25 Unique uses of WordPress as CMS

WordPress is often thought of as little more than a blogging platform. But it’s capable of so much more. Through a little customization and the use of plugins, WordPress can easily be transformed into a full-featured content management system. Here are more than 25 sites who have done just that (and done it well).

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UGSMAG

UGSMAG is a Canadian hip hop magazine. The home page is laid out in a grid, with featured articles along the left two columns and news on the right. The color scheme and design choices reflect the young, independent audience they attract. The lack of a category list (other than the top nav, which simply lists “News,” “Features,” and “Interviews”) and archives lend the page to looking more like a traditional news or magazine website than a blog.

Subtle changes to individual article pages, such as removing the category labels, the use of a drop cap initial character, and moving the date from it’s usual blog-centric location under the title to the upper-right hand corner of the page all also contribute to the site looking more like a magazine and less like your standard blog.

The Weather Pops

The Weather Pops are a group of weather-related characters available for licensing. The site is simple and straightforward, and an excellent example of how WordPress can be used to build a simple yet powerful website. The pages included on the site offer great examples of how you can incorporate a gallery, contact form, and standard pages into a WP site.

The integration of plugins, such as the NextGEN Gallery plugin used on the gallery page, further improves the functionality of the site. Unless you looked at the code of the site, it’s unlikely anyone would have any idea this site was built using WP.

Temple Bar TradFest

The Temple Bar TradFest is an Irish music and culture festival held each year. The home page of this site bears absolutely no resemblance to a blog. The same can be said for internal pages, too. Individual pages within the site have no date or timestamp, no category or other tags, and otherwise look nothing like a traditional blog post.

Good use of plugins for the gallery and other pages further improves the functionality of this WP installation. This is another site where your average visitor would have no clue it was built on WP unless they checked the source code.

Table Talk

Table Talk is an online store selling dining furniture, tableware, and similar products. The home page features a product gallery with rotating images and the product pages show products laid out in a grid format. The site was built using the WP e-Commerce plugin for the online store functionality. E-commerce plugins greatly increase WP’s ability to be used as a CMS for virtually any kind of site.

Pages within the Table Talk site are set up without comments, date and time stamps, and categories. Categories are used for products, instead.

TP Hire

TPs is a teepee rental company serving Sussex and South East England. This site is actually a great example of using WordPress as a CMS. In addition to the standard pages found on most business sites (news, information, about us, etc.), there’s also a really great gallery page that uses the Lightbox formatting for viewing larger images and the option to view images in a slideshow. The layout of the events page is also an excellent example of how pages can be thoroughly customized within WP to suit the needs of the individual site.

The Art of Catalin Bridinel

The Art of Catalin Bridinel is your basic portfolio site. This site is a bit more blog-ish than most of the others here, but still offers up a good example of how to use WordPress for something other than your traditional blog. Paintings are listed in blog posts, with a large image appearing immediately under the title and a brief description under that. Comments are enabled here, unlike on many other CMS sites. The overall design, lack of sidebars, and other stylistic elements make this look more like a traditional portfolio site than a blog.

Search Inside Video

Search Inside Video is a service that provides searchable transcripts for online video content. Their site is one of the more innovative uses of WordPress as a CMS that I’ve seen. The overall site design is very simple, basically consisting of one long page with anchor tags for different content. Not exactly a revolutionary idea. But the implementation of it is very slick. It’s a great example of thinking outside the box in using WP as a CMS.

P2P Rescue

P2P Rescue is a non-profit organization working to help Sri Lanka and other Southeast Asian countries. The home page offers up basic information and articles about the organization and their cause. The overall site architecture is very simple, but again, bears little resemblance to a regular WP blog. Use of plugins for allowing donations to be made through PayPal further increases WP’s base functionality. The site also includes an online store powered by WP e-Commerce. Other pages include basic information about the organization and a blog (under the “Voices” section).

Myshli

Myshli is the portfolio of Danil Kryvoruchko. The home page of the site offers a gallery of designs, including a JavaScript slideshow of selected works. Individual pages on the site include galleries for each different type of work they do (web, print, etc.) along with an about page. Pages for individual projects show a variety of screenshots and images. The site also includes a blog with a different theme from the rest of the site (the main site has a black background whereas the blog has a white background).

Little White Lies

Little White lies is a website that revolves around movies. The home page is not unlike many other news and magazine websites, offering up links to current content, including interviews and reviews of upcoming and recently released films. Category pages (such as for interviews or reviews) use a different layout than the home page, though it does make them feel a bit more blog-like.

The article pages have stripped out the majority of blog-centric features, but have left in the comments section (many newspapers and magazines have added comment functionality to their articles both in and outside of blogs). The shop section on the blog appears to be the only section not powered by WordPress. Why this is is unclear, as there are some great plugins for e-commerce on WP.

KMX Karts

KMX Karts are manufacturers of recumbent trikes. The home page bears no resemblance to a blog, with the exception of the presence of a somewhat blog-like footer. The site includes a number of different kinds of page templates. There are pages for the different Kart models, pages for accessories, and pages for general company information. Each type of page, because they have their own unique functions, is slightly different from the other pages. The theme, though, is consistent throughout the site. The e-commerce aspects of the site are powered by the Shopp plugin.

IconDock

IconDock sells stock icons to designers. This is one of the prettiest sites I’ve seen using WP as a CMS. The home page is simple while still offering up plenty of content and some icons for sale right on the home page. Navigation is easy, with top nav and links placed within the content (such as the “Browse Icon Library” in the main image on the home page). The e-commerce portion of the site is powered by the WP e-Commerce plugin. The product pages offer up plenty of information about individual icon sets as well as different pricing options.

One of the coolest features on this site, though, is the drag-and-drop shopping cart (just drag an icon or set to the box on the left-hand side of the screen to add it to your cart). The box on the side shows your cart’s contents and removing an item is as simple as clicking the “x” in the corner. It’s definitely one of the slicker shopping cart UIs I’ve seen.

Ginger Restaurant

Ginger is a restaurant in South Africa. The overall site design and architecture are very simple while also being very attractive. The home page offers up basic information, including their hours and phone number. Other pages include more information about the restaurant, an online menu, and a gallery of the restaurant and their food. The gallery uses the JavaScript Thickbox functionality for displaying photos. There’s also a slideshow in the header of their offerings.

A couple of features that really set this site apart from similar sites, though, are their addition of links to their Facebook page and a page that lets you tell friends about Ginger. This kind of functionality is rarely seen on local business sites but should be utilized more often.

Fraai Magazine

Fraai Magazine is a free online magazine offering up creative inspiration. The site uses a the FLV Embed plugin to embed the Flash magazine into the site. (FYI: There is also a plugin available for WordPress, Page Flip Image Gallery, that allows you to create a flip-book style magazine right within WP.)

Other pages on the site include a visual index of articles and a page listing the issues available. The overall site is very simple but it’s an effective implementation of WP and appears to work well for what they’re doing.

Ford Motor Company—Global Auto Shows

This is the site of Ford Motor Company’s global auto show coverage. This is another site where you’d never guess it was powered by WordPress if you didn’t look at the source code. The home page offers up a gallery of featured vehicles, links to the different Ford brands, and a list of recent articles. Other pages on the site include a show schedule, information on concept cars (including a gallery) and information on vehicle types. From the looks of it, there’s a lot of custom programming going on on the site, including some custom Flash modules.

Executive Warfare

This is the site for Executive Warfare, a book by David F. D’Alessandro with Michele Owens. The basic layout of the site is very simple, as is the site architecture. The home page features some basic information about the book as well as a couple of sample articles. Pages contained on the site include a sample chapter, “10 Rules”, Reviews, an “About the Authors” page, and a video page.

The site also has a blog. The page templates are all the same, though the use of images and block quotes gives them each a unique look. Overall, it’s a great site that offers up its content in a way that is both aesthetically pleasing and practical.

Cubicle Ninjas

Cubicle Ninjas is a design firm offering up web design and development, graphic design and illustration services. The overall design is bold while still being simple. Their portfolio pages are some of the best I’ve seen, offering up embedded video on some pages in addition to images of individual projects. The Cforms2 plugin (which offers great customization options) is used for their “Request a Quote” page.

Camacho Cigars

This is the site of the Camacho Cigars company. The site architecture is completely un-blog-like. For example, the “Our Story” page contains subpages (“History of Camacho,” “Tobacco in Honduras,” and “Production Tour” linked with icons from the page itself. Other pages on the site include a page detailing their cigars, a “Where to Buy” page, a “Press Room” and a contact page. This is another site that does well by linking their social network profiles right from their home page.

Alpha Multimedia Solutions, Inc.

This is the online portfolio of Alpha Multimedia Solutions. The site’s design is simple and elegant, as is the architecture and navigation. The offer up case studies for their different clients and the pages for these use a slightly different template than their other pages. The use of slideshows for each project in the header also add to the overall look of the site very nicely.

Gaijin Film & Sound

Gaijin Film & Sound is a film, sound and new media production and consultancy company. Their home page offers up basic information about the company, including contact information in the sidebar, a list of services, and an abbreviated list of clients.

The top nav on the site is very effective and includes links to “About,” “Portfolio,” “Production,” and other pages. Their portfolio page is one of the nicest on the site, offering up links to videos within a very aesthetically pleasing layout.

Frisk Design

Frisk Design is a web design company. Their site makes great use of pages within WP for offering up information about the company, their services, portfolio, and contact. A blog is also included, though it’s not the focus of the site. The portfolio has a very elegant layout that offers up information about each site without having to click through to individual project pages.

Feedback Audio

Feedback Audio provides music production, film audio production, and live sound production services. The home page of the site offers up a great overview of the company, their services, and ongoing projects. It’s an elegant design that offers some great visual pop. The individual page templates are simple and the lack of a sidebar keeps this from looking anything like a blog.

Eye-Fi

Eye-Fi is a company that provides SD cards for digital cameras with built-in wifi for transferring photos to your computer. The site has an excellent layout that is at once visually interesting and easy to navigate. There’s no blog on the site, only pages that offer up information about the products, including where to buy and how they work. Overall, it’s an excellent example of a WP-powered site.

Earth911.com

Earth911.com is an environmental information site. The top navigation is one of the best I’ve seen, offering intelligent drop down menus that are only there when you want them to be. The overall site design is exceptional, simple while still be visually pleasing. Individual category pages are also beautifully designed, offering up basic information at the top along with articles related to the topic below. Overall, the site is one of the better designed portals I’ve seen powered by WP.

OriginOne

OriginOne is a clothing company that celebrates human oneness and connectedness. The site design is edgy and complex while still being very user-friendly and easy to navigate. The online store is powered by the Shopp plugin for WP. There’s no blog present on the site. Individual pages are kept simple, with the content as king. The shop itself is beautifully laid out and works well for a shop without a ton of products.

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The major incidents on the Internet in 2010

In what has become something of a yearly tradition, it’s now time for us to present 10 of the most noteworthy incidents on the Internet from this past year. As you’ll see, 2010 has been very interesting.
Just like previous years, we have included problems ranging from website outages and service issues to large-scale network interruptions. If you’re an avid Web user, you are bound to recognize several of them. Let’s get started! The major incidents on the Internet in 2010 were…

Wikipedia’s failover fail

Wikipedia has become so ubiquitous that it can’t go down for a minute without people noticing. According to Google Trends for Websites, the site has roughly 50 million visitors per day.

In March, when servers in Wikimedia’s European data center overheated and shut down, the service was supposed to fail over to a US data center. Unfortunately, the failover mechanism didn’t work properly and broke the DNS lookups for all of Wikipedia. This effectively rendered the site unreachable worldwide. It took several hours before everyone could access the site again.

WordPress.com’s big-blog crash

WordPress.com got a pretty bad start this year when a network issue caused the biggest outage the service had seen in four years. The outage became extra noticeable not just because of the sheer number of blogs it hosts (at the time 10 million, now many more), but also because so many high-profile blogs use it. The WordPress.com outage took down blogs such as TechCrunch, GigaOM and the Wired blogs for almost two hours in February.

Gmail’s multiple outages

Gmail is one of the world’s most popular email services, and is an integral part of Google Apps. Unfortunately, it’s had several notable outages this year. These issues haven’t always affected Gmail’s entire user base, but enough of it to make headlines in the news.

In February, a routine maintenance caused a disruption that cascaded from data center to data center, knocking out Gmail worldwide for about 2.5 hours. In March, Gmail had an issue that lasted as much as 36 hours for some users. Another incident happened early in September, when overloaded routers made the service completely unavailable for almost two hours.

China reroutes the Internet

In April, China Telecom spread incorrect traffic routes to the rest of the Internet. In this specific case it meant that during 18 minutes, potentially as much as 15% of the traffic on the Internet was sent via China because routers believed it was the most effective route to take.

Similar incidents have happened before, for example when YouTube was hijacked globally by a small Pakistani ISP two years ago. Normally this results in a crash since the ISP can’t handle the traffic. However, China Telecom was able to handle the traffic, so most people never noticed this. At most they noticed increased latency as traffic to the affected networks took a very long and awkward route across the Internet (via China).

Even though no serious outage happened as a result of this, we think it’s such a fascinating disruption of the traffic flow that we felt it was worth including here. This is an inherent weakness of today’s Internet infrastructure, which largely relies on the honor system. Renesys has a more in-depth explanation of this incident and how it could happen. We should state that it wasn’t necessarily an intentional hijacking.

Twitter’s World Cup woes

Twitter seemed like the ideal companion to the World Cup (soccer to you Americans, football to the rest of the world, John Cleese explains it best). Tweeting about the World Cup proved so popular that it slowed down or broke Twitter several times during the weeks of the event. The upside is that this effectively load tested Twitter’s infrastructure, revealing potential weaknesses. As a result, Twitter’s service today is most likely more stable than it might otherwise have been.

Facebook’s feedback loop

Facebook has become a true juggernaut with more than 500 million users. That hasn’t changed its development philosophy, “don’t be afraid to break things.” This aggressive approach to speedy development has been key to Facebook’s success, but, well, sometimes it will break things.

Facebook’s worst outage in four years came in September when a seemingly innocent update to Facebook’s backend code caused a feedback loop that completely overloaded its databases. The only way for Facebook to recover was to take down the entire site and remove the bad code before taking the site back online. Facebook was offline for approximately 2.5 hours.

Foursquare’s double whammy

Foursquare’s location-based social network has been a resounding success and has in little time gathered a following of millions, so when the service went down for roughly 11 hours early in October, people of course noticed. The culprit was an overloaded database. And as if to add insult to injury, almost exactly the same thing happened the day after, taking the site down for an additional six hours.

Paypal’s payment problems

When Paypal stumbles, so do the many thousands of merchants that rely on Paypal to handle payments, not to mention the millions of regular consumers who use Paypal for their online payments. You can imagine the effect, and sales lost, if Paypal stops working for hours on end. Which was exactly what happened in October when a problem with Paypal’s network equipment crippled the service for as much as 4.5 hours. At its peak the issue affected all of Paypal’s members worldwide for 1.5 hours.

Tumblr’s tumble

Tumblr was (and still is) one of the great social media successes of 2010, but with rapid growth comes scalability challenges. This has become increasingly noticeable, and culminated with a 24-hour outage early in December when all of Tumblr’s 11 million blogs were offline due to a broken database cluster.

The Wikileaks drama

If you’ve missed this you must have been hiding under a rock, which in turn was buried below a mountain of rocks. The site issues that Wikileaks experienced during the so-called Cablegate were significant. First the site was the victim of a large-scale distributed denial-of-service attack which forced Wikileaks to switch to a different web host. After Wikileaks moved to Amazon EC2 to better handle the increased traffic, Amazon soon shut them down. In addition to this, several countries blocked access to the Wikileaks site. And then the possibly largest blow came when the DNS provider for the official Wikileaks.org domain, EveryDNS, shut down the domain itself.

Without a working domain name in place, Wikileaks could for a time only be reached by its IP address. Since then, Wikileaks has spread itself out, mirroring the content over hundreds of sites and different domain names, including a new main site at Wikileaks.ch.

As if this wasn’t enough drama, you have to add the reactions from some of Wikileaks’ supporters (not from Wikileaks itself). The services that cut off Wikileaks in various ways (Paypal, VISA, Mastercard, Amazon, EveryDNS, etc.) were subjected to distributed denial-of-service attacks from upset supporters across the world, which resulted in even more downtime. There was also collateral damage, when some attackers mistook the DNS provider EasyDNS for EveryDNS, aiming their attacks at the wrong target.


The Wikileaks drama is without a doubt the Internet incident of the year.

Final words:
The events we have listed here above really are just a small sample of everything that has happened in 2010. Even without Wikileaks, it’s been a very eventful year on the Internet. That said, this is something we find ourselves saying every year. The truth is that the Internet is not quite as stable and solid as most of us would like to believe. It’s a complex system, like a living organism, and things do break from time to time. Sometimes it’s small-scale enough that nobody notices, and sometimes hundreds of millions of people are affected.
Hopefully 2011 will be a less eventful year, but we wouldn’t count on it.

If you feel we missed something major, please let us know in the comments!

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9 Best Websites For Designing Your Logos Online For Free

Logo Identity is the image used by a company which is designed to portray the company’s identity, aims and objectives. Logo identities were initiated by the philosophy of the common ownership of organizations. This philosophy is manifested in a distinct corporate culture. Logo were initiated by the philosophy of the common ownership of organizations. I believe you already know how important Logo is for any company. So, in this post, I am telling you to create your own Logo with these 9 online Logo creation sites for free.

So here is the list of 9 Best Websites For Free Logo design.

LogoEase

LogoEase is a website where you can create your own logo and download it free for your future reference.

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TheFreeLogoMakers

This is the second most popular website which I find for the online creation of Logo. After creating the logo, you can save it as a HTML file.

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OnlineLogoMaker

Online Logo maker is another commonly used for crating logos and downloading them for free.

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FlamingText

Flaming Text is a online logo generator from where you can create the logo and then use it as image on your website or in your email signature.

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Simwebsol

Simwebsol is a web2.0 free logo creator website.

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CoolText

Cool Text is a free online logo generator for your websites without doing a lot of design work.

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FreeFlashLogos

You can find loads of Flash logo samples and you can customize them according to your need and use it for free.

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LogoMaker

Register with your email id and then create some cool logos and also save it in this website. You can’t download it or copy it in your PC. Don’t know why they haven’t provide the option for download, but you can create some awesome logos there with the help of their logo samples already there.

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LogoSnap

You can design the logo here and save the logos after login.

This is all for now, hope it will be useful for you. If you find any other site which you think should include in this list, please be kind and share the link with us in the comments.

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The Best Web Apps of 2010

2010 has been quite a year for web apps with HTML5 and CSS3 really beginning to catch on, giving web apps more power and capabilities than they’ve ever had before and bringing them closer to their desktop rivals—or completely redefining the way we do certain things (social media?).

With 2011 right around the corner, the AppStorm team thought it would be a great time to take a look back on 2010 and some of the best applications developers have brought us. So we bring you 20 of the best web apps from 2010.

In preparing this post, I was taken back by the incredible number of fantastic web apps I’ve seen this year, so it’s very possible you’ll find something new and amazing yourself. Go on and take a look!

Dropbox

Dropbox

Although Dropbox’s primary function isn’t its web app, it’s still one of our favorite apps with so many uses it’ll blow your hair back. The desktop application is, without question, the world’s best multi-platform, multi-system data sync software.

The number of tips, tricks and hacks for Dropbox make it one of the most versatile apps I’ve likely ever come across. The combination of the powerful desktop and web apps ensure you always have access to your data, regardless of where you are.

Be sure to take a look at our Ultimate Dropbox Toolkit & Guide for a massive (and growing) list of ways to use this amazing app.

Facebook

Facebook

You’re probably wondering why I’m even including Facebook on this list considering it’s user-base is so massive it could be its own country, and one of the largest at that. But, let’s face it, Facebook has changed the way we interact socially and it’s been in the news more than any other app—especially for its privacy concerns—and has also changed dramatically over the last year.

Google Products (Apps)

Google Products

Google is a killer app producing beast, no doubt—possibly the king of web apps. Not only do they run the worlds most popular search engine but they also offer apps that are arguably the most popular in their own categories; Gmail, Google Maps, YouTube, Google Docs, Picasa and Google Chrome.

You’re all likely familiar with at least a few of Google’s amazing apps and the reach they have in the web world, so I need not further explain!

Check out our guide on setting up your personalized Google Apps suite.

SmugMug

SmugMug

As great as SmugMug is, it’s still hard to choose between it and Flickr considering they’re both top of their class but work better for different people’s needs. Over 2010, however, I’d have to go with SmugMug considering the number of improvements and new features they’ve implemented.

SmugMug is one of the best apps you could choose for storing and sharing images, not to mention the abilities it gives users for customizing galleries and printing & framing options. SmugMug also has options leading their field in video, allowing 1080p quality at up to 10 minutes.

TweetDeck

TweetDeck

While there are several fantastic Twitter web apps, TweetDeck stands out of the crowd and isn’t just popular on the web but also one of the top choices for desktop users as well. TweetDeck offers a version of their app for essentially every major device and platform, from desktop to mobile and as of just recently, the Chrome Web Store.

TweetDeck isn’t just a Twitter powerhouse, it’s a social media connection hub for pretty much everything.

Runner up: HootSuite

Aviary

Aviary

From image editing to music creation, Aviary is a powerhouse of killer web apps. While their primary apps are Flash-based, they’ve recently launched a lightweight HTML5 image editor that can even be embedded in your own apps. Aviary isn’t the only ones providing a fantastic online image editor, but they certainly have one of the best (if not the best) collections of great apps for tackling lots of different media types.

Runner up: Splashup.com

OnLive

OnLive

OnLive is attempting to revolutionize the way games are made available and against all odds, they’re doing a pretty dang amazing job of it. They’re pushing their new game system pretty heavily but you can just as easily play via browser capable computer and most recently view live players with an iPad.

The OnLive team is taking their technology even further, however, with rumors and demos of video streaming and remote system access (e.g. Windows 7 through a browser). While OnLive’s game list is still pretty limited, it’s growing and the service is taking fantastic steps forward all the time, recently even offering unlimited gaming for $10 per month!

If you want a deeper look at OnLive, be sure to read our early review (with video preview), OnLive: Next Generation Gaming.

Hulu Plus

Hulu Plus

Hulu was quite the hit as soon as it was released and it’s been in the news quite a bit through this last year for the struggles they’ve had obtaining and offering more content. One thing’s for sure though, Hulu is arguably the best place to catch up on your favorite TV shows.

With the addition of Hulu Plus, you can get all your favorite Hulu content shortly after airing, usually in HD and on a solid number of devices including the iPhone and iPad. At $7.99 per month, it’s not a bad deal. Unfortunately it’s not available outside the states just yet.

Runner up: Netflix

Groupon

Groupon

Groupon is a relatively new app but has really begun catching on this last year, introducing many to the new concept of social shopping. It’s popularity and success has really taken off this year and it doesn’t look like it’ll be slowing down any time soon.

The concept behind Groupon is pretty simple; you subscribe to daily deals (just notifications) and purchase deals you like along with your friends and family (though you can purchase them alone). In some of the deals, groups are required and it can be much more fun snagging a deal on an event with your friends.

Grooveshark

Grooveshark

While Pandora is still one of the most popular music streaming web apps, it’s still only radio via the web and hasn’t changed all that much this year. Grooveshark, however, is a music library with access to music and “radio stations”, all for free (with an optional VIP paid subscription).

Throughout the year, Grooveshark has made lots of improvements to their web app along with offering mobile apps for all the major mobile platforms (including Blackberry and Palm). Grooveshark works amazingly well, has a great selection of music and the price is hard to beat!

Evernote

Evernote

Evernote is similar to Dropbox in that it’s a powerful data sync tool compatible with nearly every platform; desktop, mobile and web. It’s not exclusively a web app and requires a downloaded app whether on windows or a mobile device to really make use of it but all your data is accessible via the web as well.

Evernote differs from Dropbox in the type of data typically stored, based on a note and notebook concept and built to help organize your notes and data (including images, files, etc).

If you want to learn more about Evernote and how to take advantage of its awesome capabilities, check out the following posts.

• The Note Taking Trio that Trumps the Rest
• Don’t Forget: Use Evernote

Kickstarter

Kickstarter

Kickstarter is easily one of my favorite apps of 2010, making things possible for people in a very elegant and social way not previously possible. Users can start projects, requesting backers to reach the projects financial goal. If the goal is reached, the project is funded (by the backers). Other users can back any project they’d like (I’ve already backed two, both reaching their goals) and if the project reaches its required financial goal from their backers, you’ll then be required to pay the money you backed the project for.

It’s a fantastic idea and makes it much easier for every day people to back projects and achieve their goals. They’ve already had tons of fantastically successful projects! See Rocking Kickstarter for Easy Project Funding for a more in-depth look.

SlideRocket

SlideRocket

SlideRocket is a presentation web app that really shows what kind of incredibly powerful apps can be developed for the web. In my opinion, even current desktop powerpoint apps fail to offer the capabilities SlideRocket does. It’s even available on mobile devices such as the iPhone and iPad.

SlideRocket is free but many of the more powerful features are reserved for the Pro plan, which will be well worth it for business or heavy presentation users. See our review of SlideRocket,Power Your Presentations with the New SlideRocket, more a more in-depth look but keep in mind they’ve added many fantastic features since then.

Freshbooks

Freshbooks

It’s difficult to say Freshbooks has been the best invoicing app for freelancers as there are definitely others that are more appealing to those with different levels of needs. Freshbooks does, however, offer one of the widest range of capabilities and features and is certainly one of the most widely used.

Invoice, track time, organize expenses, manage clients and integrate with many other amazing web apps for your business needs with Freshbooks.

Other invoicing apps I would highly recommend are Blinksale, CurdBee, Ronin and Invoice Machine. I’d encourage you to also take a look at our review of Blinksale—Blinksale:
A Revamped Butt Kicking Invoice App.

Penzu

Penzu

When it comes to private journaling, Penzu has rocked 2010. They’ve added plenty of new features and more recently released a full HTML5 app for mobiles that rivals some native apps. The app is a pleasure to use, not to mention how therapeutic private journaling is, and offers plenty of features for you to customize your journal and connect with services like Flickr for adding your photos.

Be sure to check out our reviews of Penzu’s apps for a more in-depth look.

• Penzu Goes HTML5 Mobile
• A Private Web: Digital Journal with Penzu

Threadsy

Threadsy

Threadsy takes a different approach to email and social media, bringing the two into a single app but in a way that makes it easier for you to organize and stay on top of everything. So many of us have multiple email and social networking accounts—Threadsy enables you to pull them all into one place to easily manage it all.

Although it’s still in beta, it’s come a long way this year and boasts some really killer features, proving just how powerful web apps can be.

Forrst

Forrst

Forrst is a fun and creative app for designers and developers to share links, snapshots of their work, code and ask questions. Although some might argue Dribbble should be here instead, Forrst brought the Dribbble concept to a new level and with more creativity.

Both are invite-only apps, meaning you must be invited by current members who are encouraged to only invite those who will compliment the community. For creatives and coders, it’s a valuable resource and a great social community.

FontStruct

FontStruct

Font creation and sharing used to be a much more exclusive club, not to mention much more difficult. FontStruct changed that and opened up the world of fonts to every day users with an app that anyone can start using without extensive training. It’s also free!

There’s a lot more to the app, community and website though—definitely worth checking out if you’d like to design fonts or are interested in the subject. Take a look at Creating Fonts with FontStruct for a more in-depth look at the app.

FormStack

Formstack

Online forms and their associated data can be a massive pain to build and manage, especially for those who aren’t web developers. FormStack takes the pain out of this whole web forms nightmare, making it incredibly easy to build and manage forms and the data you’ll receive from them. It really doesn’t get easier than this!

In 2010 Formstack has made lots of great improvements and added incredibly useful app integrations to easily enable things like payments. They even offer a free plan should you not need more than a few simple forms, but pricing plans are very reasonable should you need more.

LastPass

LastPass

We all know how important password security is and how difficult it is to manage and remember more than a few complex passwords. LastPass takes care of it all for you on Mac, Windows and Linux with integration in every major browser and even mobile access on iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows phone, Symbian and Android. That’s impressive app support but your passwords are that important and the LastPass team knows it!

LastPass has been around for awhile but they deserve a spot on this list as they’ve acquiredXmarks, the best browser bookmarks sync app around, saving it from shutting down. Hopefully the two will be combined but either way, LastPass is a stellar group for keeping Xmarks alive.

What’s Coming in 2011?

Looking back on 2010 we’ll see that web apps have really started coming of age and are further blurring the line between desktop and cloud computing. This is really just the tip of the iceberg though, with new web technologies like HTML5 and more powerful browsers making their way into people’s day to day lives. So, what do we have to look forward to in 2011?

For starters, the just launched Chrome Web Store and Chrome OS will further develop and hopefully flourish. These two products are a unique perspective on the world of web apps and one that many feel is overdue. Google may just be able to start the full-on cloud computing revolution and we might see it blossom next year.

As more people shift to entertainment sources on the web, we’ll very likely continue seeing the growth of apps like Hulu and Netflix, possibly even getting a truly usable system to access our content in the living room—potentially allowing more people to “cut the cable” and ditch their cable TV providers.

One development I’d absolutely love to see next year is for OnLive and their collection of games and media offerings. OnLive’s technology has capabilities that could change the way we compute and consume media. They’re off to a great start already and moving ahead quickly so I have high hopes for them in 2011.

With all the incredible developments and advancements coming out at break-neck speed, it’s hard to keep up on it all—and not just in web apps.

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