by Dennis Switzer, South Atlantic ConferenceWhoever coined the phrase “The best things in life are free,” probably never owned a Ferrari.
But perhaps they did own a computer. By typing in three lower case w’s with a dot after them, there is a universe of free programs, tools and information that can be helpful for sports information directors.
So here is a list of some of the best free things in the Internet for SIDs. Remember, before installing any programs, check with your campus IT staff. Many schools have rules against installing freeware programs.
1. Free fonts: 1001 Free Fonts
www.1001freefonts.com
Bored with the traditional fonts loaded in your computer? This website has a plethora of funky and cool fonts for both Windows and Mac.
2. Stock photograpy: Stock xchng
www.sxc.hu
Need a stock photo for a media guide, or a background for a poster? Check out what’s available at stock xchng, a website that professional and amateur photographers load their stock photos to share with others. Can’t find what you are looking for there? Check out www.istockphoto.com Images there are not free, but are very reasonable.
3. Website photo galleries: Web Album Generator
www.ornj.net/webalbum/
There are lots of ways to produce photo galleries to put up on your website. Here’s a good program, and best of all, it is free. Web Album Generator creates all the HTML, JPEG thumbnails, and CSS for your online photo albums—all you need is your digital pictures. The software is simple and straightforward.
4. Free tips on Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, web design
http://www.elijournals.com/tips.asp
Small shops don’t have the luxury of farming out design work. Here, you can sign up for free tips, tricks and timesaving techniques for your favorite programs e-mailed to you. And while you are at this site, don’t forget to download free samples of their many publications.
5. Adobe exchange
www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange
Looking for a Photoshop plug-in or an action to help save time on an InDesign project? Head to where all the Adobe experts go, the Adobe exchange.
You need to have an Adobe account, but it is a short and simple process if you don’t have one already.
6. More design help: Design, Typography, & Graphics newsletter
www.graphic-design.com/news
Here is a great website with plenty of help for graphic designers – both for print and website. You can also sign up for their monthly newsletter. Have a question on how to do something in Photoshop? Click on the link to Photoshop 911 and search the forums.
7. Create portable document format (pdf).
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator
Sending out game notes and posting media guides on your website is easy if the documents are pdfs. Most everyone should have that capability already, but here’s another quick little program that helps print documents to pdf.
8. Print on demand: Lulu
www.lulu.com
Not exactly free, but this could be a significant cost savings. If you run a small shop, and need a way to print just a few media guides or recruiting brochures, but can’t afford offset printing for a small run, consider going the way of print on demand. You do all the design work, load your print-ready pdf and they will print as few or as many copies as you need. The cost for one 12-page 8.5 by 11 brochure on a 100-pound gloss paper, is just $4.77. Need 50 books? The cost goes down to $3.71 each. Remember to follow all NCAA rules regarding color.
9. Remote access: Logmein
www.logmein.com
You are on the road with your team and need to get a file or photo that is on your computer at school or at home. Simple solution. This is a free remote access program, which brings up your PC’s desktop in a web browser, and you are able to control your remote PC just as if you were sitting in front of it. Check with your IT folks on this, as they may have firewalls set up that won’t allow you to use this type of service.
10. Get organized: Backpack, Ta-da and Cozi
www.backpackit.com
www.tadalist.com
www.cozi.com
Being a good SID is all about organization and meeting deadlines. Backpack is a personal information manager that helps you organize anything – events, publication production schedules, etc. The free account gives you five web pages to use for making lists and notes. Upgrading to the basic package from the free service costs $5 a month, but is ad free, gives you 25 pages, and gets you access to their very helpful calendar. It's simple, web-based, sharable, and can remind you of your events via email or an text to your cell phone. Ta-Da lets you create to-do lists. And we all know SIDs have a lot to do.
Cozi is another organizational and schedule website primarily designed for busy families to coordinate their schedules. But it could also be used for an SID to coordinate with his staff and student workers. Each “family member” has their own color to make adding and viewing appointments easy. You can also synch the calendar with Microsoft Outlook or have reminders sent to a cell phone.
Dennis Switzer is Director of Sports Information and Administration for the South Atlantic Conference. In 2002 and 2004, Switzer helped organize SID technology seminars, hosted by the South Atlantic Conference. He also serves as national chair of the Fred. S. Stabley Sr. Writing Contest.
The CoSIDA technology committee welcomes submissions by all CoSIDA members. For more information, contact blowe@gborocollege.edu.