Free Windows Partition and Backup Tools

It’s been eons since I posted on this blog. Grad school kept me pretty busy. In the meanwhile I also created another blog that mainly deals with my thoughts on user experience and HCI. Anyways, with my graduation date almost around the corner, its time to resume writing at this blog as well.

Since this is almost as good as a fresh start, I just going to keep it short and write about 2 pretty useful tools that as a windows user you probably want to keep in your arsenal.

The first is EaseUS partition master. 

If you ever need to create partitions on your windows hard drive, because the C drive is just lame if everything is just in that one single drive, this is the tool to use. Best of all, it is free for personal use. So, just do yourself a favor and grab this one.

Then next one is SyncBackFree

As the name suggests, it lets you sync data across drives. If you are used to using WinSCP when designing websites to keep the files on your local and remote server in sync, you will find this tool extremely pleasant. This is what I use to keep a mirror image of my windows drives on my portable drive.

Signing Off
Ryan

Git : Editing A Previous Commit

When you work with Git, making branches is a very common task and when you are flooded with ideas, you  may be in a hurry and sometimes make mistakes. The most common example of making mistakes when committing in git is - the commit message. Sometimes, just after committing, you would realize that you forgot to mention something crucial.

Sometimes, it may also happen that when you create your commit, you might accidentally forget to add a particular file to the commit. Even this is a likely scenario since git does not automatically add new directories under version control when you add them through your local file system. So if you did a git add . during your first commit and then created lots of subdirectories and files, they will not be added automatically just because you had done an initial "git add .".

Well, there is one small source of relief - and that is - you can easily amend the last commit in git and fix these tiny issues. For example, let us say that you just committed with a very nonsensical and convoluted message. like this

git commit -m "I was so drunk when I wrote this shit".

And then, the next morning when you wake up, you do a git log and you see this message pop up on your screen and jump out of your seat. Well, if you have not pushed your changes upstream, i.e. the commit still resides only on your local repository, it would really serve a noble purpose if you actually make the message more sensible. Here's how you can do that.

git commit --amend -m "This commit has all the equations that prove the String Theory"

The above command will simply edit the commit message of the latest commit.

However, if you have done something more grave, like missed out on files that were supposed to be added in the previous commit, then you can simply add them using the git add . command then use the git commit with the --amend option in the same way as shown above. Basically what you did was that you rebuilt the tree that represents the files of this commit, discarded the previous commit and created a new one in its place. You can say so because when you amend a commit, it results in a new commit checksum.

Hope this helps!

Signing Off
Ryan

Git : Status Of Working And Staged Files

I just came to know about this very neat feature of the git status command.

Basically, the status command gives you the the names of the files which you are tracking but have certain changes in them relative to your last commit.

Now, Git has 3 places in which it keeps the code - the commit area, the stage area/index and the working directory.

Lets take a few scenarios to explain the usefulness of this command

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Scenario 1

Lets say that you have a file called Sample_File.txt in the working directory to which you made a few changes. But you have not staged it yet. So, the state of the file in the three repositories can be described as  (latest commit == staged)  != (working).

To know which files have been modified in the working directory, in a very shorthand form, use git status with the -s option. Here's what I got when I ran it on my system.

Notice that the M is in Red, and there is a little bit space to its left, which means, that the file is modified in your working directory. (The extra space is explained in scenario 2)

The status code M stands for 'Modified'. There are many other one letter status codes that you can take a peek at over here.

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Scenario 2

Lets say that you have a file in your working directory, that has some changes but you staged it after making these changes.

In this case the state of the file in the three repositories can be described as  (latest commit)! = (staged  == working )

Now if you run git status -s, this is what you get

Notice that the M is in Green, but this time there no space to its left, which means, that the file is in a modified state in your staged directory. You can however notice that there is some extra space between the M and the file name this time. (Will be clarified in Scenario 3)

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Scenario 3

Lets say that your made changes to your file, staged it and then edited it again. 

In this case the state of the file in the three repositories can be described as  (latest commit ! = staged  != working )

Now you can see clearly that you have 2 M's. One in red indicating the state of your file in the staged area and one in green indicating the state of your file in the working directory.

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Its quite common that throughout your workflow, you would find yourself moving between the above scenarios sequentially. (Scenario 1 -> Scenario 2 -> Scenario 3) . The above set of commands should be able to help you keep track of what files were changed where.

References
The git manual reference

Signing Off 
Ryan

Using Google Drive As A Web Host

Okey, another one of my experiments. I came to know a few days ago that Google officially announced how you can now use your Google Drive account as a web host.

So, I decided to make use of this awesome new feature and tried to create and host my profile on Google Drive itself. In this post, I am simply going to tell you what you need to do to get up and running with Google Drive as your web host in its simplest form.

Things that you need to do to setup Google Drive as your web host

1. Go to Google Drive
   Of course, you gotta have a Google account to begin in the first place and then just type in drive.google.com
   
   
2. Create a public folder
   This is important. If you want to use Google Drive as a web host, you need to keep your files in a public directory. Create a new folder and then simply choose the 'share' button and give it public access. Lets assume my folder is called 'ryan'
   
   
3. Dumping your static files
   Lets say that your site has a lot of html pages, css stylesheets, jQuery, javascript, images - the usual stuff. Just add all your files in the same directory structure in which they are present in your local system to the public folder that you just created. So, all my files are dumped into the public folder called 'ryan' in my google drive.
   
   
4. Naming convention
   Ensure that at least one file in the public folder is named as index.html. This will act as the landing page for your site.
   
   
5. What to publish
   Now comes an important step. In order to share your site, you need to share a link to the public folder. Initially I thought that you would need to share the link to the index.html but that did not work as expected.
   So what you need to do is,  note the google drive file-id of your public folder. To do that, just open your public folder in google drive. By default it lists all the files in that folder. In the url at the top, you will see that it contains a long string of garbled aphanumeric characters after the last slash. That is your folder id. Copy it.
   
   
6. Creating a url to publish
   Now all you need is a url that points to your folder. To create your url, simply append the file id to the following string - http://googledrive.com/host/
   
   
   For eg. The raw link to my profile on google drive is http://googledrive.com/host/0B87xZT3F0rDcZlVONVRVY3QtZFE
   
   
   
   

And that pretty much does it. Clicking on the above URL serves the index.html page of your public folder. 

Other Tips

1. If you want to use a neat little name instead of the long string of garbled alphanumeric characters that appear at the end of the url, go to Gdriv.es and convert your folder id custom name. That's what I did for my profile, and now it looks like this - http://gdriv.es/ryansukale. Much more neat i'd say.
2. Sometimes its just easier to download Google Drive for the desktop, edit your files right in your local machine and then watch them automatically get uploaded.
3. When multiple pages are interlinked, I have observed that the url in the address bar remains the same. So, I guess bookmarking will be an issue in this case.

Signing Off 

Ryan

Change Image Resolution in Powerpoint

Recently for one of my projects a teammate had created a simple Powerpoint presentation , the slides of which we later decided to use as a mockup for a website.

We wanted to make a video using these slides emulating the user interaction with the pages. I believe that the video authoring tool that was being used required images in order to create a video. Now, I haven't worked on any video authoring tool before, but then, of course I am supposed to be knowing a lot more about tech than I actually do now.

So, I said that I would try to export the slides as images and that they could be used by my teammate who was making the video.

I was making use of Microsoft Powerpoint 2010, which is a very good piece of software. Hopefully many of you would agree if you are using it. Well, if you don't agree, I am never in a mood to argue about Microsoft software.

One neat feature that Powerpoint has is that it lets you save your slides in the form of jpeg images. Just go to File->Save as->, and select the file type to be jpeg images.

The interesting thing is that the images exported are not of such a high quality. So, when my teammate added them into the video, most of the text got blurred.

Well, there is a crazy way to increase the resolution of the images when you are saving a Powerpoint presentation as a set of images. I could  not find any options from the UI, but it can be done by adding a registry entry.

1. Simply type in regedit in the command prompt or in the run manager or in your start menu.
2. Expand the registry to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\PowerPoint\Options
3. Add a new registry key from Edit->New DWORD Value
4. Name the new key ExportBitmapResolution and set its (Decimal) value to anything among these - 50, 96, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300. Maybe you can try other values and see if tha works out well for you.
5. Open Powerpoint again, and then try to save your file as a set of jpeg images. This time your pictures will be of a different resolution depending upon what decimal value you provided for the new registry key.

I am not registry expert but if you have some other version of Microsoft Windows or having some other issues, check out the official documentation at their site here and figure them out.

Signing Off 

Ryan

Useful Google Chrome Extensions

Over a period of time, I came across a couple of good Google chrome extensions that have helped me quite a bit in getting things done.

This post is nothing but just a short list of some really useful google chrome extensions that you might find useful if you are a developer or if you spend most of your time online working on Google Chrome and like to organize your stuff right from your browser window.

As a good practice, I mostly keep the extensions disabled and only enable the ones I need when i need them such as Awesome Screenshot or the Alarm clock. If you keep too many of these active, Chrome takes extra time to startup, which is something that none of us want.

Sometimes its just better to use different extensions in different chrome profiles and you can use each profile for a different purpose.

Here's the stuff that I use. Click on the titles to go to the extension in the chrome extension gallery. If you are aware of better alternatives to some of these, I would love to try them out, so don't hesitate to share the goodies!

Springpad Extension

Springpad is a free application that makes it quick and easy to take notes and save anything you want to remember - from tasks and lists to products, places, movies, recipes and more. Everything you save is automatically organized and enhanced with useful information for instant access on the web and on your phone

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Chrome YouTube Downloader

Download youtube videos in different formats. Such extensions keep on failing whenever there is a new update to youtube, so I am not sure if this one is still working at the time that you are reading this post. Remember to check the user comments before installing this extension.

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Awesome Screenshot: Capture & Annotate

Capture the whole page or any portion, annotate it with rectangles, circles, arrows, lines and text, blur sensitive info, one-click…

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Instapaper

Add the current page to your Instapaper List

Similar to pocket. A single click on the icon will save the current page to your Instapaper unread list. A double click will take you to the Instapaper unread list.

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Todo.ly

Todo.ly is an intuitive and easy to use online Todo list, and Task Manager. It helps you to get organized, and to get things done.

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Easy Clock

Easy to use world clock. Find time for global meetings easily. Do time zone conversions among cities intuitively.

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Facebook Lite for Chrome

Receive notifications and quickly access everything you love about Facebook with Facebook Lite for Chrome.

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Google +1 Button

+1 and share a web page, anywhere you go on the web.

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Google Calendar

Easily check Google Calendar and add new events from websites you visit.

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Google Dictionary (by Google)

View definitions easily as you browse the web.

With this extension, you can:

1. Double-click any word to view its definition in a small pop-up bubble.
2. View the complete definition of any word or phrase using the toolbar dictionary.

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OmniMail for GMail

Quickly send email from the address bar using GMail™!

OmniMail helps you send emails faster! Easily start new emails from the address bar/omnibox.

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Pocket (formerly Read It Later)

Pocket Extension for Google Chrome – The best way to save articles, videos and more

When you find something on the web that you want to view later, put it in Pocket. It automatically syncs to your phone, tablet or computer so you can view it at any time, even without an internet connection.

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Send to Google Docs

Allows you to upload a pdf version of the current page to your Google Docs using the pdfcrowd service.

This extension's purpose is to make it easy to save a web page to your Google Docs.

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Talking Alarm Clock

A clock with two configurable alarms that will play a sound and speak a phrase of your choice.

This extension gives you a handy and fun alarm clock that's at your fingertips whenever you're running Chrome!

Two separate alarms, with handy controls to adjust by 5-minute intervals - or type any exact time with 1-minute precision.

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Windows Live Messenger Extension

Runs Windows Live Messenger in Google Chrome.Connect with friends and family with Windows Live Messenger (MSN Messenger). Sign in with Windows Live ID and chat with your friends. This one has a good sound alert

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Yet Another Extension for Google Bookmarks

YAGBE - Displays Google Bookmarks in a tree. Supports nested labels, searching, sorting, creating, and managing Google Bookmarks.

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Sticky Notes

Quick and easy notes for Chrome : Sticky Notes is a Chrome app that locally stores all your notes in a single tab. It auto saves on every letter, so you don't have to worry about losing something because your computer crashed and you didn't click Save - it's already done for you!

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Checker Plus for Gmail
Displays new emails and the sender's contact photo, get desktop notifications or even listen, read or delete them without opening a tab.


Happy Programming :)
Signing Off

Ryan

jsfiddle Keyboard Shortcuts

As is usual with me while working with editors, I press a lot of the wrong buttons (whatever that means). Well, sometimes the consequeces are good like what happened to me when I accidentally messed around with the Shift and Ctrl buttons while working with jsfiddle. I just found myself a few keyboard shortcuts. Check em out!

Shift between editor windows

Ctrl + UpArrow, Ctrl + DownArrow

Show/Hide the 'Framework' panel on the left

Ctrl + Shift + UpArrow (Yea, you press the same combination to toggle between show and hide)

Run the code you've just written

Ctrl + Enter

Happy Programming :) 

Signing Off 

Ryan