If you have been around computers for very long, especially involved with Internet marketing, you have no doubt had occasion to use the Windows default notepad. Such as when you want to right click on a web page and select ‘View Page Source’ this opens the HTML source code of the page in notepad.

As handy as notepad is to use, it has very few features built in. Not the least of which it shares with its cousin wordpad. That is that neither has a spell checker. So, for instance, if you create an article or blog post in notepad you will still need to open another utility, like an office word program, and copy and paste your work to check your spelling.

And that means switching back and forth from one to the other as corrections are required. Not to mention some very unusual formatting should you try to copy from the word document. Copy a word document into an HTML editor and view the source to see what I mean, if you have never done that. Wouldn’t it just be so much easier to complete the task in a single utility?

One such utility is Notepad++. Notepad can easily assume the duties of creating your articles and blog posts with no unwanted background coding. As well as open and edit HTML and PHP files; check your edited files through W3C directly; open your edited files in your default browser or another of your choosing; and check your spelling. But, not your grammar.

But, I’m not suggesting Notepad++ simply because it has a built in spell checker. Nor am I suggesting that Notepad++ is a replacement for notepad. It is simply an excellent tool when you need something that is much, much more than notepad or wordpad.

Notepad++ is a free and open source source code editor that supports several programming languages. These include, but are not limited to, C, C++, Java, C#, XML, HTML, PHP, JavaScript, SQL, CSS and more, running in the MS Windows environment.

It offers a user interface that is much friendlier than some of its competitors. It has a familiar row of icons with their mouse-over labels that sits at the top, and one row of tabs is just below that. All of the coding tools live in the menu bar. It has support for tabs so that you can edit several documents at once.

Notepad++ offers many features, far too many to list here and has support for over 100 plug-ins.  This makes Notepad++ a very versatile tool. Plus, Notepad++ is available in several languages with documentation on translating into your own native language if it is not found on the Binary Translations page.

With all of the built in features and capabilities of Notepad++, it may sound a bit over the top for the average user. Well, the truth is, no! Once you get in there and look around, you will find many familiar tools and features from several different utilities combined into one.

You can open your work in your favorite browser to see how it looks online. It has all of the usual features you would expect from a text editor, such as find and replace, text wrap and word count. Plus, when you have finished your document, you can copy and paste right into your blog editor without a lot of background code or formatting. It will also add up numbers for you.

Since Notepad++ is a source code editing tool, you use it just like an HTML editor. It has numbered lines, just like your HTML editor and can be set to be the default HTML viewer when you pull a page source from your browser or need to edit web pages.

All in all, Notepad++ is a very handy open source software tool to add to your Internet marketing toolbox. Which, by now I suppose, is getting pretty full. But, before we close the lid, I have one more suggestion for you.

And, frankly, it is a tool that many may find a bit too intimidating. However, it is a tool that I feel you should made be aware of, just in case. It’s called EasyPHP!

Till next time!

Technorati Tags: free and open source, internet marketing, Notepad++, open source software tool, source code editor

A big question for many Internet marketers is how to get screen capture video on their own sites and those of the video sharing sites.

An old favorite has been the free and open source software CamStudio.

CamStudio has been around for some time, since around 2005, and being open source software means that everyone has access to the code for the software. This means that there is more than one version of this tool available to you.

We will be discussing the still free version based on the original source code. This will give you an idea of what to expect from the free version and what to look for should you decide to go with a paid version.

CamStudio is able to record all screen and audio activity on your computer and create industry-standard AVI video files and using its built-in SWF Producer can turn those AVIs into bandwidth-friendly Streaming Flash videos (SWFs).

It works very well when used to create demonstration videos for a software product; classroom tutorials or creating video screen capture for information products. There is also a lossless codec available on the homepage that produces very good sound quality.

Like I said, there are some issues to consider with the free version 2.0.
The videos will not play in Firefox or Netscape Navigator(who uses this browser besides me anyway?) browsers.

Also, I picked this up from the website homepage regarding a couple of issues and how to work around them:

“A number of people have mentioned having trouble viewing SWF videos generated by CamStudio. It turns out there’s a bug which means you can’t see anything if you try watching them with Netscape or Firefox (Internet Explorer works fine) …

The next update (2.5) will fix this but until then, here’s a temporary workaround:

Open the related HTML to the SWF you’ve just generated and look for the line starting with the “EMBED SRC” command …

Change the Width and Height values in this line to match values in the line starting with “OBJECT CLASSID”.

Save the file and you should be good to go …”

Also;

“If your computer’s memory or virtual memory usage starts climbing rapidly when viewing a SWF authored by CamStudio to the point when your PC locks up so you have to reboot it, recreate the SWF from your source AVI file and in SWF Producer, make sure you select the Advanced tab and check the Memory Management tickbox (Manage Flash player internal memory). That should sort the problem out. Thanks to Ben Ward for the fix.”

CamStudio can also add high-quality, anti-aliased (no jagged edges) screen captions to your recordings and with the Video Annotation feature you can even personalize your videos by including a webcam movie of yourself “picture-in-picture” over your desktop.

You can choose to use custom cursors, to record the whole screen or just a section of it and can reduce or increase the quality of the recording depending on if you want smaller videos (for emailing to people, for instance) or you can have “best quality” ones for burning onto CD/DVD.

CamStudio is fairly easy to use software. But, if you are technically challenged o catch a snag, it comes with a comprehensive built-in help file, so you can simply hit “Help” and get the answers you need.

On the CamStudio homepage there is a Beta v2.6 available with a stable version 2.5 in the works that will address the above mentioned issues.

If have not used screen capture software before, there is another issue to address. When using video capture software, whether this free version or the premium software, they are resource hogs to your computer.

You see, only a certain amount of system memory is allocated to your USB devices. So, if you have a wireless USB keyboard and mouse along with your printer and USB webcam, you may need to do some unhooking and rerouting to be able to be able to record.

As I mentioned earlier, there are several versions of CamStudio around that are built around the original source code. Most of these have had the playback in Firefox and Netscape issue resolved. And some now include the ability to add a redirect to the end of the video. I have seen those go anywhere from free, during a giveaway event, to around $5.00 and up.

The best, reasonably priced, version that I have seen is from David Guindon and his CamStudio Pro. Dave’s version has several added features and since he continues to work on it, he provides updates and added features.

So, now we have added a streaming video desktop screen capture tool to your Internet marketing toolbox. Take CamStudio for a spin and even should you decide to go with a paid version, you will at least have a idea of how the software works and familiarize yourself with its operation and features.

When we return. we will have a look at a powerful free and open source replacement for notepad, NotePad++.

Till next time!

Technorati Tags: CamStudio, CamStudioPro, David Guindon, free and open source software, internet marketing, screen capture video

In recent years, Internet marketing has been somewhat reshaped by the introduction of multi-media into our efforts. To take full advantage of the different types of media, such as audio, requires special tools that will allow us to generate our message and then convert that to specific formats like mp3, iTunes, etc. and make it available to market.

The premier free and open source software tool for recording and editing sounds is Audacity. Audacity is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems.

You can use Audacity to:

* Record live audio from microphone, line input, or other sources.
* Convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs.
* Edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV or AIFF sound files.
* Cut, copy, splice or mix sounds together.
* Change the speed or pitch of a recording.

Let’s say that you have recorded a teleseminar where there may be some gaps or background noises. With Audacity you can play back the recording, cut out bad stuff, splice it back together and generate a clean recording ready to convert to whatever your required format. And it is all done as easily as clicking a mouse.

Audacity is currently available in two versions, a stable release for most users that supports Windows OS up to Vista; MAC OSX up to 1.2.6; and Linux/Unix up to 1.2.6. This would be best for average user on Windows XP.

The latest release of Audacity is 1.3.12 (Beta). This version is recommended for more advanced users, and for everyone on Windows 7, Windows Vista and Mac OS X 10.6.

Audacity is extensible through the addition of plug-ins and libraries. Plug-ins can give you extra effects, or more audio generation and analysis capability. Adding libraries can allow you to import or export additional audio formats.

On the Audacity download page, click the link on the left of the page that says, “Plug-ins and Libraries.” You will want to be sure to get the LAME MP3 encoding library. This allows Audacity to export audio in the MP3 format. To install the LAME library, click the link for the LAME FAQ.

Bear in mind here that some of the plug-ins I mention you may not have an immediate need for. I mention them only as reference. However, you will need the LAME mp3 for sure. You can always add the additional plug-ins as your skills and needs progress.

To install new plug-ins, place them in the Plug-Ins folder inside the Audacity installation folder. Basically, you download the plug-ins in the form of a .zip. Just extract the file and copy and paste the .dll files into the Audacity installation file under plug-ins. However, directions for installation are included with the file or on the Audacity homepage.

After installation, restart Audacity, then the Plug-ins will appear underneath the divider in the “Effect”, “Generate” or “Analyze” menus.

Audacity has built-in support for LADSPA plug-ins and Nyquist effects on all operating systems. These plug-ins are mostly built for Linux, but some are available for other operating systems too. Audacity can load VST effects on Windows and Mac using the optional VST Enabler.

In addition to supporting LAME, the Beta 1.3 version of Audacity has experimental support for the FFmpeg import/export library. This allows Audacity to import and export many additional audio formats such as AC3, AMR(NB), M4A and WMA, and to import audio from video files.

If you miss the download for the LAME or FFmpeg don’t sweat it. Just open Audacity and click ‘Edit’>’Preferences’> ‘Libraries’. This will open a dialog box that will tell you if Audacity has found those libraries. If not, there is a link to download them right in that box.

It all sounds a bit ‘techy’, I know, but it is a valuable and important part of marketing. Not only can you create your own podcasts an audio for your web sites, but you can repurpose content, such as telesimars that you have done, to create new products.

Give Audacity a try and you may find that you don’t know why you haven’t already included it in your Internet marketing toolbox.

Our next free software tool to discuss is Camstudio, which is a streaming video desktop capture software.

Till next time!

Technorati Tags: Audacity, free and open source software, free software tool, internet marketing, LAME MP3, multi-media, recording and editing sound

In Internet marketing or basically any online or offline marketing business, sooner or later, you will have to work with graphics and images.

It could be in the form of opt-in boxes for web pages to header and footer graphics or simply adding images to your web pages or cover graphics for your ebooks. But, at some point you will need to release the artistic genius inside.

So, if you are like me and still waiting for a release date on the artistic genius, let me introduce you to Wilber! Wilber is the familiar mascot of the free and open source software that is the topic of the day, G.I.M.P.

GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed program for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.

GIMP has the capabilities to be used as a simple paint program up to image format converting and expert quality photo retouching. GIMP is available to run on GNU/Linux (i386, PPC), Microsoft Windows (XP, Vista and Windows7), Mac OS X, Sun OpenSolaris and FreeBSD. GIMP also has user manuals availble in several languages.

GIMP is designed to be extensible through the use of plug-ins and extensions. Over 100 are currently available in plug-in registry. There is a plug-in for most anything you will need to do from beginner to expert. These ranging from simple tools to animations and some even run scripting through Scheme, Python, and Perl.

By-the-way, all of the images used in this series on free and open source software tools have been rendered through GIMP. Primarily in resizing and reformatting to .gif. File formats supported include bmp, gif, jpeg, mng, pcx, pdf, png, ps, psd, svg, tiff, tga, xpm, and many others.

To save disk space, any format can be saved with an archive extension such as ZIP, GZ or BZ2 and GIMP will transparently compress the file without you needing to do any extra steps.

And thanks to the transparent virtual file system, it is possible to load and save files to from remote locations using protocols such as FTP, HTTP or even SMB (MS Windows shares) and SFTP/SSH.

The current stable version of GIMP is 2.6.11. When you download GIMP for the first time, while you are on the ‘Downloads’ page, be sure to download the user manual in your particular language.

Also, scroll down to the middle of the page under the source files and download the GAP (GIMP Animation Package) and the GIMP Help files. This will get you off to a good start and you can further extend your capabilities through the plug-ins registry as you progress.

GIMP is often compared as, ‘the closest thing to Photoshop’. I run both programs and find GIMP to be not only the much more user friendly of the two, but in some ways, more extensible. The only thing that I find particularly lacking in GIMP is the ‘Action’ scripts Photoshop uses for creating covers for ebooks, reports, boxes and etc.

These actions work very quickly to create those images, which is a time saver. However, very similar results can be obtained using GIMP with the correct plug-ins, such as GAP and ScriptFu.

All this makes for another excellent tool for your Internet marketing toolbox of free and open source software. And one that I am sure that you will enjoy using, even if only for creating awesome gift cards for friends and family.

Also, here are some GIMP videos to help straighten the learning curve for your new tool.

Next time we will add some audio to your visual Internet marketing with another free and open source software tool, Audacity!

Till next time!

Technorati Tags: free and open source software, GIMP, graphics, image manipulation program, internet marketing, Photoshop