Something that had me quite frustrated for some time was a dynamic textfield in a button interfering with a mouse click. The buttons were added to the application dynamically when needed and the dynamic textfield was populated with the name for the button when added. Yes, I had the textfield's selectable property set to false but it was still a problem if the button's buttonMode and useHandCursor properties were set to true. The text field blocked any kind of mouse event through to the button. The solution was simple but poorly documented. I did not see this property in the help menu so here you go:

textfieldName.mouseEnabled = false;

Set this property before setting the selectable property to false and away you go. I hope this saves you some hair-pulling and you found this easy enough if you've been searching for a solution to this problem.

If you have read my most recent article, Tools for Designers: del.icio.us and Flickr', I made mention of starting a CMX Blog piece for anyone interested in sharing their design and inspiration tools,resourceful solutions for their business, and for self-organizational purposes.

Please leave a comment on this post to share your thoughts. I look forward to seeing what you're up to and if I can get new ideas and be inspired by your ideas.

Happy blogging!

Your design skills are not just limited to print and web. My wife and I have been trying to find a unique backsplash for our newly renovation kitchen. We looked all over the place and then we realized, 'Hey. We're designers. We have tonnes of resources'. Then the idea hit me. We work with a sign guy who has done vinyl on plexiglass for us before. Why don't we see if the plexiglass is durable enough withstand the wear-and-tear of a busy kitchen counter. 'No problem he said. It will last as long as your kitchen will.'

So here's the idea. We will get a custom cut to fit the shape of where the backslash will go. The edges of the plexiglass will be flamed so they will be nice and rounded and smooth. We will make our own design to be cut from a semi-transparent, frosted vinyl and apply it to the back of the plexiglass. We will paint the wall behind the glass white and pin mount the custom plexiglass to the wall, and voila! We have the coolest, custom designed backsplash for our kitchen. This will cost us under $300 for about 12 x 1.5 feet of backsplash. It beats the heck out of tiling and the cost of tiles. And the best part is, if we get bored of the design, we can take the plexiglass off, remove the vinyl and apply another design to freshen things up every so often.

If you know the software and have the resources, there are so many opportunities for you to do-it-yourself when your renovating your home. Try something different. It will make your home unique and will have a piece of you permanently etched in its structure. I'll post some pics of my kitchen when I get it done.

Total Volume

Maybe a GIG. Not too much. I download obscure stuff I can't find in stores and listen to my CD collection otherwise. People should buy more CDs. Support the artist and actually take the time to find out about the album and the artist by reading the insert in the CD. Be a fan of music and not a fairweather listener.

Last CD Bought

I bought 2 last time: K-OS - Joyful Rebellion (One of the most under rated hip-hop artists. No gangsta stuff, just intelligent hip-hop) and Mars Volta - De-loused at the Comatorium

Song Playing Right Now

Lost Souls by the Doves

Top 5 Tracks

This Time - The Verve
Everyday is Halloween - The Ministry
B'Boy Stance - K-OS
Outer Space - The Prodigy
Any old stuff from Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains

Five people I'm passing the baton to:

I don't have any friends to send this to anymore as they all got sick of me sending them cheezy baton mails all the time :(

If you're a new media developer from Canada, you should be familiar with www.CBCradio3.com. For those of you who aren't, I'd love to share this awesome site dedicated to Canadian music and culture.

A complete online Flash magazine, it's one of Canada's top sites. CBC Radio3 has produced 105 issues, won awards and has influenced a small generation of new media developers in the Great White North. Streaming audio, online photo essays, music reviews, alternative lifestyles and newsletters, this online zine has it all. It's a piece of Canadian and Canadian New Media culture.

Unfortunatley due budget cut-backs at the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), CBC Radio3 has posted its final online issue. Everyone with a love for design, music, Flash and indi-style mags should check out this site before it's gone for ever.

The site mentioned in this post has now been replaced by the new site. You can still get your Canadiana here, just not in the nice, unqiue format it once was. 

www.CBCradio3.com