably like saving money and getting just as much accomplished in the meantime.

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A Webmaster's Love Affair with Fling FTP Software

I have a bit of a running joke with Laura, in our office, that I'm having a love affair with our FTP client, Fling, but it is based partly in truth. I really think that it is a very handy little application that does its job exceptionally well. I love it's simplicity. Fling offers such a clean and easy solution for uploading files to our website, it's admirable.

With over 80 software products in total that we make here at NCH, there is a lot of variety to what applications we might be talking about on any given day. But without fail if someone in the office mentions something about Fling, I will undoubtedly say something about how great I think it is, gushing like a girl in love.

I do personally use quite a few of our programs, which we have talked about in the blog before (Do we use our own software?) but Fling is one of the ones that I find myself using the most regularly.

I am one of the few people who reviews changes to our web pages here. After I have looked over a page and I'm ready to have it go live on the website all I have to do is right click on the file and select "Fling Upload." Fling does the rest. It's as simple as that.

It might seem a little silly to say that you are in love with an FTP client, but it's the little things, and even for such a little application I've found Fling to be a very useful and reliable little tool to have in my arsenal. I love Fling for its simplicity. I love how quick it is. I love how accomplished it makes me feel. If only every fling I've ever had had the same qualities.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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