Wednesday, November 30th, 2005
CMX Weekly Newsletter
Check the News!
Give The Gift of Knowledge
Community MX is once again offering Holiday Gift Certificates. Surprise your resident webhead with a gift certificate subscription to Community MX. You can now easily provide all of the benefits of a full CMX subscription for 3 months, 6 months or a full year. And a CMX Subscription is a gift that keeps on giving, with brand new content every single business day. More info...
New and Improved Firefox Released
Firefox 1.5 is now available for download. With features including improved security, faster browsing and better popup blocking, Firefox 1.5 is difficult to resist. It also comes with a "Clear Private Data" feature which allows you to clear your cache, cookies, browsing history and download history every time you close out the browser. With FF 1.5, you can also reorder your browser tabs by dragging them into the order you want them. There were also enhancements added for Mac users. We're not sure if there is a free set of Ginsu knives as well, but you can look over this list of improvements from Squarefree.com and find out. For more general information on this release, see this TechNewsWorld.com article.
Macrochat: Creating Mobile Interfaces for Rich User Experiences
Register now at Macromedia.com to join Andrea Trento to learn how to create rich mobile UIs with Flash Lite. Haven't used Flash Lite yet? You can also check out our article before you watch the Macrochat.
Date: Thursday, December 1, 2005
Time: 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm, EST
They Should Put Pat Sajak and Vanna White in Charge of This
ICANN, which oversees all the domain names on the internet, is now considering releasing single-letter domain names, possibly to the highest bidders. We're torn... we would love A.com, but then again, Z.com is pretty swift too. Heck, there are twenty six to choose from, and that's just for the .com domains. That leaves plenty for everyone, right? To avoid our sarcasm and read the story, go to TechNewsworld.com.
Chickens Need Love Too
That's what James Teh of Nanyang Technological University seems to think. He has developed a wireless, sensor-rigged suit for chickens that will allow them to experience "virtual hugs" from their owners. Why chickens, you ask? James believes chickens make great pets and are intelligent. And he apparently wants to pet them from wherever he might happen to be when the mood strikes him. James is developing a version of his suit for humans so that people might be able to hug their children or significant others from across the globe. Don't be a chicken. Read more about it at TechTree.com.
Satisfied Customers Speak Out!
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"I found the tutorial excellent, and just thought i would drop a quick line to say thanks!"
- Kenny D., CMX Subscriber, commenting on Kim Cavanaugh's article, A Flash Animation Case Study: Animate a Company Logo--Part 1
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:
"It may not always be profitable at first for businesses to be online, but it is certainly going to be unprofitable not to be online." — Esther Dyson
Want To Try Vonage? Better Hurry...
As we stated in our 8/24 newsletter, Vonage and other VoIP providers were given a deadline by the FCC to get their customers emergency 911 service. That deadline has hit, and Vonage seems to have come short of the compliance that the FCC was demanding. According to their compliance report, Vonage says that only twenty six percent of its customers have any 911 service available to them. Now it looks like Vonage might be barred from taking any new subscribers, but they will not be forced to disconnect subscribers, as was hinted at in August. More on this at CNN.com.
It Will Probably Come Packaged With Windows Vista...
First Google treads on eBay's toes via Google Base, and now Microsoft is causing virus makers like Symantec grief by moving into their territory. Microsoft has released a beta version of its new internet security program, "Windows OneCare", to get it tested by consumers, and possibly get it on the shelves in 2006. OneCare provides virus protection, a firewall, performs PC maintenance and can backup your data. We love the smell of an impending price war. Catch more on this at RedHerring.com. Just as we were about to send this newsletter, we noticed this article at Yahoo.com which talks about Microsoft developing their own classified service.
Must Go Faster
If you've got a broadband internet connection and a Mac, try out the Broadband Tuner from Apple.com. The Broadband tuner increases your TCP send/receive buffers, which should allow for greater upload and download speeds. If you don't like it, you can uninstall it, and the program will return your settings back to where they were before installation.
Warnings for Microsoft and Apple OS
As of this writing, Microsoft has yet to issue a patch for a bug that could give hackers access to your computer simply by serving up a malicious web page. MS is supposed to be working on a fix, according to this CNET.com article. Meanwhile, TechWeb.com has an article relating to the thirteen security flaws within Apple's Tiger and Panther operating systems, affecting both client and server editions. Apple has issued a fix however, available on their website.
Homework Has a Similar Effect
Howard Stapleton decided to build a machine called "The Mosquito" that would keep teens away. It does so by emitting a very high-pitched, and extremely obnoxious sound that is inaudible to most folks over 30. For teens though, most of whom can hear the shrill noise the Mosquito puts out, it does seem to work. The device was developed by Stapleton in Wales. It has been tested at a local shop that used to have a problem with kids hanging out there. The kids are now gone, and the shop keepers believe the Mosquito was the catalyst. It's only fair after all. The teens do the same thing to older folks by playing Ashlee Simpson music. More on this at News.com.
CMX Slideshow - A Flash Extension
- This extension for Flash MX 2004 loads external JPEG and SWF files to create a Flash slideshow. The CMX Slideshow component is very customizable and includes support for hyperlinks, captions, padding, resizing, transitions, controls, and much more. You can also access CMX Slideshow's methods, properties, and events using ActionScript. The support files demonstrate how to create your own custom controls, and how to load a list of images from an external XML file.
Take a look at this extension by CMX Partner Paul Newman
Fun and Freebies
Things to Watch For During an Interview
Hopefully you've got a great job and you're not worried about being interviewed anytime soon. But... if you are on the market, AZCentral.com has some tips that might help you spot a good future boss from a bad future boss.
When Bad Things Happen to Good Santas
It's not yet Christmas, but in Norway, Santa is already getting himself into trouble, according to this article in aftenposten.no.
Because Plain Old Typing Isn't Exciting Enough
At ColorPilot.com they understand that typing away for hours at a time can get monotonous. They've taken aim at this boredom by releasing SoundPilot, a program that will add a sound to each keystroke. They've got several sound schemes to choose from, including "tapdance", "battle" and "football." There's also a "Dial Tone" scheme. Sure, it sounds kind of obnoxious, but... well, it probably is.
Making it Legal: Validating Your (X)HTML and CSS
- As a web designer, your goal is to create a page that works well and looks good across browsers and platforms. Validating your (X)HTML and CSS is one way to achieve this goal. Validation catches the silly mistakes and typos that everyone makes in their pages, so it's an important first step in creating a great web page — but remember, it's only a step. Validation is not the end goal itself. Learn why validation is important but not the holy grail of web design, then learn how to use and understand the W3C validators.
This free article by CMX Partner Zoe Gillenwater can be found here.
Weekly Content Listing
Creating an Alpha Video in Adobe After Effects
After Effects 6.5 is the tool of choice for creating Alpha Channel video among the pros. Here's how.
The Many Uses of the Malleable em [FREE]
Most people first encounter the em unit as a way to size text using CSS. This article will show you how to do just that. But, there's more to the em unit than just font sizing. It can be used as a length unit on any property that takes a length. You'll learn how to use the em unit as length for margin and padding to create pages that scale more gracefully.
Maintaining Multi-page Forms in the Session Scope
In this tutorial we will look at how we can maintain our form data over multiple pages using the session scope. Using the session scope is a more secure way of passing data from page to page and it is very simple to do, as we will see.
The Possibilities of Freehand's Blend Tool
Freehand has always been considered a great drawing program and tools like the Blend tool are the reason why. When creating vector artwork the blend tool can quickly and easily create some very interesting effects.
In this tutorial we will take a look at how to use the blend tool, the possibilities it has and a common task that it helps to speed along.
AJAX Auto-Save
Imagine this ... you're working on typing out a large piece of text into a web form. Halfway through, you try to minimize the browser but instead close it instead. Congratulations, you've just lost all of your work.
One possible solution is to give the user a save button where they could periodically save their work. Unfortunately, when it comes to usability, you cannot assume or expect that the user will do anything. If the user doesn't remember to click save, then all of the development time you spent on that save feature will be wasted. But what if you could save it on their behalf?
AJAX To The Rescue!
Using AJAX.NET, this article will show you how to implement an auto-save feature that will periodically save their document. Other popular products already do this, just look at Microsoft Word, and Google's Gmail.
Sample code is presented in C#.
Fireworks Symbols - a Non-Destructive Way to Transform Images
Sometimes, I think people forget that Symbols exist in Fireworks or what they can do for you. Symbols are an important part of the Fireworks workflow. This article will address some of the way cool things you can do with Fireworks Graphic Symbols, starting with how to create a symbol, and then how this tool can become an essential part of the creative process.
Graphic Symbols are much like Photoshop's Smart Objects. When you place a Smart Object into your document, you can do many things to it without affecting the original source file. You can even edit the original Smart Object itself, and have those changes propagate across any iteration of the smart object in a document.
Preparing For IE7 - Part Two
We continue discussing the ways IE7 will make our lives difficult, and ways we might ease those difficulties. We'll examine enhancements to the basic conditional comment hiding method, the concerns regarding the old box model hacks, and a new alternate hiding method as well. Folks, you really will need to know this stuff!
Ubuntu & You, Part 3: Breezy Is Easy
The latest version of Ubuntu (version 5.10, code named "Breezy Badger") is better than ever, and it's easy to install or upgrade from a previous version. This article provides some installation pointers and detailed, step-by-step upgrade instructions. The article also discusses some of the features that make Ubuntu today's #1 Linux distribution, and offers an overview for installing LAMP - with PHP 5 - on Ubuntu.
Happy Thanksgiving from Community MX! [FREE]
The partners of Community MX would like to wish all of our readers a safe and joyous Thanksgiving!
So that our partners can enjoy the holiday with their families and friends, we will not be releasing new content Thursday or Friday. However, we will be back Monday with two new articles.
Enjoy your holiday, and we'll see you on Monday!
Working with SMIL, Part 4: Creating a Video List with XML, SMIL, and the FLVPlayback Component
Learn how to create multiple SMIL files for several pieces of video content, played within the new FLVPlayback component shipping with Flash Pro 8. Use the List component with XML data to specify each clip, which in turn loads a SMIL file responsible for the FLV files associated with the video content.
The Working with SMIL Series:
Working with SMIL - Part 1: The FLVPlayback Component and Progressive FLV Files
Working with SMIL - Part 2: Detecting Bandwidth with Progressive FLV Files
Working with SMIL - Part 3: Real-time Streaming FLVs with the FLVPlayback Component
Working with SMIL - Part 4: Creating a Video List with XML, SMIL, and the FLVPlayback Component
The Many Uses of Fireworks - Part 1: Roll Your Own Promotional Wallpaper
- Fireworks is not just for web graphics. Repeat that mantra over and over, and you will be in the right frame of mind for this (and the next) tutorial. I think of FW as a screen graphics app. It lends itself well to almost any production flow that needs screen-quality images, such as Captivate, PowerPoint, Flash, Director and even, as we will soon see, your desktop.
Check out the Article by CMX Partner Jim Babbage
Tips, Tricks and Dirty Cheats!
This week's Tip, Trick or Dirty Cheat is courtesy of Danilo Celic , CMX Partner
Making The Most Of Your Errors
If you run into an error within Dreamweaver and you need help fixing it, you can help your helper by providing the exact error message. Some of those messages can get pretty long, and trying to type them perfectly is just plain asking for trouble. Have no fear, there is an easier way. When the error dialog is open, click on it with your mouse (not the OK button) to make sure it is in focus, and then hit CTRL+C (CMD+C mac) and you now have the error on your clipboard, so you can paste it whereever you need to.
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!