The issue that most people have with creating their own website is that they don’t know how to do it. They can figure out how to get a host, a domain, and even a .com if they want it. Where they run into trouble is the part of the process where you take a design and make it into HTML (the backbone of a lot of websites.) If that is what is holding you back, then fret no more. BlueGriffon, a free Open Source WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) HTML editor based on the Firefox rendering engine, is here to help.

I don’t think that its important for me to take you through the steps of implementing a design using BlueGriffon. What I am going to do for this review is let you know what I think are the biggest strengths and short comings of the software. All screenshots will be from the Mac OS X version of the software, but there are clients available for Windows and Linux as well.

What BlueGriffon Does Right

I think its best to start with what BlueGriffon gets right. In my time playing with it and testing it out, I found myself loving the ability to manipulate my images and text and have code written for me. While I have some experience writing in HTML, I sometimes find parts of it cumbersome, like arranging images. This is one of the best things about BlueGriffon, and any WYSIWYG editor. You can move things around, and the code automatically updates to reflect the changes.

One of the biggest plusses for BlueGriffon is the range of HTML that it can support. Not only does it support the more basic HTML 4 version of the standard language, but it also supports HTML 5. HTML 5 has become very popular among developers, and is considered the gold standard at the moment. One major reason for this being such a big deal is Apple’s iOS, which supports HTML 5, but not Flash, which HTML 5 is sort of designed to replace.

BlueGriffon has also found a great price point (FREE!) for an editor of this caliber. While the stock set of features is a little bare for my professional needs, which we will talk about later, it would be perfect for an amateur just looking to set up a simple webpage. On top of being great for amateurs, its one of the first free cross-platform editors of its kind. That has a special place in my heart because, while I write and work on a Mac, a large part of my development and web design is done on a Windows machine.

What BlueGriffon Gets Wrong

As I said above, BlueGriffon doesn’t come with all the features I look for in a web development toolkit out of the box. These features are available, but they cost money. One of the things I really need is an advanced CSS editor, which BlueGriffon offers as an ‘add-on’ for around $15 USD, or 9.99 Euros. Another add-on that I wish came with the suite is the FTP uploader. While i understand the reasoning behind selling these more advanced features as add-ons, it is sad to see them not be made free like the main program.

Another issue that I have with BlueGriffon is its lack of support for other coding languages. While I championed its offering of HTML 5, I have to shame it by saying that all it really offers is HTML and CSS. Some of the things I need to write or implement are done in JavaScript or even PHP. Neither of these are natively supported by BlueGriffon.

Final Verdict On BlueGriffon

BlueGriffon presents its self as the “next-generation Web Editor.” While I agree that it has some fo the best potential and features of any free web editor I have come across, it doesn’t exactly live up to its name. If you need to do simple HTML work, or if you are looking to write in HTML 5, then I would check out BlueGriffon. However, if you are an advanced user, then you will probably need to buy some add-ons.

It is important to note that, even with all the add-ons, BlueGriffon is one of the most affordable web editing suites around. If you are int he market for a web editor, I recommend you check out BlueGriffon. It is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, and the download itself is Free.

Final Rating: 4/5, for a freemium model for HTML  editors.

Currently, there are hundreds of desktop client for Facebook, but most of them offer the same features, while the rest are not up to the mark. Recently, I found out a new desktop client for Facebook called Parley.im, which not only helps you to chat with your Facebook friends, but it also allow you to download your friend’s photos and albums.

You can download the Parley.im from the developer’s website. This software requires .Net Framework 2.0. If you haven’t already installed the .Net Framework 2.0, then it will automatically download and install the .Net Framework on your PC. After installing this program, you will need to sign up for a Parley.im account. Then you will have to sign in with your Facebook account and connect it with the Parley.im account. The complete procedure will not take more than a minute.

Google Talk allow us to stay invisible or busy, but the Facebook Chat does not offer these features. Facebook Chat has only 2 chat modes – Online and Offline. Hence, I would recommend you check out the amazing Parley.im client, which has 4 chat modes – Online, Invisible, Away and Offline. The invisible feature allow you to appear offline to everyone, but you will be able to see who is online. On the other hand, when someone send you a message, they will get an auto-reply stating that you are away or busy, thanks to the “Away” feature.

Most of the time, the Facebook chat list is not accurate. Some of the friends are shown online in the chat list, even if they have signed out 5 minutes ago. Parley.im solves this problem since it always displays the accurate chat list. It also offers an IM style Facebook Chat with bigger interface and individual windows to chat with your friends. A small popup window alerts you when a friend comes online or when you receive a new mail, requests or comments.

Facebook does not allow you to download your friends photos and albums, but Parley.im comes with an in-built photo browser which helps you to directly view your friends photos and albums from the desktop. This software also allow you to download your friends photos or albums. You will just need to select the album and it will automatically download all the images from the album to your hard drive. You can also select multiple albums, but it may take some more time to download, depending on the album’s size.

Techie Buzz Verdict:

Parley.im is an amazing desktop client for Facebook. Currently, this program is in beta stage, so you might find some problem, while using this software, specially while viewing and downloading your friends photos and albums. Parley.im is more responsive and stable than chating in any browser. It works on Windows 7, Vista and XP.

Techie Buzz Rating: 3/5 (Good)

[ Download Parley.im ]

[Windows Only] I recently saw an offer for a 1 Terabyte hard disk for around $120. The price of storage space keeps getting better and better. Once you start filling up huge disks, you need a way to figure out what stuff belongs on them and what you need to send to the trash.

There are dozens of disk management solutions out there and many of them are free. However, sometimes you get what you pay for. O&O Software is giving away copies of their O&O DiskStat program. It’s normally priced at $30 USD. In this case, you are getting much more than what you pay for.

Quote from O&O Software:

O&O DiskStat is a high-power tool for analyzing the used disk space on your storage volumes. With an easy-to-use interface based on the design of the Windows Explorer, you can take a closer look at the file and folder structure of your internal and external drives. Through intuitive and beautiful graphical representations you will find out which files, file types and folders are taking up the most space.

A few of the features:
* Analysis of the File System Structure
* Supports Internal and External Drives
* Windows Explorer Look & Feel
* Support of 64-bit Systems
* Windows Vista/7 Compatibility

Sign up for a free license of O&O DiskStat (requires an email address)

There are plenty of disk cleanup tools in the market; in fact, almost every system maintenance suite includes one. Yet, believe me when I say, very few can claim to be as comprehensive as DiskMax.

I first used DiskMax more than a year back and was wowed by it instantly. DiskMax had managed to effortlessly reclaim fifteen gigabytes of precious space. Since, then it has only improved by leaps and bounds.

DiskMax’s interface is unique because rather than asking you to select the items you want to scan beforehand, it keeps prompting as it progresses. It supports four scan profiles, which offer varying degrees of optimization. As I mentioned earlier, what sets DiskMax apart from the crowd is its thoroughness. Among other things, it cleans Microsoft Office Installer Cache, performance logs, unused hibernation and page files, icon cache, user registry entries, Windows memory dumps, Windows logs, Windows Update backups, Windows event logs and browser data (Firefox, Opera, Chrome and Internet Explorer).

Techie Buzz Verdict

I have been using DiskMax for more than year and have never encountered any problems. In the past year, I have used it on numerous occasions, on various systems, and the results were always astounding. However, once should be careful while using the Deep Scan option. In fact, I would recommend not using it, if you do not know what you are doing. Nevertheless, even without Deep Scan, it managed to delete more than ten-gigabyte of junk on my cousin’s computer.

DiskMax is a fabulous utility, which works marvelously. The unique interface actually works rather well and allows you to customize the scan profiles according to your needs. The only annoyance is that it insists on forcing users to check for updates. The installer is also rather rude, and doesn’t support any interaction with the user. However, do not let these niggles stop you from using an excellent utility.

Techie Buzz Rating: 4.5/5 (Excellent)

[ Download DiskMax ]

Applications by default do not run with any parameters, the shortcuts for applications usually point to the main application executable. There are times though when you may want to run the application by passing some arguments, for example if you want to invoke Firefox Profile Manager you will have to specify the argument profilemanager. So the actual command will look like /path/to/firefox profilemanager.

Open With Arguments is a handy Windows utility that saves you the pain of opening a command prompt, navigating to the directory and typing in the command to launch a application with arguments.

Open With Arguments allows users to directly pass arguments to executable files by providing a option in the context menu. Using open with arguments is quite easy, once you have downloaded and installed the software right click on any executable file and click on the Open with Argument option.

A new window will popup asking you to provide the arguments you want to open the application with. For example if you want to open the Firefox Profile Manager use profilemanager as the parameter or if you want to open Firefox in safemode use –safemode.

Once you have provided the arguments click on ok and the application should be launched with the arguments you provided. Open with arguments also keeps a history of arguments you used to open applications so that you can quickly access it at a later time.

You also have a option to select console application to indicate that you are opening a batch file or command line tool. For example you can quickly launch a java application by right clicking on the java executable and providing the path or classpath to the java file.

Overall quite a useful application for testers as well as other software users who desist using command line interface and would rather use a GUI to launch applications with arguments.

Open with arguments is completely free software so you do not have to work about paying anything.

Download Open With Arguments.

Via: [ShellCity]

Macrium Reflect is an award winning disk imaging and file backup solution for Windows XP, Vista and Server 2003.

Macrium Reflect allows you to create images of your hard disk drives and partitions which you can restore at a later date if anything goes wrong with your PC.

From the software makers;

A complete disaster recovery solution for your home and office. Protect your personal documents, photos, music and emails. Upgrade your hard disk or try new operating systems in the safe knowledge that everything is securely saved in an easily recovered backup file.

Macrium Reflect usually sells for $40 per license key but it can be downloaded for free only today from Giveawayoftheday.com.

So go ahead and download your copy of Macrium Reflect Full Version before the offer times out.