Periodic table of the open source graphics and design apps

Are you ever overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of open source software projects produced by the community? Even when looking at just a subset — such as graphics applications — if you are not already familiar with the options, the volume can make it hard to track down the application that fits your needs. The major categories tend to break down the same way, however — just a few major players; the large projects often catering to slightly different design goals, and a second set of smaller projects each of which has a smaller team and a more narrow focus.

Let’s examine each design field in turn. We’ll start by describing the leading program or programs in each, followed by the smaller or younger projects, and end with the special-purpose tools.

by Nathan Willis  read more »


Open Clip Art Library: Call for Sports Clip Art

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The Open Clip Art Library has spent much of 2010 actively pursuing higher ground and greater methods of user contribution, beginning with the March Release of Version 2.0. Since that landmark release, the OCAL team has been on a regular iteration schedule, geared toward simplifying the user experience and fixing bugs.

More recent openclipart.org releases have begun adding incentives for content creation, in the form of themed package releases. To date, said releases have resulted in a wide array of content that forms a spectrum of seasonal work.

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Moving & storage Labels: free complete template kit

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Are you moving soon and need help with organizing all your cartons and boxes? Do you need printable moving or storage labels to help you to identify all your valuables? Or, maybe you need to keep everything in storage for a while and — in this case — you really do have to have everything labeled. No worries!  We’re offering a free fillable Moving Label Kit for you to download. It is a PDF  template and the printable labels are in US letter size sheets.

Included in the Moving Label Kit: master list, fragile labels, this side up labels, customize tags for each room, To and From, beware glass, shipping label size and more……..

Label sizes to use:

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Label Template: always a need

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Label template: it is just something you will need sooner or later. There are so many reasons why you might need one, it is too long to list. Worldlabel offers a complete collection of  templates for labels, yes almost every label size available can be downloaded  to help you create and print labels. If you using MS Word or Openoffice.org we have a template for you.  If you using a graphic design program, our  PDF templates can be used as a guildline layer.

“Autofill PDF label Template”

Need a label template for Openoffice.org 

Try our PDF Autofill Labels for formating your basic text labels in an instant.

Our CD Label Templates allways come in handy.


Classy Stickers for digiKam Lovers Giveaway (Update)

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digiKam Sticker

Using open source software? Then we have something for you. In collaboration with the open source community, we’ve designed some classy stickers you can use to spice up your notebook or netbook and show the world your support for open source software. The stickers are based on some original designs, so you won’t find them anywhere else.

The stickers are printed on high-quality vinyl labels from World Label that are both waterproof and smudge-resistant.

The first set of stickers is designed for digiKam users. If you use this powerful photo management application to process and organize your photos, you have a chance to win 5 sheets (18 stickers each) featuring our original design.

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment to this post (don’t forget to include your email address), and we’ll pick a winner on Monday, July 16.

If you don’t win, there is no reason to despair: in the spirit of open source, the sticker design and template [PDF] are also 100 percent open source, so you can print the stickers yourself. And you can buy labels for that from us!

UPDATE:

And the winner is…

Well, first of all, thank you all for participating in the giveaway. It’s nice to see that so many people use digiKam for processing and managing photos. The lucky winner of the giveaway is Kanwar Plaha. We will contact you shortly to arrange the shipment. We also decided to give a single sheet to another three participants: Simon Slater, Edney Matias, Thomas Damgaard. Expect an email in your inbox soon. Once
again, thank you all for participating, and check back later for more exciting giveaways!


Open Clip Art Library Releases Version 2.3!

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The Open Clip Art Library enjoys yet another of it’s scheduled monthly updates, with revision 2.3. With over 32,000 vector graphics currently calling it home, OCAL has grown into one of the largest and most prevalent sources for freely available graphics on the web. Version 2.3 aims to begin building on this solid foundation, by increasing user interaction and content submissions.

The Spring 2010 Clip Art Package brought together a diverse group of artists and pointed them in a similar thematic direction. Over 11,900 individual downloads have proven the themed package format an effective way of presenting similarly-grouped work to the Community. As in the June Release, Open Clip Art 2.3 brings along with it, a compact, user-generated, themed package of clipart.

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Waterproof labels for your products DIY

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Do you need waterproof labels / weather-resistant labels for your products? How about for use on that  water bottle for the company party or even on your beach gear or your bath, food or other outdoor products? With Worldlabel’s waterproof labels, you can use your laser or inkjet printer to make these labels yourself.

Worldlabel’s waterproof  labels for laser printers only use a 60-lb. bright white face sheet with a 50-lb. liner made from a vinyl material. Our white waterproof label sheet for inkjet printing is 50-lb. bright white vinyl face sheet with a 50-lb. liner. These materials make the label sturdy and provide the durability to last longer in outdoor applications where water and a wide range of temperatures might damage a regular label. Additionally, the adhesive is a high quality acrylic permanent adhesive that holds up under extreme weather conditions.

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Become a typeface pro with Fontmatrix

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Fontmatrix is a free/libre font explorer for Linux, Windows and Mac

Casual computer users often give little thought to fonts, but once you starting working on design — from your web site to your stationary needs, you soon begin to appreciate the positive effects a good typeface can have on branding and marketing. The trouble comes when you start to collect more fonts on your system than you can keep track of in your head. Worse yet, most operating systems attempt to manage fonts for you in an all-or-nothing fashion, through which large collections can slow down application speed, in addition to being tiresome to scroll through. The solution is a good font manager, like the open source Fontmatrix.

by Nathan Willis

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How to Eliminate Blots From My Inkjet Prints?

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We have covered how to clean a beyond-filthy printer here. The databazaar blog has a informative post on eliminating ink blots when using your Inkjet printer.  Dont forget, reducing the DPI settings in the printer properties can increase the quailty of your print when using inkjet printers!

Ink in ballpoint pens and inkjet printer cartridges share a common trait — they’re designed to dry quickly. Fast-drying ink works well when the ink dries on paper, but not so well if the ink dries on the printhead that dispenses it. When ink dries on a ball point of a pen, the ball no longer rolls smoothly on paper to evenly distribute ink, which creates blots of ink on a page. The same is true for inkjet printers when ink dries on the printhead — blots of ink appear on a printed page.

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Open Clip Art Library Launches Logo Design Contest!

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The “Free Culture” Movement, instantiated in a 2004 publication by Creative Commons founding member Lawrence Lessig, is a reaction to content ownership in a digital age. Because The Open Clip Art Library is, at it’s core, a platform to freely share and collaborate created content, it will be forever intertwined with the Movement.

The Free Culture Research Conference was born of a need from academics, in various disciplines, to analyze and discuss the implications of the Free Culture Movement.

The FCRC Organizers are seeking to establish an identity for these annual Conferences, and they are asking for the help of the Open Clip Art Community!

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