Oct
Web 2.0 The Easy Way: 27+ Resources That Do The Hard Work For You
Want to create that Web 2.0 look without the hassle?
You probably do, because once something becomes popular, everyone wants to copy it. Even squeeze pages are getting a Web 2.0 makeover!
The problem is, it looks like a Web 2.0 look would take work. You need a striped background, logo reflection, rounded corners, star bursts, and a “beta” attached to your logo. And that’s just for starters!
But since Web 2.0 is sooo popular with the “in” crowd, free tools to give you that required 2.0 look are popping up everywhere. Here are 25 that will transform your site the easy way:
Backgrounds
1: Stripe Generator creates striped backgrounds with or without gradients; no Photoshop skills required.
2: Tartan Generator (from the creators of Stripe Generator) lets you make cool tartans that work as page backgrounds.
3: Gradient generator for doing gradients in page backgrounds.
4: Gradient generator is… another gradient generator.
5: Tile Machine makes tiled backgrounds with various designs.
6: Background Image Maker has a few options for background images.
Layouts
7: Full Layout Generator which actually creates the framework for a Web 2.0ish site.
Rounded Corners
8: Rounded Cornr makes rounded corner images.
9: Google’s rounded corner generator makes neat rounded corners, too.
10: Even Corner Shop does too!
Image Effects
11: Reflection.js is a little piece of Javascript that will add reflections to all the images on your site.
12: Canvas Corner uses a little Javascript to add nice rounded corners and drop shadows to images. (more)
13: DropShadow lets you easily add a drop shadow to your picture.
Logos
14: Logo Creatr will create a sweet 2.0 logo and even add the word “Beta” to it. (It doesn’t matter if your site is 3 years old - if you want to be Web 2.0, you have to be in beta.)
15: Web 2.0 Styler makes nice 2.0 text logos, with more color options than Logo Creatr.
Buttons, Badges, and Icons
16: My Cool Button is a way to make, well, cool buttons.
17: Buttonator makes buttons, but you have to pay $10/month for it.
18: Button Boost is another site that will boost your button skills.
19: Glassy buttons does buttons although they’re not quite a 2.0 level.
20: RSS Buttons is another button maker, but for those small, rectangular buttons.
(There are a ton of these. Blogflux button maker. Button maker. Brilliant button maker. Pixel Button. RSS Graphic Tool.)
21: Feed Icons provides those neat orange RSS feed icons in multiple sizes.
22: Starburst badges are another variety of image that is virtually required for a Web 2.0 look.
23. Tabs Generator will create sleek tabs for you.
Cool Ajax Stuff
24: Loading icons using Ajax are also required for all Web 2.0 sites to tell the visitor “not only is this page loading, this page is loading with style.” You might even want to slow down your page loads so that visitors can admire these neat icons even more.
25: Prototype Windows are neat Ajax pop-up windows. I’ve seen them used nicely by designers for showing larger images of past projects, but I have a feeling internet marketers will use them to get past pop-up blockers.
26: Transparent Messages are great for displaying little confirmation notices without loading a new page.
27: Grey Box is an Ajax pop-up window that lets you display content, including other sites, beautifully.
There you go. More than twenty-seven resources to make your Web 2.0 transition easier!
Now for the fun stuff:
2 Resources That Didn’t Make The Cut
28: Web 2.0 Button is another button generator with various backgrounds that will make for a great Web 1.0 logo that everyone will laugh at.
29: Hot Shadow can create a custom Google search engine with a logo, but you can also just use it for creating text effects. Or will you be the next Google?
And here’s some further reading for those of you willing to put in a little elbow grease:
Further Research
Mini Ajax
A collection of all kinds of neat Ajax tools to do just about anything, from file uploads to website heat maps.
Web 2.0 Header Tutorial
Making your own header, including a logo and navigation bar.
Web 2.0 Logo Tutorial 1 and Tutorial 2
Doing your own logo.
Mashable
The source for anything web 2.0
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Let’s make the entire web look even more the same ;), people should rely less on tools like this and use their imagination more again, figure out how to do things yourself instead :P. This sort of stuff makes many pages on the web so boring to look at since the designs all end up being too similar.
Thanks for the list. Since I suck at making graphics I will find lots of use for these sites. The tartan maker is d\so addictive it’s not even funny. We found it about a week ago and have spent way too much time playing around on there.
Very cool list of resources. Thanks for sharing it.
Nice list. I have yet to get on board with 2.0. Most of my sites are about Web 1.7
I just tagged and submitted this item about everywhere. Great list. Hey, that loading icon threw me off. I kept waiting for something to load.
Thanks Stephan!
That icon throws me off too, each time I’m back at this post!
Thanks for this list. Great resource. I’m sure I will use some of these sites.
There are a couple of other icon sites that seem useful to me. Not sure if these would fall into the category of Web 2.0 exactly but here they are anyway:
http://www.famfamfam.com/lab/icons/silk/
http://www.ndesign-studio.com/resources/mini-pixel-icons/
There is one important resource I think you have left out. Website ribbon generator. http://www.websiteribbon.com/ Its cool for a web 2.0 these days.
The mapicon Factory is a pretty good resource for generating icons for avatars, blogs, and map mashups.
http://www.cartosoft.com/mapicons
web 2.0 badges
These are awesome. Love the tongue-in-cheekiness
Nice list. Thanks for sharing with us