
Wednesday, March 5th, 2008
CMX Weekly Newsletter News Fun and Freebies Recent CMX Content Tips, Tricks and Dirty Cheats Check the News! Introducing Scott Valentine, Community MX Author 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, as Scott says, "it would then seem like work." Scott founded and currently runs an Adobe user group in northern New Mexico, and volunteers his expertise in various online discussion forums. Scott has already submitted two tutorials for Community MX on Masking in Photoshop. Scott's talent with Photoshop and Illustrator are going to be a great asset to Community MX subscribers, and we look forward to his continued participation. CMX Authors Score A Home Run Tom Green and David Stiller, two of our reknowned Flash authors, have scored a major hit with their book Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers. Recently it topped the best seller list at Amazon.com, which should come as no surprise to those who have read the top-notch tutorials and articles that David and Tom provide to Community MX on a regular basis. We could give you our recommendations all day, but of course we're just a bit biased. Check out the reviews for the book at Amazon.com and draw your own conclusions. Oh- and buy the book! What's All This I Hear About Acupuncture Too? Apple has released Aperture 2, which they say contains over one hundred "dramatic" new features. If you've never used Apertuture, it's a full-featured program aimed at helping you manage your digital images in a sensible and simple way. It shares some features with Adobe Bridge, but each program is different enough to be considered as a capable image manager. This latest upgrade to Aperture includes speed enhancements, some new image optimization tools and changes to its user interface that make it more intutitive, and in some cases, more like iPhoto. More from MacObserver.com. Microsoft To Yahoo: We Like You So Much We Want To Crush You Once upon a time... ok, it was a couple of weeks ago actually, Microsoft put in a bid to buy Yahoo. But Yahoo turned Microsoft down, saying that the stockholders would not benefit from the measly $44.6 billion that Micrsoft was offering. Frankly, we'd like to know where that ".6" came from. Couldn't they round up or down? Was the math done in Excel? In any case, Microsoft is not willing to raise their bid, but still wants the takeover to happen. So what do you do when you want to show a company that you like them and wish to purchase them? If you're Microsoft, you threaten their board of directors. In a new twist to the story, Microsoft has launched a proxy battle which could allow them to get a new board of directors elected who would presumably be more likely to give the nod to Microsoft's bid. Apparently, Yahoo's shareholders are not too happy with the way that Yahoo's board has handled things. Lean, Mean Safari 3 On The Way To Your PC A few years ago some Unix geeks wanted to make the Unix interface more user friendly and the result was the KDE (K Desktop Environment) along with the KHTML browser engine. Later, Apple grabbed the Open Source KHTML code and started a new fork for their Safari web browser. Development has been intense since then, making Safari the browser of choice for most Mac users. Now the web is abuzz with the impending release of Safari 3, sporting a radically re-engineered KHTML rendering engine so fast that other browsers are left in the dust. It's also much more standards-compliant than version 2 so you won't have to tear out what's left of your hair to develop for this browser. Even better, Apple has seen fit to develop a PC version (sorry, no Linux version yet). Safari 3 is still in Beta, but not for long! Try Safari 3 Beta.
Satisfied Customers Speak Out! "I've just popped a reply into the forum thread but I thought I'd just say a personal thank you. To have answered my forum question by taking the time to write a tutorial "just for me" is fantastic. It made me feel really special. As I said in the forum, I completed the task I quoted for in record time and without a doubt regained this years subscription to CMX in one go." - John L., CMX Subscriber, commenting on the Paul Davis' Copy a Record in PHP Using Dreamweaver article. 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: "Fear of success can also be tied into the idea that success means someone else's loss. Some people are unconsciously guilty because they believe their victories are coming at the expense of another." — Joan C. Harvey Flash Media Server Vulnerabilities Patched This just in from US-Cert.gov: Adobe has released Flash Media Server 2.0.5 to address multiple vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities may allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial-of-service condition. US-CERT encourages users to review the Flash Media Server 2.0.5 release notes and update to Flash Media Server 2.0.5 to help mitigate the risks. US-CERT will provide more information as it becomes available. Adobe has more information here and here. Vista Service Pack 1 Being Released Soon A lot of users were hoping to see this nearly a year ago... right about the same time that Vista was released. Vista SP1 should be coming to Windows Update around mid-March, and although it's not exactly an awe-inspiring update to Vista, there is enough going on in SP1 to warrant installing it when it does come out. PCWorld.com has a review on SP1 that will give you some specifics on the improvements made to Vista. All in all, the review is positive and PCWorld recommends installing the service pack. Some of you might already have SP1 if you were one of the folks who got the accidental update from Microsoft. Flex Poster? Is Arnold Schwarzenegger Posing Again? Those huge, schematic-like charts for Adobe Flex, Air and Flash have been updated and Adobe is asking for your help to make sure they're accurate. As our own Joseph Balderson says, "Damn they're gorgeous! They're in 'beta' for now as the community eyeballs them for possible errors, but wow, I gotta have a set of these on my office walls." It should be noted that Joseph wears a Tron costume to bed. One For The CSS Fanatics Whether you're looking for a ton of CSS resources or just want some great design inspiration, you'll want to see the latest post at VirtualHosting.com's blog. They've listed one hundred websites that have something to offer virtually every CSS developer. They've categorized the websites according to those that follow web standards, those that are aggregated, websites that rank other CSS websites, those that provide CSS resources, and other categories. We checked over some of these websites, and were pretty impressed with the content. This Just In From The Folks At "We Couldn't Care Less" Believe it or not, a security fix for Netscape 9 was just released. While they're at it, why not release a security fix for Elvis Presley? He's got more life in him than Netscape does, considering support for Netscape ended on March 1st. They call it Netscape 9.0.0.6, but since this will be the final release of Netscape, couldn't they have had more fun with the name? Maybe something like "Netscape 9.0.0.th-th-th-that's all, folks!" would have been more appropriate. If you're hearing about this for the first time, we're sorry to be the ones to break the news about Netscape's ~~timely~~ untimely demise. If you're still using it and have some questions, they might be answered in this faq on Netscape's blog.
The Bitmap Auto-Crop Command for Fireworks Have you ever labored over a repetitive task and wished that there was a way to speed things up? You can often accomplish a great deal more if you just work out a more efficient way to get the job done. Such was the case recently when I needed to make a number of screen captures then crop the captured images to different sizes and shapes. Of course, there are excellent screen capture programs out there, but in this case I ultimately found it easier to crop my images in Fireworks so I could do some additional work. After a few renditions of copy, paste, select, cut, delete, paste, and then trim I was definitely ready for something easier. In the end, I created a custom command that takes most of the work out of the selection and cropping process. With the Bitmap Auto-Crop command that you'll find here you can take any bitmap selection no matter its size or shape and quickly remove all of the image except for the selected area, leaving you with a canvas that is sized based on your selection. And the entire process takes only seconds and one quick trip to the Menu bar. Heck, you can even assign a shortcut key to the command to make it even easier to use. Take a look at this Fireworks Command by CMX Partner Kim Cavanaugh
Fun and Freebies! That Did It. I've Got A Collective Case Of The Heebie Jeebies Now. You know how it is... there are certain IM messages and emails that you forward along immediately. To all your friends. Some, you keep to yourself or just delete. Others, you forward only to a select few friends. Only to those friends who will "get it," but most people won't. Such is the case with Garfield Minus Garfield. The New iHam Is Here!!!! Oh, finally. Check it out at ijam.es. Poetic Justice If you like to scam people, then be prepared to be scammed. Oddorama.com has some great examples of people who will probably think twice before trying to take advantage of someone again.
Google Analytics - Tracking Flash/Flex Online 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! This free article by CMX Partner Derrick Ypenburg can be found here.
Weekly Content Listing Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 5: Adding Textures Tom Green Using Photoshop CS3 to add a pattern or texture to an image destined for Flash is about as useful as lighting your BBQ with an atom bomb. Discover how Flash CS3 and Fireworks CS3 is an unbeatable combination. Approximate download size: 13.6MB The Playing With Bitmaps In Flash CS3 Series: From Photo to Art and Back Again A Page Transition Effect in Flash CS3 Interactive Blurs Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 4: Scaling on the Fly Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 5: Adding Textures Chicago: Developing a CSS Starter Page - Part Four Sheri German In the last article in the Chicago: Developing a CSS Starter Page series, you established "the big picture" for the layout by styling the main divs, such as the header, columns, and footer. Now it is time to start painting in some of the finer details. You'll tweak the text, add an image with a border to the content area, and use definition lists to provide the hooks for the sidebar pod styles. For this tutorial, you can use the work you completed in the last installment of this series, or you can use the starter site that is in the download folder that is included with this article. There is also a completed site that you can use to compare your work against should you develop any problems. The Developing a CSS Starter Page Series: Chicago: Developing a CSS Starter Page - Part 1 Chicago: Developing a CSS Starter Page - Part 2 Chicago: Developing a CSS Starter Page - Part 3 Chicago: Developing a CSS Starter Page - Part 4 Quickshot - Make Sure They Belong on Your Site [FREE] Ray West 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. Create A Photo Snapshot in Illustrator Kim Dudley Adding images to a layout for the web or paper is a quick way to add interest, give information and improve the look of the layout. A fun and easy way to add photos to a design is by creating a snapshot look. This method works especially well if it is necessary to add multiple images to a page. In this tutorial we will look at how to create the look of a snapshot photo using Illustrator. The following image shows the resulting artwork. In this tutorial we will use a number of Illustrator's drawing tools including: Scissors Move command Pathfinder panel Offset Path command Gradient panel Blur Effect Drop Shadow Effect Rotate command Moving A Web Site: Preserving Search Engine Rankings and the Customer Experience [FREE] Steven Seiller 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. Best Practices Work Flow in Fireworks CS3 - Part 2 Jim Babbage In this series of videos, we are going to look at a workflow paradigm which takes advantage of some of the new tools in Fireworks CS3. Primarily focusing on Pages, Master Pages, Hierarchical layers and shared layers, we'll see how a design can go from concept to working prototype for client approval. The first in our series dealt with pages, shared layers and hierarchical layers and my logic for using this method. This is a method I might use in the early comping stages; a point where we've gotten past rough sketches on paper and want/need to engage the client further. In this second part of the series will add the Master Page Feature, Shared Web Layers and hot spots for interactivity, and Rich Symbols and 9-slice enabled graphic symbols. Approximate download size: 42MB The Best Practices Work Flow in Fireworks CS3 Series: Best Practices Work Flow in Fireworks CS3 - Part 1 Best Practices Work Flow in Fireworks CS3 - Part 2 Off the Page - Using Printer's Marks in Illustrator Kim Dudley The goal for most graphic designers is to use their creativity to create attractive layouts with images, colors, text and graphic elements. Unfortunately, those attractive layouts are not very useful unless the designer can get the designs to paper. Getting a design to paper requires the designer to correctly set up a file so the printer knows exactly how to reproduce the artwork. Although not as fun as the artistic part of graphic design, it is just as important. Printing a project not only involves applying ink to paper, it also requires trimming and often folding. Knowing how to align the artwork, where to cut and where to fold is indicated by Printer's marks. Printer's marks are never seen on the final product but are some of the most important elements in the artwork. Printer's marks include crop marks, registration marks, color bars and fold marks, also known as center marks. Other elements that should be mentioned with respect to printer's marks are bleed and Die-lines. In this tutorial we will take a look at the function of these items and see how to set them up in an Illustrator file. Even if you don't plan on sending a file to a printer, these marks can be quite useful for printing in-house. Approximate download size: 2.6MB As Different as Night and Day Knut Kubenz Night photography can be tricky and require quite a bit of knowledge about exposure settings. It becomes increasingly more difficult when you're shooting digital and you have to concern yourself with the long exposure times which can produce noise from the sensor of the camera. Invariably you'll probably have to drag along a sturdy tripod as well. All of this is why some beginners avoid night photography altogether. Wouldn't it be great if there was a way to avoid all the pressure of night photography? Wouldn't it be great if there was a fix to turn practically any daylight scene into a night scene? Ask no more, here comes Photoshop to the rescue. You can create a realistic looking evening scene from a daylight scene by simply using a few tools in Photoshop such as Blending Modes, the Hue/Saturation adjustment and the Curves adjustment. This won't take long, so don't blink. Let's begin. ActionScript Basics - Part 1: Arrays [FREE] Derrick Ypenburg 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. Playing with Bitmaps in Flash CS3: Part 4- Scaling on the Fly Tom Green Have you ever wondered how they do those really cool image scaling effects on the photography sites? It isn't as hard as it looks. Approximate download size: 17.2MB The Playing With Bitmaps In Flash CS3 Series: From Photo to Art and Back Again A Page Transition Effect in Flash CS3 Interactive Blurs Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 4: Scaling on the Fly Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 5: Adding Textures
Building a CRM/Invoicing System Customer Relationship Management has become quite the buzzword lately, and for good reason. No business can succeed without customers, and it has become increasingly necessary for companies to keep a close eye on how they are servicing their existing customers and how they can obtain new ones. Services like Salesforce.com specialize in managing contact with leads, prospects and clients throughout their lifecycle. But they also come at a hefty price. Many smaller companies could get by with a simpler CRM system, and there are some available in the open source market that might suffice. But there is nothing much available in ColdFusion, so I want to cover over a few articles the basics of creating a CRM and invoicing module that you can use standalone, or add to your existing application. In this first article, we will begin to look at a database structure. Check out the Article by CMX Partner and Big Kahuna Ray West
Tips, Tricks and Dirty Cheats! This week's first Tip, Trick or Dirty Cheat is courtesy of Daz, Community MX author Illustrator: Changing Grid Appearance Depending on what you're working on, you may find it more convenient to have the grid either behind or in front of your artwork. By default, grids always appear behind your artwork. To move it on top of your artwork, choose Illustrator > Preferences > Guides & Grid (Edit > Preferences > Guides & Grid in Windows) to access the grid's preferences. Then, deselect the Grids In Back check box. Besides moving the grid to the front or back, you can also change the color, style, and spacing of your grid lines in this dialog box. 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!

Introducing Scott Valentine, Community MX Author

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, as Scott says, "it would then seem like work." Scott founded and currently runs an Adobe user group in northern New Mexico, and volunteers his expertise in various online discussion forums. Scott has already submitted two tutorials for Community MX on Masking in Photoshop. Scott's talent with Photoshop and Illustrator are going to be a great asset to Community MX subscribers, and we look forward to his continued participation.

CMX Authors Score A Home Run

Tom Green and David Stiller, two of our reknowned Flash authors, have scored a major hit with their book Foundation Flash CS3 for Designers. Recently it topped the best seller list at Amazon.com, which should come as no surprise to those who have read the top-notch tutorials and articles that David and Tom provide to Community MX on a regular basis. We could give you our recommendations all day, but of course we're just a bit biased. Check out the reviews for the book at Amazon.com and draw your own conclusions. Oh- and buy the book!

What's All This I Hear About Acupuncture Too?

Apple has released Aperture 2, which they say contains over one hundred "dramatic" new features. If you've never used Apertuture, it's a full-featured program aimed at helping you manage your digital images in a sensible and simple way. It shares some features with Adobe Bridge, but each program is different enough to be considered as a capable image manager. This latest upgrade to Aperture includes speed enhancements, some new image optimization tools and changes to its user interface that make it more intutitive, and in some cases, more like iPhoto. More from MacObserver.com.

Microsoft To Yahoo: We Like You So Much We Want To Crush You

Once upon a time... ok, it was a couple of weeks ago actually, Microsoft put in a bid to buy Yahoo. But Yahoo turned Microsoft down, saying that the stockholders would not benefit from the measly $44.6 billion that Micrsoft was offering. Frankly, we'd like to know where that ".6" came from. Couldn't they round up or down? Was the math done in Excel? In any case, Microsoft is not willing to raise their bid, but still wants the takeover to happen. So what do you do when you want to show a company that you like them and wish to purchase them? If you're Microsoft, you threaten their board of directors. In a new twist to the story, Microsoft has launched a proxy battle which could allow them to get a new board of directors elected who would presumably be more likely to give the nod to Microsoft's bid. Apparently, Yahoo's shareholders are not too happy with the way that Yahoo's board has handled things.

Lean, Mean Safari 3 On The Way To Your PC

A few years ago some Unix geeks wanted to make the Unix interface more user friendly and the result was the KDE (K Desktop Environment) along with the KHTML browser engine. Later, Apple grabbed the Open Source KHTML code and started a new fork for their Safari web browser. Development has been intense since then, making Safari the browser of choice for most Mac users. Now the web is abuzz with the impending release of Safari 3, sporting a radically re-engineered KHTML rendering engine so fast that other browsers are left in the dust. It's also much more standards-compliant than version 2 so you won't have to tear out what's left of your hair to develop for this browser. Even better, Apple has seen fit to develop a PC version (sorry, no Linux version yet). Safari 3 is still in Beta, but not for long! Try Safari 3 Beta.

Satisfied Customers Speak Out!

"I've just popped a reply into the forum thread but I thought I'd just say a personal thank you. To have answered my forum question by taking the time to write a tutorial "just for me" is fantastic. It made me feel really special. As I said in the forum, I completed the task I quoted for in record time and without a doubt regained this years subscription to CMX in one go."

- John L., CMX Subscriber, commenting on the Paul Davis' Copy a Record in PHP Using Dreamweaver article.

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:

"Fear of success can also be tied into the idea that success means someone else's loss. Some people are unconsciously guilty because they believe their victories are coming at the expense of another." — Joan C. Harvey

Flash Media Server Vulnerabilities Patched

This just in from US-Cert.gov: Adobe has released Flash Media Server 2.0.5 to address multiple vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities may allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial-of-service condition. US-CERT encourages users to review the Flash Media Server 2.0.5 release notes and update to Flash Media Server 2.0.5 to help mitigate the risks. US-CERT will provide more information as it becomes available. Adobe has more information here and here.

Vista Service Pack 1 Being Released Soon

A lot of users were hoping to see this nearly a year ago... right about the same time that Vista was released. Vista SP1 should be coming to Windows Update around mid-March, and although it's not exactly an awe-inspiring update to Vista, there is enough going on in SP1 to warrant installing it when it does come out. PCWorld.com has a review on SP1 that will give you some specifics on the improvements made to Vista. All in all, the review is positive and PCWorld recommends installing the service pack. Some of you might already have SP1 if you were one of the folks who got the accidental update from Microsoft.

Flex Poster? Is Arnold Schwarzenegger Posing Again?

Those huge, schematic-like charts for Adobe Flex, Air and Flash have been updated and Adobe is asking for your help to make sure they're accurate. As our own Joseph Balderson says, "Damn they're gorgeous! They're in 'beta' for now as the community eyeballs them for possible errors, but wow, I gotta have a set of these on my office walls." It should be noted that Joseph wears a Tron costume to bed.

One For The CSS Fanatics

Whether you're looking for a ton of CSS resources or just want some great design inspiration, you'll want to see the latest post at VirtualHosting.com's blog. They've listed one hundred websites that have something to offer virtually every CSS developer. They've categorized the websites according to those that follow web standards, those that are aggregated, websites that rank other CSS websites, those that provide CSS resources, and other categories. We checked over some of these websites, and were pretty impressed with the content.

This Just In From The Folks At "We Couldn't Care Less"

Believe it or not, a security fix for Netscape 9 was just released. While they're at it, why not release a security fix for Elvis Presley? He's got more life in him than Netscape does, considering support for Netscape ended on March 1st. They call it Netscape 9.0.0.6, but since this will be the final release of Netscape, couldn't they have had more fun with the name? Maybe something like "Netscape 9.0.0.th-th-th-that's all, folks!" would have been more appropriate. If you're hearing about this for the first time, we're sorry to be the ones to break the news about Netscape's ~~timely~~ untimely demise. If you're still using it and have some questions, they might be answered in this faq on Netscape's blog.

The Bitmap Auto-Crop Command for Fireworks

Have you ever labored over a repetitive task and wished that there was a way to speed things up? You can often accomplish a great deal more if you just work out a more efficient way to get the job done. Such was the case recently when I needed to make a number of screen captures then crop the captured images to different sizes and shapes. Of course, there are excellent screen capture programs out there, but in this case I ultimately found it easier to crop my images in Fireworks so I could do some additional work. After a few renditions of copy, paste, select, cut, delete, paste, and then trim I was definitely ready for something easier. In the end, I created a custom command that takes most of the work out of the selection and cropping process. With the Bitmap Auto-Crop command that you'll find here you can take any bitmap selection no matter its size or shape and quickly remove all of the image except for the selected area, leaving you with a canvas that is sized based on your selection. And the entire process takes only seconds and one quick trip to the Menu bar. Heck, you can even assign a shortcut key to the command to make it even easier to use.

Take a look at this Fireworks Command by CMX Partner Kim Cavanaugh

Fun and Freebies!

That Did It. I've Got A Collective Case Of The Heebie Jeebies Now.

You know how it is... there are certain IM messages and emails that you forward along immediately. To all your friends. Some, you keep to yourself or just delete. Others, you forward only to a select few friends. Only to those friends who will "get it," but most people won't. Such is the case with Garfield Minus Garfield.

The New iHam Is Here!!!!

Oh, finally. Check it out at ijam.es.

Poetic Justice

If you like to scam people, then be prepared to be scammed. Oddorama.com has some great examples of people who will probably think twice before trying to take advantage of someone again.

Google Analytics - Tracking Flash/Flex Online

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!

This free article by CMX Partner Derrick Ypenburg can be found here.

Weekly Content Listing

Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 5: Adding Textures

Tom Green

Using Photoshop CS3 to add a pattern or texture to an image destined for Flash is about as useful as lighting your BBQ with an atom bomb. Discover how Flash CS3 and Fireworks CS3 is an unbeatable combination.

Approximate download size: 13.6MB

The Playing With Bitmaps In Flash CS3 Series:
From Photo to Art and Back Again
A Page Transition Effect in Flash CS3
Interactive Blurs
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 4: Scaling on the Fly
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 5: Adding Textures

Chicago: Developing a CSS Starter Page - Part Four

Sheri German

In the last article in the Chicago: Developing a CSS Starter Page series, you established "the big picture" for the layout by styling the main divs, such as the header, columns, and footer. Now it is time to start painting in some of the finer details. You'll tweak the text, add an image with a border to the content area, and use definition lists to provide the hooks for the sidebar pod styles.

For this tutorial, you can use the work you completed in the last installment of this series, or you can use the starter site that is in the download folder that is included with this article. There is also a completed site that you can use to compare your work against should you develop any problems.

The Developing a CSS Starter Page Series:
Chicago: Developing a CSS Starter Page - Part 1
Chicago: Developing a CSS Starter Page - Part 2
Chicago: Developing a CSS Starter Page - Part 3
Chicago: Developing a CSS Starter Page - Part 4

Quickshot - Make Sure They Belong on Your Site [FREE]

Ray West

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.

Create A Photo Snapshot in Illustrator

Kim Dudley

Adding images to a layout for the web or paper is a quick way to add interest, give information and improve the look of the layout. A fun and easy way to add photos to a design is by creating a snapshot look. This method works especially well if it is necessary to add multiple images to a page.

In this tutorial we will look at how to create the look of a snapshot photo using Illustrator. The following image shows the resulting artwork.

In this tutorial we will use a number of Illustrator's drawing tools including:

Scissors
Move command
Pathfinder panel
Offset Path command
Gradient panel
Blur Effect
Drop Shadow Effect
Rotate command

Moving A Web Site: Preserving Search Engine Rankings and the Customer Experience [FREE]

Steven Seiller

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.

Best Practices Work Flow in Fireworks CS3 - Part 2

Jim Babbage

In this series of videos, we are going to look at a workflow paradigm which takes advantage of some of the new tools in Fireworks CS3. Primarily focusing on Pages, Master Pages, Hierarchical layers and shared layers, we'll see how a design can go from concept to working prototype for client approval.

The first in our series dealt with pages, shared layers and hierarchical layers and my logic for using this method. This is a method I might use in the early comping stages; a point where we've gotten past rough sketches on paper and want/need to engage the client further.

In this second part of the series will add the Master Page Feature, Shared Web Layers and hot spots for interactivity, and Rich Symbols and 9-slice enabled graphic symbols.

Approximate download size: 42MB

The Best Practices Work Flow in Fireworks CS3 Series:
Best Practices Work Flow in Fireworks CS3 - Part 1
Best Practices Work Flow in Fireworks CS3 - Part 2

Off the Page - Using Printer's Marks in Illustrator

Kim Dudley

The goal for most graphic designers is to use their creativity to create attractive layouts with images, colors, text and graphic elements. Unfortunately, those attractive layouts are not very useful unless the designer can get the designs to paper. Getting a design to paper requires the designer to correctly set up a file so the printer knows exactly how to reproduce the artwork. Although not as fun as the artistic part of graphic design, it is just as important.

Printing a project not only involves applying ink to paper, it also requires trimming and often folding. Knowing how to align the artwork, where to cut and where to fold is indicated by Printer's marks. Printer's marks are never seen on the final product but are some of the most important elements in the artwork. Printer's marks include crop marks, registration marks, color bars and fold marks, also known as center marks. Other elements that should be mentioned with respect to printer's marks are bleed and Die-lines.

In this tutorial we will take a look at the function of these items and see how to set them up in an Illustrator file. Even if you don't plan on sending a file to a printer, these marks can be quite useful for printing in-house.

Approximate download size: 2.6MB

As Different as Night and Day

Knut Kubenz

Night photography can be tricky and require quite a bit of knowledge about exposure settings. It becomes increasingly more difficult when you're shooting digital and you have to concern yourself with the long exposure times which can produce noise from the sensor of the camera. Invariably you'll probably have to drag along a sturdy tripod as well. All of this is why some beginners avoid night photography altogether.

Wouldn't it be great if there was a way to avoid all the pressure of night photography? Wouldn't it be great if there was a fix to turn practically any daylight scene into a night scene? Ask no more, here comes Photoshop to the rescue. You can create a realistic looking evening scene from a daylight scene by simply using a few tools in Photoshop such as Blending Modes, the Hue/Saturation adjustment and the Curves adjustment. This won't take long, so don't blink. Let's begin.

ActionScript Basics - Part 1: Arrays [FREE]

Derrick Ypenburg

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.

Playing with Bitmaps in Flash CS3: Part 4- Scaling on the Fly

Tom Green

Have you ever wondered how they do those really cool image scaling effects on the photography sites? It isn't as hard as it looks.

Approximate download size: 17.2MB

The Playing With Bitmaps In Flash CS3 Series:
From Photo to Art and Back Again
A Page Transition Effect in Flash CS3
Interactive Blurs
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 4: Scaling on the Fly
Playing with Bitmaps in Flash - Part 5: Adding Textures

Building a CRM/Invoicing System

Customer Relationship Management has become quite the buzzword lately, and for good reason. No business can succeed without customers, and it has become increasingly necessary for companies to keep a close eye on how they are servicing their existing customers and how they can obtain new ones. Services like Salesforce.com specialize in managing contact with leads, prospects and clients throughout their lifecycle. But they also come at a hefty price. Many smaller companies could get by with a simpler CRM system, and there are some available in the open source market that might suffice. But there is nothing much available in ColdFusion, so I want to cover over a few articles the basics of creating a CRM and invoicing module that you can use standalone, or add to your existing application. In this first article, we will begin to look at a database structure.

Check out the Article by CMX Partner and Big Kahuna Ray West

Tips, Tricks and Dirty Cheats!

This week's first Tip, Trick or Dirty Cheat is courtesy of Daz, Community MX author

Illustrator: Changing Grid Appearance

Depending on what you're working on, you may find it more convenient to have the grid either behind or in front of your artwork. By default, grids always appear behind your artwork. To
move it on top of your artwork, choose Illustrator > Preferences > Guides & Grid (Edit > Preferences > Guides & Grid in Windows) to access the grid's preferences. Then, deselect the Grids In Back check box. Besides moving the grid to the front or back, you can also change the color, style, and spacing of your grid lines in this dialog box.

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!