Design tools of the week

Adobe ColdFusion 10

You'd think after the recent release of its Creative Suite 6, Adobe would want to take a load off for a while. But instead, this week, they're back again with another product release that should go hand-in-hand with the HTML5 features in CS6. ColdFusion is Adobe's webapp development system, which uses the Java EE platform.

The big addition in version 10 is increased support for HTML5. This new release brings the ability to create rich HTML5 applications without any prior knowledge of the programming language.

For more information, visit the Adobe website

Endless Reference Material

Animation reference library Endless Reference has put over 60 free animation reference videos on their YouTube channel. This rather lovely team of animators located on the Gold Coast in Australia spend their time working around the clock to ensure your next animation project is hassle free.

The Endless Reference YouTube channel now features over 20 individual moves, including walks, runs and martial arts - performed by both male and female characters of varying ages and body types.

In order to help animators get the full benefits from the reference material, the team have shot each video from the front and side with an on-screen frame counter. In total, there are 64 separate videos, most of which are recorded in real-time, slow-motion and with a grid overlay.

You can access further reference material from the Endless Reference website for a monthly subscription fee.

Free social CSS3 buttons

Co-founder of event manager's dashboard Eventasaurus Sam Collins has developed a consistent set of buttons that could be used for the range of social actions frequently taken in Web applications. The idea being to make them attractive and clear to reduce visual noise and inconsistency.

The button set requires no extra markup and are fully scalable and customisable. Features include 100%-vector CSS3 buttons, @font-face icons and custom font files, button and icon versions supported and generic primary and secondary action buttons for consistency.

Visit the Smashing Magazine website for more details and to download the button set for free.

Plugbook

Ok, so you can't actually buy this yet but we really like the idea of this kickstarter project created by Eindhoven-based designer Dave Hakkens. Plugbook is a socket which eliminates the need for having multiple power cords but comes disguised in the shape of a book.

The device has a clean and simple design, which would not look out-of-place in anyone's living room and features include two USB chargers, a reset switch, auto-rewind, heating protection and a three meter long cable.

You can find out more information about the project on Plugbook's kickstarter page

That's your lot for this week! Have you tried any of them out? Have you seen a new tool you want to tell us about? Let us know in the comments box below!