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JPDeni
I owe a great deal to a lot of people, most of whom I will never meet, for
this site. In the years since I've been on the 'net, I have learned so much
from websites that others have worked hard to build in order to share the
knowledge and experience they've gained with others. There is no way I could
thank all of the folks who I have learned from, but below are the sites that
I have directly referenced in making this site and some of the tools I have
used. For most of them, no money changed hands. For those that I did pay
for, I feel I have received more than my money's worth.
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AOLPress
This is
a freeware WYSIWYG html editor that I think is better than many of the ones
you have to pay big bucks for. I started using it when I knew nothing at
all about html and now that I'm more familiar with the language, I still
find that it's an indispensible tool. |
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Art Today
My hard
drive is bulging from the fonts I have found here, as well as a great selection
of graphics. This is a subscription site, but I have never begrudged them
their completely reasonable rate. I picked up the "Agatha" font from there,
which I have used in all of my titles and buttons, as well as the "portait"
of me on the JPDeni page. |
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Astigmatic One
Eye
The
Astigmatic One Eye font foundry makes the niftiest freeware font for making
buttons, called ButtonButton. The only character I'm using on my site is
for my little "teardrop" bullet, but I know I'll be using more of the characters
later on. While your there, be sure to check out the other fonts AOE has
to offer. |
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BladePro
I have only
had BladePro for a little while, so I can't say that it has made all the
difference in the world to me. However, the main reason I paid the shareware
fee is that there are a zillion sites out there with Paint Shop Pro "presets"
to download and you can get some really nifty effects that way. One day I
may even make my own! |
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Boogiejack's Web
Depot
Below is
a suggested description of Boogie Jack's site, written by Booj himself:
Boogie Jack's Web Depot is a webmaster's delight featuring excellent original
graphics, HTML and Graphics Tutorials, product reviews, and too many other
great features to list. The casual surfer will love the humor, contests,
and other amusing diversions. A great resource, but it's also a funny and
fun place to be. I highly recommend it!
Still another suggested description of the site, also written by the
Boojster:
Visit this weird guy's site. He's an alien with no life.
Oddly enough, I agree with both of these statements. I found Boogie Jack's
Web Depot to be extremely informative and the most painless way to learn
about web design. Whatever is right with the design of my site, I learned
from Booj. Whatever is wrong with it is where I didn't follow his advice.
He is also a little, well, eccentric would be a good way to put it.
His sense of humor is unique and at times even bizarre, but at the same time
he writes some of the most beautiful philosophical pieces I've read in a
long time.
While you're at the Depot, be sure to sign up to receive his newsletter.
If you have ever even considered creating a website, you will appreciate
his tips and tricks. If you aren't a budding webmaster, the newsletter is
still worth its weight in bandwidth for humor and philosophical musings. |
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CGI by
Cliff
When
I found Cliff's SpamBot Killer a while back, I knew I just had to use it.
To see it in action, click in the little green square at the end of this
paragraph. The link is connected to a transparent .gif file, but you should
be able to find it. What you'll get is a page of 100 fake (but real looking)
names, each of which is connected to a fake (but real looking) email address.
The point of the script is to give bogus email addresses to robots that go
from site to site harvesting them for spammers to use. The hope is that they
will get so many of these bogus addresses that maybe it'll start costing
them big bucks and they'll quit flooding our mailboxes with their spam. I
don't know that it'll work, but it gives me a feeling that I'm doing something.
There is at least one of these critters on every html page on my site.
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Iconolog
Here's where
I picked up the smilies I use for the ratings in the bookstore. Iconolog
has more graphics than any 10 sites I've come across. |
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Paint Shop Pro
I'm
sure there are fancier graphics programs available, but I doubt if you'll
find anything this powerful for so low a price anywhere. I have always considered
myself to be "artistically challenged," but with Paint Shop Pro, for the
first time in my life I could create something that at least looked good
to me. In addition, there are a myriad of sites on the internet that helped
me to learn just what the heck I was supposed to do with this program once
I got it. The graphics here (except for the background) were all made by
me, with Paint Shop Pro. If I can do it, anybody can. |
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PSP
Links
I mentioned that there are a myriad of sites
available to help you learn how to create beautiful things with Paint Shop
Pro. Finding the sites and wading through them can be a rather daunting task,
though. Have no fear. Angela has made a site that lists hundreds of tutorial
pages for PSP, nicely organized into sections and alphabetized to make finding
what you need pretty darn painless. It's a heck of a lot easier to go through
Angela's list than it is to do a search on Yahoo or Google. |
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Web Graphics on a
Budget
Mardi
is another one of those wonderfully artistic folks who generously share their
knowledge with those of us who are not so gifted. If you are looking for
a way to make graphics for a site, especially if you're using Paint Shop
Pro, head straight for Web Graphics on a Budget. If there is a criticism
I might have of Mardi's site, it is that there are so many different things
to choose from that it's hard to decide which ones to use.
Unlike a lot of other tutorial sites I have seen, Mardi's instructions are
clear, concise, and accurate. Every time I followed one of her tutorials,
I came up with the same graphic I saw on her page. Working with them for
a while got me used to the controls so that I could start to see how to adapt
the tutorials into something of my own. I was even able to finally figure
out how to work with layers and masks, only because of the superb tutorials
on Mardi's site. She also offers all of her tutorials in a PDF format so
you can download them and have them available while you're working offline,
as well as some very nice graphics that you can use for free.
The text in the title graphics is a combination of Mardi's Cutout Text and
Outlined Text. I also used her "soft bevel" BladePro preset. |
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Windy's
Backgrounds
Windy
has some very nice backgrounds and websets that she is offering for free.
I searched through dozens of graphics sites before I found this one that
was just perfect for me. |
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