Design215 Toolbox

Any project becomes easier with the right tool. Sometimes all you need is something as simple as a screwdriver. Here are some of the tools we have created to help with various projects. Some are simple and others are more complex. We hope you find them useful and we appreciate feedback.

For Photographers

• File Size Chart
  Learn what determines the file size of a digital image and how to calculate it.
• Film Size Chart
  This page lists the dimensions of various types of film and shows a scale comparison of 35mm film next to medium and large format sheet films.
• Megapixels Chart
  Compare the number of megapixels from various digital cameras and see the maximum size print that can be made from each one. See why going from 3 to 4 megapixels is a much bigger jump than going from 10 to 12 megapixels. A second chart shows maximum print sizes at 300, 200, and 150ppi for a given number of megapixels.
• Printing Guide
  Learn about the difference between dpi and ppi and why you need 300ppi for a photo quality print in a book or magazine.

 

For Designers and Artists

• Character Counter
  A simple utility that counts characters in real time as you type.
• Color Picker
  Experiment with different color schemes by entering RGB or Hex color values to change the colors of a sample layout. Also included is an RGB to Hex converter and a web safe color chart.
• CSS Extreme Makeover
  This personal project of Robert Giordano invites graphic artists to create replacement stylesheets for this site.
• CSS Quick Reference
  A handy, alphabetized list of CSS properties and values that are supported by all of the major browsers.
• Grayscale Chart
  Check the brightness and contrast of your monitor.
• Spellchecker
  Copy and paste a document into the Spellchecker and it will read through all of the text at once and mark all misspelled words in red.
• Word Finder
  Enter any letters that a word starts with, ends with, or contains and this utility will find all words matching the input. The length of the word can also be specified. Finally, this utility can also unscramble words.
• Word Pattern Finder
  A second word find utility with wildcards, includes, excludes, and pattern search. Designed to be a simple alternate to the original Word Finder.
• Wordlist Maker
  Copy and paste a document into this utility and it will create an alphabetized index of all the unique words in the text.

 

For Web Developers and Programmers

• ASCII Chart
  A simple chart showing characters and ASCII values from 0 to 255.
• ASP Translator
  Listed on php.net, this utility has already been used by thousands of people to quickly convert ASP code to PHP using a simple web form. A simple email registration is required.
• ASP/PHP Reference
  A convenient cross reference chart for people who are familiar with either ASP or PHP and are trying to learn the other.
• Javascript Compressor
  A simple utility that removes extra white space from Javascript code, significantly reducing the file size of the script, while adding a small degree of protection through obscurity.
• XHTML Document Object Utility
  Test document objects and properties in different browsers. Uses XHTML 1.0 Transitional
• RegEx Tester
  This page offers a quick guide to using Regular Expressions, some examples to study, and a form for creating and testing new ones.
• URL Encoder / Decoder
  Change encoded query strings back into plain text or vice versa.
• URL Finder
  Paste any text and get a list of hyperlinks.
• Whitespace Remover
  Remove extra spaces, tabs, and line feeds from HTML (not for Javascript).