Trident Design

Category: Utilities

  • Country flags in single CSS sprite

    Country flags in single CSS sprite

    Almost every website that caters to an international market needs a set of flag icons, either to visually mark the current language and the alternatives or to mark content specific to a certain country. While there are countless country flag icon sets out there, most of the time you must build your own solution to display them.

    This is where Flag Sprites comes to the rescue. Using the well known technique of CSS sprites, this service allows you to select the country flags you desire and delivers a sprite image with your selection as well as the CSS code needed to display each and every flag. Not only you have the flag for every country in the world, but even a few extra more, like the European Union, Catalonia, Scotland or Wales.

    [notification type=”information”]Licence: free for personal and commercial projects[/notification]

     

    [button color=”green” link=”http://flag-sprites.com/”]Start using the Flag Sprites[/button]

  • BootstrapCDN – Content Delivery Network for Bootstrap resources

    BootstrapCDN – Content Delivery Network for Bootstrap resources

    Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) for widely used resources are a boost for the performance of websites. One such resource is (Twitter) Bootstrap – a widely used front end framework. Celebrating his first year of existence, the service provides reliable hosting not only for the framework itself (including the up-to-come version 3.0 RC1), but also associated products like Font Awesome and Bootswatch.

    [notification type=”information”]Licence: free for personal and commercial projects[/notification]

     

    [button color=”green” link=”http://www.bootstrapcdn.com/”]Start using BootstrapCDN now[/button]
  • Colourco.de

    Colourco.de

    Colourco.de is a very nice application that allows one to create a color palette in no time. Deceptively simple, it treats the entire browser window as a giant color picker – one click and you save the current color in a vertical band to the left of the screen. The process can be repeated over and over again (I stopped after close to thirty selections) and the resulting palette can be exported either as an image or directly as a LESS file. The options available are also comprehensive: you can select color format (hex, rgb or hsl) or select the preset schemes for building a classic type palette.

    [notification type=”information”]Licence: free for personal and commercial projects[/notification]

     

    [button color=”green” link=”http://colourco.de/”]Start using Colourco.de now[/button]
  • Modern IE

    Modern IE

    For so many years, Internet Explorer has been both a bane for web developers and the butt of all jokes in the browser arena. Countless hours have been lost trying to adapt a design for these “dinosaurs” of the Internet. Fortunately, Microsoft started recently to get back in the good graces of web developers. One of their latest initiatives is called Modern IE and it bundles together a set of tools and utilities that will make it easier to test your websites in the various versions of Internet Explorer.

    Here are some highlights of the features available to us:

    • Modern IE has a partnership with Browser Stack, a renowned cross-browser testing utility website. New users referred by Modern.ie get the first three months free when they sign up. The offer is valid until January 10, 2014
    • There is a set of scanning tools that can highlight common issues of compatibility with Internet Explorer, as well as checking for many modern features that a website should have: proper DOCTYPE, latest versions of the Javascript frameworks, responsive design, proper use of CSS prefixes and many more
    • Modern IE now includes the virtualization options that allow web developer to download special virtual machines in different configurations. These environments are prepare for Virtual Box and VMWare formats.
    • Last but not least, there are lots of tips and advices on how to code properly a modern website.

    Overall, Modern IE is a great initiative from Microsoft and one step closer to a better web. Definitely worth checking and using.

    [button color=”green” link=”http://www.modern.ie”]Visit Modern IE[/button]
  • TwitrCovers

    TwitrCovers

    The recent update to the Twitter profile pages was bound to bring forward new websites dedicated to the offering of cover images. One the first ones is TwitrCovers which hosts an impressive and ever-growing collection of high quality Twitter Covers and Twitter Header Images. The most useful feature is an overlay of mock data that allows the user to preview how well the profile text will fit with the background image.

    [button color=”green” link=”http://www.twitrcovers.com/”]Visit TwitrCovers[/button]

  • This is Responsive – a collection of patterns, modules and resources

    This is Responsive – a collection of patterns, modules and resources

    “This is Responsive” is a project initiated, developed and maintained by Brad Frost and Pon Katerra. They compiled a repository of design patterns and code modules essential for responsive web design. The website also contains a catalogue of resources, like articles and tutorials (from novice to master level), style guides, design tools, development techniques. All in all, it is one of the most comprehensive points to start ones education in the mastery of responsive web design.

    [button color=”green” link=”http://bradfrost.github.com/this-is-responsive/index.html”]Visit “This is Responsive” Repository[/button]

  • Responsive Web Design Interactive Guide

    Responsive Web Design Interactive Guide

    In a surprising twist, Template Monster, the (in)famous template provider, put together the most complete, interesting and interactive guide to the field of Responsive Web Design. Shaped like a children’s game, you can encounter glossary, blog articles, free PDF books, the official position of Google as well as many tutorials, plugins, tools and ready-made templates.

    [button color=”green” link=”http://www.templatemonster.com/infographics/responsive-web-design-interactive-guide.php”]View the Interactive Guide[/button]

  • Color Wheel by Antone Roundy

    Color Wheel by Antone Roundy

    This little utility is a very useful application that allows one to build a basic color palette starting from a given color. Its appeal lies in its simplicity – it is much easy to use than other similar utilities, loaded with extra features. The downside lies with the annoying lighbox banners that are triggered simply by moving the mouse close to the browser toolbar. Yet those that can get over these nags will find the Color Wheel a good help in times of need.

    [button color=”green” link=”http://design.geckotribe.com/colorwheel/”]Use the Color Wheel[/button]