
Wednesday, March 29th, 2006
CMX Weekly Newsletter News Fun and Freebies Recent CMX Content Tips, Tricks and Dirty Cheats Check the News! TODcon 2007 in VEGAS - Come To Learn and Meet Friends For the few who haven't experienced it yet, TODCon is the most informative yet informal Adobe-related event you're going to find. Whether you're a seasoned veteran of Adobe products or just starting out, you will have a great time learning a great deal from many knowledgeable speakers about CSS, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, ColdFusion, Flash, and even about running your business properly. Those who attend usually end up coming back every year because of the unique and informal atmosphere. You don't want to miss out on this event. This year, TODCon will take place in Las Vegas, Nevada. We predict that this year's turnout will be even bigger than last year's. You're invited to register for this fantastic, one of a kind event. Hurry, so you can get the early bird registration discount. Looking To Learn CSS? Let Community MX Help! A common question on the Community MX forums is for the recommendation of the name of a good CSS book. There are certainly valuable CSS books on the bookshelves of Borders or Barnes and Noble and the virtual bookshelves of Amazon, but why not start right here at CMX with the scores of CSS articles we have available? Perhaps it has been hard to keep track of them all, and even harder to know where to start from among so much bounty. Community MX author Sheri German has just made your life easier by compiling a ton of our CSS articles and grouping them into categories that will take you from beginner status all the way to working with advanced CSS concepts. If you want to dig in, check out her free article. Moving Day For ActionScript 3 Libraries The ActionScript 3.0 libraries have been moved from Adobe Labs to Google Code. The Google Code environment is a plus, as it gives the AS developers a wiki, a mailing list and even makes it simpler for you, the AS user, to contribute by way of code, testing or just writing documentation on the wiki. Check out Darron Schall's blog to find out more. Apple Had a Busy Week Unless you've been under rock this week (and we know some of you have - we're really sorry, and we'll be over to dig you out shortly), you've heard or read about Steve Job's announcements regarding the new iPhone and Apple TV. Rumors have been flying for months about the iPhone, but when you read articles like this one at CNN.com, you realize that Apple actually did a pretty good job of keeping it under their hats. Apple TV on the other hand, well, most folks saw iTV and knew it was just a matter of time. Check out some close-ups of the iPhone at AppleInsider.com. You've got to admit, that's a pretty sweet looking phone. For some answers about Apple TV, look no further than ArsTechnica.com. Go Phishing Somewhere Else You're bright, energetic, young and on the go. You don't fall for people's lame attempts to put one over on you, and we know it. So why do you keep getting emails from phishers who think you're dumb enough to fall for their ruse? Because it's worth it to them, and because they keep getting sneakier all the time, and it's going to become harder and harder to weed out the garbage from genuine email as time goes on. Protect yourself by being informed and by making sure you recognize those emails before you fall victim. A good way to start is to read this great article at NetworkSecurityJournal.com called "The Fight Against Phishing: 44 Ways to Protect Yourself."
Satisfied Customers Speak Out! "I am a new old web designer.Let me explain I have been involved in the Internet, Web design, and Network technologies for over 15 years. I also got tired of the grind and the sore eyes and late nights coding and I virtually hung up my keyboard for a few years, minus the odd thing to do online like banking etc. To get to the point I resurfaced just recently and decided to start another tech company and needed to catch up. This site is the hands down best resource I have come across to walk a beginner through his first design or to test the expert in his/her knowledge. My hat is off to you folks. Keep up the good work and it is by far the best investment of 20 bucks/month that i have spent in a long while." CMX Subscriber Carl, commenting on Sheri German's article "Design Your Own Custom CMX CSS Course" Whether you're just starting out or need advanced support, Community MX will give you answers and ideas to work through your tough issues. Don't miss out. Learn more about CMX or sign up for a free trial today!
Great Quotes: "Anyone who puts a small gloss on a fundamental technology, calls it proprietary, and then tries to keep others from building on it, is a thief." — Tim O'Reilly YOU Like Free Stuff? WE Like Free Stuff Too! Doesn't matter whether it's food, a shoe or software. If it's free, it's got our attention. In that spirit, WinAddOns.com offers up a list of three hundred freeware (pc-only) programs for you. And these aren't your simple, garden-variety freeware programs either. You'll find substitutes for MS Office, PDF creators, server software, 3D graphics software and plenty of other stuff. It's Not You, It's Me Tom Spring of PC Magazine made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of entertainment. He signed up for 32 accounts online, only to cancel each service so he could see how difficult each company made it on the consumer. Some companies made it simple, but others decided that Tom was going to be in a "til-death-do-us part" relationship with them. NetZero made Tom's Hall of Shame award, but you've really got to read the whole article to find out just how badly companies are working to hold onto their subscribers. This article at Consumerist.com entitled "How to fight companies and win" might be a good companion piece to the PC Magazine article. There Goes My Plan Of Killing My Nemesis With An Ice Bullet If you haven't seen the television show "MythBusters", you're missing out. The concept is great: Find out whether myths hold up to reality, or if they're really just myths after all. The hosts will scientifically, and sometimes not-so scientifically test each myth as realistically as possible to find out whether or not it holds water. For instance, can using one's cell phone while pumping gas really cause an explosion? If you don't have time to watch the show, or it's just not on where you're at, you can cheat and go to MythBusterResults.com, where you can see how each myth held up. Kodak: Spastic and Proud Kodak isn't known as one of the strong players in today's digital field, but you can say one thing about them: They make some darn fine commercials. This "Kodak - Winds of Change" video from YouTube.com is a beautiful example. Watch a guy go from a reserved, boring presenter to a spastic, screaming fanatic in about 2 minutes. If all commercials were this imaginative, we'd probably actually watch them! Cheat With Firefox There are a bunch of keyboard shortcuts you can do in Firefox, but we didn't know there were so many until we found the Firefox Cheat Sheet at LeslieFranke.com. Control B to get to your bookmarks? Why doesn't anyone tell us these things? Good thing we're here to spread the informational wealth, eh?
CMX Email Any Form Server Behavior CMX Email Any Form is a server behavior for ColdFusion MX or ASP/VB. You can use it one of two ways: 1.Use it on an asp or cfm page that has a form on it, and it will automatically gather all of your form fields and email the form to whoever you specify. 2. Apply it to a blank asp or cfm page and it can email all of the forms on your site. Example for scenario 2: If you have a Contact Us form, a Survey form and a User Feedback form all on separate pages, you can submit any or all of those pages to the blank page you apply the server behavior to. Something like a 'Catch-All' for your forms. This extension will work with CFMAIL and CDONTS. Check out the Extension by CMX Partner Bill Horvath
Fun and Freebies Like Roller Coasters? Sure, you say you like rollercoasters, but check out this one in Shizuoka, Japan and then get back to us. Or, if you're like us, these pictures at Knuttz.net will just make you want to go on it even more. Because Bubble Wrap is Fun Yes, bubble wrap is fun to play with. When you get something in the mail surrounded by bubble wrap, it's hard to fight the temptation to pop those suckers. What if you work for a mailing company and you have bunches of it at your disposal? Apparently, it's irresistable, as you can tell by watching this guy at Yahoo Video. WARNING: Acute Cuteness Ahead You thought Bambi and Thumper were cute? Turns out there's a real-life Bambi and Thumper. Check out the pictures at ThrillingWonder. After you barf from all the cuteness, scroll down and read the comment by Allison, who swears that the pics and the story behind them are true. We prefer the story is not true. We don't wanna cry...
Flash, DHTML Menus and Accessibility It's not uncommon to hear developers complaining that their DHTML menus, when triggered, have dropped behind the Flash movie below them. It's also not uncommon to hear, "that's just how they work." Before Flash Player 6, that was true in many browsers. But nowadays, it's become urban legend. With Flash Player 6, Macromedia introduced windowless mode for Netscape and Mac OS X (previously it was supported only for Windows). In the process, this also gave developers a way to completely hide Flash from older screen readers and the focus issues they can have with it. In fact, when Flash is purely used as eye candy, it's wise to remove it from the flow of the screen reader's page so that they don't have to listen to Flash without a purpose. This free article by CMX Partner Stephanie Sullivan can be found here.
Weekly Content Listing Mimicking QTVR: Panoramas in Flash David Stiller The most popular format for immersive panoramic images on the web is probably QTVR (QuickTime Virtual Reality). QTVR files put the viewer "right in the action" and are viewable with the free QuickTime player, which also displays video. Not a bad way to go! There are alternatives, of course. Another fairly popular format is iPix, which relies on the Java virtual machine. Both solutions are quite impressive, hands down, but it is possible to simulate interactive panoramas with Flash. This tutorial steps you through the ActionScript 2.0 necessary to pull it off. Approximate download size: 2.4MB The Mobile Internet - Part 1: An Introduction [FREE] Adrian Senior In this article you will look at some of the problems that we can expect when designing for mobile devices. You will see some of the common viewing options that are available and how different handheld browsers cope with different situations. In Part 2 of this series we will begin to complete some practical work and look at how we can overcome problems that we might meet in the small screen world of mobile browsing. The Mobile Internet Series: The Mobile Internet - Part 1: An Introduction The Mobile Internet - Part 2: Image Display & Filtering Coming Soon ColdFusion Report Builder - Input Parameters (Part One) Chaz Chumley In our last article we took a look at building a simple report using the ColdFusion Report Builder. In most cases you may only need a simple report but when it comes to customizing the report fields on the fly we need to consider using input parameters. We will be addressing input parameters in three parts. Our first article will look at adding an input parameter to our existing report's title and then passing that report title from a form. The Second article will look at using input parameters inside a query to filter the data being returned. The third will be using input parameters for conditional formatting, such as hiding or showing parts of a report. Creating a Sidewalk Mural Using Fireworks Jim Babbage A while back myself and a couple friends went on a photo excursion in the Distillery District within downtown Toronto. It was a great day for photography (which you can see on my flickr site) but after I had reviewed the images, I wanted to see what else I could come up with. I've seen several chalk artists create full color murals on city sidewalks and I thought I would try my hand at this. Using two images from the Distillery District shoot and some stock Fireworks effects and tools, I was able to make a fairly convincing sidewalk mural. Take a walk with me in this tutorial and see how I created this composite image, using masks, blend modes and various distort features of Fireworks. Approximate download size: 8.8MB Fixed Position in IE7 - Part Four - Fixed Popups! John Gallant, Holly Bergevin So far we've had a lot of fun experimenting with fixed positioning in this series, but now it's time to get serious and start trying some fancier tricks. First we'll attempt a CSS-based fixed popup to compliment our fixed position layout, and then see if we can get it to work well in all modern browsers that handle fixed positioning. Lighten Up! — They're Only Shadows Knut Kubenz Shadows are a very important component of any image, but when shadows get too dark and you start losing some, if not a lot, of the detail which should be there, you've got to have some way to restore what seemingly has disappeared. Levels has been around for a long time and does help to some extent. Curves too can be very specific in isolating certain areas of the image, along with being sometimes a bit too esoteric for the beginner. But along with these two methods for making shadow adjustments, Photoshop has a very quick, intuitive and easy way to lighten primarily just the shadows of an image using Layer Blending Modes and of all things, the Gaussian Blur Filter. Validating Select Fields Gordon Mackay One very commonly asked questions when people begin processing data from forms using PHP is "How do I validate select fields and make them sticky?". The solution is very simple, and in this tutorial we will look at two scenarios for validating and creating sticky select form fields. Using Metadata Templates with Adobe Applications [FREE] Kim Dudley Metadata ia a word that first appeared in the late sixties-early seventies. It is usually defined as "data about data" but when speaking about Metadata in relation to the Adobe Suite of products it can be described as information about the file. This information may include the file's author, resolution, color space, copyright and keywords applied to it. Since all the Adobe Creative Suite applications, including Bridge, use Metadata information in a standardized way it can help streamline your workflow by organizing and tracking your files created in different applications. The Metadata information is stored using the Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP) standard on which the Adobe Creative Suite applications are built. In this tutorial we will look at how to add Metadata to files and how to create Metadata templates that will be available when creating files in the Adobe Creative Suite applications. Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 3: Application Development Joseph Balderson 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. In the last tutorial we completed our examination of the basics by creating a fluid layout with proportionally sized content "panels". In this tutorial we will use this technique to create a basic application with v2 components, moving all of our code off the timeline and into a class file. The completed fluid layout application Approximate download size: 1.5MB 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 Are you Google-Friendly? [FREE] Heidi Bautista Is it possible to ensure that Google finds, crawls, and indexes your site? Well, no, there's no way to guarantee your site will be included in Google's index but you can make your site Google-friendly, thus improving your chances. Google even provides the guidelines and tools. This article provides an overview of Google's Webmaster Tools and how you can use them to increase your Google-friendliness and in the process, hopefully, increase your ranking in the search results. Added bonus for ASP.NET developers: learn about a freely available HTTP handler that converts your Web.sitemap to Google's preferred sitemap protocol.
Designing a Logo, Part I - Getting Started Logos are at the heart of a company's corporate identity program. Their design and staying power can play a very important role in the success or failure of a company. But with so many logos out there why do we remember some and not others? Are there steps for creating logos and how do you turn a logo concept into a useable piece of artwork? In this series of three articles we will attempt to answer these and other questions as well as discover some interesting logo related facts along the way. Since this topic is such a large one I have broken it down into three separate articles; Part 1 will look at some successful logos and discuss what has allowed them to last throughout the years. Part 2 will discuss the creative side of developing a logo and Part 3 takes a look at the very important technical side of developing a logo. Check out the Article by CMX Partner Kim Dudley
Tips, Tricks and Dirty Cheats! This week's Tip, Trick or Dirty Cheat is courtesy of LifeHacker.com Don't Lose It This has absolutely nothing to do with coding, web development, flash, or any of that stuff. But if you misplace your cell phone, you'll thank us. In any case, if you're looking around for that cell phone and can't find it, just go to Google Maps, find any business in your area, and use the "Call" feature to call the business. When you do that, Google will ask for your phone number, and call it in order to connect you to the business. Voila. You've found your phone and just confused some poor shopkeeper. Would you like your tip published? Submit it to tips@communitymx.com. That's it for this week. Stay tuned for the next CMX newsletter!

CMX Weekly Newsletter

News
Fun and Freebies
Recent CMX Content
Tips, Tricks and Dirty Cheats

Check the News!

TODcon 2007 in VEGAS - Come To Learn and Meet Friends

For the few who haven't experienced it yet, TODCon is the most informative yet informal Adobe-related event you're going to find. Whether you're a seasoned veteran of Adobe products or just starting out, you will have a great time learning a great deal from many knowledgeable speakers about CSS, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, ColdFusion, Flash, and even about running your business properly. Those who attend usually end up coming back every year because of the unique and informal atmosphere. You don't want to miss out on this event. This year, TODCon will take place in Las Vegas, Nevada. We predict that this year's turnout will be even bigger than last year's.

You're invited to register for this fantastic, one of a kind event. Hurry, so you can get the early bird registration discount.

Looking To Learn CSS? Let Community MX Help!

A common question on the Community MX forums is for the recommendation of the name of a good CSS book. There are certainly valuable CSS books on the bookshelves of Borders or Barnes and Noble and the virtual bookshelves of Amazon, but why not start right here at CMX with the scores of CSS articles we have available? Perhaps it has been hard to keep track of them all, and even harder to know where to start from among so much bounty. Community MX author Sheri German has just made your life easier by compiling a ton of our CSS articles and grouping them into categories that will take you from beginner status all the way to working with advanced CSS concepts. If you want to dig in, check out her free article.

Moving Day For ActionScript 3 Libraries

The ActionScript 3.0 libraries have been moved from Adobe Labs to Google Code. The Google Code environment is a plus, as it gives the AS developers a wiki, a mailing list and even makes it simpler for you, the AS user, to contribute by way of code, testing or just writing documentation on the wiki. Check out Darron Schall's blog to find out more.

Apple Had a Busy Week

Unless you've been under rock this week (and we know some of you have - we're really sorry, and we'll be over to dig you out shortly), you've heard or read about Steve Job's announcements regarding the new iPhone and Apple TV. Rumors have been flying for months about the iPhone, but when you read articles like this one at CNN.com, you realize that Apple actually did a pretty good job of keeping it under their hats. Apple TV on the other hand, well, most folks saw iTV and knew it was just a matter of time. Check out some close-ups of the iPhone at AppleInsider.com. You've got to admit, that's a pretty sweet looking phone. For some answers about Apple TV, look no further than ArsTechnica.com.

Go Phishing Somewhere Else

You're bright, energetic, young and on the go. You don't fall for people's lame attempts to put one over on you, and we know it. So why do you keep getting emails from phishers who think you're dumb enough to fall for their ruse? Because it's worth it to them, and because they keep getting sneakier all the time, and it's going to become harder and harder to weed out the garbage from genuine email as time goes on. Protect yourself by being informed and by making sure you recognize those emails before you fall victim. A good way to start is to read this great article at NetworkSecurityJournal.com called "The Fight Against Phishing: 44 Ways to Protect Yourself."

Satisfied Customers Speak Out!

"I am a new old web designer.Let me explain I have been involved in the Internet, Web design, and Network technologies for over 15 years. I also got
tired of the grind and the sore eyes and late nights coding and I virtually hung up my keyboard for a few years, minus the odd thing to do online like
banking etc. To get to the point I resurfaced just recently and decided to start another tech company and needed to catch up. This site is the hands down best resource I have come across to walk a beginner through his first design or to test the expert in his/her knowledge. My hat is off to you folks. Keep up the good work and it is by far the best investment of 20 bucks/month that i have spent in a long while."

CMX Subscriber Carl, commenting on Sheri German's article "Design Your Own Custom CMX CSS Course"

Whether you're just starting out or need advanced support, Community MX will give you answers and ideas to work through your tough issues. Don't miss out. Learn more about CMX or sign up for a free trial today!

Great Quotes:

"Anyone who puts a small gloss on a fundamental technology, calls it proprietary, and then tries to keep others from building on it, is a thief." — Tim O'Reilly

YOU Like Free Stuff? WE Like Free Stuff Too!

Doesn't matter whether it's food, a shoe or software. If it's free, it's got our attention. In that spirit, WinAddOns.com offers up a list of three hundred freeware (pc-only) programs for you. And these aren't your simple, garden-variety freeware programs either. You'll find substitutes for MS Office, PDF creators, server software, 3D graphics software and plenty of other stuff.

It's Not You, It's Me

Tom Spring of PC Magazine made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of entertainment. He signed up for 32 accounts online, only to cancel each service so he could see how difficult each company made it on the consumer. Some companies made it simple, but others decided that Tom was going to be in a "til-death-do-us part" relationship with them. NetZero made Tom's Hall of Shame award, but you've really got to read the whole article to find out just how badly companies are working to hold onto their subscribers. This article at Consumerist.com entitled "How to fight companies and win" might be a good companion piece to the PC Magazine article.

There Goes My Plan Of Killing My Nemesis With An Ice Bullet

If you haven't seen the television show "MythBusters", you're missing out. The concept is great: Find out whether myths hold up to reality, or if they're really just myths after all. The hosts will scientifically, and sometimes not-so scientifically test each myth as realistically as possible to find out whether or not it holds water. For instance, can using one's cell phone while pumping gas really cause an explosion? If you don't have time to watch the show, or it's just not on where you're at, you can cheat and go to MythBusterResults.com, where you can see how each myth held up.

Kodak: Spastic and Proud

Kodak isn't known as one of the strong players in today's digital field, but you can say one thing about them: They make some darn fine commercials. This "Kodak - Winds of Change" video from YouTube.com is a beautiful example. Watch a guy go from a reserved, boring presenter to a spastic, screaming fanatic in about 2 minutes. If all commercials were this imaginative, we'd probably actually watch them!

Cheat With Firefox

There are a bunch of keyboard shortcuts you can do in Firefox, but we didn't know there were so many until we found the Firefox Cheat Sheet at LeslieFranke.com. Control B to get to your bookmarks? Why doesn't anyone tell us these things? Good thing we're here to spread the informational wealth, eh?

CMX Email Any Form Server Behavior

CMX Email Any Form is a server behavior for ColdFusion MX or ASP/VB. You can use it one of two ways:
1.Use it on an asp or cfm page that has a form on it, and it will automatically gather all of your form fields and email the form to whoever you specify.
2. Apply it to a blank asp or cfm page and it can email all of the forms on your site. Example for scenario 2: If you have a Contact Us form, a Survey form and a User Feedback form all on separate pages, you can submit any or all of those pages to the blank page you apply the server behavior to. Something like a 'Catch-All' for your forms. This extension will work with CFMAIL and CDONTS.

Check out the Extension by CMX Partner Bill Horvath

Fun and Freebies

Like Roller Coasters?

Sure, you say you like rollercoasters, but check out this one in Shizuoka, Japan and then get back to us. Or, if you're like us, these pictures at Knuttz.net will just make you want to go on it even more.

Because Bubble Wrap is Fun

Yes, bubble wrap is fun to play with. When you get something in the mail surrounded by bubble wrap, it's hard to fight the temptation to pop those suckers. What if you work for a mailing company and you have bunches of it at your disposal? Apparently, it's irresistable, as you can tell by watching this guy at Yahoo Video.

WARNING: Acute Cuteness Ahead

You thought Bambi and Thumper were cute? Turns out there's a real-life Bambi and Thumper. Check out the pictures at ThrillingWonder. After you barf from all the cuteness, scroll down and read the comment by Allison, who swears that the pics and the story behind them are true. We prefer the story is not true. We don't wanna cry...

Flash, DHTML Menus and Accessibility

It's not uncommon to hear developers complaining that their DHTML menus, when triggered, have dropped behind the Flash movie below them. It's also not uncommon to hear, "that's just how they work." Before Flash Player 6, that was true in many browsers. But nowadays, it's become urban legend. With Flash Player 6, Macromedia introduced windowless mode for Netscape and Mac OS X (previously it was supported only for Windows). In the process, this also gave developers a way to completely hide Flash from older screen readers and the focus issues they can have with it. In fact, when Flash is purely used as eye candy, it's wise to remove it from the flow of the screen reader's page so that they don't have to listen to Flash without a purpose.

This free article by CMX Partner Stephanie Sullivan can be found here.

Weekly Content Listing

Mimicking QTVR: Panoramas in Flash

David Stiller

The most popular format for immersive panoramic images on the web is probably QTVR (QuickTime Virtual Reality). QTVR files put the viewer "right in the action" and are viewable with the free QuickTime player, which also displays video. Not a bad way to go! There are alternatives, of course. Another fairly popular format is iPix, which relies on the Java virtual machine. Both solutions are quite impressive, hands down, but it is possible to simulate interactive panoramas with Flash. This tutorial steps you through the ActionScript 2.0 necessary to pull it off.

Approximate download size: 2.4MB

The Mobile Internet - Part 1: An Introduction [FREE]

Adrian Senior

In this article you will look at some of the problems that we can expect when designing for mobile devices. You will see some of the common viewing options that are available and how different handheld browsers cope with different situations.

In Part 2 of this series we will begin to complete some practical work and look at how we can overcome problems that we might meet in the small screen world of mobile browsing.

The Mobile Internet Series:
The Mobile Internet - Part 1: An Introduction
The Mobile Internet - Part 2: Image Display & Filtering Coming Soon

ColdFusion Report Builder - Input Parameters (Part One)

Chaz Chumley

In our last article we took a look at building a simple report using the ColdFusion Report Builder. In most cases you may only need a simple report but when it comes to customizing the report fields on the fly we need to consider using input parameters. We will be addressing input parameters in three parts. Our first article will look at adding an input parameter to our existing report's title and then passing that report title from a form. The Second article will look at using input parameters inside a query to filter the data being returned. The third will be using input parameters for conditional formatting, such as hiding or showing parts of a report.

Creating a Sidewalk Mural Using Fireworks

Jim Babbage

A while back myself and a couple friends went on a photo excursion in the Distillery District within downtown Toronto. It was a great day for photography (which you can see on my flickr site) but after I had reviewed the images, I wanted to see what else I could come up with. I've seen several chalk artists create full color murals on city sidewalks and I thought I would try my hand at this. Using two images from the Distillery District shoot and some stock Fireworks effects and tools, I was able to make a fairly convincing sidewalk mural.

Take a walk with me in this tutorial and see how I created this composite image, using masks, blend modes and various distort features of Fireworks.

Approximate download size: 8.8MB

Fixed Position in IE7 - Part Four - Fixed Popups!

John Gallant, Holly Bergevin

So far we've had a lot of fun experimenting with fixed positioning in this series, but now it's time to get serious and start trying some fancier tricks. First we'll attempt a CSS-based fixed popup to compliment our fixed position layout, and then see if we can get it to work well in all modern browsers that handle fixed positioning.

Lighten Up! — They're Only Shadows

Knut Kubenz

Shadows are a very important component of any image, but when shadows get too dark and you start losing some, if not a lot, of the detail which should be there, you've got to have some way to restore what seemingly has disappeared.

Levels has been around for a long time and does help to some extent. Curves too can be very specific in isolating certain areas of the image, along with being sometimes a bit too esoteric for the beginner. But along with these two methods for making shadow adjustments, Photoshop has a very quick, intuitive and easy way to lighten primarily just the shadows of an image using Layer Blending Modes and of all things, the Gaussian Blur Filter.

Validating Select Fields

Gordon Mackay

One very commonly asked questions when people begin processing data from forms using PHP is "How do I validate select fields and make them sticky?". The solution is very simple, and in this tutorial we will look at two scenarios for validating and creating sticky select form fields.

Using Metadata Templates with Adobe Applications [FREE]

Kim Dudley

Metadata ia a word that first appeared in the late sixties-early seventies. It is usually defined as "data about data" but when speaking about Metadata in relation to the Adobe Suite of products it can be described as information about the file. This information may include the file's author, resolution, color space, copyright and keywords applied to it. Since all the Adobe Creative Suite applications, including Bridge, use Metadata information in a standardized way it can help streamline your workflow by organizing and tracking your files created in different applications. The Metadata information is stored using the Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP) standard on which the Adobe Creative Suite applications are built.

In this tutorial we will look at how to add Metadata to files and how to create Metadata templates that will be available when creating files in the Adobe Creative Suite applications.

Creating Fluid Layouts in Flash - Part 3: Application Development

Joseph Balderson

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.

In the last tutorial we completed our examination of the basics by creating a fluid layout with proportionally sized content "panels". In this tutorial we will use this technique to create a basic application with v2 components, moving all of our code off the timeline and into a class file.

The completed fluid layout application

Approximate download size: 1.5MB

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

Are you Google-Friendly? [FREE]

Heidi Bautista

Is it possible to ensure that Google finds, crawls, and indexes your site? Well, no, there's no way to guarantee your site will be included in Google's index but you can make your site Google-friendly, thus improving your chances.

Google even provides the guidelines and tools. This article provides an overview of Google's Webmaster Tools and how you can use them to increase your Google-friendliness and in the process, hopefully, increase your ranking in the search results.

Added bonus for ASP.NET developers: learn about a freely available HTTP handler that converts your Web.sitemap to Google's preferred sitemap protocol.

Designing a Logo, Part I - Getting Started

Logos are at the heart of a company's corporate identity program. Their design and staying power can play a very important role in the success or failure of a company. But with so many logos out there why do we remember some and not others? Are there steps for creating logos and how do you turn a logo concept into a useable piece of artwork?
In this series of three articles we will attempt to answer these and other questions as well as discover some interesting logo related facts along the way. Since this topic is such a large one I have broken it down into three separate articles; Part 1 will look at some successful logos and discuss what has allowed them to last throughout the years. Part 2 will discuss the creative side of developing a logo and Part 3 takes a look at the very important technical side of developing a logo.

Check out the Article by CMX Partner Kim Dudley

Tips, Tricks and Dirty Cheats!

This week's Tip, Trick or Dirty Cheat is courtesy of LifeHacker.com

Don't Lose It

This has absolutely nothing to do with coding, web development, flash, or any of that stuff. But if you misplace your cell phone, you'll thank us. In any case, if you're looking around for that cell phone and can't find it, just go to Google Maps, find any business in your area, and use the "Call" feature to call the business. When you do that, Google will ask for your phone number, and call it in order to connect you to the business. Voila. You've found your phone and just confused some poor shopkeeper.

Would you like your tip published? Submit it to tips@communitymx.com.

That's it for this week. Stay tuned for the next CMX newsletter!