CommunityMX.com

Introducing CMX JumpStart Bordeaux

Wed, 14 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

It's May, and for many of us that means lots of end-of-year events. School concerts, graduations, award ceremonies, last meetings till the fall...we celebrate these endings and look forward to the easy lifestyle of summer. Many of our celebrations are accompanied by parties - delicious food, and sometimes a special wine. What more preeminent center of great wine is there than Bordeaux, France? And to that region we dedicate our latest JumpStart design, CMX JumpStart Bordeaux.

CMX JumpStart Bordeaux features an accessible split level navigation system. The main navigation is a series of tabs that use the Sliding Door method as described by Douglas Bowman. The sub navigation is an unordered list based system, and both navigation systems provide clear "you are here" page markers. The design is a two column layout fixed at 740px wide and utilizes gradients on various page areas. Of course Bordeaux meets the W3C standards for CSS and XHTML, as well as the WAI accessibility requirements, too....

CMX JumpStart: Bordeaux

Wed, 14 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Welcome to the Bordeaux JumpStart.

Bordeaux features a split-level navigation system, both of which are accessible. The main navigation incorporates the sliding door method as described by Douglas Bowman. The sub-navigation is an unordered list based navigation system and both navigation systems provide clear "you are here" page markers. The design is a two-column layout, fixed at 740px wide, and utilises gradients in the background while using the full width of the user's browser to provide a full and expansive appearance to the overall design. Bordeaux can be integrated into the New File dialog window of Dreamweaver by using the extension that is provided within the download...

Letting Video Show Its Age

Tue, 13 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

In this, the fifth of six excerpts from Foundation Flash CS3 Video published by friendsofED, CMX partner Tom Green and his coauthor, Adam Thomas, explore how to age a video playing through the Flash Player.

The Foundation Flash CS3 Video Excerpts:
Going Small - Playing Video On a Cell Phone
Going Big - Enter H.264
Reflections On an Alpha Video Theme
Using ActionScript to Dynamically Add a Masking Object
Letting Video Show Its Age
Playing videos sequentially Coming Soon...

Wiggle that Text! - Part 1: AS2 Timeline Code Prep

Tue, 13 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

As the well-known adage dictates, "a picture's worth a thousand words." Often enough, that sentiment is true ? but even so, words are powerful in their own right. Especially when they wiggle! In this series, you'll learn how to accomplish an animated text effect with ActionScript ... but there's more to it than that. We're going to take a journey on this exercise, one that begins with timeline code and marches toward the destination of a custom class. Along the way, we'll discover some of the benefits that classes have to offer, focusing specifically on the convenience of re-usability.

Here in Part 1, we'll start in an ActionScript 2.0 keyframe.

The Wiggle that Text! Series:
Wiggle that Text! - Part 1: AS2 Timeline Code Prep
Wiggle that Text! - Part 2: AS2 Timeline Code Animation Coming Soon...

The New, Confusing, Online Social World

Tue, 13 May 2008 03:36:14 GMT

I'm not one to put a lot of personal information on my blog. I don't have problem with people that do it, it's just not my personal style. When I was first on the web, it took about 3 or 4 years before you could find a picture of me anywhere (as a woman, I needed brain respect first). I was one of the last people I know to join Facebook (never have had a Myspace page). Don't get me wrong, I love the web, but I've just never found the need to expose a lot of personal information there.

......

11 Things I Hate About Web Site Search Functions

Mon, 12 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

My wife is an Internet shopping fiend! And because she tells me everything that annoys her, she told about this web site on which she was searching for a product. The product she was looking for was found in twenty different styles each of which found in six different categories. The results of these twenty products ballooned to a result of 120 which was overly repetitious.

Her rant got me to thinking about my own frustrations with web site search functions. Search is currently the dominant computing paradigm. As evidence of this, you merely need to look at how recent versions of operating systems and web browsers have placed search functions in prominent positions on your screen. Look at the latest versions of Mac OS or Windows and you will see that search functions have made their way to the top tier of marketed features. Together with the popularity of search engines, users are indoctrinated into the process of searching instead of looking. The premise of Gmail is that your don't need to file your messages because you can just search for them.

Since more and more web site visitors are expecting to find what they want by searching, you should ensure you provide this feature for them so they don't leave your site and find another which does have a prominent search box.

This article contains a list of my common observations of obstacles to successfully enabling search on your web site....

A Checklist For Problem Free Print Jobs with Preflight Details for InDesign

Mon, 12 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Sending a file to the printers is the final step in the creation of a printed piece. Although it is the final step and may appear to be a simple task, it is one of the most important and can be one of the most daunting. When you send a job for printing as an InDesign file or a PDF, more is required than just handing over a file to the printer.

A basic layout will contain fonts and images which may need to be sent along with the file. Also, depending on the way a file is set up, errors and problems may arise during printing. Requirements will vary from printer to printer but knowing the basics for setting up and sending files to a printer, as well as using a printer's check list, will eliminate many common problems and ensure a quick and successful print job.

To help assist with this task this article includes a Printing checklist and a job sheet. The checklist can be applied to any project being sent to a printer no matter the size or application used. It will help ensure all parts of the file are set up correctly. The jobsheet is a form which can be filled out with details about the file, it should accompany a print project to the printers....

Issues with Dynamically Creating and Calling Display Objects

Fri, 09 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Something completely new to ActionScript 3.0 is ActionScript's trust in object references. In AS2.0 you were able to dynamically add an object and call it after-the-fact by its instance name. In AS3.0, when an object is created dynamically you need to specifically tell the compiler how to treat an object when calling it in some cases. You cannot just simply call its instance name anymore as display objects that are dynamically added in many cases need to be referenced by a name property and do not have an instance name. ActionScript no longer "trusts" your judgment when calling dynamically created objects. This results in frustrating errors.

This new concept really made me feel like a newbie at first. Researching documentation on this topic to make sure I'm explaining this properly was also frustrating to find. So here it is! This article will show you when you need to tell Flash how an object should be treated....

One Month Until TODCon

Fri, 09 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

We just wanted to take the opportunity to remind you that it is only one month until TODCon 2008 in beautiful Orlando, FL. TODCon is a unique and intimate web development conference sponsored by Adobe....

Baltimore: Developing a CSS Starter Page Part Four

Thu, 08 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

In this installment of the Baltimore CSS Starter Page series, you are going to add the markup for the header, navbar, and footer to complete the horizontal band structure. You can use the site you worked on in the previous installment, or you can use the baltimore_site_starter folder in the download that accompanies this tutorial. The download folder also includes a completed tutorial site so that you can compare your work if you get into any trouble.

The Developing a CSS Starter Page: Baltimore Series
Baltimore: Developing a CSS Starter Page - Part One
Baltimore: Developing a CSS Starter Page - Part Two
Baltimore: Developing a CSS Starter Page - Part Three
Baltimore: Developing a CSS Starter Page - Part Four ...

That Mask Brings Out the Color of Your Eyes

Thu, 08 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Have you ever been in a situation where you're setting up a pose for a young couple, and the lighting is right, the smiles are perfect and then you go to shoot them and realize one of them has blinked. So you take the photograph over again, same pose, and now the other one blinks. Alright, how many times is it going to take until they get it right.

Well in Photoshop all you really need is the two shots as they are, even if on their own, they're both bad. If you have just one of the couple with the correct expression, you you can use Photoshop's Layer Masks to quickly give you a seamless and useable portrait of the both of them which looks great. Let's begin. ...

Creating a Slice Template with Fireworks

Wed, 07 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

When you think of web workflow for images, it usually follows these steps:

Open an image or create a design
Slice the image or design
Optimize the slices
Export the slices

Well depending on your images or design, there could be another method.

Let's say you have a series of same size images which all require the same slicing/optimizing. You can use Fireworks to create a slicing template which can be repurposed over and over, creating identically sized slices.

Depending on your software version, this technique can be achieved in a couple different ways. We will look at both.

...

Using JQuery - Part 11: AJAX (Cont.)

Wed, 07 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Developing AJAX applications can often be more complicated than you initially expect. Although working through tutorials and learning about the code involved to do various tasks is beneficial in helping you develop new possibilities, the stark reality these days is that as you begin to develop more and more AJAX-based sites you'll end up becoming less and less enthusiastic about having to hand-write all of the basic AJAX functionality over and over again. This is where JavaScript Libraries come into play.

In this series we're going to take a look at one of the more interesting and widely used JavaScript AJAX library: jQuery.

In the eleventh part of this series we'll continue our look at JQuery's AJAX support by examining some of the more advanced AJAX methods.

The Using JQuery Series:
Using JQuery - Part 1: Introduction
Using JQuery - Part 2: The Basics
Using JQuery - Part 3: Selectors
Using JQuery - Part 4: DOM Manipulation
Using JQuery - Part 5: Advanced DOM Manipulation
Using JQuery - Part 6: Finishing up DOM Manipulation
Using JQuery - Part 7: Effects
Using JQuery - Part 8: Animation
Using JQuery - Part 9: Animation Queues
Using JQuery - Part 10: AJAX
Using JQuery - Part 11: AJAX (Cont.)...

Downloading PHP Recordsets as CSV Files

Tue, 06 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Downloading comma-separated value (CSV) results is a common task in web development. If you have an e-store, for example, you may want to download orders, products, or customers. There are hundreds of other uses—search results, school lists, movie titles, book lists, tables of contents, access reports, web stats, etc.

PHP 5.1 has a new function called fputcsv to write a line to a file, but this article will show a technique that will work in older versions of PHP, and is generally very easy to use using a PHP class I wrote a while back. The class is already built—all you do is call it. The class does not create a file on the server—it simply streams the content to the user as a file, not cluttering up your server or creating files that have to then be deleted. I've found over the years that dealing with files on a PHP server has created the worst nightmares for beginning PHP developers. Setting and maintaining the correct file and folder permissions are somewhat of a black art. ...

Quick Shot: SQL Zip Code Radius Search

Tue, 06 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Do you need to do a United States Zip Code radius search? Want to do the search by the zip code or by the city? This tutorial will show you the SQL to get it done!...

Web Design World

Mon, 05 May 2008 07:55:12 GMT

Tomorrow, I get on a plane to Web Design World Chicago. It looks like it's going to be a great conference. If you're in the area, come on over and join in the geek fun. Jeff Veen, Jared Spool, Dan Rubin, Joe Marini, Greg Rewis and more!

Then it's on to HOW Design in Boston followed by Multi-Mania in Brussels, ......

Using ActionScript to Dynamically Add a Masking Object

Mon, 05 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

In this, the fourth of six excerpts from Foundation Flash CS3 Video published by friendsofED, CMX partner Tom Green and his coauthor, Adam Thomas, show you how to load an Illustrator CS3 file that can be used as a video mask ... at runtime.

The Foundation Flash CS3 Video Excerpts:
Going Small - Playing Video On a Cell Phone
Going Big - Enter H.264
Reflections On an Alpha Video Theme
Using ActionScript to Dynamically Add a Masking Object
Letting Video Show Its Age Coming Soon
Playing videos sequentially Coming Soon...

Digital Photography - Home Studio DIY Lights

Mon, 05 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

So, you're ready to go get some lights for your home photography studio. Find out about the options available to the intrepid DIYer, from the obvious work shop lights to not-so-obvious LEDs. What you'll learn in this article is how to think about choosing your lights, what to look for when out hunting, and how to keep it all coordinated. This is really an experimentalist's approach to home studio lighting.

The DIY Digital Photography Home Studio Series:
Digital Photography - Home Studio DIY Concepts
Digital Photography - Home Studio DIY Lights...

Setting and Deleting Cookies in ColdFusion

Fri, 02 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Cookies are little bits of text information that you can store on your visitor?s computer to keep track of all kinds of things related to your site. Common uses are to track the last time a person was at the site or to store login information, at the user?s request, to allow them to be automatically logged in the next time the visit. In this article we will look at setting and deleting cookies in ColdFusion. In the next article we will use those cookies to automatically login a user when they ask the site to remember them....

Classic Aqua Pill Button in Illustrator CS3: Part 1

Fri, 02 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

An "Aqua Pill" button, is easy and fun to make, can be used on web sites as a button, or used in design work to display text, any size any shape.

Follow my instructions and then play around to find your own style.

The Classic Aqua Pill Button Series:
Classic Aqua Pill Button in Illustrator CS3: Part 1
Classic Aqua Pill Button in Illustrator CS3: Part 2 Coming Soon...

A Fireworks Quickie - Vacuuming Pixels

Thu, 01 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

If there is one constant in working with clients in the web and graphics design world it is this: Your clients rarely provide you with artwork that you can use right away.

Need a logo from your client? "Oh sure, our company has a logo. One of the secretaries made one a few years back that we love. But we only have it in .BMP format and I'd like to remove some of the extra stuff that's in there and sharpen it up. You can do that right?"

Photos? "Oh yeah, my nephew took some pictures of our office a few years ago. I'll send those to you. And can you remove Craig on the far right from the picture? He doesn't work for us since that unfortunate incident with the weed whacker and the vending machine."

Well, you get the picture, which is just the point. Sometimes you get pictures that need major work, including the removal of large parts of the original. Luckily Fireworks provides some great tools for vacuuming pixels away. Needing to do that myself recently I came across a great tip to make things even easier.

In this article you'll see how you can use the seemingly humble Marquee tool in Fireworks to perform corrective surgery on a bitmap image and quickly remove large parts of the picture. ...

Flex-Flash Integration, Part 2: Flex 2 Component Skinning

Thu, 01 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT

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

This article offers a clearly understandable tutorial on skinning Flex 2.01 components with Flash CS3. Later in this series we will move on to more advanced component skinning available in Flex 3.

The completed application with custom-skinned buttons.

The Flash-Flex Integration Series:
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 1: Workflows
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 2: Flex 2 Component Skinning
Flash-Flex Integration - Part 3: Flex Component Skinning with Scale-9...

Going Big ? Enter H.264

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

In this second excerpt from Foundation Flash CS3 Video, CommunityMX partner and his coauthor, Adam Thomas, show you how to add HD video to your web sites.

Approximate download size: 223MB

The Foundation Flash CS3 Video Excerpts:
Going Small - Playing Video On a Cell Phone
Going Big - Enter H.264
Reflections On an Alpha Video Theme
Using ActionScript to Dynamically Add a Masking Object
Letting Video Show Its Age Coming Soon
Playing videos sequentially Coming Soon...

Reflections on an Alpha Video Theme

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

In this third excerpt from Foundation Flash CS3 Video by friendsofED, Cmax partner Tom Green and his coauthor, Adam Thomas, show you how to reflect alpha channel video using ActionScript 3.0.

The Foundation Flash CS3 Video Excerpts:
Going Small - Playing Video On a Cell Phone
Going Big - Enter H.264
Reflections On an Alpha Video Theme
Using ActionScript to Dynamically Add a Masking Object
Letting Video Show Its Age Coming Soon
Playing videos sequentially Coming Soon...

Creating Click-and-Paint Flash Content - Part 2: AS3

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Ah, coloring books! In my neighborhood, a family restaurant keeps a stack handy for kids to use while they wait for their food to arrive. Coloring books were certainly a fun pastime for me growing up, both on rainy and sunny afternoons. There's nothing like the smell of a fresh box of Crayolas, and nothing beats the satisfaction of tearing off paper as the colored wax slowly wears down. Even so, online coloring books are plenty fun in their own way, and Flash provides the easiest tool for creating a click-and-paint version of this childhood favorite.

This two-part series began last time with a tutorial for an implementation in ActionScript 2.0. In this article, we'll update the programming for ActionScript 3.0, and use the opportunity to grapple with a few migration issues.

The Click-and-Paint Flash Content Series:
Creating Click-and-Paint Flash Content - Part 1: AS2
Creating Click-and-Paint Flash Content - Part 2: AS3 ...

Calculating Percentile Rankings

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Percentile rank is a use for statistical measure for comparative data analysis. You may recall the use of percentile from school in which your grade average resulted in your percentile rank amongst your class. If your grade average placed you in the 87th percentile, it meant that your grades were better than 87% of your classmates.

Percentile has some interesting business usages and can be used to indicate popularity as well as success. For example, it can be used to indicate the popularity of a product in its category or someone's achievement within a group. I was recently called to create percentile rankings from athletic evaluation data to better indicate an athlete's overall skill level among a myriad of tests. I used PHP and MySQL to calculate and display the percentiles, but you can use any scripting language and database.

A more common method of indicating rank is to use a natural set of ordinals (1, 2, 3, ...) This method is popular and gives instant recognition of high achievement, but loses perspective once you leave the highest end of the scale. For example, I was just shopping for digital video cassettes on amazon.com and reviewed a product which had a 5-star customer rating. I noticed on that page that the product had an Amazon.com Sales Rank of #59 in the category of blank media.

So how good is #59 in the category? The answer depends on how many other products are in the category. If there are hundreds in the category, then 59 is good, right? I clicked on the link to show the category and the listings only go through 100. If there are only 100 items in the category then 59 is a slightly less than average performer.

The benefit of percentile ranking over ordinal ranking is that you don't have to know how many items are being compared to understand its relative position among the set. With percentile rank you always know where you stand....

Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part One

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Current reality suggests that we all make the switch to Dreamweaver now that GoLive is no longer part of the Adobe Suites and is likely at the end of the line. Sure, we can keep using GoLive as long as our operating systems support the software. Still, it would be a wise decision for many GoLive users - especially those who are making web sites for a living - to learn to use Dreamweaver in addition to GoLive.

I have frequented GoLive forums and lists over the years, and often read posts by frustrated GoLive users who claim Dreamweaver doesn't do this or that task. Occasionally, the charge is true. Still, often the problem is that the path to finding the task is radically different in Dreamweaver and is not immediately discoverable.This series aspires to ease the pain of translating equivalent tasks from one "language" to the other. You will "learn by doing", that is, by creating the same layout in both GoLive and Dreamweaver.

In this first installment in the series, you will set up the site definition and file structure for the "music history" site in both programs.

The Dreamweaver for GoLive Users Series:
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 1
Dreamweaver for GoLive Users: Part 2 Coming Soon...

Working With Color in InDesign

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

In most cases color is a very important part of a design. When creating layouts or graphics for the web color is only limited to what a monitor can display. However, when creating a design destined for print, there are a number of factors that may influence the use of color, these include the final medium, the budget and the time line.

Depending on the project a specific type of printing may be required. For example a t-shirt design will be silk screened, which may limit the number of colors and the way those colors are used in a design. The budget may be the most important factor when working with color, if a project's budget does not allow for printing in full color it may be necessary to limit the project to 1 or 2 spot colors. The final factor, time, may be the least limiting, thanks to the wide availability of digital printing. However it is still important to take the time line into consideration when setting up a project especially when working with a discount printer which may do gang printing and only print certain types of jobs on specific days.

InDesign has all the tools needed to set a project up for any type of printing. In this tutorial we will look at how to use these tools when creating a design for full color printing or spot color printing. ...

Going Small - Playing Video On a Cell Phone

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

In this, the first of six excerpts from Foundation Flash CS3 Video published by friendsofED, CMX partner Tom Green and his coauthor, Adam Thomas, explore how to play an FLV file through a cell phone.

Approximate download size: 11MB

The Foundation Flash CS3 Video Excerpts:
Going Small - Playing Video On a Cell Phone
Going Big - Enter H.264
Reflections On an Alpha Video Theme
Using ActionScript to Dynamically Add a Masking Object
Letting Video Show Its Age Coming Soon
Playing videos sequentially Coming Soon ...

Page Curls Without Third-Party Software

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Page curls?You've seen them time and time again on images where a corner has been turned up to provide a three dimensional look to your photography. Many times you might have to employ the use of outside third party software to provide the desired results, which often is an additional expense. However with some easy to use tools in Photoshop, such as the Warp tool, and Layer Styles, you can produce effective and quick page curls including object/drop shadows with a variety of background colors. Let's begin....

Client-Side Interactivity... Without AJAX!

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Keeping response times down and interactivity high has, and always will be, two important priorities with web interfaces of any kind. For standard HTML interfaces, AJAX is all the buzz and is great when it's necessary to maintain interaction with live data. But when a static version of the data will do just fine, there's at least one other alternative that you may want to consider?.

Having spent four years disarming bombs for the Air Force, Doug Boude is now a Senior Web Application Architect for Fiserv Health in San Antonio, TX. He has been developing with ColdFusion since version 4.0. Doug has written several ColdFusion articles for Fusion Authority....

Fun With: Outlined Text with Glows and Shadows

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Sometimes you get in a design rut and you find yourself doing things the same old way, over and over again. Sure, you can zip around the design application interface and make things sing, but are you being creative? Are you taking chances and giving yourself time to explore and find new ways to get things done, or are you sticking with the same old tried-and-true methods?

When things are getting a little stale, it's time for some creative play, and when you have a suite of imaging and animation applications to play around with you have lots of chances to stretch your wings a little and do something entirely new. That's what the Fun With: series is all about?having fun and trying out new things. The focus on all of these articles will be to demonstrate techniques that you might not have thought about trying and give you the opportunity to play on your own. Because while it's satisfying to do your job well and efficiently, sometimes you need to allow your inner artist to come out and play.

In this article we'll play around with the Glow and Drop Shadow Live Filters effects available in Fireworks, and see how those tools allow you to do some fun creative things with your text.

Approximate download size: 993k

The Fun With: Series
Fun With: Bitmap Selections in Fireworks
Fun With: Outline Text with Glows and Shadows...

Copyright Owners: 2, Content Thieves:0

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:20:11 GMT

Just a little update to Ray's article today. After receiving many negative comments on his blog, emails from CMX and a not-so-subtle email from me, my article has finally been removed from the offending blogger's site.

Thank you to the CMX subscribers - and partners - who helped in this matter by posting comments on the blogger's site. You guys are great!

In an email response from the blogger, he stated, "...i had already your name in the e......

Steal This Article - Please!

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Of all of the things the Internet has accomplished, blurring the lines regarding the ownership of digital content is likely one of the most lasting and significant. We seem to be raising a generation that, in addition to healthcare, video game consoles, and fancy rims from the rent-to-own wheel store, numbers everything available on the web among the things they have a right to. Far beyond the time when people who go beneath the radar to share boxes of floppy disks full of Sierra-Online games, today people are defiant about their right to whatever they come across....

Quick Color Cast Removal

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Color cast. It's a dreadful thing that can mar or ruin an otherwise great photo. Maybe you forgot to set your white balance properly, or you were shooting quickly to grab the moment and didn't account for the lighting conditions. Or perhaps your camera just doesn't account for more than one or two types of light.

Well, hope is here! With this nifty little trick, even your neon blue aquarium pictures can be rescued. Mostly :)...

Modifying Classic ColdFusion Debugging: Part 2

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

If you have your own ColdFusion development box, you probably have ColdFusion debugging turned on. I have always used the Classic debugging mode as opposed to Dockable, because I find the popup window takes too long and is too cumbersome to use. However, classic debugging has a few shortfalls. I addressed some with my article on Better Debugging Info for ColdFusion, however that article discussed a completely custom debugging file. Part 1 of this article discussed how to tweak the file used internally by ColdFusion to display debugging results. In that article we expanded arrays and structures for a better debug output. In this article, we'll add some useful query debugging information.

The Modifying Classic ColdFusion Debugging Series:
Modifying Classic ColdFusion Debugging: Part 1
Modifying Classic ColdFusion Debugging: Part 2 ...

Using JQuery - Part 10: AJAX

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Developing AJAX applications can often be more complicated than you initially expect. Although working through tutorials and learning about the code involved to do various tasks is beneficial in helping you develop new possibilities, the stark reality these days is that as you begin to develop more and more AJAX-based sites you'll end up becoming less and less enthusiastic about having to hand-write all of the basic AJAX functionality over and over again. This is where JavaScript Libraries come into play.

In this series we're going to take a look at one of the more interesting and widely used JavaScript AJAX library: jQuery.

In the tenth part of this series we're going to explore JQuery's AJAX support.

The Using JQuery Series:
Using JQuery - Part 1: Introduction
Using JQuery - Part 2: The Basics
Using JQuery - Part 3: Selectors
Using JQuery - Part 4: DOM Manipulation
Using JQuery - Part 5: Advanced DOM Manipulation
Using JQuery - Part 6: Finishing up DOM Manipulation
Using JQuery - Part 7: Effects
Using JQuery - Part 8: Animation
Using JQuery - Part 9: Animation Queues
Using JQuery - Part 10: AJAX
Using JQuery - Part 11: AJAX (Cont.)...

Interactive Flash Maps - Part 2: Creating, Storing and Displaying Map Data

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

In Part 2 of creating interactive Flash mapping applications, you will be introduced to KML (the mark-up language for storing mapping data) and UMapper, an online service which we will use to build your maps and export the KML map data to use in your own custom mapping applications using the UMap component.

This article assumes you are familiar with adding the UMap component to a Flash application and have read Part 1 of this series, Interactive Flash Maps Part 1.

Approximate download size: 4.4MB

The Interactive Flash Maps Series:
Interactive Flash Maps - Part 1
Interactive Flash Maps - Part 2: Creating, Storing and Displaying Map Data ...

A Ribbon Adds Flair to Your Design - Created in Illustrator

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

A ribbon is a thin band of flexible material, typically cloth but also plastic or sometimes metal, used primarily for binding and tying. Cloth ribbons, which most commonly include silk, are often used in connection with packaging, and in this Tutorial attached to a Wax Seal. If you completed this series so far, the envelope and the wax seal, we will now complete this tutorial series by adding the ribbon to the wax seal.

The Creating a Realistic Vector Envelope in Illustrator Series:
Creating a Realistic Vector Envelope in Illustrator
Creating a Cool Vector Wax Seal in Illustrator
A Ribbon Adds Flair to Your Design - Created in Illustrator ...

Mastering CSS with Dreamweaver CS3

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 17:10:57 GMT

Mastering CSS with Dreamweaver CS3, the book I co-wrote with Greg Rewis, is finally out. Yes, I know, it was long overdue. I took a picture of it when I finally got to see it at Greg's house (no, my copies haven't arrived yet), so if you'll excuse the......

Bridge and Non-Adobe Applications

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

I've written many articles and recorded many videos on the benefits of using Bridge in your Adobe design work flow, but now I'm here to tell you that you're not limited to using Bridge with Adobe products.

That's right. Find out more and learn a few more Bridge tips and tricks by reading this article....

Creating Click-and-Paint Flash Content - Part 1: AS2

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Ah, coloring books! In my neighborhood, a family restaurant keeps a stack handy for kids to use while they wait for their food to arrive. Coloring books were certainly a fun pastime for me growing up, both on rainy and sunny afternoons. There's nothing like the smell of a fresh box of Crayolas, and nothing beats the satisfaction of tearing off paper as the colored wax slowly wears down. Even so, online coloring books are plenty fun in their own way, and Flash provides the easiest tool for creating a click-and-paint version of this childhood favorite.

In this two-part series, we'll begin by stepping through an approach in ActionScript 2.0. In the follow-up article, we'll update the programming for ActionScript 3.0, taking the opportunity to note and work through a number of challenges presented by the code migration.

The Click-and-Paint Flash Content Series:
Creating Click-and-Paint Flash Content - Part 1: AS2
Creating Click-and-Paint Flash Content - Part 2: AS3 ...

The Art of the Interactive Storyteller - Part 5

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

We all tell stories. Every night my wife and I sit down and, over dinner, tell stories about our frantic lives that day. What my wife and I do is no different from what web developers do every day. The only difference is web developers tell stories to a global audience. In fact did I tell you the one about being mugged by a werewolf on a site I was surfing.....

The Interactive Storyteller Series:
The Art of the Interactive Storyteller - Part 1
The Art of the Interactive Storyteller - Part 2
The Art of the Interactive Storyteller - Part 3
The Art of the Interactive Storyteller - Part 4
The Art of the Interactive Storyteller - Part 5 ...

Code Igniter - Controllers

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

Delve in to controllers and views for Code Igniter, the basics to get the framework up and running for your site! Code Igniter is an open source PHP framework....

The Mystery of CFC Variables and Properties - Part 4

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

If you use ColdFusion you should be using ColdFusion Components (CFCs). One of the more perplexing parts of developing CFCs for the beginning ColdFusion developer is how to define variables and properties. The proper use of variables is important for memory consumption and data integrity. You don't want variables hanging around that aren't needed or accessed from areas that they should not be accessed from.

The first part of this series explained some of the differences between local and global variables as they apply to CFCs. The second part of the series showed a simple CFC framework component. Part 3 showed a CFC that extends our base component. The first three parts are usable in any ColdFusion site with any database. Part 4 will focus on SQL Server and show how the tags can be turned into tags, and how the NULL values of the local properties can be used.

The Mystery of CFC Variables and Properties Series:
The Mystery of CFC Variables and Properties - Part 1
The Mystery of CFC Variables and Properties - Part 2
The Mystery of CFC Variables and Properties - Part 3
The Mystery of CFC Variables and Properties - Part 4...

Using Sound in ActionScript 3: Part I

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

One of the most common reasons for incorporating Flash into a web site is to provide sound. It might be something as simple as a "sound effect" on a button or as complicated as a full blown MP3 jukebox. You might decide to build your entire web site with Flash, or you may only need to use some Flash elements on your (X)HTML page. Either way, to use sound effectively in Flash you'll need to have at least a basic understanding of ActionScript, Flash's programming language and the Sound Classes provided by Flash.

Much of the ActionScript related to Sound has changed in ActionScript 3. Whether you are completely new to ActionScript or migrating from ActionScript 2 to ActionScript 3, this series of articles will show you how to use ActionScript 3 to work dynamically with external sounds. You'll need to make sure you have Flash CS3 to work through these tutorials.

Steve Wilkison has been working in the graphic design field for over fifteen years. He has been involved with over forty CD releases as art director and/or graphic designer, including packages for such artists as Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, Wayne Hancock and Kate Campbell. He made the move from print design to web design in 2001 and never looked back. Since then he has designed and created numerous e-cards and web sites utilizing many of today's cutting edge technologies. Today he concentrates almost exclusively on web site design and development utilizing XHTML, CSS, Flash, PHP, JavaScript and Ajax through his company Digital Vision Media. He currently teaches web design at Watkins College of Art & Design in Nashville, TN. ...

Image Maps: Creating a Client-side Image Map with Fireworks and Dreamweaver

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

In this third tutorial in the series we will show the process of creating an image map in Fireworks using both manual and automatic hotspot creation tools. Fireworks makes it easy to create the interactive areas, which can then be exported out for use in your favorite web editor. Dreamweaver/Fireworks integration makes it easy to insert the Fireworks generated image map into an existing web page.

Be sure to check out the two other parts in this series, written by Steven Seiller: Creating a Client-side Image Map with Illustrator and Creating a Client-side Image Map with Dreamweaver.

The Creating Image Map Series:
Image Maps: Creating a Client-side Image Map with Illustrator
Image Maps: Creating a Client-side Image Map with Dreamweaver
Image Maps: Creating a Client-side Image Map with Fireworks and Dreamweaver ...

Understanding Bitmap Fills in ActionScript

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

As Tom Green demonstrates in his video tutorial "Bitmap Fills in Flash," Bitmap fills are easy to achieve with the drawing tools ? but what about ActionScript? Is it even possible to script bitmap fills? If so, is it insanely burdensome? The answers are: yes, it's possible (yay!); and no, it's not burdensome at all (double yay!). So what's the scoop? How does it work? You've come to the right tutorial....

Image Maps: Creating a Client-side Image Map with Dreamweaver

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then an image map can be worth a thousand text links. With a client-side image map, you can provide the visitor a graphical set of links to follow. Relying less on reading and more on visual cues, image maps are ideally suited to images which provide geographic or process-oriented information.

In this tutorial, we will show the process of creating an image map in Dreamweaver using its built-in selection tools and automatic map creation. Dreamweaver provides a convenient way to create image maps when you use the program to create your web pages.

The Creating Image Map Series:
Image Maps: Creating a Client-side Image Map with Illustrator
Image Maps: Creating a Client-side Image Map with Dreamweaver
Image Maps: Creating a Client-side Image Map with Fireworks and Dreamweaver ...

Another Rainy Day

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 05:00:00 GMT

A quick summer shower has a way of freshening up the air and, most of the time, it's gone before you know it. There's also an intense feel sometimes of color saturation after one of these showers which you're not always around to capture on film or electronically.

In this tutorial you're going to discover how you can quickly create a summer shower look in Photoshop without even getting your hair wet. Simple tools such as Transform, the Polygonal Lasso, and Layer Blend Mode adjustments will allow you to bring together this effect on the driest of days. Let's begin....