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Tutorials

Working With Fireworks CS4 Symbols
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 11/14/2008
In my book Adobe Fireworks CS4 How-To's, my goal was to explain the software in easy to digest techniques. This PDF excerpt from my book - Chapter 9 - covers 8 techniques on working with Symbols, one of Fireworks very powerful features.

Flex Developing a Flex-free AS3 Project for Flash Player 10 in Flex Builder 3
by: Joseph Balderson
Release Date: 11/12/2008
So you're developing an ActionScript 3.0 project, without using Flash components or the Flex framework, aimed at Flash Player 10. You could do it in Flash authoring, or you could do it in a third party code editor. But did you know you can also do this in Flex Builder?

This tutorial aims to show you that Flex Builder is not just for Flex projects: it can be used for pure ActionScript 3.0 projects, without accidentally using any classes or features of the Flex framework, compiled and deployed for Flash Player 10.

Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part Nine
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 11/11/2008
In this last installment of the Dreamweaver for GoLive Users series, you will learn about templates and library items, two essential productivity/automation features. You will then get an introduction to Dreamweaver's ultimate layout productivity feature, the CSS Starter Pages.

If you have been using GoLive's template and component features, learning to use the Dreamweaver equivalents - templates and library items - will not be too much of a stretch.

The Dreamweaver for GoLive Users Series:
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 1
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 2
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 3
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 4
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 5
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 6
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 7
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 8
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 9

HTML Firebug - Part 1: The What and Why
by: Estelle Weyl
Release Date: 11/05/2008
In this multi-part series, we are going to learn all about Firebug, the premier (and free) web development tool for Firefox. Part 1 is an overview of the the Firefox browser, and Firebug, the Firefox plugin. Learn how to install Firefox and Firebug, and learn how to run the application and change preferences. In future sessions will show you how to work with and troubleshoot CSS, HTML and Javascript.

The Firebug Series:
Firebug - Part 1: The What and Why
Firebug - Part 2: Overview of Firebug Functionality
Firebug - Part 3: Editing with Firebug Coming Soon

Flex Developing for Flash Player 10 in Flex Builder 3
by: Joseph Balderson
Release Date: 11/05/2008
As a Flex developer, keeping up with new advances in Flash Player 10 is essential. Thus, it's nice to be able to build to the latest Flash Player, without waiting for the next major release of Flex Builder. This article will show you how to get Flex Builder 3's code assist to recognize Flash Player 10 classes, and to compile for and check for the presence of the Flash 10 Player, without a lot of mucking about with configuration files.

Open Source Using Dreamweaver to Work With Drupal Modules
by: Ray West
Release Date: 10/31/2008
To start with, this is not a part of the Creating Web Sites with Drupal series. This article is for developers who are writing and/editing Drupal modules. It is not an advanced article per se, but it is typically only needed by people doing advanced things with Drupal.

This article is for those of us who still love Dreamweaver for its interface, its design view, and its built-in site management and FTP, but need to work with Drupal module files with the .module, .install, .info and other file extensions. To Dreamweaver, these are not recognizable files and it will not want to open them. Even when you get them opened, Dreamweaver will not use its normal PHP color coding and you will just get black text. This can make it tough to find things in your files and tell when things are comments, among other issues.

This article will show you how to get Dreamweaver to open these files from the site manager and how to use Dreamweaver's built in PHP color coding for all these weird file extensions.

Dreamweaver The CSS Starter Page Series - Part 1: Faux-Column Images
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 10/30/2008
Most of you have probably opened a CSS Starter Page by now, intending to use it as a launching pad for a site design. Sure, they save a lot of headaches in that they give you the basic structure for columns, header, and footer. They include generic classes for floating images left and right. They even take the worry out of figuring out how to code a liquid versus fixed, or elastic versus hybrid, layout. And what a blessing that they include some basic Internet Explorer fixes!

Still, you may have looked at them with some dismay as soon as you noticed what they don't include. Like how about that pesky little detail called the navigation scheme? Or what about the fact that the second (or third column, if there is one) has a background color that stops as soon as the content within stops? Or what to do about the Internet Explorer problems that you introduce as you modify the CSS Starter Page?

Relax. This series will tackle the missing puzzle pieces of the CSS Starter Pages in a codified and modular fashion by taking on one issue at a time. The first topic of this series will be devoted to background images and faux column technique in all of their permutations, starting with background images for columns in liquid, elastic, and fixed-width layouts. So settle back, download the support files at the bottom of the page, and begin your journey towards becoming a background image guru.

The CSS Starter Page Series:
The CSS Starter Page Series - Part 1: Faux-Column Images
The CSS Starter Page Series - Part 2 Coming Soon

Integrating PayPal Payments Into Your Site with ColdFusion: Part 1
by: Arman Danesh
Release Date: 10/21/2008
PayPal Website Payments are fairly easy to use once you understand them. This series covers integrating PayPal payments into your ColdFusion web site. The first article in the series provides an overview of PayPal's offerings and then walks you through some basic tasks needed to get ready to implement your own PayPal solution with ColdFusion.

The Integrating PayPal Payments Into Your Site with ColdFusion Series:
Integrating PayPal Payments Into Your Site with ColdFusion: Part 1
Integrating PayPal Payments Into Your Site with ColdFusion: Part 2
Integrating PayPal Payments Into Your Site with ColdFusion: Part 3
Integrating PayPal Payments Into Your Site with ColdFusion: Part 4

Flash Creating a Smart Skip Intro Button in Flash - Part 1
by: David Stiller
Release Date: 10/15/2008
Generally speaking, Flash designers have become more considerate. In the late 1990s, it was common to encounter dozens of Flash web sites a day with bloated, pointless intro animations. Ultimately, sure, content was king: users would eventually get to the meat of a web site, but all too often, were subjected to unnecessary bells and whistles, simply because Flash was the shiny new kid on the block. Nowadays, bloated intros are largely a thing of the past, but back then, designers were proud of these intros and assumed users were thrilled to see them. Frankly, it just wasn't so.

Fortunately, designers began to change their ways. Best practices took hold, and the "Skip Intro" button became a fashionable device (in fact, it appeared so often it became an industry joke). If users were really lucky, they'd even see a "Skip Intro Always" button, which remembered their preference for the next visit.

In this two-part series, you'll learn how to create such a button, and we'll examine other uses for the same mechanism. It's easier than you might think!

The Creating a Smart Skip Intro Button in Flash Series:
Creating a Smart Skip Intro Button in Flash - Part 1
Creating a Smart Skip Intro Button in Flash - Part 2

PHP Build Your Own Contact Forms - Part 1: Workflow
by: Steven Seiller
Release Date: 10/14/2008
This tutorial will describe the functions of web site contact forms and how to create its processing script. We'll cover the creation of the HTML form and use PHP to create the processing script which handles the submitted data and sends the email. Along the way, we'll review best practices in data validation, storage, spam prevention and security.

At the end of this series, you should understand all the aspects of the contact form workflow and be able to create your own PHP processing script. By knowing the process, you will be able to build your own PHP contact form customized to your specific needs. Should you decide to implement a commercial or open-source contact form, you will be able to readily manage the process.

The Build Your Own Contact Form Series:
Build Your Own Contact Forms - Part 1: Workflow
Build Your Own Contact Forms - Part 2: The HTML Form
Build Your Own Contact Forms - Part 3: The PHP Processing Script
Build Your Own Contact Forms - Part 4: Spam Prevention

Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part Eight
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 09/29/2008
In Part Seven of this series, we completed the Music History design in Dreamweaver. This time around we'll perform some quality assurance on the page by using the Check Browser Compatibility feature. We'll learn about using Internet Explorer Conditional Comments (IECC) to take care of problems in that browser. Finally, we'll create a snippet to fix future encounters with the Three-Pixel Text Jog bug.

The Dreamweaver for GoLive Users Series:
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 1
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 2
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 3
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 4
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 5
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 6
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 7
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 8
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 9

Javascript Quickshot: PayPal Product with Three Options!
by: Paul Davis
Release Date: 09/26/2008
PayPal only allows two options for products and you need three. This quickshot will make quick work of getting this done for you.

ColdFusion Contact Forms in One Easy File - Part 1
by: Michael Evangelista
Release Date: 09/17/2008
One of the most common and obvious needs of any professional web developer is the ability to collect information from an HTML form and submit it via email. There are many reasons why this is superior to a simple 'mailto' link, the most important being the ability to hide your actual email address from the ever-more-voracious spambots that plague our online universe (they love to find links like <a href="mailto:me@lotsofspamplease.com"> ... your address becomes a free lunch for the harvester spiders).

In this easy-to-follow tutorial you will learn how to :

Submit a simple html form with any fields you like via email from any ColdFusion page
Double-validate submitted info with and server-side checking
Create an automatic custom-formatted mail message
Send the user a custom-formatted auto-responder 'thanks' message
Hide your email address from spambots
Send email so that replying goes to the sender, not back to the web site

...all in one simple file that you can insert into any page!

This tutorial assumes you have some experience with html form elements, and very basic ColdFusion tags such as <:cfif>, , and . A general concept of and the 'required' attribute for might also be helpful, but is not required.

Michael Evangelista is a freelance web developer, ColdFusion programmer, and owner of a successful web and print design company based in southern Utah. Michael's company, Evangelista Design, has grown from a locally-oriented small business web design company to an international team of designers and ColdFusion developers offering a wide range of online business solutions, including full-service web hosting, custom content management applications, corporate data systems, and more.

The ColdFusion Contact Forms in One Easy File Series:
ColdFusion Contact Forms in One Easy File - Part 1
ColdFusion Contact Forms in One Easy File - Part 2
ColdFusion Contact Forms in One Easy File - Part 3 Coming Soon

GoLive Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part Seven
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 09/16/2008
In Part Six of this series, we used Dreamweaver to manipulate the various divisions of the page and position them into a header with two columns underneath. This time around we'll complete the design in Dreamweaver by formatting the maincontent div text and turning the sidebar links into clickable buttons. In the process, I hope to introduce you to additional features that will improve your productivity.

This tutorial includes starter exercise files as well as a completed layout that you can use as a basis of comparison while you work through the steps.

The Dreamweaver for GoLive Users Series:
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 1
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 2
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 3
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 4
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 5
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 6
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 7
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 8
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 9

HTML Semantic XHTML - Part 1: The Required Elements
by: Estelle Weyl
Release Date: 09/16/2008
By writing semantic, valid XHTML, the code that you create for your website will work not only cross browser, but cross device. The web page that works in your Firefox Browser on your Windows XP computer can work in a cell phone's browser, on TV via a PlayStation, and even in a braille reader. To write semantic code, you need to understand what every element means. In this series, we will cover all the HTML

This series will include:

Part 1: The required elements to create a document:
Part 2: Elements that go inside the document head
Part 3: block level elements
Part 4: Lists
Part 5: Tables: Block level elements that aren't display: block
Part 6: Common inline elements
Part 7: Less common inline elements
Part 8: Form Elements

There are several elements that we can use to create a valid XHTML document that is sematically correct. To code correctly, it is important to know all the elements, and especially to know when and how to use them. In part one of the Semantic XHTML series, we discuss the five elements that are required.

The Semantic XHTML Series:
Semantic XHTML - Part 1: The Required Elements
Semantic XHTML - Part 2: Elements Within the Element
Semantic XHTML - Part 3: Common Block Level Elements
Semantic XHTML - Part 4: List Elements
Semantic XHTML - Part 5: Table Elements
Semantic XHTML - Part 6: Inline Elements Coming Soon
Semantic XHTML - Part 7: Less Common Inline Elements Coming Soon

Dreamweaver Integrating Cartweaver with a Page Design
by: Tom Muck
Release Date: 09/09/2008
My last article about integrating Cartweaver with your web site focused on our JumpStarts. The article described how to integrate Cartweaver with the Minneapolis JumpStart, which was an e-commerce JumpsStart, but the techniques could apply to any of our JumpStarts.

This article will focus on integrating Cartweaver with any design, including the simple layouts included with the latest versions of Dreamweaver (CS3 and CS4).

Animation Fun with Twist and Fade
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 09/08/2008
The Fireworks public beta has had many updates, but one very fun update is the revised Twist and Fade command.

This command will take any selected object and - based on your input - create multiple faded, rotated iterations which seem to follow a path. And while that is kinda cool. What I love about the command is its ability to create an animation quickly and easily.

ColdFusion and Spry: Part 1
by: Laurie Casolino
Release Date: 08/28/2008
Spry is a JavaScript-based framework that provides AJAX-powered dynamic web content. There are other JavaScript libraries available to accomplish similar results. such a JSON, jQuery, etc. (On this CMX site, Rob Williams has a couple of series on jQuery and jQuery UI Components.)The Spry library is produced by Adobe Labs, and, as of this writing, is in 1.6.1 release. (SPRY at Adobe Labs.) Although SPRY can be used with other server technologies, such as PHP, ASP.net, etc., Spry seems to employ techniques that are especially intuitive to the ColdFusion developer.

Keith Dodd got into web development as a second career following 30 years in public education, with 19 as a middle school principal. With help from friends and a lot of reading, he got into ColdFusion (version 3) and in 2003 was certificated as an Advanced ColdFusion MX Developer. In recent years, he has worked with Flash and the integration of Flash with ColdFusion (with a lot of help from CMX resources). He is just starting to delve into Flex.

The ColdFusion and Spry Series:
ColdFusion and Spry: Part 1
ColdFusion and Spry: Part 2
ColdFusion and Spry: Part 3
ColdFusion and Spry: Part 4

Dreamweaver Introducing CMX JumpStart Phoenix
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 08/21/2008
It's another JumpStart, and this one is named after a city I visited and loved, Phoenix, Arizona.

CMX JumpStart Phoenix is a centered, two-column, 760 pixel fixed-width layout that has many appealing design features. There is a strikingly contrasted color scheme, vertical navigation in the right column, and "swap image" rollovers that use a caching technique that corrects flaws in Internet Explorer.

The JumpStart filters styles for various versions of Internet Explorer, and includes separate style sheets to address issues found in IE 6 and below versus IE 7.

Of course Phoenix meets the W3C standards for CSS and XHTML, as well as the WAI accessibility requirements, too.

Flash Working with Library and Linkage Changes in ActionScript 3.0
by: David Stiller
Release Date: 08/15/2008
Like its forerunner, ActionScript 3.0 supports the attachment of Library assets at runtime, but the mechanics have changed. While ActionScript 2.0 had the familiar MovieClip.attachMovie() and Sound.attachSound() methods, the only class methods that now contain the word "attach" relate to connecting the SWF file to an external device, such as NetStream.attachCamera(), which lets the user transmit webcam input. Not the same thing at all! So, how can you access the Library at runtime in an AS3 document? The answer is gratifyingly elegant, and even in its simple approach, ActionScript 3.0 gives you more elaborate options than before.

This article, adapted from an excerpt of The ActionScript 3.0 Quick Reference Guide (ISBN: 0596517351), discusses how Library linkage has changed in ActionScript 3.0. This quick answer guide is slated for October, 2008, published by O'Reilly, and is written by Community MX partner David Stiller, as well as Rich Shupe, Jen deHaan, and Darren Richardson.

Showing Results and Details on One Page Using AJAX For Cartweaver
by: Tom Muck
Release Date: 08/13/2008
Dreamweaver's Master/Detail page set is a handy set of behaviors to use for a drill-down functionality -- display a list of records, and click on a link in the list to view the full record. Cartweaver does not use the Dreamweaver behaviors for the Master/Detail page set, but does include the same concept with its results and details page. The article Creating a Master/Detail Pageset on One Page Using AJAX showed how to put both pages together using AJAX using the built-in Dreamweaver server behaviors. In that tutorial, I showed how to create one master/detail page that uses some very simple JavaScript to load the details section of the page dynamically using AJAX. This creates a much faster page, in that it only loads the dynamic details portion when needed, rather than the entire page.

This article will use the same JavaScript functionality to create the functionality for a Cartweaver site. The article will apply equally to the ColdFusion, PHP, and ASP versions of Cartweaver and assumes that you own one of those products. To use this functionality you have to set your details display setting in the admin to either "Simple" or "Tables". The "Advanced" option uses JavaScript to set menus, which would require more modifications.

Newsprint with Photoshop CS3
by: Scott Valentine
Release Date: 08/12/2008
Recreate imaging effects of old, forgotten days with this nifty little halftone effect. Come back with me nearly two whole decades to see how newspapers looked "way back when". This is that "weird dot thingie" look.

Programming Processing Submitted HTML Form Data - Part 1
by: Steven Seiller
Release Date: 08/06/2008
This tutorial will walk through the essentials of processing submitted HTML form data. Whether you are processing information submitted through a contact form, a blog or a content management system, you must understand the essential components of submitted form data in order to process the submitted information. You might process the submitted data with ASP, ColdFusion, PHP or Perl but regardless of the scripting language you choose, the data submitted through the Common Gateway Interface (CGI) remains the same.

In Part 1 of this tutorial, we will review the CGI process and the two methods of submitting form data via HTML. Additionally, we will look at the range of form controls at your disposal and the nature of the data returned by each control. In Part 2 of this tutorial, I will use PHP to demonstrate the structure and values of typical form data with sample processing routines.

The Processing Submitted HTML Form Data Series:
Processing Submitted HTML Form Data - Part 1
Processing Submitted HTML Form Data - Part 2: PHP

Quickshot - Missing Images in CFDocument
by: Ray West
Release Date: 07/30/2008
ColdFusion's tag makes creating dynamic PDF images on the fly a breeze. There have been problems, though, including images in those documents. Many times, for various reasons, you can end up with a perfectly valid image reference in the HTML portion of your document that becomes a red X when the HTML is PDF'd.

Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part Six
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 07/25/2008
In Part Five of the Dreamweaver to GoLive series, we completed the Music site design in GoLive. Now it is time to translate your GoLive CSS skills into Dreamweaver CSS skills. The basic concepts do not change, but rather just the location of a few tools.

This tutorial includes both a starter and completed folder in its support files.

The Dreamweaver for GoLive Users Series:
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 1
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 2
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 3
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 4
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 5
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 6
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 7
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 8
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 9

CSS Making a Three Column Layout Using CSS: Part 1
by: Estelle Weyl
Release Date: 07/24/2008
Tableless layouts are all the rage, but how are they created? Focusing on learning how to float divs, the first tutorial in this series will introduce you to the basic skills required to create your own 3-column layout.

The Making a Three-Column Layout Using CSS Series:
Making a Three-Column Layout Using CSS - Part 1
Making a Three-Column Layout Using CSS - Part 2
Making a Three-Column Layout Using CSS - Part 3: Changing Column Order With CSS
Making a Three-Column Layout Using CSS - Part 4: Fixed, Fluid and Elastic Layouts

Fireworks Hidden Gem - Paste Attributes
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 07/23/2008
There are a lot of features in Fireworks to improve your workflow, but one you might not know about has actually been around for a long time. It's called Paste Attributes and it's a very versatile command, as you will see in this quick tutorial.

GoLive Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part Five
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 07/21/2008
In Part Four of this series, we used GoLive to manipulate the various divisions of the page, and positioned them into a header with two columns underneath. This time around we'll complete the design in GoLive by formatting the maincontent div text and turning the sidebar links into clickable buttons.

This tutorial includes starter files as well as the completed layout.

The Dreamweaver for GoLive Users Series:
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 1
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 2
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 3
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 4
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 5
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 6
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 7
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 8
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 9

Tracking the Popularity of Your Database Content
by: Steven Seiller
Release Date: 07/21/2008
If you have database content which you share, you may wish to track the number of times each record is requested or viewed. Be it an article, an image, a link or a video, counting the number of times that record has been accessed or requested will provide a measure of its popularity relative to the rest of the records in your database. You have likely seen this tracking in action in the form of the "Most Viewed" search option, such as those found on news sites or You Tube. You might choose to keep the tracking count to yourself for private statistical analysis or allow visitors to view the record counts.

Quick Shot - Validating Imported Dates in ColdFusion
by: Ray West
Release Date: 07/10/2008
In previous articles, we have discussed the way that Microsoft stores dates in SQL Server and Excel and how that can be an advantage and a hindrance as you deal with your data. There is a method to the way that MS products store dates. It allows you to deal with time against an absolute reference rather than being concerned with its formatting (whether US, Euro, or other). But the way ColdFusion's validation functions treat dates can be tricky if you are trying to get some concrete assurance that you are processing valid information.

GoLive Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part Four
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 07/07/2008
It's been a while since the third installment in the Dreamweaver for GoLive users series, but I didn't forget you while I was writing about the Dreamweaver public beta or the latest CMX JumpStart! In parts four and five of this tutorial, we'll get to the really exciting stuff. We'll use Adobe GoLive to add the styles that will transform the pure markup from a series of divs that stack vertically down the page into a neatly contained fixed-width layout with side-by-side columns.

Then, in part six, you'll learn how to perform the same tasks in Dreamweaver.

This tutorial includes both starter and completed files folders.

The Dreamweaver for GoLive Users Series:
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 1
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 2
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 3
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 4
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 5
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 6
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 7
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 8
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 9

Javascript The jQuery UI Components - Part 1: Introduction
by: Rob Williams
Release Date: 07/01/2008
The jQuery library goes a long way to help make AJAX-oriented applications easier to develop and deploy. One of the things that makes jQuery stand out from the other libraries available though is it's expandibility. The jQuery UI plugins, built on top of the original jQuery library, take that original ease of development and expand it to apply to interactive interface components, rather than just the underlying code that drives them.

In this series we're going to look at the various modules and components that make up the jQuery UI system to see how they can help to make building rich interfaces on top of our existing jQuery systems a piece of cake. Today, in the first part of the series we'll do a quick review of jQuery's organizational structure, talk about what plugins and UI modules are, and explore just how easy they are to implement.

The jQuery UI Components Series:
The jQuery UI Components - Part 1: Introduction
The jQuery UI Components - Part 2: Draggables
The jQuery UI Components - Part 3: Droppables
The jQuery UI Components - Part 4: Sortables
The jQuery UI Components - Part 5: Resizables
The jQuery UI Components - Part 6: Accordion Widget
The jQuery UI Components - Part 7: Datepicker Widget
The jQuery UI Components - Part 8: Colorpicker Widget
The jQuery UI Components - Part 9: Magnifier Widget

Using CF Tags from CFScript
by: Tom Muck
Release Date: 06/26/2008
When working in ColdFusion, you have two basic ways of coding: ColdFusion tags and CFScript. Both are legitimate and both provide certain advantages. With ColdFusion tags, you have a full arsenal of functionality available. With CFScript, you have more basic script operations available, such as looping, setting variables, conditions, and other more mundane tasks. Frequently when writing scripts, however, you need some functionality that is only available to a ColdFusion tag. The more obvious solution is to close the tag, execute your tag, then re-open the tag to resume your coding. We'll talk about another way to approach this situation -- create functions that mimic CF tags.

Flex Flash-Flex Integration - Part 6: Editing Flash Code in Flex Builder
by: Joseph Balderson
Release Date: 06/25/2008
Sometimes, when you're coding a Flex application, don't you just wish you could use a Flash animation, right there? And in Flash, don't you sometimes wish you could use that one class in Flex, or that one component, which would make your life so much easier? It is at such times that a developer encounters the limitations of their tools, be it in Flex or in Flash. This series aims to explore the possibilities inherent in an integrated Flash-Flex workflow, bridging the gap between the two technologies, enabling a greater range of development options.

In this article, we will delve into Flash-Flex integration on a more intimate level, using both Flash and Flex in a completely integrated development workflow. Using David Stiller's Click-and-Paint tutorial as a basis for our enhanced application, we will convert a timeline-based Flash project into a class-based project, but using Flex Builder as the code editor. Essentially using the Flash IDE as the assets editor and SWF compiler, and Flex Builder as the ActionScript 3 editor (without using the Flex compiler).

In this article, you will learn how to set up a Flex project workspace to enable the editing of Flash IDE-compiled ActionScript 3 class files. In doing so, you will no doubt discover why Flex Builder is a much more powerful tool for ActionScript class editing than the Flash Actions panel. As one of my Flash colleagues is fond of saying, "Once you go Flex, you never go back." :) But this isn't about making converts to either Flash or Flex development. Whatever your specialty, this series is here to show you that with a little ingenuity, you can have your cake and eat it too.

Flash Actions panel or Flex Builder: for code editing, there is no contest.

The Flash-Flex Integration Series:
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 1: Workflows
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 2: Flex 2 Component Skinning
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 3: Flex Component Skinning with Scale-9
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 4: Skinning the Scale-9 Flex Component
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 5: Building the DragPanel Component
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 6: Editing Flash Code in Flex Builder
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 7: Coding With Flash Components in Flex Builder
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 8: Creating Custom Flex Components with Flash CS3
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 9: Using The FLVPlayback Component in Flex

PHP PHPMailer: Full Featured Email Transfer Class for PHP - Part 1
by: Steven Seiller
Release Date: 06/25/2008
PHP contains a mail function which sends script-generated email with very little configuration and ease. This built-in function, while easily accessible, provides only basic options for creating emails and requires a more manual effort to create advanced email features such html formatting and attachment encoding.

For many years, I have used PHPMailer which is an object-oriented PHP class that easily allows you to implement advanced email formatting. Features which can be readily tapped include: SMTP authentication, use of redundant SMTP servers, attachments, HTML formatting, multipart/alternative formatting for non-html email and various encoding methods. Due to its ease of use and broad feature base, I incorporate the PHPMailer class into all my scripts which send email.

My primary reason for using this class comes from the ability to send script-generated email through authenticated SMTP servers which dramatically reduce the risk of the email being trapped in spam filters. In my testing, mail sent directly from the server by the mail() is significantly more likely to be caught by ISP spam filters due to the fact that it resembles robotically generated spam. I also enjoy the relative ease of adding attachments, html formatting and using multipart/alternative text for email client preview.

In this tutorial, I will demonstrate how to install the PHPMailer class and use it to create simple email, while sending through an authenticated SMTP server. Use of this class requires some knowledge of working with server files and directories and some experience with PHP classes.

In Part 2, we will take it further and go over adding attachments and creating HTML emails.

The PHPMailer - Full Featured Email Transfer Class for PHP Series:
PHPMailer: Full Featured Email Transfer Class for PHP - Part 1
PHPMailer: Full Featured Email Transfer Class for PHP - Part 2

Flash Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 1
by: David Stiller
Release Date: 06/24/2008
In one implementation of the QuickTime VR format, known as QTVR Object Movies, the user can click-and-drag an image to seemingly rotate it, as if spinning the real-life object on a lazy Susan. This simulated 3D interactivity can improve multimedia curb appeal, and makes for a nifty way to showcase merchandise. But it doesn't stop there: the same basic principle can also bring click-and-drag responsiveness to short video sequences and even user input widgets, such as the click-and-scrub input fields of numerous Adobe dialog boxes

Adobe often uses click-and-drag input to update text fields

If you're a Flash developer and interested in click-and-drag functionality, you've come to the right tutorial series! Here in Part 1, we'll start by exploring the Flash version of a QTVR Object Movie that rotates an F-15A aircraft. In future articles, we'll work through a common "gotcha" in regard to direction reversal. We'll also load images from external files and explore alternate uses for the same programmatic concept.

The Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash Series:
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 1
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 2
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 3
Building Click-and-Rotate Content in Flash - Part 4

Photoshop Cross Processed Film Effect
by: Scott Valentine
Release Date: 06/16/2008
There's a great way to get some gritty, glowing effects to your images. If you shot them on film, then you have the added bonus of getting toxic chemical exposure. Sadly, us digital folks will have to achieve this film look without the interesting health effects and wonderful smells of a wet darkroom.

Photoshop A Matching Color Set in Three Steps
by: Knut Kubenz
Release Date: 06/11/2008
Have you ever wondered if it were possible to give a group of photos, perhaps a series of images, the same sort of color tone? You might want to do this when you are exhibiting a show of your work to set a particular mood for the exhibit, whether warm or cool in appearance.

Well Photoshop has just such a tool, which often is overlooked or at first glance looks a bit complicated, and yet the Match Color tool and its dialog window does a quick and easy job of setting the color mood for any and all of your future images in three easy steps. Let's begin.

Comparing Timestamps in ColdFusion
by: Ray West
Release Date: 06/05/2008
In a couple of previous articles, we looked at comparing timestamps in SQL Server and MYSQL, with an eye for capturing data that matches a supplied date even if the times are different. Lest we think there is only one way to do things, we got some comments regarding the ability to do this in the server side language (such as ColdFusion) as well.

Fireworks CS4 Public Beta - Part 3: Wrapping Text Inside a Path
by: Jim Babbage
Release Date: 05/29/2008
OK, how long have we been waiting for this? The ability to flow text within a vector shape is now part of Fireworks CS4! Woo Hoo!

And we can do more than just wrap the text inside the shape. When you're mocking up a web page design, you can also emulate how text will flow around a floated image.

Follow along in this article to see the creative options available for you with just one of the new features in Fireworks CS4.

The Fireworks CS4 Public Beta Series:
Fireworks CS4 Public Beta - Part 1: Fireworks Gets a Facelift!
Fireworks CS4 Public Beta - Part 2: Productivity Features
Fireworks CS4 Public Beta - Part 3: Wrapping Text Inside a Path
Fireworks CS4 Public Beta - Part 4: Panels

SQL Comparing Timestamps in MySQL
by: Ray West
Release Date: 05/23/2008
In a recent article, we looked at comparing timestamp columns in SQL Server in order to pull records that occurred on a date or series of dates without regard to the time, and the question came up about how to do the same thing in MYSql.

Flash Playing Videos Sequentially
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 05/19/2008
In this, the last of six excerpts from Foundation Flash CS3 Video published by friendsofED, CMX partner Tom Green and his coauthor, Adam Thomas, answer that age-old question: How do I play a sequence of videos?

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
Playing videos sequentially

GoLive Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part Two
by: Sheri German
Release Date: 05/15/2008
In Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part One, you set up the sites and files you are going to use as you create a web standards layout side-by-side in both GoLive and Dreamweaver. In this second tutorial in the series, you will code the markup for the layout in Adobe GoLive; in the third part, coming very soon, you will code the markup for the layout in Dreamweaver. During the course of these two interrelated tutorials, you will learn more about how to translate your knowledge of GoLive's interface into knowledge of Dreamweaver's.

The Dreamweaver for GoLive Users Series:
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 1
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 2
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 3
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 4
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 5
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 6
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 7
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 8
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 9

Flash Letting Video Show Its Age
by: Tom Green
Release Date: 05/13/2008
In this, the fifth of six excerpts from Foundation Flash CS3 Video published by friendsofED, CMX partner Tom Green and his coauthor, Adam Thomas, explore how to age a video playing through the Flash Player.

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
Playing videos sequentially Coming Soon

Flash Wiggle that Text! - Part 1: AS2 Timeline Code Prep
by: David Stiller
Release Date: 05/13/2008
As the well-known adage dictates, "a picture's worth a thousand words." Often enough, that sentiment is true — but even so, words are powerful in their own right.

The Wiggle that Text! Series:
Wiggle that Text! - Part 1: AS2 Timeline Code Prep
Wiggle that Text! - Part 2: AS2 Timeline Code Animation
Wiggle that Text! - Part 3: AS2 Custom Class
Wiggle that Text! - Part 4: AS3 Custom Class

Flash 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.

Flash 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

Flash 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

GoLive 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
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 3
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 4
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 5
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 6
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 7
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 8
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 9

Flash 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

ColdFusion 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.

Photoshop 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 :)

Education The Art of the Interactive Storyteller - Part 5
by: Tom Green
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

Flash 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.

Flash 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

Shamrock

Flash 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.

ColdFusion 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.

PHP 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.

Flash 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.

The ActionScript Basics Series:
ActionScript Basics - Part 1: Arrays
ActionScript Basics - Part 2: Associative Arrays
ActionScript Basics - Part 3: Building Dynamic Menus and Associative Arrays
ActionScript Basics - Part 4: Building a Custom Button Class For the Dynamic Menu

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: Scott Valentine
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
Masking in Photoshop - Part III: Complex Selections

ColdFusion 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.

Flash 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

Bridge 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.

Flash 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!

Dreamweaver 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

Dreamweaver 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.

ASP 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.

Flash 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.

General Business 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.

Accessibility 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

SQL 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

Javascript 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!

CSS 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.

Flash 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.

Flash 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

CSS 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...

CSS 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..

Flash 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

Flash 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.

Flash 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.

Flash 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.

Flash 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.

Flex 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

Flash 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

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