QA Graphic
June 29, 2019

hilite.me

Add your HTML code to your website to make it easy for people to read it.

Adding color coded HTML to websites shouldn't be tricky. Thankfully sites like hilite.me make it easy. You simply paste your code and then click on the 'Highlight' button. Then copy the HTML code to your website or HTML form.

This is great when you are code sharing and want it to look so it's easy to read. Unfortunately, this won't work in Slack or Jira.

Website Description

hilite.me converts your code snippets into pretty-printed HTML format, easily embeddable into blog posts, emails and websites.

Just copy the source code to the left pane, select the language and the color scheme, and click "Highlight!". The HTML from the right pane can now be pasted to your blog or email, no external CSS or Javascript files are required.

hiliteme
http://hilite.me/

Sample Source Code

This is one of the first Perl Scripts that I wrote. I basically copied another script functionality. This was created on February 6, 1996. Brian Exelbierd now works for Red Hat.:

#!/usr/local/bin/perl
# joke-sub.pl
# By Brian Exelbierd (bex@ncsu.edu) 1-2-95
#
# This script appends a submitted joke to the joke submission file.  It returns
# A note to the user telling them their joke will be reviewed.
push(@INC,"/disk4/web/cryan/cgi-bin");
require("cgi-lib.pl");
&ReadParse;
print &PrintHeader;
print "<HTML><HEAD>
";
print "<TITLE>Joke Acknowledgement</TITLE>
";
print "</HEAD><BODY>
";
print "Thank you ",$in{'name'},", your submission will be reviewed ";
print "when I get to it.<P>
";
print "</BODY></HTML>
";
open(JOKE,">>/disk1/web/user/cryan/joke.txt");
print JOKE "Name: ",$in{'name'},"
";
print JOKE "
";
print JOKE $in{'joke'},"
";
print JOKE "--------------------------------------------------
";
close JOKE;

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June 22, 2019

Kapwing Meme Maker

Create cool memes using different layouts and YouTube clips

Creating Meme can be fun and entertaining. There's no shortage of websites that offer the ability to create Memes using all the popular graphics and layouts.

One popular site is Kapwing. They are unique because they have a lot of common images, and they make it easy for you to transform any image into a Meme. What's nice is that you can pick from seven different styles that fit your message.

One cool thing I like about Kapwing is that you can create Memes from any YouTube videos.

Website Description

Kapwing is a powerful online editor that you can use to create memes from images, GIFs, and videos online.

It all exists inside the browser, so there are no downloads necessary to make it work.

Kapwing is the only website that supports videos. Welcome to a powerful solution for your content creation needs, but easy enough for anyone to use! Kapwing supports most image, GIF, and video files including mp4, mov, gif, jpg, png, avi, and more!

Kapwing
https://www.kapwing.com/meme-maker

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June 15, 2019

clipboard2markdown

An easy way to convert your Clipboard content to Markdown

Markdown is getting more popular as the best way to handle text. It's super easy to use and allows users to focus on the content.

Getting non-markdown content into Notion, DayOne can be tricky. While sometimes a copy/paste will work, more often than not, the posted content needs a lot of touch up.

One solution is to use a clipboard converter, such as the Clipboard 2 Markdown tool over on Euangoddard's Github. Simply paste any clipboard content onto the browser window and you get an instant converter. Now you can take that text and safely place it in Notion or Day One for easy import.

Paste To Markdown
https://euangoddard.github.io/clipboard2markdown/

I have the page bookmark so that I can access the tool whenever I need it. While it would be awesome if there was a Macintosh application, this works just as well. I don't always have to convert the text, but if it's just a click away, why not just use this tool?

For those using Slack and Atlassian Jira, this comes in handy!

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June 8, 2019

Text Color Fader

Add Fading Colors to your text

Text Color Fader

Colors can help make plain text stand out. Using multiple colors helps words stand out even more. Color Fader creates a cool effect with adding different colors to each letter of a word.

Note: This doesn't work in Slack

Website Description

This application allows you to generate color faded text that can be used to help decorate emails, webpages, profiles, a message board / forum post, a text document, and whatever else you can think of. You can use the different designs to help show off your personality or to just pimp out something like an email signature. Dark colors can help you give off a certain moodiness while lighter colors are easy on the eye. A variety of output formats are available, though you will most likely want to generate HTML color codes.

Be sure to try different options for the "Fade Type" feature. Lots of different fading styles are available, and you may find that one style fits what you're doing better than the others. Also, if you come up with any neat color presets and want me to add them to the application, just shoot me an email with the color codes and I'll add them in.

Text Color Fader
http://patorjk.com/text-color-fader/

Sample Outputs

They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility,

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June 1, 2019

AnswerThePublic

Great topic ideas for blogs or social media posts.

Have a Blog? Do you Need Blog Topic Ideas? A good place to get some fresh ideas is "Answer the Public." Simply type in your broad topic, and in a matter of a few seconds, you'll get a list of questions and bullet point ideas.

Your topic results are broken down into questions, prepositions, comparisons, alphabetical.

Website Description

The auto-suggest results provided by Google & Bing is a goldmine of insight for today???s marketers. As you type you are presented with an aggregated view of the questions & therefore a hint of the motivations & emotions of the people behind each search query. It???s perhaps one of the best but most underutilized sources of research for content ideas.

AnswerThePublic is brought to you by the team behind CoverageBook. Find out how over 1,500 PR teams worldwide Make Coverage Reports, Faster at CoverageBook.com.

Answer The Public
https://answerthepublic.com/

Some Sample Searches to Try

Interested in the capabilities of Answer the Public, but don't know what to put in the search query? Try these to start:

  • Boston, Massachusetts
  • Red Sox
  • Macintosh Computers
  • Donald Trump 2020
  • Guinness Beer

Interesting Use of "Answer the Public"

One of the nice things about "Answer the Public" is that you can get some creative questions out of it. These are good to ask in technical interviews. In addition, these are good when putting together technical documents, making sure that your document or paper answers some of the questions.

This is also good for those A-Z challenges. You can get creative ideas on your topic from A to Z.

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May 25, 2019

Trip Clip

Create custom activities for kids

Daily routines are difficult with some kids. They may not always remember certain tasks that they have to do every day. Thankfully Trip Clip has come up with some handy checklist for children. These can be completely customized to your needs.

Trip Clip has all sorts of creative games that keep kids off technology for a bit: Airport Bingo, Mazes, Word Search, Coloring Pages, Crosswords and so much more. The Word Search is very cool because you can add your own words, think Spelling Words, and it will help your children remember the letters. You can buy a clipboard to help the kids perform their activities - in the car or at the airport.

While this isn't a free service, it's pretty cool and certainly worth checking out if you have children.

Website Description

The Trip Clip?? - Morning Routine, Bedtime Routine, After School Checklist, Chore Chart, Picture Grocery List, Mazes, Car Bingo, Travel Activities, & More

Trip Clip
https://thetripclip.com

Good Deal!

For $14.95 you can have lifetime access to all the activities on the website. If you're a grandparent, this is a great site to have as a resource for "things to do" on a rainy day.

Not a Paid Endorsement

Just like all the blog post that you see on cryan.com, this is not a paid product endorsement. This is a cool service that I think is worth sharing.

If you know of a better service, please let me know in the comments below.

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May 18, 2019

Technology Book Generator

Create Your Own Technology Book Cover

Working in technology can be stressful, and every once in a while it's nice to brighten up things with some humor. One way is to create silly O'Reilly Book Covers.

If your not familiar with O'Reily Books - they are known technology books with some animals on the cover. They cover just about every possible technology segment and have been around for years.

Website Description

Insult your co-workers with snarky O RLY parody book covers!

ORLY Cover Generator
https://dev.to/rly

Sample Books

Funny Book Titles

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May 11, 2019

Inkatlas

Create cool looking maps with Inkatlas

Google Maps are great, but it isn't helpful if you want to draw and showcase areas around a location. That's what makes inkatlas so great. You can draw and print out maps.

Description from Website

Whether you need a quick map for your next bike trip or a tailored cartographic solution for your publishing business, Inkatlas is the simple way to create paper maps. You don't need to become a GIS expert. Leave it to us!

Ink Atlas
https://inkatlas.com/create/

Sample Map

Sample Map created with InkAtlas

New Hampshire

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May 4, 2019

Markdown Table Generator

Make tables for any markdown editor

Markdown formating is becoming really popular. Cool apps like Notion is making is easy to copy/paste data. Markdown is also very popular in the Wiki community.

One of the challenges of Markdown is making tables. Thankfully sites like Table Generator makes it easy to create table. Simply define the number of rows and columns - and presto you have a working Markdown template to fill in.

Description from Website

As the official Markdown documentation states, Markdown does not provide any special syntax for tables. Instead it uses HTML <table> syntax. But there exist Markdown syntax extensions which provide additional syntax for creating simple tables.

Markdown Table Generator
https://www.tablesgenerator.com/markdown_tables

Sample Output

Sample seven-day table.

|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |

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April 27, 2019

Xicon

Easily Create ICO icons for websites

Creating .ico can be complex, but Xicon makes it easy. You can easily create icons from any size image. There are some tools that help remove the background and add additional touch-ups

Website Description

X-Icon Editor is an HTML5 application (based on Canvas) that allows you to create high-resolution icons that let your sites shine with IE9 and above. With X-Icon Editor you can quickly get your site ready with a large icon which will be available for pinned sites and the new tab page. Create your own site icon today!

The X-Icon Editor helps you build a high-resolution icon that can include up to 4 sizes: 16x16, 24x24, 32x32 and 64x64 pixels.

xicon Editor
http://www.xiconeditor.com/

Five Things I learned about Xicon Editor

  • The site launched on October 28, 2010 by Microsoft.
  • You can import any size image to convert to an ico icon.
  • Using the paint bucket you can easily remove the background.
  • The final image isn't compressed, and the site offers some suggestions to help compress the image.
  • The preview is a good way to preview the icon as a bookmark, Window's dock icon, and in the tool bar.

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About

I will highlight a fun Internet site every Saturday. The basic premise is to highlight sites that I regularly visit for a variety of reasons. All site recommendations are mine and are unsponsored. By highlighting these websites, I hope to provide value to those who may not know of the sites or who might be interested in visiting the sites. I also want to share the sites that I find valuable in the hopes that others will find them just as beneficial.

Check out all the blog posts.

Schedule

ThursdayNew England
FridayMacintosh
SaturdayInternet Tools
SundayOpen Topic
MondayMedia Monday
TuesdayQA
WednesdayiPhone 14 Pro Max