As expected since yesterday, Facebook has launched the Open Stream API, which lets third-party developers use Facebook’s activity stream inside their own applications and services.

Developers will be able to filter and remix the stream – consisting of status updates, photos, videos, notes, as well as likes and comments on all the above – as they see fit. They will also be able to create content directly in the streams; for example, an application will be able to change the user’s status update.

Such an open approach did wonders for Twitter, and it means that we can soon expect hundreds of new applications developed for Facebook. We’ll see advanced applications like Tweetdeck applied to Facebook. For many advanced, tech-savvy users, Facebook’s homepage will become obsolete as they move on to applications that offer even more options. It also means that Facebook will get even more free PR as all these new applications start hitting the mailboxes of technology oriented blogs.

All of this will, however, work only for users who give the individual application access to their stream. From the official documentation (emphasis mine):

“Instead of prompting your users for the status_update, photo_upload, video_upload, create_note, and share_item extended permissions, you can simply prompt them for the publish_stream extended permission, and that single permission lets your users update their statuses, upload photos and videos, write notes, and share links all from your application or site.”

Twitter does not have this restriction, and although it probably won’t stop developers from creating applications on the Open Stream API, ultimately it will always mean that all these applications aren’t perfect; i.e., they don’t necessarily deliver all the data you see on Facebook itself.

Beta partners include Adobe, which has created a stream Notifier, and Seesmic Desktop, an advanced Twitter and Seesmic AIR desktop client (and the successor of Twhirl), which now also includes Facebook support, but this latest version is not yet publicly available (some details can be found here however).

More Facebook Resources from Mashable:

- 5 Elements of a Successful Facebook Fan Page

- 5 Tips for Optimizing Your Brand’s Facebook Presence

- New Facebook Pages: A Guide for Social Media Marketers

- HOW TO: Survive the New, New Facebook

- 30+ Apps for Doing Business on Facebook

Tags: facebook, Open Stream API, twitter

Many have heard about KillerStartups.com, a place where startup companies are reviewed and listed.

According to Compete.com (which measures only US traffic) they had almost 600,000 unique visitors last month. If you double that you kinda have an idea of how much traffic receives overall.  Alexa ranks the website on 8,599 position in the world (2,784 in USA). Not to mention there are over 13,000 RSS subscribers.

So, it’s a pretty well established website.

Now, the question is: How to get listed there? And fast?

Ernst (the former, now, editor-in-chief of TheNextWeb) was excited about the avalache of the new Swedish startups which made it to the web recently and wondered when KillerStartups will pick them up and review them on its website.

Well, Ernst, here’s how you can do it :) (you can also let those new startups know how they can do it by showing them this post).

I am showing my experience here. Others may have different experience (better or worst).

Yes, they have a form which you can fill in and submit. Chances are that they won’t react immediately or at all to that (that was my case).

So, I looked from where they get their news or tips, their source of information.
If you look in the image below you will see the “Source” of the news. Among other sources there is Techcrunch, Readwriteweb, Mashable, Webware. I’m not focusing on these because it’s quite hard to attract their attention (I’m sure they are pounded with many daily requests so they won’t publish them all). I’m talking about the other sources, less obvious.

In my case it was Launchfeed.com (although I don’t have a startup but a blog).
I listed my blog there and voila! In 2 days (if I remember well) Killerstartups picked it up.

But there are other sources there where you can get your startup listed quite easily and thus getting KillerStartups attention right away.

Those sources are presented below.

1) Launchfeed (www.launchfeed.com)
Go to “Submit,” then fill out the form in order to announce your launch. You need to have an English-language site, otherwise they won’t approve your submission.  I used Launchfeed to announce my site (although my site is older than 1 month) and Killerstartups.com picked it up in the next two days.

2) SimpleSpark (www.simplespark.com)
Simple Spark is the place to find and share a new world of web applications. Your website/service/application can be listed here, too. Click on “Add Apps to Spark,” then open an account.

3) Listio (www.listio.com)
Listio is a user-driven directory that allows you to submit any web 2.0 application for others to discover, rank and comment on. When you submit a new application, it will be placed in a “pending” area until an editor reviews and publishes it. Looks like a Digg for web applications. Click on “Submit a web 2.0 app link” to create an account.

4) Go2web20 (www.go2web20.net)
This is a Flash directory of Web 2.0 applications. You can send them an email by clicking on “Suggest.”

5) Lo-Fi librarian (www.lo-fi-librarian.co.uk)
This is a blog created by a Master Degree student in Library and Information Studies from UK. You can contact him/her by email and try to have your website listed on his/her site.

6) FeedMyApp (www.feedmyapp.com)
This is another web applications listing site but without a voting system. Click on “Suggest a Site” link and fill out the form (no account needs to be created).

7) Emily Chang eHub (www.emilychang.com/go/ehub)
eHub is a personal initiative of Emily Chang (a well know web designer) where she lists web startups. You can submit a site, service, or news on her “Submit a Site” page.

8) MOMB (http://momb.socio-kybernetics.net)
The MoMB (Museum of Modern Betas) is a site dedicated to listing web-based applications on a beta trip. This site is in an alpha version, but you can contact them by email (see About).

9) SociableBlog (www.sociableblog.com)
SociableBlog is a social networking and social media blog which offers the latest news, articles, and video on social networking, social media, social community, and social software worldwide. You can let them know about your service/website by clicking on the “Submit News” link (but you have to register first to use this form).

10) DemoGirl (www.demogirl.com)
Molly McDonald is the editor-in-chief of this blog (which belongs to VPOP Technologies INC www.vpop.net ). If she thinks your service is good enough, she will build a screencast of it and feature it free of charge on her DemoGirl website. You can drop her a note (see “About DG”).

11) Rev2 (www.rev2.org)
Rev2.org is a weblog dedicated to profiling new Web 2.0 startups and technologies, as well as providing in-depth analysis on the state of this industry. Send an email with your announcement to one of the editors (see the About page).

12) WebDev 2.0 (www.webdevtwopointzero.com)
They present a variety of sites which they think are useful for their readers. Go to “Submit a site” to submit your site to them for review.

13) Dzine blog (www.dzineblog.com)
Dzine blog is all about designs. Here you will find inspirational designs and some good tips in logo, graphics and web designing. Contact the owner (Contact page) and tell him about your website (especially if you have a great looking website).

14) Ziipa (www.ziipa.com)
Ziipa is a visual search engine which accepts website submissions. Just go to “Suggest” and fill out the form. They will review your submission and approve/reject it.

Note: I have chosen only those that accept English-language sites, but there are many others (Spanish, German).

After being listed in KillerStartups I had a spike in number of visitors during 2-3 days. Another advantage is that your URL may get bookmarked on social media websites like Delicious and others like that which can also drive traffic to your website.

Let us know if you have the same success getting listed on KillerStartups!

And if you want startups to know about this then bookmark and share this article.

If you have a website or blog you’re probably interested in who’s visiting your site and what they’re doing while they’re there. Way back in 2007 we did a post on web analytics but a lot has changed since then. Most analytics packages are now focusing on real-time tracking and graphical representations of visitor data. Below are more than fifty analytics tools to help you monitor and analyze your web traffic.

How do you monitor and analyze your web traffic? Tell us more in the comments.

Analytics Software Packages

VisiStat – Real-time tracking with graphical and intuitive reporting features.

Google Analytics – Mentioned in our first list, Google offers free analytics software. Includes tight integration with AdWords (see also: 27 Features that Make Google Analytics Best of Breed). Unlike some enterprise apps, the stats are usually on a delay of a few hours.

mviSPY – Real-time analytics that track conversions and visitor identities.

Webstats BASIC – A free analytics program that tracks visitors and trends and has exportable reports.

Webstats PRO – A full-featured analytics package that includes click path analysis, campaign tracking, and complete traffic monitoring capabilities.

LoadStats – Provides two different packages that include basic page view and visitor tracking along with geo-location, ad tracking, and more.

Opentracker.net – Real-time visitor monitoring and web statistics.

eWebAnalytics – Comprehensive, free package that tracks unique visitors, conversions, average click-paths, traffic history, bounce rates, and virtually everything else that you could want in an analytics solution.

MetaTraffic – Web analytics program that installs quickly and has the ability to track ad campaigns, downloads, and multimedia file traffic.

ShinyStat – Web analytics with three available packages that range from a free package that is basically a souped-up hit counter to a full-featured business edition with conversion and campaign tracking.

Lyris HQ – Analytics that include campaign ROI tracking and the ability to segment your historical data in any way you want.

W3Counter – Analytics that include a real-time visitor map to show where your visitors are coming from as they arrive.

Blizzard Tracker – Intuitive web analytics that include web stats in real time.

StatsAdvisor – Web analytics that help you track both online and offline advertising efforts.

Clicky – Shows you every action a visitor makes and offers a dedicated iPhone version.

Logdy.com – A free and paid analytics program with real-time reporting.

Pagealizer – Web analytics that actually suggest changes and optimizations for your pages.

Sometrics – Analytics that measure your social advertising efforts.

Piwik – Open source web analytics that you put on your own server.

FireStats – A downloadable web analytics program that’s free for non-commercial use.

Snoop – Analytics that give you real-time notification of events that happen on your website (like orders, unique visitors, comments, and more).

Yahoo! Web Analytics – Formerly IndexTools, this package provides real-time enterprise site stats.

BBClone – A PHP based stats package.

Woopra – Analytics suite that includes click-to-chat functionality and real-time notifications.

MochiBot.com – Flash content analytics.

Grape Web Statistics – A free and open source analytics package that includes the ability to query historical data and is compatible with both PHP 4 and 5.

Stuffed Tracker – Track form submissions, downloads, and other visitor actions, calculate conversions and ROI, analyze landing page effectiveness and more.

GoingUp – Complete analytics package with comprehensive visitor and performance tracking.

PHP-Stats – A complete analytics program built in PHP.

Shortstat Beta 3 – A simple analytics program that includes search engine keyword tracking and more.

SlimStat – Based on Shortstat but includes a number of other features including the ability to filter out search engine crawlers and showing visits and unique IPs instead of just hits.

JAWStats – A free, open-source analytics package that displays your stats using charts, graphs, and tables.

Histats.com – Free web stats in real time that include referrer information, detailed visitor information and more.

StatCounter – A highly configurable stats program that’s free.

Brandgrow Website Analytics – Analytics that include website segmentation, competitor analysis, industry benchmarking, and more.

Sawmill 8 – Analytics with real-time alerts and clickstream analysis.

XPLG – Analytics package that lets you monitor and analyze any type of IT data.

FuseStats – Web statistics that include customizable heatmaps, ad campaign management, multiple site tracking and more.

Enquisite – A search analytics program that includes visual search analysis and helps you optimize your site’s longtail search referrals.

Web Traffic Visualization

clickdensity – Heat maps with real-time visitor data to help you optimize your link and ad placement and enhance your site’s stickiness.

nextSTAT – Complete analytics package that includes graphical visitor detail path reports.

ClickTale – Watch movies of what your visitors do while on your site, view heatmaps and every interaction that a visitor has on your site including hovers, hesitations, and even which form fields are causing visitors to leave.

ClickHeat – A free click heatmap generator.

Other Tools

WASP – Web Analytics Solution Profiler is a Firefox extension that helps you understand how your web analytics solution is being implemented.

SiteScan – A Google Analytics diagnostic tool that audits your Analytics setup to make sure it’s properly configured.

Fire Analytics – A Firefox extension that lets you view your Google Analytics reports from Firefox.

Cownter App – Shows visitors to your site how many people are currently on each page.

Market Research Data and Site Rankings

popuri.us – A tool to check your ranking and popularity on a variety of sites including Alexa, Google PageRank and more.

socialmeter – Check your website’s social popularity on sites like Digg, Furl, Jots, and more.

Statsaholic – Compare rankings and other information on up to three websites at a time.

SiteVolume – Compare how often keywords show up on any site you select.

Webslub – Compare your site’s performance to any other site.

Interested in more analytics resources? Check these out:

- 27 Features That Make Google Analytics Best of Breed
- HOW TO: Measure Social Media ROI for Business
- Analytics Toolbox: 50+ Ways to Track Website Traffic

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, adventtr

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Related Articles at Mashable | All That’s New on the Web:

Facebook Hits Record 39MM Visitors in US
New York Times’ Free Content is Paying Off
Answers.com Sees Huge Traffic Drop After Google’s Algorithmic Tweaks
AdSymetrix Tracks Ads Online & Off
Google Earth Shows Real-Time Traffic
MapQuest Debuts Traffic Data Features
Boring Holidays = Social Networking Extravaganza

Amidst all the talk about data portability and net identity, all that end users want to know is: how can I use this, and is it any good? Now both Google Friend Connect and Facebook Connect are open to everyone; we’ve looked into these two services to see what they offer and which one is easier to use.

So, what’s the main difference here?

In the simplest of terms, both Google Friend Connect and Facebook Connect let you create applications on your website that allow your visitors to interact with the site and their friends by logging in with their Google, Facebook, or OpenID credentials.

The key difference between the two services is the fact that Facebook is one social network, while Google Friend Connect is open to any site, service or social network that uses OpenID for identification. For example, with Google Friend Connect your visitors can log in using their Gmail credentials, meaning that they don’t really have to be a part of any (strictly defined) social network at all. Facebook Connect, on the other hand, is useless to anyone who’s not a Facebook user.

Available widgets

Let’s say you want to add either Google Friend Connect or Facebook Connect functionality to your web site or a blog. What widgets are there at your disposal? Google calls their widgets “gadgets,” and there’s already a wide assortment at your disposal, with members of the community constantly adding more. They aren’t all Friend Connect ready, though; you can currently only choose from a small selection.

As far as Facebook Connect goes, you must create your own application, which is not that easy (see below). Logic tells me that there must be a gallery of apps you can readily add to your site, but I don’t see one; if I’m mistaken here, please correct me in the comments.

Ease of use

If you’re a web site owner, there’s a significant difference here. Both services require you to add some snippets of code to your site; however, adding Facebook Connect apps is a much more convoluted process. In short, the entire process is aimed at developers, not casual users, and it will scare away anyone without adequate technological knowledge.

This is a big, and important difference. Anyone can add Google Friend Connect to their site; as far as Facebook Connect goes, I’m convinced that many users will find the process too complicated.

On the user end of the equation, ease of use is nearly equal: a site which has either Google Friend Connect or Facebook Connect enabled will have a form that lets you login with your OpenID or Facebook credentials, and the usability from there depends on the individual widgets and applications.

Two way communication

There’s one other subtle difference between Google Friend Connect and Facebook Connect: the latter is much more about two-way communication than the former. A Facebook Connect application can send your activities back to Facebook; Google Friend Connect has no such central place, although in theory it can have many (e.i. all the social networks that support OpenID).

Therefore, I reckon that in general, Facebook Connect will primarily be interesting to bigger sites who will want to engage Facebook’s huge audience. Google Friend Connect will also be used by smaller sites who’ll simply want to add a fun widget to their site.

User base

If you look at these two services from an identity perspective, deciding which is better can be tricky. Yes, Facebook is huge, but Gmail and all OpenID supporters put together are bigger. Will Facebookers be more willing to log in with their credentials into a third party site than Gmail users? It’s hard to say, but in general, my opinion is that FC and GFC are tied with this regard.

Conclusion

So, there you go: although seemingly very similar services, Google Friend Connect is (currently) aimed at a wider user base, while Facebook Connect is (currently) for developers only. There’s a difference in focus, too; Facebook Connect is more about bringing data back to Facebook, while Google Friend Connect, lacks a central place to bring back data to.

If you’ve got anything to add, or you’ve tried one of these two services and want to share your experience, we’d like to hear your comments!

Image courtesy of iStockPhoto, bns124

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Related Articles at Mashable | All That’s New on the Web:

Facebook Blocks Google’s Friend Connect. There Goes the Open Web.
Plaxo Moves to Support Google Friend Connect
Google Friend Connect: Try it Now on Mashable
Google Wants To Be Your Universal Profile Too; Announces Friend Connect
Google Sings Its ABCs About Friend Connect
Friend Connect And The End Of The Fragmentation Era
Facebook Connect: The News is the News

Peter Kim is a Senior Partner at Dachis Corporation.  He blogs about social computing and marketing at Being Peter Kim.

Over the past couple of months, I’ve been curating a list of social media marketing examples.  The list started with 100 examples (including 35+ from Mashable) and has since tripled in size with the participation of over a hundred contributors with examples from companies around the world.

We could probably come up with 3,000 examples instead of 300 – but the current set already gives us a pretty good sample to think about.  One takeaway: for now, those neurotic about missing “what’s next” can relax a bit.  Consumers still use a broader set of social tools than corporations, but new categories of tools aren’t emerging rapidly today, giving brands a chance to catch up.  It’s time to master the last big thing while you have a chance to catch a breath.

As corporate adoption emerges, there’s nothing wrong with learning lessons from others and making them your own.  Start by making sure you have all of your bases covered with the major tools.  In other words, copy and paste the items below, then fill in the blanks with your own company-driven effort.

Here’s a framework of 22 tools to consider with notable brand examples:

1. Blogs (Johnson & Johnson, Delta Air Lines)
2. Bookmarking/Tagging (Adobe, Kodak)
3. Brand monitoring (Dell, MINI)
4. Content aggregation (Alltop, EMC)
5. Crowdsourcing/Voting (Oracle, Starbucks)
6. Discussion boards and forums (IBM, Mountain Dew)
7. Events and meetups (Molson, Pampers)
8. Mashups (Fidelity Investments, Nike)
9. Microblogging (method, Whole Foods)
10. Online video (Eukanuba, Home Depot)
11. Organization and staffing (Ford, Pepsi)
12. Outreach programs (Nokia, Yum Brands)
13. Photosharing (Rubbermaid, UK Government)
14. Podcasting (Ericsson, McDonalds)
15. Presentation sharing (CapGemini, Daimler AG)
16. Public Relations – social media releases (Avon, Intel)
17. Ratings and reviews (Loblaws, TurboTax)
18. Social networks: applications, fan pages, groups, and personalities (British Airways, Saturn)
19. Sponsorships (Coca-Cola, Whirlpool)
20. Virtual worlds (National Geographic, Toyota)
21. Widgets (Southwest Airlines, Target)
22. Wikis (Second Life, T-Mobile Sidekick)

And use this username check tool to see if your brands/preferred handles are still available.

I haven’t found a single company doing all of these today. Forget divining a big, meaningful business objective before getting started – you’ll end up in analysis paralysis. Just make sure you’re making an existing business function better and get started.  Today.

Image courtesy of iStockPhoto, cmcderm1

—
Related Articles at Mashable | All That’s New on the Web:

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Attend SMX Social Media Marketing: Mashable Readers Save 15%
Hear Chris Brogan Speak at the New Marketing Summit
Affiliate Summit Social Media 2008 is in Two Weeks
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Ticket Giveaway to SMX Social Media in Long Beach, CA
Social App Development from our Partner, SolutionSet

Last year we did a post on 50+ tools for Web design. A lot has changed in the past year, and there are tons of new tools available to designers. Whether you’re just starting out and need a drag-and-drop builder or you’ve been coding for years and need tools to help you be more efficient, there’s something on this list for you. Here are over 130 tools to make you a better and faster designer. Feel free to add more in the comments.

Beginner Resources

YAML Builder – Easy to use YAML (Yet Another Multicolumn Layout) XHTML/CSS site layout builder.

Sky CSS Tool – JavaScript CSS authoring app.

The Box Office – CSS formatting tool for wrapping text around images.

CSSTXT – Online CSS text style generator.

izzyMenu.com – Free CSS menu builder.

pForm – HTML form builder.

Roxer – Drag and drop website creator.

Wirenode – Create your own mobile websites.

doodlekit – Online website builder and CMS that includes a form builder, PayPal shopping cart, interchangeable layouts & graphics, and a built in stock photo/image repository. Has both paid and free plans.

dotemplate – Template site that allows you to customize templates before downloading them.

templatr – Online tool for creating website templates.

Agency of Record – A website design and hosting platform for creative professionals.

Typechart – Browse different typefaces and styles and grab the CSS of the ones you want.

CSS Type Set – Create custom CSS type styles with this tool.

CSSType – Experiment with Web safe typography and then get the CSS for it.

CSS Builder – Generate stylesheets on the fly and then copy the code for your site.

Firdamatic – A free tool to create tableless 2- or 3-column blog designs.

PsycHo – A blog template creator.

folionow – Easily and affordably create websites for yourself or others.

CSStxt – Create custom CSS text styles.

Viviti – Easy to use website builder.

ComfyPage – Easy to use, free website builder that lets you customize a template and add as many pages as you want.

LetsEat.at – Free website builder and hosting for restaurants that includes customizable menus, daily specials, printable coupons, and more.

webon – Free, ad-free website builder that lets you have a blog, photo album, video gallery and more.

infogami – Create a website with one-click editing, customizable templates, and more.

edicy – Create a website and publish it on your own domain.

Jimdo – Create your own website with as many pages as you want and integrate images, video and more.

Webnode – Create a personal or business website for free with drag and drop technology, tagging, and free hosting.

iompi – E-commerce website builder.

easysite.com – Website creator that includes photos, videos, blogs, and includes free telephone support.

myfamily.com – Free family website creator with unlimited storage space.

MomentVille – Free wedding website builder.

SeeYouThen! – A wedding website creator that includes a high-res photo exchange, private messaging, guest profiles, and more.

GoHoster – Another free website builder that includes a subdomain.

BlinkWeb – Free website builder with drag and drop functionality and e-commerce options.

Macrocasa – Website builder for the real estate industry that includes an agent messaging system and client management features.

Pixie – A free, open-source website creator that includes an intuitive interface and easy installation.

Squarespace – A powerful website creator that includes XHTML validation, WYSIWYG editing, a blogging platform and more.

NicEdit – Cross-platform content editor that lets you edit the content of your website right in your browser.

WordPress Theme Generator – Create your own completely custom WordPress theme with this online tool.

Resources for More Advanced Users and Professionals

CSS Superdouche – Strip unneeded content and redundant calls from your CSS, reducing its size and complexity.

Code Beautifier – Format and optimize your CSS code.

CSSFly – In-browser editing of (X)HTML and CSS.

CSS Drive CSS Compressor – Decrease your CSS file size and loading speed with this tool.

Clean CSS – Another CSS optimization tool for reducing your CSS file size.

EM Calculator – Converts your pixel-based sizes to em units for more scalable and accessible CSS design.

CSS Redundancy Checker – Eliminate unused CSS selectors automatically as well as check for redundancy in your CSS files.

GrayBit – Accessibility testing tool that displays a full-color Web page in grayscale.

ProtoShare – Create a clickable website prototype and get feedback, ideas and suggestions from your team members.

Most Sliced – A directory of image slicing services that includes reviews and ratings from users.

Inserit – A code-free CMS for Web designers.

LightCMS – A CMS for Web designers that lets you create websites your clients can manage themselves.

clickbooq – A website creation and portfolio management tool.

jumpchart – Website planning app that lets you export clean CSS/XHTML.

inblogit – A blogging tool for Web designers that can be integrated into any website design.

Reflect – A website platform and hosting service for Web designers that lets them and their clients create and manage websites.

Carbonmade – An online portfolio site for designers with free and paid plans.

ThemesPress – Automatically convert your template files into WordPress themes.

Feng GUI – Generates heatmaps for your website by simulating human vision during the first five seconds of viewing your website.

Text Generator – Generates lorem ipsum-like text.

webvanta – Free business website builder and hosting aimed at providing design professionals a quicker way to build websites.

Tuplix – Easy to use website authoring tool that works for new or existing websites.

FolioSnap – Website portfolio builder for creative professionals.

Frontfriend – CMS for designers that lets them build forms and templates and then lets their clients fill in their own information.

Graphics, Page Elements and Design Tools

ScrnShots – Host, share and tag your screenshots.

flickrSLiDR – Create and embed a flickr slideshow on your website or blog.

websnapr 2.0 – Online tool for capturing thumbnail of websites.

StyleIgnite – Design snippets (CSS, HTML, and more) for contact forms, layouts, and more that you can use on your sites.

BgPatterns – Background pattern creation tool with live preview.

The Effect Generator – Create animated slideshows, buttons, and more with this tool.

The Color Wizard – Submit a color and this tool will bring back matching colors.

ColorJack – A color scheme gallery that also explores color theory.

My cool button – Web 2.0 button creator.

[ws] Color Scheme Generator 2 – An easy to use color scheme creator.

Cornershop – Get the CSS and images to put rounded corners on your website.

CSSround – Another tool to create rounded corners on your website.

Color Hunter – A color palette creation tool that lets you pull color palettes from images.

Web Graphics Maker – A free tool to create backgrounds, lines and bullets for your website.

As Button Generator – Free Web button creator.

Picreflect – A free tool to create reflections for your photos.

Bradicon! – Create icons from any image.

TabCreatr – Create CSS tabbed navigation for your site.

List-u-Like CSS Generator – A tool to create list-based navigation bars.

text2PNG.com – Convert text headers and navigation to PNG files.

IconsPedia – Free, huge collection of icons.

Genfavicon – A free favicon generator.

QuickRibbon.com – Create custom ribbons with or without links for your site.

Glassy Buttons – Create custom glassy style buttons.

Website Ribbon Generator – Create free ribbons for your site with or without hyperlinks.

4096 Color Wheel – A color scheme generator that shows you Web-safe, Web-smart and unsafe colors.

Web 2.0 Free Logo Generator – Create your own custom Web 2.0 logo.

colordb – Another color palette generator, though this one is much more in depth than most.

colorcombos.com – A huge library of color combinations.

ColorToy 2.0 – A Flash-based color palette generator.

Accessibility Color Wheel – Check the readability of your background and text color combinations. This tool will tell you if there is enough contrast between the two.

Artypapers Buttons – Customize buttons and collect them on your website.

freshbadge – Create Web 2.0 badges for your site.

Favicon Generator Tool – Free favicon creator from Dagon Design.

Favicon Generator – Another free favicon generator.

favicon maker v1 – A free, basic favicon creator that lets you create a favicon from scratch or an existing image.

Stripe Designer – Create background stripes for your website.

Favicon Tool – A free and easy to use favicon generator.

Favicon Generator & Gallery – Create your own favicon or browse those created by others.

Web Script Lab Favicon Generator – Another free favicon generator.

Ajax Loading GIF Generator – Easy to use loading gif generator.

Loader Generator – A tool to create loading spinners.

Gradient Image Maker – A free tool to create image gradients.

Rainmaker – Tag cloud creator.

favicon.cc – Another free favicon creator.

FavIcon from Pics – Create a favicon from an image.

TagCrowd – A free tag cloud creator.

ConvertIcon – Converts ICO to PNG and vice versa.

My Timelines – Create AJAX timelines for your blog or website.

Cymbolism – A color tool that includes information on what emotions and words are associated with different colors.

Color Palette Generator – A tool that creates a color palette based on an image you upload.

Wordle – Create word or tag clouds from any text.

Screedbot – Create animated scrolling text.

Badged.net – Create badges and add them to your website.

Form Style Generator – Create your own CSS-styled Web forms.

reflectionmaker.com – Creates image reflections.

blogsticker – A social sticker directory.

Instant Eyedropper – Grab the color code of any color on the Web with a single mouse click.

Inspiration, Collaboration and Other Resources

FullSingle – A gallery of really awesome single-page websites.

We Love WP – A showcase of WordPress powered websites (not just blogs).

One Page Love – Another showcase of great one-page websites.

Screenalicio.us – A Web design gallery with more than 10,000 screenshots.

CSS Mania – A gallery of almost 12,000 CSS website designs.

The Best Designs – A huge showcase of Web designs and designers.

Pattern Tap – Design gallery of different website elements (headers, 404 pages, and the like).

eduStyle – A Web design gallery specifically featuring academic websites.

finalcrit.com – Free portfolio site for designers.

Should Redesign? – Get feedback on whether or not a redesign is needed for your site.

Designflavr – Design galleries for all sorts of artwork, including Flash and CSS websites.

View – Showcase of website that can be sorted by color or other criteria.

InspirationKing – A searchable gallery of websites for inspiration.

DesignerSource – A website design gallery that is browsable by topic or color.

BestWebGallery – Tagged website design showcase.

StyleVault – Another Web design gallery that lets you rate designs.

—
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Feedburner Now Offering PRO Features for Free
10 Most Beautiful Social Networks
25+ Tutorials For The Web Minded
40+ Free One-Column Website Templates
FormSpring Releases Version 2.0
Tube Toolbox Automates YouTube Features

Not many Web sites allow you to create your own pages, but many do allow you to create segments of HTML. What if you wanted to allow this on your own site? Do you write your own editor? Well, with the capabilities offered by these six embedded HTML editors, there really is no need to write your own.

If you already use embeddable HTML editors, tell us more about your experiences with them in the comments.

WYMEditor

URL: http://www.wymeditor.org
Required Libraries: Distributed with jQuery 1.1.3
Extensibility: Plugin creation available
Markup Validation: Produces strict XHTML
Code View: Dual pane code view
License: MIT & GPL licensing
Support and Community: Forums
Ease of Configuration: Easy configuration, only a few lines of javascript are needed.
Theme/Skin support: Skinnable, and creating a custom skin based on the default skins is simple.
Verdict: It is a fairly easy editor to setup, skin and customize. The plugin capabilities are fairly limited, but do give you enough to modify the edited text.

TinyMCE

URL: http://tinymce.moxiecode.com/
Required Libraries: Distributed with Scriptaculous, and you need to load tiny_mce.js before any other scriptaculous.js includes.
Extensibility: Plugin creation available
Markup Validation: No validation or standards compliant code generation.
Code View: Code view appears in a popup
License: LGPL
Support and Community: Forums
Ease of Configuration: Easy to setup a standard installation, but the configuration gets a little harder when you start including more plugins.
Theme/Skin support: Themes and skins can be created.
Verdict: TinyMCE is probably the best known of the group, as it is the main editor for WordPress. It has advanced table editing like merge or split rows and columns. Overall, it is very powerful. However, there is no guarantee that it generates quality XHTML or even standard HTML, mainly because of the ability to customize the HTML output.

Kupu

URL: http://kupu.oscom.org/
Required Libraries: None
Extensibility: Extension creation available.
Markup Validation: Creates well-formed XML
Code View: Code view with div switching
License: Free, copyright
Support and Community: There is minimal documentation and a developer mailing list
Ease of Configuration: Configuration of Kupu is difficult. The examples use a lot of code to create the buttons and toolbars in addition to the general configuration.
Theme/Skin support: Skins are supported, but the limited documentation makes it difficult to create.
Verdict: Kupu runs under IE or FireFox only. It seems meant to be the main editor for a CMS as it takes over the entire page. The configuration (or just the example) is very hard to figure out, but the example works right out of the box.

CB RTE

URL: http://www.kevinroth.com/rte/
Required Libraries: None
Extensibility: No plugin or extension framework available.
Markup Validation: Generates XHTML
Code View: Code view with div switching when clicking a checkbox
License: Creative Commons
Support and Community: There is minimal documentation, almost none.
Ease of Configuration: Very easy configuration, mainly because not much can be changed.
Theme/Skin support: RTE is not skinnable, you can replace the standard stylesheet
Verdict: RTE has a very minimalist user interface. There is no customization or extension model. Otherwise, it is a bare bones HTML editor.

Xinha

URL: http://xinha.webfactional.com/
Required Libraries: None
Extensibility: Plugin creation available
Markup Validation: Produces valid XHTML code
Code View: Code view with div switching
License: BSD-based
Support and Community: Forums
Ease of Configuration: Moderately difficult configuration as there are a lot of possible options.
Theme/Skin support: Skinnable, and creating a custom skin based on the default skins is simple.
Verdict: Xinha (pronounced Xena) must be installed on a server, so it does not work on a local file. It has advanced table editing like merging and splitting rows and columns.

NicEdit

URL: http://nicedit.com/
Required Libraries: None
Extensibility: Plugin creation available
Markup Validation: Produces valid XHTML code
Code View: Code view with a hover div
License: MIT
Support and Community: Forums
Ease of Configuration: Easy configuration as there are not many options to change.
Theme/Skin support: NicEdit is not skinnable, but you can replace the default stylesheet.
Verdict: No table editing is available as it is meant to be a simpler editor, and the author notes that the html generation is bad.

Imagery provided by iStockPhoto/Leontura

—
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Forget Notepad: 8 Online Text Editors
WikiYou is Twitter Plus Wikipedia
NY Times Launches MyTimes, Finally

Last year we did a post on Web development tools. A lot has changed in the past year, and there are tons of new tools available to developers. Options include drag-and-drop application builders, code repositories, project management and testing apps, and frameworks for working with a variety of coding languages, from Ajax to Ruby to Python.

Which do you use? Tell us more about your experiences in the comments.

Application Builders

DreamFace – Framework for creating personalized Web apps.

Organic Incentive – Tools for creating viral widgets with a drag-and-drop interface.

dbFLEX – On-demand business application development platform.

app2you – Online tool for creating custom Web applications.

Qrimp – An affordable database platform that builds applications around your data (which you can upload in an Excel spreadsheet).

Lightspoke – Application builder with drag-and-drop application design, dynamic filtering and sorting, and a true relational database backend.

Tersus – Visual application creator with no coding or scripting required.

Qt – Cross-platform application framework that lets you develop applications and user interfaces simultaneously.

Code Snippets, Search Engines and Repositories

byteMyCode – Code snippet search engine.

Snipplr – A code repository where you can store and organize all of your code snippets.

ErrorKey – Error code search engine.

findJAR.com – JAR file search engine.

github – Code repository that includes both public and private repositories (the private repositories are only accessibly through SSH and SSL, providing extra security for your code).

merobase – Search engine to find components for your development projects.

Codebase – Code repository, ticketing support and deployment tracking app.

CONFiles – Online storage and sharing for your configuration files.

CodeSnippets – Public source code repository that also allows users to keep private repositories.

GWT-Ext – Free, downloadable widget library.

Development Environments, Platforms and Frameworks

SocialGO – A social networking hosting platform that includes messaging, video chat, custom member profiles, photo sharing, blogging and more.

Pringo – Social networking platform with a variety of features, including video and MP3 support, galleries, groups, podcasting, and more.

slinkset – Hosted platform for creating custom social news sites.

iWidgets – A turnkey “Social Syndication Platform” that allows you to syndicate your content to social networks and portals.

WackWall – A hosted social networking platform.

WhiteLabelDating.com – Platform for creating your own branded dating, social networking or community site.

ONEsite – Social networking platform and hosting that includes blogging, photo & video galleries, rating & tagging, message boards, private messages and more.

jinity – Free social networking platform and hosting that includes message boards, chat, groups, journals, polls, news, and more.

Magnify.net – Website video platform with a full suite of media tools.

ShoutEm – Microblogging social networking platform and hosting.

Soceeo – Social networking platform and hosting that includes file sharing, news, polls and more.

Swift – A mobile website creator that includes multiple design options, RSS feed support, multimedia support and more.

SnappVille – Social networking platform that includes groups, blogging tools, instant messaging, and more.

Ning – Social networking platform and hosting that includes custom branding, member profiles, event listings, and even Facebook integration.

mixxt – Social networking platform that includes events, forums and more.

zembly – A platform for creating social apps. Currently in private beta.

Yuku – Community platform and hosting solution that is customizable and has powerful administration tools.

SocialEngine – PHP-based social networking platform that features multi-part profiles, subnetworks, search-friendly URLs, blogs, groups, and more.

Cappuccino – Open source framework for creating desktop-quality Web apps.

Jaws – A user-friendly framework and CMS for dynamic Web sites.

General Development Tools

Tabifier – A tool that automatically puts the proper indents in your source code.

Sms2do – A free tool to demonstrate and evaluate SMS applications.

Pretty Printer – A source code formatter that works with PHP, JavaScript, CSS and more.

Jitterbit – Open source integration solution that improves scalability and performance.

Bitizer – Conversion tool for Binary, Decimal, Hex, Base 36 and ASCII.

thmbnl – Show thumbnail images of pages being linked to from your site.

ID Selector – OpenID utility that helps increase logins by helping your users memorize their OpenID.

consoleFISH – Free Web-based SSH server access.

form site – Web form builder and hosting that offers free and paid plans.

99Polls – Create custom surveys and polls to get feedback on your site.

Warehouse – Subversion browser with multiple repository support and fine grain permissions settings.

rendur 2.1 – Sandbox app that renders your page as you code.

Languify – Translation management system for dealing with multiple language support in agile software projects.

ROR Sitemap Generator – As the name says, this site creates a ROR format sitemap with up to 1,000 URLs for your website.

MicroMaps – Create interactive maps (geographic, facility, or others) to put on your websites.

Newsfeed Maker – Create a custom newsfeed to include on your blog or website.

WriteMaps – Online sitemap builder.

Project Kenai – Free hosting of open source projects and code that includes collaboration and issue tracking.

Launch Splash – Free tool to create a pre-launch page to put on your website.

Browser Shell – Browser-based SSH tool.

foigo – Create customizable forms, surveys and databases.

AggData – Premade lists for your development projects.

SnapCasa – Free, easy to implement website thumbnail provider.

Versionshelf – Secure subversion repository that includes one-click backups.

Mashups and APIs

The Echo Nest – APIs for a host of different music-related development services (including in-depth artist information and music recommendations).

Zeep Mobile – An API to add text messaging to your site.

Clickatell – An SMS gateway that lets your website send messages worldwide through a number of different connection options.

Nonoba – A multiplayer API for online game developers.

Zong – Mobile payment platform with a developer API.

Web Shots Pro – API for developers to add website screenshots to their apps.

Pushpin – Easy to use online mapping API that allows for thousands of markers (pushpins) and other advanced features.

Datamash – Create widgets and mashups for your site with information anywhere on the Web.

Spicy Pipes – Mashup builder.

Reference and General Resources

COfundOS – Platform for discussing open-source software ideas and finding funding.

Mac Yenta – Social network for independent Mac developers.

CorkDump – An online cork board for keeping commonly used resources (code snippets, CSS, Flash, etc.) handy.

All Developers Network – Social news network for developers.

CodePlex – Open source project hosting site from Microsoft.

UnmatchList – A resource directory for developers and designers.

developerAnalytics – Social media ratings and report services that help you find the hottest up and coming social media applications before they get big, find out who’s making the most money, how your competition is doing and more.

CollabFinder – A place for designers and developers to collaborate.

Testing, Monitoring, Bug Tracking and Project Management

CloudStatus – Independent monitoring of some of the Web’s most popular cloud services.

BetaBitz – A site that helps you solicit beta testers and increase the visibility of your site.

observu – Free website and server monitoring service.

UserFix – Report bugs or request features for any website.

OctaGate SiteTimer – A tool to see how long it takes your site to load.

Cuzillion – Simple page testing and checking app.

Mob4Hire – Crowdsource your mobile application testing.

Beanstalk – Hosted system that makes it easy to setup, browse, and track Subversion, including built-in integration with sites like Basecamp and Campfire.

BUGtrack – Project management and bug tracking.

UserZoom – User experience testing platform.

devunity – This used to be betabug, but has undergone a facelift and is now a social development platform.

BuiltWith – Technical analysis and SEO information for any website.

fixx – Issue and bug tracking software that includes filtering, a mobile interface, and collaboration.

BugWiki – Simplified bug tracking application.

litmus – Web-based testing app for checking your designs across different browsers.

Bugtagger – Bug tracking with tagging capabilities for reviewing how your bugs are related (even between projects).

FEED Validator – Validate your Atom, RSS and KML feeds.

pastebin – Debugging tool that allows you to work collaboratively on solving issues.

JUnit.org – A testing framework for writing and performing automated testing programs.

Ruby & Ruby on Rails Resources & Tools

Open Source Rails – A showcase of open source Ruby on Rails sites.

Exceptional – Exceptional tracking and management utility for Rails apps.

TuneUp – Check the performance of your applications using this Rails plugin.

heroku – Ruby on Rails platform that requires no setup or configuration, allows coding right in your browser, and has elastic scaling.

RSpec 1.1.8 – Development framework for Ruby that includes a Scenario Framework and a Code Example Framework.

Lovd By Less – An open-source, Ruby on Rails social networking platform.

Merb – A Ruby framework that includes comprehensive features.

Camping – A Ruby on Rails microframework.

Ajax, Java & JavaScript Resources & Tools

Javxs – Online tool for converting HTML to JavaScript.

frevvo – Ajax form creator that includes full XML support and drag and drop controls.

AjaxDaddy – Ajax application demo showcase.

WaveMaker – A visual, open-source Ajax WYSIWYG editor.

AppJet – JavaScript app programming platform.

SproutCore – JavaScript framework for creating desktop-quality Web apps.

Bungee Connect – Ajax Web app platform that is cross-browser compatible and instantly scalable.

Spring – Enterprise Java application framework that aims to increase development productivity and application quality.

jQuery – JavaScript library for rapid Web development with Ajax.

KSS – Develop your UI without writing any JavaScript with this framework.

PHP Resources & Tools

Flow3 – A PHP framework initially developed as the foundation for TYPO3 5.0, but that can be used independently.

Prado – A component-based programming framework for PHP 5 that is object-oriented and event-driven.

Perl Resources & Tools

Mason – A Web site development engine that’s Perl-based and includes tools to handle debugging, templating, and more.

Flash Resources & Tools

OpenLaszlo – A rich Internet platform that lets you compile to both Flash and DHTML while only writing once.

Python Resources & Tools

GTK+ – A toolkit for creating GUIs that works with Python among others.

Wing IDE – A professional Python development environment that offers a free 30-day trial.

Cheetah – An open source, Python-based template engine and code generation tool.

—
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Opera Mini 4.1 Beta Is All About Speed

UPDATE: We have 500 Nostradamical invites for Mashable readers. Visit the site and use the code MASHABLE to get access.

Nostradamical, a UK startup that’s currently in private beta, is ironically a little late with its Ruby on Rails-powered, “crowdsourcing”-inspired predictions site.  And predicting its success depends on the site’s ability to plug into other audiences rapidly.

The short, lazy description: it’s “Digg for predictions.”  The long one, courtesy of the Nostradamical site:

- Use collective intelligence to predict future world events.

- Create your own events. Tag and publish your predictions.

- Create lists that group together predictions under one theme (e.g. My Oscar Predictions).

- Rise through 7 levels of status and gain fame as an ‘Oracle’ of the future. Promote your blog or website.

The essence of that: make a prediction, and watch good predictions rise up as other people vote on their likelihood.  Vote correctly and you earn cred.  

Wisdom of What Now?

Incidentally, this is fundamentally not the way the Wisdom of Crowds works. That theory says that the most accurate prediction is made when users vote independently, without having seen the votes of others.  A Digg-like system, as mentioned many times on Mashable before, creates a herd-like mentality where your opinion is influenced by the people who came before you.  

And Yet, Salvageable

Yes, it’s not novel and it’s not technically a Wisdom of Crowds app as the About page claims.  It has a silly name, too.  But, the Nostradamical team sure as heck knows how to build a Web app, and that’s half the battle.  Everything works, it looks good, and it’s fun to play around with.

The secret, I think, will be to plug into other ecosystems to gain a user-base…blog partnerships ala PollDaddy (a polling company that got a great deal of traction by working with blogs like Mashable), Twitter syndication, Facebook apps, an API and the rest.

The Likely Outcome

Alas, most startups don’t get enough runway to achieve that critical mass and figure out the revenue model later.  No, if Nostradamical is to survive, it’ll likely do so by foregoing the consumer market (or at least treating it as a loss leader) and end up building prediction markets for internal use at companies.

Don’t believe me? Go check up on this 2007 list of 20+ Prediction Markets…where are they now?

If you’re feeling short of funds, get ready to be short of time today, too.

For those who’d like to reserve the same username across multiple sites (and keep it outta the hands of pesky namesquatters) comes UsernameCheck. The pitch: see whether your username is available or taken across 63 web services.

And if you, like me, spot scores of sites where your moniker is still up for grabs, you’ll no doubt feel compelled to fritter away the two-and-a-quarter hours it just took me to “catch ‘em all”. With only 150 of you feeling the same compulsion, we could collectively waste more than 300 hours. (Can I get a “woot”?)

One small insight gleaned from those misspent minutes: signup forms still suck. Most are longer than they need to be, and those sites using OpenID, the unified signup system, actually made the signup process more convoluted than those with standard registration.

OpenID has a long way to go, and you have a long, boring, signup form-filling Saturday afternoon ahead of you. (Sorry.)