What's new for designers, August 2014

August 14, 2014

thumbnail The August edition of what's new for web designers and developers includes new web apps, frameworks, software, productivity apps, icons, CMSs, JavaScript resources, pattern libraries, and some really great new fonts.

Many of the resources below are free or very low cost, and are sure to be useful to a lot of designers and developers out there.

As always, if we've missed something you think should have been included, please let us know in the comments. And if you have an app or other resource you'd like to see included next month, tweet it to @cameron_chapman for consideration.

Scribbleton

Scribbleton is personal wiki app. It has support for multiple platforms and makes it easy to organize your thoughts, with everything within reach.

Free Survey Creator

Free Survey Creator makes is simple to create truly free surveys in less than a minute. Just create your survey, get a single line of code to embed the survey on your site, and get feedback.

Design Meltdown

Design Meltdown has recently undergone a redesign to make it even more useful and inspiring. Browse by tag, or check out any of the 500 new designs featured in the sidebar.

Devicons

Devicons is a set of programming icons that you can use with a single line of code. There are icons for GitHub, Android, Linux, Sass, Ember, PHP, and many more.

Refills

Refills is a set of prepackaged components and patterns that are built on Bourbon, Bitters, and Neat. The patterns included go beyond the basics, including things like icon bullet points, side images, cards, and much more.

Semplice

Semplice is a fully brandable and customizable case study portfolio system based on WordPress that gives designers and creatives way more control. A single license is $69, while an agency license (which allows for 10 domains) is $299.

Yeo+Lab

Yeo+Lab is a Yeoman generator for Pattern Lab. It sets up a new Pattern Lab site with some optional workflow enhancements and front-end dependencies.

Breach

Breach is an open-source, modular, hackable browser written entirely in JavaScript. The UI is built entirely from interchangeable JavaScript/HTML5 modules, while the Chromium Content API and Node.js power the backend.

Please.js

Please.js is a better random color generator. Instead of generating just any old color (which often results in lots of shades that aren't very attractive), it restricts it to colors that are aesthetically pleasing, and you can even generate a random color based on another color.

Human Interface Guidelines

Human Interface Guidelines is a Tumblr blog that offers up tips and advice for human-friendly design. It's done in a question-and-answer format, with answers collected on Twitter from designers all over the world.

Indicative

Indicative is a new set of business analytics tools for visualizing your business. It's specifically aimed at startups, with smart dashboards, segmentation, and more.

Frame

Frame is a tool for getting awesome product shots. It offers scenes for everything from tablets to desktops and more, and all you have to do is upload your image and crop it to the right size.

Startup Stock Photos

Startup Stock Photos is a Tumblr blog that offers up a ton of awesome stock photos perfect for startups, all for free. Most of the photos revolve around technology, work, and office settings.

Objecticons

Objecticons are a set of collaborative icons that give everyday inanimate objects personality. The icons portray emotions related to the function and appearance of the objects they represent (like happy music notes or a menacing bomb).

FontFace Ninja

FontFace Ninja is a browser extension for Safari or Chrome (or bookmarklet for other browsers) that lets you find fonts on a website. It also lets you hide pictures and ads on a site to focus just on the fonts!

Pagekit

Pagekit is a new, modern CMS for creating and sharing content. It has a responsive design, a markdown editor, widgets, users and permissions management, a media manager, and more.

Chevereto

Chevereto is an image hosting script that lets you easily create an image hosting website on your service. The basic version is free, though there are paid hosting options and other licenses available.

Planleaf

Planleaf is an email-based task management app that lets you manage your to-do list over email with anyone. There's no installation, download, or signup necessary.

5iler

5iler is a notepad that keeps just five simple, repurposable "files". Files can be organized via color and customizable labels, and repurpose them at any time to fit your needs.

LegalSifter

LegalSifter gives you insight into how fair your contract is without having to consult a lawyer, along with tips on how to improve your contracts. Just upload a Word Doc, their servers will process it, and give you suggestions in 30 seconds!

Wunderlist 3

Wunderlist 3 offers up more than 60 new improvements, the biggest Wunderlist update so far! It includes real-time sync, a new design, and public lists, among other features.

Teamreporter

Teamreporter can help replace your team status meetings by replacing them with scheduled report emails. It's free for small teams (up to 4 people), and can help your team be more efficient and improve communication.

Tinyblu

Tinyblu allows you to more easily keep up with the people who matter in your life, including professional contacts. Just enter the important relationships you want to keep track of and you'll see a lifeline for each person with info on the last time you interacted.

Twibble

Twibble makes it simple to publish content from any RSS feed to Twitter, and includes beautiful imagery in every tweet. Just add an RSS feed (from a blog, YouTube, Pinterest, etc.), set your schedule, and share your feed.

Vellum

Vellum can turn your Twitter feed into a simple reading list, putting the spotlight on content. It even ranks the links based on how often they've been shared by your followers.

Pomotodo

Pomotodo is an app that combines the Pomodoro Technique and GTD so you can work more efficiently and more effectively. It works on iOS and Android, as well as on the Web. (If you're unfamiliar with the Pomodoro Technique, you should really check it out!)

WhoHasAccess

WhoHasAccess makes it simple to find out who has access to your Google Drive files and folders, and makes it easy to remove those who shouldn't have access.

SmallPDF

SmallPDF lets you compress PDFs to reduce their file sizes, as well as handle a number of other PDF manipulation tasks (turning files into PDFs, merging PDFs, splitting PDFs, and more).

PatternBolt

PatternBolt is a collection of SVG pattern backgrounds, packed into one CSS or SCSS file. It's easy to select a pattern, change the size, and choose a color to use.

Wireframe.cc

Wireframe.cc is a simple web app for wireframing apps and websites. It's easy to use, with a limited palette, super minimal interface, smart suggestions, easy annotations, and more.

Liberio

Liberio allows you to create simple ebooks right from Google Drive. Just write your text, import it to Liberio (which will preserve nearly all of your Google Drive document's features), and publish your ebook (it'll create files ready to Amazon, Google Play Books, iBooks, and more).

Webhook

Webhook, which just came out of beta, is an easy way to build a custom CMS for your website. There's no database or hosting to manage, and you can try it free for 14 days.

Handsome Script ($25)

Handsome Script is a font created from the designer's morning ritual of drawing script letters.

Pique ($49)

Pique is a fast-moving brush script with a crisp energy and buoyancy.

Artz ($24.95)

Artz is a wood type font cut at Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum, designed by Erik Spiekermann for his own print studio. The digital version is being sold with proceeds of sales going to the museum's operations.