DISCUSSION

Our client Fine Travel, Inc. (“FTI”) probably will be able to establish that it made reasonable efforts, under the circumstances, to protect the secrecy of its customer list and that its former employee, Ms. Sarah Tung, misappropriated its customer list. For negotiation purposes, Ms. Tung’s counsel has conceded that FTI’s customer list is “information” with “independent economic value,” but maintains that FTI did not make reasonable efforts to protect the secrecy of its customer list thereby failing to satisfy the final element of the trade secret definition. A company makes reasonable efforts when it informs its employees that its customer list is a trade secret or limits access to the list. See Morlife, Inc. v. Perry, 66 Cal. Rptr.2d 731 (Ct. App. 1997); Courtesy Temp. Serv., Inc. v. Camacho, 272 Cal. Rptr. 352 (Ct. App. 1990). FTI employed reasonable efforts by informing its employees that the list is a trade secret verbally and/or with written documents, and restricting access to the list. In addition to proving that it employed reasonable efforts, FTI also will need to establish that Ms. Tung misappropriated its customer list. A former employee misappropriates a customer list if s/he contacts a former employer’s customers in a manner that goes beyond a professional business announcement and crosses into solicitation. Aetna Bldg. Maint. Co., Inc. v. West, 39 Cal. 2d 198, 198 (1952). See also Hilb, Rogal and Hamilton Ins. Serv. Of Orange Cnty., Inc. v. Robb, 39 Cal. Rptr.2d 877 (Ct. App. 1995); Am. Credit Indem. Co. v. Sacks, 262 Cal. Rptr. 92 (Ct. App. 1989). Ms. Tung misappropriated the customer list when she wrote a letter to FTI’s customers that went beyond a professional announcement and solicited.

A. Reasonable Efforts
To determine if FTI can protect its customer list as a trade secret a court will look to the California Uniform Trade Secrets Act section 3426.1(d)(2) which requires that information “is the subject of efforts that are reasonable under the circumstances to maintain its secrecy.” Cal. Civ. Code § 3426.1(d)(2) (Deering’s 2010). A company takes reasonable steps, under the circumstances, to maintain the secrecy of a trade secret customer list when it informs its employees that the list is trade secret, or access to the list is restricted. See Morlife, 66 Cal. Rptr.2d 731; Courtesy, 272 Cal. Rptr. 352. Courts will examine reasonable efforts on a case-by-case basis and the facts in each situation are subjected to section 3426.1(d)(2) in an interpretive manner as opposed to a list of absolute requirements. FTI has evidence in its favor that reasonable steps were taken to inform employees the customer list was a trade secret and that it restricted access to the list which probably will satisfy the reasonable efforts prong under section 3426.1(d)(2).

Courts have consistently held that informing employees of a trade secret is one way to meet the definition of reasonable efforts required by section 3426.1(d)(2). Eg., Morlife 66 Cal. Rptr.2d at 736; Courtesy, 272 Cal. Rptr. at 355. In Morlife, Inc. v. Perry, 66 Cal. Rptr.2d 731 (Ct. App. 1997), the plaintiff company provided professional roofing services specializing in the installation and repair of roofs on commercial properties. The court there held “that the plaintiff had made reasonable efforts to maintain the secrecy of its customers’ identities” by requiring employees to sign an agreement not to “use, duplicate or disclose information about…customers,” as well as distributing an employee handbook that also emphasized the confidential nature of its customer information. Id. at 733. In addition to written notification, the president of the plaintiff company verbally referred to its customer list as the “main asset” and asserted that “without it, there’s no business.” Id. at 736. In American Credit Indemnity Co. v. Sacks, 262 Cal. Rptr. 92, 92 (Ct. App. 1989), the plaintiff company offered insurance policies on creditor’s accounts receivable, the court found that the plaintiff’s customer list did constitute a trade secret because its employees were notified of the confidentiality of the list. The plaintiff company “alleged it required its employees to sign confidentiality agreements with respect to their [customer] information.” Id. at 94. The defendant’s claim he did not sign the confidentiality agreement had no affect the court’s decision because the company always required employees to sign and this employee simply failed to. Id. at 92. As in Morlife, and American Credit, the court in Courtesy Temporary Service, Inc. v. Camacho, 272 Cal. Rptr. 352 (Ct. App. 1990), also held that “advising employees of the existence of a trade secret” was an important factor in maintaining reasonable efforts although the court opinion does not say how the employee’s were advised. The plaintiff in Courtesy provided temporary employees for businesses and the defendants in this case used the plaintiff’s trade secret to fraudulently steal their employees and solicit its clients. Courtesy, 272 Cal. Rptr. at 355. Employees of the plaintiff company in Courtesy were aware of the confidential nature of the information, although the court mentioned no specific methods of notification in its opinion. Id. Often times employers will need to procure signatures from current employees after hiring on confidentiality agreements and will have to pay bonuses to persuade its employees to sign, like the plaintiff in Hilb, Rogal and Hamilton Insurance Services of Orange County, Inc. v. Robb 39 Cal. Rptr.2d 877, 892 (Ct. App. 1995) did to get a non-compete agreement signed by the part-owner.

Informing employees of the existence of a trade secret is not the only method that the courts recognize to satisfy reasonable efforts as defined in section 3426.1(d)(2). The courts in Courtesy and Morlife found that limiting access to the information also contributes to satisfying the definition. Courtesy, 272 Cal. Rptr. at 358; Morlife, 66 Cal. Rptr.2d at 736. The plaintiff in Courtesy only divulged its customer list on an “as needed basis,” when needed for a specific job related duty. 272 Cal. Rptr. at 358. The plaintiff also limited circulation of the customer list between its own branch offices, which prevented any one employee from accessing the customer list in its entirety. Id. The plaintiff in Morlife restricted access in a slightly different way than Courtesy, although equally effective according to the court, by keeping its list on a password-protected computer. Morlife, 66 Cal. Rptr.2d at 736. Despite the fact that the defendant in Morlife simply took business cards and not the actual list, the information taken constituted seventy five to eighty percent (75-80%) of the list, which was enough to constitute a trade secret even though the complete list was not taken. Id. at 733. The plaintiff companies in Courtesy and Morlife both limited access and expressly informed employees, in advance, of the existence of a trade secret. Compare Morlife, 66 Cal. Rptr.2d at 731; with Courtesy, 272 Cal. Rptr. at 352.

FTI has evidence that Ms. Tung was informed the customer list is a trade secret in addition to evidence showing restricted access to the list. Ms. Tung was verbally informed in each staff meeting by the CEOs’ comments that the list was “the core of the business,” “our bread and butter,” “the secret ingredient to our success,” and it – along with FTI clients – must be “handled with care.” The comment made by FTI’s CEO that the list is the “core of the business” imparts the same idea that the president of the plaintiff in Morlife meant to convey when he referred to its list as the “main asset,” simply put each aims to imply that the list is of utmost importance to the company. The other comments made by the CEO at FTI referring to the list as “our bread and butter,” the “secret ingredient to our success,” to be “handled with care,” are somewhat vague because the CEO’s choice of words which never expressly refer to the customer list as a trade secret and only attempts this with euphemisms. However, in conjunction with the other statements the CEO’s comments help to further the notion that keeping the list a secret is imperative to the business.

In addition to verbally informing its employees FTI also made use of written proprietary information agreements and Ms. Tung was, more than likely, well aware of this fact. FTI’s efforts over the last three (3) years to ensure that new employees sign a proprietary information agreement is comparable to the plaintiffs in Morlife requiring a confidentiality agreement be signed by new employees. Although unlike the plaintiff company in Morlife, FTI did not require legacy employees to sign the agreement or issue an employee handbook restating the confidentiality. There is, however, a chance the proprietary information agreements were handled completely by the Human Resources Director in which case Ms. Tung would not have had knowledge of them. Like the defendant in American Credit, Ms. Tung did not sign a confidentiality agreement, however the defendant in American Credit was supposed to sign the agreement whereas Ms. Tung was not. FTI did have an opportunity to persuade Ms. Tung to sign a proprietary information agreement by paying her a bonus, which most likely will be a point of concern for the court because some similarities can be drawn to the bonus paid to the defendant in Hilb for the non-compete agreement. However, this fact is distinguishable because the defendant in Hilb had been a part owner of the plaintiff company as opposed to an employee like Ms. Tung. Even without signing the proprietary information agreement Ms. Tung was still aware that the customer information was “the core of the business” and she most likely had knowledge that lower level employees, for the last three (3) years, were all required to sign the agreements. Therefore, a court probably will find that Ms. Tung was well informed that FTI’s customer list is a trade secret.

In addition to informing Ms. Tung that a trade secret exists, FTI also limited access to the customer list because of its importance to the business. FTI grants forty percent (40%) of its employees access to the customer list, which is contained in a password-protected database on FTI’s computer network, comparable to the plaintiff in Morlife who also limited access to its customer list on a password-protected computer. FTI gave the list password to employees that needed it to perform their job just as the plaintiff in Courtesy gave customer list information to the employees who needed it to perform their jobs. While FTI gave out full access to the list, the plaintiff company in Courtesy is distinguished because it granted access to portions of the list on an “as needed basis.” The plaintiff company in Courtesy also prevented inter-office circulation, however, FTI is a smaller entity and such sophisticated access might not have been reasonable under the circumstances for a business of its size.

FTI will ultimately have a enough facts to convince the court that it did make reasonable efforts under the circumstances to protect the secrecy of its customer information, thereby satisfying section 3426.1(d)(2). The court’s holding probably will be based on the fact that FTI informed Ms. Tung verbally, required all new employees for the last three (3) years sign confidentiality agreements, and restricted access to the list.

B. Misappropriation

In the event FTI is successful in proving that it made reasonable efforts to protect the secrecy of its customer list, it will next be required to prove that Ms. Tung misappropriated the list. Misappropriation under the California Uniform Trade Secrets Act section 3426.1(b)(2) occurs when a former employee makes “use of a trade secret of another without express or implied consent” and “at the time of…use, knew or had reason to know that his or her knowledge of the trade secret was: [a]cquired under circumstances giving rise to a duty to maintain its secrecy.” Cal. Civ. Code § 3426.1(b)(2) (Deering’s 2010). An employee misappropriates its former employer’s customer list when s/he uses it to solicit the business of the customers on the list. Am. Credit, 262 Cal. Rptr. at 92. California courts consistently impose a duty on employees to keep their employers’ trade secrets confidential. See e.g., Aetna Bldg. Main. Co., Inc. v. West, 39 Cal. 2d 198, 198 (1952); The Retirement Group. v. Galante, 98 Cal. Rptr. 3d. 585, 585 (Ct. App. 2009). Furthermore, higher-level employees, such as a Vice-President, have a duty that is at least as great as that of lower level employees. Roger M. Milgram, Milgram on Trade Secrets (2010). Ms. Tung’s letter went beyond a simple professional announcement entering in to solicitation; therefore, FTI probably will be successful in a claim of misappropriation against Ms. Tung.

Courts going at least as far back as 1952 have consistently recognized an employee’s right to engage in fair competition with his/her former employer, which includes informing the former employer’s customers of a change in business affiliation. See, e.g., Am. Credit, 262 Cal. Rptr. at 100; Aetna, 39 Cal. at 198. Courts therefore draw a line between making use of a trade secret to solicit a former employer’s customers, which is misappropriation, and merely informing them of a change in business affiliation which is not. E.g., Morlife, 66 Cal. Rptr.2d 731; Aetna Building Maintenance Co., Inc. v. West, 39 Cal. 2d 198, 198 (1952). The Aetna court, as well as its progeny, rely on Black’s Law Dictionary definition of solicitation which is “to ask with earnestness, to make petition, to endeavor to obtain, to awake or excite action, to appeal, or to invite.” Aetna, 39 Cal. 2d at 198. See also Am. Credit, 262 Cal. Rptr. at 99; Morlife, 66 Cal. Rptr.2d 738. This definition of solicitation is consistent with California’s long commitment to employee mobility expressly shown in the Business and Professions Code section 16600, which prohibits restraining a former employee “from engaging in a lawful profession, trade, or business of any kind.” Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 16600 (West 2010).

The court in American Credit applied the historically established definition of solicitation when it analyzed a former employee’s letter that offered business alternatives to the former employer’s customers. 262 Cal. Rptr. at 94. There the defendant’s letter offered “a very interesting alternative” to the plaintiff companies’ credit insurance products and expressed an eagerness to “discuss it in detail with you when you are ready to review your ongoing credit insurance needs.” Id. Similarly, the defendant in Morlife sent a letter assuring his former employer’s customers of his “commitment to provide you with timely, dependable, professional solutions to alleviate your roofing problems” and expressed willingness to “talk soon about how we can prevent or minimize your headaches and costs.” 56 Cal. Rptr.2d at 737. The defendant’s letters in American Credit and Morlife invite and solicit business. Eg., Am. Credit, 262 Cal.Rptr.2d at 98; Morlife, 66 Cal. Rptr.2d at 731. The courts willingness to protect employee mobility when leaving an employer is shown by the decision in The Retirement Group v. Galante 98 Cal. Rptr.3d. at 589 (Ct. App. 2009), the plaintiff there provided asset investment and financial advisement services and the defendants were actively soliciting business from the plaintiff’s clients. However, because the customer information used was not a trade secret, the solicitation was found lawful. Id. at 588.

In contrast to the solicitous letters sent by the defendants in Morlife and American Credit, the defendant’s letter in Hilb did not solicit business and merely informed the plaintiff company’s customers of his change in business affiliation. Hilb, 39 Cal. Rptr.2d 892. In Hilb, the defendant was formerly affiliated with the plaintiff’s insurance brokerage firm as a part owner and in return for signing a non-compete agreement was paid $52,500. Id. at 889. The defendant, upon taking up employment with a competitor, sent a letter merely informing the plaintiff company’s customers of his change in affiliation. Id. at 892. The court did not include the text of the letter in its decision, but it found that “all declarations [from the plaintiff companies' clients] indicate[d] that [the defendant] merely announced a change in employment and then responded to the clients’ lawful business requests.” Id. Although in the Hilb case the plaintiff’s customer list was not found to be a secret the court found it necessary to assert in dictum, that “even assuming that [the plaintiff's] customer list…constitute[d] trade secrets…the evidence before the trial court does not support the conclusion that [the defendant] misused” the list by simply informing the plaintiff’s customers that he had changed employment. Id. The Hilb court, like the courts in Aetna, and American Credit, recognized the right an employee has to inform the customers of his former employer that he has changed business affiliations. Hilb, 39 Cal. Rptr.2d 887. See also Aetna, 39 Cal. 2d at 198; Am. Credit, 262 Cal. Rptr. at 92.

Assuming that a court agrees with FTI on its interpretation of the trade secret definition, the court will also find misappropriation because Ms. Tung’s letter intended to excite action from FTI’s clients. FTI disclosed the customer list to Ms. Tung under circumstances that gave rise to her duty to maintain its secrecy. Upon using the list to email FTI’s customers Ms. Tung made use of the list without “express or implied consent” which equates to misappropriation under section 3426.1(b)(2) because her use of the list was not authorized by FTI or its agents. Ms. Tung a high-ranking FTI employee, similar to the defendant in Hilb although not a part owner, was well aware of the duty to maintain the secrecy of the customer list.

Ms. Tung’s email made use of the list initially in an attempt to announce her change in employment; however, the latter portion of her letter more closely resembles the solicitous letters sent by the defendants in American Credit and Morlife. Like the defendant’s letter in American Credit, which offered “very interesting alternatives,” Ms. Tung also mentioned alternative products, like the culinary themed vacation which entailed a “tour of Tuscany with [a] chef,” not available through FTI but offered by her new employer. As an FTI employee, Ms. Tung had been asked to do market research regarding the possibility of offering very similar culinary themed vacations, which would make FTI and LLC direct competitors in this market.

Ms. Tung not only discussed the alternative culinary themed vacations but she also offered FTI’s client a ten percent (10%) discount on these products. A court likely will treat Tung’s mention of a ten percent (10%) discount as solicitation because objectively this discount is intended to “awake or excite” action as prohibited by the court in Aetna and its progeny. Ms. Tung also made an attempt to initiate contact with FTI’s client by offering to “treat [the client] to dinner” next time they are in San Diego, a fact somewhat similar to the letter written by the defendant in Morlife who also expressed an interest in “talk[ing] soon” about “professional solutions.” While the express invitation to talk soon by the defendant in Morlife is obvious, the open invitation to dinner by Ms. Tung is an implied attempt to initiate contact. An implied attempt to initiate with contact FTI’s customer probably is not sufficient to establish misappropriation; however in combination with the expressly offered ten percent (10%) discount it begins to stray closer to solicitation. Ms. Tung’s letter offering a discount, discussing potentially competing products, and offering to treat FTI’s client to dinner will most likely exceed the exception for professional announcements and cross the threshold into solicitation.

FTI will, in addition to establishing its customer information is a trade secret, have enough evidence to persuade the court that Ms. Tung misappropriated the trade secret. Her letter, while not overtly solicitous in nature, does go beyond simply informing FTI’s customers that she has made a change in employment by offering a discount on potentially competing products and offering to treat the clients to dinner. In light of Ms. Tung’s solicitous letter, FTI probably will succeed on a claim of misappropriation as well.

[Conclusion redacted]

The D&O Diary

The D&O Diary published by Kevin M. LaCroix offers an inside look at liability involving directors and officers. Check out the great multipart series on D&O insurance as well as topics like corporate governance, class action settlements, insider trading and IPOs.

Delaware Corporate & Commercial Litigation Blog

For an up to date overview of Delaware Corporate law from the Delaware Supreme Court and the Court of Chancery look no further than the Delaware Corporate & Commercial Litigation Blog. Published by Francis G.X. Pileggi this blog covers the latest emerging law out of everyones’ favorite state of incorporation.

The Corporate Counsel

The Practical Corporate & Securities Law Blog, edited by Broc Romanek and Dave Lynn have been providing services for over 30 years. The Corporate Counsel covers topics including SEC regulations, corporate finance and emerging corporate law. The layout and organization takes a little getting used to but the information is on point.

Professor Bainbridge

Professor Stephan Bainbridge, of UCLA, offers his perspective on several areas with an emphasis on the law and economics of public corporations. Other subjects discussed include corporate governance, economics, politics, religion, education, books, food, and wine.

The Race to the Bottom

The race to The Bottom is a professional faculty / student collaboration analyzing the laws and regulations of corporate governance. The executive board comprised of students and faculty at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law cover several areas of law including Executive Comp, Governance & SEC, Securities Issues, Shareholder Rights and Social Responsibility.

Truth on the Market

Truth on the Market, founded in 2006, is focused on the economics of business law. In particular the blog hits on corporate governance, antitrust law, and industrial organization. The content is provided as an academic collaboration from several law professors and deans across the country.

Technology in the Legal World

For all the tech savvy corporate attorneys out there, take a look at some of these blogs to get the latest tech law news and productivity apps. Each blog offers a unique perspective on law and technology with a great mix of useful tools and apps for lawyers on the go.

• Real Lawyers Have Blogs
• Advocate’s Studio
• Future Lawyer
• iPhone J.D.
• Robert Ambrogi’s Lawsites
• Technology & Marketing Law Blog
• 3 Geeks and a Law Blog

Download the Google fonts package here

With the Google font API you will only need one simple line of CSS in your page and the fonts will function as far back as Internet Explorer 6. For example the retro ‘Lobster’ font can be easily included in your site with the following method.

Firt place this line of code in the header of your document:
<link href=’http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Lobster‘ rel=’stylesheet’ type=’text/css’>

Then all you need to do is call the font family in your CSS like so:
h1 { font-family: ‘Lobster‘, arial, serif; }

That’s it, all of the available fonts are listed for you at the Google font directory full instructions on how to embed fonts on the web can be found here. and you can download the TrueType embeddable font files here to use in your Photoshop Design. Hope you find this useful in your next professional web design project.

• Adobe DreamWeaver keyboard shortcuts
• Adobe Flash keyboard shortcuts
• Adobe Illustrator keyboard shortcuts
• Adobe InDesign keyboard shortcuts
• Adobe Photoshop keyboard shortcuts
• Quark keyboard shortcuts

In addition to the countless design programs web designers have an even longer list of items to stay on top of. Each day jumping back and forth between CSS, PHP, JavaScript, HTML, and a long list of others can get rather time consuming. Google, as always, is a vital resource, but a few of these web design cheat sheets are also very useful. Below you will find a few links to my favorites or check out the full list over at ProBlogDesign.com in their web design cheat sheets article.

• PHP Cheat sheet
• CSS 3 Cheat sheet
• WordPress template tag list
• HTML 5 Cheat sheet

Enjoy this list and if you come across any that you feel I have left out, or if you find one to rival another on this list give me a shout in the comments and let me know.

The first step is to narrow down exactly what type of design job you are looking for. Design is a vast field with many different niches. Whether you want to do print design, web design, flash animation, or 3D graphics, pick one and focus your efforts in one of these areas. This may sound like it will limit your possibilities, but in fact it will do the opposite, it will show potential employers that you are seeking to specialize in a specific area which is valuable to them. Now this doesn’t mean downplay your other talents and skills, it simply means to emphasize certain areas over others.

For starters you will need a solid, well written, well designed resume. Your resume is oftentimes one of the only documents that potential jobs will look at before offering an interview. The purpose of your resume is to put your best foot forward. It needs to highlight your strengths and accomplishments in a concise manner. Don’t forget to include academic honors, and extra curricular activities like sports or clubs. These areas will provide depth and a little personality. You also want your resume to look like a designers resume. Steer clear of the standard Word template, instead go for a custom layout using InDesign. Pay careful attention to typography and structural organization. Don’t go overboard though, keep everything black and white or gray-scale as more often then not your resume will be printed on a non color printer. Avoid images or fancy graphics as well, just clean simple typography in a conservative font such as Helvetica, or Garamond, for a full list check out the article “20 fonts to use on your resume”. If you are looking for work in different areas of design write a specific resume for each and tailor it appropriately. After you have designed the perfect resume carefully proofread for spelling and grammar to catch mistakes before they become embarrassing. Send out a few copies to family and friends for feed back. If you get stuck along the way check out these killer resumes for inspiration.

• Beautiful Resume Ideas That Work
• 30 Artistic and Creative Resumes
• 5 Examples of Beautiful Resume CV Templates

Next step is to register with online resources for professionals. I recommend starting with monster and linked in, but I’m sure you will come across more so be sure to add them in the comments. Be sure to complete all the info in these profiles, it may seem tedious but its necessary. You may also opt for more informal networking like facebook.

Believe it or not one of the most valuable resources is craigslist. It has one of the largest active job boards you can find. The key here is to check the listing several times per week and apply to all jobs you come across in your chosen niche. The reason being, when companies post a job they are immediately flooded with hundreds of resumes and if you are one of the first few to reply your chances of locking an interview are much better. Avoid postings from staffing agencies like Creative Circle and Syndicate Blue, they will only crowd out your inbox with junk listings, you can spot these relatively easy after you have seen a few as they all follow the same format. The email address will also be a tip off. Keep this up for a week or so and you will begin to line up interviews,. Don’t get discourage if you don’t hear back from everyone, just keep at it and you will land an interview and be on your way to your next dream job by Monday morning!

That common question, what size should a web page be? , is not so simply answered. For starters you can download this template to see common browser size breakdowns. The dilemma lies in the fact that your site visitors are bound to have different computer screens with different resolution settings.
Therefore depending on the computer a visitor is using your site will appear slightly differently. While the user will still be able to scroll around too see all of your content it is best to be sure that your most vital information is placed immediately in the visitors viewing area upon opening up your site. The second issue is scrolling, what should be the size of the web page to avoid scrolling? The same scenario applies here as it is somewhat standard to place secondary content below allowing users to scroll vertically to see addition content and footer information. You should, however, avoid any type of horizontal scrolling as most users will ignore info the requires a horizontal scroll. Back to the original question, a good rule of thumb is to create your content no wider than 1000 pixels (780 pixels if you want to be extra safe). This does not mean you cannot design a larger page if you so desire, it simply means your visitors may have to do some extra searching to find your content. Google Labs offers a nifty browser size tool that shows the percentage breakdowns of potential visitors screen resolutions. The color coded image will overlay onto the web address you provide, giving you a visual representation of different screen sizes. I generally try to stay within the 90% range, but feel free to adjust depending on your personal preference. If your site is not live and you would like to download a template with the screen size data click here to download the screen resolution template. You can place this transparent image over your Photoshop design to see the breakdown before doing any actual HTML coding. If you find this template useful feel free to share it with your friends or link to this article from your own website. Good luck designing your new web page!

Free web apps are just what the name implies, free programs identical to Photoshop. There is no need to download any software because the application is run through your web browser. If you are on the go, these web based Photoshop alternatives are perfect because you can access them anywhere on any computer without having to install any software. The free price tag has a nice ring to it as well.

Open source software image editors must be downloaded and installed on your computer. Once installed these image editors will run faster and more reliably than free web based image editors. Open source applications are always free and are developed by the community all over the world. Often times they equally comparable to there costly counterparts.

Each of the following apps are 100% free Photoshop alternatives for image editing. Every app in the roundup has a full list of features and tools comparable to Photoshop for DIY image editing.

Pixelr

Pixlr, free web image editor

Pixelr, my favorite of the group, is a very robust image editor with several features of Photoshop including, layers, filter effects, red eye removal and several others. You can open up images from your desktop, edit them in the free image editor, and save them back to your computer for printing or using on your website. The tools palate, Navigator, Layers, and History, all being displayed by default. Over 20 different image filters are available, try out the Kaleidoscope filter for a cool effect. Several image adjustment options are also available including hue/saturation, levels, curves and many more. Of all the programs reviewed in this writeup I was most impressed with Pixlr. The user interface is almost identical to Photoshop, it includes all of the major features, and is easy to get started with immediately. Give Pixelr a try for yourself here.

Phoenix

Phoenix, free web image editor

Phoenix is part of a collection of online editing software software by Aviary. Aviary’s collection also includes a free vector editor, free audio editing software, and a few others. For now we will stick to reviewing Phoenix, the image editor. The user interface is very streamlined with all of the image editing tools neatly lined uo to the left hand of the screen. The right hand side, like Photoshop, offers the layers palate, along with blend modes and transparency. Phoenix also also includes a few image filters, not nearly as many as Pixlr, but it does have the added feature allowing you to import custom filters. You also have the option of importing images from flickr, facebook, and Picasa For a beginner Phoenix is a great place to start for photo editing because of it simplicity and ease of use.

Gimp

Gimp, open source image editor

Gimp (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is one of the original free competitors to Photoshop. Originally developed for Unix based computers, this image editor is also available on Windows, and OSX. As far as functionality goes it is very comparable to Photoshop. Gimp includes features for photo enhancement, image distortion. The advantage with gimp unlike the other software in this list is that it is a traditional application that you can downlod run on your computer offline. You can read more about GIMP and download the software for free here.

Splashup

Upon first glance I was liked the look of the Splashup image editor. The user interface is nicely laid out, the tools palates are in similar fashion to Photoshop and has the additional options of filters and adjustments. However, upon using the program it was very slow to respond on my Macbook, almost to the point of un-usability. I am curious to see if anyone else has experienced similar problems as this seems to be a promising program.

Paint.net

Paint.net, free image editing software

The last option in the roundup is Paint.net. Originally started as a college development project it now has a large community of users and helpful tutorials. The only drawback is this software is only available for Windows, Mac users will have to stick with Gimp or one of the online editors. Paint.net has a full feature set and I would recommend giving it a spin if you are on a Windows PC. As I didn’t have a chance to test this software personally let me know in the comments if you found Paint.net useful.

Time to put away your wallet and give these a free photoshop comparable image editor a try. If you are looking to touch up a few photos for facebook, make a postcard to send to Grandma, or even an ad for your start-up, these internet applications will definitely get you started with out having to drop a few hundred dollars on Adobe Photoshop. I am interested to see what people have come up with, so feel free to post links to any work you do with these editors, and be sure to let me know which one you used.

Another option is to use a JavaScript library to trick Internet Explorer into acting like a standards complaint browser. Give the ie7-js project a try the nifty JavaScript will make previous versions of IE standards compliant

Look both ways and proceed with caution to the next posting, 5 Free Alternative Image Editors to Photoshop

In case you’ve been out of the loop and haven’t yet heard of Google Wave allow me to introduce you. Google Wave is Google’s all new social networking, collaboration tool. Currently invite only, this tool allows you to connect with your friends and colleagues in a streamlined internet application. Those of you familiar with social networks will quickly see that the possibilities are endless with Google Wave. Import all you contacts, start a new “Wave” and send it off to your friends. You can share files, documents, and comments all in real time. Plan events, coordinate group projects, or just share a few photos of your recent expedition to Guam. Whatever it is give it a go, once you signed up and fooled around a bit with Google Wave stop back in and let me know what innovative uses you have found for it.

Take a look at a few screen shots of the user interface.

Google Wave Screen Shot

Google Wave Invite

Or check out the not so quick developer’s preview from Google.

If you’re in a rush here is the shorthand version

Keep an eye out for the next post, How To Fix Image Transparency Problems in IE 6

Welcome to the official re launch of vincentdepalma.com featuring our new blog format. I, as you may already know, am a graphic designer based out of Los Angeles CA. I have a BA in design from California State University Northridge as well as having studied Business Administration. Currently I am working full time as a designer in LA, in addition to doing freelance work and blogging. Speaking of blogging the brand new vincentdepalma.com will feature tons of resources for web designers, graphic designers, and web developers.

The articles set to feature will include “how to” tutorials, problems and solutions to issues you may come across in web design, current work and examples by me (Vince DePalma), and news and events happening in and around the design community. All the articles are written exclusively for your benefit and questions/comments are welcome! You will no doubt find some of this stuff quite useful take the liberty of linking to any article you wish, tell your friends about this site, scream it from the rooftop, whatever gets you going. Thanks for taking the time to read through this quick introduction.

Now on to something useful, Stay posted for the next article “Still need a Google Wave invite?“!