Wednesday, October 19th, 2005
CMX Weekly Newsletter
Check the News!
ColdFusion 7 on OS X: Finally, It's Official
News Flash! After years of convoluted J2EE-based installs and no official support, ColdFusion is now supported on the Mac. Mac users can put the days of using the Terminal and multiple complex steps to get a ColdFusion server on their computers behind them.
The Macromedia press release mentions that ColdFusion version 7.0.1 adds support for Tiger and Tiger Server. Beyond that, however, all the information that Macromedia offers are the system requirements of OS X 10.3.9 (Panther), 10.4.2 (Tiger) or 10.4.3 (Tiger, yet to be released), 500 MB hard disk space, and 512 MB memory. There is no new 7.0.1 documentation on Macromedia's site, at least none of which we are aware. Macromedia's Mac installation instructions remain sketchy, not to say confusing and contradictory.
Now Tom Pletcher of CMX has written a step-by-step article on how to negotiate each screen of the new ColdFusion 7.0.1 visual installer for Mac. You're no longer left alone to puzzle over the answers to questions and decisions Macromedia presents on the installer screens. The result is a glitch-free, quick and easy installation of ColdFusion on the Mac - finally! You'll be up and running in minutes.
If you are a CommunityMX member, this article is free; otherwise, you can purchase it here.
Jakob Nielsen's Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2005
Jakob Nielsen is known as a usability expert for the web. His company, the Nielsen Norman Group, helps businesses and developers get their message across better on the internet through thoughtful design. He puts out a list each year of the Top Ten Web Design Mistakes, and the 2005 list just came out. He makes some interesting points, but it's interesting that UseIt.com, where Nielsen posts his columns, is possibly the most boring-looking website you'll find. But that's what you get for following the rules... Also, check out CMX Partner Kim Dudley's article on Six Design Problems.
We Envision Dr. Frankenstein, Only With More Animation
Our own Danny Patterson recently blogged about Macromedia Labs, which, according to Macromedia, is "your source for early looks at emerging products and technologies from Macromedia." Besides early access to documentation, supporting downloads and tutorials, developers will also have access to a Wiki and a forum so that they can provide feedback to MM during the development stages of each new product. Scott Fegette, Macromedia's Community Manager, provides some good insight into what the MM Labs are all about.
The Feds: Protecting Your Safety By Driving You Bonkers
It's a two-edged sword: Most folks complain that they have too many passwords to remember, and would rather have an easier system than using usernames and passwords. At the same time, they don't want their privacy or security compromised. Federal regulators are seeking tougher security in online banking routines, and are pushing for banks to have "two-factor" authentication systems in place by the end of 2006. Among the Feds ideas to increase online banking security are Smart Cards that you would insert into your computer, scratch cards that show you a one-time-only password, and various other pains in the patootie. Read more about it at Yahoo.com.
They Know When You're Printing...
A PC World article last year talked about printer companies like Xerox, and how their printers are designed to output the printer's serial number on each printed document, using very tiny yellow dots. The government uses the information to catch counterfeiters. A consumer privacy group called Electronic Frontier Foundation, or EFF, have cracked the "tiny yellow dot code" and have found that the date and time of the printout is recorded on the document along with the serial number of the printer. They also tested printouts from other printers, Hewlett-Packard being one of them, and found that they too used the same code on their printed documents. Whether or not this constitutes an invasion of privacy is up to the individual, but now that the secret's out, counterfeiters will just need to revert back to the old-fashioned printing press. Read more about it at WashingtonPost.com.
Satisfied Customers Speak Out!
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"All the Laszlo tutorials have been very well presented and beneficial. I especially look forward to the article on database use. I hope it's ready soon! "
- Lynn F, CMX Subscriber, commenting on Arman Danesh's article, "Laszlo: Part 5 -- Managing Layouts" .
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:
"Type faster" — Isaac Asimov, when asked what he would do if he only had six months to live
Oh, We Know What Time It Is
If you use Firefox and you're traveling with your laptop, or if you just really like keeping track of time in other time zones, then you'll want the FoxClocks extension for Fireworks. FoxClocks lets you keep track of several different time zones at once from the Firefox status bar, and lets you customize the names of the time zones by naming them anything you want, like "Aunt Marge in Scottland", or "Uncle Joe in Joliet." You can grab it from Mozilla's website.
The World's Largest WiFi Hotspot Is In... Rural Oregon
Some people might question why the world's largest hotspot exists in Oregon, in a seven hundred mile area outside of the major cities. Wireless entrepreneur Fred Ziari (it's true - he has no wires) was smart. He knew that there was no way he could build a huge WiFi system in a large city due to local cable and dsl companies that would either want a piece of the action or fight to keep him out. Instead, Ziari chose the path of least resistance and greatest profit. While the general public gets access to Ziari's network for free, dozens of city and county agencies each pay him upwards of $100,000 a year to access the network. Read more about smart Fred at Yahoo.com.
Sir, Do You Know How Fast Your Phone Was Going?
The Missouri Department of Transportation is working on monitoring traffic flow on 5,500 miles of major roadway by tracking people's cell phone movement. They want to be able to map real-time movement and traffic, and be able to automatically send electronic signals to highway signs warning of traffic, as well as dispatch text messages to mobile phones for people wanting to be warned of traffic problems. Privacy advocates are not in favor of it, but the Department of Transportation says that no personal information is being collected. Check out the story at ABC News.
Buy Your Grandmother Grand Theft Auto For Christmas
Video games are known as being primarily for young folks, and maybe a sprinkling of adults. But seniors are playing video games more than you might think, and it kind of makes sense. These are the folks that were there when it all began. When Atari games like Pong first came out thirty years ago, these folks weren't seniors, they were part of Atari's demographic. A lot of them kept up with gaming and still love it, like "Old Grandma Hardcore", who says she really got into gaming when Super Mario Brothers came out. Read more about how they do it old school at BusinessWeek.com.
Better Security Than Linus' Blanket
We know many people who like to use Zone Lab's free firewall software, Zone Alarm, and love it. Zone Labs has just put out ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite 6.0, and NewsFactor.com has a favorable review on it. If you like Zone Alarm, you might want to check it out. Zone Labs has also just come out with software to protect against spyware which you can check out at Zone Lab's website.
CMX Get Put All Open Extension For Dreamweaver
- Maybe you're working on a set of files and you want to make sure you're editing the latest live versions. Or perhaps you find yourself working with quite a number of related files. When you're done, you have all the files opened and need to upload them all to the live server. You could just select each one in the Files panel (Site panel in DWMX), and upload them individually, or you could use the Select Recently Modified command to upload the files. If you've only worked on one set of files today, you could try the Select Newer Local and wait for ages as Dreamweaver compares every file in your site against the remote file modification date.
Take a look at this extension by CMX Partner Danilo Celic
Fun and Freebies!
Google in the Year 2050
Zager and Evans told us what life would be like in the year 2525, but surprisingly, they didn't mention Google at all. That might be because their song came out in 1969... but we digress. SFGate.com has put together a little parody that predicts Google's place in the world in the year 2050. We won't give it away, but we'll tell you that the 96-year old Steve Jobs becomes president.
Never Drink Warm Beer Again
If you're a beer drinker, do you ever have to go without it while mowing the lawn because you don't want to deal with a beer that's been left out in the sun? Read about Chris' quest for cold beer, and how he proved his commitment by building his own contraption that would keep his beer cold even in warm weather. Pictures help tell the tale at Grynx.com.
Words That Aren't Words, But Should Be
A sniglet is a made up word that stands for made up words that stand for something else. Example: "Manillium (mah nil' ee yum) - n. The lifespan of the clasp on a manila envelope before it breaks off and dies." Bertc.com has a ton more of these. Some of them are pretty hilarious.
Advanced User Authentication with .NET and Dreamweaver, Part 1 (Free Article)
- 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.
This free article by CMX Partner Heidi Bautista can be found here.
Weekly Content Listing
Trick or Treat - Part 1
Freehand has some Xtra tools that are not used all that often. In this tutorial we will put a few of these Xtra tools to work as we create some Halloween inspired graphics. This spider and web are drawn to fill those dark little corners, adding some creepy crawliness to your pages.
ColdFusion 7 on OS X: Finally, It's Official
With the 7.01 release of ColdFusion, Macromedia (or perhaps Adobe) has seen the light and officially designated OS X Tiger as a supported platform. There is a slick new Mac installer to go with the new designation, and this tutorial will walk you through the process of installing the latest, greatest, officially supported version of ColdFusion on your Mac.
Working with TopStyle - Part 1 [FREE]
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 Coming Soon
Working with TopStyle - Part 3 Coming Soon
A Fireworks Quickie - Using Hue/Saturation Live Filters to Colorize an Image [FREE]
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).
How Inline Elements Work - Part Six
It's time for more enlightening details about CSS properties that affect text and other inline elements. In the sixth part of our series, we look at text-indent, which adds a special space to a text block, and white-space, a tool for controlling both source whitespace and browser wrapping behaviors. Yes, it's stuff that all well-rounded web authors need to know!
The Inline Elements Series:
How Inline Elements Work - Part One
How Inline Elements Work - Part Two
How Inline Elements Work - Part Three
How Inline Elements Work - Part Four
How Inline Elements Work - Part Five
How Inline Elements Work - Part Six
Making Flash Remoting Development Easier with Service Capture [FREE]
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
Using CFCs as Sources of Data for Queries in Dreamweaver 8
ColdFusion MX added the possibility to create objects through ColdFusion Components ( CFCs ) that could be easily reused throughout your site. Reuse of is good, as it allows you make changes in one place and have the update available everywhere it is used. Dreamweaver 8 (and Dreamweaver MX 2004 with the ColdFusion MX 7 Extensions installed) allows you to create queries within components (CFCs) that can be used as data suppliers to queries visually within the editing environment.
Six Design Problems [FREE]
Design combines colors, shapes, photos, graphic elements and text to create a pleasing layout. It is a creative, intuitive process and can affect people in many different ways. Some people will like a design while others dislike it. So how can a design be judged good or bad? Is there such a thing as bad design?
This article will take a look at what bad design is and discuss six issues that may cause a bad design. Simple solutions are offered to improve existing designs and help avoid these pitfalls in future designs.
Working with SMIL, Part 1: The FLVPlayback Component and Progressive FLV Files
One of the most talked about features of Flash Professional 8 is the new FLVPlayback component. In this tutorial, you learn how to use SMIL files with the FLVPlayback component to enhance the quality of the video playback experience for a range of target data rates.
Comparing Files in Dreamweaver 8
Comparing a pair of files to check for differences is a task most designers and developers face at some point. Prior to Dreamweaver 8, this task had to be performed outside of the Dreamweaver environment. Macromedia has simplified this job by allowing us to launch a file comparison tool from within Dreamweaver. Now we can compare a local file against the remote version; or compare two local files or two remote files. It'll even display a warning message if you attempt to put a file to the remote server and it has changed since you last put it.
Digital Video: What Happens Before the FLV?
- You are handed a QuickTime movie and told, "Get it ready for web playback." Here's what you have to know about that video, how it was created, and why, sometimes, video simply doesn't work.
Check out the Article by CMX Partner Tom Green
Tips, Tricks and Dirty Cheats!
This week's Tip, Trick or Dirty Cheat is courtesy of Craig Hartel, the very first CMX Subscriber
Database Wisdom
Never turn your back on a falling tree, and always back up your database before messing around with it.
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!