Some Handy Online Tools & Resources

Book Stuff

I've been using Library Thing [1] to catalog my books [2] online. It's very easy to use.

Library Elf [3] keep track of your library books, even for multiple cards and libraries. Save time, avoid fines.

Language Stuff

Cut and Paste Word Count [4] Very handy if you don't want to launch a word processor just to get a word count.

Wordnik [5] A fun site for everything about words: definition, pronunciation, related words, Scrabble value, popularity.

Spellchecker.net [6] Cut and paste text into this free online spellchecker.

Bartleby [7] Online dictionary, quotations, thesaurus, encyclopedia - a great reference tool. I stopped bringing my hardcover dictionary to work years ago because of Bartleby.

Acronym Finder/Acronym Attic [8] Look up any abbreviation and find all its definitions.

Common Errors in English [9] Award-winning, clear, and concise reference.

Lorem Ipsum generator [10] Lorem ipsum explained, with a tool that generates chunks of text.

Life Stuff

HopStop.com [11] Online subway and bus directions for New York City. (Go to the home page for other cities, including Chicago, Boston, and Washington, DC.)

The One-Minute How-To [12] Short podcasts on how to do anything; some are better than others.

Get Human [13] how to bypass phone menu hell and connect to a live human being.

The World Clock [14] What time it is right now all over the world.
Time Zone Converter [15] Do time zone conversions between two cities.

Web Stuff

HTML Dog [16] A terrific reference for HTML and CSS, with very easy-to-follow tutorials.

FreeDigitalPhotos.net [17] Royalty free stock photography for websites, PowerPoint, newletters, forums, blogs, schools and homework.

Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox [18] outstanding, well-written, evidence-based advice for better website usability.

A handy list of codes for special characters in HTML. [19]

A free online tool for converting text containing special characters to correct HTML. [20]

Work Stuff

Get-It-Done Guy [21] Podcasts/Webcasts with lots of good new ideas and reminders of good old ideas for being more productive without being more stressed-out.

The Accidental Creative [21] a great podcast (also a web community) devoted to ideas for staying creative when it's your day-to-day job.

Fresh Books [22] a terrific online invoicing and time and expense tracking service for freelancers.

Lovely Charts [23] create pretty charts easily online; free or or pay for more functionality.