The following five websites help developers and designers to validate websites and check the website code for any sort of error.

1. W3C Markup Validation Service

The W3C Markup Validation Service allows users to validate their websites by either providing a link to the HTML, XHTML, SMIL, and MathML file or by either uploading one in the same format, as mentioned before.

If you just need to check a specific part of code, you may manually punch in the code in the “Direct Input” tab to validate it.

There are various options available such as the Character Encoding option, showing source, showing outline or cleaning up markup by HTML-Tidy that you can choose before clicking “Check” to validate the code.

W3C Markup Validation Service

2. FAE

FAE, short for Functional Accessibility Evaluator, is a clean, easy to use website that allows users to validate the websites and get a rating of many different factors such as – Navigation & Orientation, Text Equivalents, Scripting, Styling and HTML Standards.

The website also breaks down the HTML Standards into smaller subtopics such as Titles, Sub-headings, Navigation Bars, etc and gives you a rating. Any sort of bug/error adds to the rating under the “Warm” or “Fail” heading.

FAE

3. Browser Shots

The Browser Shot is a nifty little website that allows web developers, and designers to check how their website looks on different browsers on various operating systems. This is something that every web developers need to do, but do not have the means to do it.

Using the service is easy. All you have to do is type in the URL of the website you want to check and tick the browsers that you want to see. Click “Submit” and you will see the a screenshot of the website for each browser.

Browser Shots

4. Pingdom Tools

Pingdom Tools is an online website that allows web designers and developers to test the load time of a page, the DNS health for the server on which the website is being run on, and also the speed at which a website connects to the server (ping rate).

To test any of the following items, just visit the website, enter the URL link of the website in the URL-link box, and click “Test Now”.

The website will automatically do the processing and display to you the required details you have asked for – Page load time, DNS Health or Ping Rate.

Pingdom Tools

5. W3C Link Checker

The W3C Link Checker is just like the W3C Markup Validation website; except that it is more widely used.

The W3C Link Checker allows developers to find any sort of issues in links, anchors, and referenced objects in a web page, CSS Style Sheet.

To check for any errors, just provide the W3C Link Checker website with the link to your HTML or CSS style sheet file and click “Check”. It will then automatically do the required proof-reading of the document and display any errors in the document to you (if any).

W3C Link Checker

If you are a web developer then you should try out, and use these websites as they not only make your work more “bug” free but also improves the whole site browsing experience for the users.

Image credit: ollesvensson

Really Useful Web Apps has put together a really great combination pack for bloggers. It packs together 5 different applications that every person making a living online needs. You can grow this offering with both free and paid add-on apps.

What is included with the bundled applications are:

• an account locker (password keeper)
• code editor
• project manager
• task manager and
• a dashboard to get a bird’s eye view of everything.

Dashboard

When you start the application, the dashboard will be your command center. It shows a snapshot and gives easy access to everything you typically use. This saves a ton of time jumping from your analytics site to email to calendar and so on.

With add-ons for commonly used sites such as Mailchimp, Facebook and even your Xbox friends accounts, you can easily spot what may need your attention with a quick glance.

Integrated Code Editor

The code editor is a handy thing to have on board. When you are working on a project which requires you to create or modify Javascript, CSS, HTML, or a few others, you can import or start a new file right from the Project Explorer.

Project Explorer

The Project Explorer is a spot where you keep everything you are working on in one spot. Each time you create a new project, a new folder is created. All of the files are saved to this folder.

Create projects to manage files relating to whatever you’re working on. Project Explorer keeps files organized and adds useful features like website browsing to your files & folders.

You can create a numerous file types including a database, keyword lists, tasks, CSS and many more. These files will be kept together in the same folder for easy access.

Account Locker

The account locker is a built in password keeper. When you sign into an application or site, you are given the chance to save your credentials for later logins. According to the creators, your credentials are securely encrypted to your computer and only used when you are using Really Useful Web Apps.

Task Manager

The task manager lets you create a task list within each project. I like this feature a lot, because with many other applications you have categories and tags. While those are helpful, there is a chance you will get projects mixed up or tasks crossed. With an individual project list, you can work on and check off tasks as you are doing them.

Applets

The add-ons, or applets as they are called, are a big part of what makes Really Useful Web Apps so handy. You have several to choose from including different Google tools and one from Mailchimp. Some require an API from the original app or site.

To get the different applets on your dashboard, you simply go to the Add content link on your Really Useful Web Apps dashboard. You will be brought to a page showing all of the available free applets. If you choose to, there are also other free and paid applets in the app store. Access the store from the link at the bottom of the window.

Conclusion

As more applets become available, you will be more likely to use this Really Useful Web Apps as your everyday work destination. The integrated SEO and website comparison tools deserve a look.

Here is a video from their blog talking about their website database tool.

The integrated browser is an older version of IE. I think it would be great to have Firefox, Chrome or even a newer version of IE as the browser. When you go to Google Docs, you have a header that says Google doesn’t support older versions of the browser.

Overall, the application shows a lot of promise. The packaging of very useful apps can make this a strong tool for people making a living on the web.

1. Phixr

Phixr comes with a simple interface for you to edit your picture online. Log into your Phixr account and click on the “Choose File” button to locate the image on your hard drive. Then hit the “Upload the chosen photo to Phixr” button to upload it. If you want to edit a file from the web, then copy the photo URL to the URL uploader and hit the upload button.

in the Phixr interface, you can flip the image horizontally or vertically, crop a certain area from it, equalize its color, remove noise, set brightness level and contrast and add some texts to it. You can also sharpen the photo. Once the editing is completed, you can save the output in PNG, JPG, GIF or PDF.

You can also upload to the various photo sharing sites or email it to yourself (or your friends).

2. Picnik

Picnik is a very simple online photo editor. Just log on to the service page and hit the “Get started now!” button to jump start your editing job.

After the editor is loaded successfully, you will be prompted to upload a picture from your hard drive. Hit the “Upload a photo” button to upload. Picnik offers you a bunch of editing tools such as Auto-fix, Rotate, Crop, Resize, Color Adjust, Sharpen and Red-Eye Remove. After the editing, you can save the result to your computer or share it with your friends in the various social networks.

3. Picture2Life

Another simple online editing tool that is good for quick photo editing. To get started, click the “Choose File” button to locate a picture from your hard drive.

Picture2Life organizes its editing tools into several categories so you can easily and quickly select the effect you want. Categories include Quick Fixes, Fun stuff, One click or All Effects.

4. FotoFlexer

A good thing about FotoFlexer is that it comes with a wide interface so you can view a big image at one glance, and without having to zoom in/out. Like other photo editors, it also has an array of editing tools such as auto-fix, red-eye adjust, crop, copy region and resize. You can also add some extra effects to your photo such as animated stickers, glittered texts and smoothen the photo wrinkles.

5. Pixlr

Pixlr is a good alternative for Adobe Photoshop, as it offers you the ability to add layers and do pixel level editing.

The interface is similar to Adobe Photoshop so there is very little effort required to get used to it. Stuffs such as eraser, cutting tool, smoother, sharpen tool, resizer and magic selection tool are available.

Some other useful online photo editors not listed above:

• Sumo Paint: A Adobe Photoshop look alike.
• Photoshop.com: The online presence of the Adobe Photoshop. It is free to use.
• Splashup – Another Adobe Photoshop lookalike.
• Aviary – a great suite of photo editing software

Which is your favorite online photo editor?

Tabbloid let’s you create a pdf newsletter from a group of Rss feeds of your choice. It’s way simple and you don’t have to be a geek to get started. You choose one or more feeds, give them your email address, set the time you want to receive the newsletter and forget the issue. Tabbloid will pick the latest articles from the feeds and will merge them into a singe pdf document. You will receive the document in your email inbox at your preferred time.

How to set up your own Tabbloid

1. To get started with creating your own Tabbloid, you do not need to register or set up an account. Just open the Tabbloid Homepage and click to get started.

2. In the next page, choose the Rss feed url and enter it. Here we are using the Maketecheasier Feed as an example.

They also provide you with some sample subscriptions like technology,business,politics etc which you can subscribe to but i would prefer subscribing to MakeTechEasier to get an idea how things work inside Tabbloid when you subscribe to an individual site or a group of sites.

3. As soon as you paste the feed url the site will present a confirmatory message asking you whether you really want to subscribe or not. Just hit the big Yes button to subscribe to the feed and add your preferred feed in Tabbloid list.

4. In the right hand pane you can see the list of feeds you have subscribed to. You can remove a feed from the pane and add another one at any time.

5. Now you need to set up the email details and delivery options.

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As you can see, it’s pretty simple and straightforward. Enter your email address where you would like to get your Tabbloid, set the day and time save the delivery options. You can set a daily or a weekly delivery of your pdf newsletter.As i am a web addict and check my email daily so i would love to get the newsletter daily.

As soon as you save the options a confirmatory email would be sent at your given email address.

Now that you have confirmed your email address, it’s time to actually preview the pdf newsletter by clicking the “Generate Sample issue now” button. A Tabbloid of the rss feed will open as pdf inside your browser.

Here is how the Maketecheasier Tabbloid looks

You can view the complete Tabbloid sample here

The daily email you receive as part of the newsletter will contain all the contents of the recently published articles in the feeds you have subscribed. Along with the email, you will have an attachment which will contain the pdf.

You can subscribe to multiple feeds and get a compact newsletter if you want. All in all, it’s a very handy way to get all the blog updates as pdf documents delivered straight in your inbox, daily.