Dagon Design » Tools and Utilities

CSS Color Replacement Tool

Admin — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:45:10 +0000

This tool allows you to extract the hex color codes from a remote CSS file, displaying both the hex codes and the colors themselves. You can then enter the new color codes you would like to replace them with. The script will then perform a global search and replace on the contents of the file, replacing each color with the code you specified, and displaying the updated CSS. The jscolor JavaScript Color Picker script has now been implemented to make choosing colors easier.

Why?

The primary purpose of this tool is to give you a quick way to change the entire color scheme of your site. While this can be done manually, the display of each color saves a lot of steps.

Try it out

CSS Color Replacement Tool

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Changelog

02-23-10 Now features the jscolor script to choose new colors easier
08-27-08 First version

Instructions

First, enter the URL to your CSS file and click Load data.

The script will extract all of the hex color codes from the CSS file, and display them in a list. Each line contains the color code, a box filled with the specified color, and an entry for the new color. Only unique colors are displayed.

With the help of the jscolor JavaScript Color Picker script, choosing new colors is even easier. Either click the box to choose your color, or manually type in the code.

When you are finished, just click Generate new CSS. The script will generate the full CSS file, with the replaced colors.

Free Text Host

Admin — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:44:43 +0000

The Free Text Host website is a new project by Dagon Design. The site allows visitors to host text without having to sign up or give any personal information. One possible usage for this is to host code snippets, but it can be used for just about anything really. Options include the ability to enter a password to allow you to edit or delete your text, and the choice to use preformatted text and make links clickable.

Try it out

Free Text Host

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Changelog

02-23-10 – Fixed several bugs with BBCode such as font size, color, quotes, and more (make sure you enable the BBCode option).
10-07-09 – Added a view count to the bottom of the pages.
06-24-09 – Support for BBCode has been added. Just click the option to enable it for your page. A listing of the supported tags is given.
08-12-08 – Added a ‘Viewing password’ option. If you set one, it is required for your text to be viewed.
10-22-07 – Option added to make links clickable, and to enable/disable preformatted output. You can also now edit the text with the edit/delete password.
10-20-07 – First public release

Usage

Just enter your text and the verification code (to help prevent spam) and you will be given a randomly generated URL that only you will know.

There is currently a 50000 character limit. I will see how this works before I raise it higher.

Options

If you choose to use this option, you can enter an admin password when submitting your text. This password will allow you to make changes or delete your page. If you do not include an admin password, the page cannot be modified.

A viewing password can also be set, which if used, will require visitors to know the password to view your text.

Preformatted text can be selected, which means extra whitespace and linebreaks will appear exactly as you type them, and a fixed width font will be used.

Links in your text can be made clickable (turned into actual html links). These links will contain the nofollow attribute.

BBCode is also now supported (if the option is selected). A list of currently supported BBCode tags can be found here: http://freetexthost.com/bbcode.php

Questions/Answers

Privacy Information

Only one cookie is used on the site, and it is for the verification code. The only information it contains is the code itself, and it is used to help prevent spam.

This site does not use any Javascript or Flash, and it has no tracking or logging features.

Is my hosted text visible by others?

Only if you give them the URL, or they guess it. The URL contains a 10 digit random alphanumeric ID, which allows for up to 3656158440062976 unique IDs, so it would be hard to guess.

The hosted text pages also use the noindex, nofollow, and noarchive robot directives to prevent search engine robots from indexing them.

Can I print my text?

Yes. If you print your page, it will only print the text itself. Everything else will be removed from the page.

Can I edit/delete my text?

Yes. When you enter your text, you have an option for a password. If you enter one, you can use it to edit or delete your page later.

What if I lose my URL?

Then it is lost. This is by design.

Disclaimer

While the generated pages are relatively private unless you give out the URL, Dagon Design cannot guarantee that no one will see your text by guessing the URL, etc.

Color Select Tool

Admin — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 01:21:09 +0000

The Color Select Tool is a small utility that allows you to quickly copy the hex code of a color on your screen. I originally created this program because I was tired of having to take a screenshot and open photoshop just to capture a color, and I was not happy with similar programs. Simply run the program, move the mouse to the color you want to capture, and press the shift key. The hex color code will then be copied to your clipboard. You can also choose to have it add the # symbol in front of the code, and/or have it stay on top of other windows.

Requirements

This program has been tested in Windows XP, XP 64, and Vista. It may work in previous Windows versions as well. If you receive any messages about VB runtime DLLs being required, these can easily be found on the internet.

Notice

The previous version of this program (2.0) required the .NET framework to be installed. The current version no longer requires this.

While I have tested this release, there may still be bugs, so if you encounter a problem please leave a comment below.

Download

Color_Select_Tool.zip

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Changelog

09-27-07 Version 3.1 – Bug fixed with color code generation.
09-23-07 Version 3.0 – Re-written. New instructions below.
10-19-05 Version 2.0 – First public release.

Installing

No installation is needed. Just extract the executable from the ZIP file and run it.

Usage

To use the program, just move the mouse to the color on your screen that you want to capture and press the SHIFT key. The color will automatically be added to your clipboard.

If you would like the # symbol to be added in front of the color code, just check the ‘add #‘ checkbox, or press the A key on your keyboard.

To force the program to stay on top of other windows, check the ‘stay on top‘ checkbox, or press the T key.

Note: In order for the hotkeys (SHIFT, A, T) to work, the program has to have focus. This means it needs to be the currently active program. If the hotkeys do not work, just click on the title bar of the program to set it active.

If you minimize the program, it goes to the system tray. You can click on the system tray icon to show/hide the program, or right click to exit.

Favicon Generator

Admin — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 05:12:53 +0000

This free tool allows you to create a custom favicon for use on your website. Simply upload an image (JPG, PNG, or GIF – 100KB max) and it will automatically convert it to a standard 16×16 favicon. If you upload an image that is larger than 16×16 it will resize it for you, although for best results use an image that is already that size. Transparent favicons can also be created by uploading a transparent GIF.

What is a favicon?

A favicon, also called a ‘favorites icon’, is just a small image which is displayed for a website. It is often shown next to the address bar, in the favorites/bookmarks, and/or the taskbar. It is purely for looks, although it adds a nice touch to a website. Most modern web browsers automatically look for a favicon on every site you visit. If you have ever taken a look at your log files and seen a lot of requests for this missing file you will see what I mean (unless you are using one already). Not only will a favicon make your site look a bit nicer, but it will keep those (harmless) errors out of your log files.

Try it out

Favicon Generator

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Changelog

04-06-07 Transparent favicons can now be created (Just upload a transparent GIF)
08-05-06 First version

Instructions

After you have generated your favicon and saved it to your computer, it must be renamed to favicon.ico (since the files this tool generates are given a random name).

The common method for using a favicon is to simply upload it to the root directory of your public web space. This is where most web browsers automatically look for it.

Just uploading the file is generally fine, but for the best support across various browsers, place the following lines in the head section of your HTML:

(where http://example.com/favicon.ico is the path to your favicon)

Be sure to add that code in all of your html files – not just the index.

BBCode to HTML Converter

Admin — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 20:30:51 +0000

This web-based utility converts BBCode to HTML. The most common use for a utility like this is to easily convert forum posts using BBCode to standard HTML for use in traditional web pages. This utility currently supports all of the BBCode tags used by phpBB and a list of these tags can be found below. Unlike some convertors, this will generate proper paragraph tags (instead of just using a lot of line breaks), and takes advantage of CSS declarations for font sizes, colors, and more (as opposed to their depreciated HTML tag counterparts). There are also several options available.

Try it out

BBCode to HTML Converter

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Changelog

07-01-09 – Added support for the [center] [/center] tags
01-17-07 – Added several new tags. The converter is also now on its own domain – bbcode-to-html.com
06-16-06 – First version.

Supported BBCode tags

You can now find a complete list of the supported tags on the site linked above.

Notes

The HTML generated by this utility should be 100% valid, with one exception – the use of lists.

This converter generates lists the same way that phpBB does – without using closing li tags. It will actually validate as HTML, but not as XHTML. Even though it is technically legal with standard HTML, it is still kind of lazy to do. Actually I have not ever seen a BBCode parser in any forum script that does it the ‘right’ way.

This converter also supports multi-level lists, but you cannot have one type of list inside another type of list. Ordered in ordered is ok, but not ordered in unordered, etc. Coincidentally, this problem is also found within phpBB

Windows XP and Vista Product Key Recovery

Admin — Sat, 03 Jun 2006 19:30:02 +0000

There are many programs available for extracting the product key from a Windows XP or Vista installation. The only problem is that they generally require the computer to be functional to run. These programs are useless if the operating system is corrupt and the computer will not boot into Windows. Fortunately, there are other options. This article explains how you can retrieve the product key with just the ntuser.dat file from the machine. You can also download a stand-alone version of my decrypter tool.

Windows Vista Users

I have been informed that this method also works on Windows Vista.

Translations

Swedish translation of this article

Background Information

While this may not sound very useful to the average user, if you work with computers on a daily basis you have most likely ran into this problem: You have to perform a fresh installation of Windows on a computer with a corrupt operating system, and the product key has been lost. This method makes it easy to find.

Instructions

The first step is getting the ntuser.dat file from the computer. In most cases the easiest method is to remove the hard drive, and connect it to a working machine.

ntuser.dat is generally located here:
C:\Documents and Settings\(User Name)\ntuser.dat
Where (User Name) is the primary account – Most often it is ‘Owner’ or ‘User’

Now that you have the file, you need to be able to view it. I recommend loadhive.exe (Download it here) from matcode.com.

Just run the program and select the file. It will show you a message with more information. It is important that you do not close this program until you are finished viewing the registry, as it temporarily loads the file, and unloads it again when you exit.

Now run regedit. Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE you will notice a new sub-key called NTUSER. Starting with NTUSER go to Software > Microsoft > Windows NT > Current Version.

In the right window, double-click on DigitalProductID. This is the entry that contains the encoded product key.

We want the information in bytes 52 to 66. You can use the chart below for reference. We need the 15 sets of numbers where the 1’s are located.

0000  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ..
0008  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ..
0010  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ..
0018  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ..
0020  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ..
0028  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ..
0030  00 00 00 00 11 11 11 11  ..
0038  11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11  ..
0040  11 11 11 00 00 00 00 00  ..
0048  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ..
0050  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  ..

Now that you have the 15 byte encrypted code, you can type it into my decrypter tool:

Web-based version

Windows XP Key Decrypter Tool

Downloadable stand-alone version (exe)

Windows XP Key Decrypter Tool

Just click ‘Decrypt Code‘ and you will have your 25 digit Windows XP product key!

Troubleshooting

If you cannot find the DigitalProductId key in the file you loaded earlier, try the software hive located here:

\%SystemRoot%\System32\config\software

Load it the same way as before. Under regedit, it will generally create the new entries here: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE_00 (although the loadhive program will tell you where it puts it).

Final Notes

The decrypter tool ignores spaces and dashes, and is not case-sensitive.
If you cannot find ntuser.dat, make sure you can view hidden and system files.
If you are not sure which user account to select, I recommend searching for all ntuser.dat files on the drive, and using the largest one.
Do not attempt to open your own ntuser.dat file with Load Hive, because it is already in use, and you already have access to your own registry
If you cannot find the proper key with the data you need, try the alternate hive file, mentioned in the troubleshooting section above.

NOTICE!

Please do not ask me how to retrieve the product key from your Windows CD – it is not possible. Also, please do not ask general Windows questions here. The comments below are only for discussion of this particular retrieval method. If you have Windows questions, or questions about product keys in general, search Google.

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