Perfecthue is one of those websites that the first time we see it instantly becomes part of our favourite bookmarks. I’ve posted and featured more than one work from Perfecthue Wallpaper Gallery but had never directly featured the website.

Go to their gallery and check some of the wallpapers, really great work on most of them. The style of the wallpapers totally fits my personal taste, minimalistic abstract high quality wallpapers, perfect for my big screen.

PS – I know It’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything, the truth is there is much on my “To Do Stack” so had to postpone some stuff, including Paintbits, I’m returning to posting, not as often as before but always that I find something worth to share, being a wallpaper or a link. In the mean time, have fun and keep coming back for news.

Link: PerfectHue

DeviantArt released this week an online Drawing App. Muro is 100% flash free, it’s pure HTML 5 and works on all modern browsers. There is a lot already present on Muro like several brushes (you get more if you’re registered on DA). Because it works on devices like iPad it should be really useful for those devices, specially because a lot of the drawing apps outthere are done in pure flash (and we all know that Steve Jobs don’t like Flash!).

Muro features include:

• deviantART’s free HTML5 powered drawing app
• 21 brushes, each uniquely programmed
• Basic and Pro modes, both free
• Intuitive layout and functionality
• Supports all HTML5-enabled browsers including the iPad
• Submit drawings directly to your deviantART Gallery
• Convenient design allows more focus on your art
• Join fellow deviants in a public forum to share drawings
• Start private threads in your group’s Admin Area and enjoy picture comments

Muro won’t replace your Photoshop for sure, but it doesn’t want to. It’s the perfect app to use on the go on less powerful devices to doodle.

Link: DeviantArt Muro.

And Paintbits is already running it! WordPress 3.0, the thirteenth major release of WordPress and one must give credits to the developers and contributors, each major version has always brought something new and unique to make WordPress the definite open source website/blog engine for developers and bloggers all over the World.

What’s new in WordPress 3.0

3.0 is a new milestone for WordPress and even though most juicy changes should please the power users more than the casual blogger, the inclusion of a new default theme should be strong enough argument for many to change to the newest version (and you should always keep your WordPress website upgrade for security reasons).

The new Features Highlight taken from WordPress.org.

• WordPress and WordPress MU have merged, allowing the management of multiple sites (called Multisite) from one WordPress installation.
• New default theme “Twenty Ten” takes full advantage of the current features of WordPress.
• New custom menu management feature, allows creation of custom menus combining posts, pages, categories, tags, and links for use in theme menus or widgets.
• Custom header and background APIs.
• Contextual help text accessed under the Help tab of every screen in the WordPress administration.
• Ability to set the admin username and password during installation.
• Bulk updating of themes with an automatic maintenance mode during the process.
• Support for shortlinks.
• Improved Custom post types and custom taxonomies including hierarchical (category-style) support. (Try the Custom Post Type UI or GD Custom Posts And Taxonomies Tools plugins to see the possibilities.)
• A lighter admin color scheme to increase accessibility and put the focus more squarely on your content.

You can see the full feature list here.

I have to say I enjoy the new admin theme a lot more than the old one. It’s lighter, cleaner, a more solid theme overhaul.

I’m thinking in re-doing Paintbits theme again. Developing maybe a premium version of the theme to put up on ThemeForest and offer this current one for free.

WordPress 3.0 Official Video

Justin Tadlock as a really nice post about WordPress 3.0 Features.

I just released yesterday with a friend a new project, Massivo.net. It’s a website dedicated to MMO’s and more specifically to World of Warcraft. I’ve been a player of WoW for the last 5 years, although making a break now till the next expansion comes out. It was a very fun project to do, the Theme was totally made by me from scratch. I’ve learned a lot more about WordPress, Jquery and PHP and made me think of redesigning Paintbits again!

I’ll be releasing a couple of little tutorials on how to achieve some functionalities I’ve done on Massivo.net, like the integration of the Jquery Slider into WordPress.

Anyway if you like World of Warcraft or MMO’s check us out, specially if you’re Portuguese or speak Portuguese.

PS – BTW, don’t forget to Participate on the WEBHS – Paintbits Contest.

They are. And specifically this new video is even more full of awesomeness.

Faster than potatoes… and other stuff.

RSS Feed Count is something that I usually pay attention to. I’m not writing on this blog to/for the numbers, I’m not getting rich, I’m not getting famous or anything like that, I write because I enjoy it. I write about subjects I’m genuinely interested in. But despite all that is nice to get feedback, to see that someone is paying attention to what you write or create. Feed count is one of those indicatives among others like page views and article comments, etcetera.

My Feed Count in these recent days have been fluctuating from 600+ to 800+ readers. Nothing unusual, except today. Today dear readers is the day that the Internet proves I’m Evil. There is no other logic explanation, If you look to the right you’ll see Google Feedburner tells you that there are 666 feed readers on Paintbits.com. 666. I kid you… I’m not the evil one, the Google Feed Count is. So don’t put too much trust in it. Don’t be demotivated by the count. What matters is if you’re still having fun writing. I am.

Project Managers (or Groupware) are online platforms to manage, plan, schedule and share you projects with others. Collaborative software helps groups of people focused on a common task, achieve their goal in a more effective way.

This type of websites usually offer you boards (forum), calendars, task lists, SVN and other capabilities to help you manage your group projects enabling a more effective team collaboration. I use a simple but powerful version of what you can call a SVN / Repository application, DropBox but for group work you will probably need something more powerful. The list below offer you some options that will probably meet your need.

• DropBox
• eGroupWare
• PHP Projekt
• Project.net
• Codeplex
• Google Wave
• TwProject
• Horde
• DotProject
• Assembla
• Google Code
• Tortoise SVN
• DevJavu

Recently I’ve been thinking in doing my own Google Chrome Theme. Not that the themes Google gives you aren’t nice enough, but I’m really picky and I was wishing for something more personalized.

I started to search for info on how to accomplish my goal. It was a bit tricky at first, if you google for Creating a Google Chrome Theme you will probably run into some dodgy(or shady for the my US English readers) results. After I few unsuccessful searches I found what I wanted, an official guide on how to skin Google Chrome.

The method to do it it’s pretty simple, basically because the themes themselves are also basic in essence. Google Chrome themes, like you can see in the official repository, consist of simple image overlays with different color pallets. Anyway, despite being simple, they work out decently enough as I’ve shown previously.

Creating a Google Chrome Theme

So, what do you need to start? First start reading Google’s Chromium Theme Creation Guide. It’s all explained in the Wiki page, but if for some reason you don’t feel like reading through it all, I will break it down for you.

So what do we need?

• 1. Google Chrome latest Beta version… duh!
• 2. Get a text editor, specially one more powerful than Microsoft Notepad, something like Notepad++ (can’t live without it by the way). In alternative you can use a .crx Theme Creator to make it a lot simpler.
• 3. An image editor, again, something better than MS Paint is preferable, not that the artist should be judge by his tools but it does help to paint on a canvas that actually helps you. So, get something like Gimp or if you own Photoshop you can even download a Chrome window design which is broken down in layers, making the creative process much simplified.
• 4. Some bits of creativity, some bits of magic…

That’s it.

When (if you are) using the Chrome crx Theme Creator

at the end of the process don’t forget to click Pack Theme so you can create the respectiv .crx theme file.

Don’t forget to create your creations with me if you feel like doing your own theme. I will…

2.9 had some errors with PHP’s curl extension, so in fact I’m using WordPress 2.9.1 instead of 2.9.0. It’s still in Beta but since it’s a small bug fix release you can install it with no problem. Get it here.

WordPress 2.9 Features

If you see any mistakes due to the update, please notify me.

Thanks in advance.

Holiday at Steam means promotions… again! And we thank Valve (and the publishers) for that. It’s always nice to be able to play nice titles at affordable prices, even if some aren’t properly fresh. It’s cold outside (at least at this part of the globe) so what’s better than playing a good game with a good coup of tea?

Well I could name some better things to do, but it’s cold outside, remember?

Well, basically it’s another Steam Promotion with new titles every day. There are promotions up to 80 and 90%. Right now, as I write this, Grand Theft Auto IV is at 7,49€! That’s awesome and it’s probably one of my new Christmas presents!

Link: Steam Holiday Sale