For any dynamic website, if it is not the performance of the network/server, database queries are usually the source of performance issues.

They should be optimized for sure and minimized with the help of caching.

phpFastCache is an open source PHP caching library that comes as a single-file and can be integrated so quickly.

It has support for multiple caching methods (apc, memcache, memcached, wincache, files, pdo and mpdo), the period of caching can be defined and has a very simplified API.

Drawing anything using modern web technologies is possible, however, the default APIs are not that user-friendly.

Two.js is an exciting JavaScript library that provides a 2-dimensional and single drawing API for SVG, Canvas And WebGL.

The library has only (currently) support for shapes (no text or images) and allows importing SVG data.

It can group multiple elements which is useful when transforming them together.

There is a built-in animation loop, methods to draw well-known shapes and lots of options to customize them.

IM Creator is a very easy to use and hosted website builder that allows anyone to create good-looking websites without diving into any HTML-CSS or JavaScript.

There are many creative templates to choose from where all of them are optimized for search engines and looking good on mobile too.

Once the template is picked from a well-categorized list (it is also possible to start with a blank template), the site can be edited live with drag ‘n’ drops.

Inserting new galleries, slideshows, contact forms or menus is just a click away. All of them presented nicely and user-friendly.

One of the most frequent jobs while creating a website, editing images are also handled within IM Creator. There is a built-in image editor for resizing or cropping images.

Also, there are lots of widgets to enhance the website like Google Maps, Twitter timeline, SoundVCloud, Vimeo, Facebook and more.

Websites can integrate with any Google Analytics account, come with free e-mail accounts and new templates are introduced regularly.

How to join the giveaway?

3 lifetime subscriptions (valued $95/year) are being given away. In order to join:

• Leave a comment below telling us what your favorite template from IM Creator is (view their collection and please share the link)
• “Like” IM Creator page on facebook.com/imcreator

Winners will be announced a week later (13 May 2013) and announced here. Good luck to all.

The winners

Here they are:

• Ciril Trcek (comment #1264273)
• Firebit (comment #1264343)
• Lukas Janda (comment #1264236)

Congratulations to the winners and thanks to everyone for being a part of this giveaway.

For designs created to be displayed on iOS or any other Retina-Display device, we need to create high quality version the right way.

Retinize It is a set of 2 free Photoshop actions where one of them slices the selected layer (or group) and the other for slicing +  scaling it by 200%.

These actions are a time-saver for anyone that regularly creates designs for websites in Photoshop. Simple-yet-handy.

Map Icons Designer is a free set of 200+ icons that are designed to be used in maps.

The set is available in 2 formats: PSD (vector shape) + PNG and includes items for transportation, hotels, restaurants, animals and much more.

There are also 10 different-styled location pins where all look great.

And, the set is completely free to be used in both personal + commercial projects.

A beautiful font can easily turn a standard text into a good-looking title, logo, etc..

Solomon Font Family is definitely one of the most exciting font packs out there with 6 decorative fonts in 6 different weights (12 fonts total).

It has a well-finished geometric design with optimized kerning and looks elegant without being too much flowery.

The fonts have support for characters of 50+ languages so they can easily be used in multilanguage projects.

They are normally priced $279 but discounted for $9 at MightDeals. You can choose to get the desktop version or the web font version for the price (or get both for $18).

iio Engine is an open source framework for creating HTML5 applications with JavaScript and canvas.

The framework is lightweight (45kb) and packed with a debugging system + cross-platform deployment engine.

It doesn’t require any JS frameworks and can work side-by-side with Box2D.

iio Engine’s website provides a full documentation and many examples to simplify development.

Sometimes, we don’t know how our SQL query will look like exactly as there are times that the query needs to be created dynamically.

Or, you may just be looking for a solution that will make SQL queries more readable.

Squel.js, a lightweight JavaScript library, helps building SQL query strings very easily through an object oriented API.

It works both on the browser (not advised as the queries will be visible to all) + with nodejs and supports all standard SQL queries (can be customized to support non-standard queries).

For any e-commerce website, simple-to-advanced, Magento is probably the most complete, free and open source solution out there.

And, it can be improved further so easily with professional extensions in the market.

Magestore, a popular Magento extensions provider, has a fresh extension for improving the checkout process which is called Magento One Step Checkout.

The extension helps minimizing the abandoned cart rate by enabling customers to view the basket and fill the shipping + payment information in only one step.

This checkout page is smart and auto-updates itself when needed without any refreshes (like the change in address, shipping type, etc.).

It also supports applying coupon codes and gift messages or running simple surveys still on the same page and comes ready with multiple payment options (PayPal, credit cards, SagePay..).

1 Step Checkout works with all 3 checkout modes (register, logged in, guest) and has built-in Geo-IP detection for simplifying the process further by auto-filling address details as much as possible.

There is also a unique feature called “Web-POS for admin checkouts”. Using this feature, it is possible to complete offline sales as an existing user or guest. Again on a single page, the store admins can search for the product, add it to the cart quickly and complete sale.

The extension is a must check for any Magento website and there is a detailed comparison of it with other well-known checkout extensions.

How to join the giveaway?

Magestore is giving away 3 licenses and, in order to join, please follow the steps:

• create a free membership at Magestore
• comment to this post using your Magestore e-mail in the e-mail field

Winners will be selected a week later (02 May 2013) with the query below:

SELECT * FROM wp_comments WHERE comment_post_id=4020 AND comment_approved=1 AND comment_type='' GROUP BY comment_author_email ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 3

Good luck to all.

The winners

Here they are:

• sean (comment #1263084)
• Robin L (comment #1263695)
• webworker (comment #1263886)

robin@rwl.se

Companies usually share media related to their brands (logo, guidelines, images or documents) online so that they can be re-used properly by others.

Smartimage, a professional and paid web service, makes managing such media so easy and also provides a great experience for the end users.

It enables the brand admin to upload files (AI, EPS, GIF, JPEG, PNG, TIFF or PDF are supported) tag and categorize them from a clean admin interface.

Uploading is pretty easy via drag ‘n’ drops and a graphic file manager exists for editing meta data when needed.

After that, end users can browse these items from a user-friendly web page and download them in various sizes including Retina Display (different sized versions are auto-created).

The whole collection or each item can be shared with others with social links, e-mail or embedding.

And, Smartimage keeps track of all these sharing activity besides stats like “the number of downloads”.

Items uploaded can be public or private, the whole layout works in all major devices including mobile and custom domain names can be used for the hosted brand page.

The service is being improved regularly and new features like “multiple admins, customizable collections, video support” are planned to be released.

A demo exists to find out how an image collection can look like and the app can be tried freely for 45 days.