If you’re a webmaster, coder, or just basically running a blog/site, this is so frustrating as there is no way your visitors will be able to open your site. This happened to me yesterday, and it drove me crazy. This problem effects Internet Explorer only and causes the page to partially load and then ultimately crash, resulting in an error stating that "Internet Explorer cannot open the Internet site", Operation Aborted. Looks like Microsoft is aware about this since IE6 but have never fixed it yet. Sad.

The initial thing to do is to figure out what’s causing it. Some add-on in IE might cause this problem. Open your IE > Tools > Internet Options > Advanced tab > Enable 3rd party browser extension. You have to uncheck it. Close IE, open the site, and if the error is gone then one of your extensions is the culprit. Reports say that Skype plugin is one of them.

However, if not, then it could definitely be a javascript that’s running in your site. Multiple javascripts are just too much for IE too handle. At least, that’s how simple I understand it. There’s a lot of suggestions that people shared when you google.

In my specific case since I’m using Wordpress, I disabled each of my plugins that are running javascripts. All is ok up until I disabled Slimbox, a lightbox derivative that creates a dramatic effect on images. Here’s the simple fix.

Edit slimbox.php, look for wp_head and replace this with wp_footer. Save. If you have Lightbox or Thickbox this fix should also work.

Give yourself a favor. Download Firefox or Safari. They handle sites very well, crashes less, looks better, more secure, and it’s free.

For instance, if you want to increase your server’s upload limit, just edit your php.ini which is usually found in your public_html folder. If not, go create one (go ask your host, or if you’re under Bluehost, just give me a nudge).

Look for upload_max_filesize = 2M, change '2' to the size you want, then save.

Now, here’s the trick. Upload this edited php.ini in your wordpress wp-admin folder. So in summary, you should have two copies of the edited php.ini. In your public_html, and your site’s wp_admin.

For advanced search, Google has made a perfect seach form for you.

Part 1 of these series can be found here.
This is the final part of our tips on how to use Google wisely.
If you don’t want to read the entire article, you can find a cheat sheet to make your Google search easier. It’s located at the end of this article.

Google supports several advanced operators, which are query words that have special meaning to Google. Typically these operators modify the search in some way, or even tell Google to do a totally different type of search. For instance, “link:” is a special operator, and the query [link:www.google.com] doesn’t do a normal search but instead finds all web pages that have links to www.google.com.

Several of the more common operators use punctuation instead of words, or do not require a colon. Among these operators are OR, “” (the quote operator), - (the minus operator), and + (the plus operator).

Alternate query types

cache: If you include other words in the query, Google will highlight those words within the cached document. For instance, [cache:www.google.com web] will show the cached content with the word “web” highlighted.

This functionality is also accessible by clicking on the “Cached” link on Google’s main results page.

The query [cache:] will show the version of the web page that Google has in its cache. For instance, [cache:www.google.com] will show Google’s cache of the Google homepage. Note there can be no space between the “cache:” and the web page url.

link: The query [link:] will list webpages that have links to the specified webpage. For instance, [link:www.google.com] will list webpages that have links pointing to the Google homepage. Note there can be no space between the “link:” and the web page url.

related: The query [related:] will list web pages that are “similar” to a specified web page. For instance, [related:www.google.com] will list web pages that are similar to the Google homepage. Note there can be no space between the “related:” and the web page url.

info: The query [info:] will present some information that Google has about that web page. For instance, [info:www.google.com] will show information about the Google homepage. Note there can be no space between the “info:” and the web page url.

Other information needs

define: The query [define:] will provide a definition of the words you enter after it, gathered from various online sources. The definition will be for the entire phrase entered (i.e., it will include all the words in the exact order you typed them).

stocks: If you begin a query with the [stocks:] operator, Google will treat the rest of the query terms as stock ticker symbols, and will link to a page showing stock information for those symbols. For instance, [stocks: intc yhoo] will show information about Intel and Yahoo. (Note you must type the ticker symbols, not the company name.)

Query modifiers

site: If you include [site:] in your query, Google will restrict the results to those websites in the given domain. For instance, [help site:www.google.com] will find pages about help within www.google.com. [help site:com] will find pages about help within .com urls. Note there can be no space between the “site:” and the domain.

allintitle: If you start a query with [allintitle:], Google will restrict the results to those with all of the query words in the title. For instance, [allintitle: google search] will return only documents that have both “google” and “search” in the title.

intitle: If you include [intitle:] in your query, Google will restrict the results to documents containing that word in the title. For instance, [intitle:google search] will return documents that mention the word “google” in their title, and mention the word “search” anywhere in the document (title or no). Note there can be no space between the “intitle:” and the following word.

Putting [intitle:] in front of every word in your query is equivalent to putting [allintitle:] at the front of your query: [intitle:google intitle:search] is the same as [allintitle: google search].

allinurl: If you start a query with [allinurl:], Google will restrict the results to those with all of the query words in the url. For instance, [allinurl: google search] will return only documents that have both “google” and “search” in the url.

Note that [allinurl:] works on words, not url components. In particular, it ignores punctuation. Thus, [allinurl: foo/bar] will restrict the results to page with the words “foo” and “bar” in the url, but won’t require that they be separated by a slash within that url, that they be adjacent, or that they be in that particular word order. There is currently no way to enforce these constraints.

inurl: If you include [inurl:] in your query, Google will restrict the results to documents containing that word in the url. For instance, [inurl:google search] will return documents that mention the word “google” in their url, and mention the word “search” anywhere in the document (url or no). Note there can be no space between the “inurl:” and the following word.

Putting “inurl:” in front of every word in your query is equivalent to putting “allinurl:” at the front of your query: [inurl:google inurl:search] is the same as [allinurl: google search].

Some more tips from Google:

Tip #1:Choose your keywords wisely. Select descriptive, specific words.

Search for: Vancouver 2010 Olympics rather than Olympics

Search for: 2004 football statistics rather than football

Tip #2: Use quotes for an exact match.

When you enclose your search query in quotation marks, you’ll only get results for the exact terms you entered in the order you entered them.

Search for: “friendly robot” rather than friendly robot

Tip #3: Try one of the search features.

For calculations, search for the equation
Example: 5+2*2

For flight status, search for the flight number
Example: united 134

To track a package, search for the package’s tracking number
Example: 1Z9999W99999999999

After you’ve entered your search terms, you might want to try the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button, which takes you straight to the most relevant website that Google found for your query. You won’t see the search results page at all, but if you did, the “I’m Feeling Lucky” site would be listed on top.

For example, if you’re looking for the University of Santo Tomas homepage, just enter “uni santo tomas” and click “I’m Feeling Lucky” instead of the Google Search button. Google will take you directly to “www.ust.edu.ph.”

Then finally to summarize all that is written here, you can download the very useful GoogleGuide’s Cheat Sheet.

Google Cheat Sheet in PDF

Have you ever tried downloading songs using torrents or peer-to-peer networks particularly the popular Limewire, Morpheus, eMule or Bittorent? You might have at some point of your cyber life. The thing is you will easily download songs through them (that’s what you like right?) but with the download comes your free adware, spyware or a virus. That’s never been good. Never! So we found out that Jimmy Ruska has discovered how to just download the songs you love directly from Google search. Not only mp3 songs but also including videos, educational documents, and several other files. We don’t guarantee that these files would be virus-free though.

Howbeit, we always encourage people to buy original songs/files, this technique is useful in so many ways.

Now, here’s how it’s done.

intitle:”index.of”(mp3|mp4|wma|avi) Sexy.Back -html -php -htm -cf -asp -jsp

Doesn’t make sense? May we explain further.

intitle is a code to tell Google to search for the following specific words in the title.

index.of will search for files inside a directory of the site directly. All sites have their files stored inside a directory whether just plain text, mp3, photos and all others.

mp3|mp4|wma… will search only files with these file extension. Which means that you can then replace these with doc|pdf|jpg|mpeg or any other file extensions you can imagine.

Sexy.Back - replace this with the keyword you want to search but instead of using space to separate words, use a dot (.) because some people use underscores (_) or a dash (-) to name a file. In addition, permalinks, by nature are like this. A dot will override these characters and will just search for letters or numbers (ex. Sexy.Back or Crank.that.souljia.boy)

Sexy Back is used as a sample for this tutorial. Otherwise, we have the original CD. You can buy this MP3 here.

-html… simply tells Google not to search for html, php files. CF are configuration files, ASP are active server pages, and JSP are java server pages. You don’t like to see these in your search. You’re just simply narrowing down your search using the minus sign (-) to as few spams as possible.

Here’s the code again.

intitle:”index.of”(mp3|mp4|wma|avi) Sexy.Back -html -php -htm -cf -asp -jsp

Ready? Just copy and paste the code above or replace the keyword if you want to. Try it here now.

Once you found the file, just simply right click and save. That easy.

Now if you’re wondering if you need to memorize these codes, nope. Either you save it in your notepad, save this page tutorial or bookmark the search results in IE or Firefox like you always do. Just replace the keyword with the new file you want to search. Remember to replace spaces with dots.

Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has been having a tough time dealing with the torrents mentions above. So are they going to sue and stop Google? We don’t think so. But we think Jimmy is darn so intelligent. Subscribe to his YouTube vids here.

Then you might want to read this…

Google Tips and Tricks in PDF.

Part 2

For many, the meaning of graphic design is simple. It’s art. It’s color. It’s the ability to draw and create objects. But it’s pretty obvious that it doesn’t stop there anymore. Gone are the days that design is boxed and limited only to certain colors or subjects. Now, the ideas are limitless.

Veerle Pieters, one of the well-known graphic artist, has announced a Graphic Design Poster Competition open for everyone. Although the deadline for submission is on February 15, the reception has been overwhelming already. 5shutters has decided to share our own top picks. We’ve discovered some very talented people. Warning! Judging would definitely be difficult.

So now, in no particular order…

And you can take that to the bank by Juanma & Gabriele
The colors are great, and pleasing to the eyes. And oh, nice description.

de-sign by Juanma & Gabriele
Good concept. J & G, even your second entry is a winner. Minus the obvious photostitch.

Beauty in things by Evie S.
The large font used is very appropriate for the word “beauty”. FYI, the graphic was created by hand using watercolor and not just by Photoshop. Very nice.

There is no design without soul by Frozendevil
This one used a simple technique.
A photo + good typography = awesome poster.

Graphic design is my daily bread by Presentday
Not only you, we also put a lot of these in our plate. And we’re good at sharing it to everyone.

I em graphic design by Adam
We are all results of graphic design. The colors of the traffic lights with a twist.

Juicy Design by Rwarne
Very creative. Overflowing with freshness.

Huge-water color numbers on a poster by Gravitymachine
Love the blue colors and concept. This will make huge.

Wigd? by 3223
We know this one will raise eyebrows of many. But for us, simple design that can convey the message is graphic design. Yep, looks like the iPhone commercial.

Graphic design is for everyone. Whether you can draw or not, nor be amateur nor pro. We all can make one.

If you want to join, this link will direct you there.
Who’s your top pick? Browse the pool at Flickr.

If fonts can be eaten, then no one could be hungry. And people like ourselves could have broken the weighing scale. Why are we saying this? Because there are millions of fonts and they’re everywhere and growing. Best of all, it’s free. When you say free, it’s not fugly. Actually, it’s dazzling with style and deliciousness. So we decided to pick out the best free fonts for you out of tons on the web, developed by some of the generous artists around the world. We are going to do this monthly. Now, on to our initial salvo!

1. Liberation Serif by RedHat

Liberation is the collective name of three TrueType font families: Liberation Sans, Liberation Serif and Liberation Mono. These fonts are metric-compatible with Monotype Corporation Arial, Times New Roman, and Courier New respectively.

LiberationSerif.zip

2. Cardo by David Perry

Cardo is a large Unicode font specifically designed for the needs of classicists, Biblical scholars, medievalists, and linguists. Since it may be used to prepare materials for publication, it also contains features that are required for high-quality typography, such as ligatures, text figures (also known as old style numerals), true small capitals and a variety of punctuation and space characters. It may also be used to document and discuss the features of Unicode that are applicable to the these disciplines, as we work to help colleagues understand the value (and limitations) of Unicode.

Cardo.zip

3. JustOldFashion by Mafred Klein

JustOldFashion.zip

4. Colaborate by Seite4

Colaborate.zip

5. Cosmetica by Magenta

Cosmetica.ttf

If you frequently visit some of the new web sites or a sample theme, you probably have encountered this “Lorem Ipsum” script. Have you ever wondered what this script means? Who cares? We do. And so should those aspiring web designers out there. This is very useful as a dummy text for web templates, or font samples. The following article is stripped from a Lorem ipsum generator which is found here… or here… and here.

What is Lorem ipsum?
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.

Where does it come from?
Contrary to popular belief, Lorem Ipsum is not simply random text. It has roots in a piece of classical Latin literature from 45 BC, making it over 2000 years old. Richard McClintock, a Latin professor at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, looked up one of the more obscure Latin words, consectetur, from a Lorem Ipsum passage, and going through the cites of the word in classical literature, discovered the undoubtable source. Lorem Ipsum comes from sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 of “de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum” (The Extremes of Good and Evil) by Cicero, written in 45 BC. This book is a treatise on the theory of ethics, very popular during the Renaissance. The first line of Lorem Ipsum, “Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet..”, comes from a line in section 1.10.32.

The standard chunk of Lorem Ipsum used since the 1500s is reproduced below for those interested. Sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 from “de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum” by Cicero are also reproduced in their exact original form, accompanied by English versions from the 1914 translation by H. Rackham.

Why do we use it?
It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).

English translation
Cicero’s original text: “…neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit qui in ea voluptate velit esse quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum qui dolorem eum fugiat quo voluptas nulla pariatur?”

H. Rackham’s 1914 translation: “Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?”

Gimme’ samples!
As we’ve mentioned, Lorem ipsum is frequently seen in web themes. Like the ones we use in Wordpress.

We also use this in comparing fonts.

But don’t use it in comments. Nah, maybe he is just testing if his comment box is really working in Flickr.

Home Depot, Lorem ipsum is not a Spanish word but just a dummy text.

and Lorem as fashion accessories. Why, we haven’t thought of that?

Since web coding is too deep to understand sometimes, we found a very delicious recipe that we know everybody would be craving for. TYPESTER. Remember the name. It’s not a food so don’t eat it.

The Typetester is an online application for comparison of the fonts for the screen. Its’ primary role is to make web designer’s life easier. Base on our test, it’s terrifically awesome! It’s a code generator made simple. One advantage is you can easily compare each single font and font effects in just one page, no need to open several windows or web pages. We also like on how it virtually changes color once you move your mouse cursor. We think that’s great. Once you’re done, just click it and Viola! The code is yours!

Here are the steps on the hows of Typester:

1. Edit, enter or paste sample text in the text area. The text is automatically applied to preview pane as you type. See Lorem ipsum generator.

2. Choose your typeface from dropdown menu or specify your own. However, keep in mind that there’s a possibility that not everyone have that same font on their systems. If you are choosing font for broad range of visitors, it’s good idea to stick with those from the safe list.

3. Set parameters. Values are applied as you type/select if the syntax is correct and values you enter are recognized. There’s no submit buttons. This way you preview as you type.

4. The base font size of the preview pane is 10px. Read the explanation.

5. If you’d like to copy settings to another column, just hit the corresponding button, i.e. button ‘1’ of the current column will copy current column’s settings to column No. 1. and so on.

6. If you enabled cookies in your browser, the last applied settings will be automatically stored on your computer and loaded next time you visit this page.

7. When you run out of ideas, check the stats for inspiration.

In simple terms, just choose what suits your taste. Make Typester work. Grab the code.

font-family: Georgia;
background-color: #fff;
color: #1e0016;
text-decoration: none;
word-spacing: normal;
text-align: left;
letter-spacing: 0;
line-height: 1.2em;
font-size: 3em;

Thanks to Typester, even those without coding knowledge will be able to style their web page, typography-wise.

Now you don’t need to open any single graphics application nor should know anything advance with creating your own vector graphics. With a single click, you can just download it in your computer. All you have to do is to resize it and you’re good to go. It doesn’t mean that if it’s free it’s going to be ugly. Actually, they’re so appealing that you’ll come across these icons to some of the best sites on the web.

1. Famfamfam Icons

This is one of 5shutters favorite. Has three very pleasant sets. “Silk” is a smooth, free icon set, containing over 700 16-by-16 pixel icons in strokably-soft PNG format. “Flags” are 247 icons — in GIF and PNG formats — representing most countries in the world as small pixel icons. These flag icons are available for free use for any purpose with no requirement for attribution. “Mini” is a set of 144 GIF icons available for free use for any purpose.

2. Web 2.0 graphics by Nicolai Bird

Some assorted icons from a perservering graphic artist.

3. Strawbee’s Milk and Green

They’re all white and green. Hence the name. There are 21 in total.

4. N.Design studios Mini Pixel Icons

These mini icons are designed at 14×14px with transparent background. They are specially designed for header or side navigation buttons.

5. Markup Icons

Another 5shutters favorite. These are simple icons, not too many colors for formal blogs and professional sites. Nine sets.

More to come!

If you’re into Photography and graphics design, it is almost imperative for you to have a dependable graphics editing software and the first thing that comes to mind is Adobe Photoshop. Unfortunately, having this kind of software is not cheap. Actually, it is already a luxury for some whether you’re a pro or otherwise. From our last check, the very basic Adobe Photoshop CS3 software costs $649, while the extended edition costs almost one gran. That’s the price of a medium-end computer!

Don’t get us wrong. CS3 is great! Well, if you know how to use it. For some, there’s too much functionality in it that an average guy won’t be needing. So we won’t be recommending it for starters definitely. You might as well spend your money to buy yourself a new gear for your hobby. But it’s not the end of the world for those who can’t afford it or those who opt not to at all. The good thing is there’s a lot of alternatives out there and heck, we’re not talking about MS Paint pre-installed in your PC! We’re talking about these personally-hand-picked-and- tested-by-us softwares that are not just free but will make your photo editing experience a breeze. Believe it.

Downloadables. Hey, it’s free!

1. Paint.net

Paint.NET is image and photo manipulation software designed to be used on computers that run Windows. It supports layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools. It started development as an undergraduate college senior design project mentored by Microsoft, and is currently being maintained by some of the alumni that originally worked on it. Originally intended as a free replacement for the MS Paint software that comes with Windows, it has grown into a powerful yet simple tool for photo and image editing.

An active and growing online community provides friendly help, tutorials, and plugins.

Paint.net 3.22 (1,524KB)

2. The GIMP

The GIMP is the GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed piece of software for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. The Gimp works on many operating systems, in many languages.

It has many capabilities. It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, an image format converter, etc.

GIMP is expandable and extensible. It is designed to be augmented with plug-ins and extensions to do just about anything. The advanced scripting interface allows everything from the simplest task to the most complex image manipulation procedures to be easily scripted.

GIMP 2.4.2 (14.5MB)

Online Photo editors, uber awesomeness!

1. Picnik

Picnik is photo editing online, in your browser. It’s the easiest way on the Web to fix underexposed photos, remove red-eye, or apply effects to your photos. It’s a 5shutters favorite!

2. FotoFlexer

FotoFlexer is the an advanced online digital photo editor. It performs advanced effects previously only available to professionals using expensive software. Remove blemishes, change skin and hair color, morph photos, change backgrounds.

3. FD’s Flickr Toys

FD’s Flickr Toys are a set of web-based creative tools you can use on your Flickr photos. Captioner lets you add comic book-style text bubbles to your photos. Motivator lets you create a motivational poster out of your photos. Badge Maker, well, makes badges out of your photos. There’s also Framer, Movie Poster, Photo Fortune, Trading Card Maker, Magazine Cover, Mosaic Maker, Billboard, Calendar, and more. And, if you don’t happen to have Flickr, FD’s Flickr Toys will also let you upload photos from your hard drive. Hours of fun!

Have you tried any one of these? Did we miss something? Please share what you think.