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 and has some fun social features, too.
Library Elf [3] keeps 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.
Spellchecker.net [5] Cut and paste text into this free online spellchecker.
Writing Tester [6] Is your text too difficult to read? Cut and paste it into this free online reading-level checker.
Wordnik [7] A fun site for everything about words: definition, pronunciation, related words, Scrabble value, popularity.
Bartleby [8] Online quotations, thesaurus, encyclopedia—a great reference tool. I stopped bringing my hardcover dictionary to work years ago because of Bartleby. Now, sadly, the dictionary part seems to be gone.
Acronym Finder/Acronym Attic [9] Look up any abbreviation and find all its definitions.
Common Errors in English [10] Award-winning, clear, and concise reference.
Lorem Ipsum generator [11] Lorem ipsum explained, with a tool that generates chunks of text.
Life Stuff
HopStop.com [12] 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 [13] Short podcasts on how to do anything; some are better than others.
Get Human [14] how to bypass phone menu hell and connect to a live human being.
The World Clock [15] What time it is right now all over the world.
Time Zone Converter [16] Time zone conversions between two cities.
Web Stuff
HTML Dog [17] A terrific reference for HTML and CSS, with very easy-to-follow tutorials.
FreeDigitalPhotos.net [18] Royalty free stock photography for websites, PowerPoint, newletters, forums, blogs, schools and homework.
Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox [19] outstanding, well-written, evidence-based advice for better website usability.
A handy list of codes for special characters in HTML. [20]
HTML Viewer [21] Cut and paste or type in the window and preview your HTML in your browser.
A free online tool for converting text containing special characters to correct HTML. [22]
WebHostNY [23] Affordable, reliable web and email hosting services.
Allwebco Website Templates [24] Complete websites with multiple pages, forms, built-in features, Flash and more.
Work Stuff
Get-It-Done Guy [25] 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 [25] a great podcast (also a web community) devoted to ideas for staying creative when it's your day-to-day job.
Fresh Books [26] a terrific online invoicing and time and expense tracking service for freelancers.
Lovely Charts [27] create pretty charts easily online; free or or pay for more functionality.