This is the first installment of Murmurs, my sort of stream-of-consciousness method of blogging. I'll deliver a new Murmur every now and then to keep things loose around here.
Freelance Switch
There's more good stuff here than you can shake a stick at. It's chock-full of great content geared toward those that freelance or those that aspire to one day. And to top it all off, the design of the site is superb. But don't just take my word for it, go check it out yourself (after you read the rest of this list, of course).
Rediscovering the Button Element
The guys at Particle Tree give us another great article. Rediscovering the Button Element, walks you through how to get the most out of the common Submit button in terms of consistency. I haven't actually tried to implement the <button> tag yet, but I can't wait for the next project to try this on.
Google Analytics
Yes, I know, this is not a new tool, but I just signed up for it last week. So far, I've really enjoyed using Google Analytics - it was easy to set up and the reports are pretty intuitive for the most part. This is much nicer than the default stats package offered by my hosting company. Maybe not as robust or elegant as Mint, but if you're looking for a free solution, you won't be disappointed.
Ruby Blue TextMate Theme
One of the great things I like about TextMate, everyone's favorite text editor for the Mac, is the power to customize your theme to control syntax highlighting. Ruby Blue is a great theme because it is so easy on the eyes. If you have to look at code on a computer screen all day long, you want something that won't strain your eyes. I downloaded this awhile back, but recently started using it, much to my satisfaction.
Adobe Fireworks CS3
If you know me well, you probably know that I'm a "Fireworks guy" - as in the software, not the explosive. Recently it was suggested to me that I start to use Photoshop instead of Fireworks - you know since Photoshop is the industry standard and all. I'll save my opinion about "industry standard" for another time and just say that Fireworks CS3 couldn't have come along at a better time. Now that I have the ability to open and save PSD files with layers intact from Fireworks, who needs Photoshop? The interoperability with Adobe apps like Photoshop and Illustrator will definitely keep me a "Fireworks guy" for sometime to come. Thank you, Adobe!
That's it for this edition of Murmurs. What have you been murmuring about? Do tell.