Twitter is very popular nowadays and it’s an addiction. Along with it’s popularity, it’s no surprise that there’s also a vast amount of impressive applications built with Twitter API popping out everyday.

If you’re looking for some Twitter apps that could get the most out of your newly found Twitter addiction, then Twtbase is your solution. Twtbase is an easy to search database of Twitter applications. Anyone can rate and comment on apps, along with submitting ones they have discovered or created. Twtbase organizes the applications in categories including Web, Mobile, Desktop and Browser plugins, so you don’t have to worry about having to browse endlessly to find your desired Twitter app.

I was constantly looking for unobtrusive JavaScript tabs script which doesn’t require any framework for my personal project. I have found SimpleTabs by Komrade but there’s a bug on it plus it doesn’t degrades gracefully if JavaScript is disabled.

Today I have just found Yetii, which stands for Yet (E)Another JavaScript Tab Interface Implementation. It’s a lightweight, object-oriented coded tab interface script which doesn’t require any JavaScript library/frameworks. It degrades gracefully in browsers without JavaScript support. You can have many independent tab interfaces on a single page, specify initial tab, turn on automatic tabs rotation, add next/previous navigation, nest one tab interface inside another and define custom function to run after certain tab is clicked.

Though the script is intended for tab interface implementation, I found out that you can also use this script for another purpose. Just turn on automatic tabs rotation and add next/previous navigation – a lightweight JavaScript slideshow will born. You can now have an unlimited tab interface plus an unlimited slideshow from a simple, lightweight JavaScript.

Demo & Documentation: http://www.kminek.pl/lab/yetii/
License: BSD License

Here’s a list of 34 free Captcha scripts and anti-spam services you can use to provide protection from spam bots and ensure that only humans perform certain actions. Take note that using any of these Captcha scripts and services doesn’t guarantee that your 100% free from spam.

Hosted Anti-Spam Services

1.) reCAPTCHA

reCAPTCHA is a system developed at Carnegie Mellon University that uses CAPTCHA to help digitize the text of books while protecting websites from bots attempting to access restricted areas. It is easy to integrate with wide support for programming languages and ready to download plugins such as for WordPress, vBulletin, Drupal, etc.

2.) Automattic Kismet

From the creator of WordPress, Akismet is a service to stop comment and trackback spam. When a new comment, trackback, or pingback comes to your site it is submitted to the Akismet web service which runs hundreds of tests on the comment and returns a thumbs up or thumbs down.

3.) Defensio

Defensio is a spam filtering web service that you can use to protect your blog or web application from comment spam.

4.) Mollom

Mollom helps you keep your site clean and on topic by automatically blocking comment form spam, contact form spam and fake user accounts. We use a novel filtering technique based on the combination of content analysis and CAPTCHA challenges.

5.) VidoopCAPTCHA

VidoopCAPTCHA is an image-based verification solution used to distinguish a human from a computer program, protecting web sites against malicious bot attacks. When compared to traditional text-based CAPTCHAs predominant on the web, VidoopCAPTCHA is easier on the user.

6.) WebSpamProtect

WebSpamProtect.com allows you to instantly add verification image (CAPTCHA) to your web site and protect your forms against spam robots. In order to protect your web form, our system requires that you install a small piece of code onto your web page. Our code requires that your web site support PHP, Perl, ASP or ASP.NET.

7.) Microsoft Research – ASIRRA

Asirra is a human interactive proof that asks users to identify photos of cats and dogs. It’s powered by over three million photos from our unique partnership with Petfinder.com.

8.) Ironclad CAPTCHA

Ironclad CAPTCHA is rendered in realtime from 3D scene, where each object can be positioned, scaled, rotated and colored in random way. We then require user to count the number of three given types in the picture to pass the test.

9.) Protect Web Form

ProtectWebForm is a service to add CAPTCHA images and audio files on your website. You have to create an account, generate your CAPTCHA type with all the desired parameters and include it on your web pages.

10.) OpenCaptcha

OpenCaptcha is a captcha service which requires no special configurations or modules and requires no ability to program image manipuation scripts. New fonts, image algorithms, and distortions applied weekly.

11.) captchas.net

captchas.net provides CAPTCHA images and audio files you can use in html-forms. To use this technology, your web pages have to be generated dynamically in any programming language PHP, ASP, Perl, Python, JSP, Ruby.

12.) Spamerator

Spamerator was invented to help prevent robots from brute-force login cracking and spammers from automatically submitting garbage content to websites. It does this by sending an image with a random alpha-numerical code that only humans can see (not most robots, yet).

13.) Text Disguise

14.) Captchator

15.) Notequalsoft Captcha Service

PHP Captcha Scripts

1.) Secureimage PHP CAPTCHA

Securimage is an open-source free PHP CAPTCHA script for generating complex images and CAPTCHA codes to protect forms from spam and abuse. It can be easily added into existing forms on your website to provide protection from spam bots. It can run on most any webserver as long as you have PHP installed, and GD support within PHP.

2.) VeriWord

Veriword is a PHP Captcha system thats generate a question in form of an image with random baffle text or in another form such as an animated flash. The class is capable of picking a random word, generate captcha and store the word in an encrypted session variable for posterior validation eventually in a form on which it is used to prevent robots to have automated access.

3.) Advanced Textual Confirmation

Advanced Textual Confirmation is an universal antispam for forums, blogs, guestbooks, contact forms, and others. It is a smart textual CAPTCHA, which challenges site visitors only once, and then disappears.

4.) Cryptographp

Cryptographp is a PHP script for generate captchas. Cryptographp limit the robots bombarding spams and automating the forms: spaces members subscriptions, guestbooks, forums, etc. There’s also a plugin version for WordPress, wpMu for WordPress, Symfony and Guppy.

5.) 12 PHP Captcha Scripts Worthy To Mention

The following PHP Captcha scripts may either discontinued in its development, were written a long time ago, recommended on using hosted anti-spam services such as reCAPTCHA, don’t have much security compared to what was mentioned above,  few information is available on their website, authors didn’t respond to comments, don’t have a proper revision history or simply the output (verification image or text) look like the same as other Captcha system.

• Captcher
• HKCaptcha
• White Hat Captcha
• Visual and Audio PHP CAPTCHA Generation Class
• freeCap
• identiPIC
• Captcha ZDR
• Animated Math Captcha
• SOLMETRA FormValidator
• MathGuard PHP Form Anti-Spam Protection
• Animated GIF Captcha
• Psyrens AJAX Captcha

ASP Captcha Scripts

1.) Web Wiz CAPTCHA

Web Wiz CAPTCHA is free security image software written in ASP that displays a security image on your websites forms which only humans can read. This prevents your websites forms from being spammed by robots and hacked using dictionary or brute force hacking.

2.) BotDetect ASP Captcha

Lanapsoft BotDetect is an awarded website security solution designed to prevent automated submissions of ASP forms with CAPTCHA images. It’s a a COM Component that creates and validates image and sound CAPTCHAs, which can be simply added to your ASP forms using our ASP wrapper CAPTCHA module. (Registration required to download)

3.) Classic ASP Security Image Generator

Generate images with letters and numbers to make a CAPTCHA test. Completely free classic ASP VBScript. The secure code is completely random, dynamic image processing, no image file requires, no components requires, create a cross browser compatible BMP images and you can use a custom color palette for image.

Bonus

1.) Fighting Form Spam With CSS

An idea and tutorial for fighting form spam attacks with CSS.

2.) PWNtcha – Captcha Decoder

PWNtcha stands for “Pretend We’re Not a Turing Computer but a Human Antagonist“, as well as PWN capTCHAs. This project’s goal is to demonstrate the inefficiency of many Captcha implementations. Look at the bottom table where it listed hard Captchas.

You may post good CAPTCHA scripts or anti-spam services that we’ve missed so that we can add it to our our list, with credits (link to your website) given to you.

This one line JavaScript will greatly help web developers on CSS hacks. Maybe you can now say “Yes” to your customers if ever they asked you: “Will my site looks the same on most browsers?“. Putting aside the troublesome IE6, a very detail-oriented client will still give you headaches on consistent browser rendering. Let’s take for example Firefox 3.0.8 and Opera 9.64. Now create a simple form with radio buttons and checkboxes. When you view it on those browsers, they didn’t look the same. It’s fine in Firefox but in Opera, the labels just move up a little bit. With CSS Browser Selector, you can create a class specific for Opera to fix the line alignment.

Demo & Documentation: http://rafael.adm.br/css_browser_selector/
Download: http://github.com/rafaelp/css_browser_selector/tree/master
License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic

Checkbox and Radio Buttons

1.) FancyForm

FancyForm is a powerful replacement script used to provide the ultimate flexibility in changing the appearance and function of checkbox and radio buttons form elements. It’s accessible, easy to use and degrades gracefully on all older, non-supporting browsers. It requires MooTools JavaScript framework.

2.) CRIR: Checkbox & Radio Input Replacement

This combination of JavaScript and CSS will hide checkbox and radio buttons. This will allow you to style the label however you wish using CSS, and the actual input control will be hidden. The form will still collect data as it normally would because the label itself will trigger the hidden input control. The form is still fully functional if JavaScript is disabled or not supported.

3.) Ryan Fait’s Custom Checkboxes & Radio Buttons

This JavaScript and CSS will allow you to use custom images for checkboxes, radio buttons and select lists. The unobtrusive script gracefully degrades, so if JavaScript is disabled, normal form input objects appear instead of your customized elements.

4.) ARC – Adam’s Radio/Checkbox Customization

The script parses a specified form for input types and associated labels. If the input type is found to be a radio button or checkbox then the widget is hidden and the label is altered to display a custom widget-style-image by modifying the label’s CSS style.

5.) prettyCheckboxes

6.) jQuery checkbox

7.) Articles & Tutorials On Customizing Checkbox and Radio Buttons

• Custom Radio Button Implement With jQuery
• slayeroffice Custom Checkbox Elements
• Customized Html Controls: Creating Custom Checkbox
• Styled Form Controls
• Fancy Checkboxes and Radio Buttons
• Inside Technique : Custom Checkboxes

Select / Dropdown Box

1.) JavaScript Image Combobox

2.) jQuery Dropdown Check List

3.) Custom Select With Icons

4.) ComboBoxes Using MooTools

5.) Select Replacement

6.) Additional Select Box Customization (Won’t Work If JavaScript Disabled)

• mcDropdown jQuery Plug-in
• jQuery Custom Select Box v.0.01
• Arc90 Arc90
• Control.SelectMultiple

Almost All Form Elements

1.) Custom Form Elements (CFE)

Custom Form Elements unites all efforts in the web to enhance web-based XHTML forms in terms of style, usability and accessibility by using Javascript and/or CSS. Custom Form Elements work cross-browser, currently supporting most A-grade browsers.

2.) Emblematiq Niceforms

Niceforms is a script that will replace the most commonly used form elements with custom designed ones. You can either use the default theme that is provided or you can even develop your own look with minimal effort.

3.) jQuery Plugin: jNice

Designing an HTML email that renders consistently across the major email clients can be very time consuming. Support for even simple CSS varies considerably between clients, and even different versions of the same client.

To save you time figuring out if your campaign renders the same in major email clients, CampaignMonitor has put together a guide to CSS support in email clients, both web-based and desktop apps. Unfortunately, Gmail (which I used for personal and business) has the most X‘ed on CSS support.

CSS Support Chart Download:
PDF Format |   Excel Format

• It does not need different IDs per tab container in order to have multiple tab sets. So, you can have as many SimpleTabs tab sets as you want on the same page. This solve the most annoying features I found in other tab content script where you are limited to a single tab set.
• It remembers the last tab clicked on and if you reload the page (e.g. navigate somewhere and return to the page containing the tabs) that specific tab is already active.

Single Bug

When I tried to implement this script on my project, I found at that putting <div> element inside the content page will cause the script not to work anymore. Unfortunately, I didn’t find any contact information where I send or ask for support regarding this bug.

Demo & Documentation: http://labs.komrade.gr/simpletabs/
License: GNU/GPL v2.0

Preloaders.net

Preloaders.net has a nice categorized collection of GIF preloaders. You can set your preloaders’ background (transparent is also available) and foreground color, size with contrains proportion option and it’s animation speed.

Ajaxload

Ajaxload.info is still in Beta and the only option for it’s loading icon that you can set is it’s background and foreground color.

Load Info

LoadInfo.net options for it’s loading icon are background and foreground color and three predefined sizes which are 16×16, 24×24 and 48×48.

Web Script Lab

Web Script Lab’s Ajax Loading GIF Generator options for it’s loading icon are background and foreground color and three predefined speed which are normal, fast and slow.

Chimply

Chimply is in Beta stage but it has also a nice collection of categorized Ajax loading icons. Common settings include background and foreground colors and it’s width. Many advanced options will appear depending on what type of preloader you are going to select.

mentalized Activity Indicators

SanBaldo Ajax Loading Animated GIF

If this post have missed any AJAX loading icon generators, please feel free to add them in the comment below.

The CSS drop-down menu also comes with predefined transformations, including horizontal, vertical left-to-right, vertical right-to-left, horizontal linear and horizontal upwards – all you need to do is to change the class name of the unordered list <ul>. Should you have difficulty in making your styled CSS drop-down menu, just look at the examples which mimic the menus at Adobe, Flickr, MTV and NVidia.

Documentation: http://lwis.net/free-css-drop-down-menu/
Demo: http://lwis.net/free-css-drop-down-menu/dropdown.ultimate.horizontal.html
License: GNU GPL