
Wednesday, March 15th, 2006
CMX Weekly Newsletter News Fun and Freebies Recent CMX Content Tips, Tricks and Dirty Cheats Check the News! TODcon 2006 in Orlando - Getting Closer Every Day For the few who haven't experienced it yet, TODCon is the most informative yet informal Macromedia/Adobe-related event you're going to find. Whether you're a seasoned veteran of Macromedia or Adobe products or you're just starting out, you will have a great time learning a great deal from many knowledgeable speakers about CSS, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, ColdFusion, Flash, Central and even about running your business properly. Those who attend usually end up coming back every year because of the unique and informal atmosphere. You don't want to miss out on this event. This year, TODcon will take place in beautiful Orlando, Florida, just a hop, skip and jump from Disney World. Your registration (with the rooming option) includes three nights (May 18th, 19th and 20th) at the Wyndham plus a 3-day trolley pass that covers transportation throughout the International Drive attractions area. You're invited to register for this fantastic, one-of-a-kind event. Do it quick, while the early bird pricing is still effect. The tentative schedule is now online at the TODCon Website. A Quick Way To Get An E-Commerce Site Done Tom Muck, one of the developers for Cartweaver and CMX author extraordinaire, has written a fantastic article about integrating Cartweaver into one of the Community MX JumpStarts. So if you're looking to get an e-commerce site up in a hurry, you may want to check out Tom's article at CommunityMX. The specific template he talks about is our Minneapolis JumpStart, which you can view and read about here. Here's Tom's intro: 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. While Tom's example is in PHP, it can be applied to the ColdFusion and ASP versions of Cartweaver as well. But Can They Type "Electroencephalogram"? Just when you start to get upset over not having any flying cars yet, you read a story that reminds you that many technologies that seemed impossible yesterday could be a reality tomorrow. Case in point: An article at NewScientist.com has a story on a device demonstrated at a trade fair in Germany that allows the user to "type" on a computer by using their mind. It sounds far-fetched, but it's here, now. You get hooked up to some electrodes that are routed to the computer, and then "imagine" typing. Practical applications of the device would probably start with paraplegics and paralyzed patients. Of course, folks are already talking about controlling video games with your mind. A newsletter could be created just by thinking about it. Hmmmm.... Hungry For Internet Access Guillermo Farinas, a citizen of Cuba, is on a hunger strike until he gets uncensored internet access. Cuba only allows people hand-picked by its government to receive full internet access. While you can get access through Cuba's postal service, you are limited to Cuban websites. Cuba blames this policy on sanctions that disallow it from accessing the fibre optic networks necessary to allow large-scale internet access. Meanwhile, Farinas is in poor health, and it doesn't look like he'll be granted his wish anytime soon, if at all. For more, see News.NineMSN.com. Glad This Wasn't In a Podcast. We Wouldn't Have Heard It. High school students and young adults are losing their hearing at a higher rate than people their age in previous generations. A poll commissioned by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association indicates that the hearing loss can be attributed to too much noise, presumably from devices such as mp3 players and iPods. Ear buds are getting a lot of the blame, but the simple fact is that ear damage occuring from loud noises won't be an issue if there are... no loud noises. Read (since we sure can't hear anymore) all about it at CBC.ca.
Satisfied Customers Speak Out! "Thanks for a great walkthrough. This is a great tutorial, I have been sceptical about using / modifying these jumpstarts for some reason (maybe I don't like the idea of modifying something thats not really my creation), but working through them is definately benefitial in learning a few tricks and seeing how stuff works. Now I need to take what I have learnt and apply it to my new template." - Stuart L., CMX Subscriber, commenting on Sheri German's tutorial "Reconstructing Vienna: The Cascading Style Sheet" Whether you're just starting out or need advanced support, Community MX will give you answers and ideas to work through your tough issues. Don't miss out. Learn more about CMX or sign up for a free trial today!
Great Quotes: "My mother drew a distinction between achievement and success. She said that achievement is the knowledge that you have studied and worked hard and done the best that is in you. Success is being praised by others. That is nice but not as important or satisfying. Always aim for achievement and forget about success." — Helen Hayes Those Brazen Pirates The MPAA has had its share of foes recently, and has gone head to head with them successfully in most cases. But one website, PirateBay.org, has proven a little difficult to fight. Pirate Bay boasts being the "largest bittorrent tracker" in the world. Because they're located in Sweden, enforcing U.S. law on them is difficult. To make matters worse, the folks at Pirate Bay don't mind ridiculing anyone who attempts to make them cease and desist their activities. They even post the letters they receive from companies like Microsoft, Sega and Warner Brothers on their website, along with Pirate Bay's responses to those companies. One reply, to Sega, went "Please sue me in Japan instead. I've always wanted to visit Tokyo. Also, I'm running out of toilet paper, so please send lots of legal documents to our ISP - preferably printed on soft paper." They may be pirates, but at least they're funny. Read more on this story at Wired.com. The Patch That Fixes The Patch Mac users will want to go to Apple's website and download the latest patch made available for OS X. This patch fixes the problems that the last patch had, which included alerting users when a perfectly safe document was being opened. The patch also makes OS X a bit safer by disallowing certain files to run automatically without user interaction. Maybe They Could Do a Search At Google And Get That Information...? The U.S. Justice Department served subpoenas to several search engine biggies, such as Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and America Online. They want information on which search terms people are using, and samples of websites that the search engines have archived, and they say it will help them to keep internet pornography away from the eyes of minors. All of the search engines complied to some degree, except for Google, who said that handing over that information would expose trade secrets and infringe on their users' rights to privacy. A federal judge has stepped in and ordered that Google cooperate, and has lowered the amount of data that Google was first asked for. Check out the story at LATimes.com. Fifteen-Year Old Outwits Google Tom Vandetta, a fifteen-year old prankster, found through some blog entries that there was a way to fool the Google News system and post a fake press release that could look like the real thing. He was able to post a fairly official-looking (besides the spelling errors) story to I-Newswire.com that talked about how a fifteen-year old named Tom Vandetta had become the youngest Google employee ever. Since the story seemed to have been generated by Google, a lot of tech blogs and other outlets picked up on it. Even Google News had a reference to it for a short time. Before and after the press release was found to be a fake, Vandetta received quite a bit of attention. Even more attention is now being focused on how news outlets gather their information and verify their sources. More on this at News.Stepforth.com. Shatner Makes History... Channel OK, we know that not everyone into web development and computers is into Star Trek. But... many are. That includes many CMX staffers. So it makes us happy to report that the History Channel will be airing a television show hosted by William Shatner that explores the ways Star Trek influenced the future, technology and science in real ways. It's easy to see a connection between the Tricorder and today's cell phones. Coincidence? You be the judge... Learn more about the show at HappyNews.com.
Adding a Sniplet Button to the JavaScript Eval Panel This tutorial is based on the original JavaScript Evaluation panel featured in at Community MX. The article serves three purposes. First, for the DW developer who uses JavaScript in web pages, you'll have a useful extension at the end of the article that allows you to test out pieces of JavaScript in a live panel. For DW extension developers, the extension allows access to the DW extension API in the panel. Finally, also for DW extension developers, the tutorial will show how to use the undocumented PopupMenu feature of the DW API to add dynamic menus to buttons easily. Check out the Article/Extension by CMX Partner Tom Muck
Fun and Freebies This is The Ultimate Showdown There's only one place you can see Abraham Lincoln going after Batman with an AK-47, or Shaquille O'Neal attacking Godzilla. That's right. The UltimateShowdown.org. This is a funny little video where every protagonist is trying to become number one. A lot of cartoon blood is spilled, so it may not be safe for all audiences. If You Like The Beatles AND Juggling, Look No Further Chris Bliss is a great juggler, and pays homage to The Beatles in this clip at eSpeakers.com. Normally we'd be goofing on someone like this, but the guy is really fantastic. I KNEW The Simpsons Were Real! And this video at 13GB.com proves it. Someone took the introduction to the cartoon series "The Simpsons" and reproduced it with real-life people. Pretty good job.
Flash Video Cue Points: Part 1 of 3- Overview of Cue Points Flash Professional 8 makes the process of adding cue points to your video content easier than ever before. In this introductory article for a new Flash Video series at Community MX, you learn the in's and out's of cue points for Flash Video. This free article by CMX Partner Robert Reinhardt can be found here.
Weekly Content Listing Modifying the Machu Picchu JumpStart to Work with Short Pages Zoe Gillenwater The Machu Picchu JumpStart is a great two-column, fixed-width design that can work for many types of sites. But like any web site design, it is not one-size-fits-all. If you have pages that are rather short on content, you'll notice that the side menu can overlap the footer. For most sites, this problem will never be revealed due to the length of the pages, making Machu Picchu an effortless choice. If you fall into the minority with short pages, however, there are a few easy modifications you can make to Machu Picchu to stop the footer overlap and allow you to keep using this beautiful JumpStart. This tutorial will walk you through the basic changes to the XHTML and CSS that are needed to keep the sidebar from overlapping the footer on short pages. Included in the download for this tutorial is a revised version of both the HTML file and screen style sheet that can be used in place of the original Machu Picchu files on projects where very long sidebars or very short pages may be a reality. Loaders Demystified - Part 2: Creating a Simple Loader [FREE] Joseph Balderson 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". The Loaders Demystified Series Loaders Demystified - Part 1: Usability Guidelines Loaders Demystified - Part 2: Creating a Simple Loader Approximate download size: 2.2MB Creating Polls and Surveys in Breeze Presenter Kim Cavanaugh Online polls are a terrific way to get information from a wide range of people. After all, who doesn't enjoy the opportunity to tell someone else their opinion? The only problem is, unless you are adept at doing the database programming needed to build an online survey, have a budget to pay for a service that will host it for you, or are willing to accept the limitations of a free service, getting your surveys out there can be a bit frustrating. That doesn't have to be the case, especially if you have a copy of Breeze Presenter and your own Breeze account. Using Breeze Presenter almost anyone can create and publish their own online surveys. Since most of the work is done directly in PowerPoint and the Breeze Quiz Manager, the process is easy and accessible to anyone who has even basic PowerPoint skills. Combine that with the automation that Breeze provides for the creation of the URL that you need to make your survey available online and the ability to easily examine the responses from the people who take your poll, almost anyone can be up and running and gathering information in no time. In this series of four Captivate video tutorials you'll learn how to set up the Breeze Quiz Manager environment for creating surveys, how to insert questions, how to publish your files, and how to examine the results as the responses begin pouring in. In all this tutorial provides you with approximately 18 minutes of video instruction on how to create your own surveys using PowerPoint and Breeze presenter. Using a ColdFusion Custom Tag as a Site Template: Part 4 - JumpStarts Tom Muck I wrote a series of three articles on how you can use a ColdFusion custom tag to supply the design of every page in your site. Since that time, Community MX has released several JumpStarts — page designs using the latest HTML and CSS techniques to create starting points for your own designs. A JumpStart is also a perfect fit for the use of a ColdFusion custom tag. Heidi Bautista wrote an article about using JumpStarts with ASP.NET master pages — Convert an Existing Site to Use ASP.NET Master Pages and Themes. The ASP.NET master page is very similar in concept to the technique I presented in my series on CF, so this tutorial will cover the same ground for ColdFusion users, using the free North Pole JumpStart. A Flashlight Effect in Flash 8 Tom Green Ever wondered how to create a really cool flashlight effect that lights up a dark image? Read on. Share Your Style Gordon Mackay One of the greatest features of Fireworks is its extensibility. This extensibility allows developers to improve their workflow dramatically. Styles are one of those extensible features that people should be aware of and take advantage of as much as possible. In this tutorial we will learn about creating and sharing Fireworks styles with other Fireworks users. You may ask "Why would I want to share my Fireworks styles?" Let's look at a simple but realistic scenario: You are the lead designer on a project that encompasses a team of designers all working on the same composition. In order for numerous people to work on the same design, certain elements of that design must be kept consistent, this is where the ability to create, store and share Fireworks styles may become important. One other scenario may be that you're an incredibly generous mamber of the Fireworks community who likes to share their creativity with other users :) Either way this tutorial will be helpful, and will include some rather cool fireworks styles for you to use in your own projects. Speeding up AJAX with JSON Joel Martinez XML is a brilliant tool for standardizing communication between two isolated systems. When you as a web developer have control over the way that both of those systems function though the benefits of XML quickly begin to fall short of the timing delays that it incurs. This is especially true of AJAX applications where you have control over both the client-side and server-side code, and thus usually don't need to waste the user's time by converting everything to XML and then back again for each transaction. In this article we'll explore a more compact, and possibly more effective, approach to transferring complex data between two systems using JSON. Cool GoLive Features Part 5: the Site Sucker [FREE] Sheri German 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. CMX GIF Pre-Loader Pack Jim Babbage The CMX GIF Pre-Loader pack provides you with editable GIF animation artwork in a Fireworks PNG format. In this first release of the series, you'll find a collection of eleven PNG files and the final export animated GIFs. Approximate download size: 1MB AJAX Applied: PHP Contact Forms - Part 2 Rob Williams In the first part of this article we explored how to take a standard PHP-driven contact form and convert it to an AJAX-driven one. Although the AJAX version was better than the original, the conversion over to client-side validation also opened the door for some new and unexpected possibilities. In this article we're going to explore one of those new concepts and refine our form a bit further by adding form validation that occurs in real-time as the user completes each field. The AJAX Applied Series: AJAX Applied: PHP Contact Forms AJAX Applied: PHP Contact Forms - Part 2
Geolocating IP Addresses with PHP Have you ever wondered just where in the world the visitors of your website are comming from? Whether to satisfy your own curiosity or to automatically deliver localized information, Geocoding can open a whole new set of possibilites for a web site. In this article we'll take a look at what Geocoding is and how a community-based project can help to provide an accurate and affordable geocoding solution. Check out the Article by CMX Partner Rob Williams
Tips, Tricks and Dirty Cheats! This week's Tip, Trick or Dirty Cheat is courtesy of CMX Associates Danilo Celic and Jim Babbage Find/Replace in Fireworks Fireworks Find and Replace command is a powerful tool if you are using vectors, text or urls in your FW PNG files. You can look for and replace colors, fonts, URLS and text from a single document or selection, or from a folder on your heard drive. These changes can be applied to fills, strokes and Live Effects in the chosen file/selection. A great way to quickly change things when creating design prototypes for client approval. Would you like your tip published? Submit it to tips@communitymx.com. That's it for this week. Stay tuned for the next CMX newsletter!

CMX Weekly Newsletter

News
Fun and Freebies
Recent CMX Content
Tips, Tricks and Dirty Cheats

Check the News!

TODcon 2006 in Orlando - Getting Closer Every Day

For the few who haven't experienced it yet, TODCon is the most informative yet informal Macromedia/Adobe-related event you're going to find. Whether you're a seasoned veteran of Macromedia or Adobe products or you're just starting out, you will have a great time learning a great deal from many knowledgeable speakers about CSS, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, ColdFusion, Flash, Central and even about running your business properly. Those who attend usually end up coming back every year because of the unique and informal atmosphere. You don't want to miss out on this event. This year, TODcon will take place in beautiful Orlando, Florida, just a hop, skip and jump from Disney World. Your registration (with the rooming option) includes three nights (May 18th, 19th and 20th) at the Wyndham plus a 3-day trolley pass that covers transportation throughout the International Drive attractions area.

You're invited to register for this fantastic, one-of-a-kind event. Do it quick, while the early bird pricing is still effect.

The tentative schedule is now online at the TODCon Website.

A Quick Way To Get An E-Commerce Site Done

Tom Muck, one of the developers for Cartweaver and CMX author extraordinaire, has written a fantastic article about integrating Cartweaver into one of the Community MX JumpStarts. So if you're looking to get an e-commerce site up in a hurry, you may want to check out Tom's article at CommunityMX.

The specific template he talks about is our Minneapolis JumpStart, which you can view and read about here.

Here's Tom's intro:
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.

While Tom's example is in PHP, it can be applied to the ColdFusion and ASP versions of Cartweaver as well.

But Can They Type "Electroencephalogram"?

Just when you start to get upset over not having any flying cars yet, you read a story that reminds you that many technologies that seemed impossible yesterday could be a reality tomorrow. Case in point: An article at NewScientist.com has a story on a device demonstrated at a trade fair in Germany that allows the user to "type" on a computer by using their mind. It sounds far-fetched, but it's here, now. You get hooked up to some electrodes that are routed to the computer, and then "imagine" typing. Practical applications of the device would probably start with paraplegics and paralyzed patients. Of course, folks are already talking about controlling video games with your mind. A newsletter could be created just by thinking about it. Hmmmm....

Hungry For Internet Access

Guillermo Farinas, a citizen of Cuba, is on a hunger strike until he gets uncensored internet access. Cuba only allows people hand-picked by its government to receive full internet access. While you can get access through Cuba's postal service, you are limited to Cuban websites. Cuba blames this policy on sanctions that disallow it from accessing the fibre optic networks necessary to allow large-scale internet access. Meanwhile, Farinas is in poor health, and it doesn't look like he'll be granted his wish anytime soon, if at all. For more, see News.NineMSN.com.

Glad This Wasn't In a Podcast. We Wouldn't Have Heard It.

High school students and young adults are losing their hearing at a higher rate than people their age in previous generations. A poll commissioned by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association indicates that the hearing loss can be attributed to too much noise, presumably from devices such as mp3 players and iPods. Ear buds are getting a lot of the blame, but the simple fact is that ear damage occuring from loud noises won't be an issue if there are... no loud noises. Read (since we sure can't hear anymore) all about it at CBC.ca.

Satisfied Customers Speak Out!

"Thanks for a great walkthrough. This is a great tutorial, I have been sceptical about using / modifying these jumpstarts for some reason (maybe I don't like the idea of modifying something thats not really my creation), but working through them is definately benefitial in learning a few tricks and seeing how stuff works. Now I need to take what I have learnt and apply it to my new template."

- Stuart L., CMX Subscriber, commenting on Sheri German's tutorial "Reconstructing Vienna: The Cascading Style Sheet"

Whether you're just starting out or need advanced support, Community MX will give you answers and ideas to work through your tough issues. Don't miss out. Learn more about CMX or sign up for a free trial today!

Great Quotes:

"My mother drew a distinction between achievement and success. She said that achievement is the knowledge that you have studied and worked hard and done the best that is in you. Success is being praised by others. That is nice but not as important or satisfying. Always aim for achievement and forget about success." — Helen Hayes

Those Brazen Pirates

The MPAA has had its share of foes recently, and has gone head to head with them successfully in most cases. But one website, PirateBay.org, has proven a little difficult to fight. Pirate Bay boasts being the "largest bittorrent tracker" in the world. Because they're located in Sweden, enforcing U.S. law on them is difficult. To make matters worse, the folks at Pirate Bay don't mind ridiculing anyone who attempts to make them cease and desist their activities. They even post the letters they receive from companies like Microsoft, Sega and Warner Brothers on their website, along with Pirate Bay's responses to those companies. One reply, to Sega, went "Please sue me in Japan instead. I've always wanted to visit Tokyo. Also, I'm running out of toilet paper, so please send lots of legal documents to our ISP - preferably printed on soft paper." They may be pirates, but at least they're funny. Read more on this story at Wired.com.

The Patch That Fixes The Patch

Mac users will want to go to Apple's website and download the latest patch made available for OS X. This patch fixes the problems that the last patch had, which included alerting users when a perfectly safe document was being opened. The patch also makes OS X a bit safer by disallowing certain files to run automatically without user interaction.

Maybe They Could Do a Search At Google And Get That Information...?

The U.S. Justice Department served subpoenas to several search engine biggies, such as Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and America Online. They want information on which search terms people are using, and samples of websites that the search engines have archived, and they say it will help them to keep internet pornography away from the eyes of minors. All of the search engines complied to some degree, except for Google, who said that handing over that information would expose trade secrets and infringe on their users' rights to privacy. A federal judge has stepped in and ordered that Google cooperate, and has lowered the amount of data that Google was first asked for. Check out the story at LATimes.com.

Fifteen-Year Old Outwits Google

Tom Vandetta, a fifteen-year old prankster, found through some blog entries that there was a way to fool the Google News system and post a fake press release that could look like the real thing. He was able to post a fairly official-looking (besides the spelling errors) story to I-Newswire.com that talked about how a fifteen-year old named Tom Vandetta had become the youngest Google employee ever. Since the story seemed to have been generated by Google, a lot of tech blogs and other outlets picked up on it. Even Google News had a reference to it for a short time. Before and after the press release was found to be a fake, Vandetta received quite a bit of attention. Even more attention is now being focused on how news outlets gather their information and verify their sources. More on this at News.Stepforth.com.

Shatner Makes History... Channel

OK, we know that not everyone into web development and computers is into Star Trek. But... many are. That includes many CMX staffers. So it makes us happy to report that the History Channel will be airing a television show hosted by William Shatner that explores the ways Star Trek influenced the future, technology and science in real ways. It's easy to see a connection between the Tricorder and today's cell phones. Coincidence? You be the judge... Learn more about the show at HappyNews.com.

Adding a Sniplet Button to the JavaScript Eval Panel

This tutorial is based on the original JavaScript Evaluation panel featured in at Community MX. The article serves three purposes. First, for the DW developer who uses JavaScript in web pages, you'll have a useful extension at the end of the article that allows you to test out pieces of JavaScript in a live panel. For DW extension developers, the extension allows access to the DW extension API in the panel. Finally, also for DW extension developers, the tutorial will show how to use the undocumented PopupMenu feature of the DW API to add dynamic menus to buttons easily.

Check out the Article/Extension by CMX Partner Tom Muck

Fun and Freebies

This is The Ultimate Showdown

There's only one place you can see Abraham Lincoln going after Batman with an AK-47, or Shaquille O'Neal attacking Godzilla. That's right. The UltimateShowdown.org. This is a funny little video where every protagonist is trying to become number one. A lot of cartoon blood is spilled, so it may not be safe for all audiences.

If You Like The Beatles AND Juggling, Look No Further

Chris Bliss is a great juggler, and pays homage to The Beatles in this clip at eSpeakers.com. Normally we'd be goofing on someone like this, but the guy is really fantastic.

I KNEW The Simpsons Were Real!

And this video at 13GB.com proves it. Someone took the introduction to the cartoon series "The Simpsons" and reproduced it with real-life people. Pretty good job.

Flash Video Cue Points: Part 1 of 3- Overview of Cue Points

Flash Professional 8 makes the process of adding cue points to your video content easier than ever before. In this introductory article for a new Flash Video series at Community MX, you learn the in's and out's of cue points for Flash Video.

This free article by CMX Partner Robert Reinhardt can be found here.

Weekly Content Listing

Modifying the Machu Picchu JumpStart to Work with Short Pages

Zoe Gillenwater

The Machu Picchu JumpStart is a great two-column, fixed-width design that can work for many types of sites. But like any web site design, it is not one-size-fits-all. If you have pages that are rather short on content, you'll notice that the side menu can overlap the footer. For most sites, this problem will never be revealed due to the length of the pages, making Machu Picchu an effortless choice. If you fall into the minority with short pages, however, there are a few easy modifications you can make to Machu Picchu to stop the footer overlap and allow you to keep using this beautiful JumpStart.

This tutorial will walk you through the basic changes to the XHTML and CSS that are needed to keep the sidebar from overlapping the footer on short pages. Included in the download for this tutorial is a revised version of both the HTML file and screen style sheet that can be used in place of the original Machu Picchu files on projects where very long sidebars or very short pages may be a reality.

Loaders Demystified - Part 2: Creating a Simple Loader [FREE]

Joseph Balderson

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".

The Loaders Demystified Series
Loaders Demystified - Part 1: Usability Guidelines
Loaders Demystified - Part 2: Creating a Simple Loader

Approximate download size: 2.2MB

Creating Polls and Surveys in Breeze Presenter

Kim Cavanaugh

Online polls are a terrific way to get information from a wide range of people. After all, who doesn't enjoy the opportunity to tell someone else their opinion?

The only problem is, unless you are adept at doing the database programming needed to build an online survey, have a budget to pay for a service that will host it for you, or are willing to accept the limitations of a free service, getting your surveys out there can be a bit frustrating.

That doesn't have to be the case, especially if you have a copy of Breeze Presenter and your own Breeze account. Using Breeze Presenter almost anyone can create and publish their own online surveys. Since most of the work is done directly in PowerPoint and the Breeze Quiz Manager, the process is easy and accessible to anyone who has even basic PowerPoint skills. Combine that with the automation that Breeze provides for the creation of the URL that you need to make your survey available online and the ability to easily examine the responses from the people who take your poll, almost anyone can be up and running and gathering information in no time.

In this series of four Captivate video tutorials you'll learn how to set up the Breeze Quiz Manager environment for creating surveys, how to insert questions, how to publish your files, and how to examine the results as the responses begin pouring in. In all this tutorial provides you with approximately 18 minutes of video instruction on how to create your own surveys using PowerPoint and Breeze presenter.

Using a ColdFusion Custom Tag as a Site Template: Part 4 - JumpStarts

Tom Muck

I wrote a series of three articles on how you can use a ColdFusion custom tag to supply the design of every page in your site. Since that time, Community MX has released several JumpStarts — page designs using the latest HTML and CSS techniques to create starting points for your own designs. A JumpStart is also a perfect fit for the use of a ColdFusion custom tag. Heidi Bautista wrote an article about using JumpStarts with ASP.NET master pages — Convert an Existing Site to Use ASP.NET Master Pages and Themes. The ASP.NET master page is very similar in concept to the technique I presented in my series on CF, so this tutorial will cover the same ground for ColdFusion users, using the free North Pole JumpStart.

A Flashlight Effect in Flash 8

Tom Green

Ever wondered how to create a really cool flashlight effect that lights up a dark image? Read on.

Share Your Style

Gordon Mackay

One of the greatest features of Fireworks is its extensibility. This extensibility allows developers to improve their workflow dramatically. Styles are one of those extensible features that people should be aware of and take advantage of as much as possible.

In this tutorial we will learn about creating and sharing Fireworks styles with other Fireworks users. You may ask "Why would I want to share my Fireworks styles?" Let's look at a simple but realistic scenario: You are the lead designer on a project that encompasses a team of designers all working on the same composition. In order for numerous people to work on the same design, certain elements of that design must be kept consistent, this is where the ability to create, store and share Fireworks styles may become important.

One other scenario may be that you're an incredibly generous mamber of the Fireworks community who likes to share their creativity with other users :)

Either way this tutorial will be helpful, and will include some rather cool fireworks styles for you to use in your own projects.

Speeding up AJAX with JSON

Joel Martinez

XML is a brilliant tool for standardizing communication between two isolated systems. When you as a web developer have control over the way that both of those systems function though the benefits of XML quickly begin to fall short of the timing delays that it incurs. This is especially true of AJAX applications where you have control over both the client-side and server-side code, and thus usually don't need to waste the user's time by converting everything to XML and then back again for each transaction.

In this article we'll explore a more compact, and possibly more effective, approach to transferring complex data between two systems using JSON.

Cool GoLive Features Part 5: the Site Sucker [FREE]

Sheri German

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.

CMX GIF Pre-Loader Pack

Jim Babbage

The CMX GIF Pre-Loader pack provides you with editable GIF animation artwork in a Fireworks PNG format. In this first release of the series, you'll find a collection of eleven PNG files and the final export animated GIFs.

Approximate download size: 1MB

AJAX Applied: PHP Contact Forms - Part 2

Rob Williams

In the first part of this article we explored how to take a standard PHP-driven contact form and convert it to an AJAX-driven one. Although the AJAX version was better than the original, the conversion over to client-side validation also opened the door for some new and unexpected possibilities.

In this article we're going to explore one of those new concepts and refine our form a bit further by adding form validation that occurs in real-time as the user completes each field.

The AJAX Applied Series:
AJAX Applied: PHP Contact Forms
AJAX Applied: PHP Contact Forms - Part 2

Geolocating IP Addresses with PHP

Have you ever wondered just where in the world the visitors of your website are comming from? Whether to satisfy your own curiosity or to automatically deliver localized information, Geocoding can open a whole new set of possibilites for a web site. In this article we'll take a look at what Geocoding is and how a community-based project can help to provide an accurate and affordable geocoding solution.

Check out the Article by CMX Partner Rob Williams

Tips, Tricks and Dirty Cheats!

This week's Tip, Trick or Dirty Cheat is courtesy of CMX Associates Danilo Celic and Jim Babbage

Find/Replace in Fireworks

Fireworks Find and Replace command is a powerful tool if you are using vectors, text or urls in your FW PNG files. You can look for and replace colors, fonts, URLS and text from a single document or selection, or from a folder on your heard drive. These changes can be applied to fills, strokes and Live Effects in the chosen file/selection. A great way to quickly change things when creating design prototypes for client approval.

Would you like your tip published? Submit it to tips@communitymx.com.

That's it for this week. Stay tuned for the next CMX newsletter!