TwitsMag Canada

By Chris McVeigh, Macworld.com

Article Source: PC World

Twitter opens up a huge opportunity for self-expression, and part of that is undoubtedly visual. While the Twitter interface gives you some basic backgrounds, let’s face it: they’re mostly pretty dull and it’s hard to make a unique splash when hundreds of thousands of other people are using the same elements. To get noticed not just for your tweets, but also for your style, try creating your own custom background. In this second of a two-part part series, I’ll discuss how to create a tiled (or patterned) background. In Part 1 yesterday, I talked about how to create top-left graphics that used image masks to blend seamlessly into the background. This time, I’ll explore tiled (or patterned) backgrounds. And although this tutorial is crafted for Twitter, you can use the pattern you create here just about anywhere, including your personal blog or your company Website.

Designing For Twitter

A simple, stylish pattern can add polish to your page, and people tend to associate you with the imagery you choose. Tiling a grainy picture of your cat across your page will probably not earn you many followers. A cute pattern of cartoony cats carries the same message–that you’re keen on kitties–without suggesting that you’re a hopeless novice.

Coming up with a killer pattern is your goal. Make your pattern moderately large (300-by-300 pixels or more) to help curb the obviousness of the repetition. Avoid gradients because they will not blend from tile to tile. And you’ll want to keep the color and contrast of your pattern in check; after all, people are there to read your tweets, not go blind.

Open Adobe Photoshop CS3 or CS4 and choose File -> New. Enter a width and height for your pattern; for this example, I’ll choose 400-by-400 at 72 pixels per inch. There is no requirement to construct a square pattern; if you think your concept will work better with a wide or tall pattern, enter a resolution like 600-by-300 or 200-by-800. (Twitter’s only requirement is that the overall image file size be less than 800k.) Click OK to continue.

Locate the Layers palette (Window -> Layers) and keep it handy, as you’ll be using it often. The first task is to set the pattern background color. Choose Layer -> New Fill Layer -> Solid Color. Enter a name for the color layer (i.e., Background Color) and click OK. Now choose a color from the Color Picker and click OK; a new layer will then appear in the Layers palette.(Remember that you can change your background color at any time by double-clicking the color layer thumbnail.)

It’s time to add graphic elements to your pattern. Choose Layer -> New -> Layer. You can add anything you want, from text to paint strokes to paths. The only requirement for this tutorial is that your graphic element fits within the document. When you’re happy with this first graphic element, toggle off the visibility of the layer using the eye icon next to it. Repeat this process–adding a new layer and a new graphic element, and then toggling off the visibility of the layer–until you have created all the graphic elements for your pattern.

Now you’ll need to position your graphic elements on the tile. Toggle on the layer visibility for the first element you created and then choose Filter -> Other -> Offset. (If you’ve created any vector objects, you’ll be warned that the vector mask will be rasterized before continuing.) Once the Offset window appears, check the preview option (if it’s not already checked). Immediately below, you’ll see a set of options for Undefined Areas; click the Wrap Around radio button. Now move the horizontal and vertical sliders to position your graphic element; as you’ll notice, you can push the graphic off any edge of the document and it’ll simply wrap around to the other side. Position the graphic element and then click OK. Simply repeat this procedure for each element, and you’ll construct an interesting pattern in no time!

Follow these steps to export your pattern:

twitlonger.com

Do you want to tweet something and believe that 140 characters are just insufficient for you? Don’t you worry, Twitlonger is the solution. With Twitlonger, you can write what you need and a link to what you said will automatically be posted to your Twitter account. It’s like twitpic for text. Don’t hesitate to log in to the website using your twitter account info and figure out how it easily works!!

Stop tweeting with the boring basic plain text!

Enhance your tweets and share your emotions with more twitter keys .

Here is a screen shot for the new twitter keys.. All you have to do is:

• Double click the icon you want
• On your keyboard click “Ctrl” c
• Move to your twitter account and type “Ctrl” v
• Done!! Fun or what ?!

Twitter Keys

twi8r.com

Lots of abbreviations are being created daily and most of us can’t keep up with it. Here is the best way to translate any word you think of to a lingo or vise verse.This is  the easiest way to help tweet within the 140 characters.

That’s a list of Lingos that are being used daily while tweeting.

• FWD ___forward
• FYI ___ for your information
• GR8 ___ great
• IM ___Instant Message
• IOW ___In Other Words
• IRL ___In Real Life
• ITZ ___it is
• JK ___ just kidding
• 2nite ___tonight
• dat ___that
• biz ___two
• MUCH MUCH MUCH MORE !!!!!!

Visit Twi8r and translate from English to lingo and from lingo to English. Have fun tweeting!!

Shall I or shall I not? If yes why if not why not?

Here’s five reasons why you should and another five why you shouldn’t have a Twitter Account:

1. Stay up-to-date: Follow your local news channels and you’ll stay updated all the time for any breaking news, closed roads, constructions, events, etc… the best way to do that if you don’t have data subscription on your phone (internet) is to activate the sms notification option on Twitter. This way, you’ll receive the news by sms.
2. Mutual Interests: you’ll always find people having common interests, it’s easy to look for them by simply searching for what you need, ex: Webdesigners, programmers, etc…
3. Get answers quickly: stuck in a new area, hungry, not knowing what to eat? Easy, tweet where you are and let your followers lead you.
4. Marketing: what’s a better way to promote your business than Twitter? Free advertisement to be seen by thousands of followers
5. Fun: Yeah! Why not, we all need some entertainment, meeting new people and enjoy sharing ideas with followers

Why you might not want to be on Twitter:

1. Time-Consuming: Definitely! Didn’t you’ve had enough with facebook??? Now Twitter??
2. Useless Updates: Yeah, why would I need to know what time you had your coffee or when your appointment with the hair dresser is?
3. Real Social Interaction: don’t you miss the old days where you used to hang out with friends instead of communicating with them online? I am sure you do.
4. Give yourself a break from the PC: as if we don’t have enough being behind the monitor the whole day at work, it’s time to get away from those 101 keys.
5. Lower IQ: Well true, we’re not using our brains… we’re losing it! Our memories are becoming bad, very bad….

Any other “with” or “against” you can think of? The list has a potential to grow!

OutTwit is now called TwInbox.

techhit.com

Are you a continuous user of Microsoft Outlook? You would for sure enjoy TwInbox. It is an add-on connecting Outlook to Twitter that include many interesting features:

• Update your Twitter status directly from Outlook.
• Receive your friend updates in Outlook.
• Archive, manage, group and search your tweets the
  same way you manage your email details.
• Search, track keywords. TwInbox will automatically download ALL tweets matching the keywords you specify, even if you are not following the tweet sender. This feature is perfect for keeping up to date with the Twitter buzz on your name, brand, interests, etc.
• Group tweets by sender, topic, etc using the Search feature.
• Upload and post picture files and Outlook email attachments.
• See new tweets at a glance (details).
• Assign custom folder and categories to new messages.
• Use Outlook’s “Reply” and “ReplyAll” commands to send twitter direct messages and @replies.
• For more features and details Click here

twiggit.org

Do you want to show your friends what activities and articles you do on digg? Check out Twiggit, a service that provides you with the chance to demonstrate everything you digg on your twitter status update.All you have to do is sign in with your twitter user name.

friendorfollow.com

Find Out who is following you back , Who is your fan and Who is your friend ?

FriendFollow.com is a cool twitter application that we as twitsMag.ca  enjoy using!

Enter your twitter username and Find out all what you don’t know about your fans, followers and friends.

Check it out folks its fun

TweetStyle.com

If you don’t have the time or skills to create a full background for your Twitter profile, there’s an easy alternative: a tiling pattern. Let me show you how to make one. Continue reading ….