These are some of the websites that have impressed me with their content and / or usefulness. This list does not include well know sites such as Reddit, Facebook, Google, Twitter, Instagram etc. because you probably know all those already. Hopefully some of them will be useful to you too.
As I discover new websites I will gradually add to the list below, so be sure to check back regularly.
Last updated: 15th November 2018
ShareIcons: A great resource for finding icons and imagery. You can filter by colours, styles etc. making the searching process less tedious.
Tania Rascia: This is essentially a personal blog by a web developer. It is well written, and very useful on many levels. Tania also has the perspective of changing careers, as she was originally a chef(?!), which means she has a unique perspective. One of the best blogs I have come across.
Pixabay: this website is a directory of free to use images and graphics. All items are released under CC0 Creative Commons, which means they are free for commercial use and require no attribution.
This makes finding images for your website or videos (or anything really) a worry free process. There are other sites that offer free pictures, but a lot of them require attribution, or have other requirements. I have no problem with attribution, but a lot of the time it is a hassle to check the requirements. This makes Pixabay a go to website.
IFTTT: this is kind of an amazing website / app. It allows you to setup links between different accounts. For example, if you post a picture to instagram you can set it to automatically post to twitter, or vica-versa. If you receive an email, you can get your office lights to flash. The combinations are endless!
Guerrilla Mail: this is a website that allows you to use a temporary email address so that you can sign up to websites that require login but you don't want to give real details to. There are of course other websites that do this, but Guerrilla Mail has a few unique features, such as:
- scrambled email addresses
- choosing your own address and domain
- easy to manage password manager should you need one (won't go into details here but this point is interesting...)
Virustotal: checks files or websites against a lot of different antivirus software. This allows you to judge by consensus whether the file or website is actually malicious, or you just got a false positive from your own antivirus software.
HaveIBeenPwned: checks whether your email address or username information has been leaked in one of the many website hacks that have happened over the years. You can also sign up to a mailing list that will tell you if your info is leaked in future hacks.
Down for everyone or just me: this does the simple job of checking whether a webpage is alive and kicking. This allows you to check if the problem of connectivity is at your end or theirs.
GetHuman: this is a great resource that helps you skip the automated phone services large companies tend to use, and get straight through to a human (hence the name of the website). Not only that but it gives information on current and average wait times, best time to call etc. A very useful site.
WhichBook: this website allows you to search for books based on your interests. You set sliders for things like gentle - violent, beautiful - disgusting, sex - no sex, short-long etc. and it will return the best match. A great way to find new reads.
JustWatch: this website helps you find where you can legally watch or buy a television series in your country. For example if you want to watch Family Guy, which streaming services (or online shop services) currently have it in their library, and how many seasons do they have available.
CookingForEngineers: A breath of fresh air from the usual fancy pants cooking websites. This website tells you what to do in simple English, with plenty of pictures. And when I say pictures, I mean pictures of how it will actually look, not the result of food dressing and professional photographers. If you want to make some normal food, this is where you go.
CleanTalk: This site allows you to check if an email address, ip or domain is considered to be used for spam or non-legitimate causes. This is particularly useful to check email subscriptions and membership signups for your website.
MediaBiasFactCheck: with all the "Fake News!" floating around today it makes sense to understand where the media you regularly read or listen to sits on the spectrometer of bias! Plus it might give you an idea of where you sit, which could be an eye opener for some...
BrandColors: Want to know the exact colour palettes different big companies use? This site has you covered.
Attributions #
Credit where credit is due: I spend some of my time trawling blogs and YouTube looking for inspiration. Sometimes I come across a great source of information that surprises me. Some of the websites on this list I discovered from lists other people have put together, and if that is the case I will link them here:
ThioJoe produced a youtube video of 11 useful websites. Surprisingly it was a very good list: ThioJoe
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