On this article I list 20 great Photoshop text effect tutorials that you should try to improve your skills. Several tutorials are a bit older but still great and all you need is Photoshop. There are 2 or 3 tutorials that are only for Photoshop CS5 but all the others are compatible with older Photoshop versions.

Dramatic Text on Fire Effect in Photoshop

Papercraft Text Effect

Glossy Snow Globe Text Effect

Cool Dots Text Effect

Great Gooey Photoshop Text Tutorial

Create A Scrapbook Alphabet

Learn to Create Party Text Effect

Chocolate Bar Text Effect

Learn to Create Stuffed Text Effect

Icey Styles in Photoshop

Create “Cool” Typography Using Paths in Photoshop

Moon Shine Text Effect

Create a realistic folded paper text in Photoshop

How to Create Suspended Text Effect

Super Cool Frilly Bits Typography

Creating a Typographic Wallpaper

Furry Text Photoshop Tutorial

Lost in Space Typography in Photoshop

3D skyscraper text effect in Photoshop CS5

Colorful Plexi Text Effect using Photoshop

With these Cheat Sheets you can quickly improve your work by learning to use an application thru shortcuts (keyboard). All Cheat Sheets listed on this article are in PDF format so you can easily print them if needed.

Adobe Photoshop Shortcuts

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Keyboard Shortcuts – Windows

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Keyboard Shortcuts – Mac

Adobe InDesign CS5 Keyboard Shortcuts – Windows

Adobe InDesign CS5 Keyboard Shortcuts – Mac

Adobe Photoshop CS5 Keyboard Shortcuts – Windows

Adobe Photoshop CS5 Keyboard Shortcuts – Mac

Adobe Photoshop CS4 Keyboard Shortcuts – Windows

Adobe Photoshop CS4 Keyboard Shortcuts – Mac

Adobe Photoshop CS3 Keyboard Shortcuts – Windows

Adobe Photoshop CS3 Keyboard Shortcuts – Mac

Adobe Pen Tool Cheat Sheet (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign)

Adobe Photoshop Brush Tool Cheat Sheet

Adobe Photoshop Lasso Tool Cheat Sheet

Adobe Dreamweaver CS5 Keyboard Shortcuts – Windows

Adobe Dreamweaver CS5 Keyboard Shortcuts – Mac

Adobe Flash CS5 Keyboard Shortcuts – Windows

Adobe Flash CS5 Keyboard Shortcuts – Mac

Adobe QuarkXPress 8 Keyboard Shortcuts – Windows

Adobe QuarkXPress 8 Keyboard Shortcuts – Mac

Her jaw dropped. How could this have happened? As she scrolled through her Admin panel desperately seeking for some clue, ugly words flashed through her mind: I’ve been hacked.

Lesson Number One: Always Back Up Your WordPress Blog

Anna was shocked by the experience, but she wasn’t too worried about getting her posts back. That’s because she uses WP-DB-Backup, a plug-in written by Austin Matzko.

How to Use WordPress Database Backup to Save Yourself Needless Stress

1. Search for the plug-in through your WordPress Admin Plug-ins panel and install it directly from there.

2. Once you’ve installed the plug-in, navigate to Tools > Backup to get started.

Here, you’ll decide how often you want to back up your WordPress blog files, and which files you want to back up.

The wisest option is to choose a scheduled backup. This way, you never have to think about your backups again. If anything should happen, you’ll have the latest version of your WordPress blog close at hand, ready to re-install.

3. Under “Schedule,” choose “Once Daily”.

If you update your blog only once a week, you might be tempted to back up only once a week rather than daily. But keep in mind that people may be commenting on your blog daily, and you’d lose any comments that were made after the last backup. So daily backups are the safest option.

4. Under “Tables to Include in the Scheduled Backup,” make sure all the boxes are ticked. No reason to exclude any files from your backup.

5. Scroll back up to “Backup Options.” You can choose to save your files to your server, have them automatically downloaded to your computer, or emailed to you.

Which option is best? Anna says, “I like having my files emailed to me. Since I use a Gmail account, I don’t need to worry about running out of space, and I just delete the older backups anyway. If for some reason my computer and server were to crash at the same time, I’d still be able to access my files through email”.

Once you’ve chosen your preferred backup option, you’re all set. You’ve now scheduled automatic backups. You can sleep easy now!

As an extra safeguard, set aside some time every week or month to manually copy your entire site onto your computer, using your FTP client.

Lesson Number Two: Contact Your Hosting Company First

Don’t panic! What looks like hacking may be something very different.

Remember how Anna assumed she’d been hacked? It seemed a pretty reasonable assumption at the time. After all, the posts were missing, and since she hadn’t had any security precautions in place, she knew her blog must have been an easy target for hackers.

The first thing she did was email her hosting company and tell them what had happened. Then she started researching options on the internet. (Even though she had her backup waiting to be re-installed, she wanted to learn how to defend herself against hackers first.)

Only a few minutes later, Anna received an email from hosting company. It said, “It does not appear that your site has been hacked. It appears that the posts table in your mysql database had crashed. I have repaired this, and all posts currently appear to load without issue. Please let us know if you have any further questions”.

Quickly, Anna reloaded her WordPress Admin panel. A smile spread across her face. There were all her posts, safe and sound. Good thing she hadn’t wasted time re-installing!

Better Safe Than Sorry

“I’m actually glad I had this experience,” Anna said. “Even though it turned out that I hadn’t been hacked, it scared me into educating myself. I’ve now installed protection against WordPress hackers, just in case”.

If you’ve never been hacked, don’t assume you won’t be. Anna was lucky this time – but she’s not counting on luck in the future.

What you need to do to enjoy peace of mind:

• Install WordPress Database Backup (or a similar plug-in) and schedule automatic backups today.
• Learn how to protect your blog against hackers, and don’t waste any time in setting up the appropriate precautions.

With these two tasks squared away, you’ll be able to focus on the important stuff – writing and publishing on your WordPress blog.

Here we present beginner and advanced tutorials for designers that teach you several techniques to help you master Adobe Illustrator.

We also hope to start publishing our own exclusive Illustrator Tutorials in a few weeks so keep checking our site.

How to Illustrate a Tomato

Design a Cool Print Ready Business Card in Illustrator & Photoshop

Wooden Smoking Pipe

Easy Clock Icon on Illustrator

Create a Cocktail Glass in Adobe Illustrator

How to create Angry Birds characters

Create a Cute Twitter Bird Character in Illustrator

Create a Loving Cup of Tea in Illustrator CS5

Draw a Vector RAM

Create a Cool Vector Robot Character in Illustrator

Creating a Toaster-Popping Illustration

Create a Semi-Realistic Light Bulb in Adobe Illustrator

How To Create An Espresso Machine Icon Inside Adobe Illustrator

The Making of Splash Page for Vector Pics.com

How To Create a Vector Soldier Character in Illustrator

How to create a cute little monster in Illustrator

How to Create a Textured Vector Landscape

An Illustrator’s Project: From Start to Finish

Draw realistic liquids in vector art

Create lush, glossy vector images

There are many ways that you can gain more traffic and on this article I will list tutorial submission sites. On future articles I will discuss other techniques to increase traffic that explore social media.

This list will also be used on tutorials that will be published at DevGarage if topic is accepted on those submission sites that I use. Lately I have found that many of old submission sites are abandoned so I will only post those that were active and without any type of submission problems based on my experience.

If you have one site that publishes tutorials this can be an easy and inexpensive strategy to generate more traffic and exposure.

Tutorialized

Good-Tutorials

Only Tutorials

Pixel2Life

Photoshop Roadmap

FSTutorials

Tutorial Sphere

TutCity

Capital Tutorials

Tutorial-Index

Though the images they produce may not be as high-quality as a digital camera in the same price-range, smartphones do have one striking advantage: apps. Specifically, smartphones users have access to a library of photo-taking and editing apps, which allow users to snap a picture, edit it directly on the phone, then email it or upload it to a social network.

Several photo apps are available via the Apple App Store or Android Marketplace, including:

Instagram

OS: iPhone

Instagram is an iPhone app that allows you to take a picture, then apply one of eleven different filters, each of which alters your photograph’s color, style, and tone. One filter, for example, makes your photographs look moody and noir, while others make them look super-saturated. Once you’ve taken a picture, Instagram allows you to upload it directly to your Facebook, Twitter, or Flickr account.

Hipstamatic

OS: iPhone

Hipstamatic is a particularly in-depth iPhone photo app. Unlike most apps, which apply a filter or effects to a picture after it is taken, Hipstamatic is different: you can choose a camera style, such as a 1970′s pocket cam, by scrolling through a series of “lenses.” Once a lens is applied to your camera, you can snap a picture like normal, and it will appear to have been taken with the type of camera you chose.

Pudding Camera

OS: Android

Pudding is like the Android-version of Hipstamatic, with one exception: you can choose a film type in addition to a camera type. For example, you can take a panoramic image on 37mm film.

Lightbox

OS: Android

Lightbox aims to make photo-taking a community event by connecting your images with your friends’ images.. You can make minor tweaks to a picture you take, then label it and add it to a “pool” of your other images, which your friends can browse. Likewise, you can browse your friends’ images, adding a visual element to their otherwise rote text-only Facebook and Twitter updates.

It’s easy to wish for success but success isn’t going to happen unless you exert some effort and keep yourself motivated until you finally achieve the results you want.

Here are some tips on how you can do just that:

1. Don’t listen to the negative voice in your head. Every time you are about to begin a task, no matter how big or small, a voice in your head will be telling you to get started right away and another voice will be telling you not to do it for whatever reason. You know which voice you should follow but unfortunately, many people end up heeding the negative voice because of their lack of motivation.

2. Get started on your tasks as soon as possible. The longer you debate on whether you should do something or not, the more likely you will end up abandoning the task. So when you know you absolutely have to do something, make it a habit to do it right away. Don’t waste precious time on negative contemplation.

3. Find a source of inspiration. Even the most motivated person in the world has an off day from time to time. During your off days, learn how to draw inspiration from things around you so you can continue moving toward achieving your goals. Inspiration comes from different places. Some people get it simply by watching the people around them or listening to meditative music, while others get it by reading the bible or by reciting affirmations. It’s something very personal and you will need to figure out for yourself where to find your own inspiration.

4. Take regular breaks. Being idle is definitely not good, but neither is pushing yourself too much that you are no longer able to function properly. Exhaustion not only reduces your productivity, it also reduces your motivation level considerably. In order to avoid draining yourself completely, reward yourself for small accomplishments. Treat yourself to a cocktail or two on the weekends or go out with some friends for a weekday lunch. Why not relax in a long luxurious bath from time to time? Such rewards will boost your productivity and increase your motivation.

5. Have fun. Try to find something fun in the things you do. This doesn’t mean you have to be excited about every task; if you accept that the tasks are necessary for the attainment of your ultimate goal, you will be able to do them more easily rather than if you think of them as some sort of punishment.

Image Credits

• Image Source: Fotolia

On this post I try to list some of the premium portfolio WordPress Themes that I liked, many of those have been launched in the last few weeks. I also list some older themes. Let me know which ones you liked the most.

Artiste

Bizchoco

Classica

Classy

Corona

Edge

Egallery

Flashlight

Galleria

Glide

GoGreen

Handerson

Infinity

Minos

Scope

So what do you get someone who lives, breathes, and sleeps social media?

The Facebook Junkie

What better gift to get the Facebook addict in your life than Facebook credits? While typically these credits can be purchased directly through Facebook, you can find Facebook credit gift cards in most major retailers including Target and Walmart. Once activated and added to a Facebook account, the credits can be used for all sorts of fun things including playing games and sending virtual gifts.

The Blogger/Tumblr user

If you know someone who blogs, tumbls, or has a website – a domain name (or renewal) can be a great gift. Most people who use Blogger, Blogspot, Tumblr, and other popular blogging software are using a web address that ends with the site’s name. For roughly $12, you can purchase your loved one their very own vanity URL, which they can set up to redirect to their blog.

The vlogger/YouTube user

If you’re shopping for someone who loves to vlog on YouTube, you might want to consider getting them a video camera. There are many social media friendly ones out there, such as the Flip camera, which shoots HD video, has a built in USB key, and features direct uploading to YouTube when connected. These little cameras run about $150, and are great for someone who is limited in their vlogs by a traditional webcam. If that’s a little out of your price range, find out what kind of videos your loved one is making, and get them something related. For instance, if they talk about makeup, you can get them some new items to review in a video.

The Flickr Photographer

If you know someone who loves to take photos and post them online, specifically to Flickr, it’s worth checking to see if they have a pro account. Pro accounts offer all sorts of extra features – such as unlimited uploads and storage, access to download original files, and account statistics. As an added bonus, the site is offering a free photo book if you sign up for a pro account before the end of January. There’s no need for access to your loved one’s account, either – you can register on your own, and purchase a gift membership for another user.

The FourSquare User

A new application called ‘Gifi’ allows you to leave real gifts for a friend virtually via FourSquare. It’s pretty simple: using a social payments company called Venmo, you purchase a virtual gift card for someone at a specific location. For instance, you could leave your friend $20 to spend at a restaurant they frequent. When your friend checks in to that location on FourSquare, they’ll get a text notification letting them know you’ve left credit for them to use at that venue. It’s basically like buying someone a gift card, but with a fun tech twist.

The Tweeter

Many companies are offering merchandise branded with the Twitter logo, or with cute sayings. There’s a number of Twitter tee shirts available online featuring sayings such as “Stop following me!”. You can also go the book route and grab a copy of “Twitter Wit”, a published collection of the wittiest and funniest tweets.

The Smartphone Owner

If your friend or family member has a smartphone, chances are they have many applications on their phone. While there are a number of free applications available for the iPhone, Blackberry, and Android, there are even more that cost money. Someone who loves apps, but hates paying for them would love to receive App Store credit. Similar to Facebook credits, these can be purchased in gift card form from most retailers. If you want to stay away from gift cards, you can also consider getting your loved one a cool accessory for their phone – such as portable speakers, a protective case, or a docking station.

Summary

If none of these options seem right, you can always check websites like Cafe Press, Etsy, and Amazon for themed gift ideas. There is an array of informative books available for all platforms and all user levels. You can also find pillows, tee shirts, mugs, socks, and tons more featuring social media logos, jokes, and images that any web-savvy person would love to find under the tree.

Free Travel WordPress Themes

Listen to the Wild

The Travel Theme

Authorship Travel Theme

Premium Travel WordPress Themes

Traveler Magazine WordPress Theme

WP World Traveler

World Traveler

Hotel Booking

Natural Theme

Tuscany

Voyage

Statua

Revolution

Soma Modern

ecoTravel

Journey