Wednesday, May 3rd, 2006
CMX Weekly Newsletter
Check the News!
TODcon 2006 in Orlando - Getting Closer Every Day... Like, This Month!
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 in effect.
Saying Goodbye To An Old Friend
We all knew it was coming. We had been warned that it would happen, but we didn't think it would it be so soon. Some of us never even got to say goodbye. This week we had to say "so long" to Macromedia.com. Sure, you can type the old url into your address bar, but after you hit that "enter" key, you blink once, and all of a sudden the address has changed to Adobe.com. All of Macromedia's products can still be found at Adobe's website, but it's... different - even aside from the obvious differences like the missing Macromedia logo. Put your mouse over the "Products" tab for instance, and what almost seems like a surrealistic mix of software shows up. After Effects and Breeze side by side? Flex and Illustrator co-habitating? And what about Fireworks? Not even on the list. You have to go to the ambiguous "All Products" section to find it. Call us sensitive, but this will take some adjustment time. A big discount on software might make this a much easier transition for us...
He's a Mac. He's a PC. Can These Two Operating Systems Share The Same Computer Without Driving Each Other Crazy?
Apple has a new line of commercials out, and they're all about the joys of running Windows on a Mac. The Windows OS is represented by a geeky fellow, while the Mac OS is represented by a young hipster doofus. The commercials poke some fun at Windows, and clearly Apple is having a great time in promoting their Intel Macs. In one of the spots, The Windows character stops talking in mid-sentence, at which point the Apple guy has to restart him. Apple.com has all of the commercials available for viewing. Based on this article at News.com, we're wondering if the Mac OS should look less secure?
Speaking Of Commercials
Firefox has their own batch of commercials out. These were submitted by fans of Firefox, or maybe just folks who wanted the grand prize, which could be anything from $5,000 to an Alienware computer. Firefox has 94 commercials posted at Firefoxflicks.com so far, and some of them are fantastic. With that many to look through it's tough to pick a favorite, but "Hand Me The Soap" is up there on our list.
But You'll Still Be Able To Watch Disney Movies On It, Too
In our June 8th, 2005 newsletter, we talked about the two major players in our DVD future; Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. Both have some very solid support in the industry, and it appears that the battle will be tougher than the one between VHS and BetaMax. Much like the VHS/Betamax tussle though, the winner could be decided not by who has the most clever marketing or the one who makes the superior product, but by the porn industry. Like it or not, the porn industry sells more DVDs than any other genre, and will cast a decidedly strong vote over what DVD format will win out. More dirty... uh, dirt on this at MacWorld.com.
Satisfied Customers Speak Out!
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"As with all of your articles, it's awesome. You guys rock."
CMX Subscriber Cliff G., commenting on Zoe Gillenwater's tutorial "Create a Teaser Thumbnail List Using CSS: Part 3"
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:
"Making duplicate copies and computer printouts of things no one wanted even one of in the first place is giving America a new sense of purpose." — Andy Rooney
If Apple Wants To Dominate, They Need a Plan
Lucky for Apple, Robert X. Cringely (that's got to be a pseudonym, right?) has written an article at PBS.org that outlines what Apple's strategy should be. Cringely says that what they need is their own Office application to rival Microsoft's Office suite. Open Office, according to Cringely, could be that application. He goes on to say that purchasing Adobe would be a great move for Apple because they'd have more control over how the major graphics applications would work in either OS. This is probably not going to happen, but it's still an interesting read.
If You Bought a MacBook Pro...
Some of the early MacBook Pros have had their batteries recalled. ZDNET.com has a blog entry that can help you with figuring out whether or not your MacBook might be in need of having its battery replaced by supplying some of the symptoms of a bad battery and serial number blocks for the affected laptops.
Skype 2.5 Beta Released
For fans of Skype, one of the largest VoIP services out there, you have a new download waiting for you. Skype 2.5 beta has a few new tricks, including the ability to call people from your Outlook contacts list, sending SMS text messages, being able to conference with up to 100 other people at once, and new ways to pay for calls made to a land-line. You can download it, of course, from Skype.com.
And In This Corner, AMD
At one point, AMD was a flea on Intel's collective butt. But thanks to a strong R&D department and aggressive marketing, AMD has been a worthy Intel adversary for at least a few years now. When competition is fierce, advertising starts to get interesting - and personal. AMD recently launched an ad campaign in Times Square that includes a running digital tally of all of the money spent on electric bills due to running Intel processors instead of AMD. We're not sure this will help point more people in their direction, but still, it's a pretty funny way to get attention. More about it at TechNewsWorld.com.
Someday, Vista. Someday.
Vista, Microsoft's next version of Windows, was originally due out sometime 2005. Then it was early 2006. The last thing we heard, until now, was a November release this year. According to this article at Yahoo.com, Microsoft is now telling us that we're probably looking at the middle of 2007 before Vista hits the shelves. We're pretty sure Vista will get released just as soon as Bill Gates decides on a new hair style.
CMX Slideshow (Flash Extension)
- This extension for Flash MX 2004 loads external JPEG and SWF files to create a Flash slideshow. The CMX Slideshow component is very customizable and includes support for hyperlinks, captions, padding, resizing, transitions, controls, and much more. You can also access CMX Slideshow's methods, properties, and events using ActionScript. The support files demonstrate how to create your own custom controls, and how to load a list of images from an external XML file.
Check out the Extension by CMX Partner Paul Newman
Fun and Freebies
That's How It's Supposed To Work
Most of us have clicked on what appears to be a harmless link a friend sends us. It looks like a maze, a nice calm commercial or even a Where's Waldo puzzle. Then the loud shrieking starts, accompanied by a horrific image of Linda Blair in The Exorcist. It catches you off guard and you might be taken aback. The girl in this video posted at Cynical-C.com gets taken aback. Aback off her chair, mostly. Prime target for these kinds of links.
The Next Time You Go To Prison
You probably won't ever go to prison. But if you do, don't you want to go the best prison available? Forbes.com has an article on where the best prisons are, and why they're considered the best. For instance, being able to play foosball, take aerobic instruction and take classes on stress reduction is infinitely better than standing in a prison yard trying to remember where you hid your shiv.
They Forgot To Mention American Idol
Blender.com has posted a list of the Fifty Worst Things Ever To Happen To Music. Some are dead on, but some are just funny. We won't give any away, except for entry #17, which is just two words: Fred Durst.
Cool Adobe GoLive Features: Part One - The Site Diagram Tool
- 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.
This free article by CMX Partner Sheri German can be found here.
Weekly Content Listing
Creating Web Icons - Part 2
When it comes to good design, everyone knows that God is in the details. Some of the best designed web sites all have one thing in common: a huge attention to detail.
A good design contains many graphic elements that extend beyond the common presence of attractive logos, creative background images and the various other images that serve to create a web page. Small web icons are one of those small details that make the difference between a good design and a great design.
In the first tutorial of the series we looked at creating a home page icon, a printer icon and an email icon. In this second tutorial we will create an "add to cart" icon that will be represented by a small image of a shopping cart, a "download file" icon, and a "delete" icon that will be represented by a small image of a trash can.
Beating Spam On Your Contact Forms
In this article we will look at how we can use a very simple method to beat the spam form scripts that populate and submit our forms.
Better Sharpening Using Photoshop's Lab Mode
If you've ever wondered if there's a better way to use the Unsharp Mask Filter in Photoshop, here it is. By using USM in conjunction with the Lab Mode in Photoshop, you'll produce image sharpening with less artifacting as well as have easier control.
Close Gaps Next to Floated Images in Internet Explorer [FREE]
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.
Creating Web Icons
When it comes to good design, everyone knows that God is in the details. Some of the best designed web sites all have one thing in common: a huge attention to detail.
A good design contains many graphic elements that extend beyond the common presence of attractive logos, creative background images and the various other images that serve to create a web page. Small web icons are one of those small details that make the difference between a good design and a great design.
In this tutorial we will have a look at drawing three of the most commonly used web icons: a house, used for a home link; an envelope, used for an email link; and a printer, used for a printable version link.
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 7: Using the PasswordRecovery Control
In this installment, we'll look at using the PasswordRecovery control. As you might guess this control is handy for users who have forgotten their passwords. The functionality baked into this control is fully integrated with the membership provider we've been working with all along. For example, the user registration page discussed in Parts 1 and 5 uses the CreateUserWizard control, which includes a security question and answer. The PasswordRecovery control uses that security question/answer in conjunction with the username to verify the identity of the user and then emails the password to the user.
This tutorial will show you how to use the PasswordRecovery control with passwords that hashed, encrypted, or stored as clear text. Along the way you'll learn how to how to set up the mail settings in the web.config so that the password can be emailed to the user.
The Exploring ASP.NET v2 Series:
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 1: Membership Tags, VWD, and Cassini
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 2: VWD's ASP.NET Web Site Administration Tool
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 3: Graduate to SQL Server 2000 and IIS
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 4: Customizing the asp:Login control
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 5: Customizing the asp:CreateUserWizard control
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 6: Customizing User Registration Requirements
Exploring ASP.NET v2 - Part 7: Using the PasswordRecovery Control
Low Cost Developer Tools: Part Four - Grab Bag 2
In Part 5 of our series on Low Cost Developer Tools, we leave the Firefox extensions alone, and instead cover some standalone freeware applications, mostly for the PC. There are gadgets that make Windows work better (a clipboard viewer), site handling tools, and a scripting trainer too. All good stuff for Web developers!
The Low Cost Developer Tools Series:
Low Cost Developer Tools: Part One - Firefox Extensions
Low Cost Developer Tools: Part Two - Toolbars
Low Cost Developer Tools: Part Three - Screen Rulers
Low Cost Developer Tools: Part Four - Grab Bag 1
Low Cost Developer Tools: Part Five - Grab Bag 2
Create Dynamic Charts & Graphs with PHP/SWF Charts
PHP/SWF Charts is a PHP-based tool to generate Flash charts and graphs from dynamic data. With it, you can create charts that update in real time, right on the same page. This tutorial will show you how to use the free version of PHP/SWF charts (along with PHP and MySQL) to create an opinion poll page where poll results are charted in real time.
CMX Design Elements - Krypton
Welcome to the second in our series of CMX Design Elements. We have moved along the periodic table from Carbon to Krypton (no, not the green crystals that make Superman tougher than the average mortal :o) )
The element Krypton (Kr) is used commonly in photographic flashes for speed photography, but our own CMX version of Krypton is generally intended to make awesome web sites :)
Here's what it looks like:
Image 1: Design Element - Krypton.
Approximate download size: 5MB
Introducing CMX Design Element Krypton [FREE]
It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's super design CMX Design Element Krypton!
Join me as I unveil the latest Gordon MacKay Fireworks design element. We'll look at what the package includes, what articles come bundled with it, and at some possible ways you might implement it as a Dreamweaver CSS-based layout.
Javascript 101 Part II: Operators
- One of the primary aspects of effective web experiences is interactivity. Although most Flash developers will try to state otherwise, the reality of the fact is that the majority of non-standard interactivity, that is interactivity beyond what the broswer provides automatically, is driven by JavaScript. Over the last few years the acceptance of both standards and some new JavaScript technologies such as XMLHttpRequest, or AJAX to the masses, has opened up a whole new realm of possibilites that have helped to bring JavaScript back into the mainstream focus as an important and leading-edge technology. The purpose of this series of articles is to introduce newcomers to the concepts and fundamentals of JavaScript, so that you can begin to leverage the power of this technology in your own web projects. In Part 2 we'll continue our exploration of the fundamentals by looking at operators.
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 CareerBuilder.com
Get a Job (Sha Na Na Na)
Not necessarily a tech related tip, but if you're out looking for work, your resume is the most important part of getting a job. It should represent who you are, where you've been and where you're going. Careerbuilder.com provides the seven warning signs that your resume is less than desirable.
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!