There is a whole world of small useful websites out there that do one little task perfectly. I call them “web utilities” since they’re not really sites or apps and are so focused on one task.

There’s usually more than one site that does the same thing, so I’ll list my favorite along with alternatives. Without further ado, here are some of my favorite web utilities. 

PWPush.com

Password Pusher is probably my favorite of the bunch, so let’s start with it. The site generates a temporary random URL that displays a password you enter into it. That password disappears after a set number of days, page views, or manual user deletion, whichever comes first. This is now my go-to way to send passwords. Simply, enter a password—and ONLY a password—into the site, generate the URL and then send the person who needs a password a quick email that goes something like this:

Hi Bill,

You can log into to my Peanut Farmers of America account with the username 39prezdude and the password you’ll find at: https://pwpush.com/p/o8ij8xok74rijm0u. Please delete the password once you’ve securely recorded it for yourself.

See you ’round,

Jimmy

If you try to get to PWPush.com and it doesn’t load, you’ll need…

DownForEveryoneOrJustMe.com

Sometimes a website is down. If you’re on a dodgy internet connection or having computer troubles, it’s hard to know whether a website is really down or if it’s just your computer/browser/internet. This site takes a URL and tells you if it’s down for everyone on the internet or just you.

Pro tip: If you can’t get to downforeveryoneorjustme.com, it’s probably you.

(You can also get to this same site at the much shorter isup.me.)

If a website is down for just you and it’s a browser-related problem you’ll need to know…

WhatBrowser.org

There’s a bunch of sites that can tell you what browser you’re using. If you ever need support for a website or give support to someone, this is a useful piece of information and many people don’t know. Just send them here. (Or here or here or here.)

Even if you forget the URL for WhatBrowser.org, there’s a super useful-but-unknown internet tool that will help you find it. It rhymes with Zroogle…

LMGTFY.com

When you’re feeling passive aggressive helpful, this is the website for you. Generate a custom link that helps people learn how to use Google. To learn what the domain stands for, here’s a helpful hint: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=lmgtfy

And speaking of gibberish starting with the letter “L”…

Lipsum.com

When you need filler text, Lorem Ipsum is a classic solution and Lipsum.com delivers in spades. For the more light-hearted, see Hipster Ipsum (so last year), Cupcake Ipsum (funfetti-ipsum!), Bacon Ipsum (consume in moderation), or Kitty Ipsum (cute). If you have another favorite ipsum, leave it in the comments and I’ll add it here.

But rather than generating 1000 words of lorem ipsum, you should use an image and take it to …

TinyPNG.com & Smushit.com

Two useful tools for making images smaller. Even if you’re a Photoshop pro that knows to use the Save For Web & Devices feature, these sites can still shrink file sizes way down. This is useful for images that will go on websites, in emails, or sent as attachments. TinyPNG can only shrink PNG files, while Smushit can handle more file types. However, I find that TinyPNG gets more savings than Smushit for PNG files, so it’s worth using both.

The mascot of TinyPNG is a cute panda bear (why?) and speaking of bears…

PlaceBear.com

A tool for generating placeholder images of any dimension. Need a 500px-square image of a bear? http://placebear.com/500/500. Need a really short and fat image of a bear? http://placebear.com/750/150.

If you don’t like bears because you are, say, Stephen Colbert, you can find images of kittens at PlaceKitten.com. Here’s a tall one: http://placekitten.com/200/600.

And if you’re allergic to animals, there’s always PlaceHold.it. But that’s boring.

What did I miss?

I know there are more great web utilities out there. What did I miss? Tell me in the comments.