The Best Alternative for Picnik – Aviary Photo Editor, a Facebook App!

Hello there, so I am back with a mission of giving you a good alternative for Picnik Photo Editing Tool.

According to an interview with a friend, though most of the tools used in Picnik can be found and used in Google+ Creative Kit, she still encountered problem because it's not as friendly as to the Picnik Interface.

So far, I have enjoyed using the Creative Kit, but for those who were using Picnik for a long time, they would rather say it's the best, and rather look for an alternative aside what Google+ has for photo editing.

What's the best alternative?

They said, it's Aviary Photo Editor (Phoenix)

Just a personal opinion, knowing that there is a competition between Google+ and Facebook, when Google completely shutdown Picnik, why Facebook use Aviary Photo Editor without shutting down it's website? Well, it's up to use to weigh things fairly. I am both enjoying Google and FB for the main-time :)

Going straight to the topic:

According to Matt Smith at Makeuseof, most likely, Aviary Photo Editor is the closest option for Picnik!

I want to personally try this photo editing tool too, since facebook has just recently launched Aviary as Facebook Photo Enhancer, try it here - Aviary at Facebook or find out what Mashable says!

What I've found out?

• The Interface is friendly. You can edit photos from your computer (upload), from an existing image on the web (URL), or you can edit images from your Flickr, Facebook, Picasa, Tumblr, and Ning Accounts!

• Well, if you are not familiar with this photo editing tool, you can read Aviary Tutorials.

What's Next? Google Creative Kit VS. Aviary Photo Editor @ FB

Posted by Editorial Team on 4/30/2012 03:19:00 PM in Best Online Photo Editors, Google Plus Creative Kit

Are Blogging and Freelance Writing Perfect Combination?

Hello there, did you come up with the idea of doing together blogging and freelance writing at the same time? Is it possible anyway? A loud yes!

You can maintain a blog, write regular blog posts and write essays and articles as a freelance writer. It can be tricky as you will be serving two masters at the same time, but you need not to be a supernatural being to do such.

I had a conversation with my friend during our dinner, and I told him that blogging and freelance writing are not different things. The two share similarities, and these are:

• Both done in forms of writing
• Both follow grammatical structure
• Shaped and written with creativity and passion
• Both enhance your communication skills

Both done in forms of writing

You don't have to learn writing and do an actual cooking at the same time. All you need to do is transform your ideas into words. Whether you compose your post or draft your essay-- you need a pen and a piece of paper to express what you are most knowledgeable at.

Both follow grammatical structure

You might ask me: Are you a freelance writer? My answer is simple: Yes. I want to indulge more with grammar, that's the main reason. Post writing is not as hard and strict as to following academic styles. You might choose to stick at the writing rules and methods set by you. But engaging to a more difficult and recognized way of shaping composition is rewarding-- it would help you grow. The rules set for writing academic papers cannot be directly applied in doing our blog posts, why bother? Well, the connection is indirect, and it is worth knowing. Writing discipline, well, it's applicable to anyone.

Shaped and written with creativity and passion

Regardless of the writing styles: whether they are formulated by grammarians or a blogger like you-- they are both written as an expressions of your creativity and passion. When you are posting, you share your chosen topics of interest and so as writing an academic essay. You don't write about topics you are not interested in. Subjects written with passion possess power to reach and inform!

Both enhance your communication skills

While blogging, you are reaching out to the blogosphere. You are communicating to your readers. But how can you communicate and inform properly if you lack the skills? Hence, you need to enhance your communication skills, and one of the most effective ways is freelance writing. By doing so, you are giving yourself a chance to be trained more.

Anyway, have I informed you well?

Read this post for more: Why Bloggers Should Also Be Freelance Writers

---

Discover how Google + Creative Kit turn a pen and a blogger logo into one perfect image for this post!

Posted by Editorial Team on 4/30/2012 08:45:00 AM in Blogging and Freelance Writing, Blogging at Blogger.com

Google Drive is Ready - Open Any Type of Files Wherever You Are

Google Drive is finally installed in my PC.

Yesterday, I was so excited about this new service from Google and I quickly wrote and introductory post about it.

Today, I am notified that the drive is ready, so I give a try, and the result - Satisfactory 'so far :)'!

Anyway, is this a brand new idea? No, it's an advance version of the Google Docs! This is something that will help us instantly drag and drop our files to the drive installed in our computer, ready to be opened anywhere we are!

Are you ready? Did you let Google the chance to notify you? If not, visit Google Drive now, and try it!

Let me share my actual experience:

Well, as soon as I received the notification, I promptly downloaded the installer for the drive. Let me share some screenshots:

After running the googledrivesync.exe, the following screenshots will appear on your computer screen:

I selected the Start Sync, and this will be the next: (Since I miss to take down notes the correct sequence of the process, the sign-in thing may appear here or earlier.)

The Highlights:

• You can see your Google Drive Shortcut at your computer screen:

• Now, easily drag and drop any type of files at your drive! This time I tried files in folder.

• So anytime, go to Google Drive at your browser and your files are ready. Please note, you can see the sync symbol just at the left side of your file if the file is still downloading, and a check symbol if everything is on the go:)

• Now, see examples files copied to the Drive :)
MS Word:

PDF:

Video: (As per experience video won't appear on your drive unless its done syncing.)

My last words:

It's good! I won't compare the Drive to the other services available out there. Google indeed give me a free 5GB Drive for bringing all my important files anywhere-- instantly! Thanks Google!

Want more Reviews?

Visit ComputerWorld for more, find what they found out about the service:)

Posted by Editorial Team on 4/28/2012 12:17:00 PM in Google Drive, Google Latest News

What’s New - 5GB Free for File Storage and Sharing at Google Drive!

Hello there, this is really a super big news!

And I can't help myself but share this to you. And this time of the year, since Google + was officially launched, I am always looking forward for a new useful services that Google will offer to all of its users! And here we go, sooner or later we will have our Google Drive Account! Like Google +, the Drive has been released to few for testing purposes for sure--but it's coming! So, let yourself be notified by email now as soon as it's live!

A must see video!

Google Drive will be the perfect replacement for our USB, CD's, etc. What's good, it's owned by Google... nothing to worry about!

Each one of us who have Google Account will owned 5GB free of the Google Drive!

Whatever programs we are using, whether it's Word and Excel Documents, Powerpoint Presentations, Videos, Photos -- well, they assured that everything is sharable! What's the use of carrying a USB?

Let me enumerate some good reasons why I am super excited with the launching of the Google Drive!

• Saved my files of any kind to the Drive.
• Access my files from wherever I am (With internet connection, of course!).
• Easy file sharing to anyone I know! Email won't let me attached bigger files :(
• My friends can edit files together if necessary just in one place--the Google Drive!

So, what Google says? - [With] Google Drive, keep everything, share anything.

You can take more looks at the fresh Google Drive at engadget!
Image is a screenshot from Google Drive edited at Creative Kit :)

Posted by Editorial Team on 4/27/2012 12:16:00 PM in Blogging at Blogger.com, Google Drive, Google Latest News

Picnik Is Not Over as Google Plus Creative Kit Got Picnik for You

Since Picnik was over, we are on the go now to find the next superb photo editor that will instantly help us in editing our photos. I know that many of us love Picnik and disappointed of its closure. But now, all we can do is sit back and try another online photo editor that is as good, as fast, and as useful as Picnik.

Picnik is not Over!!!

I also used Picnik before, not that much, but I enjoyed editing my photos there. Anyway, if you really miss the whole thing then it's not really gone in the wind as you can find Picnik at Google + Creative Kit! The team behind Picnik has been working with Google for few years, and it's hard to serve "two masters at the same time", so a decision has made!

Last day I able to make a quick tour at the creative kit, some of you may type Google + Creative Kit at your browser, but all you see are those guidelines on how to use the thing. Where can you find it anyway? Well, log-in to your Google Plus account and select one of you photos (click and view your photo) and you will see just at the upper left corner the Creative Kit.

Anyway, let's try Creative Kit now!

Steps:

A friend of mind is sad for losing Picnik, she love editing her own pictures, and I introduced her to Google + so she can have the access of the Creative Kit! I also read several "not good comments" about the closure of Picnik. Anyway, it's normal-- they loose a friend! But, Google Plus + Creative Kit is here, our new companion for photo editing! You can read those comments, and a nice tutorial about how to use the kit at Guiding Tech. Anyway, I have mine as well:

• Go to Google Plus
• Go to your Photos, well, you got choices: from your phone, album, your posts (if you have a blog), and photos of you.
• Click a particular photo from your album for example, and you see a Creative Kit button just at the upper left side of the interface.

• And... Picnik is not over! You will see when you click the Creative Kit button.

• What can you see about this? I enjoy editing my photo as much as I did at Picnik!

Why not give it a try? Indeed, Google has everything for us to enjoy!

Posted by Editorial Team on 4/26/2012 04:01:00 PM in Google Plus Creative Kit, Tutorials Made Easy for Blogspot Blogs

Get Professional Blog Designs and Services for as Low as 0.00!

I am not joking, in fact I am excited to tell you that I offer free services such as:

• Header customization
• Sidebar Customization
• Blog Wrapper Customization
• Blog Content Customization

I am also presenting to you a new way of attracting your readers, making them feel that you are really serious at your job:

• Post Content Customization - well, it's giving a distinctive design for your heading, sub-heading, etc.

The last but not the least, I can design a whole professional blog for you like this (Click to see the actual blog):

What's the deal?

I want writers, share your thoughts about blogging here at SB and you can avail the above free offers. Please think about it :) See you.

Posted by Editorial Team on 4/24/2012 05:01:00 PM in Free Blog Design, Free Services, You the Blogger

Upload and Center Your Header Banner with Blogspot Default Template

Recently, I discussed about making professional banners with transparent backgrounds without Photoshop, and I also mentioned that blog customization must be done with your separate blog, we called it - 'Test Blog'.

Now, let's begin the experiment, and we will start it at our test blog header. I expect that you already have your header banner with you.

Reminder: This is more about 'experiment', a lot more on what you can do at the 'Blog Template Designer'. Anyway, this blog is about the simplified way on doing the tricky part of making your blog a lot more customize and professional looking, like we got here!

Objective: To center the header banner of your blog using a blogger default template.

If you are done making your header banner and want to see it on the center of your blog, then we can do that easily.

Steps:

1. Upload your header banner as "Instead of Title and Description".
2. When you are done, view your blog, by default your header will be seen on the left.

3. Now, let's move it to the center. Got to your Template >> Edit HTML, check Expand Widget Templates and find this code by pressing Control and F of your keyboard:
.header-inner
Copy the next codes:
.header-inner img {margin: 0 auto !important;}
.header-inner {text-align:center !important;}
Paste the above codes here as shown below:
.header-inner .Header .descriptionwrapper {padding: 0 $(header.padding);
}
.header-inner img {margin: 0 auto !important;}
.header-inner {text-align:center !important;}

/* Tabs
----------------------------------------------- */
.tabs-inner .section:first-child {border-top: $(header.bottom.border.size) solid $(tabs.border.color); }
4. Save your template, view your template. Perfect?

Argument:

Some known tutorials told you to put some customizations before ]]></b:skin>, well, I also put many codes just before ]]></b:skin> to customize the looks of my blog. The problem arised when you are going to check the organization of your HTML codes.

If you want to work with your HTML codes neat and tidy, definitely you need to put extra effort putting customization to the right places.

More Guidance:

• When you codes doesn't look exactly familiar, look for .header-inner or #header-inner and fine the last closing }, be guided by the demonstration below:
.header-inner .Header .descriptionwrapper {padding: 0 $(header.padding);
}
.header-inner img {margin: 0 auto !important;}
.header-inner {text-align:center !important;}

/* Tabs
----------------------------------------------- */
.tabs-inner .section:first-child {border-top: $(header.bottom.border.size) solid $(tabs.border.color); }
• If your codes start with #, do this:
#header-inner .Header .descriptionwrapper {padding: 0 $(header.padding);
}
#header-inner img {margin: 0 auto !important;}
#header-inner {text-align:center !important;}

/* Tabs ----------------------------------------------- */
#tabs-inner .section:first-child {border-top: $(header.bottom.border.size) solid $(tabs.border.color); }

Are we done? Please do not hesitate asking for help...

Posted by Editorial Team on 4/21/2012 06:06:00 PM in Banner Making Tutorial for Blogger, Tutorials Made Easy for Blogspot Blogs

How to Correctly Customize Your Blog Template and Embed Free Plug-Ins

Learn blog tricks slowly!

Are you interested in customizing your blog design? Well, perhaps you are in the right place now. As blog beginners, you should take things slowly. And you know, "time" will show you the way.

Learning is a "process", and you should not worry if right now you learn only few things in the blogosphere. What you need to do today? Choose one thing you want to know and:

• focus
• experiment

One thing I know, knowledge and intelligence are not enough if you don't enjoy the process, so make blogging unforgettable for you, whether you are writing about pets, about foods or about computer tricks.

Anyway, this would be the start for customizing your blog right now. If you want to know about HTML and many tricks on making your blog alive, you should not apply tutorials you found anywhere at your beloved blog directly.

You should create another test blog!

Create another blog and you can name it like "My Test Blog". Purposely, it's created to let your learn to customize your own design according to your taste.

• Do you want to have a colorful template?
• Do you want to have a simple and light theme for your blog?

And I tell you, can always make changes if you already learned the basic. If you directly apply changes to your blog, readers might be disturbed by such unofficial changes, think about them.

Caution:

As you may found several easy to embed blogger plug-ins anywhere, consider using them. Do not copy paste the code without looking for users' reviews. Most of the times, third party applications will make your blog loads slower, well, I don't want much waiting and so you do, I guess.

Consider the looks of your blog, do not make it look like a dump-site, and that is why, using your test blog for testing several blog customization and free plug-ins are advised.

Well, see you.

Posted by Editorial Team on 4/17/2012 06:34:00 PM in How to Customize Blogger Template, Tutorials Made Easy for Blogspot Blogs

BannerSnack - Free Banner Maker for Your Blogspot Blogs

While blogging, it is good to enjoy the free resources that are really awesome for a better blogging experience.

One of the most important parts of your blog is your header. It's better to know on how to customize it. Since I started blogging, I am a kind of person that is always looking for satisfaction, so I always experiment several of my test blogs, and customizing the header is one thing I learned.

Do you have a boring header? Looking dull? Well, I guess you need to learn more about creating a banner perfect for your theme or blog template.

After using several free banner makers online, I stumbled upon this free banner maker which allow you to make flash banners, gif images or what we called animated banners, or simple banners like I got here at SB...

What is it? It's BannerSnack

Bragging about my experience, you can create an account at BannerSnack instantly using facebook, and they have just recently updated the whole site and it loads faster!

What else?

Update: After enjoying bannersnack, it's about going premium as I can only download new or existing banner again with watermark. But it's not a problem at all, make a banner with allowance, say 250x250, make it like 270x270, and crop 250x250 after downloading it :)

Read the tutorial on how to exactly edit banners with watermark: How to Edit or Remove Watermark from Downloaded BannerSnack Banners?

• You can edit your existing banners anytime.
• You can download gif banners without watermarks or branding (so they look really yours).
• You can create new banners instantly with different sizes, and colors!
• You can add your images, you can use their free cliparts, well, you can do a lot of customization!

I am sure there's a lot more, so why not try it?

Posted by Editorial Team on 4/16/2012 06:09:00 PM in Free Blogging Resources, Tutorials Made Easy for Blogspot Blogs

3 Important Characteristics of the Best Blog Address or URL

Introduction:

You cannot create a blog without a unique blog address or what we called URL.

It is exactly like saving an Excel or a Word document in your computer, whether you choose to save it in hard drive C or D.

Exactly, your blog address is your blog file name on the web, readers or searchers can only access your blog through that address.

Hence, it is very important to create the best blog URL that is correctly blended to what is your blog all about.

Blog URL's 3 Important Characteristics:

• Appealing
• Memorable and Readable
• Easy to Spell

Related Points to Consider:

• The correct blending of your blog address to what is your blog all about.
• The permanent use of your Blogspot URL at the early stage of blogging.
• The decision to buy a custom domain for your blog.

Understanding the Key Points:

Your blog address is your blog contents at first look. Is it worth clicking? Does it attract readers to read your content? Is it memorable? Is it readable? It is easy to spell?

Why consider these?

• There are pretty women that are not attractive to the eyes of men; these ladies have less sex appeal, and so there are great blogs that are not intriguing to the eyes of readers, so find that ‘sexy’ word or words that would entice readers to read yours.
• Your blog URL must be memorable, I have visited great blogs before but I find it hard to revisit them because I totally forget their addresses. Short addresses are easier to remember than longer ones.
• It should be readable, often times it goes with memorability, do not create a blog address that is a total stranger to the eyes of your potential readers.
• Is your blog address easy to spell? Few readers might go back to your blog by typing your blog address at their browser’s address bar. How if they misspelled it?

Including hyphens (-) and numbers (0,1,2 etc.) often times make your address hard to spell correctly.

Example:

www.myblog-images.blogspot.com
I often times insert the hyphens after my, www.my-blogimages.blogspot.com which later gave me a blog not found!

Going Further:

How to blend your blog address to your blog contents?

Example:

When you see a box with printed pictures of apples on it, what do you think are inside the box? Apples, right?

What would be your reaction when you visit a blog with an address of www.iloveapples.blogspot.com when in fact the blog is all about cooking recipes?

You might go back or close the tab because you are looking for apples and not the cooking stuff.

Why use a permanent Blogspot URL when you are not yet using a custom domain?

Blogger clearly states that if your change your blog’s URL, you release the old URL for other bloggers to use.

Example:

www.playingtennis.blogspot.com

Later changed to:

www.tennischampions.blogspot.com

You can change your blog URL by going to Setting >> Publishing >> Blog Address, but it is not recommended to perform such action when you are using www.playingtennis.blogspot.com for more than a month or so because you already have few readers.

Definitely, you will lose your few hundred readers or page views, is that bad?

Your blog address might be taken by someone else and all links to your posts will be no longer available and it’s called dead or broken links.

What if you already want to use a custom domain after several months of dedicated blogging?

Blogger allow you to host your blog with a custom domain, and this time you are safe because your Blogspot URL will be redirected to your custom address.

Example:

www.playingtennis.blospot.com will be redirected to www.tennischampions.com

and

www.playingtennis.blospot.com/facts-about-tennis.html will be redirected to www.tennischampions.com/facts-about-tennis.html

Effect: If you have a Google page rank of 1 or 2 with your Blogspot address, your blog will go back to PR 0, but that’s not a big deal this time. (To be discussed next)

Why you need to host your blog on a custom domain?

It is your blog’s brand and identity, and your blog will become more reputable in the blogosphere and search engines.

.com is the best extension for your perfect blog address.

Example:

www.tennischampions.com which is subject for availability

If you are going to look for several popular blogs on the web, then you will see they are all hosting their blogs on a custom domain.

Luckily, Blogger let's you host your custom domain free of charge!

Points to Remember:

Your blog address is a very important part of your blog, you cannot publish anything on the web without a file name. When you have several post already, your blog address acts just like a folder in your computer, and all your posts are documents saved in it.

This time, you are not just the one to use it, so make it friendly for everybody by applying few important characteristics as discussed.

Nevertheless, when it comes to blogging, the quality of your posts is always on top of the list! You can read 5 Steps on How to Begin Writing Quality Post for Blogspot Blog!

Resources:

• The 7 Characteristics of Good Domain Names (dailyblogtips.com)
• How Do I Choose the Best Blog URL? (wisegeek.com)

Posted by Editorial Team on 4/03/2012 01:53:00 PM in Blogging at Blogger.com, Tutorials Made Easy for Blogspot Blogs