Issue #227  (PDFmyURL Review, Uncats, CSS/HTML, Git/CLI)11/23/17

The following tool review was requested by the folks at PDFmyURL. It's a paid review but I do think it's something a lot of you will be able to use, so I was happy to include it this week.

For this week's intro I'm featuring a tool called PDFmyURL.

This service has been around for a while, and there are tons of features I could discuss (including an API for developers and lots of customization options). But for this intro I just wanted to focus on one powerful feature: The ability to batch convert an entire website to a PDF.

You might want to do this for archiving or offline reading of content of one of your own projects, or maybe there's a website you want to read offline and don't want to convert each page individually.

The batch convert feature is simple. You enter the URL of the website you want to convert and PDFmyURL will queue up the task and email you a download link when it's done processing. You can try to do this with any website, but it will help immensely if the website has a valid XML sitemap.

The batch convert feature by default will use any settings you've defined in the single URL conversion page. You also get access to a Batch History with log details. The options allow you to choose from more than two dozen page sizes, margins, viewport size, ability to add table of contents and bookmarks, remove backgrounds, disable JavaScript, custom water mark, and lots more.

Of course, this tool is not necessarily going to create elegant e-books that you'd put up for sale or promotion (although that's certainly possible when taking advantage of all the customizations). Rather, this would be most useful for archiving, proof reading, or general offline research.

So check out PDFmyURL if you think it's something you could use, especially the Batch Conversion tool or the API for developers, both of which are pretty powerful features.

Now on to this week's tools!

The Uncategorizables

Takeoff
A toolkit for rapid development and prototyping applications.

Fusio
An open source API management platform that helps to build and manage REST APIs.

Timing Out(put)
A tokenized timing system generator for people who design and develop with animations.

Tempad
A suite of the most unique and simple markdown-based note taking apps for macOS and iOS.

Hasura
A platform for developers to build and host powerful applications, featuring instant backend APIs powered by Postgres and an easy deployment workflow.

Blockstack
A new internet for decentralized apps where users own their data. A browser is all that’s needed to get started.

Tyffle
A really fast and clean way to test out Google Fonts. Use the arrows in the bottom right corner to move to a new font.

Notist
A hub for your speaking events. A place to share your slides, but also to collate feedback, tweets, photos, sketchnotes and everything to create your permanent speaking portfolio.

Icon Search
Chrome extension. Search, preview and choose your favourite icons from Font Awesome, Material, OpenIconic, Foundation from one interface.

CSS and HTML Tools

postcss-hyperform
Allows you to convert advanced CSS pseudo-classes for form handling into their counterparts from Hyperform (the form validation JavaScript library).

Stylable
A preprocessor that allows you to write style rules in CSS syntax, with some extensions that adhere to the spirit of CSS.

React Email Editor
Drag-and-drop email editor as a React.js wrapper component. The most powerful and developer-friendly visual email builder for your app.

Shards
A free and modern UI toolkit for web makers based on Bootstrap 4.

Axis-Praxis
A website for playing with OpenType variable fonts.

Focusingly
A JavaScript library for better focus styling.

web-font-loading-recipes
A bunch of demos, some experimental, for different web font loading strategies.

Styled System
Design system utilities for styled-components, glamorous, and other CSS-in-JavaScript libraries.

Git, GitHub, and Command Line Tools

Probot
GitHub Apps to automate and improve your workflow.

npm-run-all
A CLI tool to run multiple npm-scripts in parallel or sequential.

WP-CLI
The command-line interface for WordPress. You can update plugins, configure multisite installs and much more, without using a web browser.

Kactus
Mac app. True design version control without changing your tools. Manage changes, document work, and keep your team in sync.

TermBar
Mac app that puts the command line in your Menubar, allowing you to free up screen space and use it with convenience.

GitHub Notifier
Chrome extension that shows notifications for your GitHub repository (e.g. when someone stars one of your repos, opens an issue, submits a PR, etc).

ack
A tool like grep, optimized for programmers.

Gitless
A simple version control system built on top of Git. You can use it while falling back on Git; useful for those who find Git difficult.

A Tweet for Thought

Sara Soueidan's ideas on speaking at conferences should be more widely recognized.
 

Suggestions / Corrections

Made something? Send links via Twitter @WebToolsWeekly (details here). No tutorials or articles, please. If you have any suggestions for improvement or corrections, feel free to reply to this email.
 

Before I Go...

Limbo is "the anonymous job platform where you post your ideal next role and let companies introduce themselves." Almost sounds like a smarter version of LinkedIn that could actually work.

Thanks to all for subscribing and reading!

Keep tooling,
Louis
webtoolsweekly.com
@LouisLazaris