CSS Infographic – Interesting Facts and History

Do you know much about CSS? Well ok, we admit you may know a lot about how to work with it and how to make your website look really stunning with various useful CSS features. But what we’re sure you don’t know about CSS is its major historical milestones as well as some facts related to CSS functionality.

This infographic will also be interesting and useful for CSS beginners and will help them learn the very basics of this technology. And now please go ahead and see the CSS infographic itself. We will also be happy to know your thoughts about it in the comments.

Source by: http://blog.templatemonster.com/2010/10/13/css-infographic-interesting-facts-history/

CWG Delhi 2010: Shera the Mascot

Shera, mascot of the XIX Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi, is the most visible face of the XIX Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi. His name comes from the Hindi word Sher – meaning tiger. Shera truly represents the modern Indian. He is an achiever with a positive attitude, a global citizen but justifiably proud of his nation’s ancient heritage, a fierce competitor but with integrity and honesty. Shera is also a ‘large-hearted gentleman’ who loves making friends and enthusing people to ‘come out and play’.

In Indian mythology, the tiger is associated with Goddess Durga, the embodiment of Shakti (or female power) and the vanquisher of evil. She rides her powerful vehicle – the tiger – into combat, especially in her epic and victorious battle against Mahishasur, a dreaded demon.

Shera embodies values that the nation is proud of: majesty, power, charisma, intelligence and grace. His athletic prowess, courage and speed on the field are legendary. He is also a reminder of the fragile environment he lives in and our responsibility towards the protection of his ecosystem.

Source by: http://www.cwgdelhi2010.org/shera_mascot

RSMEHRA.com: Coming soon in your nearest computer

4 Ways Google's URL Shortening Service Can Win

As Google joins the Internet address shortening fray here's how it can differentiate itself
by Jared Newman

The Google URL shortening service Goo.gl, that allows you to transform long Web addresses into short easy to remember links, was opened to the public Friday. After nine months of testing the Goog.gl service, Google now joins the ranks of Bit.ly, TinyURL, and Ow.ly. All of these services cater to people who despise long URLs and use services such as Twitter to share Web address and limit messages to 140 characters.
Using Goo.gl new service a very long Web address is reduced to http://goog.gl/ followed by a combination of four letters and numbers. When someone types in the Goo.gl address the requested is routed through Google, which takes Web surfers to the intended site.
Google says it wants to keep its Goo.gl service lean, with an emphasis on stability, built-in spam protection, and speed. But that might not be enough to secure a spot on top of the link-shortening heap. Here are a few more features I'd like to see from Goo.gl:
Shortening Shortcuts Where They're Needed Most
Google has a lot of services that deal in hopelessly long URLs, such as search queries, Place pages and Maps results. Some people say URL shorteners are only good for Twitter social networks, but sending someone a massive URL for search-related services is just rude. If Google included small buttons to shorten these results on demand, sharing a link for directions to your house would be a lot more pleasant.
Expand Links in Chrome
One of the frustrations of shortened URLs is the inability to see where they're taking you ahead of time. There's no shortage of URL expansion plug-ins for Web browsers -- Chrome URL Expander, for instance, makes every URL appear in full -- but I'd like to see this function built directly into the Chrome browser, so when you roll over a link, there are no mysteries.
Create a "Copy" Button
This may seem really trivial, but Google should take a page from bit.ly and include a one-click way to copy shortened URLs to the clipboard. Having to select the shortened link and copy it with a contextual menu in the browser is just one extra step that makes Goo.gl less desirable.
Get Creative
Facebook does something clever with its own URL shortening service: When you type in a user name immediately after the URL, such as fb.me/PCWorld, you're taken directly to that site's Facebook page. I would love to see Goo.gl become a shortcut to services (imagine Goo.gl/m taking you to maps) or even searches (taking you directly to the results when inserting query immediately after the URL).

Business Masters

10 Excellent Open Source and Free Alternatives to Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is a given in any designer’s wish list, and it comes with a host of features that allow for excellent and professional photo editing. The biggest obstacle to any designer who wants Photoshop is the price, which can be prohibitive. Fortunately there are a number of open source (and completely free) programs out there that do much of what Photoshop can, and sometimes more.

In this collection, you will find 10 excellent examples of open source and free alternatives to Adobe Photoshop.

1. GIMP
GIMP stands for “GNU image manipulation program”, and it is one of the oldest and most well known alternatives to Photoshop in existence. Although it doesn’t quite have all of them, you’ll find most of the features included in Photoshop somewhere in GIMP. GIMP is cross platform and supported by a large community.

If just having the feature set isn’t enough for you, there is an alternative based on GIMP known as GIMPShop. It’s the same as GIMP, except the layout has been structured as close to Photoshop as possible, so anyone making the transition should still feel right at home.

2. Krita
Krita has been lauded for ease of use and won the Akademy Award for Best Application in 2006. Part of the Koffice suite for Linux, Krita is slightly less powerful than both Photoshop and GIMP, but does contain some unique features.

3. Paint.NET
Paint.NET has grown out of a simple replacement for the well known MSPaint into a fully featured open source image editor with a wide support base. You’ll need Windows to run Paint.NET.

4. ChocoFlop
ChocoFlop is a design application designed exclusively for Mac, optimized for Mac architecture. It’s quick and fairly well featured. This program won’t always be free, but until a stable version is released (it’s currently in beta) they are allowing free use. The program works pretty well as is, and if you’re the type who doesn’t mind an occasional bug it’s certainly worth a look.

5. Cinepaint
Cinepaint is designed primarily for video often used to make animated feature films by major studios, but it is also a great image editor capable of high fidelity 32 bit color. Currently there is no stable version for Windows.

6. Pixia
Pixia was originally designed in Japanese but English versions now exist for this rich editor. Although the original focus was on anime/manga, it is a very capable editor in general. Some of the features are a little counter intuitive, but there are plenty of English tutorials available now if you want to give it a shot. The website seems to have changed recently, so be sure to use our link if you don’t want a Japanese error message. Pixia works for Windows.

7. Pixen
Pixen is designed as a pixel artist’s dream, but has expanded into a smooth and well featured overall editor. It’s definitely best at animation though, if that’s your style. Pixen is Mac (10.4x or later) only.

8. Picnik
Picnik is a web based photo editor that has recently taken off due to a partnership with Flickr. It has all the basic features plus a few advanced ones like layers and special effects. It is cross platform since you only need a browser.

9. Splashup
Another web based application, Splashup has a strong set of features (including those layers) and will remind you somewhat of Photoshop. It integrates easily with photo sharing websites and just like the above, is cross platform.

10. Adobe Photoshop Express
Adobe actually has a free web based photo editor of their own. It has all the basic functionality you’d expect as well as a few advanced features (sadly though, no layers), and interfaces well with a number of photo sharing websites. Again, completely cross platform.