So you want to start your own link directory based on open source?

Danger, Will Robinson!The you should look no further than to these scripts:

Currently my favorites is Artfoo and PHPLinks since they bouth seem to be great open source search / link directory’s which also include some handling of Ads (e.g. Google Adsense.)

All of the above open source link directory’s require PHP/MySQL..

How to make a collage really easy

This website is pretty cool when you want to make a collage of several photos. It is markedet for making desktop background pictures, but I immidiately comes to think of the possibilities on websites.

I think it will look great as e.g. the first picture in a web page gallery.

Check it out here: http://www.photovisi.com

How to track who reads your email newsletter

E2R DA16 206 Type KA common problem when programming newsletter software is how to track how many – or even who – opens / read the newsletter. Specifically how many reads it is very hard to know, but it IS possible to see how many opens your newsletter/mailinglist message – at least if you use images in your newsletter.

The trick is to track downloads of a certain image.

When ever this image is opened, the “counter” just adds 1 to the number of times the newsletter have been read/opened. Of course this requieres e.g. Outlook-users to accept that pictures should be shown, but then again if they don’t they probably don’t actually read the message and might as well not be included in the count.

If you setup a system that automates this so each reciever of the newsletter has his own “image”-code, you can even track who specifically read (opens that is) you newsletter.

The reciepe could be something like:
<img src=”http://mydomain.com/track.php?ID=newsletter-december-2009″ width=”0″ height=”0″ />
OR
<img alt=logo” src=”http://mydomain.com/track.php?ID=000001″ width=”500″ height=”100″ />
.. or a combination of the two.

If using the second model, where the image is actually visible, you need to make sure that the webserver sends an actual image when track.php is “asked”.

(Thanks to http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum10/5538.htm for leading me on to this to begin with.)

Great, free WordPress themes

K2 Navigation System w. Tags ExpandedJust wanted to let you know about these great FREE WordPress themes / templates:

http://delimitdesign.com/wordpress/free-premium-wordpress-27-compatible-themes/ 

They are ready for use with WordPress 2.7 – so go ahead! 🙂

This is what they write about it themselves:

“This article will be introducing you to some, high quality Free premium wordpress 2.7 themes, but somewhat unknown & not to mention rare  premium WordPress themes, that are adapted to the last version of WordPress (2.7), so that you no longer have to go through hundreds, or maybe thousands if you’re really persistent, of Google results.

As an extra i have added a few excellent Free premium wordpress cloned themes(scroll down to see them)”

How to send big files online

air mailYou might know the problems when sending big files by e-mail: You often just can’t. You ISP’s SMTP-server might only allow sending files at sizes below 5 MB, 10 MB or even 20 megabytes. But sometimes you just need to send a file that is even bigger: e.g. a 100 MB zip-file or 400 MB of CAD drawings.

The solution is to use one of the many great web services that allow uploading big files and then sending the link to the files instead.

These are my favorites:

How to share PowerPoint slides online

I often find myself trubled when deciding how to share PowerPoint slides online..

Sharing videos for showing directly on the webpage is of course very easy, but it when it comes to sharing / presenting slides online, I find it troublesome. I don’t like to link to the PowerPoint since it has to be opened by either the program or in the browser, and I cannot control how it is shown.

But now I finally stumpled upon the solution: just use http://www.slideshare.net/ !
With this great tool/service, you can present your PowerPoint slides online just as if it was a video on YouTube – great!

Take a look at this example to see how it actually works: