Saturday, October 6th, 2007
CMX Weekly Newsletter
Check the News!
Flex 3, Beta 2
From our own Joseph Balderson: Flex Builder is an Eclipse plugin that you can install either as a standalone bundled with Eclipse, or on top of an Eclipse installation. Now Adobe has announced that users installing the Flex 3 Beta 2 build of Flex Builder will have the added option of installing the JSEclipse plugin as a part of the Flex Builder 3. Which means that now you can author MXML, ActionScript /and/ JavaScript in Flex Builder. This will be a welcome toolset for AIR developers, since AIR apps can be authored in either JavaScript or Flex. More on this at OnFlex.org.
Adobe Acquires Buzzword? Word...
In a move that is bound to make Microsoft executives bristle, Adobe has purchased Buzzword, a word processor that runs online or offline. This acquisition puts Adobe in competition with Microsoft and Google's Word processors. To up the ante, Adobe recently released Share, which allows users to share documents over the web. While Erik Larson, Adobe's director of marketing and product management, has not mentioned Buzzword and Share integration, he did say "We are definitely going to integrate Buzzword into PDF workflows." We've always enjoyed the rivalries between Adobe and Microsoft. This might kick things up a notch. Read about it at Itvidya.com. There's also a good article at News.com that talks about what this might mean for consumers.
Adobe Goes Thermal. Errr... Thermo
Flex Builder 2 is supposed to make it easier web developers to get started building rich internet applications. Adobe's newest project, code-named "Thermo" is designed to make the process even simpler by working with Photoshop, Fireworks and Illustrator to create components skins for your Flex app. Thermo also helps you design interfaces that work with dynamic data, and create interactive behavior without having to write code. Find out more about Thermo from Adobe Labs, Flex888.com and ScaleNine.com.
Must.Kill.The.iPhone.
Why is it that when a product is released that is similar to an already-existing product, it has to be the [insert product name here]-killer? Products can share features and still stand on their own without having to be killed, right? In any case, Verizon has just released a new cell phone called The Voyager, which Adotas.com is touting as the "iPhone Crusher." At least it only crushes the iPhone rather than killing it altogether. We're sure iPhone users are sighing with relief. Oh shoot... we just noticed that the article has a quote from Mike Lanman, CMO for Verizon Wireless, stating that The Voyager will indeed kill the iPhone. Well... darn. Seriously though, the iPhone has many great features that were bound to be used as "inspiration" for other cell phones. Verizon is simply following the iPhone's lead, which will create further competition and innovation. We welcome any and all [insert product name here]-killers.
Lose $200 Get $1,000,000? Sounds Fair.
When Apple lowered the price of the iPhone by $200 a while back, some took it in stride, while others felt they were being penalized for being early adapters of Apple's newest product. Dongmei Li of Queens, N.Y is sending Steve Jobs her personal opinion of the price cut via a million dollar lawsuit. Li says that the iPhone's price reduction constitutes unfair business practices, including price discrimination. She says that if she ever tried to sell the phone, she would not be able to make the same profit that current buyers would make. While Apple's lawyers aren't talking about the case, we're pretty sure their gut reaction to the suit is something along the lines of "oh well." We'd have to agree. When you buy anything, especially a tech-related product, you can expect the price to be lowered sooner or later. This time it was just a lot sooner. More on this at Yahoo News.
Satisfied Customers Speak Out!
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"More great info from the keyboard of Jim Babbage. The intergration techniques between all these apps is realy very usefull Jim."
- Peter R., CMX Subscriber, commenting on Jim Babbage's video article, Copy and Paste Features Between Photoshop and Dreamweaver CS3.
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:
"There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line." - Oscar Levant
Getting That "Not So Secure" Feeling?
When you're building a website, do you take security into account? Are you ever worried that the websites you build might get hacked? Most web designers would answer "no" to both questions. Several circumstances immediately come to mind where you'd want to be security-minded when building a website, but the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) wants you to know why you should make your websites secure right now, and what vulnerabilities to look for and protect against. Check out the article at InfoWorld.com.
One More Tip: Never Answer With "Who Wants To Know?"
Once you've gone through numerous job interviews, you start to see a trend in the questions being asked. WiseBread.com has a list of the most frequently asked interview questions, along with suggestions on how to answer them. For instance, question number 9 on the list is "How are you when you’re working under pressure?" The article suggests saying that you enjoy or maybe even prefer working under pressure. Much better than our stock answer to this question, which is "Oh yeah. I work great under p-p-pressure... Why are you looking at me? Did I get the job? Wow, it's hot in here, eh? Ughhhhh, say something! What are you, some kind of animatronic freak?! I don't need this and I don't need you! You're just like my Dad. He hated me too! ACK!" Sure, not as smooth as the answer that WiseBread suggests, but it gets you noticed.
More Good Signs For ColdFusion
It probably seems like whenever there is a positive, upbeat story on ColdFusion and its future, we jump on it right away. OK, you caught us. But some of us at CMX, and many of our subscribers, have been using ColdFusion for years and would like to keep using it for years to come. There are enough articles on the web predicting ColdFusion's demise, so we're always glad to link to articles that provide a contrary point of view. ComputerWorld.com posted a great article that explains why ColdFusion is not only relevant but will become increasingly desirable to programmers as it becomes more tightly integrated with emerging applications such as Flex and AIR. The article also includes an interview with Tim Buntel, ColdFusion's marketing manager.
So Easy A Caveman Could Do It. And He Proves It.
Hot off the press: The amount of spam hitting your inbox is increasing. OK, most of us already know that. According to this article at TechNewsWorld.com, ninety five percent of the emails you'll get this year will be spam. That's enough to turn a lot of folks off of using email all together. These days, there are plenty of alternatives to using email, such as text messaging or instant messaging. Some companies have already decreased their email usage considerably by moving to alternative forms of communication. The article named above offers some interesting speculation on the future of your inbox.
Oh, For The Luvva Star Wars!
When you've got a love for Star Wars and some very crafty friends, how can you not do what Andy Woerner and his buddies did? They decided to build their very own X-Wing model. It's not a model you could put on a shelf in your den though. No, this is a life-size model that can actually fly. Andy fitted his X-Wing with four solid-fuel rocket engines and radio-controlled moving wings. Sweeeeet... It hasn't taken flight yet, but the launch is coming up soon. Andy is optimistic about the flight: "it's likely we will have a structural failure in the wings, but we are hoping it will hold." OK, so not that optimistic. But still, you've got to admire his spunk. Read more about it at Gizmodo.com.
CMX Table Sorter Extension for Dreamweaver
- The ability for users to re-organize tabular data to better suit their individual requirements has become an almost expected attribute of digital data. Many web sites currently provide this ability by relying on server-side coding and database queries to constantly re-sort the data before it's transferred to the client. This causes both increased server load and inconvenient delays for users as they wait for the data to be reloaded. The CMX Table Sorter behavior allows you to provide those same sorting abilities for your HTML table without having to waste time and resources on server-side sorting methods.
Take a look at this Extension by CMX Partner Rob Williams
Fun and Freebies!
Good Thing Halo 3 Is Out
Otherwise we'd see more videos like this.
Oh, Poop
When you care enough to send the very worst, go to PoopSenders.com. Then watch it hit the fan.
We Wonder How His Portraits Are Hung
Whatever happened to just using a paintbrush to paint with? Don't ask Tim Patch, otherwise known as Pricasso...
Motion Tween Effects in Flash CS3
- 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.
This free article by CMX Partners Tom Green and David Stiller can be found here.
Weekly Content Listing
A VIEW to Die For!
mySQL v5 introduced the VIEW command to create views in the database, we will go over the how, what and why of VIEWs for mySQL v5.
Using Text Masks in ColdFusion
Text masks can be used in web applications as placeholders for dynamic content. A mask is essentially a string of characters that can be later replaced, and not likely to be confused. Usually, you will use consecutive characters around a variable string, or simply consecutive characters. This article will show a few techniques using masks in ColdFusion.
Using Video Maru - Part 2: Adding Playback Controls
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 tutorial, we'll be adding playback controls to the Video Maru component. Still without using a single line of code! :)
A video.Maru player with playback controls
Copy and Paste Features Between Photoshop and Dreamweaver CS3
In my last video, I demonstrated how to take images from a pdf file and paste them from Photoshop into a Dreamweaver Document. Well this copy/past functionality is not limited to single-layer images. Dreamweaver CS3 supports the use of PSD files and also allows you to copy and paste multiple layers from a Photoshop file.
In this video we'll explore this new integration between Dreamweaver and Photoshop and various ways to use it.
Approximate download size: 17.8MB
From Fireworks to a Flash Animation in a Flash [FREE]
So you have a layer in Fireworks that would make for a cool Flash animation. This issue is: How? Read on..
ColdFusion 8 and AJAX Series - Part 1b: Layouts
AJAX being all the buzz, Adobe introduced ColdFusion 8 with integration for a bunch of new rich interface features that make your introduction to AJAX a whole lot easier. Of these new features we began to take a look at the cflayout tag. Whether you're wanting to create a one, two or three-column layout or simply create an intranet portal, you will want to take a look at the cflayout tag.
We will continue our series by looking at a couple more attributes of the cflayout tag including the "source" attribute which allows you to populate a region from an external file, "closable" which allows the user to close a region of your layout, how to reference the ColdFusion JavaScript API to allow a user to re-open a region that was closed and some gotchas to look out for when using the cflayout tag.
The ColdFusion 8 and AJAX Series:
ColdFusion 8 and AJAX Series - Part 1a: Layouts
ColdFusion 8 and AJAX Series - Part 1b: Layouts
Easy Eclipse Database Access, with QuantumDB [FREE]
The open source Eclipse platform is increasingly popular for developers of every stripe, and one of the chief reasons for this is its rich extensibility. This article will show you how to install and use the popular QuantumDB plug-in for database access, together with the PHPEclipse plug-in, to create a complete and flexible PHP-MySQL development environment. You'll be able to flip between PHP and SQL code with incredible ease!
Flex builders: you can play, too!
Designing Look and Feel with the Flex 2 Style Explorer
The Flex Builder is a great IDE for rapidly developing and designing applications. It also comes with its own tools for quickly stylizing components. However, like all things, there's a good approach, and a bad approach. When stylizing through Flex Builder's design mode, you are actually applying the styles to the application's mxml tags directly. This makes it difficult to reuse and update styles effectively.
Just like with HTML, the best approach is to use CSS, and, fortunately, Adobe has been so gracious as to offer the same opportunity for styling in Flex. We don't get nearly as much visual leverage when working with CSS, however, since Flex Builder offers no special tools for generating them. This is where the Adobe consulting team comes to the rescue, with a powerful CSS generator tool called the Flex 2 Style Explorer.
Developing a CSS Starter Page: Part One
The CSS Starter Pages are an invaluable addition to the CSS toolset in Dreamweaver CS3. With well over thirty different layout types from which to choose, you'll be able to rapidly develop page designs, free from the onerous task of having to build the underlying structure from scratch.
In this two-part tutorial you'll learn to take advantage of this feature as you modify the two-column, fixed-width, right-sidebar, header and footer layout. You'll use a Fireworks graphical representation of the layout to develop the graphics for a design we'll call Honolulu.
Approximate download size: 1.5MB
Exploring Flash CS3 Primitives - Part 1: Rectangle Primitive
Flash CS3 introduces two new drawing tools: Rectangle Primitive and Oval Primitive. At first glance, they don't appear much different from the familiar Rectangle and Oval tools. After all, the new ones allow you to draw (you guessed it!) rectangles and ovals. So what makes these mysterious new tools so special? Doesn't "primitive" mean "simple" or "unsophisticated"? Isn't this a step backward? Hardly!
The Rectangle Primitive and Oval Primitive tools
In this two-part series, we'll take a look at what these newcomers do, how they work, and discover their uses and quirks. Here in Part 1, we'll focus on the Rectangle Primitive. Next time, we'll pick up with the Oval Primitive and examine a few interesting points on the animation of shapes drawn by these tools.
The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series - Part Thirteen
- After you learn to create layouts using CSS techniques, you may think that you no longer need to use tables. Tables are still a very important tool, though. They are still appropriate for their original intended purpose, that is, for tabular data. In the last part of this series, you dealt with Word documents and their tendency to break valid code. Now you'll turn to Excel and learn the best way to convert its documents into spreadsheets on the web. You'll take an Excel document that contains a spreadsheet of the plays of Shakespeare, convert it to clean (X)HTML, add accessibility and usability features, and then style it to match the design of the Shakespeare site. You can download the support files, as well as a completed version of the page, in the download link so that you can "play along at home".
Check out the Article by CMX Partner Sheri German
Tips, Tricks and Dirty Cheats!
This week's Tip, Trick or Dirty Cheat is courtesy of MacWorld.com.
Find Things Easier On Your Mac
Learn to hand-code smart folders at MacWorld.com.
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!