Monday, June 30, 2014

1stwebdesigner

1stwebdesigner

How to Travel the World as a Freelance Web Designer or Web Developer

Posted: 29 Jun 2014 09:04 PM PDT

You have probably heard about those people who travel the world for years on end.

You know who I’m talking about – they live in places like Thailand, work from the beach, and make everyone envious with their never ending stream of fascinating stories and amazing pictures.

Now, what if I told you that you, a freelance web designer or web developer, can live a life like that?

Well, guess what – you can.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Being a Digital Nomad

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Let’s keep it real – there are both advantages and disadvantages to this kind of lifestyle. As a freelancer, you already have the flexibility to work from home in your PJs and set your own hours, so I won’t discuss those blessings here.

The question is what would being a digital nomad add to the mix?

The main advantage of being a digital nomad is travelling. It allows you to save money by moving to a cheaper place, see the world by living in different locations, and meet fascinating people by attending meet-ups and conferences all around the globe. And, of course, there’s also the opportunity to avoid cold winters.

What’s not to like, right? Well…

The main disadvantage of being a digital nomad is loneliness. It’s hard to build meaningful relationships when you are changing locations all the time.

Of course, if you stay in one place long enough, you will probably make some friends, but that makes moving again even more difficult.

Eventually, you end up with plenty of friends all over the world that you keep in touch via Internet, but you rarely have close friends nearby that you can meet up with offline.

And yes, it seems that most digital nomads are single, since this lifestyle makes it hard to have long-term romantic relationships.

Here’s some food for thought on this issue (which, in my opinion, is not discussed nearly enough in the lifestyle design corner of the blogosphere): Why Working as a Digital Nomad Is Not for Me.

I’d say that although digital nomad lifestyle is indeed awesome, it’s not as glamorous as it may seem when you read all those travel and lifestyle design blogs.

You have to see it for what it is and understand what it is not – it is an amazing opportunity to see the world, but it is not a magic cure for all your personal issues.

Remember, wherever you go, there you are, even if it’s under a palm tree. That doesn’t make palm trees any less awesome, though.

How Much Does It Cost to be a Digital Nomad?

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Many people think that only trust fund kids can afford to live a nomadic lifestyle.

That’s simply not true – you can significantly reduce your costs and increase your savings by moving to a country where the cost of living is lower.

How much money do you need to pull this whole digital nomad thing off?

Well, the truth is that I can’t tell you much without knowing your plans, but here’s a (very) rough estimate:

  • $1,000/month. You can easily get by on this amount in most places – it will allow you to have a moderate lifestyle in the more expensive countries and a decent lifestyle in less expensive countries.
  • $2,000/month. This amount of money will allow you to have a decent lifestyle more expensive countries and an affluent lifestyle in less expensive ones.
  • $3,000/month. This amount of money will allow you to have a very decent lifestyle in the more expensive countries and a very affluent lifestyle in less expensive ones.

By the way, by moderate, I mean living with roommates, cooking your own meals, and rarely going out.

By decent, I mean having your own apartment, eating out few times a week, and going out on weekends.

By affluent, I mean having your own posh apartment, eating out whenever you want, and partying like crazy.

I’d say avoid staying in most expensive cities in the world (New York, London, Moscow, etc.) and you will be just fine with 1k-3k/month!

Also, here are two articles in which a digital nomad couple shares the details of their budget of the last 4 years:

Of course, this is a budget of a couple, so things will be quite different for you if you travel alone or as a family with a kid. Nevertheless, it can give you a glimpse into the financial aspect of this lifestyle.

5 Steps to Becoming a Digital Nomad

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Moving abroad may sound scary but it really isn’t all that complicated. You see, normally the main issue people have when moving abroad is finding work there, but this isn’t a concern for you if you are already making money as a freelance web designer or web developer.

This means that moving to another country is a pretty straightforward affair for you…

Step #1: Make sure you have an emergency fund!

Having enough money is one of the most important things that you can do to ensure your safety abroad.

What qualifies as emergencies?

  • Getting sick and needing medical attention
  • Not getting any freelance work for a while.
  • Flying back home to visit your ill grandma.
  • Having your laptop stolen.
  • And other similar situations.

You need to be prepared for situations like that since you never know what exactly will go wrong, but you can be damn sure that something will.

Step #2: Pick your destination

Where should you go?

My advice is to pick a country where you can live comfortably on your current income and put some money into savings account every month.

I suggest you to consider going to either Central America, South America, or South East Asia, since living costs are low there.

Keep in mind that staying in countries where cost of living is low will also provide you with plenty of opportunities to travel in that country and/or in the neighboring countries.

Take a look at the article The Top 10 Lifestyle Design Cities 2014 Edition from Tropical MBA if you want some ideas on where to.

Step #3: Put your affairs in order

You want to make sure that you tie any loose ends before you move to another country.

This may mean renting out your house, selling your car, selling your stuff, informing your bank that you are moving, and so on. You will have much more peace of mind if you put your affairs in order before you leave.

Step #4: Prepare for your trip

Here are some things that you need to do in order to prepare for your trip:

  • Do your research. Buy a guidebook for that country, read online articles, ask questions in forums, and so on. Learn about the living costs, culture, religion, political situation, etc. You want to make sure that you know what you are getting yourself into.
  • Get travel insurance. Once again, you never know what will go wrong, but you can be pretty damn sure that something will. Travel insurance will come in handy if your flights are canceled, or if your laptop is stolen, or if you get sick. Never travel without it.
  • Get a visa. You don’t want to show up in a foreign country without proper documents. Make sure that you get the right visa before you go unless you can get one on arrival. Also, don’t put this off until the last minute because it can take you months to get visas to certain countries.
  • Get vaccines. You need vaccines when travelling to most developing countries and even to some developed ones. Find out what exactly you need and get it done.
  • Get equipment. You may want to get yourself a decent backpack, laptop, camera, etc. if you don’t have these things yet. I suggest not to skimp on stuff you will use every day because it will affect your quality of life a lot.
  • Get random things you may need. There are all kinds of random things you may need to buy before you leave.For example, from what I hear, tall men may have a hard time finding fitting clothes in South East Asia. Do your research to find out what things that you need are hard to find in the country you are going.
  • Book your flight. In general, the earlier you book, the better. Book your flight as soon as you know where you are going and have your visa request approved.

Use SkyScanner as a baseline, then compare the results to other flight aggregator websites:

Compare the cheapest price to the one that is listed on the airline’s website, then buy. Also, try to be flexible with your flight dates and avoid flying during weekends and festivities.

Book your accomodation. I recommend you to book a room or an AirBnB apartment in your destination for a week or so – this way you won’t have to run around looking for a place to stay right after you land.

Why only a week?

If you are planning to stay in that place for 3-6 months you will be able to rent a room or a flat for that time for a much less than you’d pay if you’d stay in hostels or AirBnB apartments all the time.

Step #5: Go to your destination

I know, I know, it’s obvious. However, leaving your hometown behind and moving to another country can be scary, so make sure that you don’t back out in the last moment. Take the leap!

Step #6: Settle in.

Once you are in your destination it’s time to settle in:

  • Make sure you know what to do in the case of emergency. You know how to call the ambulance, police, firefighters, etc. in your country, right?Once you move to another country you should immediately learn how to do that as well. This is something that most people forget to do and then regret it if they ever find themselves in trouble.
  • Find accommodation. You need to find a decent place to stay. I’d say that hostels and AirBnB works best for stays that are less than a month meanwhile renting a room in a flatshare or renting an apartment (not via AirBnB but through local ads) works best for stays longer than a month. By the way, staying outside the city centre will almost always save you quite a bit of money.
  • Set up the things you need. There are a lot of things you probably didn’t think about much while living in your hometown that you need to set up all over again when you move abroad. This may include getting local SIM card, gym memberships, etc.
  • Explore the area and find the best places. You know how in your hometown you have your favorite places?It’s time to go on the lookout for best parks,cafes, restaurants, bars, clubs, etc. It makes sense to take time to find the places if you are going to stay somewhere for a while!
  • Make friends. When you live in your hometown for your entire life you often don’t realize how much of built-in social connections you have. I mean, there are your kinder-garden friends, and your high school friends, and your uni friends, and the people you worked with, and of course your family and extended family, etc.Guess what? All of that is gone once you move to another country. You have to build your social life from scratch.I suggest you to do that by going to meet-ups, joining expat Facebook groups and forums, and engaging in some sort of group activities (martial arts classes, hiking club, etc.).

That’s about it when it comes to moving to another country as a digital nomad. You may think that it can’t be that simple, but it actually is, as long as you have all the documents sorted and enough money coming in every month. Will you encounter some unexpected obstacles? Sure. But I doubt it will be anything you can’t handle.

Frequently Asked Questions

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"I’m not sure if this is safe!"

The world is a dangerous place but it’s probably not as dangerous as you think. You can always research things like prejudice, crimes rates, political situation, etc. before going somewhere. Many places around the world are just as safe as your hometown.

"I can’t go because I have a mortgage/credit card debt/car payments/etc."

I’d say that if you are under water financially then moving to a less expensive country will help you to improve the situation faster. Think about it: if you live in USA on, say $2,000/month, and then move to Thailand and live on $500/month, you suddenly have an extra $1,500/month that you can use to pay off your debts faster. And as for things like houses and cars that supposedly tie you down to one location, I’d like to remind you that you can simply rent out the house and sell your cars.

"This may work for single people in their 20s, but what if I have a family?"

I will admit that I wrote this article with the young and single demographic in mind. However, that doesn’t change much since most of the advice still applies even if you have a family. There are plenty of nomadic families out there – just take a look here, here, and here.

"This may work for people from developed countries who have it easy when it comes to visas, but what if I’m from India/Bangladesh/Malaysia/etc.?"

It’s definitely harder to travel when you are from a developing country because visa requirements are much stricter. However, people still manage to pull it off, just take a look at this Indian couple or this guy from the Philippines.

Also, keep in mind that although getting into places like EU, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand may be tough, you can probably get visas to most developing countries without much hassle.

"This may work for guys, but I’m a single female, can I do this as well?"

Of course there are plenty of nomadic ladies out there! Honestly, I think that travelling as a single female is much less dangerous than people make it out to be.

Once again, many places around the world are just as safe as your hometown (if not safer), so there’s no need to be afraid of living abroad on your own.

Avoid dangerous places (and by dangerous I don’t mean developing countries, I mean countries that are extremely prejudiced against women, torn by war, or suffering under a dictatorship) , keep your eyes open, and use your common sense, and you will be just fine.

Should you become a digital nomad?

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Well, no one can answer that for you since you are the one who knows yourself best.

That being said, I think that if you are a freelance web designer or web developer and you are interested in this whole digital nomad thing, then you should probably go ahead and give it a try – you can always go back to your hometown if things don’t work out, right?

Maybe you’ll love it, maybe you’ll hate it, but you’ll definitely end up with some stories worth sharing with your grandkids!

Want to travel more? You can download Agota’s book “How to Travel the World on a Budget” for FREE on Amazon until Friday. Hurry up and get your copy now!
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Responsive Full Background Image Using CSS - Six Revisions

Responsive Full Background Image Using CSS - Six Revisions

Responsive Full Background Image Using CSS

Posted: 30 Jun 2014 03:00 AM PDT

In this tutorial, we’ll go over the simplest technique for making a background image fully stretch out to cover the entire browser viewport. We’ll use the CSS background-size property to make it happen; no JavaScript needed.

View Demo

Download Source from GitHub

Examples of Responsive Full Background Images

Having a large photo that covers the entire background of a web page is currently quite popular.

Here are a few websites that have responsive full background images:

Sailing Collective

Digital Telepathy

Marianne Restaurant

If you’d like to achieve a similar look in your next web design project, you’re at the right spot.

Core Concepts

This is our game plan.

Use background-size property to cover the entire viewport

The CSS background-size property can have the value of cover. The cover value tells the browser to automatically and proportionally scale the background image’s width and height so that they are always equal to, or greater than, the viewport’s width/height.

Use a media query to serve a smaller background image for mobile devices

To enhance the page load speed on small screens, we’ll use a media query to serve a scaled-down version of the background image file. This is optional. The technique will work without this.

But why is serving a smaller background image for mobile devices a good idea?

The image I’ve used in the demo is about 5500x3600px. This dimension will have us covered on most widescreen computer monitors currently being sold in the market, but at the expense of serving up a 1.7MB file.

That huge of a payload just for a background photo is never a good thing under any sort of situation, but it’s exceptionally bad on mobile internet connections. And also, the image dimension is excessive on small-screen devices (more on this further down in this tutorial).

Let’s walk through the process.

HTML

This is all you need for the markup:

  <!doctype html>  <html>  <body>    ...Your content goes here...  </body>  </html>

We’re going to assign the background image to the body element so that the image will always cover the entire viewport of the browser.

However, this technique will also work on any block-level element (such as a div or a form). If the width and height of your block-level container is fluid, then the background image will always scale to cover the container entirely.

CSS

We declare a style rule for the body element like so:

  body {    /* Location of the image */    background-image: url(images/background-photo.jpg);        /* Background image is centered vertically and horizontally at all times */    background-position: center center;        /* Background image doesn't tile */    background-repeat: no-repeat;        /* Background image is fixed in the viewport so that it doesn't move when        the content's height is greater than the image's height */    background-attachment: fixed;        /* This is what makes the background image rescale based       on the container's size */    background-size: cover;        /* Set a background color that will be displayed       while the background image is loading */    background-color: #464646;  }

The most essential property/value pair to pay attention to is:

background-size: cover;

That’s where the magic happens. This property/value pair tells the browser to scale the background image proportionally so that its width and height are equal to, or greater than, the width/height of the element. (In our case, that’s body element.)

There’s an issue with this property/value pair though: If the background image is smaller than the body element’s dimensions — which will happen on high-resolution screens and/or when you’ve got a ton of content on the page — the browser will programmatically scale up the image. And, as we all know, when we scale up an image from its natural dimensions, the image quality degrades (in other words, pixelation occurs).

When an image is scaled up from its natural dimensions, image quality is affected.When an image is scaled up above its natural dimensions, image quality is affected.

Keep that in mind as you choose which image you’re going to use. The demo uses a huge 5500x3600px photo for larger screens so it’ll be a while before we run into trouble.

Let’s move on. So that the background image is always centered in the viewport, we declare:

background-position: center center;

The above sets the scaling axis at the center of the viewport.

Next, we need to deal with the situation where the content’s height is greater than the visible viewport’s height. When this happens, a scroll bar will appear.

What we want to do is make sure that the background image stays put even when the user scrolls down, or else we’ll either run out of image at the bottom, or the background will move as the user is scrolling down (which can be very distracting). To do this, we set the background-attachment property to fixed.

  background-attachment: fixed;

In the demo, I included a "load some content" feature so that you can see the scrolling behavior when background-attachment is fixed. One thing you could do is download the demo and then play around with the positional property values (e.g. background-attachment and background-position) to see how it affects the behaviors of page-scrolling and the background image.

The other property values are pretty self-explanatory.

Shorthand CSS notation

I wrote the background properties in full notation to make the CSS easier to describe.

The equivalent shorthand CSS notation for the above is:

  body {    background: url(background-photo.jpg) center center cover no-repeat fixed;  }

All you have to do is change the url value to point to the location of your background image, and you’re good to go.

Optional: Media Query for Small Screens

For small screens, I used Photoshop to proportionally resize the original background image down to 768x505px and I also ran it through Smush.it to cut out a few more bytes. Doing this reduced the file size down from 1741KB to 114KB. That’s a 93% reduction in file size.

Please don’t get me wrong, 114KB is still quite big for a purely aesthetic component of a design. For a 114KB payload, I would normally only subject users to it if the file had the potential to add a significant improvement in UX, because of the huge mobile web performance trade-off.

Here’s the media query:

  @media only screen and (max-width: 767px) {    body {      /* The file size of this background image is 93% smaller         to improve page load speed on mobile internet connections */      background-image: url(images/background-photo-mobile-devices.jpg);    }  }

The media query is set at a max-width: 767px breakpoint, which in our case means that if the browser viewport is greater than 767px, it will serve the larger background image file.

The downside of using the media query above is that if you resize your browser window from, for example, 1200px width down to 640px width (or vice versa), you will momentarily see a flicker while the smaller or bigger background image loads up.

In addition, because some small devices can render more pixels — for example, iPhone 5 with its retina display can render 1136x640px — the smaller background image will be pixelated.

Wrapping Up

You can get the most current source code of this tutorial from GitHub.

If I can say just one cautionary thing about this technique, it’s this: Please use it with care because large files can severely affect UX, especially when our user is not on a fast or reliable Internet connection. This is also the reason why you should set a good default background color so the user can read the content while the background image is loading.

Optimizing your Web images before putting them up on production is never a bad idea either; we’ve got some articles to help with this:

License: Public Domain Dedication

No need to ask permission if you want to use the source code included in this tutorial; I’ve placed the tutorial’s code in the public domain under CC0 1.0 Universal.

The source code in my GitHub repo is free of any copyright restrictions. You can use, sell, modify, and distribute the source code, all without asking permission, providing attribution, or any other requirement. (I don’t own the background image though, it’s from Unsplash.)

Related Content

About the Author

Jacob Gube is the founder of Six Revisions. He’s a front-end web developer by profession. If you’d like to connect with him, head on over to the contact page or follow him on Twitter: @sixrevisions.

The post Responsive Full Background Image Using CSS appeared first on Six Revisions.
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Sunday, June 29, 2014

1stwebdesigner

1stwebdesigner

10 Best WordPress Tutorial Sites to Help You Understand WordPress Better

Posted: 29 Jun 2014 06:00 AM PDT

WordPress is among the most popular platforms used for publishing. WordPress can be used for your personal or commercial blogs and also for your online businesses.

The best thing about it is that you can easily customize it without having much coding knowledge. The more knowledge you have about the WordPress, the more easily you can manage your blogs and websites.

For this purpose, plenty of online tutorials and websites are available to help you with understanding the concepts about WordPress.

Tutorial websites allow you to handle different WordPress problems and improve your overall knowledge about the WordPress.

In today's post, we have collected 10 best WordPress tutorial sites that provide you proper knowledge on WordPress and its features.

1. WordPress Lessons

WordPress Lessons

There are plenty of great tutorials available on this site that can properly guide you about how to use the WordPress. It has different categories including: WordPress for the Beginners, Designing your WordPress site, and Website Development.

You can learn the basic knowledge as well as the using the advanced features of WordPress through these tutorials. The website is free of cost and anyone can learn through available tutorials.

Some of their popular tutorials are:

2. Tuts Plus

Tuts Plus

Tuts Plus offers plenty of courses and books but, you can also find tutorials on their website. It is updated frequently, and the quality of the tutorials is excellent.

Most of the tutorials are about WordPress theme development and plugins. All the tutorials are easy to understand, giving the best learning experience to the reader. The tutorials are free of cost and anyone come visit the site to learn from them.

Some of their popular tutorials include:

3. Smashing Magazine

Smashing Magazine

Smashing Magazine is known as one of the most famous design websites online. Many popular WordPress themes have been released under their name.

There are tutorials available for both intermediate and advance level users. Tutorials are free but these are only published once in a month.

Some of popular tutorials include:

4. Leveluptuts

Level Up Tuts

Level up tuts provides a great learning environment related to WordPress. You will find both basic and advanced level tutorials on this site.

The tutorials are available in the form of series. You can choose the one which you like. All the tutorials available on the website are free and anyone can learn from them.

Some of the tutorial series include:

5. iThemes WordPress Tutorials

iThemes

iThemes WordPress tutorials include plenty of video tutorials. Plenty of tutorials are available about customizing the WordPress and styling the website with using CSS. The tutorials available are free of cost.

Some of their famous tutorials include:

6. Wphub

WP Hub

Wphub provides you everything that you want to know about WordPress. The site offers premium WordPress themes, plugins and hosts. The site also features some high quality tutorials to help out anyone who wants to learn the basics about WordPress.

All the tutorials available on the website are free. You can easily read them.

Some of the most popular tutorials that Wphub features include;

7. Wpmudev

WPMU

Wpmudev contains all sorts of tutorials related to WordPress, large and small, simple and complex. You will find the range from beginners to the expert levels.

All the tutorials are absolutely free and you can easily read them. The tutorial articles are divided into different parts because of the length of articles.

Some of the popular tutorials are:

8. Digwp

Digging Into WordPress

Digwp is a perfect way to learn about WordPress. The blog provides quick tips, and copy and pastable codes.

Along with all these, tutorials are also provided so that everyone can learn the most basic and advanced stuff about WordPress. The tutorials are free and you can easily go to the site to learn from them.

Some of the popular tutorials include:

9. WpBeginner

WpBeginers

Wpbeginner allows you to extend your power about WordPress. This provides step-by-step WordPress tutorials that are very easy to understand and follow the best practices of the WordPress.

Their WordPress tutorials contain real-life examples, tips, and hacks that allows you to learn WordPress faster. The tutorials are free of cost. You can easily go and read them.

Some of the popular tutorials are:

10. WP Squared

WP Squared

WP Squared is a blog for WordPress but contains many tutorials for the readers. The tutorials are focused on configuring plugins and themes for the website. All the tutorials are available in the form of guides which are in excellent quality.

All the tutorials are free and you can read them to improve your WordPress understanding.

Some of the popular tutorials include:

Conclusion

You can learn all the anything you want related to WordPress from these tutorials. The purpose of these tutorials is to improve your knowledge about WordPress so that you can achieve the most out of it.

I hope you found the article useful. Share it with others as well. If you want to add more websites to the list, just write them in the below comment section.
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Saturday, June 28, 2014

1stwebdesigner

1stwebdesigner

25 Creative Office Supplies and Accessories for Web Designers

Posted: 28 Jun 2014 06:00 AM PDT

Web designers are innovative people who spend their entire day in creating interesting things and inspiring their surroundings. However, they have to work in mind-numbing environment in their offices. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why creative office supplies have been marketed.

Every designer works for 8-9 hours in the office and spends half of the day in an environment full of projects, layouts, and client meetings, etc, thus, bringing stress to the mind. Making the office an enjoyable place to work in can the best treatment for maintaining focus on the work.

If you feel like a little unimaginative in the office, then, maybe it's time to make some changes around your surroundings. I am not talking about reconstructing your office; just add some creative supplies and accessories on your desk and you're good to go.

Here is a list of some creative gadgets that can bring more creativity to a web designer's work in the office.

1. La City Set

creative_office_supplies

 

This is an ideal desk organizer for web designers. The porcelain pieces consist of pen and pencil cups, small boxes and open containers, paper clips, eraser and USB keys. The set has a beautiful white color that will suit perfectly on your desk. You can purchase this set for US$81.90.

2. Door hangers

Door hangers

Hang your jackets, bags and some stuff on these wonderful designed hangers. Door hangers are offered in two designs, hanging on one hand or two hands. The set of each design can be purchased for US$13.00.

3. Pulpop speaker

pulpop speaker

This is a USB rechargeable MP3 speaker that is made from recycled pulp. It has a doughnut shape style. It is very light weight. The sound gets amplified with vibration inside the hollow space of the speakers. You can purchase this speaker for US$56.00.

4. Bolt

bolt

The world's smallest portable battery backup and wall charger can charge any phone including iPhone, Samsung, and other devices. You can charge your phone and internal battery at the same time. Bolt is available for US$59.99.

5. Picture Hanger

Picture Hanger

Picture hanger gives you the most fun and easiest way to display your pictures, memos, and tickets, etc. It can be a great accessory for your office and home. The little birds on a wire work as clips strung on a 32-inch clothesline. You can purchase this beautiful picture hanger for US$11.89.

6. Key Pete

Key Pete

This is a super strong magnetic key holder that guards your keys from losing. You can hang up to 30 keys at one time on it. The amazing magnetic arm can hold your keys forever. You can stick your keys on one arm while the other arm can be attached to any surface from a filing cabinet to a fridge. The product is available for US$29.55.

7. Novelty Computer Keys

Novelty Computer Keys

These are fun computer keys with real covering and stick backing. Use these fun computer keys whenever you feel frustrated. Simply peel and stick them on the keyboard, monitor or any other device and enjoy. The 8-pack computer keys can be purchased for US$16.50 + $3.96 shipping.

8. Staple-Less Staplers

Staple-Less Staplers

With this gadget, you can never run out of staples on your desk. These staple-less staplers combine your papers by punching a small hole in the documents and folds the remaining flaps to make the binding stronger. The set of two staple-less staplers can be purchased for US$16.

9. Desktop Dogs

Desktop Dogs

Keep your desk supplies in front of you all the time. These desktop dogs will catch all the necessary things you need on the desktop. The dog can hold on to your sticky notes in the mouth and also stores pens and pencils in its ears. The helpful desk gadget is available in US$20.00.

10. Perpetual Calendars

Perpetual Calendars

This is a brilliant and modern calendar that can be used year after year on your desktop. Just mark the date and month by moving the two magnetic balls to start the calendar. This truly artistic calendar is available for US$28.00.

11. Canoe Pencil Case

Canoe Pencil Case

Organize your pencils and other important stationary material easily. This pencil case is made up of cotton canvas to keep your things safe. The beautiful red color case will look amazing on your desk. You can purchase this accessory for US$24.00.

12. Wood Veneer Tape

Wood Veneer Tape

This is paper-adhesive-natural-wood tape keeps your important notes in front of you all the time. It works as a glue stick and keeps your important pages attached with the desk all the time. The Wood Veneer Tape is available for US$14.00.

13. Clip Spring Photo Holder

Clip Spring Photo Holder

This is a beautiful clip spring holder which includes seven clips to hold your most important photos. The material is made of wood and metal, which is a complete value for the money. You can have this device on your desktop for US$78.00.

14. Dachshund Letter Holder

Dachshund Letter Holder

This is an adorable dachshund letter holder for your desks. The quality is perfect with properly finished curves. The metal is water-resistant. It also contains a pen holder at the back of the dog. The price of this gadget is US$32.00.

15. Heavy Metal Rock Band

Heavy Metal Rock

Now you can make your work more interesting with this heavy metal trio of desk sculptures. The sculptures are made of objects that you think are no more usable but, once they get on your desktop they become useful. You can purchase it for US$51.67.

16. iPhone Charger Stickers

iPhone Charger Sticker

All the white Apple accessories can be confusing and easy to loose but not when you put a human face on them. These sly vinyl labels will help you to keep your stuff apart. They can be easily fitted to all your favorite accessories including iPhones, iPods and iPads. You can purchase it for US$13.98.

17. Crocheted Headphones

Crocheted Headphones

These charming headphones will make your music experience more powerful. These are covered up with yarn and ready to be plugged with your favorite playlist. The design is unique and attractive. It can make you stand out from the crowd. The price of this gadget is US$40.85.

18. Solar Charging Station

Solar charging station

This is a solar charging station for your all mobile phones and MP3 players. It can be an attractive accessory on your desk. It has a Suntree shape, which gets the energy by 9 solar sheets that charge a rechargeable 1350 mAh lithium battery inside. The device is available for US$165.15.

19. POP Phone Handset

POP Phone Handset

The device has been built with a high quality speaker and microphone which can be used with all mobile phone devices. You can use this device for VOIP computer telephone calls such as Skype, Google Talk, etc. The product is fitted with a 3.5mm jack that is compatible with iPhone. The product is available for US$27.95.

20. Cable Turtle

Cable Turtle

The product is made from thermoplastic rubber and polypropylene joint. It is designed to keep unsightly electric wires and cables out of vision. Simply close the device and all wires will be out of sight. The product is available for US$10.27.

21. Ecal

Ecal

This is a magnetic paper clip holder that looks exactly like a flying saucer. The material is made from thermoplastic resin which captures paper clips magnetically to keep them away from your sight. The product is available for US$47.14.

22. Hand-held Feather Mobile

Hand-held Feather Mobile

This is a game for all ages that is designed as a windmill. You can hold this Hand-held feather mobile or you can leave it on its base. You can place it on the windowsill or desk. The price of this device is US$40.00.

23. iConvert Scanner for iPad Tablet

iConvert

The product is compatible with the 30-pin connector in iPads. You can easily and quickly scan your documents and convert them to JPEG files. You can save photos and your important documents directly to iPad tablet. The product is available for US$79.99+$7.99 shipping.

24. Click Cube Clocks

Click cube clock

With this gadget, you can have the time at the click of your fingers. The device also shows the temperature, date and time. Alarm clock is also included so that you stay alert at every meeting and project. The product is available for US$50.49.

25. Shiro Pencil/Pen Holder

shiro pencil

This is a creative gadget for the creative designers. The top ring gives an illusion that it is  floating but is actually welded onto the acme pencil. This is a perfect accessory to keep on your desk so that you remain imaginative all the time. The product is available for US$30.00.

Conclusion

If you are surrounded with all these accessories in your office, you are most likely to remain creative all the time. You can enjoy your time in the office and improve the atmosphere around you and your desk.

So, that was my list for creative office supplies and accessories. Did you like it? If you know any other gadgets that I missed on this list, please share them in the below comment section.
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