A Collection of Free Media Resources This post attempts to list my top favorite free sites for royalty-free images, music, and videos for creative projects. Since 2000 I have been teaching university students how to design for print, the web, and the screen. One of the very first things we go over is that it’s always best to use your OWN original photos, drawings, music, and videos that you created yourself. Of course, when you need something really specific (say a close up photo of a lion’s mouth or the rings of Saturn) you can’t always get what you need on your own without also putting yourself in grave danger. Space helmet anyone? No need to get mauled by a lion trying to take that close-up That’s where royalty-free and public domain goodies come in! The list below is not at all an exhaustive one, but it will get you started right away with some of my very favorite sites tried and tested by myself and my students over the years with much success.
Creative Commons Many Flickr users have chosen to offer their work under a Creative Commons license, and you can browse or search through content under each type of license. Here are some recently added bits and pieces: Attribution (CC BY 2.0) » 91767649 photos (See more) Attribution-NoDerivs (CC BY-ND 2.0) » 25009436 photos (See more) Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) » 117052837 photos (See more) Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 2.0) » 63465514 photos (See more) Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) » 131662580 photos (See more) Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA 2.0) » 49480401 photos (See more) Public Domain Dedication (CC0) » 4786372 photos (See more) Public Domain Mark » 13393877 photos (See more) "Creative Commons is a non-profit that offers an alternative to full copyright." creativecommons.org Briefly... Attribution means: You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your copyrighted work - and derivative works based upon it - but only if they give you credit.
Stock Photos You Can Use For Free It can be insanely hard to find high quality, high-res free stock photos for personal and commercial use. A growing number of websites have amazing photos you can use for your work. Some of them cost money. Not everybody can afford those high quality photos. Fortunately most of these sites have images you can use for free. I’ve curated a list of awesome sites that have great stock images you can use for free. Most of the photos you will find on these sites are free from copyright restrictions or licensed under creative commons public domain dedication. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. The author is the founder at Alltopstartups (where he shares startup resources) and the curator at Postanly (free weekly newsletter that delivers the most insightful long form posts from top publishers).
mental_floss Blog HTML5 and the future of the Web There's been a lot of talk lately about the future of the Web. For instance, Wired had a cover story a couple months back proclaiming "The Web is Dead." And when I was at BlogWorld last month in Vegas, one of the main topics was how blogs are going to survive "In a world, where browsers are no longer..." If anything is going to save the browser and the Web, it's going to be HTML5, and other improvements to the current HTML. HTML5, which is coming to a browser near you very soon, has tags for animation, video and all sorts of cool interactive components that will blow your mind. The idea here is that you can help make the video by entering in your childhood snail mail address (or any other address you'd like). Who knows what the future of the Web holds.
60 Totally Free Design Resources for Non-Designers Creating engaging visual content doesn’t have to require a financial investment. Sure, at one time graphic designers needed expensive software and even more costly images to craft a winning visual campaign. But thanks to a host of free online resources, anyone can design high-quality visual stories with ease. Of course, navigating the sea of online images and editing tools is easier said than done. Some require membership, others charge royalty fees, some require advance permission and others charge for high-definition. Fortunately, we’ve scoured the Web for the most complete, the easiest to use and the most innovative resources to aid even the most amateur designer in crafting stunning visual content. Check out these 60 totally free design resources for non-designers: Free Images 1 StockSnap.io With a large selection of free high-definition stock photos, StockSnap.io offers a valuable resource to web designers, bloggers and content curators. 2 Morguefile 3 Free Images 4 Kaboom Pic 5 Pixabay
everystockphoto - searching free photos 31 Sites with Free Music for Videos As you’ll have seen from the Creative Commons license type descriptions, there are a number of licenses only available for non-commercial use. So how do you know whether your project is commercial or non-commercial? Creative Commons’ own definition of commercial use is as follows: “…in any manner that is primarily intended for or directed toward commercial advantage or private monetary compensation.” Their guidelines on what constitutes non-commercial state that the following users are non-commercial: “(a) an Individual (b) a Nonprofit educational institution/library, (c) a Nonprofit organization as defined under US or equivalent law [1], (d) A commercial copy shop, ISP, search engine, content aggregator, blog aggregator site or similar service provider who, in the course of providing a service at the direction of the allowable NC user, may exercise a right licensed under the Creative Commons license.” BUT …it’s not always as simple as that.
4 Ways To Reduce The Size Of A PDF File So in my desperate search for ways to optimize PDF files, I’ve found that there aren’t many free options. Although there are a lot of shareware programs, there are also, thankfully, a few free programs can help you reduce a PDF file size. Irfanview & GhostScript [Windows & Possibly Linux] If you don’t have Irfanview, you should really consider downloading it. It’s a much better and lightning fast alternative to the default image viewer in Windows, supports countless plugins that allow it to be extremely versatile, and converts images to different file types. You can use it to add borders and watermarks to your photos, and batch process many images at a time. Once you have Ghostscript installed, you can use Irfanview (portable version will work as well) to view PDF files and save them as new files. You can choose to save with lossless, best, high, medium, and ‘dump’ quality. PrimoPDF [Windows] For the smallest file size, choose the Screen setting. Neevia’s PDFCompress [Web-Based]
Free Clipart For Teachers: Top 12 Sources To Find What You Need Learning and educational projects almost always require visual content that would catch the attention of the students and the pupils. Such content could be images, illustrations, clipart, you name it. In their attempt to convey new information in the best possible way, teachers and educators search for tools and assets that will help them grasp the interest of their students. 1. A source for high-quality free vector characters and free clipart for teachers. 2. A famous source for free vector resources including free clipart for teachers that will help teachers convey information better to the little ones. 3. A premium website, specifically devoted to providing educational resources. 4. As the website suggests, all resources available for download on the platform are free, including graphic material for learning. 5. A platform where everyone can contribute with copyright free art and images. 6. A well-known source for free vector art graphics, illustrations, and clipart. 7. 1clipart.com