Inkscape: Open Source Graphics Editor
Inkscape is a really nice (and of course, free) graphics program that we wanted to showcase here. From their website:
“Inkscape is an Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, Freehand, CorelDraw, or Xara X using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format. Supported SVG features include shapes, paths, text, markers, clones, alpha blending, transforms, gradients, patterns, and grouping. Inkscape also supports Creative Commons meta-data, node editing, layers, complex path operations, bitmap tracing, text-on-path, flowed text, direct XML editing, and more. It imports formats such as JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and others and exports PNG as well as multiple vector-based formats.
Inkscape’s main goal is to create a powerful and convenient drawing tool fully compliant with XML, SVG, and CSS standards. We also aim to maintain a thriving user and developer community by using open, community-oriented development.”
Inspiring Quotes
We found these on the CareerRamblings blog, hope they inspire you!
Albert Szent-Gyorgi on Innovation: “Discovery consists of looking at the same thing as everyone else and thinking something different.”
John Wayne on Being Brave: “Courage is being scared to death - and saddling up anyway.”
George Eliot on Goals: “It is never too late to be what you might have been.”
Nido Qubein on Potential: “Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go - they merely determine where you start.”
Alfred North Whitehead on Action: “Ideas won’t keep. Something must be done about them.”
Lou Holtz on Learning: “Everyone should experience defeat at least once during their career. You learn a lot from it.”
Martin Luther King Jr on Courage: “Our lives start to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
A Serendipitous Update
PHP Updates: Right on the heels of our last PHP update, new releases appeared the same day. We are beginning to update the shared servers to the newest versions of PHP4 and PHP5. This is announced in the forum here. Dedicated server and VPS clients will need to request the upgrade via ticket.
Forum Notes: 1. Voting for the coveted forum awards will begin in April. Stay tuned for the official dates! See the past winners and prizes here. 2. Forum Member of the Month is coming back and we will post the interviews here in the blog. 3. Haugland’s Mint Giveaway ends February 27. Submit your entry as soon as possible! Here’s information on the giveaway.
Site Stats: Turn Up the Heat
When our site was redesigned we wanted the new look to inherit two traits from the Surpass Philosophy: simplicity and straightforwardness. We like to get in and out of a site fast and know exactly what’s being offered and how it can be of help to us. Now that our new site has been up for some time now, we needed a little insight on what we can’t see. We have tracked with Mint since March 2006 and have a big brick (our affectionate name for the huge Mint database) of visitor information, but something was missing. We needed a bigger and better analysis of visitor trends.
Enter CrazyEgg. They offer a monthly service that allows you to see exactly where site visitors are clicking. The results are visual, even beautifully visual when you take a look at their heat map. A heat map you say?
It can cost a pretty penny to track a lot of clicks, but you may get all of the insight you need from one month. All heat map services offer free trials and added services. We’ve included some links below if you decide to seek the heat.
Links:
CrazyEgg.com - Free Starter Plan
ClickDensity.com - Free Starter Plan, seems to have more goodies than CrazyEgg
LabsMedia.com/ClickHeat - Open Source, but not as fancy looking as CrazyEgg and ClickDensity
So what have we found so far? Shared hosting is our most popular service by far, even in our forum Shared Discussion is the hot spot. We now have a plan of action to spice up our reseller hosting and other lines. We also noticed that our site map is tumbleweed territory. We’ve removed the site map link to make room for the blog link. Site maps aren’t what they used to be!
Stay toasty!
Welcome To The Blog
With such a happening community that’s done a fantastic job at keeping Surpass users in touch, we never thought a blog was necessary. During the past couple of months we’ve seriously been weighing our options and we decided to go for it. 2003 was the year of the forum. 2007 will be the year of the blog. Sure, blogs aren’t a new concept by any means - we’ve been hosting them forever! But a blog is yet another tool to keep us connected, so let’s use it!
And why do we need to stay connected? Well, hosting with Surpass is not just about going to a website, picking out an amazing hosting plan, and working on a site for the world to see. Surpass is a community. We’re all here to help each other learn and prosper on the web. Surpass customers keep the creative flow.. flowing! It doesn’t stop, it’s 24/7, and it’s worldwide.
So from now on we will use this blog to share cool web services with you, and share what’s happening at Surpass in the now.
Thanks for joining us!
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