» 2008 » March Mrs. Mecomber's Scrapbook

Titles WordPress Plugin

March 27, 2008 — Mrs. Mecomber

I caught wind of a wonderful WordPress plugin that allows you to shows “unconventional” fonts on your website.

Fonts on websites are a curious thing. Your blog posts might look wonderful with the “Brady Bunch” or “Comic Superhero” fonts. Your computer displays them beautifully. But any other person viewing viewing your page still sees the same old Arial, Georgia, Trebuchet, or Times New Roman fonts. Why is that?

It’s because that other computer user doesn’t have the “Brady Bunch” or “Comic Superhero” fonts installed on their computer. Those kinds of fonts are “specialty” fonts. They are not common to most computers. Most computers’ default fonts are the Arial, Georgia, Trebuchet, or Times New Roman.

I’ve lamented many times how boring the typical default fonts are on computers. I like artsy stuff, and I like a variety of fonts. Well, guess what, I caught wind of a wonderful WordPress plugin that allows you to shows “unconventional” fonts on your website. TTFTitles Plugin for WordPress users.

This plugin lets you use images to replace the titles of your posts, thus circumventing the problem of guessing what fonts your end-users might have installed.

Nice! I have yet to use it. It looks complicated, so I have to find some quiet time to go over it. But if you have been desiring the same effect for your blog, you might want to look into this plugin. Please come back and comment if you use it, and let me know how it goes.

Posted in blogs, desktop utilities, Wordpress. 1 Comment »

Online Scanning Service

March 25, 2008 — Mrs. Mecomber

Here’s an amazing thing: document scanning services! Sourcecorp, a New England company, provides a unique service with their document managing service, called ImageSilo. It’s a service geared toward making all the paperwork for businesses a little easier. Documents are scanned at the company, and uploaded to their “web based document repository” (conveniently named the “Image Silo”). It’s much like outsourcing your paperwork, except that this is an American company.

The documents are heavily encrypted, and the company promises 99.9% uptime so the data is always available. There’s a 30-day free trial. If you are a business owner looking for a way to consolidate paperwork and increase productivity, you might want to check into this. Online storage is available, too.

I’ve noticed that more document-type programs are going online. Spreadsheets, Word documents, and the like are becoming more popular as more applications go online. And everyone has heard of data backups. I don’t think downloaded programs will ever go away, but many computer-cluttering programs are going online.

Posted in desktop publishing, office utilities, technology. Comments Off »

Best Free Fonts

March 25, 2008 — Mrs. Mecomber

We all can use some new fonts to spruce up our documents and templates, right? I do a lot of graphic design and template tinkering, so I have quite a collection of fonts. I have never paid one cent for a font collection. And you don’t need to, either. Here’s a little list of the best free fonts I have found.

Simply the Best Free Fonts
Search Free Fonts.com
1001 Free Fonts

Most fonts sites have the same fonts over and over again, I’ve found. Those three have the best collection, IMHO, and the easiest searching and downloading capabilities. There are lots of “small time” font makers out there who have created some nice specialty fonts. a Yahoo search will pull them up.

Be careful what you download, however. Browse wisely. I use McAfee’s Site Advisor, Netcraft, and update my anti-virus software before I go searching for fonts. Sometimes creeps will include malware or trojans under the guise of “free” fonts. So stick with the well-known font sites. Also, Kim Komando’s message boards are filled with advice on finding font sites. The boards are searchable.

Posted in free stuff. 1 Comment »

Freebie Website

March 21, 2008 — Mrs. Mecomber

I found a wonderful website (via Entrecards, again!) that is a great resource for finding free software programs. It’s called Softfreebie. I really like it. It has a growing list of excellent software found for free on the Internet. It’s a good one to keep an eye on for future resources. It’s got everything, looks like, from games, database tools, firewalls, educational tools, backup tools, proxy tools, Adobe programs! I didn’t see anything about online term life insurance quotes, but hey, who knows, maybe that’s next, lol! They’ve got everything else! The categories are varied and numerous, and I really like the style. I haven’t tried out the search feature, yet.

Keep an eye on this one of you are looking for freeware on the Internet. I know I will, because i always am.

Posted in blog reviews, free stuff. 1 Comment »

Free Color Match Mixer

March 21, 2008 — Mrs. Mecomber

I found a wonderful little tool for those of us who are “hue-challenged.” Lol. It’s the Color Match Remix, a free online tool to help you find colors for your blog. It matches hues and shades automatically, with handy little sliders. It makes me want to start up some new blogs, so that I can create some cool new color swatches! But I’ve already got enough blogs! I’m writing about everything including the kitchen sink! Actually, if I start up another one, it would have to be about kitchen faucets because I’ve already got the kitchen sink, lol!

This color mixer is a fun tool for anyone, blogger or not. It has a design layout preview and the hue color numbers are easily exported. Free to use, too!

Posted in free programs, fun programs, web design. 1 Comment »

The Good and the Bad

March 21, 2008 — Mrs. Mecomber

As much as I love the Internet and the availability of information, sometimes I am fed up with the thing. I’ve been surfing through Entrecards, dropping my cards (from my travel blog and my home improvement blog) on other’s blogs. I have found some really, really great blogs out there! But unfortunately, I have also found some crude, bland, and outright disgusting blogs, too. Too bad. On one hand, I am glad to see that the anonymity-effect of the Internet has worn off (where people, thinking they are anonymous, post the stupidest or disgusting things that they wouldn’t otherwise do), but on the other, there is still a plethora of people who have nothing better to do than gather around a beer pong table to burp beer and gawk at immodest women. :-p I think the Internet should be used for good and to promote the good news of the gospel, not make it into a Mardi Gras of licentious behavior.