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Tutorials
Using ActionScript to Dynamically Add a Masking Object
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 05/05/2008
In this, the fourth of six excerpts from Foundation Flash CS3 Video published by friendsofED, CMX partner Tom Green and his coauthor, Adam Thomas, show you how to load an Illustrator CS3 file that can be used as a video mask ... at runtime.
The Foundation Flash CS3 Video Excerpts:
Going Small - Playing Video On a Cell Phone
Going Big - Enter H.264
Reflections On an Alpha Video Theme
Using ActionScript to Dynamically Add a Masking Object
Letting Video Show Its Age Coming Soon
Playing videos sequentially Coming Soon
Setting and Deleting Cookies in ColdFusion
by: Ray West
Release Date: 05/02/2008
Cookies are little bits of text information that you can store on your visitor’s computer to keep track of all kinds of things related to your site. Common uses are to track the last time a person was at the site or to store login information, at the user’s request, to allow them to be automatically logged in the next time the visit. In this article we will look at setting and deleting cookies in ColdFusion. In the next article we will use those cookies to automatically login a user when they ask the site to remember them.
A Fireworks Quickie - Vacuuming Pixels
by: Kim Cavanaugh
Release Date: 05/01/2008
If there is one constant in working with clients in the web and graphics design world it is this: Your clients rarely provide you with artwork that you can use right away.
Need a logo from your client? "Oh sure, our company has a logo. One of the secretaries made one a few years back that we love. But we only have it in .BMP format and I'd like to remove some of the extra stuff that's in there and sharpen it up. You can do that right?"
Photos? "Oh yeah, my nephew took some pictures of our office a few years ago. I'll send those to you. And can you remove Craig on the far right from the picture? He doesn't work for us since that unfortunate incident with the weed whacker and the vending machine."
Well, you get the picture, which is just the point. Sometimes you get pictures that need major work, including the removal of large parts of the original. Luckily Fireworks provides some great tools for vacuuming pixels away. Needing to do that myself recently I came across a great tip to make things even easier.
In this article you'll see how you can use the seemingly humble Marquee tool in Fireworks to perform corrective surgery on a bitmap image and quickly remove large parts of the picture.
Going Big — Enter H.264
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 04/30/2008
In this second excerpt from Foundation Flash CS3 Video, CommunityMX partner and his coauthor, Adam Thomas, show you how to add HD video to your web sites.
Approximate download size: 223MB
The Foundation Flash CS3 Video Excerpts:
Going Small - Playing Video On a Cell Phone
Going Big - Enter H.264
Reflections On an Alpha Video Theme
Using ActionScript to Dynamically Add a Masking Object
Letting Video Show Its Age Coming Soon
Playing videos sequentially Coming Soon
Reflections on an Alpha Video Theme
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 04/30/2008
In this third excerpt from Foundation Flash CS3 Video by friendsofED, Cmax partner Tom Green and his coauthor, Adam Thomas, show you how to reflect alpha channel video using ActionScript 3.0.
The Foundation Flash CS3 Video Excerpts:
Going Small - Playing Video On a Cell Phone
Going Big - Enter H.264
Reflections On an Alpha Video Theme
Using ActionScript to Dynamically Add a Masking Object
Letting Video Show Its Age Coming Soon
Playing videos sequentially Coming Soon
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part One
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 04/28/2008
Current reality suggests that we all make the switch to Dreamweaver now that GoLive is no longer part of the Adobe Suites and is likely at the end of the line. Sure, we can keep using GoLive as long as our operating systems support the software. Still, it would be a wise decision for many GoLive users - especially those who are making web sites for a living - to learn to use Dreamweaver in addition to GoLive.
I have frequented GoLive forums and lists over the years, and often read posts by frustrated GoLive users who claim Dreamweaver doesn't do this or that task. Occasionally, the charge is true. Still, often the problem is that the path to finding the task is radically different in Dreamweaver and is not immediately discoverable.This series aspires to ease the pain of translating equivalent tasks from one "language" to the other. You will "learn by doing", that is, by creating the same layout in both GoLive and Dreamweaver.
In this first installment in the series, you will set up the site definition and file structure for the "music history" site in both programs.
The Dreamweaver for GoLive Users Series:
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 1
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 2 Coming Soon
Going Small - Playing Video On a Cell Phone
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 04/25/2008
In this, the first of six excerpts from Foundation Flash CS3 Video published by friendsofED, CMX partner Tom Green and his coauthor, Adam Thomas, explore how to play an FLV file through a cell phone.
Approximate download size: 11MB
The Foundation Flash CS3 Video Excerpts:
Going Small - Playing Video On a Cell Phone
Going Big - Enter H.264
Reflections On an Alpha Video Theme
Using ActionScript to Dynamically Add a Masking Object
Letting Video Show Its Age Coming Soon
Playing videos sequentially Coming Soon
Client-Side Interactivity... Without AJAX!
by: Bill Horvath
Release Date: 04/24/2008
Keeping response times down and interactivity high has, and always will be, two important priorities with web interfaces of any kind. For standard HTML interfaces, AJAX is all the buzz and is great when it's necessary to maintain interaction with live data. But when a static version of the data will do just fine, there's at least one other alternative that you may want to consider….
Having spent four years disarming bombs for the Air Force, Doug Boude is now a Senior Web Application Architect for Fiserv Health in San Antonio, TX. He has been developing with ColdFusion since version 4.0. Doug has written several ColdFusion articles for Fusion Authority.
Quick Color Cast Removal
by: Scott Valentine
Release Date: 04/23/2008
Color cast. It's a dreadful thing that can mar or ruin an otherwise great photo. Maybe you forgot to set your white balance properly, or you were shooting quickly to grab the moment and didn't account for the lighting conditions. Or perhaps your camera just doesn't account for more than one or two types of light.
Well, hope is here! With this nifty little trick, even your neon blue aquarium pictures can be rescued. Mostly :)
The Art of the Interactive Storyteller - Part 5
by: Laurie Casolino
Release Date: 04/17/2008
We all tell stories. Every night my wife and I sit down and, over dinner, tell stories about our frantic lives that day. What my wife and I do is no different from what web developers do every day. The only difference is web developers tell stories to a global audience. In fact did I tell you the one about being mugged by a werewolf on a site I was surfing.....
The Interactive Storyteller Series:
The Art of the Interactive Storyteller - Part 1
The Art of the Interactive Storyteller - Part 2
The Art of the Interactive Storyteller - Part 3
The Art of the Interactive Storyteller - Part 4
The Art of the Interactive Storyteller - Part 5
Using Sound in ActionScript 3: Part I
by: Bill Horvath
Release Date: 04/16/2008
One of the most common reasons for incorporating Flash into a web site is to provide sound. It might be something as simple as a "sound effect" on a button or as complicated as a full blown MP3 jukebox. You might decide to build your entire web site with Flash, or you may only need to use some Flash elements on your (X)HTML page. Either way, to use sound effectively in Flash you'll need to have at least a basic understanding of ActionScript, Flash's programming language and the Sound Classes provided by Flash.
Much of the ActionScript related to Sound has changed in ActionScript 3. Whether you are completely new to ActionScript or migrating from ActionScript 2 to ActionScript 3, this series of articles will show you how to use ActionScript 3 to work dynamically with external sounds. You'll need to make sure you have Flash CS3 to work through these tutorials.
Steve Wilkison has been working in the graphic design field for over fifteen years. He has been involved with over forty CD releases as art director and/or graphic designer, including packages for such artists as Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, Wayne Hancock and Kate Campbell. He
made the move from print design to web design in 2001 and never looked back. Since then he has designed and created numerous e-cards and web sites utilizing many of today's cutting edge technologies. Today he concentrates almost exclusively on web site design and development utilizing XHTML, CSS, Flash, PHP, JavaScript and Ajax through his company Digital Vision Media. He currently teaches web design at Watkins College of Art & Design in Nashville, TN.
Quickshot - Detecting a Mobile Device in ColdFusion
by: Ray West
Release Date: 04/09/2008
With the increase of smart phones, PDAs and other handheld devices that can display web content, more and more sites are looking to include Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and Wireless Markup Language (WML) content on their websites. Even if you do not try to replicate your content, often important pieces of your site can be delivered in a format that is easily readable and usable by the smaller screen of a mobile phone or other device.
Interactive Flash Maps - Part 1
by: Derrick Ypenburg
Release Date: 04/08/2008
When a client approached me to develop an application that maps out the waterways of Ontario for boating, services, towns, attractions, accomodations, etc, I was "on board" for the task. As we got deeper into the project and ran into limitations of the custom mapping application I was drawing and programming vs. the costs to overcome them with the custom mapping utility we were creating, it was time to look for other possible solutions. That's when I found UMap, a universal mapping component developed by the folks at Advanced Flash Components (AFC).
The Interactive Flash Maps Series:
Interactive Flash Maps - Part 1
Interactive Flash Maps - Part 2: Creating, Storing and Displaying Map Data
Recreate the PBS NOW Logo - Part 1: Working with Complex Fireworks Compositions
by: Kim Cavanaugh
Release Date: 03/26/2008
You never really can tell when the design-inspiration bug might bite you. My eye catches all sorts of things as I go through the daily routine, and I'm frequently motivated by something I see on television. Perhaps it's an eye-catching effect that is found in a movie trailer, a regular commercial with some snappy graphics, or a logo for a television show.
A quick cruise around the dial a few weeks ago led me to admire the logo that is produced for the Public Broadcasting System here in the United States for their investigative series known simply as NOW. A quick visit to the NOW web site will reveal a site design with rich colors and some outstanding uses of CSS techniques for displaying the section headers on the page. It's a beautifully designed site with an eye-catching logo that clearly brands the site as well as the show itself.
In these two tutorials you'll learn how to create your own version of the NOW logo using some basic (and a few more advanced) techniques in Fireworks, with the methods demonstrated applicable to all version of Fireworks from MX 2004 to CS3. Specifically, you'll learn how to do the following in Part 1 of this two-part series:
- Examine a sample image and break it into its different components
- Prepare a Fireworks document using sound work-flow techniques and layer organization
- Use standard Fireworks tools for creating the primary elements of the design
- Create custom gradient fills
In Part 2 you'll learn how to use some of the more creative possibilities in Fireworks. Specifically, that tutorial will cover how to:
- Transform an object to create a mirrored version of an original graphic
- Use opacity settings to control the appearance of objects
- Use blurs and blends to create a reflective surface
- Employ lighting techniques to highlight different portions of a composition
In addition to the techniques shown here you'll also find sample Fireworks files in the download for both tutorials.
The Recreating the PBS NOW Logo Series:
Recreate the PBS NOW Logo - Part 1: Working with Complex Fireworks Compositions
Recreate the PBS NOW Logo: Part 2--Creating Reflective and Lighting Effects
A Shamrock for St. Paddy's Day
by: Kim Dudley
Release Date: 03/17/2008
A National holiday in Ireland, St. Patrick's Day is celebrated around the world by wearing green and eating and drinking Irish food which may often be green. But every Irish celebration needs a shamrock or two, we can quickly take care of that with Illustrator.
We will use the following tools to create a shamrock:
- Rectangle and Ellipse tools
- Pathfinder panel
- Gradient panel
- Inner Glow Effect
- Feather Effect
- Pen tool
- Scissors tool
A Streaming Video
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 03/12/2008
"Flash Media Server" and "No Brainer" are two terms you would never see in the same sentence. Not any more. Really!!!
Saving Structures to Client Variables with ColdFusion
by: Bill Horvath
Release Date: 03/07/2008
I've always liked using Client variables in ColdFusion. In fact, I probably use them more then I should. The fact that I can set a client variable and not have to worry about passing it around my application in order to use its value is, well, lazily handy for me. However, serious programming involves Queries, Arrays and Structures. Client variables are not typically used to store these types of objects. This article talks about, and shows you how to, set Queries, Arrays and Structures to a Client variable.
Bill Betournay has been specializing in web development and database design since
1999. He is currently employed at Algoma Steel (A Subsidiary of Essar
Global) in Northern Ontario as a programmer analyst and at Jordan Media
Ltd., a Marketing and Application Development firm in the UK. For the past
several years Bill has maintained a high profile within the Cartweaver
(Coldfusion) community as a developer providing additional custom
functionality via his web site DataPacks.com. Bill is often spotted
lurking in the Cartweaver CF newsgroup.
Quickshot - Make Sure They Belong on Your Site
by: Ray West
Release Date: 03/04/2008
URL Tampering is one of the most common ways that people will try to mess with your site. They may try to change a URL String parameter to try and see or change or delete a record that they should not be able to access (which is something you should be trapping for anyway) or they may try to post a form into your site from an external server, allowing them to set whatever they want for hidden form fields.
In this Quickshot tutorial I will show you a quick and simple way to prevent people from accessing content on your site that they shouldn't see.
Moving A Web Site: Preserving Search Engine Rankings and the Customer Experience
by: Steven Seiller
Release Date: 03/03/2008
Have you discontinued a product or renamed your service? Do you need to redirect visitors from an old web site domain to a new web site domain? This tutorial will show you how to use Apache server redirection to automatically transfer incoming traffic from the old site to the new. Additionally, we will use a code to tell the search engines about the permanent change so it will update its index.
What the automatic server redirection will not do, however, is inform the visitor of why they suddenly find themselves at a different website. Using PHP, I will show you a second step which will allow you to display a contextual note to visitors about the change. I devised this extra step to enhance customer service and educate longtime visitors about the changeover. Because this information is displayed only to redirected users, it will not distract new or potential customers.
ActionScript Basics - Part 1: Arrays
by: Derrick Ypenburg
Release Date: 02/28/2008
If you are are creating any kind of logic or data storage/retrieval with ActionScript, you most likely will achieve that in part using arrays. Arrays are the most common and basic data structure, besides variables, in any programming language. Arrays allow storage of a series of one or more values in a single data structure.
In Part 1, we will cover the basics of creating arrays, adding, removing and returning values, and using methods of the array class. In Part 2, we will get more advanced with arrays and put arrays to use in a real world scenario.
Quick Shot - Using ColdFusion List Functions to Manipulate Text
by: Ray West
Release Date: 02/07/2008
ColdFusion's List functions are some of the most useful things in the language. They allow you to do all kinds of neat things with strings of text that can be divided by some character, like a comma delimited string or flat file layout.
Masking in Photoshop - Part I: The Basics
by: Bill Horvath
Release Date: 02/06/2008
After the undo function and layers, masks are probably the most essential and flexible way to manipulate images in Photoshop. They can be used to isolate parts of an image, blend multiple images together, or selectively adjust images in very complex ways. If you have not yet taken advantage of this tool, read on and be amazed! Or at least bemused.
Scott Valentine is a web and graphic designer, award-winning digital photographer and Photoshop finger-painter. His day job has nothing to do with any of this because then it would be like work. Scott founded
and currently runs an Adobe user group in northern New Mexico, and volunteers his expertise in various online discussion forums.
Approximate download size: 1.7MB
The Masking In Photoshop Series:
Masking in Photoshop - Part I: The Basics
Masking in Photoshop - Part II: Advanced Techniques
Quickshot: Logging Out an Inactive User
by: Ray West
Release Date: 02/06/2008
As worried as people seem to be about their online information being compromised, they don't usually seem to take even the simplest precautions to keep wandering eyes off of their monitors and the information they display. If your application contains sensitive information, you may need to help your users protect it.
Progressive Enhancement with Flash - Part 1
by: David Stiller
Release Date: 02/04/2008
One of the main tenets of good Web design involves the principle of progressive enhancement. In general, the idea goes like this: make sure the user can access a web site's essential content regardless of browser. It shouldn't matter whether the user visits your site with Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Netscape, or pick your favorite flavor. In fact, the site's content should be accessible even without JavaScript or peripheral plugins like Flash Player. Once the basics are covered, use CSS to enhance the visual design. Then, and only then, introduce the whizz-bang stuff — nifty rollovers, AJAX interactivity, Flash — and do it in a way that doesn't penalize users who don't have (or choose to disable) the needed machinery.
For many developers, progressive enhancement is a good idea that often gets set aside. After all, doesn't it require duplicated effort? Not necessarily. In this series, you're going to build a simple Flash slideshow that takes its cues entirely from the HTML document that contains it. Update the HTML and the Flash updates too — automatically. If Flash Player is not installed, the user sees the images anyway, only without the Flash pizzazz.
Here in Part 1, you'll learn how to get the HTML data into Flash. In future articles, you'll learn how to pull out the relevant image references and captions and display them with ActionScript 2.0 and 3.0.
The Progressive Enhancement with Flash Series:
Progressive Enhancement with Flash - Part 1
Progressive Enhancement with Flash - Part 2: AS2
Progressive Enhancement with Flash - Part 3: AS3
Drag and Drop from Bridge to Dreamweaver
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 01/31/2008
In the past we've looked at both Fireworks' and Photoshop's improved integration with Dreamweaver. Well, Adobe Bridge has the same functionality!
You can easily move image files from Bridge right into a web page in Dreamweaver. This short tutorial shows you how.
Google Analytics - Tracking Flash/Flex Online
by: Derrick Ypenburg
Release Date: 01/30/2008
Tracking user statistics in a SWF file is a problem as old as Flash itself. Being that a SWF is a self-enclosed file, traffic tracking utilities and services cannot 'peek' inside of an embedded SWF and see what's going on. Even if they could, the events and happening's of the SWF would make no sense to a tracker and it could not really effectively track what's going on. Sure you can track server stats of requested files such as loaded SWF's, images and videos but its hard to match them up with specific user sessions.
Not being able to track statistics effectively from a Flash website is a deal breaker when it comes to selling your Flash services. You need worry no longer though. This is where the Google Analytics comes in!
Handy Form Snippets
by: Ray West
Release Date: 01/25/2008
Drop down lists. They are a necessary part of many applications, and yet are time-consuming to create. You will not know how valuable these are until you need them.
Included are:
- US States
- US States and Canadian Provinces
- Time in hour segments
- Time in half-hour segments
- Time in quarter-hour segments
- Time in hour segments with military time values
- Time in half-hour segments with military time values
- Time in half-hour segments with military time values
- Time in hour segments with military time values and display
- Time in half-hour segments with military time values and display
- Time in half-hour segments with military time values and display
- Business Hours (8-5) in hour segments
- Business Hours (8-5) in half-hour segments
- Business Hours (8-5) in quarter-hour segments
Case Study: How to Customize a JumpStart
by: Steven Seiller
Release Date: 01/22/2008
The primary benefits to the JumpStarts are that they have been tested with the popular browsers and can get you up and running quickly. Having a limited timeframe to get the site redesigned, I decided to give the JumpStarts a good look. What I quickly realized is that despite my disdain for templates, the JumpStarts are highly customizable, which can result in uniques designs.
In this tutorial, I will describe the process I used for assessing my web site needs and selecting a specific JumpStart. We will then walk through the steps of creating a unique design from the example. Finally, I will share an extra step I took in which I used PHP to 'templatize' my page design to speed content creation, ease revisions and provide customized content to the visitor.
Generic Form Processor Using CDONTS
by: Bill Horvath
Release Date: 01/18/2008
Many people spend a lot of time hand-coding forms so that the results of the form submission are emailed. Most of this time is spent on collecting all the form items, and building the email body. For simple forms (i.e., just a few fields), this task is quite easy. However, if you have larger forms, this process can become quite tedious and time consuming. The best solution, is a neat little trick that not many people know of using the request.form properties and methods
Martin Oliveira, known as "Oli" to those in the Cartweaver support newsgroups, is an extremely knowledgeable ASP programmer. If you own Cartweaver, one of the best Dreamweaver-targeted shopping carts on the market, then you probably know he's always there in the CW forums to answer your questions.
Using XML and the ComboBox to Choose Multiple Videos in Flash CS3
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 01/15/2008
You are about to discover that Flash and XML are an unbeatable combination when it comes to playing a list of videos.
Version Clue with Version Cue
by: Steven Seiller
Release Date: 01/07/2008
Essentially, Version Cue is a server-client database which tracks copies of your project files through their numerous iterations. Supported by most of the Creative Suite applications, Version Cue conveniently helps you track the version history of your design files and easily backtrack to old revisions.
Designed to run as a server for small or large groups, you can readily run it solo on your personal computer with the default settings. Those of you with Shrinking Hard Drive Syndrome (SHDS) will be relieved to know that Version Cue doesn't just stack copies of your project files into a folder, it saves just the data which has changed between each version. With this tutorial and 5 minutes time, you too will be ready to manage your projects through Version Cue.
Creating a Web 2.0 Button In Fireworks
by: Bill Horvath
Release Date: 12/18/2007
Web 2.0 is a term coined by O'Reilly describing the new trends in design and development appearing across a flood of innovative websites. This tutorial will show you how to create some of the most popular "Web 2.0" design effects using Adobe Fireworks.
Thierry Lorey has been a Fireworks enthusiast since version 3 and is now Fireworks Zone’s webmaster, Fireworks beta tester and author for Community MX. He is the first European Fireworks enthusiast to write an article for Fireworks Developer Center. After some translation and training jobs, he is now the full-time Fireworks Zone's webmaster. His job includes writing news, tutorials, creating graphics, and maintaining and developing the website to keep the content new and fresh.
Web Writing Exercises - Part One
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 12/12/2007
In this series, we'll explore that topic of writing for the web in depth. Each article's download folder will include copy that you can use to experiment with the featured concepts. It will also include my interpretation of how to effectively present the copy.
According to statistics, 79% of readers scan text on web pages rather than read every word. Therefore, in this first article, we'll look at how we can help readers more easily scan text by using effective headings, hyperlinks, bolded phrases, and lists.
The Web Writing Exercises Series:
Web Writing Exercises - Part One
Web Writing Exercises - Part Two Coming Soon
Quick Shot - Reset the Root mySQL Password
by: Paul Davis
Release Date: 12/11/2007
You have lost the root password, or the password is corrupt, to your mySQL server and you need to get it back as quickly as possible. Read this tutorial to get the instructions on how!
Using JQuery - Part 1: Introduction
by: Rob Williams
Release Date: 12/04/2007
Developing AJAX applications can often be more complicated than you initially expect. Although working through tutorials and learning about the code involved to do various tasks is beneficial in helping you develop new possibilites, the stark reality these days is that as you begin to develop more and more AJAX-based sites you'll end up becoming less and less enthusiastic about having to hand-write all of the basic AJAX functionality over and over again. This is where JavaScript Libraries come into play.
In this series we're going to take a look at one of the more interesting and widely used JavaScript AJAX library: jQuery.
In the first part of this series we're going to take a look at what libraries are, how they can help, and how to implement them. From there we'll also take a first glance at jQuery and examine some of the reasons that you may choose to use it as your library of choice.
The Using JQuery Series:
Using JQuery - Part 1: Introduction
Using JQuery - Part 2: The Basics
Using JQuery - Part 3: Selectors
Using JQuery - Part 4: DOM Manipulation
Using JQuery - Part 5: Advanced DOM Manipulation
Using JQuery - Part 6: Finishing up DOM Manipulation
Using JQuery - Part 7: Effects
Using JQuery - Part 8: Animation
Using JQuery - Part 9: Animation Queues
Using JQuery - Part 10: AJAX
Using JQuery - Part 11: AJAX (Cont.)
Smoking Out After Effects: Part 1
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 11/30/2007
You learned how to create smoke in Photoshop CS3. Now you learn how to create it in After Effects CS3.
The Smoking Out After Effects Series
Smoking Out After Effects: Part 1
Smoking Out After Effects: Part 2
Smoking Out After Effects: Part 3
Quick Shot - Form Styling
by: Paul Davis
Release Date: 11/28/2007
Need to create a visual clue on all of your form elements when the form element has focus? Don't want to apply two behaviors per form element? Check out this solution, apply once, works everywhere!
Quick Shot - Using CSS to Create a Scrolling Content Area - The Text Version
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 11/26/2007
Adding a scrolling region to your pages is pretty easy using CSS and DIV's, as we saw in my recent video tutorial. Having received a couple subscriber requests, though, I decided to make a simple written version of this process for our CMX Quick Shot series.
Importing Native AI Files into Flash CS3
by: Derrick Ypenburg
Release Date: 11/16/2007
Importing Illustrator files is easier than ever with Flash CS3. Flash's new ability to import an AI file by its layers, sub layers and un-used objects and be able to import them on their own layers, in their own MovieClips and as flattened bitmaps, is extremely convenient for anyone who develops their interfaces in Illustrator. I always start my Flash interface development in Illustrator. Even with the new and improved drawing tools in Flash CS3, nothing beats the drawing capabilities of Illustrator.
Creating Smoke in Flash CS3: Part 1
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 11/08/2007
Ever wanted to add steam hissing out of a vent or smoke rising from a smoldering log in Flash? Read on...
Approximate download size: 1.2MB
Quick Shot - Fixed Background Image
by: Paul Davis
Release Date: 11/07/2007
Quick shot for the CSS on fixed background images.
Quick Shot - Adding Accessibility To A Form With Validation
by: Paul Davis
Release Date: 10/23/2007
So you've got a fancy JavaScript validated form, but it won't work when someone has JavaScript turned off. Want to get the form working? Read on...
Quick Shot - Stop a Form Submission
by: Paul Davis
Release Date: 10/18/2007
Need to know how to stop a form from submitting so you can run your own validation on the form and then have the JavaScript submit the form when the validation is done? Seek no more...
Taking Madrid to Print
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 10/16/2007
Perhaps the most common down-fall when designing for print is to overdo things. You need to remember that you are creating a style sheet that will present your information to your users in a printed format.
There is no need whatsoever to redesign or recreate your web site, it is simply the information that we want to provide and it is the information that your users are interested in.
Copy and Paste Between Fireworks and Dreamweaver CS3
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 10/11/2007
Fireworks is also reaping the benefits of the new integration between Photoshop and Dreamweaver CS3. We can now copy and paste objects and layers (vector or bitmap or both) between Fireworks and Dreamweaver. As obvious as it sounds, this feature was not available prior to CS3.
This short video will walk you through the process of copying and pasting between Fireworks and Dreamweaver, which, you will find, is remarkably similar to the Photoshop to Dreamweaver work flow.
From Fireworks to a Flash Animation in a Flash
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 10/03/2007
So you have a layer in Fireworks that would make for a cool Flash animation. This issue is: How? Read on..
Using Video Maru - Part 1: The Basics
by: Joseph Balderson
Release Date: 09/27/2007
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 first tutorial, we'll take a basic look at the Video Maru component, getting a video to play without any controls. And without using a single line of code.
A simple player built with the video.Maru component.
The Using Video Maru Series:
Using Video Maru - Part 1: The Basics
Using Video Maru - Part 2: Adding Playback Controls
Using Video Maru - Part 3: Timeline & Sound Controls
Using Video Maru - Part 4: Effects
Using Video Maru - Part 5: Building a YouTube Player
Using Video Maru - Part 6: Creating an XML Playlist
Using Video Maru - Part 7: Exploring the Code API Coming Soon
Extending the AS3 FLVPlayback Component in Flash CS3: Part 1 - Adding a Background Color
by: Robert Reinhardt
Release Date: 09/24/2007
In this FLVPlayback component series, you'll learn how to enhance the capabilities of the AS3 FLVPlayback component that ships with Adobe Flash CS3 Professional. Over the next several tutorials, you'll learn how to create an arbitrary class called FLVPlaybackPro and add custom methods and properties to accomplish common Flash Video tasks. The FLVPlaybackPro class extends the FLVPlayback class. In this tutorial, you learn how to create the FLVPlaybackPro class and build a background and backgroundColor property.
NOTE: This series augments the material discussed in my book, Adobe Flash CS3 Professional Video Studio Techniques (Adobe Press). Some of the ActionScript 3.0 (AS3) custom classes I built and included on the book's DVD-ROM are discussed and expanded in this series.
Using HD Video in Flash CS3
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 09/11/2007
So Adobe gets the Flash community cranked up last week by allowing you to add H.264 encoded video to your Flash movies. Here's a quick "How To"...
Defining a Site in Dreamweaver CS3, Advanced Tab
by: Paul Davis
Release Date: 08/30/2007
A step by step guide to setting up a site in Dreamweaver CS3 using the advanced tab
Defining a Site in Dreamweaver CS3, Basic Tab
by: Paul Davis
Release Date: 08/24/2007
A step by step guide to setting up a site in Dreamweaver CS3 using the Basic tab.
ColdFusion and WMI
by: Laurie Casolino
Release Date: 08/17/2007
Microsoft calls their implementation of the Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) industry initiative Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI). We call it the richest source of information containing everything you'd want to know about your Windows systems.
This article introduces the idea of connecting to WMI using ColdFusion, providing the developer endless opportunity to produce administrative and reporting applications guaranteed to take you out of the world of maintenance and in to the world of innovation.
Brice Mason is a husband and father from Albany, New York. He is also an independent software developer and freelance writer who regularly lets his curiousity get the best of him. As a developer working for diverse industry sectors such as healthcare, technology, and non-profit, Brice has consistently turned to ColdFusion to quickly solve his greatest challenges. He values the incredible flexibility it offers to produce highly creative and innovative solutions. Brice maintains a personal web site at http://www.skipslate.com.
Using XML in Flash CS3 to Build a Slideshow
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 08/14/2007
In this, the final excerpt from their new book, Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers (friendsofED), Tom Green and David Stiller walk you through the creation of a slideshow that makes exetensive use of many of the new XML-handling features of Flash CS3.
Approximate download size: 3MB
The Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers Excerpts
Motion Tween Effects in Flash CS3
Optimizing Flash Content for Use in Video
Adding Audio to Flash CS3
XML Captions for Video
Notes from the Photoshop File Importer
Create a Soft Mask in Flash CS3
Going Mobile in Flash CS3
Using XML in Flash CS3 to Build a Slideshow
Installing ColdFusion 8 Report Builder
by: Chaz Chumley
Release Date: 08/09/2007
With the release of ColdFusion 8 comes a new version of the ColdFusion Report Builder which was introduced back with version 7. There have been some great enhancements to the free reporting tool by Adobe. In future articles we will look at some examples, but for now lets take a look at how easy it is to install on Microsoft Windows Vista.
Going Mobile in Flash CS3
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 08/07/2007
New to Flash CS3 is Device Central. In this, the seventh of eight excerpts from their new book Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers (friendsofED), Community MX authors Tom Green and David Stiller take you through the mobile pace from content to upload.
The Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers Excerpts
Motion Tween Effects in Flash CS3
Optimizing Flash Content for Use in Video
Adding Audio to Flash CS3
XML Captions for Video
Notes from the Photoshop File Importer
Create a Soft Mask in Flash CS3
Going Mobile in Flash CS3
Using XML in Flash CS3 to Build a Slideshow
Installing ColdFusion 8 on Vista with Apache
by: Chaz Chumley
Release Date: 07/30/2007
ColdFusion 8 is the latest and greatest version of ColdFusion and as soon as it hit the Adobe Labs I hurried out to download it and install it. I noticed that there are a few new items that get installed with ColdFusion 8, like .NET integration and LiveCycle Data Services Express edition. So those familiar with installing ColdFusion 7, there are some new settings.
If you have had the pleasure, or pain, of running Windows Vista then you may know that simply installing applications is not really that simple. I will be taking you through installing ColdFusion 8 on Vista with Apache 2 as my web server.
Creating Custom UIComponents in Flex 2: Lesson 1 - Overview
by: Steve Schelter
Release Date: 07/23/2007
When working in the Flex 2 environment, there are many times where you might find yourself in need of a component that does not exist. The Flex SDK offers plenty of extensibility for building custom UI components that can plug seamlessly into the existing framework. In the first lesson of this series, we will cover a brief overview of the life-cycle of a custom UI component.
The Creating Custom UIComponents in Flex 2 Series:
Creating Custom UIComponents in Flex 2: Lesson 1 - Overview
Creating Custom UIComponents in Flex 2: Lesson 2 - Basic Setup
Creating Custom UIComponents in Flex 2: Lesson 3 - Dispatching Events
Creating Custom UIComponents in Flex 2: Lesson 4 - Property Exposure
Creating Custom UIComponents in Flex 2: Lesson 5 - Styles
Creating Custom UIComponents in Flex 2: Lesson 6 - Effect Triggers
XML Captions for Video
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 07/20/2007
Embed an XML document into an FLV and you too can add closed captions to your FLV files. Find out how in this, the fourth of our excerpts, from Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers by friendsofED written by Community MX partners David Stiller and Tom Green.
The Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers Excerpts
Motion Tween Effects in Flash CS3
Optimizing Flash Content for Use in Video
Adding Audio to Flash CS3
XML Captions for Video
Notes from the Photoshop File Importer
Create a Soft Mask in Flash CS3
Going Mobile in Flash CS3
Using XML in Flash CS3 to Build a Slideshow
Adding Audio to Flash CS3
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 07/19/2007
In this, the third of eight excerpts from the soon-to-be released Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers (friendsofED) book, Community MX partners Tom Green and David Stiller walk you through the basics of audio in Flash.
The Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers Excerpts
Motion Tween Effects in Flash CS3
Optimizing Flash Content for Use in Video
Adding Audio to Flash CS3
XML Captions for Video
Notes from the Photoshop File Importer
Create a Soft Mask in Flash CS3
Going Mobile in Flash CS3
Using XML in Flash CS3 to Build a Slideshow
Sharing Fonts in ActionScript 3.0 - Part 1: Creating a Font SWF
by: Robert Reinhardt
Release Date: 07/17/2007
In this tutorial series, you learn how to use the new Font class in ActionScript 3.0 and Flash Player 9. The Font class enables you to embed one or more fonts in a Flash movie (SWF file), and reuse the font with other SWF files. In this tutorial, you learn how to create a font SWF file and load it into another Flash movie.
The Sharing Fonts in ActionScript 3.0 Series:
Sharing Fonts in ActionScript 3.0 - Part 1: Creating a Font SWF
Sharing Fonts in ActionScript 3.0 - Part 2: Displaying a Loaded Font in a TextField Instance
Sound Visualization in Flash CS3
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 07/13/2007
Sometimes a little foreknowledge is a good thing. Let's all take a deep breath and explore a sound visualization exercise in Flash Professional CS3.
Preparing Source Video for Flash Video: Part 1 - Converting MPEG Files
by: Robert Reinhardt
Release Date: 07/13/2007
In this Flash Video series, you learn how to process source video files before you encode the content to the Flash Video (FLV) format. Source video can be saved in a wide range of formats across Windows and Macintosh platforms, and each format can use specific audio and video codecs. In this tutorial, you learn how to prepare an MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 file for Flash Video encoding.
NOTE: All of the tutorials in this series require Apple QuickTime Player. I recommended purchasing Apple QuickTime Player Pro directly from Apple. The Pro version enables you to export audio and video files. This series augments the material discussed in my book, Adobe Flash CS3 Professional Video Studio Techniques (Adobe Press).
The Preparing Source Video for Flash Video Series:
Preparing Source Video for Flash Video: Part 1 - Converting MPEG Files
Preparing Source Video for Flash Video: Part 2 - Preventing Quality Loss
Optimizing Flash Content for Use in Video
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 07/10/2007
In this, the second of eight excerpts from Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers by friendsofEd, Community MX partners, Tom Green and David Stiller, show you how to convert a Flash movie into a Quicktime movie. This exercise doesn't just think "outside of the box", it moves to the room where the box is located.
Approximate download size: 31MB
The Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers Excerpts
Motion Tween Effects in Flash CS3
Optimizing Flash Content for Use in Video
Adding Audio to Flash CS3
XML Captions for Video
Notes from the Photoshop File Importer
Create a Soft Mask in Flash CS3
Going Mobile in Flash CS3
Using XML in Flash CS3 to Build a Slideshow
Motion Tween Effects in Flash CS3
by: David Stiller
Release Date: 07/05/2007
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.
The Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers Excerpts
Motion Tween Effects in Flash CS3
Optimizing Flash Content for Use in Video
Adding Audio to Flash CS3
XML Captions for Video
Notes from the Photoshop File Importer
Create a Soft Mask in Flash CS3
Going Mobile in Flash CS3
Using XML in Flash CS3 to Build a Slideshow
TodCon 2007 Session: Introduction to Design Patterns for Flash and Flex
by: Joseph Balderson
Release Date: 06/26/2007
Whether you consider yourself to be a Flash developer or a Flex programmer, eventually you will discover that projects have become too complex, too feature-rich, to rely exclusively on the Flash timeline, or on Flex MXML markup. Taking your project that extra step may require using ActionScript class files and structured Object-Oriented Programming.
However, using OOP principles without a plan, without a way of structuring your classes, can very quickly lead to convoluted and unmanageable code. The solution is to use a tool called Design Patterns.
This session will dispel the myth that design patterns are only for geeks with PHDs, and explain how and why to use them in both Flash and Flex projects. Participants will come away with powerful tools to simplify and organize their coding projects to be better suited for efficiency and team development.
This is a presentation made at TodCon 2007 in Las Vegas, June 12, 2007.
Yahoo! Pipes: An Introduction
by: Kim Cavanaugh
Release Date: 06/25/2007
Yahoo Pipes has been on my personal radar since it was announced in February of this year. At the time of its roll-out there was a great deal of interest around the web design world as Yahoo provided what appeared to be an easy way for anyone (even non-developers like myself) to mash-up RSS feeds into new web services. If you’re developing web sites for customers the ability to provide them with live data that can be displayed on their site will be a valuable service that just may set you apart from your competition. You don’t even have to tell anyone how easy Yahoo makes this.
In this first article in a four-part series you'll be introduced to the Yahoo! Pipes design environment and see some examples of the kinds of things that clever people all over the world are doing with Pipes. You'll learn the basic principles behind Pipes and see just how easy the design environment is to work in.
The Yahoo! Pipes Series:
Yahoo! Pipes: An Introduction
Yahoo! Pipes: Mash-up a Customized News Feed (Coming soon)
Yahoo! Pipes: Create a Persistent News Search with Web Services (Coming soon)
Yahoo! Pipes: Options for Publishing a Customized RSS Feed (Coming soon)
The IE Fieldset Background Color Bleed Bug
by: Zoe Gillenwater
Release Date: 06/19/2007
When it comes to changing text styles in forms, there's little you can't do. As soon as you attempt extending your custom styles into the realm of background colors, borders, and layout, however, things can get difficult. Styling fieldsets and legends are among the more difficult form elements to style because they come laden with a good deal of default browser styling, as well as a few bugs.
In this tutorial, we'll focus on one of the most common fieldset and legend styling frustrations: the fieldset background color bleed bug in Internet Explorer, where the background color of the fieldset extends outside the top border of the fieldset. This bug occurs any and every time you try to give a fieldset a background color, and it affects even the latest version of IE, 7. This tutorial will show you how to fix the bug using a couple additional CSS rules and no changes to markup or hacks.
This tutorial assumes you're already familiar with the building blocks of forms and how to use them correctly to build accessible forms. If you do not have a good understanding of what fieldsets and legends are and how to use them, please see Tricia Littlefield's video tutorial Accessible Forms with Dreamweaver, which covers not only those elements but all the standard form components. You'll also need to have a good understanding of document flow and positioning for this tutorial. For a great introduction to these concepts, see Flowing and Positioning: Two Page Models -Revised for IE7 by Holly Bergevin and John Gallant.
SQL Joins: The INNER JOIN
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 06/11/2007
In this article we will begin to look at what is meant by a JOIN in SQL. I'm sure you have all heard of joins but what exactly are they and why do we need them? This article will be the first in a series of articles that look at the mystical world of SQL joins. I'll begin with the INNER JOIN, which is likely the most common of all the joins.
The SQL Joins Series:
SQL Joins: The INNER JOIN
SQL Joins: The LEFT JOIN
SQL Joins: The RIGHT JOIN
Feed Tools in Dreamweaver 8 and CS3: RSS and XSL
by: Tom Muck
Release Date: 05/22/2007
Adding an RSS feed to a web page is a piece of cake with the XSL features of Dreamweaver 8 and CS3. This article will show the new features of XSL transformation using the freely available Community MX RSS feed, or any other of your choice. The tutorial will require PHP, ColdFusion, or another of the available server models in Dreamweaver, as the XSL functionality uses a server-side file to parse and transform the XML news feed.
Data Binding in Flex 2 - Part 1: Overview
by: Steve Schelter
Release Date: 05/15/2007
Data binding is a central part of the Flex 2 framework, and there are many techniques for implementing it into your application. This lesson will cover the basics behind what data-binding is and what makes it essential to component-driven architectures.
The Data Binding in Flex 2 Series:
Data Binding in Flex 2 - Part 1: Overview
Data Binding in Flex 2 - Part 2: Binding in AS3
Best Practices Work Flow in Fireworks CS3 - Part 1
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 05/14/2007
Many of the new features in the CS3 Suite relate to workflow. The buzz-phrase in Fireworks CS3 seems to be Rapid Prototyping (ok, even I'm getting tired of that term), which in my opinion means:
- Multiple pages
- Multiple web layers
- Master page
- Rich Symbols for use in Rich Internet Applications such as Flex
- Better Integration with Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash
- New Common Library
In this series of videos, we are going to look at a workflow paradigm which takes advantage of some of the new tools in Fireworks CS3. Primarily focussing on Pages, Master Pages, Hierarchical layers and shared layers, we'll see how a design can go from concept to w
The first video tutorial in our series (20 minutes) deals with pages, shared layers and hierarchical layers and my logic for using this method. This is a method I might use in the early comping stages; a point where we've gotten past rough sketches on paper and want/need to engage the client further.
The Best Practices Work Flow in Fireworks CS3 Series:
Best Practices Work Flow in Fireworks CS3 - Part 1
Best Practices Work Flow in Fireworks CS3 - Part 2
Using the Spry Accordion Widget
by: Stephanie Sullivan
Release Date: 05/11/2007
One of the new features in Dreamweaver CS3 is the integration of the Spry javascript library. In this series, we'll look at using Dreamweaver CS3 to insert, integrate and modify the Spry Accordion widget. Give your pages the pizzazz they deserve!
Animation: The Fireworks CS3 to Flash CS3 Connection
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 05/08/2007
Who says you can't create Flash CS3 animations using Fireworks CS3?
Create a Teaser Thumbnail List Using CSS: Part 1 - **Updated**
by: Zoe Gillenwater
Release Date: 04/16/2007
"Teaser thumbnail lists" are those lists of items made up of a title, short description, and thumbnail. They're often used to provide short teasers that link to more information about the products, articles, or sections of the site being listed. This tutorial will go over one way to structure the XHTML and CSS to create such a list that maximizes flexibility for the site owner and accessibility for the end user. The resulting list will feature a fixed-width, grid-like design, with the thumbnails aligned to the left and the title and description for each item sitting to the right. All with only 23 lines of CSS!
This updated version of the original tutorial, published in March 2006, includes slightly modified CSS to allow the list to accept text that is very short or images that are very tall without overlaps occuring. Fortunately, the CSS required for this enhancement is not significantly more than the CSS required for the first version, so even if you don't anticipate having short text or tall images, it's best to use this new version from now on.
The Updated Create a Teaser Thumbnail List Using CSS Series:
Create a Teaser Thumbnail List Using CSS: Part 1 - **Updated**
Create a Teaser Thumbnail List Using CSS: Part 2 - **Updated**
Create a Teaser Thumbnail List Using CSS: Part 3 - **Updated**
Create a Teaser Thumbnail List Using CSS: Part 4 - **Updated**
All You Should Know About Textures
by: Bill Horvath
Release Date: 03/15/2007
Thierry Lorey has been a Fireworks enthusiast since version 3 and is now Fireworks Zone’s webmaster, Fireworks beta tester and author for Community MX. He is the first European Fireworks enthusiast to write an article for Fireworks Developer Center. After some translation and training jobs, he is now the full-time Fireworks Zone's webmaster. His job includes writing news, tutorials, creating graphics, and maintaining and developing the website to keep the content new and fresh.
In Fireworks, a texture, also called a seamless texture, is designed to be repeated and applied to an a vector object on a percentage basis from 0 to 100%. Fireworks includes a collection of about 50 standard textures you will find on your hard disk at: Program Files > Macromedia (or Adobe) > Configuration > Textures . They usually come in bitmap formats: PNG, GIF TIFF, BMP, or JPEG and are therefore not editable.
In this article we will see how Fireworks' built-in textures can be used and customized, be it bitmap or vector textures by:
- Modifying the intensity of texture applied
- Enabling the transparency property
- Combining textures and patterns
- Selecting colors
- The application to strokes
- The inversion of textures
- The textures being turned into patterns
- Creation of a style from a texture
Flash PowerTools: Exploring Gradients
by: Joseph Balderson
Release Date: 03/14/2007
Out there in the Flash design and development world, there are many tools available to assist in creating projects. These are "power tools" that supercharge the task of designing, coding, compiling, testing and documenting, allowing you to save time and present ideas much more effectively. Some have been around for a few years, and some are pretty new. This series highlights some of the open source tools and techniques which have made my life as a Flash developer much more effective.
Implementing code-generated graphics or animations can be greatly facilitated with the aid of an "explorer," showing a live example of certain effects, and the code required to create the effect at runtime. This can greatly expedite code generation, and provide an essential learning tool. In this article we'll look at two very handy utilities for exploring code-generated gradients: Kinglong's "Flash Gradient Fills Explorer" and Andreas Weber's Gradient Tween Editor.
Kinglong's "Flash Gradient Fills Explorer" and Andreas Weber's Gradient Tween Editor
The Flash PowerTools Series:
Flash PowerTools: Code Automation with SEPY
Flash PowerTools: FlashTracer for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Standalone FLV Players
Flash PowerTools: Transition and Tween Explorer
Flash PowerTools: Flash Switcher for Firefox
Flash PowerTools: Exploring Gradients
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 1
Flash PowerTools: Kuler Color - Part 2 Coming Soon
The AS3 Event System - Part 1: The Basics
by: Steve Schelter
Release Date: 03/09/2007
AS 3 brings a new level of sophistication in scripting for flash with a unified event model system. In the first installment of this series, we'll be covering the basic principles of registerring listeners and handling event objects.
The AS3 Events System Series:
The AS3 Event System - Part 1: The Basics
The AS3 Event System - Part 2: Timer Class
The AS3 Event System - Part 3: Custom Dispatchers
The AS3 Event System - Part 4: Event Flow Basics
The AS3 Event System - Part 5: Managing Event Flow
Getting ColdFusion MX 7.0.2 Running on Vista and IIS7
by: Heidi Bautista
Release Date: 03/05/2007
This article takes you step-by-step through the process of installing ColdFusion MX 7.0.2 on a PC running the new Vista operating system and using Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.
There are points during the installation process that can and will give you trouble if you follow directions published prior to Vista's release. Therefore, special emphasis has been given to the information you'll need to get working with ColdFusion on Vista.
Who will benefit by reading this article?
ColdFusion programmers who develop and/or run CFM pages locally (including developing CFCs) on a Vista box and who use IIS7.
FusionDebug 2.0 - Configurations
by: Chaz Chumley
Release Date: 03/02/2007
Since our last look at installing and configuring FusionDebug, Fusion-Reactor has come out with version 2.0. So your asking "what's new in this version and why should I upgrade?" Well, how about a new standalone installer that gives you Eclipse 3.2, CFEclipse 1.3 and FusionDebug 2.0, all in one fail swoop. They have also included a Server Configuration Wizard that easily modifies the JVM.config (Java Virtual Machine) settings that we looked at in the previous article. Besides a performance improvement of about 10 times faster than before, the most noticable improvement is it's own debug perspective.
So before we go off learning how to set breakpoints and view and modify variables in our code let's take a look at how to quickly set up the new FusionDebug perspective. This is similar to setting up the Eclipse Debug environment that we looked at in our previous article with a lot less choices.
The FusionDebug Series
FusionDebug 2.0 - Configurations
FusionDebug 2.0 - Setting Breakpoints
FusionDebug 2.0 - Stepping Through a CFC
FusionDebug 2.0 - Variables
Building a Custom Flash Video Player Part 1: The Basic Application
by: Derrick Ypenburg
Release Date: 02/27/2007
For online video, delivering it with Flash is your best bet. Flash gives you the ability to create a fully customized and branded streaming experience for the end user. Other streaming formats and platforms stream through players that cannot be customized, or that are extremely difficult to embed and integrate into a customized environment and require expensive development and testing to do so. Further, ad insertion, closed captioning and selective player controls are also quite easy to integrate in Flash video applications. The ubiquity of the Flash player and fast download time of the plug-in allows you to reach a much larger audience.
This series will guide you from creating the basic building blocks for a simple customized Flash video application to developing a full-on television station type of environment complete with error handling and status messaging, playlists, ad insertion and many other bells and whistles.
This tutorial will start with creating the basic building blocks to plan a strong, well-designed custom video application. After completing this tutorial, you will have a functional, custom Flash video player that you can build upon.
A Bright Idea from Community MX
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 02/15/2007
Instead of looking at After Effects and Flash as being two big applications... ask yourself how they can work together. The results my just be the brightest idea you ever had.
FusionDebug 1.0 - Configurations
by: Chaz Chumley
Release Date: 02/12/2007
If you have been doing ColdFusion development for awhile you have no doubt wished you had an easier way to debug your code instead of using the usual
In this series of tutorials we will be looking at how you install the product and create a FusionDebug configuration, set breakpoints in your code that allow for stepping over and into templates, tags and components, change variable values, and watch expressions in the debugger, all in real time.
The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series - Part One
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 02/01/2007
There is a concern among educators that web design is often being taught poorly - even at the college level - and without regard for standards. In some cases it is because the instructor has not updated her skills since the turn of the century. In other cases it is because there is a perception that it is too hard to teach and learn CSS. Yes, it is true that one must go slowly, start simple, and build skills in a systematic way. Still, after some experimentation and a few of my own lessons learned the hard way, I came up with some beginning exercises that seem to instill the essential concepts without overwhelming the students. In this series I would like to share some of these lesson plans with my fellow educators who, like me, would like to start their students out with "best practices". Each lesson plan includes step-by-step exercises along with the starter and completed example files for each.
In this first tutorial in the series, the students will construct a simple page, learn to wrap text around an image, and learn how to divide the page into a series of divs that will later provide the hooks for positioning page areas with CSS.
The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series:
The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series - Part 1
The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series - Part 2
The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series - Part 3
The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series - Part 4
The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series - Part 5
The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series - Part 6
The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series - Part 7
The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series - Part 8
The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series - Part 9
The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series - Part 10
The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series - Part 11
The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series - Part 12
The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series - Part 13
The Dreamweaver Web Standards Lesson Plan Series - Part 14 <
The Displacement Map Filter Demystified: Part 1 - How It Ticks
by: David Stiller
Release Date: 01/26/2007
Flash Professional 8 introduced a number of exciting new visual filters — such as drop shadow, blur, glow, and bevel — which reproduce many of the corresponding filters of Photoshop and Fireworks. Of these, most are available via the Property inspector's Filters tab. All filters are accessible to ActionScript, but a few actually require programming. One of these is the DisplacementMapFilter class, which distorts images based on the colors or transparency in a special reference map.
Here in Part 1 of this series, you will learn how the displacement map filter works and how to use it to reposition pixels in an imported graphic file. In future installments, you will learn how to produce a handful of very cool visual effects that are only possible with ActionScript, including a magnifying class, fisheye lens, and ripples.
The Displacement Map Filter Demystified Series
The Displacement Map Filter Demystified: Part 1 - How it Ticks
The Displacement Map Filter Demystified: Part 2 - Skewing and Magnification
Working with the Camera Class - Part 1: Viewing Live Output
by: Robert Reinhardt
Release Date: 01/22/2007
In this "Working with" series, you learn how to use the Camera class in Flash Player. The Camera class has been available in Flash Player since version 6, yet many Flash designers and developers don't know much about it. The Camera class gives you access to the user's webcam, to do everything from publishing a live video stream to detecting movement in the camera frame. In this tutorial, you learn how to test a webcam connection and watch live output in a Flash movie.
The Working With the Camera Class Series:
Working with the Camera Class - Part 1: Viewing Live Output
Working with the Camera Class - Part 2: Detecting Motion
Working with the Camera Class - Part 3: Publishing a Live Stream
Working with the Camera Class - Part 4: Subscribing to a Live Stream
Working with the Camera Class - Part 5: Adding Audio to a Live Stream
Working with the Camera Class - Part 6: Controlling Image Quality and Bandwidth Usage
Working with the Camera Class - Part 7: Controlling Audio Quality
Working with the Camera Class - Part 8: Recording a Stream
Google Analytics Part 1: Getting Started with Site Tracking
by: Kim Cavanaugh
Release Date: 01/22/2007
The two fundamental questions regarding web site design and functionality haven't changed since the days when the first commercial sites were published. Who is your target audience and what is it that you want them to do at your site? The answers to those two questions go a long way towards driving site design as they affect everything from the colors you choose, the kind of navigation you select, and the services that you offer.
But what do you after you launch your site? How do you know if you (or your clients) are accomplishing your goals? The more you can find out about your visitors the better off you'll be as you can make any number of inferences from those statistics.
While it used to be hard, or somewhat expensive to get your hands on that data, you now have access to a phenomenal wealth of information about your site and best of all, it's completely free and is being offered by one of the most trusted names on the web—Google.
In the first part of a two-part series you'll have a chance to see just how easy it is to get started with your own Google Analytics account and the steps you can take to begin tracking your site.
Generate a Google Sitemap Using ASP.NET
by: Heidi Bautista
Release Date: 01/17/2007
Google's Webmaster Tools include a way for you to specify a sitemap file. Then, when Google indexes your site, it includes all the pages listed in the sitemap. At first blush you're probably thinking that you'll just use an ASP.NET .sitemap. After all, it's easy to create. You may even already have a .sitemap file that lists all the pages that you would want Google to index. The bad news is that Google doesn't support the format of ASP.NET .sitemap files. Bertrand Le Roy to the rescue.
Read on to learn how to use Bertrand's HTTP handler to convert your ASP.NET .sitemap file to Google's own sitemap format. In addition, this article shows you how to modify the HTTP handler so that it can deal with any ASP.NET .sitemap file, not just the default Web.sitemap file. If your default Web.sitemap contains an incomplete list of site pages you'll want to modify Bertrand's HTTP handler and use it to tell Google about an alternate .sitemap file. Providing Google with a robust sitemap to your site increases your odds of having all pages from your site included in their index.
Christmas Ornament
by: Kim Dudley
Release Date: 12/26/2006
The glass ball is a staple when it comes to Christmas tree ornaments. They come in all shapes, sizes and colors and are often embellished with beads or other sparkly bits. With the Christmas season in full swing I thought it would be a nice time to do a little holiday decorating. In this tutorial we will use Illustrator to create a traditional glass ornament.
To create this glass ornament we will use some of Illustrator's basic drawing tools, the 3D mapping tool and the Photoshop Glass Effect.
Convert Your Photo Into Line Art with Fireworks
by: Paul Davis
Release Date: 12/20/2006
Convert your photographs into line art with the built in commands in Fireworks and the steps in this tutorial!
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 1: The Basics
by: Joseph Balderson
Release Date: 12/18/2006
Ever wondered how some Flash applications “break free” of the constraints of a fixed stage size, flowing from one size to another depending on browser size or application state? Creating these fluid layouts in Flash is considered by some to be one of those hidden mysteries of Flash coding. By others it is regarded as a milestone to be achieved on the path of ActionScript mastery. For me, it is both.
We will take you through the steps, from intermediate to advanced, necessary to create application layouts in Flash which can exhibit fullsize or fluid functionality. In this series we will explore the basic principles of creating fluid layouts in Flash, build a sample application with a class architecture using components, finishing off with an exploration of the new fullscreen feature available in Flash Player 9.
This tutorial will explore the basics of creating a flexible stage application.
The Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash Series:
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 1: The Basics
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 2: Proportional Layouts
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 3: Application Development
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 4:Creating the Movie Class
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 5: Extending the Stage Class
Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 6: Using Fullscreen
Snowflakes in Illustrator
by: Kim Dudley
Release Date: 12/13/2006
One of the easiest ways to add a wintery feel to a design or layout is to add a few snowflakes. Using Illustrator we can quickly create some unique snowflakes that can be added to almost any artwork. The snowflakes created in this tutorial are easy to make and are a lot of fun to play around with.
In this tutorial we will create 3 different snowflakes using 2 different methods. These snowflakes have a bit of a graphic or modern feel but using the same techniques you can create hundreds of different looks. To create these snowflakes we will use Illustrator's Ellipse, Star and Scale tools as well as the Zig Zag and Pucker and Bloat effect.
From Concept to Final Product in After Effects 7: Part 2
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 11/28/2006
Learn how to add and manipulate a variety of objects and media in an After Effects project destined for Flash playback. This is the second part of Chapter One of From After Effects to Flash: Poetry in Motion Graphics
Create Weather in Flash
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 11/10/2006
Who says creating rain and snow in Flash has to be difficult? Combine Flash and After Effects and you too can be a rain maker or snow maker.
Warping Video in a Flash
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 10/30/2006
Sometimes video needs to be such an odd shape that using a simple mask in Flash just won't solve the issue. In this video tutorial, I show you how to use the bezier Warp tool in After efects 7 to create a video that wraps around a shape. Then I show you how to output the video in After Effects and use that video in Flash.
Fire and Smoke in After Effects
by: Bill Horvath
Release Date: 10/23/2006
After Effects from Adobe is capable of some fantastic video effects right out of the box, but there are also some great plug-ins with the Pro version that can help you put some extra pizazz into your video. This tutorial will show you how to create realistic Fire & Smoke effects using only the bundled plugins which you get when buying the Pro Version of After Effects 7.
Tiago Dias works at a corporate television and news production company based in London with subsidiaries around the world, as a video producer and Flash developer — this is Tiago's ideal job, as it combines 2 of his favorite technologies! In his free time he writes tutorials on Flash and After Effects for various communities.
Playing with Radial Gradients in Flash
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 10/19/2006
Ever wondered what mayhem you can unleash with a Radial Gradient in Flash? read on...
A Simple Multi-language ColdFusion Content Management System - Part 1
by: Tom Muck
Release Date: 10/11/2006
There are various ways to create a data-driven multi-language site, but the method I will show in this article series uses an underused technique involving ColdFusion custom tags. Basically, the technique shown will turn any simple, well-formed HTML or XHTML page into a content management system with only one tag required on the page.
This first part will show the principles behind the custom tag technique. The next part will show how to implement the multi-language aspect. The third part will create an administrative interface to administer the system.
The Multi-Language ColdFusion Content Management System Series:
A Simple Multi-language ColdFusion Content Management System - Part 1
A Simple Multi-language ColdFusion Content Management System - Part 2
A Simple Multi-Language ColdFusion Content Management System - Part 3
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 4: Sharing Fonts with Dynamic Text
by: Robert Reinhardt
Release Date: 10/04/2006
In this "Working with" series, you learn how to create and use shared libraries with your Flash movies. Shared libraries can help you optimize your workflow, making it easier to update assets across several Flash movies used for any type of project.
In the last tutorial of this series, you learned how to create a runtime shared library (RSL) file and share its font assets with static text in other Flash movies. In this tutorial, you learn how to reuse the fonts with dynamic text fields in other Flash movies. Sharing fonts is one of the best ways to trim down SWF file sizes for large projects involving many SWF files.
The Working with Shared Libraries Series:
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 1: Sharing Symbols in Authortime Libraries
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 2: Sharing Symbols in a Runtime Shared Library
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 3: Sharing Fonts with Static Text
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 4: Sharing Fonts with Dynamic Text
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 5: Sharing Fonts with Runtime-Created Text Fields
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 6: Using CSS with Shared Fonts Coming Soon
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 7: Sharing Components Coming Soon
A Text Effect Using Illustrator and Masks
by: Kim Dudley
Release Date: 10/03/2006
Illustrator and its masking tool can create some very nice effects.
Like other applications Illustrator's masking tool uses shapes to hide or mask other artwork. In this tutorial we will use text as the masking object. Once the mask is created Illustrator's drop shadow effect will be applied to produce artwork suitable for web page banners or page headers.
Computer Math 0101
by: Tom Muck
Release Date: 09/27/2006
One of the very first things that you should learn if you are dealing with programming of any variety is the concept of binary and hexadecimal number systems. The foundation of computers is based in binary—1s and 0s—and its cousin hexadecimal Everything from HTML/CSS color codes to URL encoding to IP addresses to memory/hard drive capacity and everything in between exposes the concept of binary and hexadecimal With a basic understanding, working with computers is a bit easier.
Create Pages that Fill the Browser with CSS
by: Zoe Gillenwater
Release Date: 09/25/2006
A frequently asked question in CSS forums is how to create pages that stretch vertically to fill the browser window, regardless of the amount of content. With tables, you would nest your entire design in a table with a single cell and set both the cell and table's height to be 100 percent. With CSS, it's also quite simple and easy. In this tutorial, you will learn the basic CSS technique for making pages fill the browser window, which you can also use any time you have a div that you want to stretch to fill its parent.
Please note, however, that this is not a tutorial about making a footer stick to the bottom of the browser viewport or about emulating frames. These are more complicated layout requirements that may be covered in further tutorials, building on the 100 percent height technique introduced here.
Introduction to Regular Expressions
by: Rob Williams
Release Date: 09/11/2006
One of the most common tasks as a programmer that you'll end up coming across is string manipulation. You can run from it, you can hide from it, but eventually you're going to have to end up doing it (and usually on a fairly frequent basis!). Fortunately, a special set of tools commonly called "regular expressions" can often save you a great deal of time and effort, helping you achieve goals that you never thought possible. The downside, of course, is that you have to learn how to use these "expressions", and they can be quite confusing at times.
In this article we'll take a beginner's look at what regular expressions are and see through examples how they can help you in your day to day tasks.
Getting Started with Atlas
by: Heidi Bautista
Release Date: 09/06/2006
Just about everyone has heard of AJAX, right? The acronym stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. One of the problems with AJAX is that many people found it difficult to use. Microsoft developed Atlas, in part, to address that issue. Atlas is an extension of ASP.NET. You don't have to use ASP.NET to leverage Atlas functionality, but I think you'll find that it's convenient to do so. In addition to the server-side controls, Atlas also comes with sophisticated client script libraries, saving you the labor of writing your own JavaScript.
In this first tutorial we'll download and install Atlas. Later tutorials will explore using Atlas to perform asynchronous postbacks (via the UpdatePanel). This is arguably the best feature of Atlas. You can have a form on your page and when the user hits the submit button, instead of the entire page posting back, just the form does. That means that the page's contents are still visible. The only disruption to the page is the contents of the form. A lot more user-friendly, eh? Atlas boasts other cool features, too, that will be explained in later installments.
Let's Learn ColdFusion: Building a Simple Admin - Part 1
by: Adrian Senior
Release Date: 08/31/2006
In this series you will build a simple administration area complete with a control panel that will allow you to manage the content of your website.
The system you will build is aimed at the small business website where one or two users will have total control of the website's content.
The Let's Learn ColdFusion: Building a Simple Admin Series:
Let's Learn ColdFusion: Building a Simple Admin - Part 1
Let's Learn ColdFusion: Building a Simple Admin - Part 2
Let's Learn ColdFusion: Building a Simple Admin - Part 3
Let's Learn ColdFusion: Building a Simple Admin - Part 4 Coming Soon
Create Columns with Floats
by: Zoe Gillenwater
Release Date: 08/28/2006
Floating is the primary method for laying out pages using CSS. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to create the look of columns using the float, width and margin properties. You'll learn the principles for creating both liquid and fixed-width layouts of as many columns as you like.
In order to complete this tutorial, you need to already be familiar with the syntax of CSS and have read Flowing And Positioning: Two Page Models and Float: The Theory.
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 1: Sharing Symbols in Authortime Libraries
by: Robert Reinhardt
Release Date: 08/24/2006
In this new "Working with" series, you learn how to create and use shared libraries with your Flash movies. Shared libraries can help you optimize your workflow, making it easier to update assets across several Flash movies used for any type of project. I just finished a large DVD-ROM project for UCLA's Center for International Emergency Medicine, and the use of shared fonts dramatically decreased troubleshooting font issues between Mac and Windows versions of Flash 8.
The Working with Shared Libraries Series:
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 1: Sharing Symbols in Authortime Libraries
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 2: Sharing Symbols in a Runtime Shared Library
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 3: Sharing Fonts with Static Text
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 4: Sharing Fonts with Dynamic Text
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 5: Sharing Fonts with Runtime-Created Text Fields
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 6: Using CSS with Shared Fonts Coming Soon
Working with Shared Libraries - Part 7: Sharing Components Coming Soon
CFEclipse How To: Creating a Simple CFML Page
by: Chaz Chumley
Release Date: 08/22/2006
This past year at Todcon, I happened to start a discussion with some of the Adobe team about the future of Dreamweaver and how it relates to ColdFusion development. To my surprise, there has been quite a bit of interest surrounding the open source Eclipse IDE and the ColdFusion plugin known as CFEclipse. Not to say that there are plans to discontinue ColdFusion support in future versions of Dreamweaver, but for the experienced developer there is a growing effort to put some research dollars into the CFEclipse product.
CFEclipse is easy to use and has some great features. We'll examine some of them in this first article in the How To series on CFEclipse.
The CFEclipse How To Series
CFEclipse How To: Creating a Simple CFML Page
CFEclipse How To: Creating your first CFC
Building a Drag-and-Drop Jigsaw Puzzle - Part 1
by: David Stiller
Release Date: 08/21/2006
Jigsaw puzzles were a mainstay of my youth on rainy afternoons. The earliest puzzles I remember had merely a dozen pieces, but ah, the sense of accomplishment! Piecing together the artwork was always a rewarding experience. One year, my mother found an ad in a magazine for a company that would convert your personal photo into a puzzle — at the time, the notion struck me as incredible! We ordered one and I treasured it for years.
After reading this two-part series, you'll be able to do the same thing on your own computer! Over the course of these tutorials, you will write an ActionScript 2.0 class to build a re-usable jigsaw puzzle engine. Here in Part 1, we will deconstruct our endeavor into a handful of bite-sized methods and write one large method, CMXJigsawPuzzle.buildPuzzle(), to call those as necessary. The complete code is already included with this tutorial, but the full explanation will span into Part 2.
The Building a Drag-and-Drop Jigsaw Puzzle Series:
Building a Drag-and-Drop Jigsaw Puzzle - Part 1
Building a Drag-and-Drop Jigsaw Puzzle - Part 2
Creating Reflections in Flash 8
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 08/11/2006
Things in Flash aren't always as difficult to achieve when you look at them. Objects containing a reflection on the stage is a good example.
Turning a Tile Image into a Fireworks Pattern
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 08/09/2006
There are lots of tile images available on the web for free, or you may be keen on creating your own. But once you've got the image, how do you set it up so that it displays in the Property Inspector's patterns menu to use for filling vector shapes?
You could do a lot of copying and pasting to manually repeat the image, but that is way too much work. And there is a much easier way; Fireworks Patterns. You can apply patterns to fill any vector shape, thus giving the shape a more textured, organic or photo-realistic appearance.
This brief tutorial will show you how to take a seamless tile image and add it to the Fireworks Patterns menu.
ASP.NET and Several Methods for Updating a Last Modified Date
by: Bill Horvath
Release Date: 07/28/2006
"Created on" and "Last modified" dates are commonly included objects on web pages. This can be quite useful in determining when the last time content was added to a web site. On the other hand, determining when the page was modified may be specifically for the information within the page itself either being entered or modified from a database or some other data source. Tracking changes to a web page can be from a variety of sources. The following methods are discussed: setting the last modified in Dreamweaver; using SQL queries to return the last modified date or current date; using the DateTime object; and setting the file timestamps in code.
Control Block Formatting Context
by: Zoe Gillenwater
Release Date: 07/06/2006
In order to become a skilled CSS developer, you need to understand the underlying concepts of CSS that make it work and not just how to produce certain visual effects. The "block formatting context" is one of those concepts that drives how CSS affects your page without you even knowing it.
Most of the time, you don't need to worry about it; it's just something that's going on behind the scenes that you don't need to get involved with. Sometimes, however, the lack of a new context can make elements interact in undesirable ways. The primary reason for setting a new context is to keep cleared elements inside a main content div from clearing floated sidebars. We'll use this problem as a case study for how to establish new block formatting contexts and to see what their effect is on the other elements around them.
Understanding Classpaths
by: David Stiller
Release Date: 06/30/2006
All objects in recent versions of ActionScript are defined by something called classes. Think of classes as blueprints that determine the unique combination of characteristics, actions, and reactions that comprises a particular object of a certain type. By "object," we are talking about the familiar things a Flash developer deals with every day: movie clips (the MovieClip class), text fields (the TextField class), buttons, sounds, math functions, components, you name it. They are all defined by classes.
Out of the box, Flash provides hundreds of built-in ActionScript classes. The great part is, you can even write your own! But there's a catch: the Flash compiler, which converts ActionScript into Flash Player bytecode, must be told where new classes are located, or it won't be able to find them. That's what this article is about.