The Top 15 Google Products for People Who Build Websites

Google’s strategy of empowering site developers and owners with free and valuable tools has proven to be effective in garnering a fair bit of geek love for the company. But this affinity to Google by technology enthusiasts is not without warrant—they really do make excellent products that can be instrumental in building, maintaining, and improving websites. What’s more, they’re all usually free.

Check out some of the best Google products for developing, analyzing, maintaining and tinkering with websites.

1. Google Chrome Developer Tools

Most developers know the advantages and convenience of testing and debugging in a web browser. It’s this fact that has led to the popularity of browser add-ons such as Firebug and Web Developer Toolbar.

Google Chrome, the latest major entry in the web browser market, has a robust, capable, intuitive, and downright helpful suite of tools geared for developers comparable to—and some might even argue, better than— web development tools such as Firebug. It includes a web page inspector for studying the DOM, a JavaScript console and tab for stack-tracing, debugging, setting breakpoints, and testing scripts, timeline-profiling (akin to YSlow!) of assets being downloaded in a web page for performance tuning, and more.

For Google Chrome users: access the Developer Tools by clicking on the Page icon and then going to Developer > Developer Tools (or pressing Ctrl/Cmd+Shift +I).

2. Webmaster Tools

Though you might balk at the choice of name for this Google product (“Webmaster” is so mid-90′s), you won’t contest the usefulness of Google’s Webmaster Tools. The web-based application, once set up, provides you with plenty of information that can help you maintain and improve your website. It has a Diagnostics set of tools for identifying malware on your site and finding spider-crawl errors. Under the Diagnostics set, Webmaster Tools has an HTML Suggestions page that highlights how you can improve your site’s mark-up.

It additionally lets you discover your most popular web page by way of showing you the number of external links that point to it. It can even point out broken links on your website (see a tutorial on how to do this with Webmaster Tools). All that—and much more— makes the five minutes that this free Google service might take the average site owner to set up, more than worth the time.

3. Google Web Toolkit

Google Web Toolkit is a development framework for web application developers. The framework streamlines the process of making high-performance and well-tuned web apps by giving developers a solid foundation to build their app on, sidestepping issues such as browser quirks and having to write common web functionalities (such as an authentication system).

Couple all that with the fact that GWT tightly integrates with the company’s other products such as Google AdWords, FeedBurner, and Google Ajax Libraries, and you’ve got yourself a great framework (especially if you are already a Java developer).

Get up and running quickly with GWT by reading Google’s tutorial doc.

4. Google Code Search

Can’t seem to figure out how to get that stubborn login feature to work? Want to see how other developers tackle the feature you’re working on? For designers, it’s easy to find inspiration by viewing one of the many design gallery sites out there. But for developers, its slim pickings, even though our work is also creative and does need some inspiring ideas sometimes.

Google Code Search crawls and indexes publicly available sample code that developers and programmers can search and study. It has a robust search syntax that permits regular expressions in case you already know what you’re looking for. Not comfortable with search syntax? Their advanced code search has a simple user interface that will let you run highly specific search queries.

5. Page Speed

With Google search now factoring in a website’s loading time in an effort to improve user experience, it’s now more essential than ever to analyze your site for places where you can trim the fat and expose issues that you can fix to speed it up.

Page Speed is an open source Firebug browser add-on that helps you evaluate the performance of your web pages. Factors assessed by the add-on are based off Google’s Web Performance Best Practices, spearheaded by highly respected ex-Yahoo! Chief Performance and current Google executive, Steve Souders.

6. Browser Size

Though the applicability of the “above the fold” concept—a principle carried over from print design— in web design is highly debated, it’s still not a bad idea to see how your web page renders when first loading, in various web browser sizes.

Browser Size is a handy web-based tool for visualizing how web pages look on popular browser viewport sizes by overlaying boundaries and contours of visible areas on top of your chosen web page. This Google product is great for times when you want to see if important page elements are visible without scrolling.

7. Google Ajax Libraries API

Most websites take advantage of using JavaScript frameworks such as jQuery and MooTools for creating Ajax-enabled web apps. But serving these libraries can give your web server a beating, especially if your website generates a lot of unprimed cache site traffic.

Google Ajax Libraries API is a way of serving popular JavaScript libraries (there are currently 10 popular libraries being offered up) to your site visitors, giving you the chance to offload the burden to Google’s highly capable infrastructure.

Using the Google Ajax Libraries API is advantageous for many reasons, including the reduction of web server bandwidth and resource consumption and a higher chance that your site visitors will hit your web pages with a primed cache because they might have visited another site that uses Google Ajax Libraries previously, producing faster page response times and enhancing their experience.

8. Google Website Optimizer

Out of the list of concerns of web designers and developers, web page usability is on top. Google Website Optimizer helps you tease out issues with your web page design by allowing you to construct two or more web pages and comparing them side by side, in a process known as split testing (or A/B testing). Test your ideas and experiments with different web layouts easily with Website Optimizer.

9. Sites

Need to get up a website quickly? Sites—as you might have intuited by its name—is a Google product that gives you the ability to easily create your own site. Its tight integration with other Google products enables you to quickly post YouTube videos, slideshows, Gmail calendars, Gear gadgets, Google Docs spreadsheets, and other content types in your Site.

You can keep your Site private if you want, and in that case, it can become your very own personal web-based documentation tool.

10. Speed Tracer

Speed Tracer is a tool with a singular (but important) purpose: to help you, the developer, identify issues with your web application by presenting you with a visual breakdown of how your web app is rendering on web pages. Not sure how this is useful? Read about some use case scenarios.

11. Project Hosting

Project Hosting is part of Google Code that gives open source developers a place to host their projects. For people not maintaining projects, Project Hosting becomes a repository of open source projects, giving you the ability to find open source project files that you can integrate into your site.

12. Google App Engine

Google App Engine lets you run your web apps on the company’s infrastructure. What this ultimately translates to is that you can save your dough without sacrificing uptime and server resources. You can still use your web app on your own domain, but if you’re really that strapped for cash, you can use their free domain as well (yourapp.appspot.com).

To get your feet wet quickly, Google devised a practical tutorial on using Google App Engine to build a guest book. Want to see what the Google App Engine can do? Rummage through the Applications Gallery.

13. Google Chart Tools

Raw data and numbers presented in tabular form are boring, and can also be more difficult to grok and gain information from. Google Chart Tools allows its users to add charts, graphs and other data visualization types for embedding on web pages.

Google Chart Tools can have interactivity features that lets your users interface with the charts you present them, such as hovering over data points to reveal more information about them, as well as animation options to captivate your audience.

14. Closure Tools

JavaScript closure is a good thing when understood and used properly. But the accidental use or misuse of closures can lead to memory leaks and poorly optimized code.

The Closure Tools is a development suite currently in Google Labs that consists of (at the moment) three tools: Closure Compiler, which is a JavaScript optimizer, the Closure Library, which is a JavaScript library for Ajax application development, and Closure Templates for creating dynamically generated HTML.

The Closure Tools speeds up high-performance web application and website development and can test existing JavaScripts for closure issues.

15.  Google Analytics

Google Analytics gives you relevant and useful statistics about how your website is performing in terms of site traffic. GA is a robust and powerful tool, enabling you to create custom reports, study various stats such as where visitors are coming from, what browsers they use, what their Internet connection speeds are, and more—all of which can give you a clear picture of your site’s audience.

This Google product also helps you in cutting down your server resources if you choose it over server-side software (which can be pretty taxing on your server when running and logging persistently). (Learn more about Google Analytics’ more advanced utility through this tutorial.)

Other Google Products

Here are other great Google products to check out.

Gears

This Google product is similar to Greasemonkey in that it extends the user’s ability to use web applications by giving them additional functionality through their web browser.

Chrome Experiments

Chrome Experiments is a gallery of user-submitted experiments showing what the latest open web technology standards (HTML, JavaScript, CSS) can do. It’s a great place to see some innovative work.

Google AJAX Feed

Using only JavaScript, Google AJAX Feed allows you to grab RSS feeds from websites to use for mash-up’s, such as, for example, displaying a sidebar widget of the latest new posts of multiple sites.

Google AJAX Language

With websites having a worldwide audience, Google AJAX Language enables developers and site owners to easily provide their readers a convenient way of translating page content into another spoken language.

The Go Programming Language

Go is a compiled software programming language that focuses on speed and performance.

Google Fusion Tables

Fusion Tables is a way to discover public datasets, as well as store your own on Google’s infrastructures.

FeedBurner

Managing, creating and infusing site RSS feeds with more features is just so much easier with Google FeedBurner.

Strengthening Independent Media (SIM) in Bosnia-Herzegovina

 

USAID’s new media program in BiH is a five-year, $5.7 million project implemented by Internews Network. Officially launched in December 2010, the project strengthens the media environment in Bosnia-Herzegovina by supporting regulatory and self-regulation institutions, improving media legislation, safety and independence of professional journalists, as well as the quality and growth of on-line media and new media technologies and innovation. The project helps media organizations through targeted activities; training and mentoring of young journalists; and internships for students. A $1million small grants program will support investigative reporting, innovative new media ideas; advocacy and outreach; travel/study projects; and fellowships.

SIM Project Description FEB2011.pdf

SIM Investigative Journalism Grant Criteria _FEB2011.pdf

SIM New Media Grant Criteria_FEB2011.pdf

SIMBudget_Template.xls

Overall Program Objectives: Promote national cohesion and inter-ethnic trust;
* Create a more supportive environment for the work of journalists throughout BiH;
* Provide reliable information to BiH citizens through both traditional and alternative sources of information; and
* Strengthen the ability of people to hold the government accountable.
Project Components:
1. Improve state regulatory bodies and self-regulation of traditional media;
2. Strengthen media industry associations;
3. Support the quality and growth of new media outlets and sources; and
4. Build the quality of investigative reporting.

Project Activities:
To improve the state regulatory bodies and self-regulation of traditional media Internews, in partnership with University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Global Communications, will work closely with the Communications Regulatory Agency (CRA) and Press Council on their capacity, operations, and outreach, to gain effective support and cooperation with stakeholders, media outlets, and the public. SIM will provide technical assistance, hold workshops, seminars, roundtables, summit meetings, as well as administer targeted grants to support these bodies.
The SIM project will also provide support to the CRA for a digitalization plan as part of the BiH EU accession process, through an assessment, study tours to a neighboring country which has undergone digital transition, webinars between EU experts and regulators and Bosnian counterparts, consultations, and targeted grants to support outreach.

The project will enhance media law expertise at universities, associations, and media outlets by developing a media law curriculum and providing opportunities for undergraduate and post-graduate law students to participate in the Monroe E. Price International Media Law Moot Court Competition, as well the annual Annenberg-Oxford Summer Institute in comparative media law and policy. Support will also be provided to BiH media lawyers to examine relevant media legislation.
SIM will strengthen media industry associations by working with them on their advocacy capacities as well as supporting them to improve self-regulation, independence and their ability to protect journalists, through consultations, mentoring, workshops on professional standards and ethics, and study tours.
To support the quality and growth of online media outlets and sources, Internews will provide technical assistance to innovative online projects and administer a small grants fund for eligible media outlets. In addition, Internews will support Mediacentar Sarajevo (MCS) to expand its web portal http://www.media.ba as an online resource for journalists and media, providing commentary, analysis, examples of good investigative reports, tip-sheets, articles, and educational materials. The SIM project will also establish formal partnerships with BiH universities and provide journalism students with internship program opportunities that will include training in new media tools and multi-media platforms at MCS and placement at leading news web portals around the country.
SIM will support investigative reporting projects through a small grants program in which grantees will receive mentoring and customized support from MCS experts, as well as access to the “Infobiro” resource database.

In partnership with Central European University, Internews will develop a civic media fellowship program aimed at producing a compelling project intended to raise the level of public policy discourse in BiH. With Transitions Online, Internews will organize several social media innovation camps, and with National Geographic – a photojournalism camp for young people from across Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Contact Information

Hamdije Kreševljakovića 50, Sarajevo 71000 BiH, office tel: +387 (0) 33-263-710

Sue Folger, Chief of Party: sfolger@internews.org

Amer Dzihana, Director for Research and Advocacy: adzihana@internews.org

Aldin Arnautovic, Broadcast/Convergent Media Expert: aarnautovic@internews.org

Vanja Ibrahimbegovic-Tihak, Institutional Development Expert: vimbrahimbegovic@internews.org

Mehmed Halilovic, Media Law Advisor: mhalilovic@internews.org

Amela Haveric-Imamovic, Financial/Grant Manager: aimamovic@internews.org

Stefanie Jaram, Office Administrator/Cashier: sjaram@internews.org

 

Damn Small Linux

Damn Small Linux is a very versatile 50MB mini desktop oriented Linux distribution.

Damn Small is small enough and smart enough to do the following things:

• Boot from a business card CD as a live linux distribution (LiveCD)
• Boot from a USB pen drive
• Boot from within a host operating system (that’s right, it can run *inside* Windows)
• Run very nicely from an IDE Compact Flash drive via a method we call “frugal install”
• Transform into a Debian OS with a traditional hard drive install
• Run light enough to power a 486DX with 16MB of Ram
• Run fully in RAM with as little as 128MB (you will be amazed at how fast your computer can be!)
• Modularly grow — DSL is highly extendable without the need to customize

DSL was originally developed as an experiment to see how many usable desktop applications can fit inside a 50MB live CD. It was at first just a personal tool/toy. But over time Damn Small Linux grew into a community project with hundreds of development hours put into refinements including a fully automated remote and local application installation system and a very versatile backup and restore system which may be used with any writable media including a hard drive, a floppy drive, or a USB device.

DSL has a nearly complete desktop, and a tiny core of command line tools. All applications are chosen with the best balance of functionality, size and speed. Damn Small also has the ability to act as an SSH/FTP/HTTPD server right off of a live CD. In our quest to save space and have a fully functional desktop we’ve made many GUI administration tools which are fast yet still easy to use. What does DSL have?

XMMS (MP3, CD Music, and MPEG), FTP client, Dillo web browser, Netrik web browser, FireFox, spreadsheet, Sylpheed email, spellcheck (US English), a word-processor (Ted), three editors (Beaver, Vim, and Nano [Pico clone]), graphics editing and viewing (Xpaint, and xzgv), Xpdf (PDF Viewer), emelFM (file manager), Naim (AIM, ICQ, IRC), VNCviwer, Rdesktop, SSH/SCP server and client, DHCP client, PPP, PPPoE (ADSL), a web server, calculator, generic and GhostScript printer support, NFS, Fluxbox and JWM window managers, games, system monitoring apps, a host of command line tools, USB support, and pcmcia support, some wireless support.

Curious about who we are? Check out the contributors page.

3.x Supports Application launching from limited icons. Application centric. Menu driven.
Current 3.x version 3.4.12, screenshots: 1 2 Older Screenshots

4.x Supports Drag-N-Drop, Folder/Document centric. Many icons. Can be run menuless.
Current 4.x version: 4.4.10, screenshots: 12

Get The Official Damn Small Linux Book.

Where to go to from here?
Applications	see what we packed inside…
Packages	what DSL is made of
Download	a list of various download sites
Notes	our answer to a changelog
Off Site	links of interest elsewhere
Milestones	DSL accomplishments
FAQ	have questions? look here first!
Wiki	community knowledge
Forums	real time community knowledge
Mini-ITX Store	mini computers and components
DSL on a CD	business card, 80mm, or full size
DSL on usb pen	Bootable USB Pen Drives
Income Guide	independent developers should read this!
DSL At Work	Doing things with DSL
DSL Market	If you are buying anything at all, use our links to fund the project!
Donate	where we ask for your help
The Wall of Appreciation to those who help
or scroll down for DSL Goodies info

(please go to the user forum for tech questions)

DSL Goodies!

To keep this project alive and funded we sell merchandise which we think the average geek will appreciate.

You may want to support us by buying DSL on a CD, we sell them in full and mini sizes.

Another great way to support our project is to buy a Bootable USB pen which is capable of booting inside Windows.

Are you a gadget-geek? Check out the DSL Mini-ITX and Small Computer Store.
Also, be sure to chech out our Damn Small Machine.

---

Other languages: es,it,de

Open Source E-Books for Linux

Installation and Getting Started

1. Introduction to Linux – A Hands on Guide

2. Linux From Scratch

3. The Easiest Linux Guide You’ll Ever Read – An Introduction to Linux for Windows users

4. Linux Installation and Getting Started by Matt Welsh

5. Comprehensive Linux Textbook by Muayyad Saleh Al-Sadi

6. Pocket Linux Guide

7. Linux+ Study Guide

8. The Linux Cookbook: Tips and Techniques for Everyday Use by Michael Stutz

9. Beyond Linux from Scratch

10. Brian and Tom’s Linux Book

11. Everyday Linux

12. Linux Dictionary

13. Learning the Unix Operating System

14. Slackware Linux Essentials by Alan Hicks, Chris Lumens, David Cantrell, and Logan Johnson

Security

1. Linux Admins Security Guide

2. Linux Security Howto

3. Linux Firewall Configuration, Packet Filtering & netfilter/iptables

4. Securing and Optimizing Linux by Gerhard Mourani

System Administration

1. The Book of Webmin Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love UNIX

2. Linux Network Administrator’s Guide by Olaf Kirch and Terry Dawson

3. Self-Service Linux: Mastering the Art of Problem Determination by Dan Behman and Mark Wilding

4. SUSE Linux Administration Guide

5. Bash Guide for Beginners

6. In The Beginning Was The Command Line

7. Vi iMproved (VIM)

Programming

1. The Art of Unix Programming

2. Advanced Linux Programming by CodeSourcery LLC

3. Java Application Development on Linux by Carl Albing and Michael Schwarz(PDF)

4. Writing GNOME Applications

5. Advanced Linux Programming

6. Secure Programming for Linux and Unix

7. The Art of Unix Programming

8. The Linux Development Platform

9. Secure Programming for Linux and Unix HOWTO

10. C++ GUI Programming With Qt 3

11. Linux Kernel Module Programming Guide by Ori Pomerantz

12. KDE 2.0 Development

13. GTK+/Gnome Application Development

14. GNU Autoconf, Automake and Libtool

15. The Linux Kernel Module Programming Guide

16. PHP Essentials

17. Javascript Essentials

18. Visual Basic Essentials

Migration

1. Linux Client Migration Cookbook

2. Linux Client Migration Cookbook, Version 2: A Practical Planning and Implementation Guide for Migrating to Desktop Linux by Chris Almond

Kernel

1. The Linux kernel

2. Linux Kernel 2.4 Internals

Ubuntu

1. Unofficial Ubuntu Guide

2. Ubuntu Linux Essentials

Red Hat

1. Red Hat Enterprise Linux Installation Guide

2. Red Hat Enterprise Linux Reference Guide

3. Red Hat Enterprise Linux Step By Step Guide

4. Maximum RPM, Taking the Red Hat Package Manager to the Limit

Fedora Core

1. Red Hat Fedora Core 7 Installation Guide

2. Fedora Core 7 Desktop Guide

3. Fedora Linux Essentials

Knoppix

1. Knowing Knoppix

Debian

1. Debian GNU/Linux Desktop Survival Guide

2. Debian GNU/Linux System Administrator’s Manual

3. Linux Compute Clusters by Chander Kant

4. Linux Device Drivers, Third Edition

5. GNU Bash Reference Manual

6. GNU Emacs manual

 

10 sites developers should have in their bookmarks

Over the millions of websites available, some are true tools for us web developers. In this article, I have compiled 10 extremely useful sites for web developers, that should definitely be added to your bookmarks.

Mysql Format Date

MySQL Format Date helps you to format your dates using the MySQL DATE_FORMAT function. Just select a common date format and then change it to your suit your needs. The MySQL DATE_FORMAT code will be generated at the bottom of the page which you can then copy into your query.
Visit site: http://www.mysqlformatdate.com

Script Src

Are you tired of hunting the Internet in order to find the script tag for the latest version of the Javascript library of your choice? ScriptSrc.net has compiled all the latest versions of jQuery, Mootools, Prototype and more in a single page which lets you copy it in your browser clipboard with a single click.

Visit site: http://scriptsrc.net

Em Chart

I never been a fan of ems in CSS files, but sometimes you have to deal with it. In that case, Em chart will translate ems to pixels so you’ll save time and hassle.

Visit site: http://aloestudios.com/tools/emchart

Twitter API Explorer

If you’re using the Twitter API in the site you build, you’ll for sure enjoy this very handy website which allow you to search through the Twitter API. Even better, the website can generate ready-to-use code snippets. A real time gain for you and your clients!

Visit site: http://twitapi.com/explore

Browser Sandbox

Cross browser compatibility is definitely one of the biggest problems a web developer has to face in his daily job. The browser sandbox lets you run any Windows browser from the web. The only bad thing is that you must run a Windows machine: The app does not work on Macs and GNU/Linux.

Visit site: http://spoon.net/browsers

PHP Forms

Web forms are one of the most important part of a website, but creating them is also very time-consuming. So, what about using a website that can speed up your form development for free?
PHP forms allows you to create advanced forms that can fit the needs of most websites.

Visit site: http://www.phpform.org

.htaccess editor

A .htaccess file is a must have for any website. Don’t know how to write one? No problem, just visit this site to create your .htaccess file using a wizard. It doesn’t allow very advanced stuff, but the results are great for 95% of the websites you’ll make.

Visit site: http://www.htaccesseditor.com/en.shtml

Smush it!

Images may be worth a thousand words, they’re also well known to use a lot of bandwidth. Images can be optimized for the web using programs like Photoshop; but if you don’t own a copy of this software or simply don’t have a clue how to do it, smush.it is what you need.
Brought to you by Yahoo developers network, Smush.it is an online tool that will reduce your image size without reducing their quality. For WordPress users, a very handy plugin for your favorite blogging engine is available here.

Visit site: http://developer.yahoo.com/yslow/smushit/

CSS Compressor

Especially on site with many different page layouts, CSS files can become huge and use a lot of server bandwidth. This tool, named CSS Compressor, can consequently reduce the size of any CSS file by removing comments, indentation and more.
Even better, compression level can be configured to fit your needs.

Visit site: http://www.csscompressor.com

Test everything

This site is a definitive must-have for your bookmarks: As the name says, Test everything allows you to test lot of things such as XHTML and CSS markup, PageRank, back-links, and a lot more.

Visit site: http://tester.jonasjohn.de

LINUX GAMES – PLAY FOR FREE

Play hundreds of games for free

Hundreds of games are released under a free (as in “free beer” and as in “free speech”) license: 2D, 3D, puzzles, war games, online multiplayer games, you name it! Here are a few examples (the full list would be endless) :

Airstrike

Alien Arena

Armagetron

Assault Cube

Battle For Wesnoth

Blobby

Bomberclone

Briquolo

Bzflag

Crack Attack

Dark Oberon

Extreme Tux Racer

Foo Billard

Freeciv

Frozen Bubble

Glest

I Have No Tomatoes

Netpanzer

Neverball

Nexuiz

Open Arena

Pingus

Planeshift

Sauerbraten

Scorched 3d

Secret Maryo Chronicles

Soya

Super Tux

Super Tux Kart

Starfighter

Trackballs

Tremulous

Warsow

Warzone 2100

Widelands

Wormux

Xkobo

And if you’re interested in games, you might like this picture of Quake 3 running on Linux, on 24 screens (!) :

WHY LINUX IS BETTER III part

No backdoors in your software.

The difference between “closed source” (proprietary) and “open source” software is (how did you guess?) that their “source” is open. Huh, okay, why do I care? Well, the “source”, or “source code”, is like the secret recipe of every software, like the recipe of a cake. When you buy a cake, there’s no way you can figure out the exact recipe (although you can guess bits and pieces, “there’s some coconut in here”). If a bakery gave out the recipe for its super-sucessful cheesecake, it would soon go out of business because people would bake it for themselves, at home, and stop buying it. Likewise, Microsoft does not give out the recipe, or “source code”, of their software, like Windows, and rightly so because that’s what they make their money from.

The problem is they can put whatever they want in their recipe, without us knowing. If they want to add a bit of code saying “every 12th of the month, if the computer is online, create a list of all the files that have been downloaded in this computer since last month, and send it back to Microsoft through the network”. Microsoft probably doesn’t do that, but how would you know, since everything is closed, invisible, secret?

A little while ago (October 2008) a lot of Chinese Windows users (most of them buy pirated copies of Windows) saw something strange happen with their computer: every hour, their screen would go black for a few seconds. Nothing to really prevent you from working, but it can easily make you go nuts. Microsoft had added a bit of code (an ingredient to the recipe) saying “if this is detected as a pirated copy of Windows, make the screen black for a few seconds, every hour”. Now the point is not that the software was pirated: pirating software is bad, period. The point is that these users got an automatic update for Windows (updates usually fix bugs and add new features) without knowing how it would affect their system. No one knew.

Changing the source code of open source software is a much more open process. By definition, all the recipes are public. It doesn’t matter to you since you won’t be able to understand the code anyway, but people who understand it can read it, and speak out. And they often do. Every time someone wants to change the source code, all other developers are able to see the change (“hey man, why did you add this code spying on the user’s keyboard input, are you out of your mind?”). And even if the whole team of maintainers for a piece of software go crazy and start adding puppy-killing features all over their source code, someone outside the team can very well take the code, remove all the bad bits, create a whole new version of it, and let the world know what the difference is. It’s open.

That’s why you can be sure open source software doesn’t do bad things behind your back: the community keeps a close eye on all the recipes.

 

Enjoy free and unlimited support

One of the great assets of the Open Source community (and Linux in particular), is that it’s a real community. Users and developers really are out there, on web forums, on mailing lists, on IRC channels, helping out new users. They’re all happy to see more and more people switch to Linux, and they’re happy to help them get a grip on their new system.

So if there’s something you don’t understand, a program that doesn’t behave the way you would expect, or a feature that you can’t seem to find, don’t hesitate to go and ask for help. If there’s somebody near you (family? co-workers?) who is using Linux, he or she will probably be happy to help you out. Otherwise, just go online and you’ll find literally thousands of places where nice people will answer you and walk you out of your problem most of the time: geeks actually are very nice people, if you ask your question politely. Just type “linux help” (or replace “linux” with whatever distribution you chose — see the install section) in Google and you’ll undoubtedly find everything you need.

 

Too many windows? Use workspaces.

I never was a Windows user and there is something I just cannot understand: once you have your word processor, your web browser, your email application, your instant messenger software and some windows open to explore your files, how do Windows users manage not to get lost in this clutter?

Workspaces is a feature I would never trade for anything else. You probably only have one screen, right? Try Linux, and you have four. Well, you can’t actually look at the four of them at the same time, but this doesn’t matter since your eyes can’t look in two directions at once, right? On the first screen, lets put your word processor. On the second one, your instant messenger software. On the third one, your web browser. So when you’re writing something in your word processor and you want to check out something on the web, no need to review all your windows to find your browser, stacked all the way behind the others. You just switch to your third screen and voilà, here it is.

Take a look at the following screen, and pay particular attention to the bottom right of the screen:

That’s your “workspace switcher”. You can see it has four (virtual) screens, but you can have more than this (I use 12 of them, but some people have many more). The one on the left is highlighted: it’s the current one. To switch to another one, just click on the one you want (each one of them shows a small preview of the windows they contain: in this case the three others are empty), or use a keyboard shortcut.

 

No big mess in your start menu

If you use Windows and have installed quite a few pieces of software on your computer, chances are your Start menu starts to look something like this:

Looks pretty normal to you? Well, you’re probably used to this by now, but isn’t it a bit of a mess? And it gets worse the more you install software.

All installable pieces of software for Linux come with information on what kind of software they contain, so that the user (that would be you!) doesn’t need to do anything to keep applications neatly sorted into categories:

 

Reporting bugs

If you find a bug in Windows, you can basically wait and pray that Microsoft will fix it fast (and if it compromises your system’s security, you would have to pray twice as hard). You might think that reporting that bug to Microsoft (so that they can fix it more quickly) must be easy. Well, think again. Here is an interesting article about this. What if Microsoft doesn’t even notice the bug? Well then, let’s hope the next version of Windows will fix it (but you’ll need to pay another few hundred bucks).

Nearly all open source software (including Linux distributions) have a bug tracking system. You can not only file bug reports (and you’re encouraged to do so!) explaining what the problem is, but you can see what happens next : everything is open and clear for everyone. Developers will answer, they also might ask a little extra information to help them fix the bug. You will know when the bug has been fixed, and you will know how to get the new version (still for free, needless to say). So here you have people taking care of your problems, keeping you informed about it, and all that for free! If the problem is solved on your system, it will be on everyone else’s : it’s in everyone’s interest to work together to make software better. This is how open source works.

 

Are your tired of restarting your computer all the time?

Have you just upgraded one or two little things on your Windows system with “Windows update”? Please reboot. Have you just installed some new software? Please reboot. Does your system seem unstable? Try to reboot, everything will probably work better after that.

Windows always asks you to restart your computer, and that can be annoying (maybe you happen to have a long download going on, and you don’t want to interrupt it just because you updated a few pieces of your system). But even if you click “Restart later”, Windows still keeps bothering you every ten minutes to let you know that you really should restart the computer. And if you happen to be away from your computer and you didn’t see the question, it will happily reboot automatically. Bye bye long download.

Linux basically doesn’t need to restart. Whether you install new software (even very big programs) or perform routine upgrades for your system, you will not be asked to restart the computer. It is only necessary when a part from the heart of the system has been updated, and that only happens once every several weeks.

Do you know Internet servers? They’re the big computers that answer you when you ask for a web page, and send the information to your browser. Most of them run Linux, and since they need to always be available (a visitor could come anytime), they aren’t restarted very often (services aren’t available while the system is starting). Actually, many of them haven’t restarted for several years. Linux is stable, it runs perfectly well without restarting all the time.

You’ll probably not let your computer stay on for several weeks but the point is: the system won’t bother you with restarting all the time.

 

Let your old computer have a second life

Windows requires more and more hardware power as its version number increases (95, 98, 2000, Me, XP, etc.). So if you want to keep running Windows, you need to constantly buy new hardware. But I can’t see any good reason for so fast an evolution. Of course, many people need a lot of computer power and new hardware and technologies are really helping them. But for most users, who surf the web, read and write emails, write text files and slides, what’s the point of buying a new computer every 2, 3 or 4 years, apart from letting computer vendors earn more money? What is exactly the profound reason why your computer can’t do any more of what it did perfectly well 5 years ago?

Linux runs perfectly well on older hardware, on which Windows 7 would probably even refuse to install, or leave you waiting for 20 seconds after each click. Of course, Linux won’t make a race-winner out of your 12-year old computer, but it will run very well on it and allow you to perform usual tasks (surfing the web, writing documents, etc.) just fine. The very computer that delivers this page to you is not very young and runs Linux: if you can read this, then it is up and running (and if the website loads slowly, blame my Internet connection only).

 

Help other countries, and your own

(Thanks to Gabriel E. Patiño — gepatino {at}gmail {dot} com — for the idea and first version of the text)

Microsoft is an USA company, and its success is great for the American economy.

But if you don’t live in the USA, when you buy propietary software (eg Windows), about a half of the money goes directly to the software company’s HQ (eg Microsoft’s): that money leaves your country, while the other half stays in (sales commissions, etc.: no technical benefits). Your country is not producing anything, and you don’t even need qualified people to sell boxes. That leads to IT professionals with no high level knowledge who only install and configure proprietary software without the option of modifying/learning/customizing it.

With Free Software (eg Linux), the economy (and IT professionals’ knowledge) of your country could improve, since there could be a lot of small/medium companies customizing solutions, providing support, consulting, etc.

People who know how to do things and retain money in your country will benefit from it, rather than people who just sell boxes with a predefined sales pitch, sending your money offshore, leaving IT professionals without real knowledge about how things work.

 

Use MSN, AIM, ICQ, Jabber, with a single program

You may have accounts for several instant messaging services, such as MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, Jabber, AIM, etc. While running Windows or Mac OS X, you probably need one program to connect to each one of those : MSN Messenger for MSN, ICQ for ICQ, etc.

With Pidgin, the instant messenger for Linux (it exists for Windows as well, and for Mac OS X with the name “Adium”), you can connect to all these services at once, with this one program, and see all your buddies at the same time.

 

 

Get a great music player

Linux has many music players (including AmaroK, Rhythmbox, Banshee, etc.), and some of them are great. Check out AmaroK for example (see the screenshot): it manages and plays your music perfectly, learns which tunes you prefer, automatically fetches their title (and lyrics) on the Internet, and even gets the CD covers for you!

 

 

Keep an eye on the weather.

Are you tired of having a thermometer outside your window and go check it before getting out? Just take a look at your Linux screen and keep an eye on the weather :

Of course, Linux doesn’t force you to do anything, so you can place this anywhere you want on your screen, or just not have it at all (after all, isn’t it nicer to have a look through your window?). You can select the place where you live (or anywhere else) in a complete list of locations (OK, I cheated, I chose Honolulu for the screen capture, it’s 2°C right now in Paris!).

 

WHY LINUX IS BETTER II part

Jump into the next generation of desktops.

You have been impressed by the 3D and transparency possibilities first introduced in Windows Vista, and decided that these unique capabilities were worth a few hundred dollars? You even bought a new computer so that you could meet Vista’s (very high) requirements? Fooled you: Linux can do better, for free, and with much less demanding hardware requirements.

  

  

 

Does your digital life seem fragmented?

If you already know what fragmentation is, and are already used to defragmenting your disk every month or so, here is the short version : Linux doesn’t need defragmenting.

Now imagine your hard disk is a huge file cabinet, with millions of drawers (thanks to Roberto Di Cosmo for this comparison). Each drawer can only contain a fixed amount of data. Therefore, files that are larger than what such a drawer can contain need to be split up. Some files are so large that they need thousands of drawers. And of course, accessing these files is much easier when the drawers they occupy are close to one another in the file cabinet.

Now imagine you’re the owner of this file cabinet, but you don’t have time to take care of it, and you want to hire someone to take care of it for you. Two people come for the job, a woman and a man.

• The man has the following strategy : he just empties the drawers when a file is removed, splits up any new file into smaller pieces the size of a drawer, and randomly stuffs each piece into the first available empty drawer. When you mention that this makes it rather difficult to find all the pieces of a particular file, the response is that a dozen boys must be hired every weekend to put the chest back in order.
• The woman has a different technique : she keeps track, on a piece of paper, of contiguous empty drawers. When a new file arrives, she searches this list for a sufficiently long row of empty drawers, and this is where the file is placed. In this way, provided there is enough activity, the file cabinet is always tidy.

Without a doubt, you should hire the woman (you should have known it, women are much better organized 🙂 ). Well, Windows uses the first method ; Linux uses the second one. The more you use Windows, the slower it is to access files ; the more you use Linux, the faster it is. The choice is up to you!

 

 

Choose what your desktop looks like.

If you’re a Windows user, your desktop environment probably isn’t very far from this:

Pretty much all Windows users have the same desktop. You can still change your wallpaper, or the color of your windows decorations (default is blue), but basically you’ll still end up with the usual Windows interface.

With Linux, choice has been brought back to you. You’re no longer forced to accept the one-and-only way to manage multiple windows: you can choose among many programs, which are called “window managers”. But don’t worry, you won’t need to worry about that, since you’ll have a pretty good default window manager. The point is you can change it if you wish.

So if you like a simple, efficient and easy-to-use desktop environment, you’ll probably like this one:

If you like a more modern and glossy look, you might want to switch to this one:

Or you could try this one, simple and fast:

Or even this one, if you love to completely customize your desktop environment:

As you can see, with Linux you decide what your desktop looks like. And you don’t even need to decide once and for all : you can switch to any of these desktop styles whenever you log into your computer.

 

 

Why does your Windows get slower day after day?

Windows has a number of design flaws, resulting in it becoming slower and slower and not lasting very long. You’ve probably heard more than once someone say “My computer is getting sluggish, I’m gonna reinstall”. Reinstalling Windows solves the problem… until next time.

You may think this is just how computers work: they’re very new technology, and not really stable yet. Well, try Linux and you’ll be surprised. Five years from now, your system will be just as fast and responsive as the day you installed it, not to mention that you won’t have any viruses, adware, trojans, worms, etc., that would force you to reinstall anyway.

I have managed to convince many people to switch to Linux, while keeping Windows on their hard disk, because they needed to use some piece of software that Linux doesn’t have (eg Autocad), so they use both systems. Since the day they switched, most of them have reinstalled Windows about once in a year or two; but Linux didn’t let them down, and is still running perfectly well and is still snappy today.

Linux lets you spend more time working, less time reinstalling over and over again.

 

Environment

Thanks to Franz Bourlet for the idea

How can Linux be different from Windows when it comes to environment, you might ask? After all, they’re both just pieces of software with little impact on pollution or climate change. Well, choosing Linux can actually have an influence on the environment:

• Windows and Mac OS are sold in boxes. This means that massive amounts of paper and plastic need to be manufactured before the boxes get to your nearby store’s shelves (and be disposed of after you buy them). Linux is freely downloadable from the Internet; no amount of plastic or paper is involved.
• Proprietary applications for Windows or Mac OS are also, most of the time, sold in local stores, in boxes, whereas you can download the vast majority of software for Linux from the Internet, for free (again, a whole lot of saved paper and plastic!).
• As the hardware requirements for Windows or Mac OS get higher and higher, a lot of computers are made obsolete, and would need to be disposed of… but since Linux runs pretty well even on very old machines, they can be recycled for various purposes (storage, internet access, multimedia box, etc.) instead of being thrown out!
• Millions of CDs are pressed to hold Windows or Mac OS boxes and are sold to customers. Linux also needs to be burnt on a CD before installation (in most cases at least — installation from the network or from a hard disk is also quite common). However, most people choose to burn it on a rewritable CD (“CD-RW”), which can be reused for other purposes after the installation is over (unlike proprietary operating systems, you don’t need to keep the CD around after you’ve installed the software, you can always download it again later).

 

 

 

5 Reasons A Disgruntled Windows User Should Consider Using Ubuntu

Since I decided to dual-boot my main laptop with Ubuntu, I’ve found myself spending considerably longer in a Linux environment than a Microsoft one. The extra speed I’ve reclaimed from my ageing Asus has made it feel like a brand new machine again, and it didn’t cost me a thing.

Linux has a reputation for being somewhat difficult, and casting my mind back to the days when I first tried it I’d have been the first one to admit it. In case you hadn’t heard, Ubuntu (and it’s associated derivatives) has earned notoriety for being as easy-as-pie to install, maintain and work with.
There are inevitably going to be a lot of concerns if you’re thinking of making the jump. I’m going to try and put some of those to bed and demonstrate some of my favourite things about the operating system.

Install Ubuntu Within Windows

It’s even easier to install Linux than it has ever been. Not only have you got the choice of using excellent tools such as UNetbootin to create bootable Live USB sticks, but also the option of installing Ubuntu from within Windows.

By far the easiest and most-straightforward option available to you if you’re already a Windows user, simply head over to Ubuntu’s home page and download the Windows installer. Run it, choose your particular flavour, nominate a spare partition and you’re done. Then all you have to do is reboot into your shiny new OS. Simple.

Re-Install Your Favourite Software

Those of you who use primarily free software on Windows will be pleased to see most of your favourites are still available, but in Linux flavour. A prime example is Google’s Chrome web browser (which trades under the open-source name “Chromium” on Ubuntu) which runs noticeably faster on my Linux install than it does on Windows 7.

Vital bits and bobs like VLC, 7Zip and Skype all have compatible Ubuntu variants. Granted, you’re not going to find Linux versions of all your favourites, but that brings us nicely onto….

Wine

Derived from the acronym “Wine Is Not an Emulator” the popular Microsoft Windows compatibility layer means you don’t have to leave all of your Windows-specific programs behind. Popular Windows applications that work well in Ubuntu include Adobe Photoshop, Spotify (standard Windows version, not the subscriber-only experimental Linux version) and even games like World of Warcraft and Counter-Strike: Source.

My main issue as a wannabe Ubuntu user was the lack of Photoshop. Now I’ve solved that, and I’ve got my beloved Spotify playlists back too! Of course not everything will work, but then you’ll also be able to….

Ditch Your Least-Favourite Software

As grateful as I am to have an antivirus program for Windows, I secretly despise it. For years I didn’t even use one, favouring the common sense approach of not clicking dodgy executables. We all know this isn’t enough though, and if you truly want to secure your Microsoft box then it’s a necessity.

Not with Linux. Permissions play a huge part of any UNIX operating system, meaning it’s nearly impossible for something to execute on your PC unless you explicitly tell it to. Even then you’re going to need administrator access and a password.

I’m not saying Ubuntu is impervious to attacks, and there are a number of antivirus programs aimed at Linux. Many users simply install protection to prevent spreading viruses to users running Windows.

If you’re concerned check out Wikipedia’s known list of Linux infections. I don’t run an antivirus with Ubuntu and for me this is one of the most liberating aspects of the OS. I’ve got some precious RAM back, my CPU usage doesn’t spike when my antivirus deems it necessary to and my machine boots faster than ever.

Customization

Many Mac users harp on about how pretty their OS is, and a lot of Windows users can’t really argue with that. The default GNOME skin isn’t exactly beautiful, but you can quite easily change that (and everything else to boot).

From your taskbars and window interfaces, to adding fancy effects and OS X-style docks that actuallywork – you have an immense amount of options available to you. Ubuntu users who want the mosteye candy possible should check out the Emerald window decorator which makes your title bars look sexier than ever and Avant Window Manager, a dock that’s functional and beautiful.

Conclusion

I’m not trying to convince you to ditch Windows. I don’t plan on getting rid of my Windows partition completely either, but variety is the spice of life. Ubuntu won’t cost you a penny and it comes with everything you need to get going straight away.

With a bit of time, extra reading and effort on your part you can create a beautiful OS that is as smooth as it is beautiful. Did I mention everything was free?

source : http://www.makeuseof.com

10+ mistakes Linux newbies make

New desktop users can make plenty of mistakes (as can anyone). But knowing which mistakes to avoid, from the start, helps prevent a LOT of frustration. I’ve handled the topic of mistakes new Linux admins make, but never those of desktop users. Here are some of the most common Linux desktop mistakes I see new users make.

Note: This article is also available as a PDF download.

1: Assuming they are using Windows

Although this might seem way too obvious, it’s not. The average user has no idea there are even different operating systems to be had. In fact, most average users couldn’t discern Windows XP from Vista from 7 (unless they are certain Windows 7 was “their idea”). Because of this, new users might believe that everything works (or doesn’t work, as the case may be) as it does in Windows. Make your end users aware that they are using a different operating system — and that it works differently.

2: Trying to make exe files work

Unless you have done your homework and installed WINE, double-clicking those .exe files simply won’t do anything. And when that happens, your end users are going to be upset. I have seen many an end user download an app made for Windows assuming that it will work for Linux. Make it clear to users that Linux, like Windows, will only run applications made for that operating system. This, of course, is tossed out the window when WINE is involved. But new users won’t be using WINE anyway.

3: Choosing the wrong distribution

One of the biggest problems for users is choosing the wrong distribution. Imagine being a new user and selecting Gentoo or Slackware or Fedora! Yes those are all good distributions, but any of them would send a new user running away in fear. If you are in the initial stages of helping a new user out, do yourselves both a favor and choose the distribution carefully. Consider the user’s ability, needs, and hardware before you make that selection. Don’t just jump on board Ubuntu because everyone says you should. A lot of distributions out there are made specifically for new users. Give them all a close examination before making the choice.

4: Not finding software

Because so many new Linux users are migrating from Windows, they think software can be had from the same channels. Most of the time, this is not the case. The new user needs to become familiar with their package management tools right away – especially tools like Synaptic, Packagekit, and Ubuntu Software Center. Each of those tools is a mecca of software where users can most likely find all the applications they need.

5: Sending OpenOffice documents to Microsoft Office users in the default format

I see this so often. New Linux users are proud of the strides they have made but dumbfounded (and sometimes turned back to Windows) because the people they share files with can’t read their formats. Remember, Microsoft products are not good at getting along with other operating systems and other applications. Make sure your new users are saving in file formats that are readable by the Microsoft equivalents.

6: Avoiding the command line

I can’t, for the life of me, figure out why people completely avoid the command line as if it is the most complex tool there is. I know people who can work absolute magic with Photoshop but can’t seem to type a simple rmcommand at the command line. Why this is I will never know. New users shouldn’t shy away from the command line. Knowing the command line isn’t essential anymore, but it will make them more capable users.

7: Giving up too quickly

Here’s another issue I see all too often. After a few hours (or a couple of days) working with Linux, new users will give up for one reason or another. I understand giving up when they realize something simply doesn’t work (such as when they MUST use a proprietary application or file format). But seeing Linux not work under average demands is rare these days. If you see new Linux users getting frustrated, try to give them a little extra guidance. Sometimes getting over that initial hump is the biggest challenge they will face.

8: Thinking the Windows directory hierarchy translates to Linux

There is no C:\ in Linux. Nor do you use the “\” character. Nor should you use spaces in filenames. These are common mistakes new users make. Trying to map out Windows to Linux, directory for directory, is impossible. You can get as far as C:\ = / and maybe Default User = ~/, but beyond that you’re out of luck. Make sure new users understand that everything starts at / and their most important directory is their home directory (aka ~/ aka /home/USERNAME/).

9: Skipping updates

I have been burned with Windows updates many times. Need I bother mentioning the update from Explorer 7 to Explorer 8? Very rarely has a Linux update fubar’d a system of mine. In fact, I can’t remember the last time it has. So I am always up to date on my systems… and with good reason. Those updates bring new security patches and features to software and should be applied. Having an installation with a security hole is not what your users need, especially on a machine that houses important information.

10: Logging in as root

I really shouldn’t have to say this. But just in case, be sure to tell your users DON’T LOG IN AS ROOT! But… just in case they must… DON’T LOG IN AS ROOT! Instead, have them open up a terminal window and either “su” to root or use “sudo”. And just in case you didn’t hear me the first time, DON’T LOG IN AS ROOT!

11: Losing windows to the pager

The pager is one of the handiest features of the Linux desktops. But over and over, I’ve seen that new users don’t quite understand what the pager is for and what it does. Because of this, they will “lose” their windows from the desktop. Where did it go? It was there a moment ago! I guess it crashed. No. More than likely, they moved it to another desktop. Another desktop? You see where this is going? Help the new user understand what the pager is and how useful it can be.

12: Ignoring security because it’s Linux

A big part of me still wants to boast and say, “In the 12 years I have used Linux, I have never once had a virus or worm or been hacked.” Although that is true, it doesn’t mean I should ignore security. I have witnessed the effects of a rootkit on a Linux machine. They aren’t pretty and data will be lost. Tell your users that they can’t ignore security just because they’re using Linux. Security is crucial, regardless of the OS.

source : http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/10-mistakes-linux-newbies-make/34444