I receive all kinds of suggestions for new Tuts+ sites, but none have been quite so numerous as the requests for us to launch a Flash tutorials site. And with good reason: we cover Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and web development, so why not Adobe Flash?

Today we’re pleased to introduce the newest member of the Tuts+ family: Flashtuts+

Go on, open a new tab, check it out, leave a comment, then keep reading to learn more about our plans for the site.

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Photo by Incase Designs.

Freelance Switch has a new editor to get things started in 2009!

Joel has studied journalism, has years of experience as an editor and freelance writer, has been contributing editor at Lifehack.org, manages two Envato websites (AUDIOTUTS and AudioJungle) and has some kick-butt plans for Freelance Switch. He’s written a few awesome articles for us too, and has always been a popular writer for the site.

Some of the things he plans to introduce include:

• More content tailored to specific types of freelancing (i.e. Web Design, Development)
• Regular themed columns
• Fresh new writers (and all your favorites)
• Less general advice, more specifics
• Guest articles from your favorite bloggers

Behind the scenes Collis is also working on an updated look for the site and a host of new features requested by FSw users. In short, Freelance Switch is going to be awesome this year

Thank you to Glen Stansberry for shepherding the site through much of 2008. We wish him the best of luck with the wonderful projects he’s working on!

As Collis likes to say these days — awesome is spreading .

If you’ve ever wanted to see your writing on Freelance Switch, and get paid a cool $60 USD to do it, read the guidelines and send us your brilliant article pitch or a completed article for consideration. To get started, visit this page.

Keep in mind that when we open the contribute form we get a lot of submissions, so bear with Glen as he sorts through them. It may take a little while but we’ll get back to everyone eventually.

Good luck!

News from the guys at Carbonmade is that while many of you have decided to be in the running to win some awesome prizes (including a 250GB Western Digital External HD) by signing up at Carbonmade, not many of you have actually gone the next step and sent us a link to your portfolio. You can’t be eligible for a prize unless you do this.

So, if you created a portfolio at Carbonmade to enter into our giveaway, make sure you send the link to support [at] carbonmade.com. At the moment your odds of winning some top-notch electronics are pretty darn good!

So–you’re the kind of guy who knows AJAX is not just a household bleach. Or maybe you’re the kind of gal who knows CSS really stands for Cascading Style Sheets, not Cansei de Ser Sexy. You also know PHP is a scripting language, not a hallucinogenic drug, that jQuery is definitely not a rap artist, nor is Ruby on Rails the latest power-metal band to set public radio on fire.

No, you know the truth–you know it because you’re a coder. To say thanks, here are a bunch of nifty links for you (and a handful of equally awesome links for us proles everyone else). Continue Reading

Carbonmade is a site where freelancers can create simple and professional online portfolios for free. They want to give you free stuff to reward exceptional creativity: 2 x WD Passport 250GB External Hard Drives and 2 x Corsair 4GB Flash Voyager rugged USB thumb drives, with 6 one-year premium subscriptions to Carbonmade up for grabs, each worth $120!

Entries will be judged by Carbonmade people Spencer Fry and Dave Gorum plus Collis Ta’eed and myself. Hit the jump to learn how you can win one of these nifty prizes! Continue Reading

The Creative Freelancer Conference in Chicago is less than a week away, so if you’ve been thinking about going, now is the time to make your decision.

It’s set to be the first business conference for “creative solopreneurs,” serving graphic, web and interactive designers, photographers, copywriters, illustrators and anyone else who is committed to making a freelance life work.

A panel of creative-business experts, led by Ilise Benun and Peleg Top, will share best practices for pricing, marketing, building client relationships, crafting proposals and contracts, maintaining a work/life balance and other skills critical to freelance success.

Creative Freelancer Conference
August 27-29, 2008
Hyatt Regency Chicago
http://www.CreativeFreelancerConference.com
Early Bird Registration ends July 15th.

Check out the www.CreativeFreelancerBlog.com for tips and techniques too!

It’s like Christmas for you guys lately, isn’t it? We’ve got cool people sending us emails all the time, clambering to give you free stuff. And we’re not complaining!

Want to get a free pack of 50 unique, professionally printed business cards? Want to pay absolutely nothing to have them delivered to your doorstep, regardless of where you live?

15 lucky and fleet-footed FSw readers will be able to do just that. All you’ve got to do is get in quick! Continue Reading

On July 31st we launched a collaborative initiative with FreshBooks to give away ten 1-year Shuttle Bus subscriptions worth $168 each (see the prize). The catch? Those who wanted to win a prize had to provide their best non-intuitive tip for creating a word-of-mouth worthy experience for clients.

Entries closed on the 7th and ten winners have since been chosen. All in all, over 40 incredible tips were submitted, and they’re laid out here. You’ll find the names of our winners, their ten tips, and the rest of the client experience guide (28 more tips) after the jump!

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Photo by Darwin Bell.

Clemens has been kind enough to design a Twitter profile for FSw where you can see all our new articles as they’re published. Follow us here!

Anthony at Positive Space gives us ‘Design Processes & Why Every Designer Needs One‘. Truly a great read for any web-designer or even freelancers working in other fields.

Remote working is in vogue among freelancers, and with good reason. QualityNonsense shares a really nice-looking guide to the lazy geek’s travelling office.

If you’re a designer, this post by Bill at GoMediaZine titled ‘Accountants, lawyers, and doctors, oh my! A designer’s guide to business‘ should definitely be in your bookmarks. A must read!

The Outlaw Design Blog has two great posts for freelancers: what Fight Club teaches us about freelancing and a pre-design questionnaire you can use for your web design projects.

Freelancer’s Lament is a new blog dealing with freelancing, particularly freelancing in the world of publishing.

Jeremy asks ‘How has becoming a designer/blogger/writer changed you?‘ – I’m sure it changed you in many ways! Now what’s that font they use in that logo?

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Could you make it to Leeds on the 12th of September? If so, you might want to check out Going Solo, a conference for freelance internet professionals.

More information after the jump!

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