You may be comfortable with the writing environment in WordPress, but ask a friend or a non blogger to write something in the post panel. I am sure the person will stare at the screen for some minutes before he actually starts to write.

Zen strips off all the unnecessary options from the post writing panel and lets you write the post in a clutter free interface. You can write posts, save it as draft and publish from the Zen UI. Here is how Zen looks:

Download Zen. (or search for “Zen” under plugins option within WordPress panel)

After you have activated the plugin, go to your profile page and select the checkbox “Always open in Zen mode“. Next, choose a theme  and hit “Save changes” to activate Zen.

Zen comes in 5 different themes and you can choose a theme which suits your style – Light, dark, Papyrus, Papyrus lite and Terminal. You can use keyboard shortcuts with Zen which makes it so easy to use.

• Z – Start Zen.
• T- Switch Themes
• Q- Quit Zen

One can say “Why not use the maximized mode for writing posts ?”. Sure, maximizing the editor removes the widgets and links but you can not save a post as draft or publish a post from the maximized mode.

Also, there are a whole lot of buttons in the maximized mode, which is why I don’t use it at all. I agree that the buttons are useful and serve a purpose but if you are a firm believer of keeping things simple – Zen is the answer.

Tip: If you have novice contributors who are not really familiar with the WordPress administration area, it would be a good idea to use Zen.

Zen: Distraction Free Writing Environment For WordPress originally published on Ampercent

In that case here are some online tools that will zip your files and let you download them in proper zip formats.

Use Gmail To Zip Files up to 25Mb

If you have images and documents that you would want to convert into a zip archive format – why not use Gmail.

1. Compose a new email message and upload the documents and images as an attachment.

2. Send the email to another email address you own and open the inbox of the later one.

3. While reading the email you sent, you will see a hyperlink to download all attachments as a zip file.

That’s it. You have just converted the documents and images into zip files. Now you can download these attachments or send the zipped files to anyone else via email.

Use Google Docs To Zip Word Documents, Spreadsheets and Presentations

Suppose you have a large number of office documents that you want to send to your friend. You cannot attach the zipped file because Gmail has a limit of 25 mb per attachment. And manually uploading files as email attachment is certainly not an option as it will take hours to finish.

In that case, you can use Google docs to send zipped archives of up to 2 GB. Follow the steps mentioned below:

1. Upload all the documents in your Google account.

2. When you are finished uploading, go to the “All Documents” tab and select all the documents. Click the “More actions” button and select “Export”

3. Next, select the documents that you want to download as a zipped archive. If there are large number of documents to be converted into zipped format, you can request Gmail to email you the link when the zipping process is complete. After that, you can download all the documents as zipped archive from the download link which will be sent as a new email message.

Now, you can forward this email message to anyone as all the documents will be attached as a zip attachment. (also read: how to open excel spreadsheets without Microsoft office)

A much simpler solution is what follows next. Create a new folder in Google docs and move all the documents in that folder. Now share that folder with the recipients email address. Ask the recipient to log into his Google account and download the documents as zip archives using the method described above.

Online Utilities to Zip Files Online

There may be situations where you would want to use an online tool to zip files online, rather than just using Gmail.

NippyZip: NippyZip is a free online compression utility that can zip up to 10 files online to create an archive. You can email the zipped file to any email address and it works best when you are using a public computer and do not want to open your email account to do the job.

Nippyzip can compress files of size 5024 kb and you do not need to create an account or register with the site. When the compression is complete, you get an email which points you to a URL where you can download the zipped file.

Filetac.com: Similar service but useful if you are browsing the web from a mobile. Just browse to the website and upload your files (2mb per file). After the upload is complete, you can download the zipped archive in your computer.

If you are using a mobile to browse the web, just browse to the Filetac homepage and enter the code that you are given after the file upload.

Similar services: Online Zip.

3 Tools to Create Zip Files Online originally published on Ampercent

Potato screen capture is a tiny utility (1mb) that lets you capture screenshots of drop down menus, pop ups and user generated events that loses focus when you try to capture them. After the screen capture is complete, you can send the screen capture to an email address using the built in email client. It also supports uploading the screenshot to Imageshack or your own server through FTP.

The built in functionalities are cool which includes capturing an active window, object and region through a hotkey (F7). You can also magnify or zoom a small area and take the screenshot. It lets you save the image in PNG, JPG, GIF, TIF and BMP formats. The user interface is extremely simple and anyone who needs to capture screenshots of dropdown or rollover menus which quickly loses focus – Potato screen capture is the answer.

The software works with Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. And here is a video demo of how potato screen capture works

There is Aviary and Kwout – two web based options to capture screenshots and Pickpick – a portable screen capture tool, but none of them support capturing screenshots of drop down menus and popups. Also check out Scenegrabber – which lets you capture screenshots from movies and videos.

How to Capture Screenshots of Drop Down Menus, Pop ups That Loses Focus originally published on Ampercent

Earlier we have seen free utilities to create Bar graphs,Venn diagrams and pie charts.There are so many websites that let you create pie charts online for free.But seeing Lovely charts, i am convinced that it would outrank it’s competitors.

How it Works : Creating a diagram is easy.Select a new flow chart from File and drag and drop all the elements of the flow chart from the left pane in the compose box.You can add process,decision box,connectors,input output and possibly every element that you may ever need to customize your flow chart.Here is how the interface looks

After you have added the process boxes and other elements in your chart just hit the large connector button in the left pane.This will let you connect the different blocks.The entire interface is very user friendly and even a kid can easily create a chart in minutes.Here is a small screen cast describing how lovely charts works

Similarly you can also create cool network diagrams,sitemaps,people diagrams and wireframes.Given below are some examples created using Lovely charts.

A Flow chart

A Network diagram

A Wireframe

A Sitemap

Saving your charts : All the charts  that you compose are saved in your account for future use.Moreover you can export and save these charts in JPEG and PNG formats.The free account lets you save just one chart for future editing while the premier edition allows you to save multiple charts for further editing.

Share your chart with other users : If you have a premier account then you can share your charts with others and allow collaboration.This makes it easy to share your diagrams with colleagues,customers,clients and get their opinion on a subject.Users can also comment on any chart and give you useful feedback.If you do not like a particular version you can revert back to an earlier build at any time.

Importing images and other stuff in your charts : You can import your own images,icons and other media items in your chart if you have a premier account.So if you have created a nice portrait and want to include it in your diagram,you can.

Charts can be made Public or private : You have complete control over the visibility of Flow charts or other diagrams that you create using Lovely charts.Other users wont be able to view your charts if you hide them and do not make them public.So if you have a confidential business plan that you do not want to expose Lovely charts is a safe option.

Create Flow charts and Network diagrams online with Lovely charts originally published on Ampercent

Earlier we have discussed how to create pie charts-Bar graphs and venn diagrams with online free tools. Here are some of the more pie chart creation tools for you

Charttool : The most flexible online chart generation tool i have seen.You can create pie charts,line charts,bar charts and radar plots with charttool (see example).

You can edit or access your charts later if you have signed up for an account.After creating your charts you can download the charts in your computer in popular image formats like PNG,JPEG. It also supports generating a PDF or CSV of your charts so if you  have a large number of  fields to be used this service is recommended.The charts thus created can be shared using email.

Chartpart : Chartpart is a website that can be used to create pie charts online.You can create 3d pie charts,line graphs,stacked bars,side grouped bar,scatter plots,grouped bars and Venn diagrams  using Chartpart.

At first select the type of pie chart that you want to create and enter your data in the data box. The resulting pie chart is generated in your right as you enter the data.After you have finished creating the chart you can embed the chart in your blog or website by adding a small piece of code. The chart can also be shared with anyone as every chart generated has a Unique URL.

Maptools : Maptools is the simplest website to create pie charts online. You can create pie charts,bar graphs and multi set bars using this website. Just select the number of fields of your chart, assign a color for that field and set it’s value. Your chart is created instantly which you can save in your computer as an image.

The downside is that your chart is not stored online so you cannot directly share it  with anyone or embed it in your blog or anywhere else.

Yellow pipe Pie chart generator

Yellow pipe is another simple pie chart generator web app.Select the number of input fields,select the color of the fields and assign the data. The chart is generated which you can save as an image in your computer

Also do check out some of the interesting Free tools at Yellow pipe

Develop a Pie chart using Google chart API

If you want to go with google then you can generate dynamic charts using the Google charts API. Open  a new  browser window and paste the following in your address bar

http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?cht=p3&chd=t:20,40,25,15&chs=250×100&chl=Field1|Field2|Field3|Field4

Here you need to supply the values of the Fields as shown by 20,40,25 and 15 separating each of them with commas. At the end of the URL separate the name of the fields with a pipe (|).The example can be found here

Create pie charts online with Free tools originally published on Ampercent

Recover hard drive space using Treesize

TreeSize is a Useful windows Application that can be used to scan your entire computer and arrange the folders hierarchal in order of Sizes. It searches Hidden folders, system folders and tells you how much size each folder is consuming in your computer.

They have a Free as well as a paid version. The Free version  would be sufficient for your Needs but just In case you want something extra ( like duplicate folder search and some advanced Visual graphics ) you can try the Paid version  instead.

You can also free up some space in your System by removing Duplicate Files and Folders with Free tools we have discussed earlier.

Disk Space cleaner

Disk space cleaner is a tiny utility that can search for junk files in your system and clean them in a minute. It can be used to scan multiple drives at once in windows 98,me,XP,2003. Also features a cookie cleaner ,temp folder cleaner which you can use to clear the temporary internet files or cache.Very fast and effective tool to use on a daily basis.

If you want you can also recover the deleted files later on. An excellent option to free up hard disk space in your windows system. You can download and use the trial version of Disk space cleaner before buying the pro features.

Create a Visual heatmap of your hard disk with Windirstat

A freeware utility  for windows but very useful.WinDirStat can be used to rapidly index your hard drive and create a visual map of your used up hard drive space. After that you can delete the files you  do not need.

While you start the program you can index your entire hard drive or choose a selected drive for clean up. The folders are then organized in order of sizes and free space

Here is an Image of  one of my drives scanned with Windirstat

As you can see all the files are mapped as an image  and you can clearly visualize which applications are using how much space in your system.Every type of file is marked by a different color and the larger the file the larger is the  block occupied in the visual map.To begin the clean up process just select an application or an  entire folder.

Also See: Recover Lost data from USB drives

List large files in your System

Sometimes you may wish to list all the large files and folders  that are occupying huge space in your system.In that case use List large files.It is a free portable application for windows that can be used to List all the files in a specific drive according to sizes and space occupied.You can use this utility from a USB stick on multiple computers as it does not require any installation

After the scan is complete double click a file and  the folder containing the file is opened so that you can perform a manual deletion.You can export the file list as a CSV file for future use. A safe tool to use without worrying about any failures and calculating hard drive space.

What is exactly occupying your Hard drive ?

OverDisk can be used to completely analyze your hard drive partition or selected folders and see how the files are distributed in your hard drive. The files are scanned and presented according to the file system hierarchy as shown below

Start the app and select a drive to scan. It will take up some time  for the scan to complete and once its done you can see the reports generated by overdisk as Bar graphs.

Another similar application is Scanner. It is portable and you do not need anything to install anyway.

What software or tools do you use to recover hard drive space in windows ? Please share  your ideas with us

5 Free tools to Recover Hard Drive Space on Windows originally published on Ampercent