4 Useful Tools No Inspirational Blogger Should Be Without

Photo by Steph L.

Tools. We all have 'em. We all use 'em — or at least effort to. Information technology's 1 affair to read a glossy list of "44 hot WordPress plugins!" or "25 ways to look for stock photos", another thing to actually attempt them all. The all-time tools are delved into very deeply, and like Thor and his hammer, can at times be inseparable from their wielders. I've personally skimmed through 1,000s of tools over the years and regularly utilize a few dozen.

But let's focus further: what if you want to web log about inspirational, motivational, life-bettering stuff — like hither on Lifehack? Over the past stretch of weeks, I've been refining what I employ to arts and crafts my posts. Here'due south my exceptional faves — only the best of the best — and I'll share why they work for me. No offhand, brief mentions of "maybe you should try it out…", just strong votes of conviction from immediate experience.

ane. Compfight – Find middle-warming pictures faster

Ah, 'tis a platitude to see radiant suns, wide-eyed babes (of both sorts), cute animals, and compulsory nature scenes preceding an inspirational post. But it isn't without merit. Many of these pictures are sourced from Flickr'southward wealth of Creative Commons-licensable textile. What does that oftentimes mean? Great imagery for complimentary as long equally you provide proper attribution.

I utilize Compfight. Why carp, since Flickr has a built-in search? Like the essence of many a "get it done" article, beauty in simplicity. Compfight is minimalist, lean, and search queries are more plentiful-per-page and easier to sort through than Flickr'due south ain search. As a effect, I — and you — can easily click through a great epitome, drag-and-drop it into your blog editor (well-nigh support this), and with proper credit included, enhance your post in seconds.

Such every bit this match for "cat sun baby", which isn't quite what I had in mind, but would work well for one of those "How to deal with stress"-blazon posts:

Photograph past ittybittiesforyou

One downside: Compfight doesn't salve search settings equally reliably as I'd like. I asked Ryan (one of the creators) and he said information technology should, just I keep having to prepare the options.

two. Windows Live Writer – Web log better

That's actually at the core of WLW, you see. Maybe I should've posted this first because you can't blog without a weblog editor. Sure, there's built-in stuff similar the TinyMCE-based editor that WordPress uses, and many web log clients/platforms grow. What's such a large win for WLW? It's not atypical, just I tin think of several reasons why information technology comes alee, which I've written about at length before. To sum upward and save you time without bullet points:

It'southward free. It can use your web log's style. Automobile-links save you time. Rich media (videos!) is easy to embed without mangling code. Plug-ins add what you desire but don't have yet.

And surprisingly personal support for a Microsoft production — there's a dev named Joe Cheng who frequently answers questions on the WLW board. He doesn't seem to be as active recently, but he definitely helped solve some of my issues, enabling me to enjoy WLW more. A fine case of where incidental customer service has resulted in me singing praises many times over.

Yes, I wish WLW were for Mac also. Yup, it'd benefit from custom fields support. Yep, I wish more weblog themes (esp. some video-centric and magazine-format ones) were supported correctly. Simply WLW is one of those tools that, if it works for y'all, it works extremely well. And y'all don't accept to recall about it — similar they say about neat software, information technology doesn't make it your fashion. Information technology lets you get your style. :)

three. QuotationsBook – Notable quotables indeed

Demand some wisdom of the ages to prop you upward? Back up a bespeak you lot're making? Provide some much-wanted levity? Sound sage by referring to the old masters; there's quotes all over the Internet and you but need to discover them. QuotationsBook makes this very easy with a friendly interface. You can clip-and-save quotes for afterward retrieval, should you exist dry for ideas.

For case, a casual search for "inspiration" turns up this gem:

"We should be taught not to look for inspiration to commencement a affair. Action ever generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates activeness." -Frank Tibolt

Likewise, while it'south not every bit elegantly-designed or eminently searchable, WikiQuote is popular with many. There are copious quote-sites on the web, and my point is: get at least ane fave and go along it close, so you can refer to wise words in seconds as needed. (Just don't take them out of context.)

4. popurls – Proceed your imagination tank full

There'due south no shortage of inspiration on the Internet — that'southward part of what'due south so daunting, finding focus amidst the many to create your unique take. popurls is one of the original single-page aggregators, and amidst the best designed: information technology does many things well, mostly highlighting notable headlines from many top social media sites (including visual content blocks for Flickr, YouTube, and others), enabling y'all to rapidly scan for stories to pick upwards on. Many of them are, of course, related to life improvement.

popurls will assistance you discover favorite new feeds to subscribe to, get early dibs on Internet memes spreading like wildfire, and proceed yous entertained. What's more, information technology'southward got a fair degree of customization, and if you login, you'll meet Recommended stories for your tastes — it doesn't work uncommonly well still, but it's promising.

I surf popurls daily and so I'm both well-informed and laughing a lot. If that isn't inspiration in itself, I don't know what is.

What are your essential inspirational tools?

Before we close today, hither is a gratis picture of a daughter wearing rainbow arm-socks and her cat. It's the 1 opportunity I'll have to do such a affair:

Photograph by Hayley_Bouchard

Was that purely devoid of significant? Not quite. It generated an emotional reaction, didn't it? Which brings me to this:

As obvious as water is wet, each of united states has our own style. But at that place are many shared tastes, and being a passionate advocate for the tools we agree dearest — equally I exercise for the above — can benefit others greatly, appropriately inspiring your fellow lifehack devotees in the process.

If you haven't heard of some or all of the higher up and I've introduced you to something new which is useful + fun, bravo! If you know all the names only oasis't tried them, I encourage you to — and I only say this from personal feel. My general philosophy with tools is to become through every bit many as yous're interested in, and the ones which are truly useful will stick with you in the long-term.

Permit me know what your inspiration indispensables are in da comments!

schneiderlandand.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/4-useful-tools-no-inspirational-blogger-should-be-without.html

Share this post