Here at GrindSmart we aim to facilitate first the needs of the bold who call themselves web developers and we also strive to accommodate everyone else eager to learn and find resources that will help them through their journey on learning how to efficiently and effectively develop web applications and more. This is not to say that we cater to an audience who know it all, in fact, our audience primarily consists of those who are in the beginning stages of developing a website.

This is exactly why we’ve compiled this great list of cheat sheets that will allow you to ultimately code on a higher level. Forget that we used the word “cheat” and just focus on the end game; resources that’ll help you become a better developer.

Remember to subscribe to our feed for up-to-date development articles and resources!

PHP Cheat Sheet

The PHP cheat sheet is a one-page reference sheet, listing date format arguments, regular expression syntax and common functions.

Ruby on Rails Cheat Sheet

The Ruby On Rails cheat sheet is designed to be printed on an A4 sheet of paper and live by a developers desk, to make life a bit easier. A description of what is on the cheat sheet follows, or if you are impatient, you can go straight to the full size Ruby On Rails cheat sheet.

MySQL Cheat Sheet

The MySQL cheat sheet is designed to act as a reminder and reference sheet, listing useful information about MySQL. It includes a list of the available functions in MySQL, as well as data types. It also includes a list of MySQL functions available in PHP, and a list of useful sample queries to select data from a database.

JavaScript Cheat Sheet

The JavaScript cheat sheet is designed to act as a reminder and reference sheet, listing methods and functions of JavaScript. It includes reference material for regular expressions in JavaScript, as well as a short guide to the XMLHttpRequest object.

mootools 1.2 cheat sheet

For your coding pleasure, MediaVrog just updated their cheat sheet to the new revision. It includes cheat sheet like documentation for Core, Native, Class, Element, Utilities and Request. They’ll be launching another cheatsheet which will cover FX and Plugins soon.

Scriptaculous Cheat Sheet

It was a real challenge to fit it all in on one page… and I was initially planning to cover more than just the combination effects, but as you can see there wasn’t a stitch of room left over. I didn’t even get to do anything fun with angled text or images!

HTML/XHTML in one page

This is a straight to the point and easy to read HTML cheat sheet that makes coding in HTML much simpler.

(X)HTML Elements and Attributes

If you want a simple and awesome xhtml cheat sheet this is the one you’re looking for. You can also explore cheat sheets for several other technologies and programming languages on the same site.

CSS Cheat Sheet (V2)

The CSS cheat sheet is a one-page reference sheet, listing all selectors (as of CSS 2.1) and properties. It includes a visual example of the box model, unit reference for CSS units and the various media types CSS makes allowance for.

Actionscript 2.0 Cheat Sheet Flashpaper

This is a nice cheatsheet of all the Actionscript 2.0 classes and methods. I believe it was created by Mike Chambers.

With the help of various well-designed tools administering your MySQL databases becomes a task that’s much easier to do then if you were to execute them through conventional methods. Developers need to always be on the look-out for tools that will shorten and ease their time spent on development. This is why we’ve compiled 10 MySQL Tools that Streamline Your Development Process.

Check out our previous post on Working with MySQL Databases, and remember to subscribe to our feed for up-to-date articles and resources!

MySQL Workbench

MySQL Workbench is a cross-platform, visual database design tool developed by MySQL. It is the highly anticipated successor application of the DBDesigner4 project. MySQL Workbench will be available as a native GUI tool on Window, Linux and OS X. MySQL Workbench is available in different editions. See the following link for more information about the editions available.

About MySQL Workbench – Editions

Download

phpMyAdmin

phpMyAdmin is a free software tool written in PHP intended to handle the administration of MySQL over the World Wide Web. phpMyAdmin supports a wide range of operations with MySQL. The most frequently used operations are supported by the user interface (managing databases, tables, fields, relations, indexes, users, permissions, etc), while you still have the ability to directly execute any SQL statement.

Download

Aqua Data Studio

Aqua Data Studio is a complete Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for database administrators, software developers and business analysts. It provides four major areas of functionality: 1) Database query and administration tools; 2) a suite of compare tools for databases, source control and file systems; 3) a complete and integrated source control client for Subversion (SVN) and CVS; and 4) a database modeler as powerful as the best standalone database diagramming tools.

Download

SQLyog

SQLyog is an all-round Management Tool (/’GUI’/'Frontend’) for the MySQL database. The Community Edition is Free & Open Source under GPL license. Everything a developer typically requires when working with MySQL is available at a mouse-click, with a query result set, query profiler, server messages, table data, table information, and query history always available via the tabbed interface shown in Figure 5. In addition, it’s easy to create views and stored procedures, a feature I personally have returned to time and again in recent weeks.

Download

MYSQL Front

This graphical GUI for the MySQL database, is a “real” application, it can offer a more refined user-interface than is possible with systems built on PHP and HTML. Response is immediate, as there is no delay of reloading HTML-pages. If your provider allows it, MySQL-Front can make direct contact with the database. Otherwise, only one small script needs to be installed on the publishing website. Login information are stored on your hard disk, so you no longer have to log on to different web interfaces.

Download

mytop

mytop is a console-based (non-gui) tool for monitoring the threads and overall performance of a MySQL 3.22.x, 3.23.x, and 4.x server. It runs on most Unix systems (including Mac OS X) which have Perl, DBI, and Term::ReadKey installed. And with Term::ANSIColor installed you even get color. If you install Time::HiRes, you’ll get good real-time queries/second stats. As of version 0.7, it even runs on Windows (somewhat).

mytop was inspired by the system monitoring tool top. I routinely use top on Linux, FreeBSD, and Solaris. You are likely to notice features from each of them here. mytop will connect to a MySQL server and periodically run the SHOW PROCESSLIST and SHOW STATUS commands and attempt to summarize the information from them in a useful format.

Download

Sequel Pro

This MAC OSX database management app gives you direct access to your MySQL databases on local and remote servers with support for importing and exporting data from popular files including SQL, CSV and XML. Sequel Pro started as a fork of the open source CocoaMySQL project. Sequel Pro gives you direct access to your MySQL databases on local and remote servers.

• Easily set up a connection to the local MySQL server on your Mac
• Full table management including indexes
• Support for MySQL Views
• Use multiple windows to work with multiple databases/tables at once

Download

SQL Buddy

SQL Buddy is a great lightweight ajax powered database management tool It is as easy to install as it gets. All you need to do is unzipping the folder to your server – it doesn’t get simpler! You can do most of the operations that the majority of users will need. There is also a useful range of keyboard shortcuts, which you can view here: SQL Buddy Keyboard Shortcuts.

Download

MySQL Sidu

MySQL Sidu is a FREE MySQL client working via web browser. MySQL Sidu is simple and easy database tool to use! Sidu stands for Select Insert Delete Update. Sidu can do more jobs than these and looks like MySQL front-end software GUI rather than web page.

If you’re a web developer who’s using a Mac, then chances are you’ve come across at least one the popular development tools for a Mac. There’s nothing wrong with preferring a Mac for web development or everyday needs, especially since you’re right in the middle of a world open to countless quality applications that simplify a web developers life, and many are Mac exclusive. This is not to say that you can’t develop stunning graphics and websites using another Operating System, but with Mac applications, you can reap the benefits of their amazing user interfaces.

Below we’ve compiled a list of 18 Essential Apps for Web Development on a Mac. Hope you enjoy! Please remember to subscribe to our feed and leave us a comment with your thoughts!

BBEdit

BBEdit is another full-featured text editor that is very similar to Textmate in terms of features. The BBEdit product page even has a section for web developers to see the benefits of BBEdit. For those Mac users who think BBEdit is better than Textmate, it’s usually because BBEdit is a Cocoa application, and TextMate is a Unix application. Without getting into the nitty-gritty between the two editors, the main differences between the two applications are 1) look-and-feel and 2) price. BBEdit is a steep $125, more than double the price of TextMate.

MAMP

MAMP is a quick and painless way to set up Macintosh, Apache, MySQL and PHP in the same environment. What used to be a tedious process now literally takes just a few seconds between downloading MAMP and installing the software. Instantly you’ve got a fully-functional web testing environment for your PHP applications. It also comes locked and loaded with PHP extensions like Zend, and you can specify different cacheing types like APC, eAccelerator or XCache.

You can apparently use MAMP to run a Rails environment as well.

Apanta

Aptana to the list. Aptana is a programming environment for languages like PHP, Rails, Java, Ajax, Javascript and others. The software also comes with optional plugins like Adobe AIR and an iPhone environment. Apanta is free to use for everyone.

Cyberduck

Cyberduck is an incredibly user friendly FTP client that’s provided for free and licensed under GPL. It can be used in many different settings, like FTP, SFTP, WebDAV and Amazon S3 straight out of the box. Cyberduck also integrates seamlessly with essential Mac functionality, like Bonjour, iDisk, Growl, AppleScript, Spotlight and even Quick Look to instantly see the guts of the file with a tap of the spacebar.

My favorite aspect of Cyberduck (aside from the free-ness), is the fact that it integrates easily with many text editors like Textmate. As an added bonus, Cyberduck also allows you to use Quicksilver to access your FTP bookmarks. Very handy.

Transmit

If Cyberduck is a cadillac of FTP clients, than Panic’s Transmit is a Rolls-Royce. It offers almost all of the same functionality as Cyberduck, but adds a little more robustness for advanced user. For example, you can edit any remote file (even a picture or graphic) in any software using Transmit.

The only downside to Transmit is that it costs $29.95, whereas Cyberduck is free.

cssedit

cssedit is a CSS editor with a fantastic user interface. It has the look and feel of a Mac application, which makes the experience of editing CSS much more enjoyable. It has nice built in features like being able to extract stylesheets and learn from other other websites, an inline visual editor, and you can even edit css inside of ajax.

cssedit will cost you almost $43, but if you’re a sucker for beautiful interfaces, this software might be exactly what you’re looking for.

Coda

If you’re building a site from scratch, it’s nice to have a program like Coda where you can manage all the files and FTP functionality from within one program. Built by Panic, the same guys who develop Transmit, Coda is a one-stop solution for web developer. Within code you can manage files, ftp to a server, preview the code, use a css editor (like cssedit), and even use Terminal all from within Coda. And if that weren’t enough, they’ve thrown in a copy of The Programmer’s Desk Reference from within the software.

Changes

Changes is a nifty application that lets you visually browse changes to your code base. Instead of having to use a subversion to manage your code base (though Changes works with svn and other repository software), you can use Changes. This is great for sites that have multiple developers working on them and want to make sure their code is up to date. You can use your favorite text editor like Textmate or BBEdit to edit files.

Colloquy

IRC is an old skool method of chatting online, and has been the method of choice for programmers and developers to communicate. Many major projects like Wordpress use IRC to provide support for their open source projects.

Colloquy is an extremely helpful IRC client for the Mac. It’s open source, allows for plugins and styles, and even has an iphone interface. Robust, elegant and powerful.

SubEthaEdit

SubEthaEdit is a collaborative text editor for the Mac. You can use the software as a text editor, note-taker and for co-writing text. It integrates with Bonjour, iChat and Mail, but isn’t limited to those integrations. SubEthaEdit also has a fairly robust editing syntax for many different languages. So really, this is a swiss-army tool for developers that work in a collaborative environment that share code often. It’s not free (around $54), but SubEthaEdit could be well worth the price given its usefulness.

Terminal

The built-in Terminal is a great place to start when working with the command line. There’s a great guide to learning Terminal, but essentially Terminal is a bare-bones tool that allows you to do just about… anything. I’d recommend you read the tutorial for a better explanation (as it’s outside the scope of this article). I’d also recommend snagging the Quicksilver plugin for Terminal to help speed your usage.

iTerm

If you’re looking for a way to ease the pain of using the command line and Terminal, try iTerm. iTerm is a “Terminal emulation program” that adds a bit more functionality and user friendliness to Terminal. It offers features like multiple tabs, bonjour support, bookmarks, and much more.

phpMyAdmin

phpMyAdmin is the kindly old grandfather of database management scripts. Not necessarily hip to an attractive user interface, phpMyAdmin still has the skills to pay the bills. You can manage your databases locally using this stable script. It ships with MAMP, so installation is a breeze. If you’re not MAMP, then you’ll have to configure PHP to run on your Mac, which is a much more involved process. Still, phpMyAdmin is a tried and tested solution for managing databases with a UI.

CocoaMySQL

CocalMySQL is a database tool developed specifically for Mac with Cocoa. It has the elegant look and feel of a true Mac application, and is laden with features. CocoaMySQL is much easier than phpMyAdmin on almost all fronts; it’s easier to setup, has a much more intuitive interface, and runs more like a Mac program. The software is also licensed under the free GPL license.

Quicksilver

Quicksilver is a launcher tool that does so much more for developers. If you’re wanting to save time and keyboard strokes, consider giving Quicksilver reign over your computer. For more information as to what Quicksilver is, check out Lifehacker’s introduction to the Mac launcher.

The real beauty of Quicksilver lies in the countless plugins with software that many web developers already use.

Xcode

Xcode is Apple’s development package. This gi-normous 900mb download adds tons upon tons of system mojo that you’ll probably have to eventually install to your system that you’ll probably use down the line. Many serious development software like SVN and the like use dependancies that Xcode takes care of. Xcode is free for the taking.

Isolator

While Isolator isn’t a crucial application for developers, it’s quite handy for blocking out distractions while you’re getting work done. Isolator is a free program that blocks out everything but the single application you’re working on. This gives a distraction-free environment for writing, programming, or whatever else needs your attention. Just tap the keyboard command cmd + shift + I (or use the toolbar menu) to start/stop Isolator.

Spaces

Spaces is a handy built-in application for Leopard users. It allows you to set up virtual “spaces” for different screens on your computer. This is helpful for developers because you can separate your work flow into different panes. For example, you could have ftp and terminal open in one space, Textmate in another, Firefox in the third and Gimp or Photoshop in the fourth. It’s easy to toggle between the spaces using the command ctrl + arrow, or you can use ctrl + the number of the space you want to switch to.

UPDATE: ShareDen Re-Design

As the web grows and we find the need to upload and share information with others there are only a few set of only tools that can help upload, host, and share your content for free. Here we have ShareDen.com, is the first file hosting site geared towards designers and developers. They will not only host your images (like DeviantArt) but they will host your Photoshop files, applications, coding files, scripts, zips, audio, applications, and anything else you can think of. With ShareDen you can upload and host an unlimited amount of files. Files such as the following are allowed: .php, .html, .mp3, .psd, .ttf, .otf, .zip, and more!

You don’t have to sign-up to upload and share files, and best of all the service is completely free. However, if you sign up you’re able to create folders and image galleries with your files for later use. ShareDen is a free hosting service for designers, developers, and creatives, what better way to upload and share your files then within an online community of designers. You will also receive free around the clock technical support, for more information you can also contact them here info[at]ShareDen.com

Sign-Up today and begin hosting all of your files with unlimited space!

As an avid web and graphic designer I’ve found much use for these sites in order to get my work out into the open a bit more, and to reduce the load time of web pages. Image hosting sites are now a common commodity, however, finding the best one isn’t always as easy as finding one in a Google search. Below you will find over 12 (fifteen to be exact) image hosting sites great for designers, and useful for everyone!

ImageBam

ImageBam is a very simple and basic image hosting site that can fool anyone with its simple design. You’re able to quickly upload unlimited amounts of images with the use of a flash uploader. Once the desired images have been uploaded then you can view them within a gallery-style page in your account while finding use of the source codes to place them anywhere you’d like all around the web.

Webshots

With Webshots all you have to do is register and begin to upload your images. Within each month you can store up to 1,000 photos + 100 more for each additional month of membership. Webshots allows you to manage your images through your mobile phone so that you can keep your photos up-to-date on-the-go.

Slide

Slide offers quick and easy image uploading along with great tools that allow you to create a slideshow. Another useful tool is called FunPix; this feature allows you to personalize images with stickers, a few graphics and animations. Upload as many images as you’d like without having to even spend anything out of your pocket.

DeviantArt

DeviantArt, a site created for artists that allows you to showcase your artwork in a wide range of categories. However along with the showcasing of your art you can steer in the direction of using the site for hosting as well. Once you upload your work to DeviantArt you can grab the images embedding code, download it to your desktop, and you can easily share it on several social networks such as MySpace and digg.

Supload

Supload.com enables you to quickly and effortlessly upload unlimited image file sizes. Once you upload your files you’re directed to a page that gives you the embedding codes. You can use this site for fast and painless uploads that can benefit you if you’re working on time-sensitive projects or if you just need to bypass the whole login features most of these sites offer.

TinyPic

TinyPic has great image hosting that lets you upload images and videos without having to register for the site. Quickly upload your photos and uniquely link it to any website of your choice. TinyPic offers quality and effective image hosting; the fact that Photobucket.com owns the site is no surprise.

ImageShack

Another great service where you don’t even need to register, all you have to do is upload and image which ImageShack allows you to automatically re-size them and then copy the specified HTML code to use it anywhere you’d like on the web!

BayImg

This site offers more than just image hosting, you’ll also get support for over 140 different formats as well. The maximum size for file uploads is 100mb, and since the site is completely uncensored you can also upload ANY image you’d like in any of the 140 supported formats.

Pict

Pict.com lets you upload and share any image with just one click. There aren’t any more registration pages to stumble-upon or any complicated loop-holes to jump through in order to have your images uploaded at no cost. One of the best things this site offers is the fact that it’s ad-free, most image hosting sites heavily rely on ads which can get very annoying after a while.

Village Photos

Village Photos has a few account options, however most people take advantage of the free basic account that allows you to upload 50 images a month. The cool thing about this site is that unlike many of the image hosting services out there, with this service you can upload images directly from your FTP along with your hard-drive. The only set back is that you have to sign-up and there is a 90-day inactivity limit.

Zoomr

Zoomr is a recent start-up company that came out of beta testing. They’re planning to face off with Flickr.com as they anticipate offering better services then Flickr in the future. With this site you can share and upload unlimited amounts of photos with anyone or anywhere on the web. Although registration is required, it is fairly simple and painless.

Fotolog

Fotolog is a large photo blogging community that has over 1.5 billion page views and over 24 million members. You can sign up for a free account and quickly begin to upload your images. Not only will you receive image hosting in the process, but you’ll also gain exposure (if you’d like) to your uploaded photos, artwork, and more.

Phanfare

Phanfare offers unlimited image storage and hosting for your photos and videos through the use of your iPhone. This is great app for the graphic designer on-the-go. Take a snapshot of an inspiring or creative image and instantly upload it to Phanfare’s unlimited storing space. When you sign-up you can choose the free plan which has a limit of 1GB storage, or you can go with the unlimited storage plan that includes a small yearly fee.

Zeec

Zeec.net is a clean looking site with easy friendly user galleries. You can upload images via the web, PC or Mac while also being able to upload photos via your mobile phone with Zeec’s innovative software.

PictureTrail

This is another image hosting site that combines photo sharing with social networking at the same time. You can upload your images, share them with anyone anywhere else on the web as well as well as with other PictureTrail members. This is a great way to host your images while possibly showcasing some of your work.

What Would Be The Ideal Hosting Site For Me?

Every designer has a set of different needs and preferences. If you’re looking for an on-the-go friendly service with fast and simple image uploading then you should take a close look at Pict. However, if what you want is a site that can offer you more than just image hosting and photo sharing then there’s a variety of sites listed above such as DeviantArt and PictureTrail that could perfectly address those needs. A quick suggestion of mines would be to not limit yourself to one image hosting site, as you might find that others can accommodate you in better ways depending on what you may be working on.

Which ones did we miss? Let us know in your comment!

Every day people use social media to inform and make themselves known on the web. And now designers are using social venues to get their names out on the forefront. With the massive amounts of time spent socializing on the web, you can only expect to have a set of tools to help you. This is why we’ve compiled 7 Best Social Media Tools for Designers. This list will help you save time, get your name out, socialize, make friends, and bring in more clients.

Socialite

Socialite solely operates on Mac machines. This app integrates the top 5-6 social networks into one usable and easy to access program.

TweetDeck

TweetDeck is an Adobe Air application that allows you to quickly organize and place imporatance on your tweets. You can group tweets based on search terms, time frame, and so on…

Spokeo

Search over 41 different social media networks for any and all sorts of information. It’s as simple as that.

Stribe

Stribe lets you instantly create a social network on any website. Users will be connected with your community on any website with Stribe. It is totally customizable and you have freedom to change colors, fonts and background.

CROWDFusion

Crowd Fusion is a publishing platform that combines several popular applications – like blogging, wikis, tagging and work-flow management – with some original concepts.

UserVoice

UserVoice can help track and manage the feedback of your clients or customers. Users will be able vote on the ideas of other users, you’ll be able to get quality suggestions and opinions on you projects as well as applications.

Get Satisfaction

Get Satisfaction provides you with a forum where your customers are able to get answers to questions, solutions to problems, and submit feature and new product requests. Those answers and solutions are stored and searchable over time, cutting down on support costs and building trust with your user-base.

jQuery provides amazing simplicity and advanced features out of the most popular JavaScript frameworks. It’s strong, powerful, and interactive.  jQuery also allows developers to select elements on a page using CSS-like syntax. This is one of the most sought after and amazing libraries for crating quality effects and tweaks on your website.

Since we love jQuery just as much as you love the moon and the stars, we’ve provided you with 100 of the Useful Techniques for jQuery that will allow you to further and refine your skills. Let us know if we’ve missed anything!

Build A Login Form With jQuery

De-Constructing Accordion and Hover Effects with jQuery

Coda Popup Bubbles

Creating a table with dynamically highlighted columns

jQuery Tabbed Interface

jQuery Sequential List

Animate a hover with jQuery

How to Load In and Animate Content with jQuery

12 Excellent jQuery Plugins for Enhancing Forms

• 10 Fresh jQuery Tutorials to Enhance Navigation Menus

• 31 Refreshing Jquery Techniques/Plugins

• 50 Useful New jQuery Techniques and Tutorials

• 5 Sliding Content Techniques, Examples & jQuery How to’s

• 15 Ways to Improve CSS Techniques Using jQuery

• 45+ New jQuery Techniques For Good User Experience

One of the most important aspects of creating a brand is image, and the first thing that represents that image is the logo. When designing your logo you must make sure that you have the correct ingredients and the right blend of creativity. If your logo seems like the person who designed it lacks skills, then you’re more than likely to turn away business rather than capture the attention of your users.

Below, we present you with 200+ Super Useful Logo Design Tutorials that should give you a dash of inspiration and act as a small guide. Please remember to comment and share your opinions!

25 Distinctive and Famous Logo Photoshop Tutorials

60+ Beautiful Logo Design Tutorials And Resources

35 Logo Designing Photoshop Tutorials

40 Logo Design Tutorials

55+ Exceptional Logo Design Tutorials

Further Resources

• Crucial Rules to Follow When Designing a Logo | Design Reviver
• 10 Common Mistakes In Logo Design – Smashing Magazine
• Logo Design – How NOT To Design A Logo | Webdesigner Depot
• How To Design A Logo
• Design a Logo – The Ultimate Guide