
Wednesday, June 8th, 2005
CMX Weekly Newsletter News Fun and Freebies Recent CMX Content Tips, Tricks and Dirty Cheats Check the News! Apple And Intel Sittin' In A Tree... The big deal this week is that Apple is switching from IBM to Intel microprocessors. Although the general public won't see these "Apptel" computers for at least a year or more, huge debates are taking place about whether or not this is a good thing for Mac users. The Macworld forums have several threads regarding this topic, but one quote expressed the sentiment of a few Apple devotees: "Apple goes Intel in a handbasket." Others are much more optimistic, and see this change as an opportunity for the Mac to gain a whole new audience. Meanwhile, don't feel too bad for IBM. According to this article from CRN.com, IBM is not too broken up about the deal. Could It Be? Yep... Another Macromedia MacroChat Capturing Quiz Responses in Captivate Macrochat Thursday, June 9, 2005, 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM US/Eastern Macrochats are free, online LIVE technical discussions! Join Macromedia Product Support Engineer David Mozealous for a live discussion on integrating Captivate output with Breeze. David will be covering the capturing of quiz results with the new Breeze reporting feature in Captivate as well as synchronizing content in Breeze Live meetings. What You Will Learn How to configure Captivate to publish to a Breeze server How to develop quizzes in Captivate How to develop courses in Breeze using Captivate quizzes How to sync content in a Breeze live meeting Register at Macromedia's website. Macromedia Sees The Eclipse Macromedia will be uniting with Eclipse, an open source IDE (Integrated Development Environment) that provides developers with the tools they need to create reusable components and programming tools. Macromedia believes that Eclipse can help take Flash developers to the next level of creating Rich Internet Applications, and solidify Flash's place as a platform in its own right. News.com explains in a little more detail. This story would not be complete without the unveiling of the Flash Platform from the Mother Ship. Bored This Summer? Create The Next Big Open Source App Google has announced its "Summer of Code." Not quite the Summer of Love, but it's still got a nice ring to it. Google is inviting students to either create some great new open source apps, or improve on already-existing open source software. A job well done could result in $4,500 from Google while a job poorly done will undoubtedly result in the propagation of hybrid viruses running rampant through Google's network. To find out more about what you can do during your summer vacation, check out Google's website. Be sure to check out the FAQs if you're interested. And You Thought Having Closed Source Video Drivers Was Bad News... Drunk drivers in Seminole County in Florida have come up with a simple method of getting out of being convicted for a DUI: Ask how the underlying code of the breathalyzer software works. Seminole County's criminal judges decided a while back that if a defendant is denied information on how the breathalyzer works, the breath test has to be rejected. The conviction rate for DUIs in Seminole County has gone down to about 50%, but it's likely that new laws will be introduced to give the courts more power to convict drunk drivers. Being naked, holding a bottle of Southern Comfort and only being able to say "Gggglllhggghhhh" in response to a Police Officer's questions may become the new standard in being able to convict. Read more at TampaTrib.com.
Satisfied Customers Speak Out! "Thanks folks... I really like this layout. I am a big fan of saving time and now I can't imagine ever cancelling my membership here as long as you folks keep pumping out such great layouts. These are so professional. I also used the Seattle layout for one of my other products / websites. I'm a very active trader in addtion to getting hooked on creating DVDs, Video, etc. I just cut and pasted a bunch of old code into this one and I'm not fiercely proud of it, but it is much better than the original layout I had done on my own in Dreamweaver" - Michael J, CMX Subscriber, commenting on Community MX's latest JumpStart, Vegas. 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: "A computer won't clean up the errors in your manual of procedures." — Sheila M. Eby Make Mine United United Airlines has become the first US domestic airline to offer wireless internet access on their flights. After working hard for a year to prove to the FAA that wireless internet connections would not interfere with aircraft controls, United will be installing WiFi on their B757-200s. Installation of the wireless networks will take place after the FCC's "Air to Ground" auction, taking place within the next few months, where wireless providers will bid for air space. Once there is a winner, United will be free to move about the cabin and strike a deal with the provider. You can see United's press release on their site, and read more over at Yahoo! Internet Explorer To Offer Tabbed Browsing... Now Most folks have heard that tabbed browsing will be a feature of Internet Explorer 7, due out this summer, but Microsoft decided to let users experience it now. The new MSN Toolbar will enable tabbed browsing for you in IE 5.01 or above, and comes with a couple of other new features that may draw some interest. If you haven't tried tabbed browsing and you're an IE fan, you may want to try out the MSN Toolbar. Just When You Started Missing Those Old Security Flaws... Firefox 1.0.3 and later has a vulnerability that earlier versions of the browser did not have. The frame injection flaw made its first appearance around 1998, and can let attackers insert their own content into a legitimate site, which could let the attacker gain information like passwords or account information you believe you're typing into real web page. Firefox 1.0.4 fixes this problem, and it's recommended that you install it if you haven't already. Read more about it at PersonalTechPipeline.com. What's On The DVD Recording Horizon Whether the next recording format to catch on will be HD-DVD or Blu-Ray is anyone's guess, but Toshiba is not slowing down their production of their HD-DVD-R discs that will hold up to 15GB of data. They will be releasing around the same time HD-DVD recorders start getting to the market some time next year. 20GB rewritable HD-DVD discs were already planned for next year, but the "write-once" discs could offer consumers a nice alternative to the more pricey RWs. Read more over at Yahoo! There Must Be Fifty Ways Use Your Dashboard So you've installed the Tiger OS on your Mac, and now you're exploring the new features. That dashboard sounds great, but what can you do with it? Well, Apple has at least fifty ideas for you.
Dynamic Letter Anchor Extension Frequently on a dynamic page that displays a long list of content, such as a list of names, you want to allow a user to jump down to a specific letter of the alphabet. On a static list, this is easy -- just insert anchor links at key places on your page where the first letter of a word changes. On a dynamic page, it is not as easy. Using this extension, you can create a list of links for your data AND create the dynamic anchors to go along with them. Take a look at this Dreamweaver Extension by CMX Partner Tom Muck
Fun and Freebies! Community MX - Xtra Dry Nice slogan, eh? No, we haven't decided to change our motto, but if we wanted to, we could go to Sloganizer.net and come up with dozens of instant slogans, ready for use, like "Feel it - Community MX!" or "One Goal, One Passion - Community MX." Who needs a marketing agency with canned slogans like these? One we didn't see: "Community MX: You're Soaking In It" If You Haven't Been Sufficiently Freaked Out This Week... Warning: This is a bit bizarre, but too whacked-out not to share. Put a guy in front of a zombie-fighting video game. Put him into a trance, and then transplant him into a real-life scenario that mimics the game he was just playing. Think it would wierd him out? Oh yeah. Check out the Zombie Arcade experiment. For Those Who Love To Argue Last week we mentioned an article on threats and how to make sure they're not of the idle variety. This week, we found an article at ForeverGeek.com that discusses arguments and how to win them - 38 different ways. So, if your threats didn't work, maybe now you can try arguing your point. Next week: How to defend yourself from crazed people who don't care for your threats and arguments.
Writing Efficient CSS (Free) One of the touted benefits of CSS is that it reduces total page weight, both at first page load, and even more on subsequent loads due to style sheet caching. Often a sizable fraction of the savings is lost because of highly redundant CSS code. Come learn some secrets of efficient CSS coding, enabling you to pare that style sheet right down to the bare bones. This free article by CMX Partners Holly Bergevin and John Gallant can be found here.
Weekly Content Listing Create an iPod Shuffle Rollover Button Kim Cavanaugh For my wife's recent birthday I indoctrinated her into the Holy Order of the iPod by getting her an iPod Shuffle. Yes, the Shuffle is a gateway device, but since my daughter and I are both hooked it seemed only fair that my wife should join the other Pod People in the house. As I unwrapped the package and admired the usual design genius found in Apple products I thought that a small little rollover button like the switch on the back of the Shuffle would make for a nice effect, and a good lesson in using the Swap Image behavior. In this series of Captivate video tutorials you'll learn how to make a rollover button with not one but two animated GIFs, how to compose it all in Fireworks, and how to complete the button in Dreamweaver. Dynamic CSAs - Part 1: Interactivity Events Rob Williams Although many aspects of web development have changed over the years, one that seems to have remained "untouched" has been the way in which users interact with web sites. The introduction of Flash has caused many web developers to begin to think about new and different ways to allow the user to "experience" a web site, but having to abandon most of your current web skills in order to "start again in Flash" has deterred many developers from really exploring these new interactivity options in mainstream projects. Thanks to some recent browser and web technology developments though it's now possible to create rich interactive web sites by expanding upon, rather than replacing, your current web skills. This is the brave new world of Dynamic Client-side Applications. In the first part of this series we take a look at Interactivity Events. The Basics of Sound in Flash MX 2004 - Part 2 Tom Green Maybe Hillman Curtis was on to something when he stressed to any Flash developer that would listen: "Pay attention to the pipe". With sound, you can clog the pipe even before you open Flash! In the previous article in this series I dealt with the basics of sound in Flash. In this one, we move to the next step in the process — importing sound and working with it in a variety of locations ranging from the Library to the Property inspector. Creating a Search Engine with iSearch Sheri German If you have always wanted to add a search engine to your site, and didn't know how to program one yourself, you might want to download and install iSearch, a ready-made PHP and MySQL driven application that performs searches right on your own server. This tutorial will take you through the installation and the customization (of the style sheet and header and footer includes) of iSearch. Importing PNG Files with Masks and Transparency Info into Flash Derrick Ypenburg Masking images in Flash can sometimes be a frustrating task. I find you cannot mask an image in Flash as well as you can mask an image in Photoshop or Fireworks. Masks in Flash do work well for creating certain effects, but for masking images that need a transparent background around detailed shapes, especially images that require feathering around their edges, Flash just doesn't cut it. What's the solution then? Well Photoshop and Fireworks have much more powerful tools and masking capabilities. Plus, they can both export files in PNG (Portable Network Graphics) format. PNG files are capabele of retaining the mask and transparency information of an image. Using Skip Nav Links [FREE] Zoe Gillenwater Have you ever been to a web site and noticed a mysterious link at the very top that says "skip navigation" or "skip to main content"? Perhaps not — most web developers don't use skip nav links to improve the accessibility of their pages. Skip nav links, also known as skip navigation or jump to content links, allow many different types of users to get right to the content on your site that they are looking for. This article will explain why you ought to be in the minority of web developers who do include skip nav links in their web pages and how to do it. If you are already committed to creating accessible web pages, read this article to learn about one of your tools to do so. Announcing the Flash Platform [FREE] Joey Lott Read about the "State of Flash" in this discussion of Macromedia's announcement of the Flash Platform. Learn about where the Flash Player can be found, and how the Flash Player is supported by an entire platform of related technologies. Additionally, read a brief overview of some of the new features in the pending Flash Player, code named Maelstrom. Data Binding in Flash MX 2004 - Part 3: Loading Text with the XMLConnector Component Robert Reinhardt Many designers and developers who use Flash want to know how to load text from a text file and display it in a Flash movie at runtime. In this tutorial, you learn how to store text in an XML file, load into a Flash movie with the XMLConnector component, and bind the data to Label, TextArea, and Loader components. The DataBinding in Flash MX Pro 2004 Series: DataBinding in Flash MX Pro 2004 - Part 1: Visual Binding with the List and MediaPlayback Component DataBinding in Flash MX Pro 2004 - Part 2: Using the XMLConnector Component to Populate a List DataBinding in Flash MX Pro 2004 - Part 3: Loading Text with the XMLConnector Component Best of Both Worlds: Open Source on OS X Tiger Thomas Pletcher Tiger is a great upgrade, but it requires some tweaking to maximize everything on your system. This article shows you how to install or upgrade the Fink package manager, so you can run all the latest Linux/open source programs on your Mac. The article also addresses the Mac's unique position in the open source world, and lists other alternatives developers have for running open source apps. A Business Card Template for Freehand Kim Dudley Presenting a professional image is always important when it comes to doing business. One of the items that can help you do this are business cards. Business cards play a big role in today's business. From a promotional item to a contact reference, they can provide a big bang for your advertising buck. This article takes a look at business cards and discusses some of the history and issues surrounding them. The supplied template will help you get started with your own business cards and offers some information about choosing from the numerous printing options.
A Photo Correction Case Study You thought you'd taken the perfect picture with your digital camera, only to find that when it was examined on your computer that there were some serious flaws. In this Captivate video case study you'll follow along with me as I fix a family photo that was taken recently. How can Fireworks be used to remove those flaws using the Rubber Stamp tool? What settings work best in certain situations, and what other tools can you use to help speed things along? This 3-part video tutorial with 15 minutes of instruction answers those questions and more as you follow along with the steps I took to fix my photograph. Check out the Video Tutorial by CMX Partner Kim Cavanaugh
Tips, Tricks and Dirty Cheats! This week's Tip, Trick or Dirty Cheat is courtesy of John Gallant , CMX Partner. What Is That Font? Having trouble finding out what that font is? Hmmm... kind of a cross between Helvetica and Arial, but not quite.... Head over to Identifont and let them take care of figuring out what font you're looking for. Identifont gives you a few visual clues to narrow down the search and then attempts to tell you what font you're after. If you think you know the name of the font, Identifont will let you type in the name and then get a visual representation of the font so you can see if that's the right one. 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!

Apple And Intel Sittin' In A Tree...

The big deal this week is that Apple is switching from IBM to Intel microprocessors. Although the general public won't see these "Apptel" computers for at least a year or more, huge debates are taking place about whether or not this is a good thing for Mac users. The Macworld forums have several threads regarding this topic, but one quote expressed the sentiment of a few Apple devotees: "Apple goes Intel in a handbasket." Others are much more optimistic, and see this change as an opportunity for the Mac to gain a whole new audience. Meanwhile, don't feel too bad for IBM. According to this article from CRN.com, IBM is not too broken up about the deal.

Could It Be? Yep... Another Macromedia MacroChat

Capturing Quiz Responses in Captivate Macrochat

Thursday, June 9, 2005, 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM US/Eastern

Macrochats are free, online LIVE technical discussions!

Join Macromedia Product Support Engineer David Mozealous for a live discussion on integrating Captivate output with Breeze. David will be covering the capturing of quiz results with the new Breeze reporting feature in Captivate as well as synchronizing content in Breeze Live meetings.

What You Will Learn

How to configure Captivate to publish to a Breeze server
How to develop quizzes in Captivate
How to develop courses in Breeze using Captivate quizzes
How to sync content in a Breeze live meeting

Macromedia Sees The Eclipse

Macromedia will be uniting with Eclipse, an open source IDE (Integrated Development Environment) that provides developers with the tools they need to create reusable components and programming tools. Macromedia believes that Eclipse can help take Flash developers to the next level of creating Rich Internet Applications, and solidify Flash's place as a platform in its own right. News.com explains in a little more detail. This story would not be complete without the unveiling of the Flash Platform from the Mother Ship.

Bored This Summer? Create The Next Big Open Source App

Google has announced its "Summer of Code." Not quite the Summer of Love, but it's still got a nice ring to it. Google is inviting students to either create some great new open source apps, or improve on already-existing open source software. A job well done could result in $4,500 from Google while a job poorly done will undoubtedly result in the propagation of hybrid viruses running rampant through Google's network. To find out more about what you can do during your summer vacation, check out Google's website. Be sure to check out the FAQs if you're interested.

And You Thought Having Closed Source Video Drivers Was Bad News...

Drunk drivers in Seminole County in Florida have come up with a simple method of getting out of being convicted for a DUI: Ask how the underlying code of the breathalyzer software works. Seminole County's criminal judges decided a while back that if a defendant is denied information on how the breathalyzer works, the breath test has to be rejected. The conviction rate for DUIs in Seminole County has gone down to about 50%, but it's likely that new laws will be introduced to give the courts more power to convict drunk drivers. Being naked, holding a bottle of Southern Comfort and only being able to say "Gggglllhggghhhh" in response to a Police Officer's questions may become the new standard in being able to convict. Read more at TampaTrib.com.

Satisfied Customers Speak Out!

"Thanks folks... I really like this layout. I am a big fan of saving time and now I can't imagine ever cancelling my membership here as long as you folks keep pumping out such great layouts. These are so professional. I also used the Seattle layout for one of my other products / websites. I'm a very active trader in addtion to getting hooked on creating DVDs, Video, etc. I just cut and pasted a bunch of old code into this one and I'm not fiercely proud of it, but it is much better than the original layout I had done on my own in Dreamweaver"

- Michael J, CMX Subscriber, commenting on Community MX's latest JumpStart, Vegas.

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:

"A computer won't clean up the errors in your manual of procedures." — Sheila M. Eby

Make Mine United

United Airlines has become the first US domestic airline to offer wireless internet access on their flights. After working hard for a year to prove to the FAA that wireless internet connections would not interfere with aircraft controls, United will be installing WiFi on their B757-200s. Installation of the wireless networks will take place after the FCC's "Air to Ground" auction, taking place within the next few months, where wireless providers will bid for air space. Once there is a winner, United will be free to move about the cabin and strike a deal with the provider. You can see United's press release on their site, and read more over at Yahoo!

Internet Explorer To Offer Tabbed Browsing... Now

Most folks have heard that tabbed browsing will be a feature of Internet Explorer 7, due out this summer, but Microsoft decided to let users experience it now. The new MSN Toolbar will enable tabbed browsing for you in IE 5.01 or above, and comes with a couple of other new features that may draw some interest. If you haven't tried tabbed browsing and you're an IE fan, you may want to try out the MSN Toolbar.

Just When You Started Missing Those Old Security Flaws...

Firefox 1.0.3 and later has a vulnerability that earlier versions of the browser did not have. The frame injection flaw made its first appearance around 1998, and can let attackers insert their own content into a legitimate site, which could let the attacker gain information like passwords or account information you believe you're typing into real web page. Firefox 1.0.4 fixes this problem, and it's recommended that you install it if you haven't already. Read more about it at PersonalTechPipeline.com.

What's On The DVD Recording Horizon

Whether the next recording format to catch on will be HD-DVD or Blu-Ray is anyone's guess, but Toshiba is not slowing down their production of their HD-DVD-R discs that will hold up to 15GB of data. They will be releasing around the same time HD-DVD recorders start getting to the market some time next year. 20GB rewritable HD-DVD discs were already planned for next year, but the "write-once" discs could offer consumers a nice alternative to the more pricey RWs. Read more over at Yahoo!

There Must Be Fifty Ways Use Your Dashboard

So you've installed the Tiger OS on your Mac, and now you're exploring the new features. That dashboard sounds great, but what can you do with it? Well, Apple has at least fifty ideas for you.

Dynamic Letter Anchor Extension

Frequently on a dynamic page that displays a long list of content, such as a list of names, you want to allow a user to jump down to a specific letter of the alphabet. On a static list, this is easy -- just insert anchor links at key places on your page where the first letter of a word changes. On a dynamic page, it is not as easy. Using this extension, you can create a list of links for your data AND create the dynamic anchors to go along with them.

Take a look at this Dreamweaver Extension by CMX Partner Tom Muck

Fun and Freebies!

Community MX - Xtra Dry

Nice slogan, eh? No, we haven't decided to change our motto, but if we wanted to, we could go to Sloganizer.net and come up with dozens of instant slogans, ready for use, like "Feel it - Community MX!" or "One Goal, One Passion - Community MX." Who needs a marketing agency with canned slogans like these? One we didn't see: "Community MX: You're Soaking In It"

If You Haven't Been Sufficiently Freaked Out This Week...

Warning: This is a bit bizarre, but too whacked-out not to share. Put a guy in front of a zombie-fighting video game. Put him into a trance, and then transplant him into a real-life scenario that mimics the game he was just playing. Think it would wierd him out? Oh yeah. Check out the Zombie Arcade experiment.

For Those Who Love To Argue

Last week we mentioned an article on threats and how to make sure they're not of the idle variety. This week, we found an article at ForeverGeek.com that discusses arguments and how to win them - 38 different ways. So, if your threats didn't work, maybe now you can try arguing your point. Next week: How to defend yourself from crazed people who don't care for your threats and arguments.

Writing Efficient CSS (Free)

One of the touted benefits of CSS is that it reduces total page weight, both at first page load, and even more on subsequent loads due to style sheet caching. Often a sizable fraction of the savings is lost because of highly redundant CSS code. Come learn some secrets of efficient CSS coding, enabling you to pare that style sheet right down to the bare bones.

This free article by CMX Partners Holly Bergevin and John Gallant can be found here.

Weekly Content Listing

Create an iPod Shuffle Rollover Button

Kim Cavanaugh

For my wife's recent birthday I indoctrinated her into the Holy Order of the iPod by getting her an iPod Shuffle. Yes, the Shuffle is a gateway device, but since my daughter and I are both hooked it seemed only fair that my wife should join the other Pod People in the house.

As I unwrapped the package and admired the usual design genius found in Apple products I thought that a small little rollover button like the switch on the back of the Shuffle would make for a nice effect, and a good lesson in using the Swap Image behavior. In this series of Captivate video tutorials you'll learn how to make a rollover button with not one but two animated GIFs, how to compose it all in Fireworks, and how to complete the button in Dreamweaver.

Dynamic CSAs - Part 1: Interactivity Events

Rob Williams

Although many aspects of web development have changed over the years, one that seems to have remained "untouched" has been the way in which users interact with web sites. The introduction of Flash has caused many web developers to begin to think about new and different ways to allow the user to "experience" a web site, but having to abandon most of your current web skills in order to "start again in Flash" has deterred many developers from really exploring these new interactivity options in mainstream projects. Thanks to some recent browser and web technology developments though it's now possible to create rich interactive web sites by expanding upon, rather than replacing, your current web skills. This is the brave new world of Dynamic Client-side Applications. In the first part of this series we take a look at Interactivity Events.

The Basics of Sound in Flash MX 2004 - Part 2

Tom Green

Maybe Hillman Curtis was on to something when he stressed to any Flash developer that would listen: "Pay attention to the pipe". With sound, you can clog the pipe even before you open Flash!

In the previous article in this series I dealt with the basics of sound in Flash. In this one, we move to the next step in the process — importing sound and working with it in a variety of locations ranging from the Library to the Property inspector.

Creating a Search Engine with iSearch

Sheri German

If you have always wanted to add a search engine to your site, and didn't know how to program one yourself, you might want to download and install iSearch, a ready-made PHP and MySQL driven application that performs searches right on your own server. This tutorial will take you through the installation and the customization (of the style sheet and header and footer includes) of iSearch.

Importing PNG Files with Masks and Transparency Info into Flash

Derrick Ypenburg

Masking images in Flash can sometimes be a frustrating task. I find you cannot mask an image in Flash as well as you can mask an image in Photoshop or Fireworks. Masks in Flash do work well for creating certain effects, but for masking images that need a transparent background around detailed shapes, especially images that require feathering around their edges, Flash just doesn't cut it.

What's the solution then? Well Photoshop and Fireworks have much more powerful tools and masking capabilities. Plus, they can both export files in PNG (Portable Network Graphics) format. PNG files are capabele of retaining the mask and transparency information of an image.

Using Skip Nav Links [FREE]

Zoe Gillenwater

Have you ever been to a web site and noticed a mysterious link at the very top that says "skip navigation" or "skip to main content"? Perhaps not — most web developers don't use skip nav links to improve the accessibility of their pages. Skip nav links, also known as skip navigation or jump to content links, allow many different types of users to get right to the content on your site that they are looking for. This article will explain why you ought to be in the minority of web developers who do include skip nav links in their web pages and how to do it. If you are already committed to creating accessible web pages, read this article to learn about one of your tools to do so.

Announcing the Flash Platform [FREE]

Joey Lott

Read about the "State of Flash" in this discussion of Macromedia's announcement of the Flash Platform. Learn about where the Flash Player can be found, and how the Flash Player is supported by an entire platform of related technologies. Additionally, read a brief overview of some of the new features in the pending Flash Player, code named Maelstrom.

Data Binding in Flash MX 2004 - Part 3: Loading Text with the XMLConnector Component

Robert Reinhardt

Many designers and developers who use Flash want to know how to load text from a text file and display it in a Flash movie at runtime. In this tutorial, you learn how to store text in an XML file, load into a Flash movie with the XMLConnector component, and bind the data to Label, TextArea, and Loader components.

The DataBinding in Flash MX Pro 2004 Series:
DataBinding in Flash MX Pro 2004 - Part 1: Visual Binding with the List and MediaPlayback Component
DataBinding in Flash MX Pro 2004 - Part 2: Using the XMLConnector Component to Populate a List
DataBinding in Flash MX Pro 2004 - Part 3: Loading Text with the XMLConnector Component

Best of Both Worlds: Open Source on OS X Tiger

Thomas Pletcher

Tiger is a great upgrade, but it requires some tweaking to maximize everything on your system. This article shows you how to install or upgrade the Fink package manager, so you can run all the latest Linux/open source programs on your Mac. The article also addresses the Mac's unique position in the open source world, and lists other alternatives developers have for running open source apps.

A Business Card Template for Freehand

Kim Dudley

Presenting a professional image is always important when it comes to doing business. One of the items that can help you do this are business cards. Business cards play a big role in today's business. From a promotional item to a contact reference, they can provide a big bang for your advertising buck.

This article takes a look at business cards and discusses some of the history and issues surrounding them. The supplied template will help you get started with your own business cards and offers some information about choosing from the numerous printing options.

A Photo Correction Case Study

You thought you'd taken the perfect picture with your digital camera, only to find that when it was examined on your computer that there were some serious flaws. In this Captivate video case study you'll follow along with me as I fix a family photo that was taken recently. How can Fireworks be used to remove those flaws using the Rubber Stamp tool? What settings work best in certain situations, and what other tools can you use to help speed things along? This 3-part video tutorial with 15 minutes of instruction answers those questions and more as you follow along with the steps I took to fix my photograph.

Check out the Video Tutorial by CMX Partner Kim Cavanaugh

Tips, Tricks and Dirty Cheats!

This week's Tip, Trick or Dirty Cheat is courtesy of John Gallant , CMX Partner.

What Is That Font?

Having trouble finding out what that font is? Hmmm... kind of a cross between Helvetica and Arial, but not quite.... Head over to Identifont and let them take care of figuring out what font you're looking for. Identifont gives you a few visual clues to narrow down the search and then attempts to tell you what font you're after. If you think you know the name of the font, Identifont will let you type in the name and then get a visual representation of the font so you can see if that's the right one.

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!