Design215 Toolbox

Any project becomes easier with the right tool. Here are some of the tools we have created to help with various projects. Some are simple and others are more complex. We hope you find them useful and we appreciate feedback.

Photography

• 35mm Lenses Tutorial
  A beginner's guide to 35mm lenses. Learn about different types of lenses, focal length, bokeh, and other lens terminology.
• File Size Chart
  Learn what determines the file size of a digital image and how to calculate it.
• Film Size Chart
  This page lists the dimensions of various types of film and shows a scale comparison of 35mm film next to medium and large format sheet films.
• Grayscale Chart
  Check the brightness and contrast of your monitor.
• Megapixels Chart
  Compare the number of megapixels from various digital cameras and see the maximum size print that can be made from each one. See why going from 3 to 4 megapixels is a much bigger jump than going from 10 to 12 megapixels. A second chart shows maximum print sizes at 300, 200, and 150ppi for a given number of megapixels.
• Printing Guide
  Learn about the difference between dpi and ppi and why you need 300ppi for a photo quality print in a book or magazine.
• Screen Resolutions
  An actual size pixel chart of computer monitor and video resolutions. Rectangles on the chart range from 1080p HD to 480 x 320 iPhone.

 

Popular Tools

• ALT Codes
  Need to enter Windows ALT codes on a Mac? This utility lets you enter ALT codes then copy/paste the special characters into any Mac or Windows application.
• Character Counter
  A simple utility that counts characters in real time as you type.
• Color Picker
  Experiment with different color schemes by entering RGB or Hex color values to change the colors of a sample layout. Also included is an RGB to Hex converter and a web safe color chart.
• Cryptogram Maker
  Create simple substitution ciphers from your text, like in Edgar Allan Poe's story, The Gold Bug. Create your own encryption keys. Convert text to all caps, camel case, and 1337
• CSS Extreme Makeover
  This personal project of Robert Giordano invites graphic artists to create replacement stylesheets for this site.
• CSS Quick Reference
  A handy, alphabetized list of CSS properties and values that are supported by all of the major browsers.
• Cut Sheet Weight
  calculate the weight of any rectangle cut from a sheet of known dimensions and weight. If you're building a drone, this utility has been expanded to be part of the Drone Frame Calculator.
• Spellcheck a Document
  Copy and paste a document into this Spelling checker and it will instantly read through all of the text at once and mark all misspelled words in red. Options include inline suggestions and additional wordlists for HTML and slang.
• Word Finder
  Enter any letters that a word starts with, ends with, or contains and this utility will find all words matching the input. The length of the word can also be specified. Finally, this utility can also unscramble words.
• Word Pattern Finder
  A second word find utility with wildcards, includes, excludes, and pattern search. Designed to be a simple alternate to the original Word Finder.
• Wordlist Maker
  Copy and paste a document into this utility and it will create an alphabetized index of all the unique words in the text.

 

Web Development / Reference

• ASCII Chart
  A simple chart showing characters and ASCII values from 0 to 255.
• ASP Translator
  Listed on php.net from 2004-2009, this utility was used by thousands of people to quickly convert ASP/VBScript code to PHP using a simple web form. While few people need such a thing in 2023, it still works and its here for nostalgia!
• ASP/PHP Reference
  A convenient cross reference chart for people who are familiar with either ASP or PHP and are trying to learn the other.
• Browser Tester
  Simply shows User Agent and Accept headers, Javascript version, and Navigator Object.
• Browser Tester 2
  Provides a more thorough set of tests, including window events, document.onload, document.addEventListener, mouse events, onblur, onfocus, window and screen dimensions, AJAX compatibility, etc.
• CSS Compressor
  Removes comments, extra spaces, and line feeds from Stylesheets or blocks of CSS to save space. It DOES NOT optimize or modify your CSS!
• Domain List Cleanup
  A simple utility to clean up a list of domains copy/pasted from another web site.
• Gibberish Detector
  An experimental version of Robert Giordano's own gibberish detection and nonsense string algorithm.
• Javascript Compressor
  A simple utility that removes extra white space from Javascript code, significantly reducing the file size of the script, while adding a small degree of protection through obscurity.
• HTML5 Document Object Utility
  Test document objects and properties in different browsers. Uses HTML5 Doctype
• RegEx Tester
  This page offers a quick guide to using Regular Expressions, some examples to study, and a form for creating and testing new ones.
• URL Encoder / Decoder
  Change encoded query strings back into plain text or vice versa.
• UTF-8 Decoder
  Get multi-byte hex and decimal codes for UTF-8 characters.
• Whitespace Remover
  Remove extra spaces, tabs, and line feeds from HTML (not for Javascript).