Wednesday, December 14th, 2005
CMX Weekly Newsletter
Check the News!
Let The Festival Begin!
It's the holiday season, and we wouldn't want it to go by without celebrating with another JumpStart for our faithful subscribers. Gordon Mackay, our new CMX partner, created a blog design JumpStart. It is so cool, we decided to center another JumpStart festival around it. Look for articles starting on Tuesday of next week. There will be JumpStart examples, an article about choosing the right JumpStart for your next project, and some articles about blogging. You won't want to miss it, and you won't want to miss seeing where in the world is the city of our next JumpStart...
Give The Gift of Knowledge
Community MX is once again offering Holiday Gift Certificates. Surprise your resident webhead with a gift certificate subscription to Community MX. You can now easily provide all of the benefits of a full CMX subscription for 3 months, 6 months or a full year. And a CMX Subscription is a gift that keeps on giving, with brand new content every single business day. More info...
Can We Live in a World Without Clicking?
Over at DontClick.it, the entire website revolves around the philosophy that the internet doesn't have to be just pages that are triggered into action by clicking this or clicking that. In their Flash interface, DontClick.it have taken away the click that triggers actions within the page. Just putting your mouse over particular elements can trigger going to another part of the interface or bringing focus to a specific object. Thankfully, they're recording the mouse actions of their visitors, so they can provide some interesting statistics that illustrate - among other things - how many accidental clicks occur during a typical session. So, visit but DontClick.it.
Outsourcing Your Fun Too?
We know a lot of jobs get outsourced, but one thing we're finding it hard to come to grips with is this latest trend in video games: You can now hire a firm that will play your online video game for you. After all, why should you have all the fun? Actually, some of these games offer rewards for high scores that can be turned into real cash down the road, so the desire to be a skilled player is often overshadowed by the desire to get the rewards, and that's what this new "play in your place" industry is all about. It's still kind of like having someone do your homework, but just a bit more pathetic. The NYTimes.com has a good story on this.
Don't Like The Google Home Page? Build Your Own.
Google has just released the API for the Google homepage, and are encouraging developers to use it to create modules that can be indexed by Google and used by others to customize their own Google homepage. For instance, in Google's home page directory, you can install any of several modules that already exist, like a clock or a weather map. So far, the only available modules have been created by employees of Google. It will be interesting to see what others come up with. You can find out more about it at Google's Blog.
Satisfied Customers Speak Out!
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"I found the tutorial excellent, and just thought i would drop a quick line to say thanks."
- Kenny D., CMX Subscriber, commenting on Kim Cavanaugh's video tutorial, A Flash Animation Case Study: Animate a Company Logo--Part 1
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 are two ways of constructing a software design. One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies. And the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies." — C.A.R. Hoare
Avoid The Online Shopping Gotcha's
PCWorld.com has a list of the things you should look out for when shopping online. It runs from the obvious - making sure you're purchasing over a secure server - to the not so obvious - understanding the difference between the "best price" and the "best deal." Online shopping is generally safe, but when things go wrong, they can go horribly wrong. A little advice like this can make a big difference whether your online shopping experience is a positive or negative one.
Which Leads Us To....
Online retailers want your business. To prove it, they've been offering some great discounts and/or free shipping. Online sales have reportedly been very good this year, so I guess this could be the vendor's way of saying thanks... or more likely, making sure they continue to get your business. Not much else to say about except... we love discounts! Read more about it at Yahoo.com.
Microsoft and MTV Team Up. Unfortunately They Will Not Be Called M&M's
Microsoft and MTV are teaming up to offer an online music service they are calling "Urge." It will be integrated with Windows Media Player and will launch with a library of more than two million songs. As mentioned in this article from DeskTopPipeline.com, Microsoft broke off talks with record companies about licensing music for their own music download service several months ago. Urge may have been the reason. The service will not be compatible with Apple computers (at least not until the Intel-equipped Macs hit the stores), or Apple's iPod, which is bound to be a huge setback for the new service.
Windows Update Reminder
Microsoft put out six patches this week to fix security flaws discovered in Internet Explorer and Windows 2000. The vulnerabilities were labeled "critical" by Microsoft. All of the vulnerabilities depend on a user being tricked into visiting a website that has specific, malicious code on it. InformationWeek.com has more on this.
Just To Stir The Pot
Aren't those Mac users just so smarmy? And what about those Windows users? So pompous! We try to stay away from any kind of debate over which platform is best, but there are so many folks out there who defend their OS so fervently (or is that "cover their OS"?). TechNewsWorld.com has a good article from one fellow who tries to remain unbiased when comparing the two. Darn. No name calling at all.
CMX Download Repeat Region Extension
- This extension allows a user to create a downloadable CSV (comma-separated values) or other type of text file that contains the contents of a standard Dreamweaver Repeat Region server behavior (such as a server-side recordset). The extension can also be applied to any server-side content that you want to make downloadable in the browser. This is very useful for creating downloadable files of a results display, such as a product list, a sales report, or a search result.
Check out the Extension by Tom Muck
Fun and Freebies
More Factual! Less Entertaining! More Factual! Less Entertaining!
The folks at Intuitor.com do not want people to get the idea that movies are real, specifically in how movies handle natural physics. For instance, it bugs them that in the movie "The Italian Job", a BMW Mini makes a turn inside of a six-foot hallway, which as their illustration shows, is just plain impossible, physically. There's a lot of that to read about at Intuitor.com. Have fun reading about it... but not more fun than physically possible.
For All You Young Punks
Andy Rosen, one of the more outgoing photographers in Punk's early years, has posted a collection of his pictures at Flickr.com. We found pictures of the Clash and Sex Pistols we'd never seen before, and a fantastic photo of Peter Murphy (Bauhaus) that deserves poster space in our music room.
Sure, It's Passive-Aggressive, But It's Cute!
Haven't gotten anything for the person on your list who has everything? Why not get them "Ouch", the Voodoo Doll Toothpick Holder? As its name implies, Ouch is a small figurine that holds thirty five toothpicks. After you explain what the heck it is to your Grandmother, she's going to know you care. Only problem is, PerpetualKid.com is currently out of stock at the moment.
Show and Hide Content Based on User Access Levels
- 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.
This free article by CMX Partner Danilo Celic can be found here.
Weekly Content Listing
Writing an Online Compiler with ASP. NET 2.0 [FREE]
Have you ever found yourself at your cousin's farm needing to recompile your .NET website over their Linux based 56k modem? Perhaps you don't have Visual Studio.NET? Or maybe, you simply want an easy way to give .NET a try.
Well, your problems are solved. The download accompanied by this article includes an ASP.NET page that will allow you to compile .net code in either C# or VB.NET. The resulting
binary file will reside in the web application's root directory where you can download it to your local computer.
The online compiler is written in C# and ASP.NET.
Christmas Themed Photo Borders Using Freehand - Part 2 [FREE]
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.
Preparing For IE7 - Part Four - Updating a Real World Style Sheet [FREE]
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?
Captcha the Bastards: Part 1 [FREE]
Plagued by comment spammers? Captcha the bastards - a well-designed captcha implementation is your best weapon in the battle against comment and link spam. Part 1 of this article provides an overview of Captcha and introduces you to Captcha PHP, an excellent solution. Part 2 will provide all the setup details.
A Gentle Introduction to SimpleXML
Once upon a time PHP developers wishing to take advantage of XML when building their applications were forced to jump through many hoops in order to parse even the most simple XML documents.
PHP 5 however has proved to be a complete rethink of the way in which PHP is able to handle simple and complex XML documents. It sports a new extension called simpleXML that allows even the most novice of PHP developers to work with XML without the urge to tear their hair from its roots.
In this tutorial we will have a look at how PHP's simpleXML could allow us to utilize XML in the real world of web development.
Redirecting Users When Logging In
While the article Show and Hide Content Based on User Access Level discusses allowing content for multiple access levels (or user groups) to be held on the same page and showing portions of content based upon the user's group, sometimes you need each user group to get sent to different pages (perhaps within different folders). This article discusses how to enhance the existing Log In User Dreamweaver Server Behavior to allow redirecting users to specific pages based upon their access level when they log in.
Zimbra: More Than Just Web Mail [FREE]
AJAX is growing in popularity as a powerful JavaScript-based mechanism for client-server communication and the creation of dynamic, interactive, browser-based Web applications. Zimbra is a new groupware platform that centers around a robust AJAX-based Web client that has features missing in some desktop groupware applications. This article provides a brief overview of Zimbra.
Christmas Themed Photo Borders Using Freehand: Part 1
With Christmas just around the corner, this tutorial will get you started on your Christmas decorating. In this tutorial we will create a Christmas inspired Ribbon and Bow picture border. Using some basic Freehand drawing tools, this frame can quickly be created and used to add some Holiday cheer to any picture or image.
Creating Elastic Layouts with the em Unit [FREE]
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.
PHP and the Filesystem Part 1: Directories
PHP provides a wide variety of ways to work with the filesystem of the server upon which it is running. In the first part of this article, Directories, we'll explore how to work with, manipulate, and access directory structures from within a PHP script.
Emailing File Attachments With ColdFusions Cfmail and Cfmailparam Tag
- Learn how to allow your viewers to send you file attachments through your web site forms. Shows you how to upload the file and create a variable for storing the file until it's called for forwarding it on to its destination..
Check out the Article by CMX Partner Adrian Senior
Tips, Tricks and Dirty Cheats!
This week's Tip, Trick or Dirty Cheat is courtesy of Danilo Celic, CMX Partner
Another Way To Open That Include File
Sometimes, when you're working in Dreamweaver, you find that a portion of the page is an include, so it's not accessible to you in design view. Instead of digging through the site to find the file, simply right click the include in code view. You can open it right there. The same thing works for CSS documents. Place your cursor into the file name in code view, rightclick and select it. Voila! Instant access.
An addition to this trick is to hit CTRL+D, which makes it easier than right-clicking and trying to find the correct menu item.
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!