The home of the MX community

Free Content

CommunityMX is committed to giving back to the MX Community by providing free tutorials, extensions, and articles which are updated often. We're confident that you'll enjoy them. Once you've perused our free resources, sign up for our 10-day free trial to check out what additional resources are available to you as a member.

Extensions | Articles | Tutorials

Tutorials

How to Apply Smart Filters to an Image in Adobe Photoshop CS4 - Part 1
by: Darren Winder
Release Date: 11/02/2009
Applying a Smart Filter to a photo in Adobe Photoshop CS4 is as easy as 1.2.3. Join me in these tutorials to find out how.

The Applying Smart Filters to Images in Adobe Photoshop CS4 Series:
How to Apply Smart Filters to an Image in Adobe Photoshop CS4

PHP PHPMailer-ML - Mailing List Manager and eMessage Manager
by: Steven Seiller
Release Date: 10/28/2009
PHPMailer-ML is a mailing list and newsletter management tool. It leverages the easy-to-use and powerful PHPMailer package from an online administrative center that you run on your own web server. You can use PHPMailer-ML to receive subscription requests from your website and to manage your mailing list. From PHPMailer-ML you can send emails to your mailing lists in HTML or plain text format. The administrative center allows you to create mailing campaigns, select mailing lists and create e-mails. Like PHPMailer, PHPMailer-ML is distributed for free under the General Public License (GPL). This tutorial will show you how to install and use the basic features of PHPMailer-ML.

PHPMailer-ML was originally developed to showcase the function of PHPMailer in 2008. During 2009 the project has received significant development in terms of interface, CSV import function and newsletter editing. PHPMailer is a popular, top-rated PHP class for simplifying the sending of plain text e-mail, HTML e-mail and attachments.

PHP PHP Is Losing Its Magic-Get Used to It Now
by: Steven Seiller
Release Date: 10/14/2009
The use of Magic Quotes in your PHP scripts has long been shown to be an insecure method of security. While this function is currently in the process of being deprecated, it will finally be removed as a PHP 6. Make your transition process easier by taking the time now to assess your reliance on the Magic Quotes directive and revise your scripts if needed.

Studies in Noise - Part 1
by: Scott Valentine
Release Date: 10/09/2009
Noise!! You can't seem to avoid it in your digital images. Well, guess what? We are going to embrace the enemy! In this two-part tutorial, we'll look at the basics of using noise in creative ways. The first part talks about ways to use Photoshop's filters to generate and manipulate pure noise. The second part will take that information and start building textures.

If you do any photoretouching or need some creative sparks, read this article ;)

The Studies in Noise Series:
Studies in Noise - Part 1
Studies in Noise - Part 2

Bridge Adobe Bridge CS4: View Modes for Evaluating and Comparing Your Images
by: Steven Seiller
Release Date: 09/30/2009
Today we are talking about Adobe Bridge CS4 and how to evaluate your images using the various review modes. These options display your images full-screen or in side-by-side comparison. Together with other Bridge tools such as labels, ratings and the loop, you can better evaluate your images to decide which ones are best for keeping.

Outstanding!
by: Knut Kubenz
Release Date: 09/28/2009
There are times in our photography when we’d like to make parts of the image stand out more. While there are many different ways of doing this, using a blur filter of some kind along with a Layer Mask in Photoshop is the easiest and most consistent. Let’s begin.

Design Digital Imaging Tools Quick Tips - Part 2
by: Scott Valentine
Release Date: 09/25/2009
Want to grab some pixels from your 3D objects and sort your images by what lens you shot them with. Really? Of course! Check out these Digital Imaging Quick Tips.

The Digital Imaging Tools Quick Tips Series:
Digital Imaging Tools Quick Tips - Part 1
Digital Imaging Tools Quick Tips - Part 2

Dreamweaver Introducing CMX JumpStart Berlin
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 09/23/2009
CMX JumpStart Berlin is a centered, two-column or three-column, liquid/fixed layout. The two tier navigation uses the popular Sliding Door technique for its main navigation. The left column navigation is constructed from an unordered list, and it is easy to add as many links as you need. The header features a third menu, a PhatFusion Image Menu, that lets you add your own categories and images. This feature is especially handy for photographers who would like to feature their work.

The JumpStart filters styles for various versions of Internet Explorer, and includes separate style sheets to address issues found in IE 6 and below versus IE 7. There is also a Design Time Style Sheet in case your version of Dreamweaver makes the layout difficult to edit in Design View. Of course Berlin meets the W3C standards for CSS and XHTML, as well as the WAI accessibility requirements, too.

HTML5 Canvas - Part 1: Introduction
by: Rob Williams
Release Date: 09/21/2009
The upcoming HTML 5 specification promises to add support for a wide range of new and exciting web technologies. In this series we're going to focus on one of the major new players, the Canvas element, which allows for direct rendering and manipulation of vectors and images from within JavaScript.

In this first article, we'll explore what Canvas is, why it's important to us, and get a first quick look at how it can be used.

The HTML5 Canvas Series
HTML5 Canvas - Part 1: Introduction
HTML5 Canvas - Part 2: Basic
HTML5 Canvas - Part 3: Advanced Drawing Techniques
HTML5 Canvas - Part 4: Images
HTML5 Canvas - Part 5: Image Scaling and Croping Coming Soon

Creating Rounded Borders in Browsers with CSS3 with an IE twist
by: Estelle Weyl
Release Date: 09/18/2009
In the past we've generally had to add a bunch of useless HTML as hooks to add corners when making rounded corners. Now, most modern browsers understand their own versions of the CSS border-radius property, which creates rounded corners on elements. In this tutorial we learn a new method of creating rounded corners in all browsers. We'll also target Internet Explorer using a little JavaScript and CSS magic.

General Business Making Your JumpStart Search Engine Friendly - Part 1: Setup & Structure
by: Laurie Casolino
Release Date: 09/16/2009
This two part article series discusses some of the basics of structuring a web site to help with Search Optimization, and then applies these optimization tactics to two different CommunityMX JumpStarts, Siberia and Stelvio Pass.

This is Part 1 of 2, and discusses the theory of search optimization, keyword research, buying a domain, and structuring a web site. Part 2 brings this theory and prep work into practice using some of Community MX's excellent JumpStart templates. We'll be including and editing little snippets of these JumpStarts in this article, but you'll be best served if you download both of the JumpStarts now.

ColdFusion Worst Practices - Part 1: Misusing CFOUTPUT
by: Ray West
Release Date: 09/11/2009
In this series, we will try to highlight some worst practices in the use of ColdFusion syntax, features and options. These are not necessarily the kinds of things that will stop your site from working, but they are things that create bottlenecks, expose security weaknesses, or make your code difficult to read and maintain. In today's installment, we will look at the misuse of the CFOUTPUT tag.

The ColdFusion Worst Practices Series:
ColdFusion Worst Practices - Part 1: Misuing CFOUTPUT
ColdFusion Worst Practices - Part 2: Abusing Pound Signs (#)

Flex Professional Adobe Flex 3: Creating an ActionScript Application
by: Joseph Balderson
Release Date: 07/27/2009
In May 2009, Wrox released a ground-breaking book: Professional Adobe Flex 3, written by Joseph Balderson, Peter Ent, Jun Heider, Todd Prekaski, Tom Sugden, Andrew Trice, David Hassoun and Joe Berkovitz, (ISBN 0470223642). This a landmark publication consists over 1400+ pages of Flex reference material, covering a multitude of topics ranging from beginner to advanced, from the fundamentals of the Flash Platform technology ecosystem to the intricacies of the most advanced Flex-related frameworks and server products, in a breadth and depth found nowhere else.

In a Community MX exclusive, the following is an excerpt from Chapter 6: Using Flex Builder 3. In this tutorial you will build a simple ActionScript application, and learn all about the undocumented [SWF] metadata tag to configure the Flash Player publishing properties.

Professional Adobe Flex 3

Flex Flex Power Tools: Using Flex Builder and FDT in The Same Workflow
by: Joseph Balderson
Release Date: 07/02/2009
In my everyday programming as a Flex and Flash Platform developer, it's up to me to keep tabs on the best tools to enable me to do my work with the greatest ease and with the most efficiency. In other words, call it lazy or efficient, I just want to be able to code with the greatest of ease so I can focus more on building and less on typing.

In this tutorial, we're going to solve the challenging task of getting two of the most impressively featured Flex IDEs, Flex Builder and FDT, to work seamlessly in the same workflow, in the same eclipse installation, and even in the same project. The Flex coding workflow holy grail, one might say. So that when you're coding a Flex project, you have a choice of using the incredible code intelligence features of FDT, or the native features of Flex Builder, in the same project.

Note: this is an advanced tutorial, so you need to be familiar with using Eclipse-based tools.

FDT compilation with Design View

Look Ma, FDT compilation with Flex Builder design view!

SQL Quickshot: Enforcing Case Sensitivity in SQL Server
by: Ray West
Release Date: 07/01/2009
If you are paying attention to security in your online applications, then you are likely encouraging your users to select strong passwords that contain numbers, special characters and letters that are both upper and lower case. Without special attention to your database settings, however, SQL Server will treat upper and lower case characters as equivalent to one another, causing you to loose a significant part of the strength of your passwords.

In this article, we will show a quick and simple way to have SQL Server enforce case sensitivity.

Fireworks CS4 Classroom in a Book Excerpts - Part 2: Text and Image Optimization
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 06/23/2009
Adobe Fireworks CS4 has quite a few cool features, but if you're completely new to the program - or new to web design, you might be wondering where to start in Fireworks. In the Fireworks CS4 Classroom in a Book , my goal was to introduce the complete novice to Fireworks and by the end of the book, leave them with a wide range of skills and a solid grasp of what Fireworks could - and could not - do.

cover shot of Fireworks Classroom in a Book

In this four part series, you will find PDF excerpts from the book, complete with some of the working files to help you along.

This is the second installment and the series and covers the following topics:

Text Basics
Optimization and working with previews
Creating a simple rollover

Approximate download size: 6.5MB

Fireworks CS4 Classroom in a Book Excerpts Series
Fireworks CS4 Classroom in a Book Excerpts - Part 1: Bitmap and Vector Tools
Fireworks CS4 Classroom in a Book Excerpts - Part 2: Text and Image Optimization
Fireworks CS4 Classroom in a Book Excerpts - Part 3: Workflow
Fireworks CS4 Classroom in a Book Excerpts - Part 4: Advanced Prototyping

Fiery Photoshop Soap Bubble - Part 1
by: Scott Valentine
Release Date: 06/22/2009
I've seen fire, and I've seen rain... er... soap. But not at the same time. Until now! Break out those latent 3D skills and come with me as we bend Photoshop to our will and place a little lick of fire into a soap bubble!

This tutorial is aimed at intermediate to advanced users, and goes really quick. But don't let that scare you - the steps are all there, and we have forums to help you with the details and concepts. Photoshop CS4 Extended has brought 3D well into the realm of every user. So let's go burn some soap!

The Fiery Photoshop Soap Bubble Series
Fiery Photoshop Soap Bubble - Part 1
Fiery Photoshop Soap Bubble - Part 2 Coming Soon

Extending Dreamweaver CS4 - Part 1: The TNC Lightbox
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 06/18/2009
Dreamweaver has a little gateway hidden within it that leads to the land of magic! Have you ever used this gateway? Do you know where it is? If the answer to those two questions is no then you should read on and be prepared to meet the first of our free items of treasure.

When you buy Dreamweaver you buy so much more than what comes on the disk. You can become involved in some great communities like CMX, and you can access widgets and extensions that will make your work flow faster and therefore make you more productive and cost effective in what you do.

Not all widgets and extensions come with a price tag, as we shall see as we set off on a series that will introduce to some of the fantastic functionality that can be added to Dreamweaver in no more than a couple of clicks of your mouse! Read on...

The Extending Dreamweaver CS4 Series
Extending Dreamweaver CS4 - Part 1: The TNC Lightbox
Extending Dreamweaver CS4 - Part 2: jQuery UI Calendar
Extending Dreamweaver CS4 - Part 3: Phatfusion SortableTable
Extending Dreamweaver CS4 - Part 4: Digg This!
Extending Dreamweaver CS4 - Part 5: Phatfusion Image Menu
Extending Dreamweaver CS4 - Part 6: Rounded Corners

Fireworks CS4 Classroom in a Book Excerpts - Part 1: Bitmap and Vector Tools
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 06/15/2009
Adobe Fireworks CS4 has quite a few cool features, but if you're completely new to the program - or new to web design, you might be wondering where to start in Fireworks. In the Fireworks CS4 Classroom in a Book, my goal was to introduce the complete novice to Fireworks and by the end of the book, leave them with a wide range of skills and a solid grasp of what Fireworks could - and could not - do.

In this four part series, you will find PDF excerpts from the book, complete with some of the working files to help you along.

Approximate download size: 3.9MB

Fireworks CS4 Classroom in a Book Excerpts Series
Fireworks CS4 Classroom in a Book Excerpts - Part 1: Bitmap and Vector Tools
Fireworks CS4 Classroom in a Book Excerpts - Part 2: Text and Image Optimization
Fireworks CS4 Classroom in a Book Excerpts - Part 3: Workflow
Fireworks CS4 Classroom in a Book Excerpts - Part 4: Advanced Prototyping

From Jumpstart to Composition Demo in Fireworks CS4
by: Kim Cavanaugh
Release Date: 06/12/2009
One of the great new tools that comes with Fireworks CS4 is one that is easy to overlook—the ability you now have to take a composition and publish all of the visible elements to a Flash-based demonstration of your design. Using this new feature along with the Master Pages that are part of Fireworks you can quickly create a design composition and publish it to your server for client review.

In this tutorial you’ll be provided with the source Fireworks PNG file that was developed using Sheri German's original design for the Baltimore Jumpstart series as its base.

This source file has been broken up into multiple pages to demonstrate how a comp might be prepared that shows multiple layouts, color schemes, and page elements. From there you’ll learn how to use the incredibly easy Demo Current Document command to publish all of the pages into one tidy package that you can upload and provide to a client by way of a link.

PHP JpGraph: PHP Graphs & Charts On-The-Fly
by: Steven Seiller
Release Date: 06/09/2009
JpGraph is an object-oriented PHP library for creating graphs on the fly with your selected data for display on web pages. The library features a wide range of graph types with which you can draw with your own data. You can supply data from a database, a text file, a form or even with a GET query string.

Generating web-based graphs for display on web pages can be useful for business intelligence or marketing collateral. The advantage of creating a graph dynamically from data is that the visitor always sees an up-to-date chart which reflects current data.

This tutorial will briefly give you an overview of the installation procedure and how to create several graphs, including the source code. The JpGraph library is easy to use, features a wide range of customization options as well as many graph types.

Dreamweaver Built-In CSS Help Features - Part 1: CSS Layout Outlines
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 06/05/2009
Dreamweaver, over the last version or two, has included some very nice CSS help features. The features I'm referring to are termed Visual Aids and can be found within the Visual Aids drop-down menu that can be accessed from the document toolbar. There are several different CSS features within this area and we will look at them one by one to gain a good understanding of each and see how they can benefit our workflow.

The Dreamweaver Built-In CSS Help Features Series:
Dreamweaver Built-In CSS Help Features - Part 1: CSS Layout Outlines
Dreamweaver Built-In CSS Help Features - Part 2: CSS Layout Box Model
Dreamweaver Built-In CSS Help Features - Part 3: CSS Layout Backgrounds

Textual Musings – Fireworks Text Techniques: Part 2
by: Laurie Casolino
Release Date: 05/22/2009
There is so much you can do when is comes to dealing with text in Fireworks. You can bend, twist, expand, fade, colour, add gradients, and turn in to bitmaps or vectors, to name but a few. You may think you have seen everything possible (and probably have), but there's always more to discover, test and try out.

In the first tutorial we created rounded and spooky text from our standard font type using masking and the levels filter. Now we can use that as a basis to create some devilish text and also use many more techniques utilizing both vector and bitmap tools.

Note: This tutorial requires Fireworks 8 or newer

Alex Dunn is a freelance web enthusiast from Bristol, England. He has a BSc(Hons) Degree in Information Technology and a Diploma in Computing and Multimedia Studies. He loves being creative and being involved with all aspects of web design since he became 'hooked' back in the late nineties.

The Textual Musings Series:
Textual Musings – Fireworks Text Techniques: Part 1
Textual Musings – Fireworks Text Techniques: Part 2

Photoshop Photo-graphic Novel?
by: Scott Valentine
Release Date: 05/20/2009
Capture the true essence of your hero self (or friends) with this quick and easy graphic novel look. Amaze your friends! Change your enemies! Confuse small domestic animals!

Textual Musings – Fireworks Text Techniques: Part 1
by: Laurie Casolino
Release Date: 05/13/2009
There is so much you can do when is comes to dealing with text in Fireworks. You can bend, twist, expand, fade, colour, add gradients, and turn in to bitmaps or vectors, to name but a few. You may think you have seen everything possible (and probably have), but there's always more to discover, test and try out.

In this Part 1 we experiment with transforming a plain font, such as Verdana, into our own unique font in just a few steps. We will then see how we can make this font re-usable using masks and live filters.

Then in Part 2, we will expand on our work to produce a unique logo using both the vector and bitmap toolset.

The most important thing is experimenting with the tools available, trying out new ideas and of course- having some fun!

Alex Dunn is a freelance web enthusiast from Bristol, England. He has a BSc(Hons) Degree in Information Technology and a Diploma in Computing and Multimedia Studies. He loves being creative and being involved with all aspects of web design since he became 'hooked' back in the late nineties.

The Textual Musings Series:
Textual Musings – Fireworks Text Techniques: Part 1
Textual Musings – Fireworks Text Techniques: Part 2

Programming Preventing Infinite Redirect Loops with Apache mod_rewrite
by: Steven Seiller
Release Date: 05/12/2009
When writing rewrite rules for URLs without a trailing slash, an infinite redirection loop will be your likely result. To prevent this problem, create a preceding rewrite condition which adds the trailing slash to the requested URL. This tutorial will show you how.

Dreamweaver Introducing CMX JumpStart: Nairobi Flexible
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 05/07/2009
It wasn't that long ago - November 26, 2008 to be exact - that we released CMX JumpStart Nairobi. At the time, I introduced the JumpStart based on the capital of Kenya with this sentence:

We think that the latest CMX JumpStart, CMX JumpStart Nairobi, will become one of your most important JumpStarts. Why? Because Nairobi is all about features and flexibility.

Read that last word again, because that is exactly what we're offering in this reworking of Nairobi - CMX JumpStart Nairobi Flexible. My original meaning in the word "flexibility" was meant to underline all the ways you could use the JumpStart. In response to subscriber interest in using Nairobi as a flexible layout, however, Adrian Senior has not only provided a modification of his own Nairobi design, but has provided a comprehensive tutorial on how he accomplished thet transformation.

A Beginner's Guide to Spry - Part 1: The Spry Tooltip Widget
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 04/22/2009
Spry widgets are a collection of JavaScript driven behaviours that are native to Dreamweaver. The functionality they provide is varied and customisable. From form checking to sliding panels and data sets, Spry widgets provide a quick and customisable solution to everyday requirements in the web site designer's world.

We'll begin this series by investigating the Spry Tooltip widget, the Spry Tooltip widget is — for want of a better description — a fancy tooltip generator that allows you to customise how your tooltip will appear with good use of CSS. The Spry Tooltip is similar in functionality to the title attribute, but provides greater flexibility and styling options. With a little care you can make Spry Tooltips a desirable feature within your website.

The Beginner's Guide to Spry Series:
A Beginner's Guide to Spry - Part 1: The Spry Tooltip Widget
A Beginner's Guide to Spry - Part 2: The Spry Collapsible Panel
A Beginner's Guide to Spry - Part 3: The Spry Accordion
A Beginner's Guide to Spry - Part 4: Spry Tabbed Panels
A Beginner's Guide to Spry - Part 5: Spry Menu Bar

Photoshop Sketching with Paths
by: Scott Valentine
Release Date: 04/20/2009
Do you like the look of free-hand sketches? Do you want to turn a photo into a sketch, but don't like using filters? Did you answer these rhetorical questions aloud?

I'll be honest... I love the idea of being able to sketch, but I really and truly am horrible at it. Or maybe you really are good at sketching, but you don't have a digital tablet.

Good news!! Follow this simple guide to give your sketches a natural look without using a tablet or having any innate talent! Ok, you may have talent, but this is still a cool thing to have in your toolkit :)

Using the Kuler Panel in Fireworks CS4
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 04/09/2009
Fireworks CS4 comes with a built-in Kuler panel to help you select, edit and create color schemes for a web site or application UI. In this video, we take a look at how to access color themes from the Kuler web site, create a custom swatch palette and then use those colors in the creation of a web page design.

Screen grab of finished design

You can view the video offline by downloading the support files at the bottom of the page.

PHP Creating an Alphabetical Directory Listing with PHP and MySQL
by: Steven Seiller
Release Date: 03/31/2009
You want to create an alphabetic listing of database records by grouping them by their first letter. As a convenience, you want to provide a menu of alphabet letters with hyperlinks to take you directly to the records for that letter. How do you create an alphabetic listing of database records without performing 26 queries - one for each letter?

I've reduced the process to just one query which first selects the first letter represented by the records and then grabs the data itself. I created arrays for each letter to store data until it is displayed. The script uses a few advanced PHP bits to keep the code concise including:

MySQL substring() function
range() function
array_key_exists() function
ternary operator
variable variables

Masking in Fireworks CS4
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 03/27/2009
Masking is a very powerful design tool in Fireworks. In this video, we will look at three different ways to mask bitmap images to complete a banner ad for a fictitious movie called Double Identity.

Double Identity banner ad

This is a video demonstration but you can follow along by downloading the original images from the download button at the bottom of the page.

Even though this video uses Fireworks CS4, the masking techniques described can also be achieved in earlier versions of Fireworks.

This video is approximately 25 minutes long.

Approximate download size: 90MB

Photography Using Photo Downloader to Import Your Images
by: John Warren
Release Date: 03/26/2009
Learn to download your digital camera files to your computer the right way. You will not only learn how to use Photo Downloader but why you should use Photo Downloader. Using this method will help you stay organized right from the beginning.

Flash Using the Bandwidth Profiler - Part 1
by: David Stiller
Release Date: 03/16/2009
As Tom Green mentioned in his end-of-2008 video "A Quick Tour of the Flash CS4 Interface," the latest version of Flash introduces a handful of eye-popping new tools. These are covered in detail in our latest collaborative effort, Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers (ISBN: 1430210931, by Tom Green and David Stiller, published by friends of ED). We've taken an introductory look at some of these new features already in this series — and there's more to come — but no matter what version of Flash you're using, if your content is distributed via the Internet, the time it takes to download and display is totally dependent on two things: a) the assets included in that content, which are under your control, and b) the flow of network traffic, which is not necessarily under your control.

This means you need to not only concentrate on what is in your movie, but also on who wants to access it. This is your chance to fall in love with the user and not the technology. Sure, the "bells and whistles" are usually exciting, but you need to regard the data transmission of your Flash content in much the same manner you regard your local highway. It may have six lanes for traffic and a posted speed limit of 60 mph or 100 kph, but all of that becomes irrelevant during rush hour. Traffic moves at the pace of the slowest car. It is no different with the Internet. Servers can become overloaded. In this excerpt, you'll learn how to take a few precautions.

Approximate download size: 1MB

The Using The Bandwidth Profiler Series:
Using the Bandwidth Profiler - Part 1
Using the Bandwidth Profiler - Part 2

Dreamweaver's Swap Image Behaviour
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 03/04/2009
Dreamweaver's Swap Image behaviour is a simple, yet effective, way to provide interaction on your web page. In this tutorial we will be exploring this behaviour. We'll see how to correctly slice and export the images from Fireworks before implementing the Swap Image behavior in Dreamweaver. You will understand how the interaction between your images is triggered and see how to set alternative interaction events. Finally we'll implement a little CSS to remove the default borders that are applied to this type image swap.

Making Your Own FAQ - Part 1
by: Paul Davis
Release Date: 02/26/2009
Need to create a quick FAQ (frequently asked question) for a web site? With Dreamweaver, a little JavaScript and SQL, we can have a nice display in place in less than an hour!

The Make Your Own FAQ Series:
Making Your Own FAQ - Part 1
Making Your Own FAQ - Part 2: Adding Categories and Search
Making Your Own FAQ - Part 3 Coming Soon
Making Your Own FAQ - Part 4 Coming Soon

Photoshop CS4 - Mastering the Brushes Panel: Part 1
by: Scott Valentine
Release Date: 02/25/2009
Get a hands-on overview of the Brush Panel and how to bend it to your will. Learn about every setting in the panel in this series and take control. The heady power of mastery is yours!!

The Mastering the Brushes Panel in Photoshop CS4 Series:
Photoshop CS4 - Mastering the Brushes Panel: Part 1
Photoshop CS4 - Mastering the Brushes Panel: Part 2
Photoshop CS4 - Mastering the Brushes Panel: Part 3

Photoshop Captivating Eyes
by: Scott Valentine
Release Date: 02/10/2009
Can you take good portraits, but need a little extra spice? How about making those eyes pop? Use this nifty trick to liven up your portrait work in under five minutes.

Flash Using Audio in Flash CS4
by: David Stiller
Release Date: 02/06/2009
As Tom Green mentioned in his end-of-2008 video "A Quick Tour of the Flash CS4 Interface," the latest version of Flash introduces a handful of eye-popping new tools. These are covered in detail in our latest collaborative effort, Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers (ISBN: 1430210931, by Tom Green and David Stiller, published by friends of ED). We've taken an introductory look at some of these new features already in this series — and there's more to come — but it may encourage you in the meanwhile to hear that certain workflows haven't really changed much in Flash CS4, even though the user interface was overhauled completely.

One of these workflows pertains to timeline-based audio. In this excerpt, we'll take a look at the two basic types of sound in Flash: event and streaming. In a sense, it doesn't matter what version of Flash you're working with, these principles apply across the board — and amazingly, they haven't been covered before in a Community MX article, so let's jump in!

The Excerpts from Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers Series
Flash CS4: The 3D Rotation Tool
Flash CS4: The 3D Translation Tool
Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 1
Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 2
Using Audio in Flash CS4

JavaScript Variable Scope: Local and Global Variables
by: Estelle Weyl
Release Date: 02/05/2009
In writing JavaScript functions, variable functions can trip you up. A common error is overwriting a global variable because the variable in a function didn't have local scope.

If that last sentence didn't make any sense, then this article is for you.

This article covers tips and tricks for understanding variable scope in JavaScript.

Photoshop Vignette—Everything Old is New Again
by: Knut Kubenz
Release Date: 01/19/2009
The lenses used in the early days of photography, had many optical problems associated with them. One of the most apparent of these problems was something known as vignetting, which produced darkening around the edges of the photo. Although almost unavoidable in the early days, current optics rarely have this problem. I use the word problem only from a technical perspective. Aesthetically, however, it is a great technique for isolating your subject matter and generating a higher interest level, sort of like peeping through a keyhole so to speak.

Since modern lenses are pretty well free of vignetting, if we still want the effect we'll have to create it. Today's tutorial will demonstrate how you can quickly create a vignette in Photoshop and then save the effect for future use on other images. Let's begin.

Flash Motion Tweening in Flash CS4 - Think Again!
by: Laurie Casolino
Release Date: 01/14/2009
The changes in Flash's motion tweening are the effect of two changes in Adobe Flash CS4. The first change is in the new interface. There is a new location for the panels and a different arrangement for the properties related to motion tweening.

The second change is the new concept of animation in Flash CS4. This concept is imported from other Adobe video products, such as Adobe After Effects. The new animation concept is built on two facts:

The symbol follows an animation path. This path starts with the first keyframe in the animation (the start of the animation) and ends with the last keyframe in the animation (the end of the animation). This path can be manipulated as if it were a stroke or a symbol.
The keyframe concept has changed slightly from the previous version of Flash. The old keyframe concept requires you to add keyframes manually when indicating a change in the symbol. Old-style motion tweening is now called classic tweening. The keyframe used in the new motion tweening concept is created automatically when you create a change in the symbol. This happens after you apply motion tweening to the symbol.

In this article, we will show examples of how to create and work with the new tweening concept in Flash CS4.

Rafiq Elmansy has been a multimedia graphic designer since 2001 and a graphic and web designer since 1999. His background is in fine art and sculpture. He uses Flash to create graphics and animations for desktop applications, cartoons, games, web sites, e-learning courses, and mobile and Pocket PC applications. He is the founder of Bee Design Studio. He is Adobe Flash CS3 Certified, Adobe Photoshop CS3 Certified, and the founder of the first Adobe User Group in Egypt. Rafiq also creates computer artwork and writes articles and reviews about graphic, animation, and Flash topics at his articles site Graphic Mania. Rafiq is an Adobe Community Expert and Contributing writer at Adobe Design and Developer center.

CSS From Screen to Print: Creating a Print CSS in Dreamweaver
by: Stephanie Sullivan
Release Date: 01/12/2009
Questions often arise about how to print web pages. Should you create a separate, simple page for printing? Should you just leave users to their own devices knowing they control whether backgrounds or images print anyway? Cascading style sheets (CSS) make it simple to maintain a single page while presenting the content in two different manners using media types.

In this article, you'll learn about media types and how to take advantage of them to create compact pages for print. At the end of the fixed width chapter of the book Greg Rewis and I wrote called, Mastering CSS with Dreamweaver CS4 (there's also a Dreamweaver CS3 version of the book if you have not yet upgraded), we discuss the rules of creating a print style sheet. In this article, you will see those principles in action as you build an example CSS page. Let's get started!

Flex Flex Builder 3 Tip: Migrating a Workspace
by: Joseph Balderson
Release Date: 12/22/2008
Every once and a while there comes a situation where you need to migrate a whole workspace full of Flex projects over to another drive, or another directory. Flex Builder only supports importing projects, not workspaces, so this is not as easy as it sounds. This brief tutorial shows you how to do it simply and headache-free. We'll also cover some gotchas and best practices for managing Flex Builder projects.

Dreamweaver's Form Validation Behavior
by: Paul Davis
Release Date: 12/18/2008
This quick video shows how to use the form validation behavior in Dreamweaver.

Approximate download size: 14MB

Creating Screenshots in Fireworks CS4
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 12/09/2008
There have been some pretty cool features added to Fireworks CS4, but here's one for the Windows version of Fireworks you may not know about: the Take Screenshot command. Follow along in this quick tutorial on how to use the Screenshot command.

Photoshop CS4 - 3D Billiard Ball: Part 1
by: Scott Valentine
Release Date: 12/04/2008
Have you ever tried making a good-looking ball in Photoshop? Remember the pain you went through to get the curved highlights and shadows just right? Of course you do! We all did it, and we all had varying amounts of success coaxing 3D effects out of a 2D application.

Well, we're going to do it up right in Photoshop CS4 Extended. Except we will be using actual 3D tools. Mostly. There will be some 2D lovin', 'cause we're old-school like that.

The Photoshop CS4 - 3D Billiard Ball Series:
Photoshop CS4 - 3D Billiard Ball: Part 1
Photoshop CS4 - 3D Billiard Ball: Part 2
Photoshop CS4 - 3D Billiard Ball: Part 3

Working With Fireworks CS4 Symbols
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 11/14/2008
In my book Adobe Fireworks CS4 How-To's, my goal was to explain the software in easy to digest techniques. This PDF excerpt from my book - Chapter 9 - covers 8 techniques on working with Symbols, one of Fireworks very powerful features.

Flex Developing a Flex-free AS3 Project for Flash Player 10 in Flex Builder 3
by: Joseph Balderson
Release Date: 11/12/2008
So you're developing an ActionScript 3.0 project, without using Flash components or the Flex framework, aimed at Flash Player 10. You could do it in Flash authoring, or you could do it in a third party code editor. But did you know you can also do this in Flex Builder?

This tutorial aims to show you that Flex Builder is not just for Flex projects: it can be used for pure ActionScript 3.0 projects, without accidentally using any classes or features of the Flex framework, compiled and deployed for Flash Player 10.

Flash Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles - Part 1
by: David Stiller
Release Date: 11/11/2008
Most of us have at least one mentor, even if it's someone we haven't met in person. In fact, if you're anything like me, you have a different mentor for each field that interests you: someone who inspires you to keep practicing the piano, to get creatively crazy in the kitchen, to learn yet another unicycle trick, and to keep strengthening your grasp on Flash (or Photoshop, or Dreamweaver ... you get the idea).

When it comes to Flash, one of my mentors has helped me significantly with troubleshooting — with making things work when, against all expectation, they simply don't work. In this series, I'd like to explore a single theme — troubleshooting — from a variety of angles, sharing with you what my mentor has shared with me. Along the way, we'll turn up a few quirks involved in working with Flash, but more importantly, we'll review how to approach arriving at useful workarounds, regardless what the issue is.

Here in Part 1, we'll start with a lowly movie clip symbol.

The Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles Series:
Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles - Part 1
Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles - Part 2
Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles - Part 3
Flash Troubleshooter Chronicles - Part 4

Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part Nine
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 11/11/2008
In this last installment of the Dreamweaver for GoLive Users series, you will learn about templates and library items, two essential productivity/automation features. You will then get an introduction to Dreamweaver's ultimate layout productivity feature, the CSS Starter Pages.

If you have been using GoLive's template and component features, learning to use the Dreamweaver equivalents - templates and library items - will not be too much of a stretch.

The Dreamweaver for GoLive Users Series:
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 1
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 2
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 3
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 4
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 5
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 6
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 7
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 8
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 9

Flex Developing for Flash Player 10 in Flex Builder 3
by: Joseph Balderson
Release Date: 11/05/2008
As a Flex developer, keeping up with new advances in Flash Player 10 is essential. Thus, it's nice to be able to build to the latest Flash Player, without waiting for the next major release of Flex Builder. This article will show you how to get Flex Builder 3's code assist to recognize Flash Player 10 classes, and to compile for and check for the presence of the Flash 10 Player, without a lot of mucking about with configuration files.

HTML Firebug - Part 1: The What and Why
by: Estelle Weyl
Release Date: 11/05/2008
In this multi-part series, we are going to learn all about Firebug, the premier (and free) web development tool for Firefox. Part 1 is an overview of the the Firefox browser, and Firebug, the Firefox plugin. Learn how to install Firefox and Firebug, and learn how to run the application and change preferences. In future sessions will show you how to work with and troubleshoot CSS, HTML and Javascript.

The Firebug Series:
Firebug - Part 1: The What and Why
Firebug - Part 2: Overview of Firebug Functionality
Firebug - Part 3: Editing with Firebug
Firebug - Part 4A: Inspecting and Troubleshooting CSS
Firebug - Part 4B: Inspecting and Troubleshooting CSS
Firebug - Part 5: Inspecting the Box Model
Firebug - Part 6: HTTP Requests and Download Speeds
Firebug Part 7a: The Script Tab (Basics)

Open Source Using Dreamweaver to Work With Drupal Modules
by: Ray West
Release Date: 10/31/2008
To start with, this is not a part of the Creating Web Sites with Drupal series. This article is for developers who are writing and/editing Drupal modules. It is not an advanced article per se, but it is typically only needed by people doing advanced things with Drupal.

This article is for those of us who still love Dreamweaver for its interface, its design view, and its built-in site management and FTP, but need to work with Drupal module files with the .module, .install, .info and other file extensions. To Dreamweaver, these are not recognizable files and it will not want to open them. Even when you get them opened, Dreamweaver will not use its normal PHP color coding and you will just get black text. This can make it tough to find things in your files and tell when things are comments, among other issues.

This article will show you how to get Dreamweaver to open these files from the site manager and how to use Dreamweaver's built in PHP color coding for all these weird file extensions.

Dreamweaver The CSS Starter Page Series - Part 1: Faux-Column Images
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 10/30/2008
Most of you have probably opened a CSS Starter Page by now, intending to use it as a launching pad for a site design. Sure, they save a lot of headaches in that they give you the basic structure for columns, header, and footer. They include generic classes for floating images left and right. They even take the worry out of figuring out how to code a liquid versus fixed, or elastic versus hybrid, layout. And what a blessing that they include some basic Internet Explorer fixes!

Still, you may have looked at them with some dismay as soon as you noticed what they don't include. Like how about that pesky little detail called the navigation scheme? Or what about the fact that the second (or third column, if there is one) has a background color that stops as soon as the content within stops? Or what to do about the Internet Explorer problems that you introduce as you modify the CSS Starter Page?

Relax. This series will tackle the missing puzzle pieces of the CSS Starter Pages in a codified and modular fashion by taking on one issue at a time. The first topic of this series will be devoted to background images and faux column technique in all of their permutations, starting with background images for columns in liquid, elastic, and fixed-width layouts. So settle back, download the support files at the bottom of the page, and begin your journey towards becoming a background image guru.

The CSS Starter Page Series:
The CSS Starter Page Series - Part 1: Faux-Column Images
The CSS Starter Page Series - Part 2: More Background Images
The CSS Starter Page Series - Part 3: Three-Column Fluid Background Images
The CSS Starter Page Series - Part 4: Rounded Corner Background Images
The CSS Starter Page Series - Part 5: Shadows and Rounded Corner Background Images
The CSS Starter Page Series - Part 6A: Adding Navigation Schemes
The CSS Starter Page Series - Part 6B: Adding Navigation Schemes Part Two
The CSS Starter Page Series - Part 6C: Adding Navigation Schemes Part Three
The CSS Starter Page Series - Part 7: Adding a Spry Menu Bar
The CSS Starter Page Series - Part 8: Managing Content with Spry
The CSS Starter Page Series - Part 9: Working with the Conditional Comment
The CSS Starter Page Series - Part 10: Adding a Print Style Sheet
The CSS Starter Page Series - Part 11: Adding a Handheld Style Sheet

Integrating PayPal Payments Into Your Site with ColdFusion: Part 1
by: Arman Danesh
Release Date: 10/21/2008
PayPal Website Payments are fairly easy to use once you understand them. This series covers integrating PayPal payments into your ColdFusion web site. The first article in the series provides an overview of PayPal's offerings and then walks you through some basic tasks needed to get ready to implement your own PayPal solution with ColdFusion.

The Integrating PayPal Payments Into Your Site with ColdFusion Series:
Integrating PayPal Payments Into Your Site with ColdFusion: Part 1
Integrating PayPal Payments Into Your Site with ColdFusion: Part 2
Integrating PayPal Payments Into Your Site with ColdFusion: Part 3
Integrating PayPal Payments Into Your Site with ColdFusion: Part 4

Flash Creating a Smart Skip Intro Button in Flash - Part 1
by: David Stiller
Release Date: 10/15/2008
Generally speaking, Flash designers have become more considerate. In the late 1990s, it was common to encounter dozens of Flash web sites a day with bloated, pointless intro animations. Ultimately, sure, content was king: users would eventually get to the meat of a web site, but all too often, were subjected to unnecessary bells and whistles, simply because Flash was the shiny new kid on the block. Nowadays, bloated intros are largely a thing of the past, but back then, designers were proud of these intros and assumed users were thrilled to see them. Frankly, it just wasn't so.

Fortunately, designers began to change their ways. Best practices took hold, and the "Skip Intro" button became a fashionable device (in fact, it appeared so often it became an industry joke). If users were really lucky, they'd even see a "Skip Intro Always" button, which remembered their preference for the next visit.

In this two-part series, you'll learn how to create such a button, and we'll examine other uses for the same mechanism. It's easier than you might think!

The Creating a Smart Skip Intro Button in Flash Series:
Creating a Smart Skip Intro Button in Flash - Part 1
Creating a Smart Skip Intro Button in Flash - Part 2

PHP Build Your Own Contact Forms - Part 1: Workflow
by: Steven Seiller
Release Date: 10/14/2008
This tutorial will describe the functions of web site contact forms and how to create its processing script. We'll cover the creation of the HTML form and use PHP to create the processing script which handles the submitted data and sends the email. Along the way, we'll review best practices in data validation, storage, spam prevention and security.

At the end of this series, you should understand all the aspects of the contact form workflow and be able to create your own PHP processing script. By knowing the process, you will be able to build your own PHP contact form customized to your specific needs. Should you decide to implement a commercial or open-source contact form, you will be able to readily manage the process.

The Build Your Own Contact Form Series:
Build Your Own Contact Forms - Part 1: Workflow
Build Your Own Contact Forms - Part 2: The HTML Form
Build Your Own Contact Forms - Part 3: The PHP Processing Script
Build Your Own Contact Forms - Part 4: Spam Prevention

Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part Eight
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 09/29/2008
In Part Seven of this series, we completed the Music History design in Dreamweaver. This time around we'll perform some quality assurance on the page by using the Check Browser Compatibility feature. We'll learn about using Internet Explorer Conditional Comments (IECC) to take care of problems in that browser. Finally, we'll create a snippet to fix future encounters with the Three-Pixel Text Jog bug.

The Dreamweaver for GoLive Users Series:
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 1
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 2
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 3
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 4
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 5
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 6
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 7
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 8
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 9

Javascript Quickshot: PayPal Product with Three Options!
by: Paul Davis
Release Date: 09/26/2008
PayPal only allows two options for products and you need three. This quickshot will make quick work of getting this done for you.

ColdFusion Contact Forms in One Easy File - Part 1
by: CMX
Release Date: 09/17/2008
One of the most common and obvious needs of any professional web developer is the ability to collect information from an HTML form and submit it via email. There are many reasons why this is superior to a simple 'mailto' link, the most important being the ability to hide your actual email address from the ever-more-voracious spambots that plague our online universe (they love to find links like <a href="mailto:me@lotsofspamplease.com"> ... your address becomes a free lunch for the harvester spiders).

In this easy-to-follow tutorial you will learn how to :

Submit a simple html form with any fields you like via email from any ColdFusion page
Double-validate submitted info with <cfform> and server-side checking
Create an automatic custom-formatted mail message
Send the user a custom-formatted auto-responder 'thanks' message
Hide your email address from spambots
Send email so that replying goes to the sender, not back to the web site

...all in one simple <cfinclude> file that you can insert into any page!

This tutorial assumes you have some experience with html form elements, and very basic ColdFusion tags such as <:cfif>, <cfinclude>, <cfparam> and <cfoutput>. A general concept of <cfform> and the 'required' attribute for <cfinput> might also be helpful, but is not required.

Michael Evangelista is a freelance web developer, ColdFusion programmer, and owner of a successful web and print design company based in southern Utah. Michael's company, Evangelista Design, has grown from a locally-oriented small business web design company to an international team of designers and ColdFusion developers offering a wide range of online business solutions, including full-service web hosting, custom content management applications, corporate data systems, and more.

The ColdFusion Contact Forms in One Easy File Series:
ColdFusion Contact Forms in One Easy File - Part 1
ColdFusion Contact Forms in One Easy File - Part 2
ColdFusion Contact Forms in One Easy File - Part 3

GoLive Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part Seven
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 09/16/2008
In Part Six of this series, we used Dreamweaver to manipulate the various divisions of the page and position them into a header with two columns underneath. This time around we'll complete the design in Dreamweaver by formatting the maincontent div text and turning the sidebar links into clickable buttons. In the process, I hope to introduce you to additional features that will improve your productivity.

This tutorial includes starter exercise files as well as a completed layout that you can use as a basis of comparison while you work through the steps.

The Dreamweaver for GoLive Users Series:
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 1
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 2
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 3
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 4
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 5
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 6
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 7
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 8
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 9

HTML Semantic XHTML - Part 1: The Required Elements
by: Estelle Weyl
Release Date: 09/16/2008
By writing semantic, valid XHTML, the code that you create for your website will work not only cross browser, but cross device. The web page that works in your Firefox Browser on your Windows XP computer can work in a cell phone's browser, on TV via a PlayStation, and even in a braille reader. To write semantic code, you need to understand what every element means. In this series, we will cover all the HTML

This series will include:

Part 1: The required elements to create a document:
Part 2: Elements that go inside the document head
Part 3: block level elements
Part 4: Lists
Part 5: Tables: Block level elements that aren't display: block
Part 6: Common inline elements
Part 7: The Phrase elements
Part 8: Empty Elements
And more....

There are several elements that we can use to create a valid XHTML document that is sematically correct. To code correctly, it is important to know all the elements, and especially to know when and how to use them. In part one of the Semantic XHTML series, we discuss the five elements that are required.

Dreamweaver Integrating Cartweaver with a Page Design
by: Tom Muck
Release Date: 09/09/2008
My last article about integrating Cartweaver with your web site focused on our JumpStarts. The article described how to integrate Cartweaver with the Minneapolis JumpStart, which was an e-commerce JumpsStart, but the techniques could apply to any of our JumpStarts.

This article will focus on integrating Cartweaver with any design, including the simple layouts included with the latest versions of Dreamweaver (CS3 and CS4).

Animation Fun with Twist and Fade
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 09/08/2008
The Fireworks public beta has had many updates, but one very fun update is the revised Twist and Fade command.

This command will take any selected object and - based on your input - create multiple faded, rotated iterations which seem to follow a path. And while that is kinda cool. What I love about the command is its ability to create an animation quickly and easily.

ColdFusion and Spry: Part 1
by: Laurie Casolino
Release Date: 08/28/2008
Spry is a JavaScript-based framework that provides AJAX-powered dynamic web content. There are other JavaScript libraries available to accomplish similar results. such a JSON, jQuery, etc. (On this CMX site, Rob Williams has a couple of series on jQuery and jQuery UI Components.)The Spry library is produced by Adobe Labs, and, as of this writing, is in 1.6.1 release. (SPRY at Adobe Labs.) Although SPRY can be used with other server technologies, such as PHP, ASP.net, etc., Spry seems to employ techniques that are especially intuitive to the ColdFusion developer.

Keith Dodd got into web development as a second career following 30 years in public education, with 19 as a middle school principal. With help from friends and a lot of reading, he got into ColdFusion (version 3) and in 2003 was certificated as an Advanced ColdFusion MX Developer. In recent years, he has worked with Flash and the integration of Flash with ColdFusion (with a lot of help from CMX resources). He is just starting to delve into Flex.

The ColdFusion and Spry Series:
ColdFusion and Spry: Part 1
ColdFusion and Spry: Part 2
ColdFusion and Spry: Part 3
ColdFusion and Spry: Part 4

Dreamweaver Introducing CMX JumpStart Phoenix
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 08/21/2008
It's another JumpStart, and this one is named after a city I visited and loved, Phoenix, Arizona.

CMX JumpStart Phoenix is a centered, two-column, 760 pixel fixed-width layout that has many appealing design features. There is a strikingly contrasted color scheme, vertical navigation in the right column, and "swap image" rollovers that use a caching technique that corrects flaws in Internet Explorer.

The JumpStart filters styles for various versions of Internet Explorer, and includes separate style sheets to address issues found in IE 6 and below versus IE 7.

Of course Phoenix meets the W3C standards for CSS and XHTML, as well as the WAI accessibility requirements, too.

Flash Working with Library and Linkage Changes in ActionScript 3.0
by: David Stiller
Release Date: 08/15/2008
Like its forerunner, ActionScript 3.0 supports the attachment of Library assets at runtime, but the mechanics have changed. While ActionScript 2.0 had the familiar MovieClip.attachMovie() and Sound.attachSound() methods, the only class methods that now contain the word "attach" relate to connecting the SWF file to an external device, such as NetStream.attachCamera(), which lets the user transmit webcam input. Not the same thing at all! So, how can you access the Library at runtime in an AS3 document? The answer is gratifyingly elegant, and even in its simple approach, ActionScript 3.0 gives you more elaborate options than before.

This article, adapted from an excerpt of The ActionScript 3.0 Quick Reference Guide (ISBN: 0596517351), discusses how Library linkage has changed in ActionScript 3.0. This quick answer guide is slated for October, 2008, published by O'Reilly, and is written by Community MX partner David Stiller, as well as Rich Shupe, Jen deHaan, and Darren Richardson.

Showing Results and Details on One Page Using AJAX For Cartweaver
by: Tom Muck
Release Date: 08/13/2008
Dreamweaver's Master/Detail page set is a handy set of behaviors to use for a drill-down functionality -- display a list of records, and click on a link in the list to view the full record. Cartweaver does not use the Dreamweaver behaviors for the Master/Detail page set, but does include the same concept with its results and details page. The article Creating a Master/Detail Pageset on One Page Using AJAX showed how to put both pages together using AJAX using the built-in Dreamweaver server behaviors. In that tutorial, I showed how to create one master/detail page that uses some very simple JavaScript to load the details section of the page dynamically using AJAX. This creates a much faster page, in that it only loads the dynamic details portion when needed, rather than the entire page.

This article will use the same JavaScript functionality to create the functionality for a Cartweaver site. The article will apply equally to the ColdFusion, PHP, and ASP versions of Cartweaver and assumes that you own one of those products. To use this functionality you have to set your details display setting in the admin to either "Simple" or "Tables". The "Advanced" option uses JavaScript to set menus, which would require more modifications.

Newsprint with Photoshop CS3
by: Scott Valentine
Release Date: 08/12/2008
Recreate imaging effects of old, forgotten days with this nifty little halftone effect. Come back with me nearly two whole decades to see how newspapers looked "way back when". This is that "weird dot thingie" look.

Programming Processing Submitted HTML Form Data - Part 1
by: Steven Seiller
Release Date: 08/06/2008
This tutorial will walk through the essentials of processing submitted HTML form data. Whether you are processing information submitted through a contact form, a blog or a content management system, you must understand the essential components of submitted form data in order to process the submitted information. You might process the submitted data with ASP, ColdFusion, PHP or Perl but regardless of the scripting language you choose, the data submitted through the Common Gateway Interface (CGI) remains the same.

In Part 1 of this tutorial, we will review the CGI process and the two methods of submitting form data via HTML. Additionally, we will look at the range of form controls at your disposal and the nature of the data returned by each control. In Part 2 of this tutorial, I will use PHP to demonstrate the structure and values of typical form data with sample processing routines.

The Processing Submitted HTML Form Data Series:
Processing Submitted HTML Form Data - Part 1
Processing Submitted HTML Form Data - Part 2: PHP

Quickshot - Missing Images in CFDocument
by: Ray West
Release Date: 07/30/2008
ColdFusion's tag makes creating dynamic PDF images on the fly a breeze. There have been problems, though, including images in those documents. Many times, for various reasons, you can end up with a perfectly valid image reference in the HTML portion of your document that becomes a red X when the HTML is PDF'd.

Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part Six
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 07/25/2008
In Part Five of the Dreamweaver to GoLive series, we completed the Music site design in GoLive. Now it is time to translate your GoLive CSS skills into Dreamweaver CSS skills. The basic concepts do not change, but rather just the location of a few tools.

This tutorial includes both a starter and completed folder in its support files.

The Dreamweaver for GoLive Users Series:
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 1
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 2
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 3
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 4
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 5
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 6
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 7
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 8
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 9

CSS Making a Three Column Layout Using CSS: Part 1
by: Estelle Weyl
Release Date: 07/24/2008
Tableless layouts are all the rage, but how are they created? Focusing on learning how to float divs, the first tutorial in this series will introduce you to the basic skills required to create your own 3-column layout.

The Making a Three-Column Layout Using CSS Series:
Making a Three-Column Layout Using CSS - Part 1
Making a Three-Column Layout Using CSS - Part 2
Making a Three-Column Layout Using CSS - Part 3: Changing Column Order With CSS
Making a Three-Column Layout Using CSS - Part 4: Fixed, Fluid and Elastic Layouts

Fireworks Hidden Gem - Paste Attributes
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 07/23/2008
There are a lot of features in Fireworks to improve your workflow, but one you might not know about has actually been around for a long time. It's called Paste Attributes and it's a very versatile command, as you will see in this quick tutorial.

GoLive Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part Five
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 07/21/2008
In Part Four of this series, we used GoLive to manipulate the various divisions of the page, and positioned them into a header with two columns underneath. This time around we'll complete the design in GoLive by formatting the maincontent div text and turning the sidebar links into clickable buttons.

This tutorial includes starter files as well as the completed layout.

The Dreamweaver for GoLive Users Series:
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 1
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 2
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 3
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 4
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 5
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 6
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 7
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 8
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 9

Tracking the Popularity of Your Database Content
by: Steven Seiller
Release Date: 07/21/2008
If you have database content which you share, you may wish to track the number of times each record is requested or viewed. Be it an article, an image, a link or a video, counting the number of times that record has been accessed or requested will provide a measure of its popularity relative to the rest of the records in your database. You have likely seen this tracking in action in the form of the "Most Viewed" search option, such as those found on news sites or You Tube. You might choose to keep the tracking count to yourself for private statistical analysis or allow visitors to view the record counts.

Quick Shot - Validating Imported Dates in ColdFusion
by: Ray West
Release Date: 07/10/2008
In previous articles, we have discussed the way that Microsoft stores dates in SQL Server and Excel and how that can be an advantage and a hindrance as you deal with your data. There is a method to the way that MS products store dates. It allows you to deal with time against an absolute reference rather than being concerned with its formatting (whether US, Euro, or other). But the way ColdFusion's validation functions treat dates can be tricky if you are trying to get some concrete assurance that you are processing valid information.

GoLive Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part Four
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 07/07/2008
It's been a while since the third installment in the Dreamweaver for GoLive users series, but I didn't forget you while I was writing about the Dreamweaver public beta or the latest CMX JumpStart! In parts four and five of this tutorial, we'll get to the really exciting stuff. We'll use Adobe GoLive to add the styles that will transform the pure markup from a series of divs that stack vertically down the page into a neatly contained fixed-width layout with side-by-side columns.

Then, in part six, you'll learn how to perform the same tasks in Dreamweaver.

This tutorial includes both starter and completed files folders.

The Dreamweaver for GoLive Users Series:
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 1
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 2
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 3
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 4
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 5
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 6
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 7
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 8
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 9

Javascript The jQuery UI Components - Part 1: Introduction
by: Rob Williams
Release Date: 07/01/2008
The jQuery library goes a long way to help make AJAX-oriented applications easier to develop and deploy. One of the things that makes jQuery stand out from the other libraries available though is it's expandibility. The jQuery UI plugins, built on top of the original jQuery library, take that original ease of development and expand it to apply to interactive interface components, rather than just the underlying code that drives them.

In this series we're going to look at the various modules and components that make up the jQuery UI system to see how they can help to make building rich interfaces on top of our existing jQuery systems a piece of cake. Today, in the first part of the series we'll do a quick review of jQuery's organizational structure, talk about what plugins and UI modules are, and explore just how easy they are to implement.

The jQuery UI Components Series:
The jQuery UI Components - Part 1: Introduction
The jQuery UI Components - Part 2: Draggables
The jQuery UI Components - Part 3: Droppables
The jQuery UI Components - Part 4: Sortables
The jQuery UI Components - Part 5: Resizables
The jQuery UI Components - Part 6: Accordion Widget
The jQuery UI Components - Part 7: Datepicker Widget
The jQuery UI Components - Part 8: Colorpicker Widget
The jQuery UI Components - Part 9: Magnifier Widget
The jQuery UI Components - Part 10: Progress Bar Widget
The jQuery UI Components - Part 11: Slider Widget
The jQuery UI Components - Part 12: Tabs Widget
The jQuery UI Components - Part 13: UI Themes
The jQuery UI Components - Part 14: UI Core Effects
The jQuery UI Components - Part 15: UI Effects II

Using CF Tags from CFScript
by: Tom Muck
Release Date: 06/26/2008
When working in ColdFusion, you have two basic ways of coding: ColdFusion tags and CFScript. Both are legitimate and both provide certain advantages. With ColdFusion tags, you have a full arsenal of functionality available. With CFScript, you have more basic script operations available, such as looping, setting variables, conditions, and other more mundane tasks. Frequently when writing scripts, however, you need some functionality that is only available to a ColdFusion tag. The more obvious solution is to close the tag, execute your tag, then re-open the tag to resume your coding. We'll talk about another way to approach this situation -- create functions that mimic CF tags.

Flex Flash-Flex Integration - Part 6: Editing Flash Code in Flex Builder
by: Joseph Balderson
Release Date: 06/25/2008
Sometimes, when you're coding a Flex application, don't you just wish you could use a Flash animation, right there? And in Flash, don't you sometimes wish you could use that one class in Flex, or that one component, which would make your life so much easier? It is at such times that a developer encounters the limitations of their tools, be it in Flex or in Flash. This series aims to explore the possibilities inherent in an integrated Flash-Flex workflow, bridging the gap between the two technologies, enabling a greater range of development options.

In this article, we will delve into Flash-Flex integration on a more intimate level, using both Flash and Flex in a completely integrated development workflow. Using David Stiller's Click-and-Paint tutorial as a basis for our enhanced application, we will convert a timeline-based Flash project into a class-based project, but using Flex Builder as the code editor. Essentially using the Flash IDE as the assets editor and SWF compiler, and Flex Builder as the ActionScript 3 editor (without using the Flex compiler).

In this article, you will learn how to set up a Flex project workspace to enable the editing of Flash IDE-compiled ActionScript 3 class files. In doing so, you will no doubt discover why Flex Builder is a much more powerful tool for ActionScript class editing than the Flash Actions panel. As one of my Flash colleagues is fond of saying, "Once you go Flex, you never go back." :) But this isn't about making converts to either Flash or Flex development. Whatever your specialty, this series is here to show you that with a little ingenuity, you can have your cake and eat it too.

Flash Actions panel or Flex Builder: for code editing, there is no contest.

The Flash-Flex Integration Series:
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 1: Workflows
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 2: Flex 2 Component Skinning
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 3: Flex Component Skinning with Scale-9
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 4: Skinning the Scale-9 Flex Component
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 5: Building the DragPanel Component
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 6: Editing Flash Code in Flex Builder
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 7: Coding With Flash Components in Flex Builder
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 8: Creating Custom Flex Components with Flash CS3
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 9: Using The FLVPlayback Component in Flex

PHP PHPMailer: Full Featured Email Transfer Class for PHP - Part 1
by: Steven Seiller
Release Date: 06/25/2008
PHP contains a mail function which sends script-generated email with very little configuration and ease. This built-in function, while easily accessible, provides only basic options for creating emails and requires a more manual effort to create advanced email features such html formatting and attachment encoding.

For many years, I have used PHPMailer which is an object-oriented PHP class that easily allows you to implement advanced email formatting. Features which can be readily tapped include: SMTP authentication, use of redundant SMTP servers, attachments, HTML formatting, multipart/alternative formatting for non-html email and various encoding methods. Due to its ease of use and broad feature base, I incorporate the PHPMailer class into all my scripts which send email.

My primary reason for using this class comes from the ability to send script-generated email through authenticated SMTP servers which dramatically reduce the risk of the email being trapped in spam filters. In my testing, mail sent directly from the server by the mail() is significantly more likely to be caught by ISP spam filters due to the fact that it resembles robotically generated spam. I also enjoy the relative ease of adding attachments, html formatting and using multipart/alternative text for email client preview.

In this tutorial, I will demonstrate how to install the PHPMailer class and use it to create simple email, while sending through an authenticated SMTP server. Use of this class requires some knowledge of working with server files and directories and some experience with PHP classes.

In Part 2, we will take it further and go over adding attachments and creating HTML emails.

The PHPMailer - Full Featured Email Transfer Class for PHP Series:
PHPMailer: Full Featured Email Transfer Class for PHP - Part 1
PHPMailer: Full Featured Email Transfer Class for PHP - Part 2

Flash Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 1
by: David Stiller
Release Date: 06/24/2008
In one implementation of the QuickTime VR format, known as QTVR Object Movies, the user can click-and-drag an image to seemingly rotate it, as if spinning the real-life object on a lazy Susan. This simulated 3D interactivity can improve multimedia curb appeal, and makes for a nifty way to showcase merchandise. But it doesn't stop there: the same basic principle can also bring click-and-drag responsiveness to short video sequences and even user input widgets, such as the click-and-scrub input fields of numerous Adobe dialog boxes

Adobe often uses click-and-drag input to update text fields

If you're a Flash developer and interested in click-and-drag functionality, you've come to the right tutorial series! Here in Part 1, we'll start by exploring the Flash version of a QTVR Object Movie that rotates an F-15A aircraft. In future articles, we'll work through a common "gotcha" in regard to direction reversal. We'll also load images from external files and explore alternate uses for the same programmatic concept.

The Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash Series:
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 1
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 2
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 3
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 4
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 5
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 6
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 7

Photoshop Cross Processed Film Effect
by: Scott Valentine
Release Date: 06/16/2008
There's a great way to get some gritty, glowing effects to your images. If you shot them on film, then you have the added bonus of getting toxic chemical exposure. Sadly, us digital folks will have to achieve this film look without the interesting health effects and wonderful smells of a wet darkroom.

Photoshop A Matching Color Set in Three Steps
by: Knut Kubenz
Release Date: 06/11/2008
Have you ever wondered if it were possible to give a group of photos, perhaps a series of images, the same sort of color tone? You might want to do this when you are exhibiting a show of your work to set a particular mood for the exhibit, whether warm or cool in appearance.

Well Photoshop has just such a tool, which often is overlooked or at first glance looks a bit complicated, and yet the Match Color tool and its dialog window does a quick and easy job of setting the color mood for any and all of your future images in three easy steps. Let's begin.

Comparing Timestamps in ColdFusion
by: Ray West
Release Date: 06/05/2008
In a couple of previous articles, we looked at comparing timestamps in SQL Server and MYSQL, with an eye for capturing data that matches a supplied date even if the times are different. Lest we think there is only one way to do things, we got some comments regarding the ability to do this in the server side language (such as ColdFusion) as well.

Fireworks CS4 Public Beta - Part 3: Wrapping Text Inside a Path
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 05/29/2008
OK, how long have we been waiting for this? The ability to flow text within a vector shape is now part of Fireworks CS4! Woo Hoo!

And we can do more than just wrap the text inside the shape. When you're mocking up a web page design, you can also emulate how text will flow around a floated image.

Follow along in this article to see the creative options available for you with just one of the new features in Fireworks CS4.

The Fireworks CS4 Public Beta Series:
Fireworks CS4 Public Beta - Part 1: Fireworks Gets a Facelift!
Fireworks CS4 Public Beta - Part 2: Productivity Features
Fireworks CS4 Public Beta - Part 3: Wrapping Text Inside a Path
Fireworks CS4 Public Beta - Part 4: Panels

SQL Comparing Timestamps in MySQL
by: Ray West
Release Date: 05/23/2008
In a recent article, we looked at comparing timestamp columns in SQL Server in order to pull records that occurred on a date or series of dates without regard to the time, and the question came up about how to do the same thing in MYSql.

Flash Playing Videos Sequentially
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 05/19/2008
In this, the last of six excerpts from Foundation Flash CS3 Video published by friendsofED, CMX partner Tom Green and his coauthor, Adam Thomas, answer that age-old question: How do I play a sequence of videos?

The Foundation Flash CS3 Video Excerpts:
Going Small - Playing Video On a Cell Phone
Going Big - Enter H.264
Reflections On an Alpha Video Theme
Using ActionScript to Dynamically Add a Masking Object
Letting Video Show Its Age
Playing videos sequentially

GoLive Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part Two
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 05/15/2008
In Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part One, you set up the sites and files you are going to use as you create a web standards layout side-by-side in both GoLive and Dreamweaver. In this second tutorial in the series, you will code the markup for the layout in Adobe GoLive; in the third part, coming very soon, you will code the markup for the layout in Dreamweaver. During the course of these two interrelated tutorials, you will learn more about how to translate your knowledge of GoLive's interface into knowledge of Dreamweaver's.

The Dreamweaver for GoLive Users Series:
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 1
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 2
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 3
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 4
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 5
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 6
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 7
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 8
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 9

Flash Letting Video Show Its Age
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 05/13/2008
In this, the fifth of six excerpts from Foundation Flash CS3 Video published by friendsofED, CMX partner Tom Green and his coauthor, Adam Thomas, explore how to age a video playing through the Flash Player.

The Foundation Flash CS3 Video Excerpts:
Going Small - Playing Video On a Cell Phone
Going Big - Enter H.264
Reflections On an Alpha Video Theme
Using ActionScript to Dynamically Add a Masking Object
Letting Video Show Its Age
Playing videos sequentially Coming Soon

Flash Wiggle that Text! - Part 1: AS2 Timeline Code Prep
by: David Stiller
Release Date: 05/13/2008
As the well-known adage dictates, "a picture's worth a thousand words." Often enough, that sentiment is true — but even so, words are powerful in their own right.

The Wiggle that Text! Series:
Wiggle that Text! - Part 1: AS2 Timeline Code Prep
Wiggle that Text! - Part 2: AS2 Timeline Code Animation
Wiggle that Text! - Part 3: AS2 Custom Class
Wiggle that Text! - Part 4: AS3 Custom Class

Flash Using ActionScript to Dynamically Add a Masking Object
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 05/05/2008
In this, the fourth of six excerpts from Foundation Flash CS3 Video published by friendsofED, CMX partner Tom Green and his coauthor, Adam Thomas, show you how to load an Illustrator CS3 file that can be used as a video mask ... at runtime.

The Foundation Flash CS3 Video Excerpts:
Going Small - Playing Video On a Cell Phone
Going Big - Enter H.264
Reflections On an Alpha Video Theme
Using ActionScript to Dynamically Add a Masking Object
Letting Video Show Its Age Coming Soon
Playing videos sequentially Coming Soon

Setting and Deleting Cookies in ColdFusion
by: Ray West
Release Date: 05/02/2008
Cookies are little bits of text information that you can store on your visitor’s computer to keep track of all kinds of things related to your site. Common uses are to track the last time a person was at the site or to store login information, at the user’s request, to allow them to be automatically logged in the next time the visit. In this article we will look at setting and deleting cookies in ColdFusion. In the next article we will use those cookies to automatically login a user when they ask the site to remember them.

Classic Aqua Pill Button in Illustrator CS3: Part 1
by: Darren Winder
Release Date: 05/02/2008
An "Aqua Pill" button, is easy and fun to make, can be used on web sites as a button, or used in design work to display text, any size any shape.

Follow my instructions and then play around to find your own style.

The Classic Aqua Pill Button Series:
Classic Aqua Pill Button in Illustrator CS3: Part 1
Classic Aqua Pill Button in Illustrator CS3: Part 2 Coming Soon

A Fireworks Quickie - Vacuuming Pixels
by: Kim Cavanaugh
Release Date: 05/01/2008
If there is one constant in working with clients in the web and graphics design world it is this: Your clients rarely provide you with artwork that you can use right away.

Need a logo from your client? "Oh sure, our company has a logo. One of the secretaries made one a few years back that we love. But we only have it in .BMP format and I'd like to remove some of the extra stuff that's in there and sharpen it up. You can do that right?"

Photos? "Oh yeah, my nephew took some pictures of our office a few years ago. I'll send those to you. And can you remove Craig on the far right from the picture? He doesn't work for us since that unfortunate incident with the weed whacker and the vending machine."

Well, you get the picture, which is just the point. Sometimes you get pictures that need major work, including the removal of large parts of the original. Luckily Fireworks provides some great tools for vacuuming pixels away. Needing to do that myself recently I came across a great tip to make things even easier.

In this article you'll see how you can use the seemingly humble Marquee tool in Fireworks to perform corrective surgery on a bitmap image and quickly remove large parts of the picture.

Flash Going Big — Enter H.264
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 04/30/2008
In this second excerpt from Foundation Flash CS3 Video, CommunityMX partner and his coauthor, Adam Thomas, show you how to add HD video to your web sites.

Approximate download size: 223MB

The Foundation Flash CS3 Video Excerpts:
Going Small - Playing Video On a Cell Phone
Going Big - Enter H.264
Reflections On an Alpha Video Theme
Using ActionScript to Dynamically Add a Masking Object
Letting Video Show Its Age Coming Soon
Playing videos sequentially Coming Soon

Flash Reflections on an Alpha Video Theme
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 04/30/2008
In this third excerpt from Foundation Flash CS3 Video by friendsofED, Cmax partner Tom Green and his coauthor, Adam Thomas, show you how to reflect alpha channel video using ActionScript 3.0.

The Foundation Flash CS3 Video Excerpts:
Going Small - Playing Video On a Cell Phone
Going Big - Enter H.264
Reflections On an Alpha Video Theme
Using ActionScript to Dynamically Add a Masking Object
Letting Video Show Its Age Coming Soon
Playing videos sequentially Coming Soon

GoLive Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part One
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 04/28/2008
Current reality suggests that we all make the switch to Dreamweaver now that GoLive is no longer part of the Adobe Suites and is likely at the end of the line. Sure, we can keep using GoLive as long as our operating systems support the software. Still, it would be a wise decision for many GoLive users - especially those who are making web sites for a living - to learn to use Dreamweaver in addition to GoLive.

I have frequented GoLive forums and lists over the years, and often read posts by frustrated GoLive users who claim Dreamweaver doesn't do this or that task. Occasionally, the charge is true. Still, often the problem is that the path to finding the task is radically different in Dreamweaver and is not immediately discoverable.This series aspires to ease the pain of translating equivalent tasks from one "language" to the other. You will "learn by doing", that is, by creating the same layout in both GoLive and Dreamweaver.

In this first installment in the series, you will set up the site definition and file structure for the "music history" site in both programs.

The Dreamweaver for GoLive Users Series:
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 1
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 2
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 3
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 4
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 5
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 6
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 7
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 8
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 9

Flash Going Small - Playing Video On a Cell Phone
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 04/25/2008
In this, the first of six excerpts from Foundation Flash CS3 Video published by friendsofED, CMX partner Tom Green and his coauthor, Adam Thomas, explore how to play an FLV file through a cell phone.

Approximate download size: 11MB

The Foundation Flash CS3 Video Excerpts:
Going Small - Playing Video On a Cell Phone
Going Big - Enter H.264
Reflections On an Alpha Video Theme
Using ActionScript to Dynamically Add a Masking Object
Letting Video Show Its Age Coming Soon
Playing videos sequentially Coming Soon

ColdFusion Client-Side Interactivity... Without AJAX!
by: Bill Horvath
Release Date: 04/24/2008
Keeping response times down and interactivity high has, and always will be, two important priorities with web interfaces of any kind. For standard HTML interfaces, AJAX is all the buzz and is great when it's necessary to maintain interaction with live data. But when a static version of the data will do just fine, there's at least one other alternative that you may want to consider….

Having spent four years disarming bombs for the Air Force, Doug Boude is now a Senior Web Application Architect for Fiserv Health in San Antonio, TX. He has been developing with ColdFusion since version 4.0. Doug has written several ColdFusion articles for Fusion Authority.

Photoshop Quick Color Cast Removal
by: Scott Valentine
Release Date: 04/23/2008
Color cast. It's a dreadful thing that can mar or ruin an otherwise great photo. Maybe you forgot to set your white balance properly, or you were shooting quickly to grab the moment and didn't account for the lighting conditions. Or perhaps your camera just doesn't account for more than one or two types of light.

Well, hope is here! With this nifty little trick, even your neon blue aquarium pictures can be rescued. Mostly :)

Education The Art of the Interactive Storyteller - Part 5
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 04/17/2008
We all tell stories. Every night my wife and I sit down and, over dinner, tell stories about our frantic lives that day. What my wife and I do is no different from what web developers do every day. The only difference is web developers tell stories to a global audience. In fact did I tell you the one about being mugged by a werewolf on a site I was surfing.....

The Interactive Storyteller Series:
The Art of the Interactive Storyteller - Part 1
The Art of the Interactive Storyteller - Part 2
The Art of the Interactive Storyteller - Part 3
The Art of the Interactive Storyteller - Part 4
The Art of the Interactive Storyteller - Part 5

Flash Using Sound in ActionScript 3: Part I
by: Bill Horvath
Release Date: 04/16/2008
One of the most common reasons for incorporating Flash into a web site is to provide sound. It might be something as simple as a "sound effect" on a button or as complicated as a full blown MP3 jukebox. You might decide to build your entire web site with Flash, or you may only need to use some Flash elements on your (X)HTML page. Either way, to use sound effectively in Flash you'll need to have at least a basic understanding of ActionScript, Flash's programming language and the Sound Classes provided by Flash.

Much of the ActionScript related to Sound has changed in ActionScript 3. Whether you are completely new to ActionScript or migrating from ActionScript 2 to ActionScript 3, this series of articles will show you how to use ActionScript 3 to work dynamically with external sounds. You'll need to make sure you have Flash CS3 to work through these tutorials.

Steve Wilkison has been working in the graphic design field for over fifteen years. He has been involved with over forty CD releases as art director and/or graphic designer, including packages for such artists as Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, Wayne Hancock and Kate Campbell. He made the move from print design to web design in 2001 and never looked back. Since then he has designed and created numerous e-cards and web sites utilizing many of today's cutting edge technologies. Today he concentrates almost exclusively on web site design and development utilizing XHTML, CSS, Flash, PHP, JavaScript and Ajax through his company Digital Vision Media. He currently teaches web design at Watkins College of Art & Design in Nashville, TN.

Quickshot - Detecting a Mobile Device in ColdFusion
by: Ray West
Release Date: 04/09/2008
With the increase of smart phones, PDAs and other handheld devices that can display web content, more and more sites are looking to include Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and Wireless Markup Language (WML) content on their websites. Even if you do not try to replicate your content, often important pieces of your site can be delivered in a format that is easily readable and usable by the smaller screen of a mobile phone or other device.

Flash Interactive Flash Maps - Part 1
by: Derrick Ypenburg
Release Date: 04/08/2008
When a client approached me to develop an application that maps out the waterways of Ontario for boating, services, towns, attractions, accomodations, etc, I was "on board" for the task. As we got deeper into the project and ran into limitations of the custom mapping application I was drawing and programming vs. the costs to overcome them with the custom mapping utility we were creating, it was time to look for other possible solutions. That's when I found UMap, a universal mapping component developed by the folks at Advanced Flash Components (AFC).

The Interactive Flash Maps Series:
Interactive Flash Maps - Part 1
Interactive Flash Maps - Part 2: Creating, Storing and Displaying Map Data

Recreate the PBS NOW Logo - Part 1: Working with Complex Fireworks Compositions
by: Kim Cavanaugh
Release Date: 03/26/2008
You never really can tell when the design-inspiration bug might bite you. My eye catches all sorts of things as I go through the daily routine, and I'm frequently motivated by something I see on television. Perhaps it's an eye-catching effect that is found in a movie trailer, a regular commercial with some snappy graphics, or a logo for a television show.

A quick cruise around the dial a few weeks ago led me to admire the logo that is produced for the Public Broadcasting System here in the United States for their investigative series known simply as NOW. A quick visit to the NOW web site will reveal a site design with rich colors and some outstanding uses of CSS techniques for displaying the section headers on the page. It's a beautifully designed site with an eye-catching logo that clearly brands the site as well as the show itself.

In these two tutorials you'll learn how to create your own version of the NOW logo using some basic (and a few more advanced) techniques in Fireworks, with the methods demonstrated applicable to all version of Fireworks from MX 2004 to CS3. Specifically, you'll learn how to do the following in Part 1 of this two-part series:

Examine a sample image and break it into its different components
Prepare a Fireworks document using sound work-flow techniques and layer organization
Use standard Fireworks tools for creating the primary elements of the design
Create custom gradient fills

In Part 2 you'll learn how to use some of the more creative possibilities in Fireworks. Specifically, that tutorial will cover how to:

Transform an object to create a mirrored version of an original graphic
Use opacity settings to control the appearance of objects
Use blurs and blends to create a reflective surface
Employ lighting techniques to highlight different portions of a composition

In addition to the techniques shown here you'll also find sample Fireworks files in the download for both tutorials.

The Recreating the PBS NOW Logo Series:
Recreate the PBS NOW Logo - Part 1: Working with Complex Fireworks Compositions
Recreate the PBS NOW Logo: Part 2--Creating Reflective and Lighting Effects

A Shamrock for St. Paddy's Day
by: Kim Dudley
Release Date: 03/17/2008
A National holiday in Ireland, St. Patrick's Day is celebrated around the world by wearing green and eating and drinking Irish food which may often be green. But every Irish celebration needs a shamrock or two, we can quickly take care of that with Illustrator.

We will use the following tools to create a shamrock:

Rectangle and Ellipse tools
Pathfinder panel
Gradient panel
Inner Glow Effect
Feather Effect
Pen tool
Scissors tool

Shamrock

Flash A Streaming Video
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 03/12/2008
"Flash Media Server" and "No Brainer" are two terms you would never see in the same sentence. Not any more. Really!!!

Saving Structures to Client Variables with ColdFusion
by: Bill Horvath
Release Date: 03/07/2008
I've always liked using Client variables in ColdFusion. In fact, I probably use them more then I should. The fact that I can set a client variable and not have to worry about passing it around my application in order to use its value is, well, lazily handy for me. However, serious programming involves Queries, Arrays and Structures. Client variables are not typically used to store these types of objects. This article talks about, and shows you how to, set Queries, Arrays and Structures to a Client variable.

Bill Betournay has been specializing in web development and database design since 1999. He is currently employed at Algoma Steel (A Subsidiary of Essar Global) in Northern Ontario as a programmer analyst and at Jordan Media Ltd., a Marketing and Application Development firm in the UK. For the past several years Bill has maintained a high profile within the Cartweaver (Coldfusion) community as a developer providing additional custom functionality via his web site DataPacks.com. Bill is often spotted lurking in the Cartweaver CF newsgroup.

ColdFusion Quickshot - Make Sure They Belong on Your Site
by: Ray West
Release Date: 03/04/2008
URL Tampering is one of the most common ways that people will try to mess with your site. They may try to change a URL String parameter to try and see or change or delete a record that they should not be able to access (which is something you should be trapping for anyway) or they may try to post a form into your site from an external server, allowing them to set whatever they want for hidden form fields.

In this Quickshot tutorial I will show you a quick and simple way to prevent people from accessing content on your site that they shouldn't see.

PHP Moving A Web Site: Preserving Search Engine Rankings and the Customer Experience
by: Steven Seiller
Release Date: 03/03/2008
Have you discontinued a product or renamed your service? Do you need to redirect visitors from an old web site domain to a new web site domain? This tutorial will show you how to use Apache server redirection to automatically transfer incoming traffic from the old site to the new. Additionally, we will use a code to tell the search engines about the permanent change so it will update its index.

What the automatic server redirection will not do, however, is inform the visitor of why they suddenly find themselves at a different website. Using PHP, I will show you a second step which will allow you to display a contextual note to visitors about the change. I devised this extra step to enhance customer service and educate longtime visitors about the changeover. Because this information is displayed only to redirected users, it will not distract new or potential customers.

Flash ActionScript Basics - Part 1: Arrays
by: Derrick Ypenburg
Release Date: 02/28/2008
If you are are creating any kind of logic or data storage/retrieval with ActionScript, you most likely will achieve that in part using arrays. Arrays are the most common and basic data structure, besides variables, in any programming language. Arrays allow storage of a series of one or more values in a single data structure.

In Part 1, we will cover the basics of creating arrays, adding, removing and returning values, and using methods of the array class. In Part 2, we will get more advanced with arrays and put arrays to use in a real world scenario.

The ActionScript Basics Series:
ActionScript Basics - Part 1: Arrays
ActionScript Basics - Part 2: Associative Arrays
ActionScript Basics - Part 3: Building Dynamic Menus and Associative Arrays
ActionScript Basics - Part 4: Building a Custom Button Class For the Dynamic Menu

Quick Shot - Using ColdFusion List Functions to Manipulate Text
by: Ray West
Release Date: 02/07/2008
ColdFusion's List functions are some of the most useful things in the language. They allow you to do all kinds of neat things with strings of text that can be divided by some character, like a comma delimited string or flat file layout.

Masking in Photoshop - Part I: The Basics
by: Scott Valentine
Release Date: 02/06/2008
After the undo function and layers, masks are probably the most essential and flexible way to manipulate images in Photoshop. They can be used to isolate parts of an image, blend multiple images together, or selectively adjust images in very complex ways. If you have not yet taken advantage of this tool, read on and be amazed! Or at least bemused.

Scott Valentine is a web and graphic designer, award-winning digital photographer and Photoshop finger-painter. His day job has nothing to do with any of this because then it would be like work. Scott founded and currently runs an Adobe user group in northern New Mexico, and volunteers his expertise in various online discussion forums.

Approximate download size: 1.7MB

The Masking In Photoshop Series:
Masking in Photoshop - Part I: The Basics
Masking in Photoshop - Part II: Advanced Techniques
Masking in Photoshop - Part III: Complex Selections

ColdFusion Quickshot: Logging Out an Inactive User
by: Ray West
Release Date: 02/06/2008
As worried as people seem to be about their online information being compromised, they don't usually seem to take even the simplest precautions to keep wandering eyes off of their monitors and the information they display. If your application contains sensitive information, you may need to help your users protect it.

Flash Progressive Enhancement with Flash - Part 1
by: David Stiller
Release Date: 02/04/2008
One of the main tenets of good Web design involves the principle of progressive enhancement. In general, the idea goes like this: make sure the user can access a web site's essential content regardless of browser. It shouldn't matter whether the user visits your site with Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Netscape, or pick your favorite flavor. In fact, the site's content should be accessible even without JavaScript or peripheral plugins like Flash Player. Once the basics are covered, use CSS to enhance the visual design. Then, and only then, introduce the whizz-bang stuff — nifty rollovers, AJAX interactivity, Flash — and do it in a way that doesn't penalize users who don't have (or choose to disable) the needed machinery.

For many developers, progressive enhancement is a good idea that often gets set aside. After all, doesn't it require duplicated effort? Not necessarily. In this series, you're going to build a simple Flash slideshow that takes its cues entirely from the HTML document that contains it. Update the HTML and the Flash updates too — automatically. If Flash Player is not installed, the user sees the images anyway, only without the Flash pizzazz.

Here in Part 1, you'll learn how to get the HTML data into Flash. In future articles, you'll learn how to pull out the relevant image references and captions and display them with ActionScript 2.0 and 3.0.

The Progressive Enhancement with Flash Series:
Progressive Enhancement with Flash - Part 1
Progressive Enhancement with Flash - Part 2: AS2
Progressive Enhancement with Flash - Part 3: AS3

Bridge Drag and Drop from Bridge to Dreamweaver
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 01/31/2008
In the past we've looked at both Fireworks' and Photoshop's improved integration with Dreamweaver. Well, Adobe Bridge has the same functionality! You can easily move image files from Bridge right into a web page in Dreamweaver. This short tutorial shows you how.

Flash Google Analytics - Tracking Flash/Flex Online
by: Derrick Ypenburg
Release Date: 01/30/2008
Tracking user statistics in a SWF file is a problem as old as Flash itself. Being that a SWF is a self-enclosed file, traffic tracking utilities and services cannot 'peek' inside of an embedded SWF and see what's going on. Even if they could, the events and happening's of the SWF would make no sense to a tracker and it could not really effectively track what's going on. Sure you can track server stats of requested files such as loaded SWF's, images and videos but its hard to match them up with specific user sessions.

Not being able to track statistics effectively from a Flash website is a deal breaker when it comes to selling your Flash services. You need worry no longer though. This is where the Google Analytics comes in!

Dreamweaver Handy Form Snippets
by: Ray West
Release Date: 01/25/2008
Drop down lists. They are a necessary part of many applications, and yet are time-consuming to create. You will not know how valuable these are until you need them. Included are:

US States
US States and Canadian Provinces
Time in hour segments
Time in half-hour segments
Time in quarter-hour segments
Time in hour segments with military time values
Time in half-hour segments with military time values
Time in half-hour segments with military time values
Time in hour segments with military time values and display
Time in half-hour segments with military time values and display
Time in half-hour segments with military time values and display
Business Hours (8-5) in hour segments
Business Hours (8-5) in half-hour segments
Business Hours (8-5) in quarter-hour segments

Dreamweaver Case Study: How to Customize a JumpStart
by: Steven Seiller
Release Date: 01/22/2008
The primary benefits to the JumpStarts are that they have been tested with the popular browsers and can get you up and running quickly. Having a limited timeframe to get the site redesigned, I decided to give the JumpStarts a good look. What I quickly realized is that despite my disdain for templates, the JumpStarts are highly customizable, which can result in uniques designs.

In this tutorial, I will describe the process I used for assessing my web site needs and selecting a specific JumpStart. We will then walk through the steps of creating a unique design from the example. Finally, I will share an extra step I took in which I used PHP to 'templatize' my page design to speed content creation, ease revisions and provide customized content to the visitor.

ASP Generic Form Processor Using CDONTS
by: Bill Horvath
Release Date: 01/18/2008
Many people spend a lot of time hand-coding forms so that the results of the form submission are emailed. Most of this time is spent on collecting all the form items, and building the email body. For simple forms (i.e., just a few fields), this task is quite easy. However, if you have larger forms, this process can become quite tedious and time consuming. The best solution, is a neat little trick that not many people know of using the request.form properties and methods

Martin Oliveira, known as "Oli" to those in the Cartweaver support newsgroups, is an extremely knowledgeable ASP programmer. If you own Cartweaver, one of the best Dreamweaver-targeted shopping carts on the market, then you probably know he's always there in the CW forums to answer your questions.

Flash Using XML and the ComboBox to Choose Multiple Videos in Flash CS3
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 01/15/2008
You are about to discover that Flash and XML are an unbeatable combination when it comes to playing a list of videos.

General Business Version Clue with Version Cue
by: Steven Seiller
Release Date: 01/07/2008
Essentially, Version Cue is a server-client database which tracks copies of your project files through their numerous iterations. Supported by most of the Creative Suite applications, Version Cue conveniently helps you track the version history of your design files and easily backtrack to old revisions.

Designed to run as a server for small or large groups, you can readily run it solo on your personal computer with the default settings. Those of you with Shrinking Hard Drive Syndrome (SHDS) will be relieved to know that Version Cue doesn't just stack copies of your project files into a folder, it saves just the data which has changed between each version. With this tutorial and 5 minutes time, you too will be ready to manage your projects through Version Cue.

Creating a Web 2.0 Button In Fireworks
by: Bill Horvath
Release Date: 12/18/2007
Web 2.0 is a term coined by O'Reilly describing the new trends in design and development appearing across a flood of innovative websites. This tutorial will show you how to create some of the most popular "Web 2.0" design effects using Adobe Fireworks.

Thierry Lorey has been a Fireworks enthusiast since version 3 and is now Fireworks Zone’s webmaster, Fireworks beta tester and author for Community MX. He is the first European Fireworks enthusiast to write an article for Fireworks Developer Center. After some translation and training jobs, he is now the full-time Fireworks Zone's webmaster. His job includes writing news, tutorials, creating graphics, and maintaining and developing the website to keep the content new and fresh.

Accessibility Web Writing Exercises - Part One
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 12/12/2007
In this series, we'll explore that topic of writing for the web in depth. Each article's download folder will include copy that you can use to experiment with the featured concepts. It will also include my interpretation of how to effectively present the copy.

According to statistics, 79% of readers scan text on web pages rather than read every word. Therefore, in this first article, we'll look at how we can help readers more easily scan text by using effective headings, hyperlinks, bolded phrases, and lists.

The Web Writing Exercises Series:
Web Writing Exercises - Part One
Web Writing Exercises - Part Two Coming Soon

SQL Quick Shot - Reset the Root mySQL Password
by: Paul Davis
Release Date: 12/11/2007
You have lost the root password, or the password is corrupt, to your mySQL server and you need to get it back as quickly as possible. Read this tutorial to get the instructions on how!

Using JQuery - Part 1: Introduction
by: Rob Williams
Release Date: 12/04/2007
Developing AJAX applications can often be more complicated than you initially expect. Although working through tutorials and learning about the code involved to do various tasks is beneficial in helping you develop new possibilites, the stark reality these days is that as you begin to develop more and more AJAX-based sites you'll end up becoming less and less enthusiastic about having to hand-write all of the basic AJAX functionality over and over again. This is where JavaScript Libraries come into play. In this series we're going to take a look at one of the more interesting and widely used JavaScript AJAX library: jQuery.

In the first part of this series we're going to take a look at what libraries are, how they can help, and how to implement them. From there we'll also take a first glance at jQuery and examine some of the reasons that you may choose to use it as your library of choice.

The Using JQuery Series:
Using JQuery - Part 1: Introduction
Using JQuery - Part 2: The Basics
Using JQuery - Part 3: Selectors
Using JQuery - Part 4: DOM Manipulation
Using JQuery - Part 5: Advanced DOM Manipulation
Using JQuery - Part 6: Finishing up DOM Manipulation
Using JQuery - Part 7: Effects
Using JQuery - Part 8: Animation
Using JQuery - Part 9: Animation Queues
Using JQuery - Part 10: AJAX
Using JQuery - Part 11: AJAX (Cont.)

Smoking Out After Effects: Part 1
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 11/30/2007
You learned how to create smoke in Photoshop CS3. Now you learn how to create it in After Effects CS3.

The Smoking Out After Effects Series
Smoking Out After Effects: Part 1
Smoking Out After Effects: Part 2
Smoking Out After Effects: Part 3

Javascript Quick Shot - Form Styling
by: Paul Davis
Release Date: 11/28/2007
Need to create a visual clue on all of your form elements when the form element has focus? Don't want to apply two behaviors per form element? Check out this solution, apply once, works everywhere!

CSS Quick Shot - Using CSS to Create a Scrolling Content Area - The Text Version
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 11/26/2007
Adding a scrolling region to your pages is pretty easy using CSS and DIV's, as we saw in my recent video tutorial. Having received a couple subscriber requests, though, I decided to make a simple written version of this process for our CMX Quick Shot series.

Flash Importing Native AI Files into Flash CS3
by: Derrick Ypenburg
Release Date: 11/16/2007
Importing Illustrator files is easier than ever with Flash CS3. Flash's new ability to import an AI file by its layers, sub layers and un-used objects and be able to import them on their own layers, in their own MovieClips and as flattened bitmaps, is extremely convenient for anyone who develops their interfaces in Illustrator. I always start my Flash interface development in Illustrator. Even with the new and improved drawing tools in Flash CS3, nothing beats the drawing capabilities of Illustrator.

Flash Creating Smoke in Flash CS3: Part 1
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 11/08/2007
Ever wanted to add steam hissing out of a vent or smoke rising from a smoldering log in Flash? Read on...

Approximate download size: 1.2MB

CSS Quick Shot - Fixed Background Image
by: Paul Davis
Release Date: 11/07/2007
Quick shot for the CSS on fixed background images.

Quick Shot - Adding Accessibility To A Form With Validation
by: Paul Davis
Release Date: 10/23/2007
So you've got a fancy JavaScript validated form, but it won't work when someone has JavaScript turned off. Want to get the form working? Read on...

Quick Shot - Stop a Form Submission
by: Paul Davis
Release Date: 10/18/2007
Need to know how to stop a form from submitting so you can run your own validation on the form and then have the JavaScript submit the form when the validation is done? Seek no more...

CSS Taking Madrid to Print
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 10/16/2007
Perhaps the most common down-fall when designing for print is to overdo things. You need to remember that you are creating a style sheet that will present your information to your users in a printed format.

There is no need whatsoever to redesign or recreate your web site, it is simply the information that we want to provide and it is the information that your users are interested in.

Copy and Paste Between Fireworks and Dreamweaver CS3
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 10/11/2007
Fireworks is also reaping the benefits of the new integration between Photoshop and Dreamweaver CS3. We can now copy and paste objects and layers (vector or bitmap or both) between Fireworks and Dreamweaver. As obvious as it sounds, this feature was not available prior to CS3.

This short video will walk you through the process of copying and pasting between Fireworks and Dreamweaver, which, you will find, is remarkably similar to the Photoshop to Dreamweaver work flow.

From Fireworks to a Flash Animation in a Flash
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 10/03/2007
So you have a layer in Fireworks that would make for a cool Flash animation. This issue is: How? Read on..

Flash Using Video Maru - Part 1: The Basics
by: Joseph Balderson
Release Date: 09/27/2007
Finding ways to make it easy for Flash designers to create a simple FLV video player has been a much sought-after goal for many who work with the Adobe suite of technologies. Nowadays, designers and developers have an array of options available to them, from the new and improved v3 (or 'CS3') FLVPlayback component, to a flurry of third-party video player components, all designed to make a Flash designer's job easier and more productive.

One such third-party player is the video.Maru component. In all my years developing with Flash, I have yet to encounter a component which makes it simpler and easier to create a custom FLV video player. We'll show that it's so easy to create a custom player with video.Maru, you'll be looking for the guide wires!

In this first tutorial, we'll take a basic look at the Video Maru component, getting a video to play without any controls. And without using a single line of code.

A simple player built with the video.Maru component.

The Using Video Maru Series:
Using Video Maru - Part 1: The Basics
Using Video Maru - Part 2: Adding Playback Controls
Using Video Maru - Part 3: Timeline & Sound Controls
Using Video Maru - Part 4: Effects
Using Video Maru - Part 5: Building a YouTube Player
Using Video Maru - Part 6: Creating an XML Playlist
Using Video Maru - Part 7: Exploring the Code API Coming Soon

Flash Extending the AS3 FLVPlayback Component in Flash CS3: Part 1 - Adding a Background Color
by: Robert Reinhardt
Release Date: 09/24/2007
In this FLVPlayback component series, you'll learn how to enhance the capabilities of the AS3 FLVPlayback component that ships with Adobe Flash CS3 Professional. Over the next several tutorials, you'll learn how to create an arbitrary class called FLVPlaybackPro and add custom methods and properties to accomplish common Flash Video tasks. The FLVPlaybackPro class extends the FLVPlayback class. In this tutorial, you learn how to create the FLVPlaybackPro class and build a background and backgroundColor property.

NOTE: This series augments the material discussed in my book, Adobe Flash CS3 Professional Video Studio Techniques (Adobe Press). Some of the ActionScript 3.0 (AS3) custom classes I built and included on the book's DVD-ROM are discussed and expanded in this series.

Flash Using HD Video in Flash CS3
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 09/11/2007
So Adobe gets the Flash community cranked up last week by allowing you to add H.264 encoded video to your Flash movies. Here's a quick "How To"...

Defining a Site in Dreamweaver CS3, Advanced Tab
by: Paul Davis
Release Date: 08/30/2007
A step by step guide to setting up a site in Dreamweaver CS3 using the advanced tab

Defining a Site in Dreamweaver CS3, Basic Tab
by: Paul Davis
Release Date: 08/24/2007
A step by step guide to setting up a site in Dreamweaver CS3 using the Basic tab.

ColdFusion and WMI
by: Laurie Casolino
Release Date: 08/17/2007
Microsoft calls their implementation of the Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) industry initiative Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI). We call it the richest source of information containing everything you'd want to know about your Windows systems.

This article introduces the idea of connecting to WMI using ColdFusion, providing the developer endless opportunity to produce administrative and reporting applications guaranteed to take you out of the world of maintenance and in to the world of innovation.

Brice Mason is a husband and father from Albany, New York. He is also an independent software developer and freelance writer who regularly lets his curiousity get the best of him. As a developer working for diverse industry sectors such as healthcare, technology, and non-profit, Brice has consistently turned to ColdFusion to quickly solve his greatest challenges. He values the incredible flexibility it offers to produce highly creative and innovative solutions. Brice maintains a personal web site at http://www.skipslate.com.

Flash Using XML in Flash CS3 to Build a Slideshow
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 08/14/2007
In this, the final excerpt from their new book, Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers (friendsofED), Tom Green and David Stiller walk you through the creation of a slideshow that makes exetensive use of many of the new XML-handling features of Flash CS3.

Approximate download size: 3MB

The Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers Excerpts
Motion Tween Effects in Flash CS3
Optimizing Flash Content for Use in Video
Adding Audio to Flash CS3
XML Captions for Video
Notes from the Photoshop File Importer
Create a Soft Mask in Flash CS3
Going Mobile in Flash CS3
Using XML in Flash CS3 to Build a Slideshow

Installing ColdFusion 8 Report Builder
by: Chaz Chumley
Release Date: 08/09/2007
With the release of ColdFusion 8 comes a new version of the ColdFusion Report Builder which was introduced back with version 7. There have been some great enhancements to the free reporting tool by Adobe. In future articles we will look at some examples, but for now lets take a look at how easy it is to install on Microsoft Windows Vista.

Flash Going Mobile in Flash CS3
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 08/07/2007
New to Flash CS3 is Device Central. In this, the seventh of eight excerpts from their new book Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers (friendsofED), Community MX authors Tom Green and David Stiller take you through the mobile pace from content to upload.

The Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers Excerpts
Motion Tween Effects in Flash CS3
Optimizing Flash Content for Use in Video
Adding Audio to Flash CS3
XML Captions for Video
Notes from the Photoshop File Importer
Create a Soft Mask in Flash CS3
Going Mobile in Flash CS3
Using XML in Flash CS3 to Build a Slideshow

Installing ColdFusion 8 on Vista with Apache
by: Chaz Chumley
Release Date: 07/30/2007
ColdFusion 8 is the latest and greatest version of ColdFusion and as soon as it hit the Adobe Labs I hurried out to download it and install it. I noticed that there are a few new items that get installed with ColdFusion 8, like .NET integration and LiveCycle Data Services Express edition. So those familiar with installing ColdFusion 7, there are some new settings.

If you have had the pleasure, or pain, of running Windows Vista then you may know that simply installing applications is not really that simple. I will be taking you through installing ColdFusion 8 on Vista with Apache 2 as my web server.

Flex Creating Custom UIComponents in Flex 2: Lesson 1 - Overview
by: Steve Schelter
Release Date: 07/23/2007
When working in the Flex 2 environment, there are many times where you might find yourself in need of a component that does not exist. The Flex SDK offers plenty of extensibility for building custom UI components that can plug seamlessly into the existing framework. In the first lesson of this series, we will cover a brief overview of the life-cycle of a custom UI component.

The Creating Custom UIComponents in Flex 2 Series:
Creating Custom UIComponents in Flex 2: Lesson 1 - Overview
Creating Custom UIComponents in Flex 2: Lesson 2 - Basic Setup
Creating Custom UIComponents in Flex 2: Lesson 3 - Dispatching Events
Creating Custom UIComponents in Flex 2: Lesson 4 - Property Exposure
Creating Custom UIComponents in Flex 2: Lesson 5 - Styles
Creating Custom UIComponents in Flex 2: Lesson 6 - Effect Triggers

Flash XML Captions for Video
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 07/20/2007
Embed an XML document into an FLV and you too can add closed captions to your FLV files. Find out how in this, the fourth of our excerpts, from Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers by friendsofED written by Community MX partners David Stiller and Tom Green.

The Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers Excerpts
Motion Tween Effects in Flash CS3
Optimizing Flash Content for Use in Video
Adding Audio to Flash CS3
XML Captions for Video
Notes from the Photoshop File Importer
Create a Soft Mask in Flash CS3
Going Mobile in Flash CS3
Using XML in Flash CS3 to Build a Slideshow

Flash Adding Audio to Flash CS3
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 07/19/2007
In this, the third of eight excerpts from the soon-to-be released Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers (friendsofED) book, Community MX partners Tom Green and David Stiller walk you through the basics of audio in Flash.

The Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers Excerpts
Motion Tween Effects in Flash CS3
Optimizing Flash Content for Use in Video
Adding Audio to Flash CS3
XML Captions for Video
Notes from the Photoshop File Importer
Create a Soft Mask in Flash CS3
Going Mobile in Flash CS3
Using XML in Flash CS3 to Build a Slideshow

Flash Sharing Fonts in ActionScript 3.0 - Part 1: Creating a Font SWF
by: Robert Reinhardt
Release Date: 07/17/2007
In this tutorial series, you learn how to use the new Font class in ActionScript 3.0 and Flash Player 9. The Font class enables you to embed one or more fonts in a Flash movie (SWF file), and reuse the font with other SWF files. In this tutorial, you learn how to create a font SWF file and load it into another Flash movie.

The Sharing Fonts in ActionScript 3.0 Series:
Sharing Fonts in ActionScript 3.0 - Part 1: Creating a Font SWF
Sharing Fonts in ActionScript 3.0 - Part 2: Displaying a Loaded Font in a TextField Instance

Flash Sound Visualization in Flash CS3
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 07/13/2007
Sometimes a little foreknowledge is a good thing. Let's all take a deep breath and explore a sound visualization exercise in Flash Professional CS3.

Flash Preparing Source Video for Flash Video: Part 1 - Converting MPEG Files
by: Robert Reinhardt
Release Date: 07/13/2007
In this Flash Video series, you learn how to process source video files before you encode the content to the Flash Video (FLV) format. Source video can be saved in a wide range of formats across Windows and Macintosh platforms, and each format can use specific audio and video codecs. In this tutorial, you learn how to prepare an MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 file for Flash Video encoding.

NOTE: All of the tutorials in this series require Apple QuickTime Player. I recommended purchasing Apple QuickTime Player Pro directly from Apple. The Pro version enables you to export audio and video files. This series augments the material discussed in my book, Adobe Flash CS3 Professional Video Studio Techniques (Adobe Press).

The Preparing Source Video for Flash Video Series:
Preparing Source Video for Flash Video: Part 1 - Converting MPEG Files
Preparing Source Video for Flash Video: Part 2 - Preventing Quality Loss

Flash Optimizing Flash Content for Use in Video
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 07/10/2007
In this, the second of eight excerpts from Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers by friendsofEd, Community MX partners, Tom Green and David Stiller, show you how to convert a Flash movie into a Quicktime movie. This exercise doesn't just think "outside of the box", it moves to the room where the box is located.

Approximate download size: 31MB

The Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers Excerpts
Motion Tween Effects in Flash CS3
Optimizing Flash Content for Use in Video
Adding Audio to Flash CS3
XML Captions for Video
Notes from the Photoshop File Importer
Create a Soft Mask in Flash CS3
Going Mobile in Flash CS3
Using XML in Flash CS3 to Build a Slideshow

Flash Motion Tween Effects in Flash CS3
by: David Stiller
Release Date: 07/05/2007
In a series of excerpts from their new book, Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers, Community MX partners Tom Green and David Stiller show you how to apply the Glow effect to Jay Maynard, better known as Tron Guy.

The Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers Excerpts
Motion Tween Effects in Flash CS3
Optimizing Flash Content for Use in Video
Adding Audio to Flash CS3
XML Captions for Video
Notes from the Photoshop File Importer
Create a Soft Mask in Flash CS3
Going Mobile in Flash CS3
Using XML in Flash CS3 to Build a Slideshow

Flash TodCon 2007 Session: Introduction to Design Patterns for Flash and Flex
by: Joseph Balderson
Release Date: 06/26/2007
Whether you consider yourself to be a Flash developer or a Flex programmer, eventually you will discover that projects have become too complex, too feature-rich, to rely exclusively on the Flash timeline, or on Flex MXML markup. Taking your project that extra step may require using ActionScript class files and structured Object-Oriented Programming.

However, using OOP principles without a plan, without a way of structuring your classes, can very quickly lead to convoluted and unmanageable code. The solution is to use a tool called Design Patterns.

This session will dispel the myth that design patterns are only for geeks with PHDs, and explain how and why to use them in both Flash and Flex projects. Participants will come away with powerful tools to simplify and organize their coding projects to be better suited for efficiency and team development.

This is a presentation made at TodCon 2007 in Las Vegas, June 12, 2007.

Open Source Yahoo! Pipes: An Introduction
by: Kim Cavanaugh
Release Date: 06/25/2007
Yahoo Pipes has been on my personal radar since it was announced in February of this year. At the time of its roll-out there was a great deal of interest around the web design world as Yahoo provided what appeared to be an easy way for anyone (even non-developers like myself) to mash-up RSS feeds into new web services. If you’re developing web sites for customers the ability to provide them with live data that can be displayed on their site will be a valuable service that just may set you apart from your competition. You don’t even have to tell anyone how easy Yahoo makes this.

In this first article in a four-part series you'll be introduced to the Yahoo! Pipes design environment and see some examples of the kinds of things that clever people all over the world are doing with Pipes. You'll learn the basic principles behind Pipes and see just how easy the design environment is to work in.

The Yahoo! Pipes Series:
Yahoo! Pipes: An Introduction
Yahoo! Pipes: Mash-up a Customized News Feed (Coming soon)
Yahoo! Pipes: Create a Persistent News Search with Web Services (Coming soon)
Yahoo! Pipes: Options for Publishing a Customized RSS Feed (Coming soon)

CSS The IE Fieldset Background Color Bleed Bug
by: Zoe Gillenwater
Release Date: 06/19/2007
When it comes to changing text styles in forms, there's little you can't do. As soon as you attempt extending your custom styles into the realm of background colors, borders, and layout, however, things can get difficult. Styling fieldsets and legends are among the more difficult form elements to style because they come laden with a good deal of default browser styling, as well as a few bugs.

In this tutorial, we'll focus on one of the most common fieldset and legend styling frustrations: the fieldset background color bleed bug in Internet Explorer, where the background color of the fieldset extends outside the top border of the fieldset. This bug occurs any and every time you try to give a fieldset a background color, and it affects even the latest version of IE, 7. This tutorial will show you how to fix the bug using a couple additional CSS rules and no changes to markup or hacks.

This tutorial assumes you're already familiar with the building blocks of forms and how to use them correctly to build accessible forms. If you do not have a good understanding of what fieldsets and legends are and how to use them, please see Tricia Littlefield's video tutorial Accessible Forms with Dreamweaver, which covers not only those elements but all the standard form components. You'll also need to have a good understanding of document flow and positioning for this tutorial. For a great introduction to these concepts, see Flowing and Positioning: Two Page Models -Revised for IE7 by Holly Bergevin and John Gallant.

SQL SQL Joins: The INNER JOIN
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 06/11/2007
In this article we will begin to look at what is meant by a JOIN in SQL. I'm sure you have all heard of joins but what exactly are they and why do we need them? This article will be the first in a series of articles that look at the mystical world of SQL joins. I'll begin with the INNER JOIN, which is likely the most common of all the joins.

The SQL Joins Series:
SQL Joins: The INNER JOIN
SQL Joins: The LEFT JOIN
SQL Joins: The RIGHT JOIN

Feed Tools in Dreamweaver 8 and CS3: RSS and XSL
by: Tom Muck
Release Date: 05/22/2007
Adding an RSS feed to a web page is a piece of cake with the XSL features of Dreamweaver 8 and CS3. This article will show the new features of XSL transformation using the freely available Community MX RSS feed, or any other of your choice. The tutorial will require PHP, ColdFusion, or another of the available server models in Dreamweaver, as the XSL functionality uses a server-side file to parse and transform the XML news feed.

Flex Data Binding in Flex 2 - Part 1: Overview
by: Steve Schelter
Release Date: 05/15/2007
Data binding is a central part of the Flex 2 framework, and there are many techniques for implementing it into your application. This lesson will cover the basics behind what data-binding is and what makes it essential to component-driven architectures.

The Data Binding in Flex 2 Series:
Data Binding in Flex 2 - Part 1: Overview
Data Binding in Flex 2 - Part 2: Binding in AS3

Best Practices Work Flow in Fireworks CS3 - Part 1
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 05/14/2007
Many of the new features in the CS3 Suite relate to workflow. The buzz-phrase in Fireworks CS3 seems to be Rapid Prototyping (ok, even I'm getting tired of that term), which in my opinion means:

Multiple pages
Multiple web layers
Master page
Rich Symbols for use in Rich Internet Applications such as Flex
Better Integration with Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash
New Common Library

In this series of videos, we are going to look at a workflow paradigm which takes advantage of some of the new tools in Fireworks CS3. Primarily focussing on Pages, Master Pages, Hierarchical layers and shared layers, we'll see how a design can go from concept to w

The first video tutorial in our series (20 minutes) deals with pages, shared layers and hierarchical layers and my logic for using this method. This is a method I might use in the early comping stages; a point where we've gotten past rough sketches on paper and want/need to engage the client further.

The Best Practices Work Flow in Fireworks CS3 Series:
Best Practices Work Flow in Fireworks CS3 - Part 1
Best Practices Work Flow in Fireworks CS3 - Part 2

CSS Using the Spry Accordion Widget
by: Stephanie Sullivan
Release Date: 05/11/2007
One of the new features in Dreamweaver CS3 is the integration of the Spry javascript library. In this series, we'll look at using Dreamweaver CS3 to insert, integrate and modify the Spry Accordion widget. Give your pages the pizzazz they deserve!

Animation: The Fireworks CS3 to Flash CS3 Connection
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 05/08/2007
Who says you can't create Flash CS3 animations using Fireworks CS3?

CSS Create a Teaser Thumbnail List Using CSS: Part 1 - **Updated**
by: Zoe Gillenwater
Release Date: 04/16/2007
"Teaser thumbnail lists" are those lists of items made up of a title, short description, and thumbnail. They're often used to provide short teasers that link to more information about the products, articles, or sections of the site being listed. This tutorial will go over one way to structure the XHTML and CSS to create such a list that maximizes flexibility for the site owner and accessibility for the end user. The resulting list will feature a fixed-width, grid-like design, with the thumbnails aligned to the left and the title and description for each item sitting to the right. All with only 23 lines of CSS!

This updated version of the original tutorial, published in March 2006, includes slightly modified CSS to allow the list to accept text that is very short or images that are very tall without overlaps occuring. Fortunately, the CSS required for this enhancement is not significantly more than the CSS required for the first version, so even if you don't anticipate having short text or tall images, it's best to use this new version from now on.

The Updated Create a Teaser Thumbnail List Using CSS Series:
Create a Teaser Thumbnail List Using CSS: Part 1 - **Updated**
Create a Teaser Thumbnail List Using CSS: Part 2 - **Updated**
Create a Teaser Thumbnail List Using CSS: Part 3 - **Updated**
Create a Teaser Thumbnail List Using CSS: Part 4 - **Updated**

All You Should Know About Textures
by: Bill Horvath
Release Date: 03/15/2007
Thierry Lorey has been a Fireworks enthusiast since version 3 and is now Fireworks Zone’s webmaster, Fireworks beta tester and author for Community MX. He is the first European Fireworks enthusiast to write an article for Fireworks Developer Center. After some translation and training jobs, he is now the full-time Fireworks Zone's webmaster. His job includes writing news, tutorials, creating graphics, and maintaining and developing the website to keep the content new and fresh.

In Fireworks, a texture, also called a seamless texture, is designed to be repeated and applied to an a vector object on a percentage basis from 0 to 100%. Fireworks includes a collection of about 50 standard textures you will find on your hard disk at: Program Files > Macromedia (or Adobe) > Configuration > Textures . They usually come in bitmap formats: PNG, GIF TIFF, BMP, or JPEG and are therefore not editable.

In this article we will see how Fireworks' built-in textures can be used and customized, be it bitmap or vector textures by:

Modifying the intensity of texture applied
Enabling the transparency property
Combining textures and patterns
Selecting colors
The application to strokes
The inversion of textures
The textures being turned into patterns
Creation of a style from a texture

Flash Flash PowerTools: Exploring Gradients
by: Joseph Balderson
Release Date: 03/14/2007
Out there in the Flash design and development world, there are many tools available to assist in creating projects. These are "power tools" that supercharge the task of designing, coding, compiling, testing and documenting, allowing you to save time and present ideas much more effectively. Some have been around for a few years, and some are pretty new. This series highlights some of the open source tools and techniques which have made my life as a Flash developer much more effective.

Implementing code-generated graphics or animations can be greatly facilitated with the aid of an "explorer," showing a live example of certain effects, and the code required to create the effect at runtime. This can greatly expedite code generation, and provide an essential learning tool. In this article we'll look at two very handy utilities for exploring code-generated gradients: Kinglong's "Flash Gradient Fills Explorer" and Andreas Weber's Gradient Tween Editor.

Kinglong's "Flash Gradient Fills Explorer" and Andreas Weber's Gradient Tween Editor

The Flash PowerTools Series:
Flash PowerTools: Code Automation with SEPY
Flash PowerTools: FlashTracer for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Standalone FLV Players
Flash PowerTools: Transition and Tween Explorer
Flash PowerTools: Flash Switcher for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Exploring Gradients
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 1
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 2 Coming Soon

Flash The AS3 Event System - Part 1: The Basics
by: Steve Schelter
Release Date: 03/09/2007
AS 3 brings a new level of sophistication in scripting for flash with a unified event model system. In the first installment of this series, we'll be covering the basic principles of registerring listeners and handling event objects.

The AS3 Events System Series:
The AS3 Event System - Part 1: The Basics
The AS3 Event System - Part 2: Timer Class
The AS3 Event System - Part 3: Custom Dispatchers
The AS3 Event System - Part 4: Event Flow Basics
The AS3 Event System - Part 5: Managing Event Flow

Getting ColdFusion MX 7.0.2 Running on Vista and IIS7
by: Heidi Bautista
Release Date: 03/05/2007
This article takes you step-by-step through the process of installing ColdFusion MX 7.0.2 on a PC running the new Vista operating system and using Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.

There are points during the installation process that can and will give you trouble if you follow directions published prior to Vista's release. Therefore, special emphasis has been given to the information you'll need to get working with ColdFusion on Vista.

Who will benefit by reading this article?

ColdFusion programmers who develop and/or run CFM pages locally (including developing CFCs) on a Vista box and who use IIS7.

ColdFusion FusionDebug 2.0 - Configurations
by: Chaz Chumley
Release Date: 03/02/2007
Since our last look at installing and configuring FusionDebug, Fusion-Reactor has come out with version 2.0. So your asking "what's new in this version and why should I upgrade?" Well, how about a new standalone installer that gives you Eclipse 3.2, CFEclipse 1.3 and FusionDebug 2.0, all in one fail swoop. They have also included a Server Configuration Wizard that easily modifies the JVM.config (Java Virtual Machine) settings that we looked at in the previous article. Besides a performance improvement of about 10 times faster than before, the most noticable improvement is it's own debug perspective.

So before we go off learning how to set breakpoints and view and modify variables in our code let's take a look at how to quickly set up the new FusionDebug perspective. This is similar to setting up the Eclipse Debug environment that we looked at in our previous article with a lot less choices.

The FusionDebug Series
FusionDebug 2.0 - Configurations
FusionDebug 2.0 - Setting Breakpoints
FusionDebug 2.0 - Stepping Through a CFC
FusionDebug 2.0 - Variables

Flash Building a Custom Flash Video Player Part 1: The Basic Application
by: Derrick Ypenburg
Release Date: 02/27/2007
For online video, delivering it with Flash is your best bet. Flash gives you the ability to create a fully customized and branded streaming experience for the end user. Other streaming formats and platforms stream through players that cannot be customized, or that are extremely difficult to embed and integrate into a customized environment and require expensive development and testing to do so. Further, ad insertion, closed captioning and selective player controls are also quite easy to integrate in Flash video applications. The ubiquity of the Flash player and fast download time of the plug-in allows you to reach a much larger audience.

This series will guide you from creating the basic building blocks for a simple customized Flash video application to developing a full-on television station type of environment complete with error handling and status messaging, playlists, ad insertion and many other bells and whistles.

This tutorial will start with creating the basic building blocks to plan a strong, well-designed custom video application. After completing this tutorial, you will have a functional, custom Flash video player that you can build upon.

Flash A Bright Idea from Community MX
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 02/15/2007
Instead of looking at After Effects and Flash as being two big applications... ask yourself how they can work together. The results my just be the brightest idea you ever had.

FusionDebug 1.0 - Configurations
by: Chaz Chumley
Release Date: 02/12/2007
If you have been doing ColdFusion development for awhile you have no doubt wished you had an easier way to debug your code instead of using the usual to spit out variables, structs, queries, etc. to a web page. Wouldn't it be nice to set a breakpoint on a line of code and then step thru the web page as it was being rendered? Well now you have just that option. FusionDebug is an interactive ColdFusion MX debugger that plugs into the Eclipse IDE which lets you do just that.

In this series of tutorials we will be looking at how you install the product and create a FusionDebug configuration, set breakpoints in your code that allow for stepping over and into templates, tags and components, change variable values, and watch expressions in the debugger, all in real time.

Education The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series - Part One
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 02/01/2007
There is a concern among educators that web design is often being taught poorly - even at the college level - and without regard for standards. In some cases it is because the instructor has not updated her skills since the turn of the century. In other cases it is because there is a perception that it is too hard to teach and learn CSS. Yes, it is true that one must go slowly, start simple, and build skills in a systematic way. Still, after some experimentation and a few of my own lessons learned the hard way, I came up with some beginning exercises that seem to instill the essential concepts without overwhelming the students. In this series I would like to share some of these lesson plans with my fellow educators who, like me, would like to start their students out with "best practices". Each lesson plan includes step-by-step exercises along with the starter and completed example files for each.

In this first tutorial in the series, the students will construct a simple page, learn to wrap text around an image, and learn how to divide the page into a series of divs that will later provide the hooks for positioning page areas with CSS.

The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series:
The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series - Part 1
The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series - Part 2
The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series - Part 3
The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series - Part 4
The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series - Part 5
The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series - Part 6
The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series - Part 7
The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series - Part 8
The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series - Part 9
The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series - Part 10
The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series - Part 11
The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series - Part 12
The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series - Part 13
The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series - Part 14 <

Flash The Displacement Map Filter Demystified: Part 1 - How It Ticks
by: David Stiller
Release Date: 01/26/2007
Flash Professional 8 introduced a number of exciting new visual filters — such as drop shadow, blur, glow, and bevel — which reproduce many of the corresponding filters of Photoshop and Fireworks. Of these, most are available via the Property inspector's Filters tab. All filters are accessible to ActionScript, but a few actually require programming. One of these is the DisplacementMapFilter class, which distorts images based on the colors or transparency in a special reference map.

Here in Part 1 of this series, you will learn how the displacement map filter works and how to use it to reposition pixels in an imported graphic file. In future installments, you will learn how to produce a handful of very cool visual effects that are only possible with ActionScript, including a magnifying class, fisheye lens, and ripples.

The Displacement Map Filter Demystified Series
The Displacement Map Filter Demystified: Part 1 - How it Ticks
The Displacement Map Filter Demystified: Part 2 - Skewing and Magnification

General Business Google Analytics Part 1: Getting Started with Site Tracking
by: Kim Cavanaugh
Release Date: 01/22/2007
The two fundamental questions regarding web site design and functionality haven't changed since the days when the first commercial sites were published. Who is your target audience and what is it that you want them to do at your site? The answers to those two questions go a long way towards driving site design as they affect everything from the colors you choose, the kind of navigation you select, and the services that you offer.

But what do you after you launch your site? How do you know if you (or your clients) are accomplishing your goals? The more you can find out about your visitors the better off you'll be as you can make any number of inferences from those statistics.

While it used to be hard, or somewhat expensive to get your hands on that data, you now have access to a phenomenal wealth of information about your site and best of all, it's completely free and is being offered by one of the most trusted names on the web—Google.

In the first part of a two-part series you'll have a chance to see just how easy it is to get started with your own Google Analytics account and the steps you can take to begin tracking your site.

ASP.NET Generate a Google Sitemap Using ASP.NET
by: Heidi Bautista
Release Date: 01/17/2007
Google's Webmaster Tools include a way for you to specify a sitemap file. Then, when Google indexes your site, it includes all the pages listed in the sitemap. At first blush you're probably thinking that you'll just use an ASP.NET .sitemap. After all, it's easy to create. You may even already have a .sitemap file that lists all the pages that you would want Google to index. The bad news is that Google doesn't support the format of ASP.NET .sitemap files. Bertrand Le Roy to the rescue.

Read on to learn how to use Bertrand's HTTP handler to convert your ASP.NET .sitemap file to Google's own sitemap format. In addition, this article shows you how to modify the HTTP handler so that it can deal with any ASP.NET .sitemap file, not just the default Web.sitemap file. If your default Web.sitemap contains an incomplete list of site pages you'll want to modify Bertrand's HTTP handler and use it to tell Google about an alternate .sitemap file. Providing Google with a robust sitemap to your site increases your odds of having all pages from your site included in their index.

Christmas Ornament
by: Kim Dudley
Release Date: 12/26/2006
The glass ball is a staple when it comes to Christmas tree ornaments. They come in all shapes, sizes and colors and are often embellished with beads or other sparkly bits. With the Christmas season in full swing I thought it would be a nice time to do a little holiday decorating. In this tutorial we will use Illustrator to create a traditional glass ornament.

Final Christmas ornament

To create this glass ornament we will use some of Illustrator's basic drawing tools, the 3D mapping tool and the Photoshop Glass Effect.

Convert Your Photo Into Line Art with Fireworks
by: Paul Davis
Release Date: 12/20/2006
Convert your photographs into line art with the built in commands in Fireworks and the steps in this tutorial!

Flash Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 1: The Basics
by: Joseph Balderson
Release Date: 12/18/2006
Ever wondered how some Flash applications “break free” of the constraints of a fixed stage size, flowing from one size to another depending on browser size or application state? Creating these fluid layouts in Flash is considered by some to be one of those hidden mysteries of Flash coding. By others it is regarded as a milestone to be achieved on the path of ActionScript mastery. For me, it is both.

We will take you through the steps, from intermediate to advanced, necessary to create application layouts in Flash which can exhibit fullsize or fluid functionality. In this series we will explore the basic principles of creating fluid layouts in Flash, build a sample application with a class architecture using components, finishing off with an exploration of the new fullscreen feature available in Flash Player 9.

This tutorial will explore the basics of creating a flexible stage application.

The Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash Series:
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 1: The Basics
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 2: Proportional Layouts
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 3: Application Development
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 4:Creating the Movie Class
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 5: Extending the Stage Class
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 6: Using Fullscreen

Snowflakes in Illustrator
by: Kim Dudley
Release Date: 12/13/2006
One of the easiest ways to add a wintery feel to a design or layout is to add a few snowflakes. Using Illustrator we can quickly create some unique snowflakes that can be added to almost any artwork. The snowflakes created in this tutorial are easy to make and are a lot of fun to play around with.

In this tutorial we will create 3 different snowflakes using 2 different methods. These snowflakes have a bit of a graphic or modern feel but using the same techniques you can create hundreds of different looks. To create these snowflakes we will use Illustrator's Ellipse, Star and Scale tools as well as the Zig Zag and Pucker and Bloat effect.

traditional snowflake

graphic snowflake

modern snowflake

From Concept to Final Product in After Effects 7: Part 2
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 11/28/2006
Learn how to add and manipulate a variety of objects and media in an After Effects project destined for Flash playback. This is the second part of Chapter One of From After Effects to Flash: Poetry in Motion Graphics

Flash Create Weather in Flash
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 11/10/2006
Who says creating rain and snow in Flash has to be difficult? Combine Flash and After Effects and you too can be a rain maker or snow maker.

Warping Video in a Flash
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 10/30/2006
Sometimes video needs to be such an odd shape that using a simple mask in Flash just won't solve the issue. In this video tutorial, I show you how to use the bezier Warp tool in After efects 7 to create a video that wraps around a shape. Then I show you how to output the video in After Effects and use that video in Flash.

Fire and Smoke in After Effects
by: Bill Horvath
Release Date: 10/23/2006
After Effects from Adobe is capable of some fantastic video effects right out of the box, but there are also some great plug-ins with the Pro version that can help you put some extra pizazz into your video. This tutorial will show you how to create realistic Fire & Smoke effects using only the bundled plugins which you get when buying the Pro Version of After Effects 7.

Tiago Dias works at a corporate television and news production company based in London with subsidiaries around the world, as a video producer and Flash developer — this is Tiago's ideal job, as it combines 2 of his favorite technologies! In his free time he writes tutorials on Flash and After Effects for various communities.

Flash Playing with Radial Gradients in Flash
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 10/19/2006
Ever wondered what mayhem you can unleash with a Radial Gradient in Flash? read on...

A Simple Multi-language ColdFusion Content Management System - Part 1
by: Tom Muck
Release Date: 10/11/2006
There are various ways to create a data-driven multi-language site, but the method I will show in this article series uses an underused technique involving ColdFusion custom tags. Basically, the technique shown will turn any simple, well-formed HTML or XHTML page into a content management system with only one tag required on the page.

This first part will show the principles behind the custom tag technique. The next part will show how to implement the multi-language aspect. The third part will create an administrative interface to administer the system.

The Multi-Language ColdFusion Content Management System Series:
A Simple Multi-language ColdFusion Content Management System - Part 1
A Simple Multi-language ColdFusion Content Management System - Part 2
A Simple Multi-Language ColdFusion Content Management System - Part 3

Flash Working with Shared Libraries - Part 4: Sharing Fonts with Dynamic Text
by: Robert Reinhardt
Release Date: 10/04/2006
In this "Working with" series, you learn how to create and use shared libraries with your Flash movies. Shared libraries can help you optimize your workflow, making it easier to update assets across several Flash movies used for any type of project.

In the last tutorial of this series, you learned how to create a runtime shared library (RSL) file and share its font assets with static text in other Flash movies. In this tutorial, you learn how to reuse the fonts with dynamic text fields in other Flash movies. Sharing fonts is one of the best ways to trim down SWF file sizes for large projects involving many SWF files.

The Working with Shared Libraries Series:
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 1: Sharing Symbols in Authortime Libraries
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 2: Sharing Symbols in a Runtime Shared Library
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 3: Sharing Fonts with Static Text
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 4: Sharing Fonts with Dynamic Text
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 5: Sharing Fonts with Runtime-Created Text Fields
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 6: Using CSS with Shared Fonts Coming Soon
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 7: Sharing Components Coming Soon

A Text Effect Using Illustrator and Masks
by: Kim Dudley
Release Date: 10/03/2006
Illustrator and its masking tool can create some very nice effects. Like other applications Illustrator's masking tool uses shapes to hide or mask other artwork. In this tutorial we will use text as the masking object. Once the mask is created Illustrator's drop shadow effect will be applied to produce artwork suitable for web page banners or page headers.

Computer Math 0101
by: Tom Muck
Release Date: 09/27/2006
One of the very first things that you should learn if you are dealing with programming of any variety is the concept of binary and hexadecimal number systems. The foundation of computers is based in binary—1s and 0s—and its cousin hexadecimal Everything from HTML/CSS color codes to URL encoding to IP addresses to memory/hard drive capacity and everything in between exposes the concept of binary and hexadecimal With a basic understanding, working with computers is a bit easier.

CSS Create Pages that Fill the Browser with CSS
by: Zoe Gillenwater
Release Date: 09/25/2006
A frequently asked question in CSS forums is how to create pages that stretch vertically to fill the browser window, regardless of the amount of content. With tables, you would nest your entire design in a table with a single cell and set both the cell and table's height to be 100 percent. With CSS, it's also quite simple and easy. In this tutorial, you will learn the basic CSS technique for making pages fill the browser window, which you can also use any time you have a div that you want to stretch to fill its parent.

Please note, however, that this is not a tutorial about making a footer stick to the bottom of the browser viewport or about emulating frames. These are more complicated layout requirements that may be covered in further tutorials, building on the 100 percent height technique introduced here.

PHP Introduction to Regular Expressions
by: Rob Williams
Release Date: 09/11/2006
One of the most common tasks as a programmer that you'll end up coming across is string manipulation. You can run from it, you can hide from it, but eventually you're going to have to end up doing it (and usually on a fairly frequent basis!). Fortunately, a special set of tools commonly called "regular expressions" can often save you a great deal of time and effort, helping you achieve goals that you never thought possible. The downside, of course, is that you have to learn how to use these "expressions", and they can be quite confusing at times.

In this article we'll take a beginner's look at what regular expressions are and see through examples how they can help you in your day to day tasks.

ASP.NET Getting Started with Atlas
by: Heidi Bautista
Release Date: 09/06/2006
Just about everyone has heard of AJAX, right? The acronym stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. One of the problems with AJAX is that many people found it difficult to use. Microsoft developed Atlas, in part, to address that issue. Atlas is an extension of ASP.NET. You don't have to use ASP.NET to leverage Atlas functionality, but I think you'll find that it's convenient to do so. In addition to the server-side controls, Atlas also comes with sophisticated client script libraries, saving you the labor of writing your own JavaScript.

In this first tutorial we'll download and install Atlas. Later tutorials will explore using Atlas to perform asynchronous postbacks (via the UpdatePanel). This is arguably the best feature of Atlas. You can have a form on your page and when the user hits the submit button, instead of the entire page posting back, just the form does. That means that the page's contents are still visible. The only disruption to the page is the contents of the form. A lot more user-friendly, eh? Atlas boasts other cool features, too, that will be explained in later installments.

Let's Learn ColdFusion: Building a Simple Admin - Part 1
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 08/31/2006
In this series you will build a simple administration area complete with a control panel that will allow you to manage the content of your website.

The system you will build is aimed at the small business website where one or two users will have total control of the website's content.

The Let's Learn ColdFusion: Building a Simple Admin Series:
Let's Learn ColdFusion: Building a Simple Admin - Part 1
Let's Learn ColdFusion: Building a Simple Admin - Part 2
Let's Learn ColdFusion: Building a Simple Admin - Part 3
Let's Learn ColdFusion: Building a Simple Admin - Part 4 Coming Soon

CSS Create Columns with Floats
by: Zoe Gillenwater
Release Date: 08/28/2006
Floating is the primary method for laying out pages using CSS. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to create the look of columns using the float, width and margin properties. You'll learn the principles for creating both liquid and fixed-width layouts of as many columns as you like.

In order to complete this tutorial, you need to already be familiar with the syntax of CSS and have read Flowing And Positioning: Two Page Models and Float: The Theory.

Flash Working with Shared Libraries - Part 1: Sharing Symbols in Authortime Libraries
by: Robert Reinhardt
Release Date: 08/24/2006
In this new "Working with" series, you learn how to create and use shared libraries with your Flash movies. Shared libraries can help you optimize your workflow, making it easier to update assets across several Flash movies used for any type of project. I just finished a large DVD-ROM project for UCLA's Center for International Emergency Medicine, and the use of shared fonts dramatically decreased troubleshooting font issues between Mac and Windows versions of Flash 8.

The Working with Shared Libraries Series:
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 1: Sharing Symbols in Authortime Libraries
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 2: Sharing Symbols in a Runtime Shared Library
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 3: Sharing Fonts with Static Text
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 4: Sharing Fonts with Dynamic Text
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 5: Sharing Fonts with Runtime-Created Text Fields
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 6: Using CSS with Shared Fonts Coming Soon
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 7: Sharing Components Coming Soon

CFEclipse How To: Creating a Simple CFML Page
by: Chaz Chumley
Release Date: 08/22/2006
This past year at Todcon, I happened to start a discussion with some of the Adobe team about the future of Dreamweaver and how it relates to ColdFusion development. To my surprise, there has been quite a bit of interest surrounding the open source Eclipse IDE and the ColdFusion plugin known as CFEclipse. Not to say that there are plans to discontinue ColdFusion support in future versions of Dreamweaver, but for the experienced developer there is a growing effort to put some research dollars into the CFEclipse product.

CFEclipse is easy to use and has some great features. We'll examine some of them in this first article in the How To series on CFEclipse.

The CFEclipse How To Series
CFEclipse How To: Creating a Simple CFML Page
CFEclipse How To: Creating your first CFC

Flash Building a Drag-and-Drop Jigsaw Puzzle - Part 1
by: David Stiller
Release Date: 08/21/2006
Jigsaw puzzles were a mainstay of my youth on rainy afternoons. The earliest puzzles I remember had merely a dozen pieces, but ah, the sense of accomplishment! Piecing together the artwork was always a rewarding experience. One year, my mother found an ad in a magazine for a company that would convert your personal photo into a puzzle — at the time, the notion struck me as incredible! We ordered one and I treasured it for years.

After reading this two-part series, you'll be able to do the same thing on your own computer! Over the course of these tutorials, you will write an ActionScript 2.0 class to build a re-usable jigsaw puzzle engine. Here in Part 1, we will deconstruct our endeavor into a handful of bite-sized methods and write one large method, CMXJigsawPuzzle.buildPuzzle(), to call those as necessary. The complete code is already included with this tutorial, but the full explanation will span into Part 2.

The Building a Drag-and-Drop Jigsaw Puzzle Series:
Building a Drag-and-Drop Jigsaw Puzzle - Part 1
Building a Drag-and-Drop Jigsaw Puzzle - Part 2

Flash Creating Reflections in Flash 8
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 08/11/2006
Things in Flash aren't always as difficult to achieve when you look at them. Objects containing a reflection on the stage is a good example.

Turning a Tile Image into a Fireworks Pattern
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 08/09/2006
There are lots of tile images available on the web for free, or you may be keen on creating your own. But once you've got the image, how do you set it up so that it displays in the Property Inspector's patterns menu to use for filling vector shapes?

You could do a lot of copying and pasting to manually repeat the image, but that is way too much work. And there is a much easier way; Fireworks Patterns. You can apply patterns to fill any vector shape, thus giving the shape a more textured, organic or photo-realistic appearance.

This brief tutorial will show you how to take a seamless tile image and add it to the Fireworks Patterns menu.

ASP.NET ASP.NET and Several Methods for Updating a Last Modified Date
by: Bill Horvath
Release Date: 07/28/2006
"Created on" and "Last modified" dates are commonly included objects on web pages. This can be quite useful in determining when the last time content was added to a web site. On the other hand, determining when the page was modified may be specifically for the information within the page itself either being entered or modified from a database or some other data source. Tracking changes to a web page can be from a variety of sources. The following methods are discussed: setting the last modified in Dreamweaver; using SQL queries to return the last modified date or current date; using the DateTime object; and setting the file timestamps in code.

CSS Control Block Formatting Context
by: Zoe Gillenwater
Release Date: 07/06/2006
In order to become a skilled CSS developer, you need to understand the underlying concepts of CSS that make it work and not just how to produce certain visual effects. The "block formatting context" is one of those concepts that drives how CSS affects your page without you even knowing it.

Most of the time, you don't need to worry about it; it's just something that's going on behind the scenes that you don't need to get involved with. Sometimes, however, the lack of a new context can make elements interact in undesirable ways. The primary reason for setting a new context is to keep cleared elements inside a main content div from clearing floated sidebars. We'll use this problem as a case study for how to establish new block formatting contexts and to see what their effect is on the other elements around them.

Flash Understanding Classpaths
by: David Stiller
Release Date: 06/30/2006
All objects in recent versions of ActionScript are defined by something called classes. Think of classes as blueprints that determine the unique combination of characteristics, actions, and reactions that comprises a particular object of a certain type. By "object," we are talking about the familiar things a Flash developer deals with every day: movie clips (the MovieClip class), text fields (the TextField class), buttons, sounds, math functions, components, you name it. They are all defined by classes.

Out of the box, Flash provides hundreds of built-in ActionScript classes. The great part is, you can even write your own! But there's a catch: the Flash compiler, which converts ActionScript into Flash Player bytecode, must be told where new classes are located, or it won't be able to find them. That's what this article is about.

Using the Crop Tool to Make Your Picture Larger?
by: Knut Kubenz
Release Date: 06/28/2006
It may sound impossible, but you can actually change the Canvas Size of your picture, making it larger, by using Photoshop's Crop Tool, which normally makes the picture smaller, without any fancy calculations or head scratching.

The Crop Tool is often used to make pictures smaller. This quick and easy tip takes the guess work out of extending the Canvas size without the need for time consuming calculations.

Let's Learn ColdFusion: Part 1 - Installation and the Testing Server
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 06/19/2006
Welcome to the first in a series of articles aimed at providing an extensive overview of the ColdFusion language to newcomers to server-side development.

The series will start at the beginnning with a look at the make-up of the language and progress to basic server-side development allowing you to build on your knowledge with each new addition to the series.

The Let's Learn ColdFusion Series:
Let's Learn ColdFusion: Part 1 - Installation and the Testing Server
Let's Learn ColdFusion: Part 2 - The URL Scope, Variable Names and Values
Let's Learn ColdFusion: Part 3 - Adding Simple Logic and Error Checking
Let's Learn ColdFusion: Part 4a - Creating a Datasource
Let's Learn ColdFusion: Part 4b - Building a Dynamic List Menu
Let's Learn ColdFusion: Part 4c - Filtering Your Queries and the cfqueryparam Tag
Let's Learn ColdFusion: Part 4d - Error Checking Your ColdFusion Queries Coming Soon

Great New Feature in Photoshop's Camera Raw 3
by: Knut Kubenz
Release Date: 06/13/2006
Here's a lightning speed way to straighten out crooked photos using Photoshop's Camera Raw 3.

Flash Loaders Demystified - Part 4: Using the CMX GIF Pre-Loader Packs
by: Joseph Balderson
Release Date: 06/12/2006
In this tutorial we will look at using the popular CMX GIF Pre-Loader Packs, which contain animation assets for loaders. Using a sample from the series, you will create a custom animated flash loader using a combination of tried-and-true techniques and some of the latest in flash 8 effects.

By the end of this tutorial your loader will look like the following:
the finished product

Approximate download size: 1.3MB

The Loaders Demystified Series
Loaders Demystified: Part 1 - Usability Guidelines
Loaders Demystified: Part 2 - Creating a Simple Loader
Loaders Demystified: Part 3 - Getting Creative with Progress Indicators
Loaders Demystified: Part 4 - Using the CMX GIF Pre-Loader Packs

CSS All About CSS Drop Shadows - Part One
by: Holly Bergevin
Release Date: 06/08/2006
Do you like drop shadows on your page elements, but haven't a clue how to get them on your pages? Maybe you do know a bit about creating drop shadows, but a refresher on the modern methods would be welcome? Do you want to learn the very latest cutting edge tricks?

If you are any of these, don't go away because we now begin a series on drop shadows for HTML elements. At the start we'll keep it simple, and as we progress in the series the methods will become more advanced and effective. At the end you will be treated to a brand new method so advanced that it must wait for IE7 to arrive before you can use it properly.

Join us, won't you?

The All About CSS Drop Shadows Series:
All About CSS Drop Shadows - Part One
All About CSS Drop Shadows - Part Two
All About CSS Drop Shadows - Part Three
All About CSS Drop Shadows - Part Four
All About CSS Drop Shadows - Part Five
All About CSS Drop Shadows - Part Six
All About CSS Drop Shadows - Part Seven Coming Soon

Flash Text in Motion With the Wiggler
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 05/19/2006
When you start using After Effects, there will come a time when you look at the presets and think, "Gosh, I am bored with these." That will be the point where you discover Adobe has a wonderful sense of humor and you start using the Wiggler. In the text options, on the timeline, the Wiggly selector can be added to a chunk of text to randomize the values of any of the properties associated with that group. That description may sound rather formal, but when it comes to adding effects, randomness can lead to some happy surprises.

Approximate download size: 541k

Flash Keeping it Small in Flash
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 05/18/2006
If your Flash efforts need to go on some sort of weight loss program, here's a good place to start.

Flash Creating a Blurred Mask
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 05/18/2006
In this exercise you will create a video that blurs the edges of a mask to create the effect of a video that is in focus in a "knock out" area while the remainder of the video, under a black bitmap, is blurred using a Threshold effect. The key to this exercise, is to understand that the shapes you draw are composed of colored pixels. These pixels form a shape and that shape, when the movie is displayed on your screen, is seen by the computer as a bitmap.

Approximate download size: 4.3MB

Flash Masks in Motion
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 05/17/2006
As you know movie clips can be created using ActionScript and they have properties like position and size that can be manipulated. In this exercise we are going have a quite a few masks — up to 30 at any given time — moving across the screen and the color of the video will change based upon the position of the mouse on the screen.

Approximate download size: 2.2MB

Flash Applying Filters and Blends Through ActionScript
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 05/15/2006
Filters and blends can be applied without the use of code. They are all available through the Property Inspector and can be applied singly or in combination with each other. The filters and blends can also be applied through the use of ActionScript.

In the first of two exercises, you will blur a video by dragging your mouse across it. In the second exercise you add a screen blend mode that simulates the effect of a video being projected onto an underlying image… but the image shows through.

Approximate download size: 4.1MB

CSS Persistent Page Indicator
by: Stephanie Sullivan
Release Date: 05/12/2006
When developing Web sites using good principles of usability, it is good practice to use an indicator showing what page the person is on as they surf through your site. Some people use bread crumbs as well as a persistent page indicator (many times like the down state of the button) indicating that "you are here." This page indication can be acheived by simply placing a class on the proper navigation item (and changing the item it's placed on from page to page). However, when using server-side includes, templates or library items in Dreamweaver, since the same menu is used on each instance of the page, it can be a more challenging process. Don't worry though -- CSS and the descendant selector handle the challenge quite nicely. Come along as we walk through the steps needed to create this effect.

Flash Looping Flash Video
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 05/09/2006
Of course you can't loop a video in Flash because there is nothing in ActionScript that specifically deals with the issue. Turns out you can indeed do this. All you have to do is to eavesdrop.

Approximate download size: 2.6MB

SQL Deconstructing MySpace.com Part 1 - Social Networking Database
by: Joel Martinez
Release Date: 05/05/2006
MySpace is the social networking phenomenon that is sweeping the nation. Having recently been sold for US$580 Million, it is plain to see that the format has a value, and indeed, just about everyone I know below the age of 25 has a MySpace account. The reason MySpace works is because it puts the control of the content in the hands of the users, and by catering to the social aspects of the human condition has found itself in an enviable position of mass appeal despite some criticism.

The purpose of this, first of many articles is to deconstruct the application -- in this case, MySpace.com -- and show you how to build your own. I believe that the lessons that can be gleaned from learning how a successful site is constructed are plentiful and valuable. Namely, the ability for the users of your site to connect to each other.

The first thing we will look at is what database structure would be required to implement the social networking aspect of MySpace.com. The examples will be in the context of SQL Server 2005, but the knowledge should be transferable to other RDBMSs.

CSS Close Gaps Next to Floated Images in Internet Explorer
by: Zoe Gillenwater
Release Date: 05/02/2006
One of the most common tasks when laying out the content of a web page is floating images to the right or left so that text flows around them — something very easy to do in CSS. But when an image has the clear property set on it in addition to the float property, large gaps in the content can appear in Internet Explorer. Unlike many of IE's bugs, this one doesn't fall to its typical hacks. But, it can be fixed. In this tutorial, you'll learn two fixes for this IE bug.

Flash Flash Printing Tasks - Part 1: Building a Certificate Template in Illustrator and Flash
by: Robert Reinhardt
Release Date: 04/18/2006
More and more Flash content creators are discovering the power of printing from the Flash Player. Since Flash Player 4, you've had the tools to print content from a Flash movie. Starting with Flash Player 7, a powerful ActionScript class named PrintJob has been on the scene to enable exacting control over printed output from a Flash movie. In this multi-part series, you learn how to build a printable certificate from a Flash movie. In this first installment, you learn how to create the certificate template in Adobe Illustrator CS2 and Flash 8.

The Flash Printing Task Series:
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 1: Building a Certificate Template in Illustrator and Flash
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 2: Basic Printing of the Certificate
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 3: Adding Dynamic Text to the Certificate
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 4: Creating a Form for Certificate Information
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 5: Building a Preview for the Certificate
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 6: Creating a Color/Grayscale Toggle for the Certificate Preview Window
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 7: Printing Alpha and Color Mode Effects
Flash Printing Tasks - Part 8: Printing Filter Effects Coming Soon

Retouching Tools in Photoshop CS2 - Part 1
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 04/07/2006
It's pretty much an undisputed fact that Photoshop is the king of bitmap editing tools — especially for high resolution, print-destined images. Photoshop CS2 has some very cool and useful tools and features that can help you fix or clean up almost any image that is supplied to you. In this article (Part 1) we will look at several tools — some of which you will recognize if you are a veteran Fireworks user — and some which you will probably say, "Holy Moly! this is cool!"

Not every image requires that you use all the tools available. The tools we'll focus on are the Spot Healing Brush (new for CS2), the Healing Brush, Clone Stamp, Patch, Dodge and Burn tools.

The Retouching Tools in Photoshop Series:
Retouching Tools in Photoshop CS2: Part 1
Retouching Tools in Photoshop - Part 2: Image Adjustment
Retouching Tools in Photoshop - Part 3: More Image Adjustments

Approximate download size: 1.8MB

Flash Getting Started with Eclipse - Part 3: ActionScript Development
by: Paul Newman
Release Date: 04/03/2006
In Part 3 of this series, you'll learn how to install the ASDT plugin for Eclipse and set up your environment for ActionScript development. You will also learn how to compile SWFs using MTASC and enable trace statements with Flashout.

The Getting Started with Eclipse Series:
Getting Started with Eclipse - Part 1
Getting Started with Eclipse - Part 2
Getting Started with Eclipse - Part 3

CSS Create a Teaser Thumbnail List Using CSS: Part 1
by: Zoe Gillenwater
Release Date: 03/24/2006
"Teaser thumbnail lists" are those lists of items made up of a title, short description, and thumbnail. They're often used to provide short teasers that link to more information about the products, articles, or sections of the site being listed. This tutorial will go over one way to structure the XHTML and CSS to create such a list that maximizes flexibility for the site owner and accessibility for the end user. The resulting list will feature a fixed-width, grid-like design, with the thumbnails aligned to the left and the title and description for each item sitting to the right. All with only 18 lines of CSS!

Note: This tutorial has been updated as of 4/16/2007. You can view the updated tutorial here

The Create a Teaser Thumbnail List Series:
Create a Teaser Thumbnail List Using CSS: Part 1
Create a Teaser Thumbnail List Using CSS: Part 2
Create a Teaser Thumbnail List Using CSS: Part 3
Create a Teaser Thumbnail List Using CSS: Part 4

Flash Flash Video Cue Points: Part 4 - Adding Cue Points with Sorenson Squeeze 4.3
by: Robert Reinhardt
Release Date: 03/22/2006
When Flash Professional 8 was released in 2005, the only tool available to add embedded cue points to Flash Video (.flv) files was Macromedia's own Flash 8 Video Encoder tool. Now, Sorenson Squeeze 4.3 adds a powerful cue point creation feature to the mix. Read this tutorial to learn how to add navigation cue points to your Flash Video files.

The Flash Video Cue Points Series:
Flash Video Cue Points: Part 1 - Overview of Cue Points
Flash Video Cue Points: Part 2 - Embedded Navigation Cue Points with Flash Pro 8
Flash Video Cue Points: Part 3 - Building a List of Embedded Cue Points
Flash Video Cue Points: Part 4 - Adding Cue Points with Sorenson Squeeze 4.3

Approximate download size: 4.6MB

Flash Loaders Demystified: Part 2 - Creating a Simple Loader
by: Joseph Balderson
Release Date: 03/16/2006
The process of creating a loading progress indicator for your Flash movie is more involved than you may think. Here's one way of constructing one that is "bullet proof".

Approximate download size: 2.2MB

The Loaders Demystified Series
Loaders Demystified: Part 1 - Usability Guidelines
Loaders Demystified: Part 2 - Creating a Simple Loader
Loaders Demystified: Part 3 - Getting Creative with Progress Indicators
Loaders Demystified: Part 4 - Using the CMX GIF Pre-Loader Packs

GoLive Cool GoLive Features Part 5: the Site Sucker
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 03/13/2006
When subscribers ask questions in the CMX forums about a Web page, sometimes I need to download the page with all its dependent files so I can troubleshoot it. Or, I may want to edit a site for which I do not have the FTP information. Rather than use the Internet Explorer or Safari Web archive option, I turn to Adobe GoLive with its built in site and page sucking feature. All I have to do is paste in the URL of the desired page, and GoLive quickly does the rest.

Using JumpStarts with Cartweaver, Featuring Minneapolis
by: Tom Muck
Release Date: 03/09/2006
JumpStarts are great starting points for dynamic sites, and the Minneapolis JumpStart is a great starting point for a dynamic e-commerce site. Shopping carts like Cartweaver integrate well with Dreamweaver, but how do you integrate a third-party cart with a JumpStart? This tutorial, written by a member of the Cartweaver team and Community MX, shows one way of integrating the two.

Flash Masking Flash Video
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 03/08/2006
Sometimes you are handed a video that is just so good, it should be framed. For instance there was that video shot when Chris Flick, whose career has been built on "slandering" me, and I "hooked up" at TODCON and I did my version of "Kill Chris"! Here's how to put it in a frame and, along the way, you learn how to mask a video.

Batch Processing Images to a Custom File Size
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 03/07/2006
Fireworks Batch processing features can really save you time when you have to do the same thing to a bunch of images. A recent question in the Macromedia Fireworks forum made me stop to think of another batch processing routine that may come in handy for people; batch processing images to a specific file size.

Let's say you have a large number of photos that are different file sizes. Perhaps due to disc space restrictions or file size limitations for a web gallery or e-commerce site, you have to ensure that ALL the images not exceed a specific file size.

This tutorial will show you how to create a batch process for exporting a folder full of files to a specific file size, how to create your own custom Optimization Presets, and how to to save multiple Batch Options as a single script file that can be accessed in the Batch Process window.

Flash Flash Video Deployment: A Case Study with TEACHnow.org, Part 1: Video Requirements
by: Robert Reinhardt
Release Date: 03/07/2006
Since the release of Flash Player 8, a lot of buzz has been generating about the new and improved quality of Flash Video, thanks to the On2 VP6 codec that is part of the Flash Player 8 plug-in. In Part 1 of this series, the process of deploying a 35-minute documentary with Flash Video is examined.

Flash Loaders Demystified: Part 1 - Usability Guidelines
by: Joseph Balderson
Release Date: 02/28/2006
In this series we are going to look at all the different kinds of flash loaders — what they're for, how to build them and when to use them. For those Flash users who think they know everything there is ot know about loaders, we hope to show you some new tricks.

In this tutorial — Part 1 of this series — we will be looking at basic loader concepts and loader usability. In Part 2, we'll go over a variation on the classic frame-based loader, upgraded to ActionScript 2.0 syntax.

The Loaders Demystified Series
Loaders Demystified: Part 1 - Usability Guidelines
Loaders Demystified: Part 2 - Creating a Simple Loader
Loaders Demystified: Part 3 - Getting Creative with Progress Indicators
Loaders Demystified: Part 4 - Using the CMX GIF Pre-Loader Packs

Flash Stupid Web Cam Tricks: Part 1
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 02/15/2006
Why wave at the world when you can can turn your web camera into a kaleidoscope?

Open Source Getting Started with Eclipse - Part 2
by: Paul Newman
Release Date: 02/02/2006
In the second article of this series, you'll learn how to install Eclipse plug-ins for ColdFusion, PHP, and ActionScript.

The Getting Started with Eclipse Series:
Getting Started with Eclipse - Part 1
Getting Started with Eclipse - Part 2
Getting Started with Eclipse - Part 3

Flash Flash Video Cue Points: Part 3 - Building a List of Embedded Cue Points
by: Robert Reinhardt
Release Date: 01/30/2006
Are you looking for a way to read cue point data from an FLV file you created with the Flash 8 Video Encoder or the Flash Pro 8 Video Import wizard? In this tutorial, learn how to populate a List component with cue point names from a sample FLV file, as shown in the completed Flash movie below. As the video plays, the appropriate cue point highlights in the List component.

This text is replaced by the Flash movie.

The Flash Video Cue Points Series:
Flash Video Cue Points: Part 1 - Overview of Cue Points
Flash Video Cue Points: Part 2 - Embedded Navigation Cue Points with Flash Pro 8
Flash Video Cue Points: Part 3 - Building a List of Embedded Cue Points
Flash Video Cue Points: Part 4 - Adding Cue Points with Sorenson Squeeze 4.3 Coming Soon

Approximate download: 3MB

GoLive Cool Adobe GoLive Features - Part 2: Extending With Smart Forms
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 01/25/2006
In the second article of the cool GoLive features series we will look at GoLive Smart Forms and International Smart Forms, two free extensions created by Adam Pratt that add 50 commonly used forms to your pages. If you ever laboriously typed out all the labels and values for a country list, or found yourself constructing an elaborate eCommerce form, you're going to love these starter forms and form objects.

The Cool GoLive Features Series:
Cool Adobe GoLive Features: Part 1 - The Site Diagram Tool
Cool Adobe GoLive Features: Part 2 - Extending With Smart Forms

GoLive Cool Adobe GoLive Features: Part One - The Site Diagram Tool
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 01/18/2006
If you purchased Adobe CS2 Premium, you may have noticed that you get Adobe's Web authoring program GoLive in the package. If you have been using Dreamweaver, you might have suppressed your curiosity to investigate further. Because I have taught and used GoLive over the years, however, I've discovered some unique and wonderful features that I would like to share. They may make you want to take a second look and even "weave" a few GoLive tools into your workflow.

In this article, I will introduce GoLive's Site Diagram tool. With it, you can structure an entire site, generate its folders and pages, add annotations, and present a beautifully designed diagram in PDF or SVG format to clients.

The Cool GoLive Features Series:
Cool Adobe GoLive Features: Part 1 - The Site Diagram Tool
Cool Adobe GoLive Features: Part 2 - Extending With Smart Forms

Reviews Getting Movies onto Your iPod
by: Paul Newman
Release Date: 01/18/2006
In this article, you'll learn how to rip your DVDs to MPEG-4 format for playback on the fifth-generation iPod Video. You'll also learn how to view your iPod videos on a computer or television.

A Fireworks Quickie - Creating a Custom Command for Auto Shapes
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 01/09/2006
I was reading an interesting thread on the Fireworks Newsgroup recently, about Auto Shapes. More specifically, the user wanted to know if there was any way he could get Fireworks to remember the specific settings for the Pie Auto Shape, in terms of size, segments and position on the canvas.

Without editing the actual JavaScript code for the Auto Shape, I don't think there is a way to get FW to lock in those changes permanently, but I discovered that — using Fireworks 8 — there is a way to create a custom command that does basically the same thing.

I'm a big fan of finding ways to reduce repetition; it saves you time, increases productivity and — let's face it — if I have to add a shape to 200 images for use as a mask object or some such thing, I really don't want to be building the shape from scratch every single time. BORING!!!

A custom command is created by saving a series of steps in the History panel as a single command. Once saved, the command will appear in the Command menu, and is useable on any open file.

I say Fireworks 8 because I found it necessary to use the new Auto Shapes panel to achieve the end result. Typically — and in earlier versions of FW — the only way to put an Auto Shape from the tool bar onto the canvas was to select the shape, then click and drag to draw the shape to your desired size. To edit the properties of the Auto Shape, you would normally drag the shape control handles. The problem with both these steps is that they cannot be recorded by the History panel, because they both rely on mouse movement. In FW 8, we have the new Auto Shape Properties panel, though. We can control every aspect of the shape from this panel, including the ability to insert new, additional shapes without going to the toolbar. This method worked on every auto shape I tested; it is not limited to the pie shape.

So follow along in this quick tutorial to see just how easy this process is. Who knows — it might even save YOU some time.

Flash The Local File System and Flash
by: Danny Patterson
Release Date: 12/19/2005
It seems like Flash developers always want to save data to the user's local file system. For security reasons, Flash does not give a SWF permission to do this. However, with the features found in many of today's top Flash projector tools, you can write to the user's local file system.

In this article, we will examine Zinc, one of the most popular Flash projectors on the market, and see how we can use it to save an XML file to the user's hard drive.

Christmas Themed Photo Borders Using Freehand - Part 2
by: Kim Dudley
Release Date: 12/14/2005
Take a break from all that Christmas shopping and light up some of your pictures and layouts. This tutorial uses some of Freehand's basic drawing tools to create a quick and easy photo border that looks like a string of glowing Christmas lights. This frame can quickly be created and adjusted to fit any picture or layout so you can get back to all your Christmas related tasks in no time.

CSS Preparing For IE7 - Part Four - Updating a Real World Style Sheet
by: Holly Bergevin
Release Date: 12/13/2005
In Part 4 of our IE7 series, we loosen our collars and have some fun. We'll be digging through a real world, complex, and quite lengthy stylesheet, hunting for CSS hacks! Our goal is to find the ones that will make IE7 choke, and do whatever it takes to remedy the situation.

Each CSS hack will be taken as it comes, with tips on how to deal with each type, and the final result will be a CSS file that will pass muster when the masses start switching to IE7.

Oh, by the way, the file we will be exploring is, ahem... CMX's own stylesheet! Please don your protective gear and join us, won't you?

The Preparing for IE7 Series:
Preparing for IE7 - Part One
Preparing for IE7 - Part Two
Preparing for IE7 - Part Three: Multiple IE Browsers on One Computer
Preparing for IE7 - Part Four: Updating a Real World Style Sheet
Preparing for IE7 - Part Five

CSS Creating Elastic Layouts with the em Unit
by: Zoe Gillenwater
Release Date: 12/08/2005
Traditionally, there have been two types of web page layouts: fixed/static or liquid/fluid. Now that CSS-based layout is possible, there are several more options. One of these is called elastic layout. In an elastic layout, the width of columns is set in ems so that the design can scale as the user's text size is changed. This can create layouts that are more flexible and attuned to the user's preferences than fixed-width, pixel-based designs but afford the designer more control over the placement of elements on the page than liquid, percentage-based designs. This article will show how to use ems as a measurement of width and introduce the technique behind a fully elastic design.

CSS Preparing For IE7 - Part Three - Multiple IE Browsers on One Computer
by: Holly Bergevin
Release Date: 12/07/2005
As the introduction of IE7 looms on the horizon, bringing yet another IE/Win version to the current list of browsers that web pages must be checked in, it would be great to have the ability to easily test on all these browsers. We've discovered that we can target different IE/Win browsers using Conditional Comments (CC), but up until recently testing in multiple versions of IE required several computers, or some special software instead.

This is no longer the case. It's now possible to have IE3, IE4, IE5, IE5.5, and IE6 all working at the same time on one Windows computer! In this tutorial we'll describe how to install and label several versions IE/Win on a single computer. We'll also make a registry adjustment that will allow CCs to work properly on these newly installed browsers. Onward!

The Preparing for IE7 Series:
Preparing for IE7 - Part One
Preparing for IE7 - Part Two
Preparing for IE7 - Part Three: Multiple IE Browsers on One Computer
Preparing for IE7 - Part Four: Updating a Real World Style Sheet
Preparing for IE7 - Part Five

CSS The Many Uses of the Malleable em
by: Zoe Gillenwater
Release Date: 12/01/2005
Most people first encounter the em unit as a way to size text using CSS. This article will show you how to do just that. But, there's more to the em unit than just font sizing. It can be used as a length unit on any property that takes a length. You'll learn how to use the em unit as length for margin and padding to create pages that scale more gracefully.

Show and Hide Content Based on User Access Levels
by: Danilo Celic
Release Date: 11/23/2005
Dreamweaver's native Log In User server behavior combined with the Restrict Access to Page server behavior can help you protect your pages from prying eyes. However, when it comes to more fine grained control of content on pages viewable by users from multiple access levels, Dreamweaver doesn't have anything built in to offer any assistance to you.

Read on to learn how to show and hide content on a page based upon the access level (user group) of a logged in visitor.

The Many Uses of Fireworks - Part 2 - PowerPoint Backgrounds
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 11/16/2005
As we learned in Part 1, Fireworks is not just for web graphics. I think of FW as a screen graphics app. It lends itself well to almost any production flow that needs screen quality images, such as Captivate, PowerPoint, Flash, Director and even the desktop.

In Part 1, we looked at how to make promotional wallpaper for your site's visitors, including ways to batch process your files at various pixel dimensions. In Part 2, we will explore Fireworks' capability as a graphics editor/creator for PowerPoint and Captivate.

For good or ill, PowerPoint has become the de facto standard for many types of corporate presentations. Product launches, sales meetings, conferences, and the list goes on. It's easy enough to build a presentation using only the design templates that come with PowerPoint, but your presentation might look very much like someone else's. Also, the stock designs may not utilize a given company's corporate colors. And in many cases, the person creating the presentation may not have the skills, software or time to put together a custom look.

This is where you and Fireworks come in to save the day. Creating custom backgrounds and navigation art — even if it's just optimizing the images that exist in a current presentation — can mean another revenue source for you. And if you're like me — an independent contractor — having your fingers in several pies helps smooth out the highs and lows of project work.

Flash Create a Talking Head Video Using Adobe Premiere Pro and Flash Professional 8
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 11/14/2005
The ability to use video with an Alpha Channel is new to Flash Professional 8. This articles shows how to create the video and then place it in Flash. Ever wondered how they create those talking head videos and cool banner ads on the Macromedia site? Read on...

Open Source Getting Started with Eclipse - Part 1
by: CMX
Release Date: 11/02/2005
Eclipse is an open-source IDE widely used for Java development and developed by the Eclipse Foundation. Eclipse, in conjunction with plug-ins, can be used as an environment for any number of programming languages. There are plugins for ColdFusion, .NET, PHP, and even Ada and LISP. In addition, Macromedia is joining the Eclipse Foundation and has built a Flex IDE, formerly code-named Zorn, based on the Eclipse editor.

In this article, you'll learn how to download and install Eclipse, define a workspace, and create and debug a "Hello world!" application in Java.

The Getting Started with Eclipse Series:
Getting Started with Eclipse - Part 1
Getting Started with Eclipse - Part 2
Getting Started with Eclipse - Part 3

CSS Working with TopStyle - Part 1
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 10/18/2005
In this series of tutorials we will be looking at integrating TopStyle with Dreamweaver and investigating the features that TopStyle provides us with for working with CSS files.

The Working with TopStyle Series
Working with TopStyle - Part 1
Working with TopStyle - Part 2
Working with TopStyle - Part 3
Working with TopStyle - Part 4 Coming Soon

A Fireworks Quickie - Using Hue/Saturation Live Filters to Colorize an Image
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 10/18/2005
I'm always looking for cool new things to do with photos. Sometimes I even stumble across techniques by accident. It's even cooler when that technique is easy to do, as in this tutorial about colorizing an image using the Hue/Saturation Live Filter (Live Effect in MX 04 and earlier).

Adding Flash Video to Dreamweaver 8
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 10/12/2005
Web video is suddenly all the rage thanks to Flash Professional 8, those wonderful people at On2 and Sorenson and the folks at Adobe who provide the video editing software. It is enough to make a web developer's head spin. Suddenly we are confronted with putting web video in our web pages because clients see the neat stuff the "Cool Kids" over on the Flash side of the street are doing and we get caught with a "Me too!" The guys at Macromedia must have anticipated this because they did something with Flash Video in Dreamweaver 8 that is rather amazing; they made it even easier to use. Best off all, it is free.

Prior to the release of Dreamweaver 8, the Flash Video Kit for Dreamweaver MX 2004 was a spending decision on your part if you wanted to add Flash video to your pages. Mind you, the "Kit" included a copy of Sorenson Squeeze Lite and it is still an integral FLV creation tool if you didn't purchase either Studio 8 or Flash Professional 8. The Video Kit is now bundled with the application and is even better than the retail version of the Video Kit.

Macromedia has pulled off a rather amazing feat with Dreamweaver 8. They made adding video to your web pages even easier than ever.

Flash Choosing a Video Codec for Your Flash 8 Movie
by: Robert Reinhardt
Release Date: 09/28/2005
By now, you've probably heard about--and seen--the new On2 VP6 codec featured in Flash Player 8. While the codec offers image quality that is far superior to Sorenson Spark, On2 VP6 is not always the best choice for your video content. In this article, you learn how to determine which codec will offer the best experience to your audience.

CSS An Introduction to MOSe
by: Bill Horvath
Release Date: 09/22/2005
The term MOSe means Mozilla, Opera and Safari enhancement. In this article we will explore some practical ways in which you can spice up your CSS designs for users equipped with up to date browsing software.

Due to the lack of modern CSS support in some browsers, many developers and designers find themselves in the rut of only using code that they know works for the masses. However, if we take advantage of modern CSS syntax and proprieatary code we can enhance aethetics beyond the norm for users with standards compliant browser software without sacrificing the experience for users equipped with older browsers.

Let's have a look at some commonly used design elements and see how we can add some more flavour to them.

Rotating Images with Dreamweaver and JavaScript
by: Danilo Celic
Release Date: 09/21/2005
Slideshow, rotating images, image-a-go-go, whatever you want to call it, a client will ask for an image or banner to swap out with another image (or more than one), and continue swapping every so often. With Dreamweaver it's pretty easy to throw together some scripting that will accomplish just that for your client. Dreamweaver does most of the heavy lifting, and all you need to do is to paste in a little bit of code, set the images you want to display, how long you want the interval between image swaps to be and your all ready to send the invoice. Right, yes you did read that you'd be doing a bit of work up there, but don't worry, once you have this technique down it can take you as little as 20 seconds to get this going.

What's with the Question Marks? Or: Where are my Curly Quotes?
by: Arman Danesh
Release Date: 09/14/2005
If you work with ColdFusion and popular databases such as MySQL you my find yourself geting strange results. Even if you don't use non-Roman scripts such as Chinese or Arabic you may find curly quotes or other extended characters magically becoming question marks. This article discusses techniques you can use to resolve this common problem.

Text in Captivate
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 09/13/2005
Why, oh why, oh why do people not format their text in Captivate? Here's a quick overview of some the options available to you for formatting your text in Captivate.

Flash Creating a Video Player in Flash Professional 8
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 08/29/2005
Macromedia seems to have pulled off a magic trick: Make Flash video more complex but easier than ever to use.

In the first part of this overview of the new video features of Flash Professional 8, I showed you how to use the new tools in Flash Professional 8 — The Wizard and the Flash 8 Video Encoder — to create the FLV file. In this installment I will walk you through the use of the new FLVPlayback component and the new FLV Custom PlayBack UI components.

Accessibility and the Label Tag
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 08/23/2005
In this tutorial we will look at how we can build and lay out accessible forms. In particular we will focus on the label element and we will see how the label can be used to not only increase the focus area of any form element but at the same time be utilised to give our form layouts a little more structure than a simple stacking of form elements in a single column.

Flash Applying Filters Programmatically in Flash 8
by: Paul Newman
Release Date: 08/10/2005
If you read Tom Green's article, Getting Expressive with Flash 8 Professional, you learned about the new filters — Drop Shadow, Blur, Glow, etc. — that you can apply to movie clips and text at authoring time. In this article, you'll learn how to apply the new filters to movie clips and text fields at runtime using ActionScript.

Flash Getting Started With Flash Lite
by: Paul Wilson
Release Date: 08/04/2005
Flash Lite is the version of the Macromedia Flash Player that has been specifically designed for use on mobile phones. This article aims to give you an introduction to developing content for mobile devices and the tools you need to start building applications using Flash Lite.

Flash Better Practices for Flash Designers - Part 1: Coding Buttons
by: Robert Reinhardt
Release Date: 08/03/2005
One of the many beauties of Flash is that you can create interactive movies with a variety of techniques and ActionScript code, each accommodating a specific user's level of comfort and familiarity with the Flash toolset. In this tutorial, you learn how to expand your use of ActionScript to better organize and write your code for buttons.

The Better Practices for Flash Designers Series:
Better Practices for Flash Designers - Part 1: Coding Buttons
Better Practices for Flash Designers - Part 2: Using Shared Fonts
Better Practices for Flash Designers - Part 3: Building Better Buttons
Better Practices for Flash Designers - Part 4: Creating a Button Class

CSS Getting Rid of the Page Shift
by: Zoe Gillenwater
Release Date: 07/18/2005
If you've built a centered, fixed-width site, or just browsed through any sites with such layouts, you may have noticed a strange left to right shift in the content between pages that doesn't occur in Internet Explorer, but does in other browsers, such as Firefox, Opera, and Safari. Find out why it happens and what to include in your style sheet to prevent it on your own site, as well as how to customize your browser so that you never see the shift again on any site across the web!

CSS The Jello Mold: A New Look at Min- and Max-width For Web Pages - Part One
by: Holly Bergevin
Release Date: 06/30/2005
When designing a web page, a very important factor is width. If you do not assign an overall width to your page it will fill the user's browser window, whereas a rigid pixel-width wrapper will keep the page width constant, but has its own potential negative points.

As you can see, this is not a trivial issue. Ideally, we would be able to use the CSS min-width and max-width properties to solve the problem. However, Internet Explorer browsers (both Win and Mac) do not currently support them. Scripts are available to accomplish the task, but can introduce browser bugs of their own.

The first part of this tutorial series will introduce a new method of allowing min-width to be simulated in IE browsers without using scripts. It is cross-browser-friendly, as well. We think you're going to like the Jello Mold.

Flash Using the Macromedia Flash / JavaScript Integration Kit
by: Danny Patterson
Release Date: 06/17/2005
The Flash/JavaScript Integration Kit was developed by Christian Cantrell and Mike Chambers at Macromedia. It was developed to make the communication between Flash and JavaScript easier to implement. This isn't a new technology, but it's a straightforward way to implement this type of communication between these different pieces of your application. This article discusses the benefits of the Integration Kit and gives a simple demonstration of how it can be used.

CSS List Display Problems In Explorer For Windows - Part One
by: Holly Bergevin
Release Date: 06/01/2005
This tutorial begins a series about display problems encountered in Internet Explorer for Windows when using list elements. First up, we will discover some differences between browsers and how to compensate for them, and then we will solve the mystery of the missing bullets in IE. Join us!

Flash Data Binding in Flash MX Pro 2004 - Part 1: Visual Binding with the List and MediaPlayback Component
by: Robert Reinhardt
Release Date: 05/17/2005
Flash MX Professional 2004 enables you to quickly bind two or more components together with interactive behaviors using the new Bindings and Schema tabs of the Component Inspector. In this tutorial, you learn how to add a list of FLV files to the List component and bind the selected item's data to the MediaPlayback component.

The DataBinding in Flash MX Pro 2004 Series:
DataBinding in Flash MX Pro 2004 - Part 1: Visual Binding with the List and MediaPlayback Component
DataBinding in Flash MX Pro 2004 - Part 2: Using the XMLConnector Component to Populate a List
DataBinding in Flash MX Pro 2004 - Part 3: Loading Text with the XMLConnector Component
DataBinding in Flash MX Pro 2004 - Part 4: Styling Label and TextArea Components
DataBinding in Flash MX Pro 2004 - Part 5: Coding XMLConnector and List Components

A Fireworks Quickie - Using Text as a Mask
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 05/16/2005
In this introductory masking tutorial we will take a photograph and mask it with a string of text. This technique is requested often in various user groups. While not difficult to do, it certainly expands the creative options for text.

ASP.NET AJAX.NET
by: Joel Martinez
Release Date: 05/06/2005
AJAX, it's the hottest thing since sliced bread right now. It stands for Asynchronous Javascript using XMLHttpRequest and the basic premise of it is that you can call serverside code from client side javascript without reloading the page. In essence, this gives almost limitless powers (as far as programming languages go) to the little script that could. The canonical example that started the whole craze was Google Suggest, where search results show up as you type.

In this article, I'm going to discuss a novel product (AJAX.NET) which is thankfully free, that takes all the guesswork out of creating AJAX applications. The code is presented in C# and you will not need a compiler to run it.

Easy Text Effects: Part 1
by: Linda Rathgeber-Stewart
Release Date: 03/31/2005
Text as art form is still possible for Web pages, but to use it with any flair, the Web designer must still fall back on graphic text. With a powerful imaging tool like Fireworks, it is possible to create graphic text—for headings and titles, and as design elements in their own right—that rival the best of the printed media.

The Easy Text Effects Series:
Easy Text Effects: Part 1
Easy Text Effects: Part 2 - Grunge Text Decollage
Easy Text Effects: Part 3 - 3D Innies and Outies
Easy Text Effects: Part 4 - Punch Your Text up With a Highlight

ColdFusion MX 7 on Macintosh OS X: Part 2
by: Thomas Pletcher
Release Date: 03/25/2005
Part 2 in our CF 7/Panther series shows you how to install the latest version of ColdFusion with JRun 4 in a number of different scenarios: as a new version, as an upgrade from an earlier version, or as a parallel installation with your existing version of ColdFusion.

CSS CSS Flyouts - Part One
by: Holly Bergevin
Release Date: 03/23/2005
Using the techniques learned in the CSS Tooltips series, we begin creating a CSS flyout menu system. This first installment covers building a navigation menu with single levels of nested lists. Issues relating to z-index and browser bugs are covered along with what to do if a browser doesn't support hovering (IE5/Mac), or if scripting is disabled (in IE/Win).

The CSS Flyouts Series:
CSS Flyouts - Part One
CSS Flyouts - Part Two
CSS Flyouts - Part Three
CSS Flyouts - Part Four

Slicing Fireworks Navigation Bars With Frames
by: Kim Cavanaugh
Release Date: 02/25/2005
A question that often comes up when discussing slicing Fireworks navigation compositions is "Should I use layers or frames for composing my image?" The short answer is, "Yes", which is really no answer at all of course. The slightly longer answer is "It depends."

In a previous Captivate video tutorial I showed you how to slice with layers. In this tutorial, also done with Captivate, you'll see how frames can be used for more complex navigation schemes, and see an example of the kind of image that might be more suitable for this slicing technique. You'll also see how this method differs from the layer method so you can make an informed decision about the best way to tackle that complex exporting job.

Discovering CFMX 7: Flash Forms - Part 1
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 02/25/2005
In this tutorial, we will be looking at how ColdFusion MX 7 makes it very easy for us to use and create flash forms in our work.

We will be looking at how to set up the forms and we'll investigate tabbed navigation and paging. Breaking our forms down into manageable chunks can be very helpful for our users, particularly on large forms. CFMX 7 makes it very easy for us to do this.

Finally we will look at skinning our flash forms and the skins that are natively available on the CFMX 7 server.

Flash Automating sIFR Font SWF Creation With Flash MX 2004 and JSFL
by: Danilo Celic
Release Date: 02/02/2005
sIFR may well revolutionize web fontography. If you're not familiar with sIFR, it stands for scalable Inman Flash Replacement. You can read more about it, including the source of its name at Mike Davidson's Blog one of the lead developer's of sIFR (search for sIFR if its no longer listed on the front page).

This tutorial will show you how to automate the creation of the SWF font files that are used by the sIFR technique.

This tutorial requires at least Flash MX 2004.

CSS North Pole: A Structural CSS Positioning Study
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 01/18/2005
In this tutorial we will clear away all the elements that are used to style the North Pole JumpStart so that we are only left with the structure of the document. We will then investigate how the layout is structured and the techniques that are used to position the structural elements of the layout.

CSS CSS Tooltips - Part Two
by: Holly Bergevin
Release Date: 01/12/2005
The heart of the CSS tooltip method depends on the :hover pseudo-class. Most modern browsers now support this CSS 2 feature. Internet Explorer for Windows lags behind in this area, supporting the :hover pseudo-class only on link elements.

However, IE5/Win and above can be made to support hovering on any element. In Part Two of our CSS Tooltips tutorial series we explain how to make this happen.

The Tooltips Series:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6>

CSS CSS Tooltips - Part One
by: Holly Bergevin
Release Date: 01/04/2005
Have you ever wanted to replace those ugly webpage tooltips that you see with fancy, styled tooltips of your own? Join us as we explain how to do this without using any JavaScript whatsoever. That's right, these handy little gems are pure CSS!

The Tooltips Series:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

Creating a Curled Photo
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 12/21/2004
This tutorial is a direct response to a question I found in the MM Newsgroup. Someone was asking how to create a curled or bent photo effect. This process is quite easy in PhotoShop, using a combination of the Shear Filter and the Transform Perspective feature. You can do something quite similar in Fireworks, even though it doesn't have a Live Effect or filter that is equivalent to PhotoShop's Shear Filter. In the following video tutorials, we'll make use of vector masks, the Skew tool and custom gradients to get a pretty striking (and fully editable) result.

Dreamweaver CMX JumpStarts: North Pole
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 12/16/2004
The North Pole JumpStart is a two column, fixed width design that uses clever deployment of background images in both the navigational elements and the content areas of the design. The graphics used in North Pole are both simple and complex. They range from the beautifully created snowman made in Freehand and converted to Fireworks to some Christmas black line art that was coloured in to make simple yet effective images that enhanced the Christmas theme with only a few minutes work. Come and have a look!

CSS Creating Liquid Faux Columns
by: Zoe Gillenwater
Release Date: 12/08/2004
Web designers converting from table-based to CSS-based design are often frustrated by the seeming inability to create equal height columns in CSS, an easy task with tables. Once they learn about the famous "faux columns" technique that simulates equal height columns using a tiling background image on a container, many remain frustrated that the technique only works for fixed width designs. Not so! This article will show you how to create liquid equal height columns using cleverly constructed background images and the background-position property.

Flash Distributing Classes in SWC Files
by: Robert Reinhardt
Release Date: 12/07/2004
As a developer working with several ActionScript 2.0 (AS2) classes, you may find it easier to package your classes as a compiled clip within a distributable SWC file. While authoring in Flash MX Professional 2004, you may have already seen such compiled AS2 classes, such as the RemotingClasses clip or the DataBindingClasses clip. In this tutorial, you learn how to package custom AS2 classes and distribute them as SWC files.

CSS Do You Want To Do That With CSS? - Multiple Column Lists
by: Holly Bergevin
Release Date: 11/29/2004
It is generally well known that list items in an <ol> or <ul> will display vertically in their default presentation. For short lists, or navigation menus, this generally isn't considered a problem. But in other cases, having an extensive list display vertically isn't quite as desirable. It might be a better use of screen space to have that list appear as a series of columns, side by side. In the past, this was done by placing separate lists in individual table cells, or by floating the lists. Semantically it is more desirable not to break up a list this way, but is there another choice? Yes, there is! Join us as we explain a new CSS method that uses a single list while displaying that list as multiple columns. Let's go!

Deconstructing JibJab: Creating Talking Heads
by: Kim Cavanaugh
Release Date: 10/14/2004
The campaign for the American President in 2004 has seen an interesting phenomenon develop--the use of Flash for the creation of "home-made" campaign commercials. By far the funniest, and the most-widely viewed, are the two Flash movies created by the two brothers at JibJab.com. This tutorial includes 5 movies where you'll see how one part of that video might have been done using Fireworks and Flash. You'll take a look at the creation of a talking head in this tutorial and see how masks are used for editing bitmap images, how the use of layers in Fireworks allows you to create a single master file, and how the different pieces are brought together in Flash to create an animated talking head.

Education WebQuests for Teachers - Part 3 - Creating an Original WebQuest
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 10/07/2004
In the first part of this series, we introduced the WebQuest and a bit of its history. We learned that this lesson in a Web page allows students to make safe use of Internet resources and discussed the six sections that make up a traditional WebQuest. In the second part of the series, we reconstructed the "Time Machine MTV" WebQuest from scratch. Now, in the third and final part of the series, we'll look at strategies for developing your WebQuest content, where to find images on the web, how to evaluate the web pages where information is found, common student errors to be aware of and finally, how to share your Web Quest on the information super highway.

The WebQuest Series:

Part 1: WebQuests for Teachers
Part 2: WebQuests for Teachers - Reconstructing
Part 3: WebQuests for Teachers - Creating an Original WebQuest

Education WebQuests for Teachers - Part 2 - Reconstructing
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 09/27/2004
In the first part of this series, we introduced the WebQuest and a bit of its history. We learned that this lesson in a Web page allows students to make safe use of Internet resources. We also discussed the six sections that make up a traditional WebQuest, and how the WebQuest should be more than mere fact-finding. Finally, we looked at the completed version of the "Time Machine MTV" WebQuest that we're going to reconstruct from scratch. The moment to do that is now upon us, so let's get started.

The WebQuest Series:

Part 1: WebQuests for Teachers
Part 2: WebQuests for Teachers - Reconstructing
Part 3: WebQuests for Teachers - Creating an Original WebQuest

Flash Video Kit for Dreamweaver MX 2004
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 09/17/2004
In typical Macromedia fashion, the Flash Video Kit has been quietly introduced and, based on my first impressions, they have a sleeper hit on their hands.This thing is an absolute breeze to use and doesn't require you to know anything about video in Flash. No components. No "netConnections". No "netStreams". No video objects. No intimate knowledge of Actionscript 2.0. Nothing. Nadda. If you can access a menu item in Dreamweaver, you can now add video to your web pages.

Education WebQuests for Teachers - Part 1
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 09/07/2004
The World Wide Web has been an important part of our lives for a decade or more. Many things about the Internet have changed dramatically during this time, but one thing hasn't. Parents and teachers want children to participate in all the Web has to offer, but they don't want to expose them to danger in the process. Back in 1995, Bernie Dodge and Tom March of San Diego State University thought of a way to accomplish the seemingly contradictory goals of safety and access. They created the WebQuest.

The WebQuest Series:

Part 1: WebQuests for Teachers
Part 2: WebQuests for Teachers - Reconstructing
Part 3: WebQuests for Teachers - Creating an Original WebQuest

Reviews Capturing Screenshots with SnagIt 7.1
by: Paul Newman
Release Date: 08/25/2004
The latest version of TechSmith's SnagIt may be the best screen capture utility available. In this video tutorial, learn how to configure SnagIt 7.1 to send screenshots to Microsoft Outlook, MSN Messenger, and external applications such as Fireworks MX 2004.

Fireworks How To: The Ultimate Aqua Button
by: Brian Edgin
Release Date: 08/19/2004
Vectors and Live Effects make Fireworks the perfect application to create the ultimate Aqua Button. This tutorial will show you how to take full advantage of Fireworks MX and MX 2004 to create a no design compromise Aqua Button using only 5 vector objects (6 if you include the text on the button).

Flash Vodafone For the Rest Of Us: How Did They Do It? - Part 2
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 08/18/2004
Just because you don't have the resources to pick up a copy of Flash Professional is no reason to be shut out of the web video game. Here's how to create the Vodafone Video Bracelet using Flash MX 2004.

Flash Vodafone: How Did They Do That?
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 08/10/2004
Going from concept- let's show the future of wireless communication- to upload in less than 30 minutes using the tools in the Studio, I show how to put a video on a a wrist watch and how to create an effect used in the Vodafone site.

Fireworks Creating a Spiral Binding with the Ribbon Auto Shape
by: Brian Edgin
Release Date: 07/30/2004
Last week we introduced the Ribbon Auto Shape. This week we "Kick it up a notch!" and use it to create a great looking spiral binding graphic. This tutorial shows you how to use the Ribbon Auto Shape to create a realistic looking spiral notebook and also demonstrates some tricks for adjusting Auto Shape colors and working with ungrouped Auto Shapes.

Flash Flash, DHTML Menus and Accessibility
by: Stephanie Sullivan
Release Date: 07/28/2004
It's not uncommon to hear developers complaining that their DHTML menus, when triggered, have dropped behind the Flash movie below them. It's also not uncommon to hear, "that's just how they work." Before Flash Player 6, that was true in many browsers. But nowadays, it's become urban legend. With Flash Player 6, Macromedia introduced windowless mode for Netscape and Mac OS X (previously it was supported only for Windows). In the process, this also gave developers a way to completely hide Flash from older screen readers and the focus issues they can have with it. In fact, when Flash is purely used as eye candy, it's wise to remove it from the flow of the screen reader's page so that they don't have to listen to Flash without a purpose.

CSS The Practice of CSS Column Design: Boxes in Columns
by: Holly Bergevin
Release Date: 07/14/2004
This tutorial expands our discussion about making accessible layouts using divs for basic page construction blocks. Using CSS, we'll show how to build a column of separate bordered boxes, each with a colored header, similar those currently in use on the CMX main page (as of July, 2004). We'll also discuss collapsing and escaping margins, and a few other things to look out for on our way to some nicely styled Bordered Boxes.

General Business More Money - Same Workload
by: Tricia Littlefield
Release Date: 07/12/2004
Using a simple time and billing program helped me make more money, make better business decisions and bid on flat fee projects more accurately. Best of all, the software was easy to use and blended into my workflow problem-free. Read how a time and billing software program can help you and then watch a video on how to use one such program.

CSS CSS An Introduction - Part Eleven: Some Fun With Valid and Some Not So Valid CSS
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 06/07/2004
In this tutorial we will look at some valid, and some not so valid CSS that we can use to style our form elements, or anything else for that matter. We'll see if we can get a little inventive and look at one or two proprietary CSS techniques that are made available to us for use with Gecko browsers.

The Introduction to CSS Series:

Part 1: An Introduction to the Syntax of CSS
Part 2: Using CSS to Apply Background Images
Part 3: The Descendant Selector
Part 4: Type Selectors and Grouping
Part 5: Working with Paragraphs
Part 6: The Basics of Positioning
Part 7: Working with the Class Selector
Part 8: Working with the ID Selector
Part 9: The Child Selector and First-Child Pseudo Selector
Part 10: The Link and Dynamic Pseudo-classes
Part 11: Some fun with valid and some not so valid CSS
Part 12: Looking at text formatting
Part 13: Working with a Wrapper div

Flash The Basics of Flash Buttons and Navigation Bars
by: Kim Cavanaugh
Release Date: 05/06/2004
You've designed a great Flash button, or a series of Flash buttons for a navigation bar, but now what? In this tutorial you'll learn the basics of working with Flash navigation objects, including the all-important step of making them actually work in your HTML pages.

Mother's Day with Fireworks
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 05/05/2004
Mother's Day is fast approaching. Now, I don't know about you, but my Mom got bitten by the Internet bug a couple years ago. She's always online, chatting with friends or one of my siblings. So what better way to say, "Thanks, Mom!" than to send her a Mother's Day card made by l'il old me. This tutorial uses native Fireworks effects to create a warm and fuzzy Mother's Day card, that you could email or post on the web for the world to see. As it happens, my Mom is going to be out west on Mother's Day, visiting my brother and his family. So I think this card will be a perfect little way to say that I love her.

General Business Creating Desktop Recordings with Camtasia Studio 2
by: Paul Newman
Release Date: 04/30/2004
If you've spent some time on CommunityMX.com, you probably already know that we offer video tutorials. What you may not know is that we use Camtasia Studio 2 to create them. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to record screen actions with Camtasia Studio 2, assemble the elements of your project, and publish the completed video to Flash SWF format.

CSS CSS An Introduction - Part Six: The Basics of Positioning
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 04/29/2004
In this tutorial, we will take a look at how we can position elements with CSS. This technique is commonly referred to as CSS-P. We will look at how we can position elements using margins, absolute, relative, and static positioning.

The Introduction to CSS Series:

Part 1: An Introduction to the Syntax of CSS
Part 2: Using CSS to Apply Background Images
Part 3: The Descendant Selector
Part 4: Type Selectors and Grouping
Part 5: Working with Paragraphs
Part 6: The Basics of Positioning
Part 7: Working with the Class Selector
Part 8: Working with the ID Selector
Part 9: The Child Selector and First-Child Pseudo Selector
Part 10: The Link and Dynamic Pseudo-classes
Part 11: Some fun with valid and some not so valid CSS
Part 12: Looking at text formatting
Part 13: Working with a Wrapper div

Flash Video Capture in FlashMX 2004
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 04/21/2004
This past week I picked up an iSight for my Mac. Once I got over the initial thrill of having iChat play "All Tom, All the time", I started wondering: "What can I do with the video feed from the camera." It turns out, if you have Flash MX 2004, the answer is "Quite a bit."

Using the Director DVD Event Manager in Director MX 2004: Part 1
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 04/12/2004
Adding video to your web page is easy. Now how about DVD-based content that changes a web page at precise points in a DVD video? The DVD Event Manager added to the new Director MX 2004 gives you this ability.

CSS Do You Want To Do That With CSS? — Align Elements Left and Right
by: Holly Bergevin
Release Date: 04/08/2004
There are various "tasks" designers wish to have happen in the display of their pages, using CSS, that seem like they ought to be simple to do. The need for accomplishing the tasks is common to most web authors sooner or later, but the techniques used to do them are not widely known in the community yet. Our first "task" involves placing two items in a box, and having them display on opposite sides of that box. Let's look at ways we can align elements left and right using CSS.

ColdFusion Variables Part One: The form and variables Scopes
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 03/29/2004
In this series, we will look at the various scopes that exist within ColdFusion and how we can access them. We will look at how we can avoid name collisions and debug ColdFusion error messages. To begin the series, we will start with a look at the vaiables and form scopes. We will look at the problems that sloppy code can cause in our application and how we can ensure that our code produces the results we expect.

Hidden Gems: Format Table Command in Dreamweaver
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 02/25/2004
If you have a plain vanilla html table, and are looking for a way to quickly spruce it up, the Format Table Command could be just what you're looking for. This neat little feature is built right into Dreamweaver 4, MX and MX 04 and makes table formatting a snap.

Flash Sound Playback in Flash MX 2004
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 02/24/2004
In this tutorial, I show you two really simple, yet effective, methods of managing sound playback in a Flash MX 2004 movie. It is dead simple. Really.

Flash Streaming Video in Flash MX Professional 2004
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 02/09/2004
If you can enter an absolute web address, you can add streaming video to your web site.

Fireworks Understanding the Pen Tool
by: Kim Cavanaugh
Release Date: 02/02/2004
Ah, the Pen tool. This incredibly versatile drawing tool is also one of the most difficult tools to learn. Why don't things look the way I expect? How do I create anchor points that act the way I want? And what the heck is a Bezier curve anyway? All these questions and more are answered in the five video tutorials that you'll find here.

Central Your First Central App - Part 1
by: Paul Newman
Release Date: 01/23/2004
Want to develop Central apps but don't know where to start? In this two-part tutorial, you'll learn how to set up your Macromedia Central development environment, and create a simple app that queries a web service and displays the results in a datagrid.

Don't Forget Director!
by: Susan West
Release Date: 01/19/2004
Remember that old card game called Concentration? The one where you flip over cards and if they are the same, they stay flipped over, and if they are different, you put them back? Today we are going to build our own version in Director MX. This article is based on Director MX for OSX, if you are using a PC, your layout will be similar enough that you can still follow along and create Concentration fun!

Dynamic Web Development - The Basics: Creating a ColdFusion Datasource
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 01/16/2004
In this tutorial, we will look at how we can set up a datasource in the ColdFusion administrator and access it in Dreamweaver. This tutorial contains video demos.

Using the Log In Server Behavior
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 12/29/2003
In this tutorial we will be learning about the standard Log In Server Behavior that ships with Dreamweaver. We will be looking at this Server Behavior in its basic form, in a language independent way. This tutorial is aimed at beginners who are new to Server side development and looking to to be able to show unique content on a user group by user group basis. Tutorial contains video demos.

Creating a Christmas Tree with Fireworks
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 12/25/2003
"On the first day of Christmas . . ." Well, I don't know about you, but before the first day of Christmas, I want my tree up! In case you're short on space in your home, I've come up with a quick and easy Christmas tree that you can build and set up right inside Fireworks. No need to water it, and it comes down in a snap!

Part One: An Introduction to ColdFusion Structures
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 12/15/2003
In this tutorial we will have a gentle introduction to the ColdFusion structure. We will look at how structures are created and the basics of what they are. In the coming articles in this series we will look at the ways in which we can put structures to work in our applications.

Making Snowflakes in Fireworks
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 12/08/2003
Ever made snowflakes using a piece of paper and a pair of scissors? It's amazing what one can do simply by folding a sheet of paper and cutting some shapes into it. It's even more amazing that you can do the same kind of thing in Fireworks! Just in time for the holidays, here's your chance to create your own custom snowflakes, without the worry of getting a papercut or running with scissors!

Flash Quick and Easy Photo Galleries in Fireworks and Flash
by: Kim Cavanaugh
Release Date: 12/08/2003
One of those common "gotta have it" features on many sites is an click-through photo gallery. You've seen them out there, and perhaps you've even built your own with JavaScript or purchased one of the off the shelf methods for making them. What you may not know is that you can easily build your own by taking advantage of the ability that Flash has to import images in sequence. Add in a my favorite kind of ActionScript—the simple kind—and you can have your own click through photo gallery in just a few minutes.

PHP Installing Apache/ MySQL/PHP on Windows - Part 1
by: Paul Newman
Release Date: 12/03/2003
Have you been thinking about learning PHP or MySQL? Perhaps you've been curious about AMFPHP, the open-source Flash Remoting solution for PHP. In this tutorial, you'll learn an easy way to install Apache, MySQL, and PHP on the Windows platform.

Flash Using Arrays in ActionScript - Part 1
by: Paul Newman
Release Date: 11/18/2003
Arrays are a staple of ActionScript and, for that matter, ECMAScript, upon which ActionScript is based. In this tutorial, we'll examine how to create different types of arrays, and how to loop through them using ActionScript.

The Using Arrays in ActionScript Series:
Using Arrays in ActionScript - Part 1
Using Arrays in ActionScript - Part 2

Flash Consuming the CMX Web Service with Flash - Part 2
by: Tom Muck
Release Date: 11/07/2003
It's easy to consume web services in Flash using Flash Remoting. Community MX publishes a web service that allows developers to search our content. Using the Community MX web service as an example, this tutorial shows how to pass arguments to the searchContent method and return results in Flash MX and Flash MX 2004.

User Defined Functions: The basics
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 10/30/2003
This tutorial will examine how to extend ColdFusion with tag-based User Defined Functions (UDFs). We will start at the beginning and see how we can construct a simple UDF and what the basic requirements of the UDF are.

Attaching Text to a Circular Path
by: Kim Cavanaugh
Release Date: 10/15/2003
One of the more common logo designs going is the simple arrangement of text on a circular path. Easy enough to create in many graphics programs, creating the same effect in Fireworks requires a little extra work and some basic knowledge of how vector paths are created and how they can be manipulated to do what you want. While it's easy enough to attach text to a path in Fireworks, the challenging part is getting the text in the lower part of the circle to wrap in the correct direction. In this tutorial you'll see the simple techniques that are required to get your text to behave the way you want.

Flash Mouse Wheel Support in Flash Player 7
by: Mustafa Basgun
Release Date: 10/02/2003
Starting with version 7, Flash Player now offers mouse wheel support on the Windows platform. In this tutorial, we will explore two new features: the Mouse.onMouseWheel listener, and the TextField.mouseWheelEnabled property.

Flash Consuming the CMX Web Service with Flash - Part 1
by: Tom Muck
Release Date: 09/30/2003
Flash Remoting is one of Macromedia's coolest technologies, offering a quick and easy way to connect to custom web services that you build, or to SOAP-based web services that are freely available. Community MX publishes a web service that can be consumed by a Flash Remoting application. This tutorial shows you how. Part 1 of the tutorial shows the getContent method of the web service.

Javascript Protecting your Email when using Paypal
by: Joel Martinez
Release Date: 09/22/2003
Paypal is quite possibly one of the easiest ways of implementing an e-commerce solution. You don't even need any dynamic server side skills so the barrier to entry is very light. However, there is one fundamental issue that most Paypal implementations have ... in order for you to link the transaction to your Paypal account, you must include your email address (the one in your Paypal account) in the code.

This tutorial shows you how to effectively hide your email address using some simple Javascript.

ColdFusion Upload An Image and Insert Its Name Into The Database
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 09/15/2003
In this tutorial we will look at how we can transfer an image from the user's hard drive to the server and then insert the image's name into our database for use on any necessary pages.

Porting Pollster to SQL Server
by: Paul Newman
Release Date: 09/04/2003
One of the most popular widgets in Macromedia's DevNet Resource Kit Volume 4 (DRK 4) is Pollster. This tutorial includes everything you need to migrate Pollster to SQL Server, including a SQL script and instructions on revising the application's ColdFusion components.

Email a Forgotten Password in ColdFusion
by: Bill Horvath
Release Date: 08/11/2003
You've done it... I've done it. We've all signed up at a website and had to create a username and a password for ourselves, only to forget them months or perhaps even minutes later. Most sites allow you to have your password emailed to you automatically. That's what this tutorial will go over: emailing a user their password using some very simple ColdFusion code. All of the action will take place on the log-in page, so your user never has to leave the log-in page.

XML XSL:Template Filtering and Sorting
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 07/31/2003
In this tutorial we learn how to filter and sort information in our xml documents by using our xsl:template to filter on the nodes supplied in accordance with our requirements.

Creating a spinning graphic
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 07/04/2003
Rotating animations are pretty simple to create in Fireworks, but what if you want you animation to spin, in a 3-D manner? In Part One of this tutorial I will show you how to create the "appearance" of a 3-D spin of an image, by using Symbols and Instances, and some manual tweaking of the Frames Panel.

ASP.NET Using the Google search API from ASP.NET
by: Jay Oliver
Release Date: 07/04/2003
I'm sure just about everyone knows about the Google search engine by now. What everyone might not know is that you can utilize Google's search functionality right from within your own web applications. Not only is this a possibility, it's actually quite easy to do.

In this tutorial, we will cover:

Pre-requisites for using the Google API
Preparing and compiling the web service for use in your application
Invoking the web service
Listing the results

Code is presented in C#

Using the Export Wizard in Fireworks
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 06/27/2003
Some of you are exporting your files in Fireworks by just going to File -->Export, right? As long as you use the Optimize panel wisely, that should work alright. But using the Export Wizard gives you a lot of power over the quality of your final picture, and all in one handy-dandy area.

ASP.NET Advanced User Authentication with .NET and Dreamweaver, Part 2
by: Heidi Bautista
Release Date: 06/27/2003
This tutorial takes you step-by-step through the implementation of Forms-based Authentication using ASP.NET, Macromedia's custom DataSet tag, SQL Server 2000, and C#. Part 1 shows you how to set up a simple authentication scheme with a single type of user. Part 2 goes further. You'll learn how to examine the user's role to enable/disable access to your site's protected content.

ASP.NET Advanced User Authentication with .NET and Dreamweaver, Part 1
by: Heidi Bautista
Release Date: 06/26/2003
This tutorial takes you step-by-step through the implementation of Forms-based Authentication using ASP.NET, Macromedia's custom DataSet tag, SQL Server 2000, and C#. Part 1 shows you how to set up a simple authentication scheme with a single type of user. Part 2 goes further. You'll learn how to examine the user's role to enable/disable access to your site's protected content.

Creating Composite Masks in Fireworks
by: Kim Cavanaugh
Release Date: 06/16/2003
A composite mask is loosely defined as a combination of a masked object with another image within a document. That's a pretty dry definition for a technique that can allow you to create some fabulous effects with your photos. By understanding a few basic principles, and using the power of Fireworks Live effects, you can generate beautiful photographic effects in a fraction of the time that it might take you to use complicated filters in other programs.

Creating Isometric Illustrations with Super Guides 1.0 and Fireworks MX
by: Steven Grosvenor
Release Date: 06/13/2003
This tutorial outlines how, with the help of Super Guides 1.0, to create compelling, isometric illustrations within Fireworks MX.

CSS CSS Selectors: Pattern Matching and Inheritance
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 06/12/2003
Exploring the document tree and how it effects inheritancy in CSS, a look at the direct adjacent sibling selector and combinators.

Flash Creating an Auto-Start CD using Flash
by: Bill Horvath
Release Date: 05/30/2003
So you've got a client who has no internet access and you want to show them the beautiful website you've built for them? Or maybe you want to put your website on a CD as a promotional/marketing tool. Sounds easy, doesn't it? Just copy the site files to the CD, and you're off! Believe it or not, many folks won't know what the heck to do with the CD, or which file to open to get to the material you want them to see. Make it easier for them by making a CD that will launch their browser automatically for them. This technique will use Flash, but the user won't need to have Flash installed in order for it to work.

ColdFusion Using a database to display images dynamically
by: Bill Horvath
Release Date: 05/21/2003
Let's say you have a repeat region and you want to display a unique picture with each record. There's really no way you can do that without using your database to hold information about the image you want to use. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to use your database and a repeat region to dynamically display your images. We'll even go over how to display an alternate image if there is no reference to it in your database.

Dreamweaver Reconnecting StudioMX Help Files for Macintosh Users
by: Stephanie Sullivan
Release Date: 05/16/2003
For a reason beyond me, in many Macintosh OSX installations of the StudioMX line, the help files appear to be missing. They're really there. In this short tutorial, I'll show you where they are and how to access them through your computers Help system.

Customizing the Site Window in Dreamweaver
by: Kim Cavanaugh
Release Date: 05/15/2003
Sometimes you need more information at your fingertips than Dreamweaver provides on its own in the Site window. This tutorial shows how to customize the look of the Site columns in the Site window to meet your own needs and the needs of a particular site.

Fireworks: Rollovers Made Easy
by: Bill Horvath
Release Date: 05/02/2003
Have you been creating duplicate images in Fireworks just to create rollover effects? Using the Frames Panel within Fireworks can speed up this task!

Dreamweaver Disjointed Rollovers
by: Bill Horvath
Release Date: 04/29/2003
It happens to all of us at some point; You've gotten bored with plain old rollovers on your nifty menu... You want to add a little something, like maybe rolling over one of your buttons and having it trigger another image swap elsewhere on your page. In this tutorial, we'll go over how to do that, and even how make a picture appear where there wasn't one before. All using the Swap Image behavior.

Consuming the CMX Web Service with ColdFusion
by: Tom Muck
Release Date: 04/22/2003
Community MX publishes a web service that will display information about the latest content available from the site. This service can be used by anyone who knows how to consume a web service. The Community MX web service utilizes a standard .wsdl file that can be consumed by any technology that can consume a web service. The web service is located at http://www.communitymx.com/services/cmxfeed.wsdl. The web service exposes 3 methods: getContent: grabs the latest content descriptions available from Community MX. searchContent: search the content at Community MX for relevant content getContentTypes: the latest content types are available as a list for your applications as well (articles, extensions, etc).

CSS Zeroing page margins
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 04/17/2003
In this tutorial we will investigate how we can use dual style sheets to set our page margins to zero in the most common browsers we will come up against in today's online world. We will also take our CSS code and optimise it for performance and make it bandwidth friendly.......

ColdFusion Setting upload permissions
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 04/14/2003
Setting your local CFMX development server permissions so you can test image uploading prior to moving your site to yor production server.

CSS Creating An External Style Sheet In Dreamweaver MX
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 04/02/2003
How to create an external style sheet in dreamweaver and link it into your document.

Flash XML In Flash
by: Matthew David
Release Date: 03/30/2003
XML is the backbone to web services across the Internet. In this article you will learn how to pull and extract XML files into Flash MX.

Dreamweaver The Newbie Series: Using DWMX's Swap Image behavior
by: Laurie Casolino
Release Date: 03/30/2003
Making 2-state rollover navigation buttons using DWMX's Swap Image behavior is a piece of cake! In this tutorial we will walk you through placing your navigational buttons on your page and applying the Swap Image behavior to them to create a rollover.

Creating Custom Command in FireworksMX
by: Kim Cavanaugh
Release Date: 03/30/2003
Learn to use Fireworks MX to create a custom command to produce thumbnail images. Combine the command with the batch processing power of Fireworks MX to take your productivity to the next level!

CFInsert & CFUpdate code reuse
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 03/30/2003
Learn to minimize the code necessary to insert and update records in ColdFusion. Code reuse makes your applications more efficient than they could otherwise be. It reduces development time by half as you only need to create your form and insert\update pages once, ColdFusion can do the rest for you simply by creating some conditional code that allows ColdFusion to apply some logic to your requirements.

Reviews

Reviews Alien Skins Snap Art 2
by: Darren Winder
Release Date: 10/05/2009
Turn photos into Sketches and/or Paintings the easy way.

Reviews Flash Presentation Without Flash
by: Darren Winder
Release Date: 09/08/2009
Build Flash Presentations without "Flash". NO Flash training or knowledge required. In this article I will review Pixtivity 2.0 Pro Edition. Create professional presentations with this easy to use software; you will be amazed with your end product. Use all the features, have fun while creating.

Reviews Testing in Internet Explorer
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 08/04/2009
In the absence of Multi-IE for Vista I have been using an application from debugbar.com called IETester. IETester is a browser (complete with tabbed interface) that allows you to have the rendering and JavaScript engines of IE8, IE7, IE6, and IE5.5 on windows 7, XP and Vista. The application is currently in alpha release but it is freely available for download, the current version is 0.3.5 and is delivered by download with an exe file for easy install.

Reviews Wacom Intuos4 Digital Tablet
by: Scott Valentine
Release Date: 07/28/2009
Wondering how to spend all that extra money you have laying around? Me, neither. But here's something that may be worth saving up for - Wacom's new Intuos4 Digital Tablet.

I'll cover the new stuff, give you my opinion, and then give you some tips on whether this tablet is right for you!

Reviews Review of Balsamiq, a Wireframe Software Package
by: Paul Davis
Release Date: 06/25/2009
Mockup software is expensive - this little gem of a program makes quick work of mockups and costs less than you would expect!

Reviews Jumpchart - Simple Web Site Planning and Wireframing
by: Steven Seiller
Release Date: 05/27/2009
Jumpchart is an on-line web site collaboration tool for defining site structure and content. The newly released version 2.0 adds export support for WordPress as well as enhanced interface functionality.

Jumpchart was originally developed as a communication tool designed to bring developers and clients together for the purpose of successfully defining site structure and collecting site content with a minimal of fuss. The core activity of this tool is to create a wireframe for the site -- an outline of site structure -- and to fill it with the text and assets which will comprise each page's content.

Favourite Extensions - Part 3: The TFM Progress Bar
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 03/06/2009
Extensions are code snippets that we can install into Dreamweaver. They automate the writing of specific code or perhaps even install a complete design layout, as in the case of the CMX JumpStarts. Whatever the extension has been designed to do, you can be sure it is going to be a huge time saver.

In this occasional series I will be covering extensions that I have found to be particularly useful in saving both time and money by automating tasks that I perform on a regular basis. The TFM Progress Bar isn't an extension that I use a great deal, but it does provide great functionality in specific circumstances. In short the TFM Progress Bar provides a visual indication to your users while they upload a file, the bigger the file size the more important this extension becomes.

The Favourite Extensions Series:
Favourite Extensions - Part 1: Tom Muck's Sniplets
Favourite Extensions - Part 2: Massimo's CF Insert Bar Plus
Favourite Extensions - Part 3: The TFM Progress Bar

Reviews Suitcase Fusion 2
by: Steven Seiller
Release Date: 12/08/2008
The support technician informed me that I had installed too many fonts. This is when I learned that I needed a font manager. With more research, I learned about a product from Extensis called Suitcase X1 which was a font manager that solved my font management problem and provided several great conveniences in selecting the fonts I needed for specific projects. Extensis in October, 2008 released a fourth generation of this product called Suitcase Fusion 2. Keeping many of the Suitcase features, this new version has even more interactive conveniences.

Below, I will summarize functions common to the current Suitcase product line and highlight the fantastic new features found in Fusion 2.

Reviews Meet My New Friend, the ColorMunki
by: Steven Seiller
Release Date: 09/30/2008
My new friend, the ColorMunki, is going to help me with my color management. Want to meet my ColorMunki?

My ColorMunki has many talents. It can calibrate my monitor, profile my printer, calibrate my projector and, most importantly to me, scan a color swatch of any surface. With the included software I can create custom color palettes which are shared among my design applications such as Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. Using the Pantone Goe System, the ColorMunki Design system enables me to work with any color that I can see and to match the color on my screen to the printed result. My ColorMunki and I are going to be busy!

What's new in Fireworks CS4
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 09/24/2008
Well it's official; Fireworks CS4 is coming! And with it, some noticeable changes to Fireworks, from the interface on up.

Adobe has been carving out a niche for Fireworks as a rapid prototyping tool. I'd venture to say this extends to a more general description of a rapid design tool for screen graphics.

Let's take a look at some of the most interesting and innovative features in this new release.

Reviews Windows File Sharing with Apple's Time Capsule
by: Steven Seiller
Release Date: 09/17/2008
Known mostly as a companion to Apple Leopard's Time Machine automatic back-up system, the Time Capsule also plays nicely with others by sharing files and a printer. I recently installed a Time Capsule in an office to back-up Apple and Windows computers as well as serve files and a printer. True to Apple fashion, the Time Capsule is relatively easy to install and use, but there are a few gotchas which I did not find in the documentation. This article will help guide you in setting up Windows file sharing.

Open Source Google's New Browser - A Review
by: Paul Davis
Release Date: 09/10/2008
Google has done it again - they have released a new software package to create a stir in the web community. This time it is a browser called Chrome. Let's walk through the browser and see what it has to offer.

Reviews Cross Loop
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 09/08/2008
Recently, I came across a neat little application called Cross Loop. This free application provides me with a couple of great options as it provides very simple to use desktop sharing.

I have now used it both for training purposes and to gain access to clients machines to help with email set up and other minor problems they run into from time to time. It is a great little application and one I would recommend you take a look at.

Reviews BBEdit 9 - It Doesn't Suck
by: Steven Seiller
Release Date: 09/04/2008
BBEdit 9, a professional HTML and text editor, introduces several new features including Projects, text completion, preference syncing via MobileMe and a Scratchpad. Also updated is Ruby language support, JavaScript support and the ability to transparently open and save bz2 compressed files.

I think of BBEdit as the Swiss Army Knife of text editors. I use BBEdit for more than just creating web pages and scripts: reformatting text, massaging data into a database import format, finding specific text, comparing files, comparing folders of files, checking syntax, writing content, spell checking, sorting, removing duplicates, FTP transfers and reviewing tag attributes. This application is always open on my computers and is the focal point of any web development project. I also write content in BBEdit instead of a word processor like Microsoft Word and then copy the developed content to Word or InDesign.

General Business SnagIt 9 - Introduction
by: Paul Davis
Release Date: 06/30/2008
TechSmith has come out with another version of SnagIt and they have completely updated the interface, added new features and made it even better than before. In this article, I've gone over a few of the features of SnagIt, check it out!

Fireworks CS4 Public Beta - Part 4: Panels
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 06/02/2008
In this Fireworks Public Beta article we will look at at updates to the Pages panel, the new Styles panel and its improved workflow. We will also take a look at some very cool ways to get your designs in front of other eyes: PDF, CSS and AIR exports.

The Fireworks CS4 Public Beta Series:
Fireworks CS4 Public Beta - Part 1: Fireworks Gets a Facelift!
Fireworks CS4 Public Beta - Part 2: Productivity Features
Fireworks CS4 Public Beta - Part 3: Wrapping Text Inside a Path
Fireworks CS4 Public Beta - Part 4: Panels

Fireworks CS4 Public Beta - Part 2: Productivity Features
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 05/28/2008
The line is blurring (for me anyway) between workspace improvements and productivity improvements. Enhancements in these areas mean a more streamlined workflow. I know that the term Rapid Prototyping is starting to grate on people's nerves, but I must admit, Adobe is doing a great job of giving Fireworks a unique tool set within the Adobe family. Not only can this application work with bitmaps and vectors easily and quickly (as it always has), but we now have even more tools to help us design a layout or create a piece of art.

This article will give you an overview of many of the new features in public beta release of Fireworks CS4. For a review of the new interface, please read Fireworks CS4 Gets a Facelift.

If you currently own Fireworks, you can download a trial which will run until the official release of the software. If you are not a current owner of Fireworks, 1) you have got to try this puppy out and 2) the beta will only run on your system for 30 days.

One other really important note: The public beta software will be available for download for the duration of the beta program and will run for 2 days as a demo before requiring unlocking. Unlocking the public beta for the remainder of the beta period (until CS4 ships) requires an active CS3 serial number.

The Fireworks CS4 Public Beta Series:
Fireworks CS4 Public Beta - Part 1: Fireworks Gets a Facelift!
Fireworks CS4 Public Beta - Part 2: Productivity Features
Fireworks CS4 Public Beta - Part 3: Wrapping Text Inside a Path
Fireworks CS4 Public Beta - Part 4: Panels

Fireworks CS4 Public Beta- Part 1: Fireworks Gets a Facelift!
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 05/27/2008
Well Fireworks fans, it's here! Adobe has announced a public beta of the new Fireworks CS4 and it's very impressive, even for a beta.

If you currently own Fireworks, you can download a trial which will run until the official release of the software. If you are not a current owner of Fireworks, 1) you have got to try this puppy out and 2) the beta will only run on your system for 30 days.

One other really important note: The public beta software will be available for download for the duration of the beta program and will run for 2 days as a demo before requiring unlocking. Unlocking the public beta for the remainder of the beta period (until CS4 ships) requires an active CS3 serial number.

This article will give you an overview on the new User Interface. This is just one of a few upcoming articles on new Fireworks CS4 public beta, so stay tuned for more.

The Fireworks CS4 Public Beta Series:
Fireworks CS4 Public Beta - Part 1: Fireworks Gets a Facelift!
Fireworks CS4 Public Beta - Part 2: Productivity Features
Fireworks CS4 Public Beta - Part 3: Wrapping Text Inside a Path
Fireworks CS4 Public Beta - Part 4: Panels

PHP Code Igniter Introduction
by: Paul Davis
Release Date: 04/08/2008
Code Igniter, a PHP framework that cooks, cleans and does the dishes. Even comes with a kitchen sink! Code Igniter will spoil you with flexibility, usability and functionality—and then you'll see the manual and never again be satisfied with other product's "documentation"...

Flex Flex Power Tools: Explorers
by: Joseph Balderson
Release Date: 03/17/2008
Whether you are learning Flex and looking for examples to try out, or you are an experienced developer looking for ways to shave extra time off your development cycle, you've come to the right place. In this article we will review my favourite Flex Explorers: Flex applications which allow you to explore various techniques for building Flex applications.

From component explorers which show you sample code, style explorers which help you configure the CSS to style your application, or more exotic utilities which enable you explore visual effects or data transfer benchmarks, Flex Explorers are a developers' best kept secret. Now you don't have to spend hours hunting for them all : this article reviews over 20 Flex 2 and 3 explorer utilities and resources — a must have for any serious Flex developer. In addition, we'll show you a trick to load and use your explorers right from inside Flex Builder.

The Flex Power Tools Series:
Flex Power Tools: Explorers
Flex Power Tools: Word Wrap for Flex Builder (and Eclipse)
Flex Power Tools: Using Markers in Flex Builder 3 - Part 1

Flash Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 2
by: Joseph Balderson
Release Date: 08/03/2007
Out there in the Flash design and development world, there are many tools available to assist in creating projects. These are "power tools" that supercharge the task of designing, coding, compiling, testing and documenting, allowing you to save time and present ideas much more effectively. Some have been around for a few years, and some are pretty new. This series highlights some of the open source tools and techniques which have made my life as a Flash developer much more effective.

This 2-part article covers a nifty addition to any designer's arsenal of colour aids: the Adobe Kuler colour theme creator and sharing portal. In Part 1 we took a look at the photo-to-gif Flash palette technique. We then looked at how Kuler is a much better alternative to palette selection. Here in Part 2 we will look at the Kuler Desktop, an AIR-enabled version of the Kuler application, as well as the Kuler Flash CS3 Panel.

The Adobe Kuler application

The Flash PowerTools Series:
Flash PowerTools: Code Automation with SEPY
Flash PowerTools: FlashTracer for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Standalone FLV Players
Flash PowerTools: Transition and Tween Explorer
Flash PowerTools: Flash Switcher for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Exploring Gradients
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 1
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 2

Flash Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 1
by: Joseph Balderson
Release Date: 08/02/2007
Out there in the Flash design and development world, there are many tools available to assist in creating projects. These are "power tools" that supercharge the task of designing, coding, compiling, testing and documenting, allowing you to save time and present ideas much more effectively. Some have been around for a few years, and some are pretty new. This series highlights some of the open source tools and techniques which have made my life as a Flash developer much more effective.

This 2-part article covers a nifty addition to any designer's arsenal of colour aids: the Adobe Kuler colour theme creator and sharing portal. First we'll take a look at the photo-to-gif Flash palette technique, then we'll look at how Kuler is a much better alternative to palette selection. In Part 2 we will look at the Kuler Desktop, an AIR-enabled version of the Kuler application, as well as the Kuler Flash CS3 Panel.

The Adobe Kuler application

The Flash PowerTools Series:
Flash PowerTools: Code Automation with SEPY
Flash PowerTools: FlashTracer for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Standalone FLV Players
Flash PowerTools: Transition and Tween Explorer
Flash PowerTools: Flash Switcher for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Exploring Gradients
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 1
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 2 Coming Soon

Flash TodCon 2007 Session: Hurry Up and Code: Power Shortcuts for Flash and Flex Developers
by: Joseph Balderson
Release Date: 06/28/2007
In the high pressure world of RIA development, being efficient at churning out code, over time, can mean the difference between late nights and project overruns or peace of mind. Learning to type 50 WPM is not the only way to code faster. Learn some important secrets to being more efficient in your coding, increasing productivity in both Flash and Flex development environments.

This is presentation made at TodCon 2007 in Las Vegas, June 12, 2007.

General Business TODCon 2007 - A Summary
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 06/14/2007
This is an almost impossible task: How to sum up one of the best learning and networking experiences of the year, without trivializing it.

If you didn't make it to TODCon, read through this article for an insight to my overall impressions of the conference and learn why I think this is a "must-do" event.

Reviews Chat4Support: Real Time Support Direct From Your Web Site
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 05/09/2007
I'm sure you have all seen them, the click here for live support buttons that are becoming more and more popular on today's web sites. I've often looked at them and wondered how effective they might be, would people actually use them enough to make the outlay worthwhile?

I recently had a request from a client to research this functionality on their behalf with a view to setting up a system on one of their web sites. If it proved a success then it would be added to their other web sites.

I was pleased to have the assignment, it was something I had intended to look at for my own site for a while but as ever, due to time constraints, I had never quite got around to doing the research on the different software available.

Reviews 18 FREE Software Tools You Need to Use!
by: Paul Davis
Release Date: 04/19/2007
Everyone likes FREE. Find some software that is free and actually really good, comparable or better than the commercial applications in the same field.

InDesign CS3: New and Improved Features for Designers
by: Kim Dudley
Release Date: 04/18/2007
The first version of InDesign was released in 1999. Since then it has made huge strides in the industry and has worked at becoming a standard part of the designer's and publisher's arsenal.

InDesign CS3 continues to improve by adding new tools, improving existing controls and building on its creative features. Additionlly, long document publishers and users needing expert features will be happy to see InDesign CS3's improvements.

In this article we will take a look at some of the new features that will improve productivity and performance for the average design project. The features covered will include:

Workspace Enhancements
Custom Workspaces
Agate Measurement Units
Enhanced Transparency and Effects
Enhanced File placement
Fast Frame Fitting
Improved Text wraps
Improved Glyphs panel
Expanded Quick Apply

Reviews Expression Web
by: Heidi Bautista
Release Date: 02/06/2007
Microsoft is seriously pursuing web designers these days, not just web developers. They already provide some pretty great authoring tools for developers. Visual Studio has been around forever but many designers find the design surface too ... minimal, shall we say. Visual Web Developer (VWD) Express Edition, the lighter-weight authoring tool introduced in 2005 is free, which is nice, but it's also targeted towards the developer audience.

Recently Microsoft launched a new initiative aimed at capturing the designer audience. Introducing Expression Studio: a suite of four products expressly designed for the web designer.

Expression Web - web authoring design tool
Expression Blend - user interface design tool that can incorporate multiple media types (vector and pixel art, video, audio, etc.)
Expression Design - illustration and graphic design tool
Expression Media - asset management tool, visually catalogues and organizes dozens of different media formats, based on the iView MediaPro product acquired by Microsoft in June, 2006.

This article reviews Expression Web - the web authoring tool included in Expression Studio.

Reviews My First MacWorld (with Flashforward!)
by: Robert Reinhardt
Release Date: 01/12/2007
Whoah. As in a Joey Lawrence, "whoah." Cheesy, but it's pretty much how I felt as a Macworld newbie this week in San Francisco. Lynda Weinman had asked me back in October if I was interested in presenting a Flash Video session at Macworld. Since I had never been to a Macworld conference, I took the opportunity to go. I arrived Sunday night and prepped my slides and sample files on my brand new black MacBook, packing a sweet Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Little did I know that night just how rewarding the following two days were going to be.

Flash Extending Flash Projectors: Review of Zinc 2.5
by: David Stiller
Release Date: 12/26/2006
This article provides a brief overview into the feature set of Zinc 2.5, a Flash Projector enhancement tool developed by Multidmedia Limited. Though expensive, Zinc extends the capabilites of normal Flash Projectors in a variety of interesting and useful ways and is compatible with both the Windows and Macintosh operating systems. To my thinking, the extended functionality is well worth the price.

ColdFusion Favourite Extensions - Part 2: Massimo's CF Insert Bar Plus
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 12/07/2006
In this, the second look at extensions that can enhance your production time, we are going to look at Massimo Foti's CF Insert Bar Plus.

The extension enhances functionality that already exists within Dreamweaver by reducing cftry, cfoutput and cfdump to a single click.

The Favourite Extensions Series:
Favourite Extensions - Part 1: Tom Muck's Sniplets
Favourite Extensions - Part 2: Massimo's CF Insert Bar Plus
Favourite Extensions - Part 3: The TFM Progress Bar

Dreamweaver Favourite Extensions - Part 1: Tom Muck's Sniplets
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 10/16/2006
We all have our favourite extensions and I'm no exception. Some people collect them and have extensions for everything whether they use them or not, and some folks have just a few. I fall into the latter category.

In this ocassional series I thought I would catalogue some of the extensions that I use on a regular basis. Extensions that speed up my productivity are a particular favourite of mine and Tom Muck's Sniplets extension is one such tool that I use a great deal. It isn't a commercial extension, it is absolutely free, costs nothing but your time to download and install it.

The Favourite Extensions Series:
Favourite Extensions - Part 1: Tom Muck's Sniplets
Favourite Extensions - Part 2: Massimo's CF Insert Bar Plus
Favourite Extensions - Part 3: The TFM Progress Bar

Reviews Transferring Emails, Email Account Settings and Bookmarks From Mozilla Applications
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 05/16/2006
I recently bought a new laptop and wanted to transfer all my emails and my email settings from Thunderbird to the new machine. Along with these settings I also wanted to export and re-import my bookmarks from Firefox.

With this in mind, rather than doing it all manually I had a quick Google to see if there were any applications out there that would automate the task for me. There was, and what a neat little application it is too; better still it is freeware and works a treat.

Reviews Mixed Thoughts on Microsoft Mix 06
by: Robert Reinhardt
Release Date: 03/31/2006
From March 20th to 22nd, the Microsoft Mix 06 conference was held in Las Vegas. The forthcoming Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and WinFX application layer were widely touted as the enablers for the next generation experience of Windows Vista, the successor to the Windows XP operating system.

Programming Using SourceGear Vault for Source Control
by: Joel Martinez
Release Date: 03/23/2006
I was busy finishing up a feature on our company's intranet while the rest of the IT department scrambled to do a full backup in anticipation of a hurricane. I just had a few more lines of code to write before I could finish up and go home to prepare. As I typed the last few characters and did some testing, I declared the feature done! Gushing with happiness that I was finally ready to go home, I checked the relevant files into Visual SourceSafe.

But elation was not what the fates had planned for me. No, panic ... panic was the order of the day. The check-in process threw some error which my brain has long since purged at this point. The check-in operation was a failure, along with every subsequent attempt to try it again. As I went back into Visual Studio to look at my code, to bask in the warm glow of success, I was horrified to find the files empty ... completely devoid of content.

Nooooooooooooo!

In desperation, I figured I would simply get the code from the repository again and re-implement my changes. Sadly, all history for the files were nowhere to be found in SourceSafe. Turns out that at the exact moment that I tried to check-in my code, IT was backing up that server. Because Visual SourceSafe is a file-based source control tool, it apparently was not happy about trying to change the files while the backup was in process.

Needless to say, I suggested we migrate to another source control tool ASAP. This is a review of SourceGear's Vault, a source control tool designed to be a compelling replacement for Visual SourceSafe.

Reviews More Mozilla Mojo
by: Thomas Pletcher
Release Date: 03/21/2006
Many (actually, most) of today's most innovative and standards-compliant browsers have a family connection in common: Mozilla. This review will look at three of the most recent Mozilla descendants — Camino 1.0, Netscape 8.1 and SeaMonkey 1.0 — to see what they have to offer, both from a developer perspective and for end users.

Reviews Opera Hits the High Notes
by: Thomas Pletcher
Release Date: 03/02/2006
The latest Technology Preview of Opera 9 looks to be outstanding. Here's an overview of what makes this new version of Opera so great, and why Opera should become part of your development workflow, if it isn't already. You might even find that Opera gives Firefox a run for the money.

Reviews WordPress 2.0: Wonderful As Ever
by: Thomas Pletcher
Release Date: 01/23/2006
WordPress has always been both powerful and empowering, and the new 2.0 ("Duke") release is no exception. This review discusses the new features in the latest edition of WordPress, and offers tips on installation and/or upgrading.

An Adobe Lightroom Review
by: Kim Dudley
Release Date: 01/17/2006
Adobe's latest addition to its product line is a brand new application called Lightroom. Even though Lightroom has only been released as a beta, the buzz around it has been quite amazing.

According to Adobe, the theory behind Lightroom is to provide a single environment that has all of the functions photographers most commonly need to perform on their images. Lightbox includes tools for importing, organizing, correcting, printing and showcasing large volumes of digital images.

Targeted specifically at professional photographers, Adobe has worked closely with industry active photographers to ensure they deliver an application that works and adapts to a photographers real world work flow.

In this review I have outlined some of the features that really impressed me and mentioned some of the tools I hope will be added to the final product. It is an exciting new application and worth being checked out by anyone who works with large numbers of digital images.

ASP.NET Running PHP under ASP.NET??
by: Joel Martinez
Release Date: 01/16/2006
I won't lie, I am a Microsoft lover. Their technology has been paying my salary for just about my entire career, and C# totally rocks in my quite humble opinion. But that being said, any programmer worth their salt knows that a specific technology is nothing more than a tool. If a given situation could be solved more efficiently with the use of non-Microsoft technology, then its your responsibility to investigate and (potentially) use said technology.

This article is going to review a nifty little project called Phalanger. Installing this on your ASP.NET web server allows you to deploy PHP code, even full applications like phpBB. Behind the scenes, the PHP code will be compiled to .NET code and run as an ASP.NET application.

The best thing about it is that you can, from PHP script, access .NET code (in your language of choice), and vice-versa. So if you have a nifty function written in PHP, you can use it in your .NET application. The Developers tout impressive performance improvements over the native PHP environement so this makes Phalanger an attractive target for your application platform.

Flash Making Flash Remoting Development Easier with Service Capture
by: Danny Patterson
Release Date: 10/17/2005
There are few tools available to Flash developers for debugging their applications. This becomes increasingly complex when developing Flash applications with server integration. Service Capture, written by Kevin Langdon, is one of the few tools to break into this market. It works as a proxy on your local computer and inspects Remoting (AMF), Web Service (SAOP) and XML data. It also captures other data not directly relevant to Flash development. In this article we will examine the various feature

General Business Getting Started with GotDotNet Workspaces
by: Joel Martinez
Release Date: 08/29/2005
Project management is a topic that can, and will, have volumes upon volumes written about it. In the software field, those with years of experience will tell you that one of the most basic and useful parts of the software development process is a good source control management system.

The topic has been covered before here on CMX by our very own Arman Danesh in his 5 part series:
Using Source Code Management Software

GotDotNet Workspaces) is a unique service offered by Microsoft. My aim with this article isn't to extoll the virtues of using source control software, it is to expose the masses to the fact that such a wonderful tool exists. A few short months ago (as of this writing), they revised the software behind it so it's even faster than before (a common complaint when they first came out).

In the past, when you thought of hosted source control, the first (and just about only) thing that popped to mind was Sourceforge. Now, there are two drawbacks there:

You've got to use CVS which, while it works, I can't say it's the most userfriendly product on the market.
Sourceforge has to review and approve your project ... so they might just say no.

With the Workspaces, a few short clicks and you've got yourself a workspace!

Open Source Ubuntu & You, Part 1: Trying Today's Most Popular Linux Distribution
by: Thomas Pletcher
Release Date: 08/15/2005
Ubuntu has become the world's most popular Linux distribution over the past year. This article explains why, and reviews the benefits you can realize by trying it. The article also provides an overview of Ubuntu installation options, along with an account of those (in)famous desktop photos.

The Ubuntu & You Series:
Ubuntu & You - Part 1: Trying Today's Most Popular Linux Distribution
Ubuntu & You - Part 2: Using Today's Most Popular Linux Distribution
Ubuntu & You - Part 3: Breezy is Easy
Ubuntu & You - Part 4: Breezy is Better
Ubuntu & You - Part 5: Be A Dapper Dude (or Dudette)
Ubuntu & You - Part 6: The Dapper Difference
Ubuntu & You - Part 7: An Ugly Upgrade

XML Simplify Your XML Development with XMLSpy
by: Danny Patterson
Release Date: 07/22/2005
Editing XML is often something that developers take for granted. Since XML is text-based, developers can created and edit XML documents in the text editor of their choice. However, there are some use cases that require a dedicated XML editor. XMLSpy from Altova is just such an editor. It is designed specifically for working with different types of XML. And believe me, once you've used this tool, you'll wonder how you got along without it.

Reviews A First Look at Tiger
by: Thomas Pletcher
Release Date: 05/04/2005
Mac OS 10.4 Tiger has been eagerly awaited and heavily hyped. Now that it's here, should you upgrade? In a word, yes.

Reviews JEdit 4.2: Cross-Platform Perfection
by: Thomas Pletcher
Release Date: 01/11/2005
If you program on more than one platform, you probably already know about JEdit--the free, open source, Java-based programmer's text editor that gives you the same great interface and functionality on every platform. If not, now's the time to find out (even if you're on just one platform)!

Reviews BBEdit 8: Better Than Ever
by: Thomas Pletcher
Release Date: 10/19/2004
The last version of BBEdit was a tough act to follow. This world-class, Mac-only text editor excelled at web development tasks and Unix command line scripting alike. But the new BBEdit 8 looks even better. It's packed with over 100 new features, including some major productivity enhancers. This review will take a look at the major new features offered in this release, so you can determine whether to upgrade (or switch!).

FAQs

Flash FAQ: Flash Video
by: Robert Reinhardt
Release Date: 01/10/2006
Looking for answers to your Flash video questions? Review our Flash Video FAQ to learn more about using the Flash platform to deliver your web video content.

Extensions

Photoshop Custom Brushes - Dashed and Dotted 01
by: Scott Valentine
Release Date: 04/07/2009
After you've gone through the 3-part series on Photoshop's Brush Panel, it's time to pick up some new brushes! Check out this starter kit to learn about dashed and dotted lines, and what traps to watch out for.

Photoshop CS and above.

Design The CMX PPC Theme for WM5
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 01/02/2007
The CMX theme for Windows Mobile 5

The Complete (Almost) Vectorized Webding Catalog
by: Kim Cavanaugh
Release Date: 11/06/2006
Way back in December 2003 I wrote a free article here at Community MX called Fun with Webdings and Wingdings which is consistently in the Top Ten of our most viewed tutorials. As of this writing the tutorial has been viewed over 55,000 times. And why not? First of all, the tutorial is free, and secondly, Webdings and Wingdings are lots of fun to play around with. They can also serve some really useful purposes. Depending on the font in that family of "Dings" you can get all sorts of little miniature pictures by just typing in the correct character using the Fireworks Text tool.

Recently I needed some small icons for a design project so I started up Fireworks and created my own reference library for the Webding font family. And while I was at it, I decided to go ahead and convert all of the text objects into vector shapes. What you'll find here is a somewhat later version of the same file that is a tad better organized. You can use this file for your own design purposes or use it as a reference for creating your own library of characters.

What do you get in terms of images? Well, you'll have to open the file up to see all of the little pictures that Webdings create, but here are a few samples.

Sample webding characters

In addition there are two source files included in this download—both a Flash and a Fireworks source file that make use of the webding vector shapes included in the library for your examination.

Flash Preventing Caching in Flash Player
by: Paul Newman
Release Date: 01/24/2005
In this article, you'll learn how to use CacheManager, an ActionScript 2.0 class, to prevent Flash Player from caching external images, XML, and text files in your applications.

A New Autoshape: Ribbon
by: Brian Edgin
Release Date: 07/06/2004
Hiroshi Miyazawa of the Fireworks Development team has created two new Autoshapes: Wave and Ribbon. In this article you will find a quick start card and a mini-tutorial for the Ribbon Autoshape.

A New Autoshape: Wave
by: Brian Edgin
Release Date: 06/21/2004
Hiroshi Miyazawa, of the Fireworks Development team, has created two new Autoshapes: Wave and Ribbon. In this article you will find a quick start card and a mini-tutorial for the Wave Autoshape. Next week we will cover the Ribbon Autoshape.

CMX Insert Camtasia Video
by: Paul Newman
Release Date: 04/30/2004
This extension for Dreamweaver MX and Dreamweaver MX 2004 greatly simplifies inserting Camtasia videos into HTML documents. Simply click the Camtasia Video button on the Common tab of the Insert bar, and you're prompted for the location of your controller and configuration files. The extension takes care of the rest.

CMX Import Export Keyboard Shortcuts
by: Danilo Celic
Release Date: 03/18/2004
Dreamweaver makes it pretty easy to create and modify keyboard shortcuts. However, Dreamweaver doesn't make it easy to backup your keyboard shortcuts if you need to move between machines, keep your laptop up to date with your desktop, or share your shortcuts with your department's web team members. That's where CMX Import Export Shortcuts extension comes in; No mucking about with configuration files and folders. CMX Import Export Shortcuts makes importing or exporting Dreamweaver keyboard shortcut sets a breeze.

CMX Black Line Master Graphics 3
by: Kim Cavanaugh
Release Date: 11/28/2003
The CMX Black Line Master Series provides you with editable vector artwork in a Fireworks PNG format. Unlike traditional clip art, only the vector outlines exist in these scanned copyright-free images that have been traced in Freehand. In the third release of the series, Christmas, you'll find a collection of images in PNG format all featuring a Christmas theme that can be grouped, scaled, filled and stroked to your hearts content and are suitable for use in Fireworks, Freehand, or Flash.

The CMX Black Line Master Graphics Series:
CMX Black Line Master Graphics 1
CMX Black Line Master Graphics 2
CMX Black Line Master Graphics 3
CMX Black Line Master Graphics 4
CMX Black Line Master Graphics 5

Flash Community MXtra for Flash 2004
by: Paul Newman
Release Date: 10/21/2003
This Floating Panel for Flash MX 2004 enables you to search for articles on CommunityMX.com, or browse content using a calendar. Now you don't have to leave Flash to find the latest articles on Community MX.

Community MXtra for Dreamweaver
by: Paul Newman
Release Date: 10/16/2003
This Floating Panel for Dreamweaver MX 6.1 and Dreamweaver MX 2004 enables you to search for articles on CommunityMX.com, or browse content using a calendar. Now you don't have to leave Dreamweaver to find the latest articles on Community MX.

The CMX Dashpack
by: Kim Cavanaugh
Release Date: 07/15/2003
Fireworks doesn't have it's own facility for creating dotted and dashed lines, but it does allow you to import custom Styles. The CMX Dashpack contains 6 dotted and dashed stroke styles that you can use anytime you need dots and dashes.

Remoting Tester Panel for DW
by: Branden Hall
Release Date: 07/11/2003
This extension adds a panel to Dreamweaver MX that lets you easily test Flash Remoting calls and see their results from within Dreamweaver MX. This is the same version of the Remoting Tester Panel for Flash MX that has been ported to Dreamweaver.

Super Guides for Fireworks MX
by: Steven Grosvenor
Release Date: 06/13/2003
Super Guides is an axonometric projection template creator to allow you to create templates of any size, any angle and opacity for your isometric illustration needs. Through a simple yet powerful interface you can quickly create template documents within Fireworks MX to act as a starting point for technical and web illustrations

ColdFusion Row Colors
by: Bill Horvath
Release Date: 06/09/2003
The CF Row Colors server behavior will allow you to easily add alternating row colors to your repeat region.

Flash Remoting Tester Panel
by: Branden Hall
Release Date: 05/08/2003
This extension adds a panel to Flash MX that lets you easily test Flash Remoting calls and see their results from within FlashMX.

Edit Document Templates
by: Danilo Celic
Release Date: 05/05/2003
Dreamweaver MX offers native support for plenty of document types, and new document types can be added for use within Dreamweaver. With all of these documents comes a need to customize them for your specific needs. Want a custom charset, a special doctype, or a specific initial page title? If so, then you need to go digging into the depths of the Dreamweaver configuration folder. Well, you used to have to. Now there is the Edit New Documents extension.

Javascript Auto Validation of TextBoxes with the Text Format Suite
by: Joel Martinez
Release Date: 04/04/2003
The Text Format Suite allows you to create form elements that automatically mask the user's input to reduce user error. The suite is a set of four Dreamweaver Behaviors that can be applied to Textboxes.

Articles

Photography Introducing Masterpiece Photo Collection 12: To Autumn
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 11/20/2009
We are excited to introduce the CMX Masterpiece Photo Collection 12: To Autumn, based on the poem by William Blake (November 28, 1757 - August 12, 1827).

This article includes thumbnails of the ten high resolution images you get in the subscriber's CMX Masterpiece Photo article by Jill Kossin.

Flex Professional Adobe Flex 3: The Flex 3 Ecosystem - Part 2
by: Joseph Balderson
Release Date: 11/18/2009
In May 2009, Wrox released a ground-breaking book: Professional Adobe Flex 3, written by Joseph Balderson, Peter Ent, Jun Heider, Todd Prekaski, Tom Sugden, Andrew Trice, David Hassoun and Joe Berkovitz, (ISBN 0470223642). This landmark publication consists over 1400+ pages of Flex reference material, covering a multitude of topics ranging from beginner to advanced, from the fundamentals of the Flash Platform technology ecosystem to the intricacies of the most advanced Flex-related frameworks and server products, in a breadth and depth found nowhere else.

In a Community MX exclusive, the following is an excerpt from Chapter 2: The Flex 3 Ecosystem:

Before diving into the specifics of any technology, it helps to know the terrain. You may have heard terms such as the Flash Player, Flash runtime, Flex, Flex framework, virtual machine, Flash Platform, Flex ecosystem, and various Adobe server products. The previous chapter defined a few aspects of this ensemble of technologies but perhaps not enough for the uninitiated to get a grasp of how they are related. What else is there? And how do they all fit together? This chapter will attempt to categorize and enumerate as many aspects of the ensemble of Adobe and related technologies that we call “the Flex ecosystem” as possible. These technologies are divided into the following categories:

Runtimes
Languages
Development tools
Frameworks and APIs
Data communications
Servers

In Part 2 of this excerpt, we will continue our coverage of the Flex and Flash Platform development ecosystem of technologies, with Frameworks and APIs, Data Communications and Servers.

The Flex 3 Ecosystem Series:
Professional Adobe Flex 3: The Flex 3 Ecosystem - Part 1
Professional Adobe Flex 3: The Flex 3 Ecosystem - Part 2

Create Your Own Custom CMX Fireworks Course - Updated
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 11/17/2009
Since March of 2009, we've added more than 40 Fireworks or Fireworks-related articles to the Community MX content list. Now, as of November 2009, there are over 400! I figured it was about time to yet again update what we have available for my favorite imaging application. This learning guide will group articles into categories, guide you in determining their levels, and help you design your own custom Fireworks course. This article will break down the various FW articles into several areas, from the basics of the Fireworks interface, to creative design and production techniques.

Dreamweaver The CMX JumpStart Catalog Update 2009
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 11/10/2009
Our last JumpStart Catalog was published in 2008, and of course we've released quite a few new JumpStarts since then. It's almost 2010(!), so it's definitely time to update and put all our JumpStarts more conveniently at your fingertips.

Hard as it is to believe, it is five years - almost to the day - since we published our first JumpStart, CMX JumpStart Paris, on Oct. 28, 2004. Long live the CMX JumpStart!

This catalog will start out by breaking down the JumpStarts into categories such as fixed-width, fluid, horizontal band, and number of columns. It will then list the special features that can be found in various JumpStarts, such as galleries, widgets, typography enhancements such as sIFR, Flash MP3 players, forms, and many more. Finally, we'll get to the actual catalog of every JumpStart we've published over the last five years. There will be a picture, a list of features, and links to the JumpStart itself, as well as the free article that describes it.

Dreamweaver Introducing CMX JumpStart Black Forest
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 10/30/2009
Known for its highlands, scenery, and forests, the Black Forest in Germany is a popular center of tourism. When someone mentions Black Forest to me, however, I always think of the wonderful cake or waltzing by the beautiful Blue Danube. Now I am going to us all something else to think about, too, and that's the latest CMX JumpStart Black Forest.

CMX JumpStart Black Forest is a centered, two-column, fixed layout in the new wider width that many designers are now using. The tabbed navigation uses the popular Sliding Door technique. The header features a logo with the text placed on a circular path, and will make it easy to design an attractive logo for your site. The main content resides in the left column, and a Digg content sharing menu occupies the right column.

The JumpStart includes a main style sheet, an Internet Explorer style sheet, and a Design Time Style Sheet (in case your version of Dreamweaver makes the layout difficult to edit in Design View).

Of course Black Forest meets the W3C standards for CSS and XHTML, as well as the WAI accessibility requirements, too.

Introducing Palm Breeze Cafe
by: Kim Cavanaugh
Release Date: 10/22/2009
I wear a lot of different hats in my day job. As a member of the Educational Technology Team for Palm Beach County schools—one of the largest public school districts in the U.S.—I do all sorts of things from manage programs to conducting workshops and even doing the occasional web and graphic design work. But the most unusual aspect of my job is that I also get to be a television star.

OK, star might be a bit of a stretch, but I am the co-host of a weekly television show that is filmed in our school district's television studio. Each and every week during the school year we record Palm Breeze Cafe for broadcast to all 165 schools in our district as well as send the show out to local cable viewers.

But as cool as it is to serve our local community this way, from the start we've always published our show online through YouTube and other video sharing sites. This allows us to share with you (for free!) the great things we do on the show and the many ways that computers can be used for learning.

Going Mobile with Fireworks - Creating an iPhone Application Wireframe
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 10/01/2009
In the last three articles in this series, Tom Green and Kim Cavanaugh shed a great deal of light on the conceptual process for creating our iPhone app. We're now at the stage where a wireframe of our concept would be a really good idea, and that's where I come in.

In this article I'll talk about the considerations made for building the wireframe and share some tips and Fireworks features that can help ease the process.

The Going Mobile with Fireworks CS4 Series:
Going Mobile with Fireworks CS4: The iPhone Project
Going Mobile with Fireworks CS4: On Design and Branding for iPhone Apps
Going Mobile with Fireworks CS4: The iPhone Project Comes into Focus
Going Mobile with Fireworks CS4: Creating an iPhone Application Wireframe
Going Mobile with Fireworks CS4: Creating a Branded Application

Going Mobile with Fireworks CS4: The iPhone Project Comes into Focus
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 09/29/2009
In this installment the team wrestles with the specific design issues posed by the iPhone.

The Going Mobile with Fireworks CS4 Series:
Going Mobile with Fireworks CS4: The iPhone Project
Going Mobile with Fireworks CS4: On Design and Branding for iPhone Apps
Going Mobile with Fireworks CS4: The iPhone Project Comes into Focus
Going Mobile with Fireworks CS4: Creating an iPhone Application Wireframe
Going Mobile with Fireworks CS4: Creating a Branded Application

Going Mobile with Fireworks CS4: On Design and Branding for iPhone Apps
by: Kim Cavanaugh
Release Date: 09/24/2009
I'm taking the plunge along with Tom Green and Jim Babbage for an in-depth look at the world of mobile design, and as luck would have it, we've decided to take on what is likely the most challenging of all mobile devices by starting with the iPhone.

The Going Mobile with Fireworks CS4 Series:
Going Mobile with Fireworks CS4: The iPhone Project
Going Mobile with Fireworks CS4: On Design and Branding for iPhone Apps
Going Mobile with Fireworks CS4: The iPhone Project Comes into Focus
Going Mobile with Fireworks CS4: Creating an iPhone Application Wireframe
Going Mobile with Fireworks CS4: Creating a Branded Application

Going Mobile with Fireworks CS4: The iPhone Project
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 09/22/2009
The question is not if you will start designing for mobile devices. It is when you will start. Join Jim Babbage, Kim Cavanaugh and I as we enter the wild, wacky and weird world of designing for mobile devises using Fireworks CS4.

The Going Mobile with Fireworks CS4 Series:
Going Mobile with Fireworks CS4: The iPhone Project
Going Mobile with Fireworks CS4: On Design and Branding for iPhone Apps
Going Mobile with Fireworks CS4: The iPhone Project Comes into Focus
Going Mobile with Fireworks CS4: Creating an iPhone Application Wireframe
Going Mobile with Fireworks CS4: Creating a Branded Application

Photography Introducing CMX Masterpiece Photo Collection 11: The Sun Also Rises
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 09/17/2009
We are excited to introduce the CMX Masterpiece Photo Collection 11: The Sun Also Rises based on the book by Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961).

The collection consists of ten high resolution images of sunrises and sunsets in various locations. This article introduces the collection and gives you thumbnail previews of the images contained in the collection published by Jillian Kossin, resident CMX photographer.

Photography Observations From an Equestrian Photo Shoot
by: Scott Valentine
Release Date: 09/10/2009
Are you looking to expand your photographic horizons? And I don't mean with a 12mm fisheye lens... I mean taking on new challenges. I was recently invited to take pictures at an outdoor equestrian event, which I had never previously done.

I grabbed my camera, took a few moments to think about what I'd need, then proceeded to spend the day learning how little I knew about event photography. I was up at 4am to be on the trail and set up. Read my experience doing something for the first time, and perhaps you'll come out ahead when next you tackle a new challenge!

General Business So You Want To Be a Tech Writer?
by: Steven Seiller
Release Date: 08/31/2009
Are you the type to share knowledge and innovations in technology? Are you the person everyone asks when they want to know how to do something on their computer? Maybe you have found yourself thinking after reading a tutorial, "Hey! I could write this. I know plenty of this stuff." Are you interested in helping others or possibly making some money from your knowledge?

Well, the opportunity to be an author of articles, commentaries, reviews and tutorials abound. You don't already need to be famous to become an author. You don't even need to know everything about the subject on which you write. But there are some things that you need to be in order to receive success as a tech writer. You do need to be accurate, be clear, be instructive, be innovative, be interesting and be curious.

Fireworks Introducing CMX Design Element Sulphur
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 08/28/2009
It's been a while, but we hope the wait is worth it - today we have a new Design Element to offer you - CMX Design Element Sulphur, a layout that is intended for, though not really limited to, blogging sites.

If you're a subscriber, be sure to download CMX Design Element Sulphur from Gordon MacKay's article, also published today. If you're not a subscriber, continue with this article to learn about the Design Element concept and to get a peak at what the Sulphur design looks like.

Flex Professional Adobe Flex 3: The Flex 3 Ecosystem - Part 1
by: Joseph Balderson
Release Date: 08/25/2009
In May 2009, Wrox released a ground-breaking book: Professional Adobe Flex 3, written by Joseph Balderson, Peter Ent, Jun Heider, Todd Prekaski, Tom Sugden, Andrew Trice, David Hassoun and Joe Berkovitz, (ISBN 0470223642). This landmark publication consists over 1400+ pages of Flex reference material, covering a multitude of topics ranging from beginner to advanced, from the fundamentals of the Flash Platform technology ecosystem to the intricacies of the most advanced Flex-related frameworks and server products, in a breadth and depth found nowhere else.

In a Community MX exclusive, the following is an excerpt from Chapter 2: The Flex 3 Ecosystem:

Before diving into the specifics of any technology, it helps to know the terrain. You may have heard terms such as the Flash Player, Flash runtime, Flex, Flex framework, virtual machine, Flash Platform, Flex ecosystem, and various Adobe server products. The previous chapter defined a few aspects of this ensemble of technologies but perhaps not enough for the uninitiated to get a grasp of how they are related. What else is there? And how do they all fit together? This chapter will attempt to categorize and enumerate as many aspects of the ensemble of Adobe and related technologies that we call “the Flex ecosystem” as possible. These technologies are divided into the following categories:

Runtimes
Languages
Development tools
Frameworks and APIs
Data communications
Servers

In Part 1 of this excerpt, we will cover the history of Flex, followed by an in-depth coverage of the runtimes, languages and development tools associated with Flex development and the Flash Platform.

Professional Adobe Flex 3

The Flex 3 Ecosystem Series:
Professional Adobe Flex 3: The Flex 3 Ecosystem - Part 1
Professional Adobe Flex 3: The Flex 3 Ecosystem - Part 2

Flex Professional Adobe Flex 3: Why Flex?
by: Joseph Balderson
Release Date: 08/20/2009
In May 2009, Wrox released a ground-breaking book: Professional Adobe Flex 3, written by Joseph Balderson, Peter Ent, Jun Heider, Todd Prekaski, Tom Sugden, Andrew Trice, David Hassoun and Joe Berkovitz, (ISBN 0470223642). This landmark publication consists over 1400+ pages of Flex reference material, covering a multitude of topics ranging from beginner to advanced, from the fundamentals of the Flash Platform technology ecosystem to the intricacies of the most advanced Flex-related frameworks and server products, in a breadth and depth found nowhere else.

The following article is an excerpt from Chapter 1: Why Flex?:

It seems like nearly every programming book I have ever read starts off with the obligatory “Introduction to [whatever]” chapter, which basically regurgitates the essentials that everyone knows, and hence is the one chapter nearly every reader skips. In this first chapter of the book, I thought we’d start things off with a different approach, one that takes you, the reader, through the reasons that you might want to use Flex, what Flex is for, bursting some myths about Flex and the Flash platform, and, finally, ending up with a “Top 10” of Flex’s strong points. Enjoy!

Adobe Professional Flex 3

Design Getting Color Theme Inspiration From Your Local Hardware Store
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 08/20/2009
There are many excellent online color pickers and color generators, such as Adobe Kuler, or Petr Stanicek's Color Scheme Designer, but I believe it's important that we Web designers get out of our cushie chiars every so often and gain inspiration away from the desktop.

And what better place than the local hardware or paint store? If you cringe at the mere thought of painting a room, fear not! There will be no need to lift a paint brush during this excursion - but a flatbed scanner might be helpful . . .

Example of a final web page mock up, using color chips as the color scheme inspiration.

Dreamweaver Introducing CMX JumpStart: Stelvio Pass - Gallery
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 08/19/2009
Let's take a car ride along the highest paved mountain pass in the Eastern Alps, the Stelvio Pass of Italy. Then let's take some great shots along the route and when we get home, place them on a web page in a stunning gallery format, courtesy of the free Adobe Lightbox, to share with our friends and family. Guess what? That's exactly what Adrian Senior did for the the latest JumpStart, CMX JumpStart Stelvio Pass - Gallery.

General Business Increase Contract Bidding Success With Problem Analysis
by: Steven Seiller
Release Date: 08/18/2009
I have heard from many developers who have developed bids for client sites only to hear upon submission that the prospect believes the solution to be far too expensive. Has this happened to you? Want to avoid the costly process of developing bids for potential clients who will likely reject them as far too expensive?

By incorporating problem analysis into your needs assessment process you can prevent situations in which your bids will be dismissed outright for their cost. I will show you how to increase the success rate of your bidding process by ensuring the solution you propose provides value for the problem the prospect has to solve.

ASP.NET Rediscovering Microsoft
by: Joel Martinez
Release Date: 08/14/2009
When Adobe released Dreamweaver CS4, one of the features conspicuously missing from the feature list was the .NET server model. If you still use the Microsoft stack to develop and host web applications and sites and haven't looked at the latest tools from Microsoft, then this the perfect opportunity to get up to speed on the latest Microsoft tech.

In this article we will learn how to set up your development environment, and also about the latest frameworks that Microsoft has to offer, such as entity framework and asp.net mvc

Photography Introducing CMX Masterpiece Photo Collection 10: The People
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 08/13/2009
We are excited to introduce the CMX Masterpiece Photo Collection 10: The People, based on the poem by William Butler Yeats (1865-1939). This article includes thumbnails of the ten images in this collection.

CSS IE8 - The Good - CSS2.1 Selector Support
by: Estelle Weyl
Release Date: 08/11/2009
In the last section we overviewed all the new features of IE8. In this section we take a closer look at all of the CSS2.1 Selectors, and compare IE6, IE7 and IE8 browser support.

The IE8: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly (and Pretty) Series:
IE8: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly (and Pretty)
IE8: The Good - CSS2.1 Selector Support

Spikey 3D Ball in Photoshop CS4 Extended
by: Scott Valentine
Release Date: 08/10/2009
So, you've probably seen some slick stuff you can do in Photoshop CS4 Extended with 3D objects. You may have seen someone put a car from Google Warehouse into a parking lot (yawn), or even a 3D display case into a store (double yawn). Perhaps you've seen some goofball create a fiery soap bubble entirely in 3D with Photoshop (seriously - who think of these things??).

But now you are going to see the true power of 3D in Photoshop; random junk! Yes, follow along as I show you how to create a spikey blog thing that defies other description (try as I might).

Approximate download size: 6MB

Photography Introducing Masterpiece Photo Collection 9: The Butterfly's Day
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 08/06/2009
We are excited to introduce the CMX Masterpiece Photo Collection 9: The Butterfly's Day, based on the poem by Emily Dickinson (1830-1886). You can read The Butterfly's Day and other butterfly poems that Dickinson wrote at The Classic Reader. It's already August, and before you know it, summer will be behind us, the kids will go back to school, and the momentum towards the big holidays will begin. Let's enjoy our lazy summer days a little while longer. Let's go out to the field and chase the butterflies.

Open Source What's Coming in Drupal 7
by: Laurie Casolino
Release Date: 08/04/2009
Code Freeze for the 7th version of Drupal has been announced for September 1st and August should see a flurry of activity as the developers try to get as many features as possible into this very popular content management system. Let's take a look at some of the features that are coming in the next release

CSS IE8 - The Good, the Bad, the Ugly (and Pretty)
by: Estelle Weyl
Release Date: 07/22/2009
Browsers come out every day. Webkit has a nightly build. Wireless devices come with their own, often unique browsers. Even with the plethora of available browsers, Internet Explorer, a browser that is not regularly updated, still has over 60% of the browser market. IE8 was released only in March 2009, and by July 2009, it already had 17% of the browser market share.

In this article, we take a look at the IE8 browser and provide an overview of what is new and improved in this release.

The IE8: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly (and Pretty) Series:
IE8: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly (and Pretty)
IE8: The Good - CSS2.1 Selector Support

Fireworks CS4 Classroom in a Book Excerpts - Part 4: Advanced Prototyping
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 07/08/2009
Adobe Fireworks CS4 has quite a few cool features, but if you're completely new to the program - or new to web design, you might be wondering where to start in Fireworks. In the Fireworks CS4 Classroom in a Book, my goal was to introduce the complete novice to Fireworks and by the end of the book, leave them with a wide range of skills and a solid grasp of what Fireworks could - and could not - do.

cover shot of Fireworks Classroom in a Book

In this four part series, you will find PDF excerpts from the book, complete with some of the working files to help you along. Below is a break down of the series.

The excerpts in in this final installment are taken from Lesson 11 in the book. While there are only two excerpts in this final part, they are both very detailed, covering some time saving steps to working with multiple rollovers on the same page and combining basic and more complex rollover effects to imitate a master detail Spry data table.

Fireworks CS4 Classroom in a Book Excerpts Series
Fireworks CS4 Classroom in a Book Excerpts - Part 1: Bitmap and Vector Tools
Fireworks CS4 Classroom in a Book Excerpts - Part 2: Text and Image Optimization
Fireworks CS4 Classroom in a Book Excerpts - Part 3: Workflow
Fireworks CS4 Classroom in a Book Excerpts - Part 4: Advanced Prototyping

Photography Introducing Masterpiece Photo Collection 8: Call of the Wild
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 07/07/2009
We are excited to introduce the CMX Masterpiece Photo Collection 8: The Call of the Wild, based on the book by Jack London (1876-1916). You can read Call of the Wild in a free ebook at Project Gutenberg.

We just entered the warm days of summer, and to cool you off, we'll take you to Alaska for a series of stunning photographs of a still wild land.

Reviews New From Acrobat.com: Tables
by: Kim Cavanaugh
Release Date: 07/01/2009
When Adobe acquired Virtual Ubiquity—the company responsible for the great online word processor Buzzword—there was an awful lot of speculation about where the company would take these technologies and what sort of additional services might be offered. In the two years since the acquisition was announced Buzzword has been rolled into the online sharing platform found at Acrobat.com and the programmers have been hard at work on other applications.

Recently two new services were announced that extend the services of Acrobat.com but that hold to the same principles as the original Buzzword application—focusing on the ability of users to share information and collaborate on documents in a real-time environment. In my previous article on the new features at Acrobat.com Labs we took a look at the new Presentations service that allows you to make slide-show presentations in an on-line environment.

In this article we'll look at the similarly simply-named Tables application service that provides you with a means to share a document that has the most common features that real people use spreadsheets for—the simple organization of information. Both of these software as services applications are in beta testing as this article is being written at Labs.Acrobat.com, but they are slated for a wider release into the Acrobat.com service in the future.

Fireworks CS4 Classroom in a Book Excerpts - Part 3: Workflow
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 06/30/2009
Adobe Fireworks CS4 has quite a few cool features, but, if you're completely new to the program - or new to web design, you might be wondering where to start in Fireworks. In the Fireworks CS4 Classroom in a Book, my goal was to introduce the complete novice to Fireworks and by the end of the book, leave them with a wide range of skills and a solid grasp of what Fireworks could - and could not - do.

cover shot of Fireworks Classroom in a Book

In this four part series, you will find PDF excerpts from the book, complete with some of the working files to help you along.In this, the third part of the series, you will learn how to create an animation symbol, share a web layer and share a layer to multiple pages.

Approximate download size: 4.2MB

Fireworks CS4 Classroom in a Book Excerpts Series
Fireworks CS4 Classroom in a Book Excerpts - Part 1: Bitmap and Vector Tools
Fireworks CS4 Classroom in a Book Excerpts - Part 2: Text and Image Optimization
Fireworks CS4 Classroom in a Book Excerpts - Part 3: Workflow
Fireworks CS4 Classroom in a Book Excerpts - Part 4: Advanced Prototyping

Reviews New From Acrobat.com: Presentations
by: Kim Cavanaugh
Release Date: 06/24/2009
When Adobe acquired Virtual Ubiquity—the company responsible for the great online word processor Buzzword—there was a great deal of speculation about where the company would take these technologies and what sort of additional services might be offered. In the two years since the acquisition was announced Buzzword has been rolled into the online sharing platform found at Acrobat.com and the programmers have been hard at work on other applications.

Recently two new services were announced that extend the services of Acrobat.com but that hold to the same principles as the original Buzzword application—focusing on the ability of users to share information and collaborate on documents in a real-time environment. This article will take a look at the first of these new services known simply as Presentations and discuss some of the trends ahead and speculate a bit on where Adobe might ultimately take these services.

Javascript QuickShot: Making HTML Tables Sortable
by: Ray West
Release Date: 06/23/2009
Sometimes there is just nothing you can do except point in the direction of a great little piece of code.

We have all had it driven into our developer pea-brains that tables are for tabular data and not for layout. Well, if we are all using tables properly for tablular data, then more often than not somebody is going to ask “Can you click the table to sort all of that?” If it is tabular data, then it could probably benefit from some sorting, so your answer needs to be yes.

Dreamweaver The Adobe BrowserLab Web Service
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 06/16/2009
For my students, the single most daunting aspect of putting together CSS layouts is the inconsistency in how browsers render pages. Many of you may have heard of, or have even used, services such as Browsercam (subscription) or Browsershots (free, but very public) to view your pages in browsers you don't have on your own system. Now Adobe has launched a public beta of its own diagnostic browser service, which it has named Adobe BrowserLab.

In this article you'll find out what you'll need to run BrowserLab, learn more about its features, and watch a sample page go through the BrowserLab paces.

Dreamweaver Introducing CMX JumpStart Siberia
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 06/11/2009
It's almost summer, so don't make me think. You may have read the book by Steve Krug, a book about web usability, that uses this phrase as its title. If "don't make me think" is your philosophy, then you're going to love the latest JumpStart, CMX JumpStart Siberia. From its completely neutral color scheme that will easily adapt to any color choices you make, to its ready-made inclusion of the Spry Accordion Widget, to its brain dead method for switching from two to three column layouts, Siberia won't make you think, or certainly not much.

Photography Introducing Masterpiece Photo Collection 7: Paradise Lost
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 05/28/2009
We are excited to introduce the CMX Masterpiece Photo Collection 7: Paradise Lost, based on the epic poem by John Milton (1608-1674).

Now you may be wondering what possible connection there could be between Paradise Lost and our latest CMX Masterpiece Photo Collection. After all, the poem deals with the profound themes of man's fall and the dichotomy of good and evil. We are engaging in a little irony here. Our latest images are of paradises on earth, and thus give us a few moments where we feel...Paradise Gained.

The Rules of Composition
by: Scott Valentine
Release Date: 05/12/2009
So you take pictures. Do you know what you're looking at? How would you describe what you do and don't like? Even more important, how can you take that information and make *better* pictures? Start here! I'll take you on a tour of how I view composition and rules in photography, and why you need to reconsider what rules really are.

Dreamweaver Introducing CMX JumpStart Isle of Skye
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 04/30/2009
National Geographic rated it the fourth best island in the world. It is the second largest island in Scotland, with a coastline strewn with peninsulas and bays. And now, it's a first class design for the latest CMX JumpStart, CMX JumpStart Isle of Skye.

CMX JumpStart Isle of Skye is a centered, fixed-width layout with features that work well for a business site. There is a highlighted style for a promotional paragraph above the two-column main content region. There is an extended area for displaying images that express your business model. A print style sheet includes your business contact information so that it is not lost when a visitor prints out any page of the site. Your logo appears next to the popular accessible Sliding Door tabbed navigation. And best of all, this is one of the easiest JumpStarts to modify! Once you edit the PNG file and export the slices to the defined Dreamweaver site, the changes you'll need to make to the CSS file are minimal.

Flash Embedding Flash Content, Demystified - Part 1: Introduction
by: David Stiller
Release Date: 04/29/2009
There are numerous ways to embed Flash content in a web site, from Dreamweaver's Insert > Media menu (for SWF files, Flash Paper, FLV files, and more) to the publishing templates provided by the Flash authoring tool itself. In spite of these varied options — or perhaps because they're so varied — many people lack confidence when it comes to marrying Flash content with an HTML document.

If this strikes a chord with you, then lay your fears to rest. In this series, you'll cut through the complexity, find out what your application's auto-generated embedding code actually means, and learn to avoid a handful of common Flash-related pitfalls.

The Embedding Flash Content Demystified Series:
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 1: Introduction
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 2: The Traditional Approach
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 3: Optional Parameters
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 4: Optional Parameters Continued
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 5: Optional Parameters Concluded
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 6: Common Pitfalls
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 7: Using JavaScript
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 8: Using JavaScript (cont)
Embedding Flash Content Demystified - Part 9: Using JavaScript (concluded)

Photography Introducing Masterpiece Photo Collection 6: The Jungle Book
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 04/24/2009
We are excited to introduce the CMX Masterpiece Photo Collection 6: The Jungle Book, based on the book by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936). You can read The Jungle Book in a free ebook at Project Gutenberg. Many of you may have read The Jungle Book, or at the very least seen the Disney movie. I remember going to see the movie as a child and being completely fascinated by it. I would even guess that it is my all time favorite Disney movie!

Dreamweaver Introducing CMX JumpStart Landeck
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 04/16/2009
CMX JumpStart Landeck is a centered, two-column or three-column, 770 pixel liquid and fixed-width layout. The content is constrained for optimal line lengths of text, but the outer divs are flexible and expand to the user's window size. The two tier navigation uses Sliding Door technique for its main navigation. The left column navigation is constructed from an unordered list, which has a generous amount of bottom padding to accommodate a decorative background image. The right column of the three-column version provides space for more content, or, as in our JumpStart, some eye catching images. The header div uses the Fireworks Fade Image (Auto Vector Mask in CS4) command to blend its image into the background color.

Flash Flash CS4: Encoding Video Content
by: David Stiller
Release Date: 04/15/2009

As Tom Green mentioned in his end-of-2008 video "A Quick Tour of the Flash CS4 Interface," the latest version of Flash introduces a handful of eye-popping new tools. These are covered in detail in our latest collaborative effort, Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers (ISBN: 1430210931, by Tom Green and David Stiller, published by friends of ED). We've taken an introductory look at a number of these new features in this series, along with a some features that have been around for quite some time (though relatively underused). Now it's time to round out this excerpt series with a look at the new Adobe Media Encoder, the application Flash CS4 now uses exclusively to encode video content.

Adobe Media Encoder used to be known as the Adobe Flash Video Encoder. The name change is deliberate. Adobe came to the conclusion that the Flash brand name was being attached to a lot of stuff, and there was understandable concern that the brand was becoming diluted. The release of Creative Suite 4 starts the process of Adobe's refocusing of the Flash brand. If you have used Flash to encode video in previous iterations of the application, you will find that things have really changed. Let's take a look.

General Business Going From One to Two - Hiring People
by: Paul Davis
Release Date: 04/09/2009
Going from one to two is the hardest business decision, however, now is an excellent time to be expanding your business if you have extra work or you're working more than you can handle.

Appcelerator Entourage - Part 1: An Overview
by: Arman Danesh
Release Date: 04/06/2009
This is the first article in an on-going series about building rich internet applications with Appcelerator Entourage. Appcelerator Entourage is a framework combining client-side JavaScript libraries with server-side service brokers to create fully-integrated applications on a variety of server technologies, ranging from PHP to Rails to .Net.

Entourage was previously known as the Appcelerator SDK, but with its upgrade to Version 3 in later March 2009 not only was the name changed to Entourage but some fundamental redesign of the framework took place as well.

The Appcelerator Entourage Series:
Appcelerator Entourage - Part 1: An Overview
Appcelerator Entourage - Part 2: Getting Started
Appcelerator Entourage - Part 3: The Message Queue
Appcelerator Entourage - Part 4: Expressions
Appcelerator Entourage - Part 5: Expression Conditions

Photography Introducing CMX Masterpiece Photo Collection 5: Around the World in 80 Days
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 04/02/2009
We are excited to introduce the CMX Masterpiece Photo Collection 5: Around the World in 80 Days, based on the book by Jules Verne (1828-1905).

With the arrival of April, many of us are starting to make plans for summer trips and adventures. This collection of planes, trains, cars, and bikes pretty much covers the various ways you might travel to places near and far.

Flash Using the Bandwidth Profiler - Part 2
by: David Stiller
Release Date: 03/30/2009
As Tom Green mentioned in his end-of-2008 video "A Quick Tour of the Flash CS4 Interface," the latest version of Flash introduces a handful of eye-popping new tools. These are covered in detail in our latest collaborative effort, Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers (ISBN: 1430210931, by Tom Green and David Stiller, published by friends of ED). We've taken an introductory look at some of these new features already in this series — and there's more to come — but no matter what version of Flash you're using, if your content is distributed via the Internet, the time it takes to download and display is totally dependent on two things: a) the assets included in that content, which are under your control, and b) the flow of network traffic, which is not necessarily under your control. This is your chance to fall in love with the user and not the technology.

When we last touched base, we made the acquaintance of a longtime feature of Flash, the Bandwidth Profiler. In that previous article, you learned that the Bandwidth Profiler allows you to simulate various modem speeds in order to test your content as many of your users will experience it. As we continue in this installation — the second last of our Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers excerpt series — you'll learn how to actually use the information provided by the profiler to structure your content for optimized delivery.

Approximate download size: 2.5MB

The Using The Bandwidth Profiler Series:
Using the Bandwidth Profiler - Part 1
Using the Bandwidth Profiler - Part 2

The Demise of Dreamweaver Has Been Greatly Exaggerated
by: Kim Cavanaugh
Release Date: 03/20/2009
A recent article by Tom Arah at the PC Pro blog took a provocative stand, to say the least. In the article, I’m sorry but Dreamweaver is dying, Tom lays out an argument that static HTML pages are no longer a viable way to publish to the Web, and with their demise Dreamweaver may very well die right along with it. In its place he sees a place only for content management systems such as Drupal, Joomla, and WordPress. In a follow-on article, A nice chat with Adobe about Dreamweaver, he discusses his conclusions with Devin Fernandez, senior product manager for web products at Adobe. In the end, his opinion remains the same; Dreamweaver and the kind of static HTML it produces is a process that is due to fade away, undone by the rise of dynamic web publishing methods. He even goes so far in his conclusion to the first article to say:

"If you are a Dreamweaver user don’t bother upgrading to the latest version or exploring Adobe’s feeble attempts to graft end user content contribution onto Dreamweaver. Instead save your money and invest your time in getting to grips with the real future of web design: server-based content management systems."

Well. To say that I disagree with Mr. Arah would be a bit of an understatement as well. Let's take a look at some of his central arguments and see where he raises valid points and where his thinking goes off the rails.

Dreamweaver Introducing CMX JumpStart Lima
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 03/13/2009
Peru's archaeological heritage and great natural beauty make it a popular travel destination for thousands of visitors each year. Most of them visit Lima, Peru's cultural and business center. The latest CMX JumpStart, CMX JumpStart Lima, will also become an artistic center - for designers. With its neutral color scheme, modern design, and elegant simplicity, it will be a JumpStart you can use again and again to almost instantly create a new site.

CMX JumpStart Lima is a centered, two-column, fixed-width layout that makes extensive use of background images to produce its space age design. The left column navigation is constructed from an unordered list. The header div uses the Fireworks Fade Image (Auto Vector Mask in CS4) command to create a subtle blend whose visual appeal makes a great substitute for the navigation buttons in Gordon's original Mercury Design Element.

That's right - if this design looks familiar, it should. Adrian Senior coded it from Gordon Mackay's Design Element Mercury.

Of course Lima meets the W3C standards for CSS and XHTML, as well as the WAI accessibility requirements, too.

Create Your Own Custom CMX Fireworks Course - Updated
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 03/10/2009
When I first wrote this article back in 2007, there were more than 315 Fireworks or Fireworks-related articles available on Community MX. Now, as of March 2009, there are over 400!

Well, we've seen two new versions of Fireworks arrive since January 2007, and I figured it was about time to update what we have available for my favorite imaging application.

This learning guide will group articles into categories, guide you in determining their levels, and help you design your own custom Fireworks course.

Education Community MX as a Course Textbook
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 03/05/2009
If you are an instructor, you probably spend a lot of time deciding what textbooks to use for classes. You probably get literature from textbook companies, and if you're lucky, get desk copies for free so that you're not spending your own funds to try out books. Still, the perfect textbook seems to be an elusive dream that never materializes. There just are too many problems with books:

Books, usually written months in advance of their publication, are always a bit out-of-date.
Books never have everything you want and need in order to teach your curriculum.
Books are usually one size fits all, and students are always at varying levels of development.
Books are usually very expensive, especially in relation to their "shelf-life".
Students have different learning styles, and the traditional textbook may not work well for many of them.

I'd always supplemented my class materials with articles from Community MX, but I had never actually used CMX as the textbook for a course. When I was asked to teach the Montgomery College GD218 Graphic Design for the Web class - an online class taught in real time through the Elluminate virtual classroom software - I realized that CMX as textbook would be the perfect solution to what I needed to accomplish.

Photography Introducing Masterpiece Photo Collection 4: A Winter's Tale
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 03/03/2009
After the fragrant collection of flowers in our last stock photo collection, it seems a bit retrograde to publish images of winter. This is the season of ricocheting weather, however. Here in the D.C. metropolitan area - after experiencing sunny 60+ degree weather the last couple of days - we're under a winter storm warning with the possibility of sleet, ice pellets, and up to a foot of snow in some locations. And then there are the places that will get snow for many weeks yet to come. CMX Partner Rob Williams lives in Canada near Toronto and loves to go out after a fresh storm and take images before humans and vehicles tarnish the virgin landscape.

CMX A CMX Milestone - 3000 Articles
by: Ray West
Release Date: 02/18/2009
Today, Community MX published our 3000th article. I can remember when we celebrated the 250 and 500 milestones and it was almost unbelievable to think we would one day be in the thousands.

For the last 6 years Community MX has published 2 articles every single business day. I am not aware of anyone else that has this much content targeted at the Adobe and web development community. We have been through several versions of Macromedia/Adobe products and revolutions in the ways we use and program for the web.

Flash ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 1: An Introduction to AS3 Migration
by: Joseph Balderson
Release Date: 02/17/2009
Were you ever confused, frustrated or dismayed by a project where you had to convert from ActionScript 1 or 2 and migrate it up to ActionScript 3.0? Finding the right information, the right tips and the right approach can be challenging when you're under the gun and need a solution, fast. This series will guide you through some simple formulas and techniques to convert and migrate legacy Flash ActionScript 1 and 2 code and techniques to ActionScript 3.0.

In this introductory article, before getting into specific strategies and techniques, we'll take a look at some of the issues you may be facing when tasked with converting a project from AS1 or AS2 to AS3.

The ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles Series:
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 1: An Introduction to AS3 Migration
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 2: Button Events
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 3: TextFields
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 4: Automation Strategies
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 5: Source Navigation Coming soon
ActionScript 3.0 Conversion Chronicles - Part 6: Button Scripts Coming soon

Photography Introducing CMX Masterpiece Photo Collection 3: A Rose
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 02/16/2009
We are excited to introduce the CMX Masterpiece Photo Collection 3: A Rose, based on a poem by Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886) called A Rose - A sepal, petal, and a thorn.

It is now mid February and we're all pretty sick of the snow, ice, and cold weather. As sometimes happens in February, we just had a run of extraordinarily mild days with one day climbing to almost 70 degrees here in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. That whets my appetite for the season of the renewal of life.

Spring is coming...and so are the flowers.

General Business The Design Process of a Web Development Team - Part 1: Planning
by: Kim Cavanaugh
Release Date: 02/11/2009
While many web designers work directly with clients and essentially maintain a one woman (or man) web design company, the great majority of web developers work with other members on a design team.

Working with a team requires that you be organized and have a plan as you go into each project. Everyone on the team needs to understand what the goals of the project are, who is responsible for different phases of the work, and what deadlines need to be met. This often means a different workflow is required than the one that you might use as an independent web designer.

Even though working on a team might present different challenges the process of designing web sites remain the same as they do when you are working alone. In this two part series you will learn how the team design workflow process typically works, and how you can more effectively work in that environment.

The Design Process of a Web Development Team Series:
The Design Process of a Web Development Team - Part 1: Planning
The Design Process of a Web Development Team - Part 2: Executing Your Plan Coming Soon

New in InDesign CS4 - Part 1: Productivity Enhancements
by: Steven Seiller
Release Date: 02/04/2009
InDesign CS4, the younger of its more stalwart siblings Photoshop and Illustrator, is a page layout application. Its role in the Adobe Creative Suite is to collate your images, graphics and text on to paper for printing on small or large presses. This is the ideal application for creating brochures, newsletters and even books. Recent additions of InDesign focused on tighter integration with the rest of the Creative Suite. This sixth iteration sees some maturation in the application's designing tools, long document content management and ability to create interactive documents with Flash.

This part will explore the new CS4 features of Live Preflight, Smart Guides and the new Data Merge features.

The New in InDesign CS4 Series
New in InDesign CS4 - Part 1: Productivity Enhancements
New in InDesign CS4 - Part 2: More Productivity Enhancements
New in InDesign CS4 - Part 3: Text Improvements

General Business Tools of the Trade - Part 1: An Introduction
by: Ray West
Release Date: 01/29/2009
I wanted to write a series of articles about the tools of our trade; the trade of computer programmers, and most specifically, of those who program primarily for browser delivery. This will include not only specific tools, but also concepts of which we need to be aware as we interact with clients, contract with customers, program, deploy and deliver the services we provide.

Flash Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 2
by: David Stiller
Release Date: 01/23/2009
As Tom Green mentioned in his end-of-2008 video "A Quick Tour of the Flash CS4 Interface," the latest version of Flash introduces a handful of eye-popping new tools. These are covered in detail in our latest collaborative effort, Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers (ISBN: 1430210931, by Tom Green and David Stiller, published by friends of ED). In this series, we'll be sharing a number of excerpts from this book, in hopes of inspiring you to experiment with the new stuff.

Part 2 of an investigation of the Motion Editor panel, this installment delves into easing and how this feature has changed for new-style motion tweens. The difference comes by way of a series of graphs, rather than the single hot text slider in the Property inspector's version of easing. Let's "ease" on in, shall we?

The Excerpts from Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers Series
Flash CS4: The 3D Rotation Tool
Flash CS4: The 3D Translation Tool
Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 1
Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 2

Appcelerator Titanium: The Open Source Alternative to Adobe AIR?
by: Arman Danesh
Release Date: 01/23/2009
Appcelerator Titanium is a new open source platform for building cross-platform desktop applications using standard web technologies: HTML, CSS, JavaScript and Flash. This places it firmly in the same space as Adobe's AIR, where Titanium could emerge as a serious contender.

This article reviews Appcelerator and Appcelerator Titanium, provides an overview of its main features and API and walks through a simple application example to help readers decide for themselves if Titanium might be for them.

Photography Introducing Masterpiece Photo Collection 2: The Birds
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 01/21/2009
We are excited to introduce the CMX Masterpiece Photo Collection 2: The Birds, themed on a play called, well, The Birds written in 414 BC (yeah, you read that right) by Aristophanes.

Beware: the birds are coming....ten of them in full plumage and full of glorious song.

General Business Client Cheat Sheets for Writing Web Site Content (Article Only - No Cheat Sheets)
by: Steven Seiller
Release Date: 01/20/2009
I've noticed when designing web sites for businesses that the typical business person tends to assume that the web developer will write the web site content for them. After all, you as the web designer are the one who makes this stuff appear on screen. Right? And you are left thinking, "Well, someone has to write this. It is not my web site."

So who creates the site content (text, photos, illustrations, captions and other media?) If you are to have your clients create their site content, you will likely need to help them. To facilitate broader client learning, I compiled the most significant requirements and tips into a cheat sheet. I also created two worksheets for clients to use for the purpose of focusing the content creation for the site and each page.

This article does not include the cheat sheet and worksheets. If you would like the worksheets and cheat sheet, please check out this article.

Flash Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 1
by: David Stiller
Release Date: 01/19/2009
As Tom Green mentioned in his end-of-2008 video "A Quick Tour of the Flash CS4 Interface," the latest version of Flash introduces a handful of eye-popping new tools. These are covered in detail in our latest collaborative effort, Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers (ISBN: 1430210931, by Tom Green and David Stiller, published by friends of ED). In this series, we'll be sharing a number of excerpts from this book, in hopes of inspiring you to experiment with the new stuff.

Flash animators will notice a significant change with the sort of tweening that used to be called a motion tween. In Flash CS4, motion tweens are now called classic tweens, and the new motion tween is largely managed by something called the Motion Editor panel. The authors suspect there will be a surge of interest in the new-style motion tweens — and there's good reason for that, as you'll see. People will begin to ask, "Which approach is better?" We'll be compelled to reply with the only legitimate answer there is: the best approach depends entirely on whatever works best for the project at hand.

The Excerpts from Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers Series
Flash CS4: The 3D Rotation Tool
Flash CS4: The 3D Translation Tool
Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 1
Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 2

Flash Flash CS4: The 3D Translation Tool
by: David Stiller
Release Date: 01/14/2009
As Tom Green mentioned in his end-of-2008 video "A Quick Tour of the Flash CS4 Interface," the latest version of Flash introduces a handful of eye-popping new tools. These are covered in detail in our latest collaborative effort, Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers (ISBN: 1430210931, by Tom Green and David Stiller, published by friends of ED).

In this series, we'll be sharing a number of excerpts from this book, in hopes of inspiring you to experiment with the new stuff.

Picking up from where we left off, let's continue with the 3D tools. In this article, we'll briefly cover the 3D Translation tool and demonstrate its usefulness. But first, let's take a quick detour to understand something called a "vanishing point."

The Excerpts from Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers Series
Flash CS4: The 3D Rotation Tool
Flash CS4: The 3D Translation Tool
Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 1
Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 2

Dreamweaver Introducing CMX JumpStart: The New Forest
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 01/08/2009
Where can you stay in a five-star hotel or bed-and-breakfast, experience all kinds of wildlife, visit gardens and museums, go biking, and even get married? How about England's newest National Park The New Forest, where there is, it seems, something for everyone? There is also something for everyone in the latest CMX JumpStart, CMX JumpStart: The New Forest.

CMX JumpStart The New Forest is a centered, two-column or three-column, 770 pixel liquid and fixed-width layout. The content is constrained for optimal line lengths of text, but the outer divs are flexible and expand to the user's window size. The two tier navigation uses the infamous Sliding Door technique for its main navigation. The left column navigation is constructed from an unordered list, which has a generous amount of bottom padding to accommodate a decorative background image. The right column of the three-column version provides space for more content, or, as in our JumpStart, an eye catching image. The header div uses the Fireworks Fade Image (Auto Vector Mask in CS4) command to create a blend of images that has great visual appeal.

Of course The New Forest meets the W3C standards for CSS and XHTML, as well as the WAI accessibility requirements, too.

Flash Flash CS4: The 3D Rotation Tool
by: David Stiller
Release Date: 01/07/2009
As Tom Green mentioned in his end-of-2008 video "A Quick Tour of the Flash CS4 Interface," the latest version of Flash introduces a handful of eye-popping new tools. These are covered in detail in our latest collaborative effort, Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers (ISBN: 1430210931, by Tom Green and David Stiller, published by friends of ED).

In this series, we'll be sharing a number of excerpts from this book, in hopes of inspiring you to experiment with the new stuff.

Let's start with the 3D tools. In terms of visual cool factor, the 3D Rotation tool is sure to please. This tool allows you to quickly and intuitively rotate a movieclip in 3D space. In previous versions of Flash, this was possible only with shapes, and even that technique required a bit of careful nudging with the Free Transform tool. You simply couldn't do this with a symbol. Now you can, and that means you can perform perspective transforms on complex artwork, imported photos, and yes, even video. Kind of makes the corners of the mouth go up, doesn't it?

The Excerpts from Foundation Flash CS4 for Designers Series
Flash CS4: The 3D Rotation Tool
Flash CS4: The 3D Translation Tool
Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 1
Flash CS4: The Motion Editor Panel - Part 2

Photography Introducing the CMX Stock Photo Feature: Masterpiece Photos
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 12/23/2008
It is that "most wonderful time of year", and CMX loves to offer gifts to its subscribers, as well as the web development community at large. While exchanging ideas, we decided it was time to add a much needed feature to Community MX's growing repertoire of subscriber services. We had been wanting to offer stock photos for quite some time, but were waiting for just the right photographer. We found her in Jillian Kossin, a photographer who travels all over the world to get her masterpiece images. It is with great pride that we introduce CMX Masterpiece Photos Collection 1: Two Years Before the Mast, a group of ten images based on boats, trawlers, sailboats, and ships.

Photography CMX Masterpiece Photo Collection 1: Two Days Before the Mast
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 12/23/2008
We hope you read Sheri German's article that introduces the concept behind our new CMX stock photo feature. You can read about my equipment and experience, and even learn a little classical literature as a side bonus! Without further ado, we introduce Collection 1, Two Years Before the Mast, ten high resolution images of boats from locations all over the Western Hemisphere.

Approximate download size: 41.5MB

The CMX Masterpiece Photo Collection Series:
CMX Masterpiece Photo Collection 1: Two Days Before the Mast
CMX Masterpiece Photo Collection 2: The Birds
CMX Masterpiece Photo Collection 3: The Rose

HTML HTML/CSS Crash Primer
by: Tom Muck
Release Date: 12/02/2008
This article is intended as a re-introduction to HTML and CSS, and something I have used in the past to give to any new employees who may have had HTML experience, but exhibited some bad habits in actual coding. You may think HTML is simple and you may think you know all you need to know, but HTML is misused daily. Following are some basics to help correct some of the common problems.

Dreamweaver Introducing CMX JumpStart Nairobi
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 11/26/2008
Nairobi is the capital and largest city in Kenya. The latest U.S. election put focus on Kenya as the President-Elect, Barack Obama, had a Kenyan father. Nairobi is now one of the most important cities in Africa, and we think that the latest CMX JumpStart, CMX JumpStart Nairobi, will become one of your most important JumpStarts as well. Why? Because Nairobi is all about features and flexibility.

General Business Expose Right—Taking the Strange Out of Dynamic Range
by: Knut Kubenz
Release Date: 11/25/2008
You may have heard along the way in your digital photography travels, terms such as Dynamic Range and how when you expose your image you should Expose Right. The purpose of these terms, and they’re specific use in digital photography, might still be a bit of a mystery to you. Hopefully this article will expose them for what they are and shed a little more light on the subject.

Designing Interfaces in Fireworks CS4
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 11/25/2008
If you've been reading any of the Fireworks CS4 articles here at CMX, you can see that the application has had some pretty cool new features added to it. That said, however, CS4 is not just about new features. If you're new to the software, learning the basics is equally, if not more, important. In my book Adobe Fireworks CS4 How-To's, my goal was to explain the software in easy to digest techniques. This PDF excerpt from my book - Chapter 12 - covers 10 techniques for designing interfaces using Fireworks, including two new features: Exporting an AIR Prototype and Exporting a CSS-based layout.

Photoshop CS4 New Features - Clone Stamp
by: Scott Valentine
Release Date: 11/07/2008
Need to manipulate campaign photos? Want to drum up some sympathy for your favorite cause or movement? Well, you've come to the right place. The new clone stamp features in Photoshop CS4 Extended may just be cool enough to get some positive light for once. The public at large will be more than happy to suspend belief while looking at your masterful clone jobs!

It's Goodbye and Good Riddance to .style1 in Dreamweaver CS4
by: Kim Cavanaugh
Release Date: 11/07/2008
If you've been fooling around with web pages as long as I have, you've seen a real revolution when it comes to the methods that are used for styling pages. From the early abandonment of frame-based sites, to the more prevalent reliance on CSS-positioning versus table-based layouts that we see, these days there has been a constant change in the world of web site design.

Perhaps the last, really nasty throwback to earlier times was the way that Dreamweaver wrote styling information for text when the Properties inspector was used. Beginning in Dreamweaver MX, Macromedia moved away from the use of font tags (Yeah!) for styling text and moved towards a method that used CSS. But the truly ugly means they used to do this was to create, by default, numbered class rules named .style into the head of the document. Every time you styled text, even just a little, a new .style rule was created. Within minutes of the release of Dreamweaver the Web was awash in thousands of .style1's, .style2's, .style3's and so forth.

PHP Blank Pages in PHP
by: Tom Muck
Release Date: 11/06/2008
If you are a PHP developer, you are likely familiar with the blank page -- an error page with no error message. PHP has some default settings that prevent any error mess

Latest New Content

Search CMX

Latest Free Content

View All
Free Content

Accessibility

CMX Learning Guides

Free Content

Tutorials

Reviews

FAQs

Extensions

Articles

Latest New Content

Search CMX

Latest Free Content

View All Free Content

Accessibility

CMX Learning Guides

Free Content

Tutorials

Reviews

FAQs

Extensions

Articles

View All
Free Content