Difference Between HTML and XML

HTML to XML: Extending the Markup Language

A great majority of people who are in the computer industry know what HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is. It has been around for a very long time and has been used extensively in webpage design that although it is already rare to see webpages written solely in HTML, it is considered as basic knowledge to the whole process of creating webpages.

XML (Extensible Markup Language), on the other hand is a more recent and much less known technology compared to HTML. XML was created in 1996 by a group of 11 people as an adaptation of SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) for use in the World Wide Web. XML is a more structured and strict markup language compared to HTML that allowed users to create their own definitions and modularized code. It was made to create a standardized specifications for creating custom mark-up languages which are now known as XML dialects. It might not be instantly apparent but custom markup languages like HTML, RSS, and Atom were all built from XML as a method of increasing the usability of the internet.

Since XML was adapted from SGML it contains a lot of code and techniques that were originally from SGML like its strictness and a so called well-formedness. Characteristics that extend even to the descendants of XML. Certain rules should always be considered when creating code that is based on XML. There is even a well formed declaration with every document to state what type of document it is and to what rules should the processing be based on. This is very different compared to the very relaxed coding that is used in HTML.

When you process an HTML page, you would have some sort of result regardless of what the input was. The HTML processor tries to make sense of what was in the document and makes an output which it thinks best represents the input data. This is not true comes to XML. XML employs an error handling mechanism that is considered as “draconian”. Whenever the XML processor encounters something that it cannot comprehend, it just creates an error report and terminates the processing of the file. That leaves you with an error box and no result at all unlike in HTML.

To put it in perspective, HTML is a markup language used to quickly and easily display some manner of output. It does not concern itself with correctness of the input and just tries to create an output based on the input file. XML on the other hand is a very strict markup language which is not usually used to create content. Its primary use is as a tool for creating other markup languages that create the needed content.

Difference Between HTM and HTML

HTM and HTML refer to file extensions of HTML files. They are files of a plain text type. HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language, which is a markup language used for creating web pages. HTML actually uses markup tags for describing web pages. As file extensions, they are denoted as .htm or .html. If you use HTML files to create your web page, then an .html or .htm will most likely appear at the end of its URL. Here are examples: ‘http://code.google.com/chrome/extensions/samples.html’ and ‘http://edgewisdom.com/Finance1.htm’.

TM is used only as an alternate extension to .HTML. This happens for some reasons, for example, in some operating systems, like the Disk Operating System and Window 3.X, they do not allow the use of four-letter extensions. Therefore, instead of .html they use .htm. As well as in the world of windows, three-letter extensions are most commonly used, like ‘.doc’ and ‘.exe’, therefore, .htm is more applicable here. However, there are also some cases, with other server’s, when they create their default directory to only support .html files. So it means .htm is not allowed on that server.

In actual fact, .htm was usually used back in the old days, like during the time when DOS was popular. In the present time, computers can now easily support big files and wide length of file names, therefore, having a four-letter extension is not a problem anymore.

Anyway, file extensions are useful to operating systems because it helps them identify what type of data file they are dealing with, and also so that they can find an appropriate program to read or edit it. If your computer is unable to open the files, especially files with unknown file extensions, it means that you may not have the associated program installed to be able to read it, or you may have windows registry errors related to the file extensions.

In the case of the internet, web browsers do not really see the file extensions, so when you type a URL with no HTM or HTML extension, the browser can still find the source, and display its contents. HTM and HTML are only two of the thousands of types of file extensions. Although, HTML is the most common web page format used, and that’s why they are more popular.

Summary:

HTM and HTML are both file extensions of HTML files. The only difference is that .HTM is used as an alternate to .HTML for some operating systems and servers that do not accept four-letter extensions. Although today, operating systems have developed, and can now support long file names and four-letter file extensions.

Difference Between HTML and CSS

HTML or Hypertext Markup Language is the standard and most basic language in use to create web pages. It has a very simple code structure that makes it extremely easy to pick-up and learn compared to any other language. CSS or Cascading Style Sheets is a style sheet language that can be applied to any XML document. Its purpose is to simplify the styling of certain elements so that the written code would be a lot easier to read.

HTML is rather simple with a few keywords that are dedicated to formatting certain words, sentences, or paragraphs. It is also quite forgiving with mistakes, still showing some result even when there are errors in the code. This aspect of HTML makes it quite easy to learn and write simple web pages that only contains a small amount of content and formatting. The problem with HTML is it doesn’t really scale that well once you start to develop bigger or fancier pages. Styling could involve multiple keywords in every section and this gets repeated multiple times in a single page, making the page unnecessarily longer. The simple and easy to learn language becomes very convoluted and quite difficult to trace once you’ve made mistakes.

CSS was developed to simplify the code in much bigger pages. This doesn’t mean that CSS cannot be used in simpler and less complex pages. CSS can still be beneficial for small pages but the benefits are more apparent as the size of the page grows. CSS does this by creating custom tags that defines the proper font, size, color, margin, and even the background. These custom tags can then be used just like normal HTML keywords like Font and Bold; but instead if just changing one aspect, it changes every aspect to conform to the tag definition. The end result of all this is that you would only need to use one tag to achieve a specific look, and you can use that tag over and over again in your pages. You are also not limited to a single tag, you can create as many as you need to fully stylize your pages.

CSS is just a tool that has become popular due to its modularity. It makes web page creation a lot easier to do and troubleshoot. Although you can use CSS in HTML pages, it is not meant for HTML alone. It can also be used on other languages like XML and XHTML among others.

20 Time-Saving Tips to Improve Designer’s Workflow

General Workflow and Customization

1. Customize your workspace in design applications

When working, it is important to have all necessary tools and panels readily available to speed up your workflow. However, the tools and panels needed, fluctuate based on the project at hand. Adobe design programs provide several standard default workspace settings, such as Type, Web, Video, etc.

These are beneficial for a start, but customizing workspaces to fit personal and project needs can further speed your workflow. Experiment with different set-ups to find the best settings. It is best to save a workspace after working within a document for a while rather than at the beginning.

1. While working in a document: Open, close, and reorganize panels, window layout and interface to optimal conditions
2. Go to: Window > Workspace > Save Workspace (In Dreamweaver, the menu option is listed as Workspace layout)
3. Give the workspace a name (ex. Mike’s Logo Project); In some cases, you will be asked to select which settings to save, if so select the appropriate items
4. To use the layout in the future, Go to: Window > Workspace > title of your workspace

2. Customize your preferences in design applications

Numerous program settings are stored in the Adobe applications, including general display options, file-saving options, performance options, cursor options, transparency options, type options, and options for plug-ins and scratch disks. These preferences are just that, preferences. It is no surprise that not everyone agrees with the same preferences, so for an optimal design experience, you should customize these preferences in each of your design programs to best suit your needs.

Edit Preferences

• Choose Edit > Preferences > General (Windows) OR choose Program Name (ex. Photoshop) > Preferences > General (MAC)
• Preference settings are saved each time you quit the application.

Suggested Preferences to Change

• Photoshop: number of history states, interface display, unit measure default
• Illustrator: keyboard increment, selection tolerance, baseline shift default, tracking default, unit measure default, grid layout, appearance of black
• Dreamweaver: code format, code hint, copy/paste, css, css shorthand, new document, browser preview defaults, validator
• Flash: on launch default, actionscript, drawing, text, warnings, PSD & AI file import
• InDesign: drag-and-drop text editing, dynamic spelling, auto-correct, leading, unit measure default, keyboard increment, dictionary, display performance, appearance of black

3. Combine common graphics from past projects into one document for easy use in the future

Design should never repeat itself, however there are certain elements that are often repeated out of necessity, such as icons, logos, symbols, etc. (particularly when you are creating a wireframe). Combine all of these common elements into one Photoshop or Illustrator document for future use. This will eliminate the search through past design documents for an icon or symbol you have already created.

4. Learn and practice using keyboard shortcuts, then create your own

Sure command-C and command-V are helpful for copying and pasting, but don’t stop there. A keyboard shortcut exists for most of the common commands and if there is not one, you can create your own. The time saving ability of keyboard shortcuts is priceless.

To create your own select Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts (Windows) or Program Name (ex. Photoshop) > Keyboard Shortcuts (Mac OS). You can create different sets of shortcuts for different tasks
if desired. Browse to the command that you would like to edit and enter a new shortcut combination. Note: To enter the key combination, press the keys on the keyboard. You do not need to spell out the key names, such as Control, Option, and so on.

Resources for finding and learning shortcuts:

• Adobe Photoshop CS4, Illustrator CS4, Dreamweaver CS4, InDesign CS4 – Noble Desktop
• Adobe Flash CS4 – Subdivision

Photoshop

5. Create reusable files or templates with commonly used settings

In general, when beginning a website mockup/design in Photoshop, there are several things you do (or should do) automatically before you begin, such as set the size and dimensions, create guides, and create common layer folders (see Always organize layers into several folders below). Instead of creating these generic settings each time, create a template file with these settings already created.

Next time you begin to design a website mockup, set up your basics, then stop and save a version labeled “webtemplate.psd,” or any other relevant filename. Then begin every future design with that template file. You will appreciate eliminating this repetitive task the next time you design!

6. Record and use actions for repeated tasks

One of Photoshop’s most effective time-savers is the actions panel. It allows you to record a task or series of tasks to be used later for similar projects. As with many Adobe tools, there are a number of helpful default actions already set-up, however, the actions panel is best used when recording custom actions, many of which are project specific.

For example, if you had a series of filters and adjustments applied to an image within a design and you needed to apply the same effects to several other images, then recording the steps would allow for an exact and quick replication of the effect.

The actions panel can be very dynamic or it can be very simple, depending on your needs and experience. Follow the steps below for the basic functions of the actions panel. Then check out the additional resources listed here for further learning.

1. Open the Actions Panel: Window > Actions OR use the keyboard shortcut, Option-F9 (MAC) Alt-F9 (WINDOWS).
2. Create a new action by clicking the New Action button, located at the bottom right of the actions panel.
3. Once a new action is created, it automatically begins recording. If not, click the round record button, located at the bottom of the actions panel.
4. Proceed with applying any adjustments, filters, size changes, etc. until the desired effect has been reached.
5. Once finished, click the Stop Playing/Recording button, located next to the record button at the bottom of the actions panel
6. If a specific task was recorded during the action that is undesired, that specific task can be deleted without re-recording the action by selecting the task, then clicking the delete button.
7. To play an action, select the appropriate layer to apply the action to, then click Play. Photoshop will perform the actions live on the screen, but should only take a few seconds.

Helpful Resources for Photoshop Actions

• Creating a Photoshop Action – Veerle’s blog
• How to use Photoshop Actions (Video Tutorial) – Bukisa
• The Ultimate Collection of Useful Photoshop Actions – Smashing Magazine
• 400+ Time Saving Photoshop Actions – Design Reviver

7. Use batch actions for repeating a task on a group of files

When using basic Photoshop actions, you must click play each time to apply the action. This isn’t convenient when the same action needs to be applied to a large group of files. This is where batch actions becomes very helpful. The batch automation panel allows for the application of an action to a folder of images or files. For example, if you had a folder of 50 images that need to be resized to 500×500px and rotated 90 degrees, it would be time consuming to apply the action individually to each file.

Rather, configure the batch actions dialog box to apply the action to all files in the folder, then Photoshop will do the grunt work and spit out all 50 images, rotated and resized.

To access the batch actions panel, select File > Automate > Batch.

8. Use the image processor for resizing a group of images

Similar to the batch actions panel, the image processor selects a folder of images or all open images and resizes and saves them to a desired location. The image processor is better for resizing images than the batch actions panel, though the same action can be performed in both.

To access the image processor, select File > Scripts > Image Processor.

9. Make history snapshots to create comparable versions of a file

Photoshop’s history panel is a life-saver sometimes, however it is even more convenient to create multiple instances of the same file to be compared later. The Snapshot command lets you make a temporary copy (or snapshot) of any state of the file. The new snapshot is added to the list of snapshots at the top of the History palette. Selecting a snapshot lets you work from that version of the image.

Create a Snapshot

1. Select a state and do one of the following:
   • To automatically create a snapshot, click the Create New Snapshot button on the History panel, or if Automatically Create New Snapshot When Saving is selected in the history options, choose New Snapshot from the History panel menu.
   • To set options when creating a snapshot, choose New Snapshot from the History panel menu, or Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) the Create New Snapshot button.
2. Enter the name of the Snapshot in the Name text box.
3. Choose the snapshot contents from the From menu:
   • Full Document – Makes a snapshot of all layers in the image at that state
   • Merged Layers – Makes a snapshot that merges all layers in the image at that state
   • Current Layer – Makes a snapshot of only the currently selected layer at that state

10. Always organize layers into several folders or groups

It is best practice to always label layers and organize them into manageable folders/groups. It allows for quick navigation of layers and the movement of groups of layers. For example, when designing for the web, it is helpful to have several folders, such as header, sidebar, footer, etc. If the sidebar needed to be relocated within the file, select the folder and drag the entire group to the desired location.

To create a layer folder, click the create a new group icon, located to the left of the create new layer button inside the layers panel.

11. Create adjustment layers instead of directly editing a layer

When editing images, using Photoshop’s adjustment features is a life-saver because of the expansive amount of control you have over the appearance. However, it isn’t always an exact science and you may not like the final outcome. This is where adjustment layers come in handy.

Without harming the original layer, Photoshop will apply the adjustment as a clipping mask to the previous layer or the entire document. You may apply as many adjustment layers to one layer as would like and the beauty of them is the ability to hide them with the click of a button, just like any other layer.

To create a new adjustment layer, select Layer > New Adjustment Layer > the desired adjustment

12. Right-click to select a layer

Simple as it sounds, a right-click or control-click (Mac), can save a lot of headache when trying to locate layers. Within a document, to select a layer without scrolling through the layers panel, hover over the object to be selected and right click. Several layers will be displayed, click on the desired layer to move to that layer.

Illustrator

13. Record and use actions for repeated tasks

Recording and using actions is common to Photoshop users, however little-known is that Illustrator possesses the same capability of recording and playing actions.

1. Open the Actions Panel: Window > Actions
2. Create a new action by click the New Action button, located at the bottom right of the actions panel
3. Once a new action is created, it automatically begins recording. If not, click the round record button, located at the bottom of the actions panel
4. Proceed with applying any transformations, adjustments, effects, etc. until the desired outcome has been reached
5. Once finished, click the Stop Playing/Recording button, located next to the record button at the bottom of the actions panel
6. If a specific task was recorded during the action that is undesired, that specific task can be deleted without re-recording the action by selecting the task, then clicking the delete button
7. To play an action, select the appropriate object to apply the action to, then click Play. Illustrator will perform the actions live on the screen

14. Create custom swatch libraries

Color is important to the success or failure of a design. Therefore, choosing colors can be a difficult task. So why not simplify the process by only browsing through colors that are worthy of being selected? Adobe provides a number of excellent swatch books that are a good start, but even those can be overwhelming. Creating custom swatch libraries, organized by project or client, allows for better color management.

1. Open the swatches panel: Window > Swatches
2. Locate and create the desired swatches. Create a new swatch by clicking New Swatch, located at the bottom of the swatches panel.
3. To add a swatch from another swatch book, click and drag the swatch into the swatches panel.
4. Optionally, organize swatches into color groups for easier browsing. For example, group all reds and browns together. To create a color group: Select swatches to be included by holding the Command key (Control key on Windows) and clicking. Then, click the New Color Group button, located at the bottom of swatches panel. Give it a name, and click OK. Add additional swatches to the color group by clicking and dragging them into the group.
5. Once the swatch panel has been organized and the desired swatches have been added (you can delete undesired swatches also), click the swatch panel options button, located in the upper right corner of the swatches panel. Select Save Swatch Library as ASE or Save Swatch Library as AI. ASE stands for Adobe Swatch Exchange and should be chosen if you would like to use the swatch library in other Adobe programs, like Photoshop or Indesign. If not, choose save swatch library as AI and the swatch library will only be available in Illustrator.
6. To open a swatch library: Click the swatch panel options button, located in the upper right corner of the swatches panel. Then select Open Swatch Library and find the category, User Defined. The swatch library you created will be listed under its given name.

15. Use the “same” command to select like elements

A small but mighty time-saving feature, the “same” command in Illustrator allows the selection of all like elements, such as all objects with a red fill color or all objects with a 5pt stroke.

1. To use the “same” command: Select the object with the desired characteristic. For example, if you want to select all objects with a red fill color, then select any object with a red fill color within the document.
2. Go to Select > Same > the desired command

Also, check out the “object” command for similar options. The “object” command will select all common elements, such as all brush strokes rather than all red brush strokes.

1. To use the “object” command: Go to Select > Object > the desired command

16. Organize elements into layers for easier management

Layers, another common photoshop feature, also exists in Illustrator, however it is not as widely used. The layers function similarly to those in Photoshop. Unlike Photoshop, Illustrator does not automatically place new objects into separate layers, but rather places them into sub-layers. Click the arrow next to the layer to access the sub-layers. It is important to keep in mind that Illustrator and Photoshop are different programs and each have their own purposes.

The biggest time-saving advantage of layers, is the ability to lock them, which allows for easier selection and editing. Also, layers add the ability to create clipping masks.

1. To access the layers panel: Window > Layers
2. To create a new layer, click Create New Layer, located at the bottom right of the layers panel. To create a sub-layer, which functions similarly to layers within layer groups in Photoshop, click Create New Sub-layer, located next to the new layers button.

17. Use common symbols from the Glyphs panel

Anybody need a copyright symbol, some arrows, or a email symbol? If so, utilize the Glyphs panel in Illustrator. Many common symbols and some uncommon ones too, are listed there. Each font has its own set of glyphs, however symbol fonts such as Wingdings, Webdings, and Zapf Dingbats are the best to browse through for symbols from anything such as mail and phone symbols to arrows and circles.

1. To access the glyphs panel, select Type > Glyphs
2. To change the font family, browse through the drop down menu, located at the bottom of the Glyphs panel

InDesign

18. Create stylesheets for quick formatting

Stylesheets in a web designer’s mind usually means only one thing, CSS stylesheets. However, if you are working on a print project in InDesign, stylesheets will also save you hours of time formatting, just as CSS stylesheets do. You can set them up as you work, saving individual styles to be applied to other similar areas.

Styles are handled in four separate panels: character styles, paragraph styles, table styles, and object styles. To add a new style, create the desired effect, then highlight/select the style and click the Create A New Style button. To apply the style, select the text/object to be formatted and click on the new style you created in the styles panel.

To access the styles panels, select Window > Type & Tables > Paragraph Styles OR Character StylesOR Table Styles. The object styles are located under Window > Object Styles.

19. Use Data-Merge for automatically personalizing stationery, invitations, etc.

500 personalized invitations to be completed by tomorrow? Not a problem, if you use the data merge feature in InDesign, also commonly referred to as mail merge. You merge a data source file with your current document and InDesign automatically produces each personalized version of the file. Use data merge for letters, envelopes, invitations, mailing labels, post cards, etc.

To access the data merge panel, select Window > Automation > Data Merge.

Additional Resources for Using Data Merge

• Adobe InDesign CS4 Data Merge – Adobe

20. Vow to learn and use one time-saving tip per day

You can’t commit all of these tips to memory in one day, so pick one to learn everyday, or at least one per week. Do something once, ok. Do something twice, great! Do something 10 times, now that’s dedication. You can also make a note or even a full-color PDF document, if you wish, that contains some of these time-saving tips for quick reference.

Free Photoshop Plugins and Filters

3D Shadow

This handy plugin easily creates various types of 3D shadows from objects such as letters, numbers, shapes and so on. All settings are present in a single window – transparency level, perspective, shadow color and position, X/Y/Z angles, and many more.
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AAA Buzzer

AAA Buzzer simplifies your image while retaining sharp edges, with low ratio settings in works fairly quickly, it does work slower at a higher ratio, but it also removes more detail.
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Absolute Color

Absolute Color is based on a hue wheel subdivided into 6 sectors of 60 degrees. Choose a slector color segment and it will restrict the tints of the image for that color.
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B/W Conversion

This is a black and white conversion plugin with a difference. It allows you to take total control over the tonal response of Red, Yellow, Green, Cyan, Blue and Magenta, and the intermediate hues. The user can boost each colors tonal response all the way up to white or limit it down to black, without affecting the other colors at all .
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Bad Dream

Bad Dream gives the kind of color-casts that you would normally spend hours trying to correct; it also gives a soft, misty effect, and the final result can be quite pleasing on the right kind of image.
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Bas-Relief

This filter transforms an image to appear as though it is carved in bas-relief, giving it a lighting effects to accent the surface variations. It can look like aluminum foil, hammered metal, or carved stone, it can also be used to convert a photo into a pencil sketch.
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Camouflage

Use the Camouflage plug-in to make army, fashion and animal camo. The Camouflage plug-in creates seamless images, this means you can use them as texturesand patterns for 3D models or as a background for web sites, they can even be used as a pattern for clothing.
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Caravaggio

This plugin creates a simple ‘oil-painting’ effect, with just four sliders to adjust the image, choose from Creativity, Exuberance, Attentiveness and Moodswing
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Chalkaholic

Chalkaholic renders chalk and charcoal type effects with artistic style and flair. It creates a uniquely effective artistic rendering options, it is an essential addition to any digital artist’s effects collection.
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Circle to Square

With this plugin you can convert any circle into a square.
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Cloud 2.2

This plugin creates seamless life like clouds on any image. You can control the blur, contour and light color.
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Color MegaMix

Color MegaMix modifies the colors of any image, it is based on two rows of colors: 8 source colors and 8 target colors. Taking into account this data, the plugin reconstructs completely the color space of the image.
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Color Replacer

This filter performs color replacement functions. The function is similar to Photoshop’s Replace Color command, however, this plugin is more flexible since you can select the source and target colors independently. Therefore, it is possible to tint gray areas with an arbitrary color, which can be useful for recovering the color in overexposed areas.
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ColorWorks

This plugin comes packaged with 20 effects for modifying image color values in many different ways. You can use them for subtle correction of your digital photos or experiment with the more dramatic transformations that are available. The effects are quite basic, but they can be handy for use on a regular basis.
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Contrast Balance

Contrast Balance enhances the traditional filter luminosity/contrast and breaks it down into four balances of constant/contrast, using the following four oppositions: white-black, red-cyan, green-magenta, blue-yellow.
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Contrast Mask

This plugin uses a contrast mask to reduce the overall contrast of the image, simultaneously bringing out more detail in both highlights and shadows.
A b/w negative of the image is blured (with a radius controlled by the “Smoothing” slider) to avoid hard edges and then overlayed with the original, darkening the highlights and lightening the shadows. The opacity of the overlay is controlled by the “Strength” slider.
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Craquelure 3D

This filter creates a wide range of well known craquelure (krăkloor´) effects, that is useful in designing various abstract patterns, decorative surfaces and construction materials.
Two independent craquelure layers can be controlled to achieve an amazing variety of texture effects, from etched metal and silk plaster to melted glass and water ripples.
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Curves Plugin

The Curves plugin can create eight predetermined, interesting curves within your image. The plugins interface shows several thumbnails of the curves, select the one you like and then be impressed by the impact it will have on your image.
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DepthDither

DepthDither uses 3 ways to make the image seems to be continuous when the color is below 24 bit. Just like Photoshop, it provides diffusion, pattern and noise as the dither modes. You can choose the destination color depth, such as 2 bit, 4 bit, 12 bit, 15 bit, 16 bit, 18 bit, this is the main difference from Photoshop, the latter only provides less than 256 colors mode.
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Digitization

The Digitization plug-in has been designed to digitize positions of features in large image files. By clicking on these features their coordinates are saved to a textfile (CSV). The coordinates can then be used for further analysis. The image below shows an example of an analysis based on the data from the Digitization plug-in.
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Dreamy Photo

Dreamy Photo gives images a soft romantic feel. This is a superb effect for enhancing stock photography, digital camera photos and any image you want to add a warm feel to.
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Edges Fx

This plugin take advantage of an edge detection algorithm (precise) to obtain the following artistic effects : Colorize, Erode/Dilate, Sat Boost and Sketch.
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EdgeWorks

This plugin comes with 20 effects for creating dramatic edge and color modifications. They are best used when experimenting with intense photo transformations for a highly stylized look. They are also handy when creating interesting texture effects.
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EmbossWorks

This plugin can be used for producing various quick and easy embossing styles. They are handy when you need to add a sense of depth or relief to an otherwise flat image.
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Equalizer

This plugin offers three methods of equalization, with several options to make this process editable. The process takes advantage of the histogram of frequencies.
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Eraser Classic

Eraser classic makes it easier to replace any color you choose from your image. Activate the eyedropper, select the color directly in the preview window, and adjust tolerance .
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Face Control

Face Control plug-in allows you to change the facial expressions of people in the digital photos.
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Fine Threshold

Unlike the traditional threshold command of Photoshop, Fine Threshold allows you to get quickly, anti-aliased and sharp shapes.
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Flat Median

The Flat Median plugin is a little bit more useful than the “regular” median filter. You have added controls over the level of Flatness, it is “isotropic” just like the gaussian blur and you can apply the effect either horizontally or vertically.
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Fur Plugin

This plugin spreads a simple figure (line or circle with configurable dimensions/thickness) over the whole image. Each image can be filled using two methods: Solid, the figure is filled with a single color (determined by the figure’s center) and 180 deg, were the image source content is kept, but with 180 degree rotation.
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Fuzzifier

The Fuzzifier is a filter that produces diffusion, but preserve details. There are three sliders, designated ‘Spread’, ‘Strength’ and ‘Fuzziness’. At high ‘Spread’ settings, the effect becomes grain-like, so keep this slider at the low end unless that’s what you’re trying for. Strength, of course, controls the overall strength of the effect, while ‘Fuzziness’ controls the effectiveness with which detail is preserved.
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Gradient Blur

This plugin applies a gradient blur that draw the attention to the photograph’s main subject. There are sliders to control the position where the blur starts and it’s strength.
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Gradient Smithy

Gradient Smithy allows you to create what Photoshop calls the gradient map effect. Gradient Smithy allows to create complex gradients, quite easily.
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Grain Natural 2

Grain Natural creates a grain-a-like effect of your images. This plugin takes advantage of the colors already present in the image to achieve a natural result.
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Harmonix

Harmonix renders a single, horizontal line on an image, but this is no ordinary line, it is the result of superimposing up to ten separate harmonic frequencies, scaled to the screen. You can use it to create realistic graphs or demonstrate how to create other basic waveforms from nothing but carefully selected harmonic frequencies.
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Harry’s Filters

The famous “Harry’s Filters” is a series of filters that contains up to 69 different image effects. The main effect categories are called Color, Artistic, Gradients, Patterns, Warp, Noise, En/Decrypt, Other and Nature. It also includes filters for changing the image color or mood, for creating artistic effects, producing colorful gradients or impressive patterns, warping images and adding special noise effects to image. Additionally they let you encrypt and decrypt images with 64 bit keys, produce zoom, mirror or paint effects as well as natural effects like lightning, tornado and polar lights.
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High Pass Sharpening

This is a plugin to sharpen photos with the classic high pass method. The user can adjust the high pass filter radius, and control the blending with the original image.
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HSL Plus

HSL Plus is similar to the traditional hue/saturation/luminosity balance, but with some extras. It has a better color integrity, improved control over luminosity, and you also have the option of making an automatic contrast (due to the Auto button) then of re-adjusting.
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ICO Windows Icon

This plugin gives you an easy method for creating your web site’s favourites/shortcut/bookmark icon in Photoshop.
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Illustrator

This simple plugin creates an effect similar to a colored-ink illustration.
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Jama 3d

Jama 3D is one of the simplest ways to create corrugated style and cellular like patterns from 2D images. You can easily make various bricks and herring bone textures.
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Julia World

Julia ’s curves are a family of mathematical curves (fractals) renowned for their beauties. This plugin is very easy to use, all you have to do to find a curve and simply click the Random button, thats it. It also allows endless zooming to help you easily customize colors.
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Kaleidoscope 2.1

Kaleidoscope 2.1 is a plugin which uses multiple symmetries to create beautiful patterns, it uses these three spinning effects: Mirror, Copy, Transition and Blend.
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Lattice Composer

Lattice Composer effectively designs grids and nettings, it can produce a variety of weave patterns, fabric textures, body art tattoos and skeleton simulations. The 3D text effects can be extraordinary.
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Lens Correction

This plugin corrects barrel and pincushion distortions that many zoom camera lenses produce. Just move the sliders to the left to correct barrel distortion, and to the right to correct pincushion .
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Local Contrast Enhancement

This plugin’s main purpose is to enhance the detail of an image. This is achieved by increasing the contrast between a pixel’s value and the mean value of the adjacent pixels in a local area of the photo. You can control the amount of contrast that is increased, the size of the local area and the amount of blending with the original photo.
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Local Equalization

From an artistic point of view, local equalization can be used if you wish to enhance the aspect of a given texture. It can also be used to analyze and optimize an image certain details are barely viewable.
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Luce

Luce blends radial or directional light beams into your image. There is a text box for adjusting the intensity of the effect.
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Magic Enhancer Lite

With Magic Enhancer you can essentially improve your photos by adjusting its lightness, contrast and color balance It is perfect for enhancement image and photos which lack lightness or uneven illumination, silhouetted images on dark backgrounds. Convenient color temperature control allows fixing color balance defects easily.
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MasterBlaster

A single Photoshop-compatible plug-in with 20 effects for “blasting” intense color into your images. Ideal for when you need to add dramatic impact to your photos or work.
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Melt 1.1

With this plugin, you can alter an image, using an effective wave style. Size, intensity, and aspect ratio of waves can be customized.
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Mezzy

The Mezzy plug-in comes packaged with 15 effects for creating a selection of simple grain and mezzo styles, it gives your photos a new look with these various effects. (No MAC version).
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Mistifier

The Mistifier recreates the hazy, soft-focus effect beloved of traditional SLR photographers. This is ideal for portraits, but can also be used to great effect on landscapes, giving a sort of dreamy quality.
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Mosaic

Mosaic makes your photos look as if they were created out of a mosaic tile. Photo-realistic depth and variable tile size and color options give this effect an infinite number of looks.
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NightScope

The Nightscope is a filter for adding a basic “night-vision” effect to your digital photographs and/or 2D and 3D computer-generated images.
It first removes all color from the picture and gives a very slight blur to indicate the camera is trying hard to focus in a low-light situation. Then you can choose to add grain either keeping it B&W or mixing separate red, green and blue channels to vary the effect.
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NightVision

The NightVision plug-in can make any image look like the ones from night-vision goggles. By using the effects in this plug-in, you can make images look like they are from a black & white security cameras or CCTV, it’s also possible to make them look like infra-red photos, or you can just use the interlace to make an image look like a TV picture.
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Nostalgia

The plugin selectively desaturates your image, but also gives a subtle change in hues. The end result is that some parts of the image become monochrome, while others take on a an unrealistic-looking coloration.
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Ornament

This a great free plugin, from Flaming Pear, it creates a quick-and-dirty 360° panoramic photograph with no strange lenses or image stitching needed.
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Panorama Tools

Panorama Tools is a free program which can be used to generate, edit and transform many kinds of panoramic images. It comes packaged with an added plugin called Realtime Panorama Editor (only Photoshop/Gimp version), which makes the Photoshop window an editable VR-viewer. You can pan left and right, tilt up and down, and zoom in and out. At any time you can use all the Photoshop tools to edit the image and instantly apply the changes to the warped panoramic image while keeping the interactive window open.
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Pastellise

Give your images a pastel effect with this simple plugin.
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Perspective Transformations

Sometimes it is hard choose the optimum angle to take a picture. If the object is essentially planar (e.g. a painting on a wall) or the angle is not off by much then there is hope that you can correct the perspective afterwards. The opposite may also be of interest if you want to make a composition and place objects at different angles, e.g. pep up screenshots for a brochure.
The Perspective plugin lets you carry out both active (“Modify” ) and passive (“Rectify” ) transformations. You can rotate the image around three axes, then reposition and resize it. Grid lines can be displayed both before and after transformation.
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Photo Tinter

“AS Photo tinter” is an image editing plug-in filter for extracting tone profile from toned black and white photos and applying extracted profiles to another photo. It is not yet another sepia effect – you may apply different tints to different areas of the photo, based on source brightness.
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Pinocchio

Pinocchio is mainly a fun tool to produce image distortions by mouse strokes. You can use it for caricatures and such. Just click on the preview image and drag in whichever direction, then use the sliders for fine tuning. This version lets you perform multiple mouse strokes without having to exit and reopen the plugin.
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Pole Transform 2.1

This plugin gives any image that cool Polar Panorama effect, aka “wee planets” .
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Posterizer

Posterizer is a plugin that gives you the option to posterize the luminosity and the hue of any image.
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Projection

This plugin gives you a collection of interactive perspective effects: the ability to tile an image into infinite space (copy or mirror mode), or to repeat all the edges The 3D effect can be achieved simply by moving the corners of the image (in the preview window).
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RedEyes

The RedEYes plugin removes the red eye effect often caused by a flash camera. It employs an easy-to-use semi-automatic algorithm that quickly and economically eliminates the problem.
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Retrodots

Retrodots is a simple plugin that generates dot grids which can be based on selections.
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ScreenWorks

The ScreenWorks plugin has 30 options for creating screen/mesh patterns. This provides you with a quick way to add small detailed and repetitive texture overlay effects to areas of your image in one easy step. The single slider setting gives you the option to add the chosen pattern on top of your image, or make the layer background white. (No MAC version).
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Seamless Border

With this plugin you can create a seamless border from any image. There are three modes: Compact overlaps borders of two tiles, and blends them in a linear way; Advantage: usually, creates the best continuity between tiles; Disadvantage: the size of the last tile may vary with the “Border Size” setting, and you will have to crop the result manually; Stretch: Unlike “Compact Mode” , tiles are first extended by stretching the borders; Mirror: Unlike “Compact Mode” , tiles are first extended by using symmetries.
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Seamless Workshop

Seamless Workshop creates a seamless tile from any image. You can also create a “surrealistic modification” of a picture, as in the image below. It is a powerful tool for texture creators, and a helpful toy for graphic designers. The unique ‘Seamless Blur’ effect can be useful for any available tileable pattern.
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Select Edges

The Select Edges plugin is a powerful tool for selective processing. You can select edge detail in your image for sharpening with Unsharp Mask without getting halos or switch to the inverse selection and use Gaussian Blur to diminish the background.
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Selective Saturation

This plugn, Selective Saturation, lets the user define a Saturation Zone by setting it’s center and range with two sliders. A mask preview mode is available to fine tune the settings.
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Serious Fog

This plugin gives your image a fog-like effect. Using the ‘Severity’ slider controls the thickness of the fog, and the ‘Whiteout’ slider lets you suggest that maybe the sun will burn off the fog later in the day. Simple, yet effective.
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Smart Refinement

This plug-in enhances sharpness, depth-of-field (DOF) and noise (dust) reduction.
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Snowflakes

With the Snowflakes plug-in, you can make it snow any time of the year, anywhere you want. You can control all aspects of a snow, adjust the size of the snowflakes, choose soft snowflakes or hail, the quantity and density of falling snowflakes and even the color of the flakes.
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Soft Focus

This plugins applies a soft focus effect, which is often useful in portraits or fashion photography. There are controls to adjust the focus softness, the overall strength of the effect and the blending mode of the overlayed blured image.
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Soft Vignette

Vignette effects, where the edges of the image shade off gradually, are always a popular feature required by photographers. This plugin is feature heavy, you can adjust the gradient shape, sharpness, invert the gradient, select from 14 preset effects, choose a pattern, select the effect strenghth and, of course, you can adjust the height and width.
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Sorting Tiles

Fundamentally, this filter cuts an image into several blocks, sorts out the colors, redistributes and creates a complicated pattern.
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Stereogram Lab Filter

The Stereogram Lab Filter generates hidden image stereograms within Photoshop.
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SwapShop

A single plugin with 15 effects for switching the color values in your images. Useful for experimenting with interesting combinations and creating surreal results. Windows only.
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Techni-X

A plug-in filter for very high contrast B&W effects which are ideal for certain illustration work. It bleaches out most of the mid-tone greys, leaving crisp dark blacks and bright clean whites. It will produce clear B&W images with limited tones which are suitable for cheap reproduction via the office photocopier or when published in newsprint.
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Thredgeholder

The Thredgeholder plugin provides an edge detection that’s simple to use but highly effective, just have a look at the screenshot below.
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Tone 1.0

This plugin can convert any image into an anti-alias tone pattern, similar to newspaper tones.
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Vibrations 1.1

This plugin has two different methods (“Levels” and “Lines” ) for creating a streak effect of your images . The filter has an inbuilt blur, in order to ensure smoothness.
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Water Ripples

The highly realistic water ripples effect designer has numerous options as well as an impressive 3D quality. The random settings generator produces unlimited variations of rippled surfaces.
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Weaver

This plugin creates a weave effect of your images.
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Xpose

Xpose is an exposure adjustment plugin, it is a quick adjustment tool that for highlights and shadows. With just a few sliders you can achieve better exposure of your digital photos.
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