tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-153502272024-03-13T14:09:12.826-05:00Design WellDiscussion on the issues surrounding media creation and marketingStephen M. Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05407015936572411662noreply@blogger.comBlogger102125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15350227.post-61469896034842667432008-06-23T18:18:00.003-05:002008-08-28T12:29:44.651-05:00DesignWell has permanently movedI was double/cross posting here for the the year or so with a WordPress plug-in that emailed all my posts to this Blogger account.<br /><br />You can find my latest posts at the new home of <a href="http://www.smjdesign.com/designwell/">DesignWell :: Interactive media tutorials and tips</a>.<br /><br /><br />--Stephen M. James<a href="http://www.smjdesign.com/"><br /></a>Stephen M. Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05407015936572411662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15350227.post-72306378022189558562008-01-07T12:21:00.001-06:002008-01-07T12:21:13.222-06:00Our agency profiled in local business journal<p>The advertising agency that I work for was profiled in the Indianapolis Business Journal this month. <a href="http://www.ibj.com/html/detail_page.asp?content=09469">Miles Brinson Brown: Small agency still thinks big, size gives ad firm advantage when it comes to being flexible</a></p> <br /> <br /> -Stephen M. James<br /> <a href="http://www.smjdesign.com">www.smjdesign.com</a><br /> <br /> You may view the latest post at<br /> http://www.smjdesign.com/designwell/archives/our-agency-profiled-in-local-business-journal/Stephen M. Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05407015936572411662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15350227.post-45618485017043549612007-12-05T15:28:00.001-06:002007-12-05T15:28:16.108-06:00Upgrading a blog to Wordpress 2.3 and Changing your tags<p>I upgraded <a href="http://www.tpkpoetry.com/">the poetry knook</a> today from WordPress 2.1.3 to 2.3. Including backing up the database and user files, the process took about an hour. Be sure to follow the upgrade steps (in order!). I have heard that logging into administration during an upgrade an cause problems.</p> <p><a href="http://www.wordpress.org/download/">WordPress 2.3</a>, which was released back in September, includes among other things: a native tag system, plug-in and platform upgrade notification, post management interface improvements, roll your own dashboard, and roll your own RSS libraries. Many of these items have been addressed by plug-ins. Tagging especially comes to mind. I love <a href="http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2005/10/23/the-ultimate-tag-warrior-wordpress-plugin/">Ultimate Tag Warrior</a> and use it on all my blogs.</p> <p>But I have to say goodbye to Ultimate Tag Warrior (well, not really, I hear there’s a <a href="http://www.metlin.org/2007/10/04/wordpress-23-other-upgrades/">UTW hack compatible with WordPress 2.3</a>), because, as in all platforms, the best third party features eventually get implemented by the parent company. I recommending reading, <a href="http://www.lifespy.com/2007/how-to-switch-from-ultimate-tag-warrior-to-wordpress-23-tagging/">How to Switch from Ultimate Tag Warrior to WordPress 2.3 Tagging</a>, if you currently use Ultimate Tag Warrior and are upgrading to 2.3. I still had errors and installed <a href="http://www.neato.co.nz/wordpress-things/utw-theme-compatibility-thing/">UTW Theme Compatibility Thing</a> but it did not work for me in listed related posts. For my related posts, I installed <a href="http://fairyfish.net/2007/09/12/wordpress-23-related-posts-plugin/">WordPress 2.3 Related Posts Plugin</a>, since I couldn’t get UTW’s related posts tag to work.</p> <p>I think it took about as long to install WP 2.3 as it did to write this post, so check your plug-ins’ compatibility and then upgrade!</p> <p>CUSTOM THEME NOTES:</p> <p>Sounds easy doesn’t it? Well, not exactly if you use a customized blog and do not just download an upgrade ready-to-wear theme. You will need to change out all your UTW tags to <a href="http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Tags#Tag_tags">WordPress tags</a> (at the time of posting, this wiki is incomplete). Below are specific items I had issues with when upgrading:</p> <ul> <li>Be sure to update your tags.php with <a href="http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Tags/wp_tag_cloud">the native WP tags</a> instead of the UTW tags–although with the <a href="http://www.neato.co.nz/wordpress-things/utw-theme-compatibility-thing/">UTW Theme Compatibility Thing</a> plug-in, you should be able get away with not changing these tags. There are no where near as many options with the native tags, so you may have to change the format of the tags in your blog.</li> <li>I have had problems with the <a href="http://www.dagondesign.com/articles/sitemap-generator-plugin-for-wordpress/">Dagon Design Sitemap Generator</a> plug-in since the category database schema has changes. Update to the latest version to fix this.</li> <li>Unlike UTW’s use of the tag.php for listing posts filed under a tag. The native tagging system of WordPress 2.3 uses the archive.php (just like viewing a category). Takes a glance at the code of /wp-content/themes/default/archive.php in order to customize your “Posts Tagged with ????” pages. It took me a while to figure this out in my customized themes.</li> </ul> <br /> <br /> -Stephen M. James<br /> <a href="http://www.smjdesign.com">www.smjdesign.com</a><br /> <br /> You may view the latest post at<br /> http://www.smjdesign.com/designwell/archives/upgrading-a-blog-to-wordpress-23-ultimate-tag-warrior-tagging-tags/Stephen M. Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05407015936572411662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15350227.post-47402522029965102552007-12-05T13:15:00.001-06:002007-12-05T13:15:06.863-06:00Upgrading a blog to Wordpress 2.3<p>I upgraded <a href="http://www.tpkpoetry.com/">the poetry knook</a> today from WordPress 2.1.3 to 2.3. Including backing up the database and user files, the process took about an hour. Be sure to follow the upgrade steps (in order!). I have heard that logging into administration during an upgrade an cause problems.</p> <p><a href="http://www.wordpress.org/download/">WordPress 2.3</a>, which was released back in September, includes among other things: a native tag system, plug-in and platform upgrade notification, post management interface improvements, roll your own dashboard, and roll your own RSS libraries. Many of these items have been addressed by plug-ins. Tagging especially comes to mind. I love <a href="http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2005/10/23/the-ultimate-tag-warrior-wordpress-plugin/">Ultimate Tag Warrior</a> and use it on all my blogs.</p> <p>But I have to say goodbye to Ultimate Tag Warrior (well, not really, I hear there’s a <a href="http://www.metlin.org/2007/10/04/wordpress-23-other-upgrades/">UTW hack compatible with WordPress 2.3</a>), because, as in all platforms, the best third party features eventually get implemented by the parent company. I recommending reading, <a href="http://www.lifespy.com/2007/how-to-switch-from-ultimate-tag-warrior-to-wordpress-23-tagging/">How to Switch from Ultimate Tag Warrior to WordPress 2.3 Tagging</a>, if you currently use Ultimate Tag Warrior and are upgrading to 2.3. I still had errors and installed <a href="http://www.neato.co.nz/wordpress-things/utw-theme-compatibility-thing/">UTW Theme Compatibility Thing</a> but it did not work for me. For my related posts, I installed <a href="http://fairyfish.net/2007/09/12/wordpress-23-related-posts-plugin/">WordPress 2.3 Related Posts Plugin</a>, since I couldn’t get UTW’s related posts tag to work.</p> <p>I think it took about as long to install WP 2.3 as it did to write this post, so check your plug-ins’ compatibility and then upgrade!</p> <br /> <br /> -Stephen M. James<br /> <a href="http://www.smjdesign.com">www.smjdesign.com</a><br /> <br /> You may view the latest post at<br /> http://www.smjdesign.com/designwell/archives/upgrading-a-blog-to-wordpress-23/Stephen M. Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05407015936572411662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15350227.post-51000271195184052022007-12-02T17:35:00.001-06:002007-12-02T17:35:57.815-06:00HTML standards in email clients: Oh, the horror!<p>A new HTML standards for email clients advocacy site has sprung up. It’s called <a href="http://www.email-standards.org/">Email Standards Project</a>. I sincerely hope that it is able to make a difference. I’ve personally had issues with the major discrepancies in email clients at my job. I’ve heard that Microsoft Outlook 2007 is unfortunately using the Word HTML engine instead of the Internet Explorer Engine. The full list of clients that are on the Average or Poor list are:</p> <ul> <li><a href="http://www.email-standards.org/clients/dotmac/">Apple .Mac</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.email-standards.org/clients/gmail/">Google Gmail</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.email-standards.org/clients/lotus-notes-8/">Lotus Notes 8</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.email-standards.org/clients/microsoft-outlook-2007/"> Outlook 2007</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.email-standards.org/clients/windows-live-hotmail/">Windows Live</a></li> </ul> <p>This is based on their <a href="http://www.email-standards.org/acid-test/">acid test</a>. If you are involved in developing internet applications or sites and aren’t familiar with acid tests (and you should be!), visit <a href="http://www.webstandards.org/">WebStandards.org</a> for the <a href="http://www.webstandards.org/files/acid2/test.html">web browser acid test</a>.</p> <p>So what’s a person to due in the mean time–structural tables and inline CSS, of course! That’s what! So barbaric and so 1999! Here is <a href="http://www.thinkvitamin.com/features/design/ensuring-your-html-emails-look-great-and-get-delivered">a tutorial on what HTML/CSS you can use across multiple email clients</a>.</p> <br /> <br /> -Stephen M. James<br /> <a href="http://www.smjdesign.com">www.smjdesign.com</a><br /> <br /> You may view the latest post at<br /> http://www.smjdesign.com/designwell/archives/html-standards-email-clients-outlook-2007-gmail/Stephen M. Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05407015936572411662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15350227.post-53992284515917961442007-11-17T10:44:00.000-06:002007-11-17T11:49:10.339-06:00How to link to your Facebook profile: public profile link and NOT public profile link<p>Slowly Facebook has disabled direct links to profiles. Originally you could link to</p> <p><code>http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=000000000.</code></p> <p>All you had to do was copy and paste the URL from your address bar while you were logged into Facebook and you were good to go!</p> <p>But the Facebookers disabled that.</p> <p>If you want to keep all your information private, but want to post a link to add you as a friend, now you can do a search and limit it by id number:</p> <p><code>http://www.facebook.com/s.php?k=100000080&id=000000000</code></p> <p>To view the above link, you still have to login. If you don’t want users to have to log in and don’t mind submitting your profile to search engines, now you can create a public profile and link to it</p> <p><code>http://www.facebook.com/p/First_Middle_LastName/000000000</code></p> <p>I could not find anywhere that would list how to make this URL. I looked around and had to try the schema by example. It is as listed above with your profile id attached to the end instead of the “000000000″</p> <br /> <br /> -Stephen M. James<br /> <a href="http://www.smjdesign.com">www.smjdesign.com</a><br /> <br /> You may view the latest post at<br /> http://www.smjdesign.com/designwell/archives/how-to-link-to-your-facebook-profile-public-profile-link-and-not-public-profile-link/Stephen M. Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05407015936572411662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15350227.post-74835289682339517292007-11-05T17:04:00.001-06:002007-11-05T17:04:08.669-06:00Thirteen Ways To Add SEO To Gallery2<p><strong>Overview of Search Engine Optimization for Gallery2 </strong></p> <p>I hope this is a starting point for those that want to make Gallery2 more SEO. Please remember that the SEO doesn’t make you show up higher in search listings, but makes it easier for this to happen. Having other people link to your pages is always the best thing you can do (at least for Google). Any additions to this list would be helpful. If you have questions or would like clarification, please ask.</p> <p><strong>Technical Background on Gallery2</strong></p> <p>Some of the suggestions on this list involve editing template and class files, do this at your own risk. Gallery2 administrators recommend copying the file you are editing to the subdirectory called “local” and editing the file there. Gallery2 will then use that file instead of the original. This also means that upgrades will not overwrite your edited file. In the examples below, I am using Gallery 2.2.3.</p> <p><strong>1. Activate URL Rewrite plugin</strong></p> <p>Read through the URL Rewrite Administration page and familiarize yourself with the structure of Gallery2, you’ll notice that the permalink of a photo is based on the filename.</p> <p><strong>2. Make items in keyword and other dynamic albums point to item’s permalink</strong></p> <p>ll links that can, should point to an item’s permalink–after all that is the valuable content–all else is for the user’s convenience and experience. This will eliminate some duplicate content and use the keyword album’s PageRank to point to the item’s permalink.</p> <ul> <li> On the Site Admin page, go to Keyword Album (and/or Dynamic Albums)</li> <li> Change Thumbnail links in dynamic albums to Jump to original album, and click Global checkbox if possible.</li> </ul> <p><strong>3. Use keywords in filenames</strong></p> <p>ince the permalink of an item is based on the filename, the filename of the item affect the keywords contained within the URL. Do not use the file name that a camera gives each photograph, but name your photos using keywords. You can do this manually, or you can use a bulk file renaming tool.</p> <p>I recommend you use a bulk file renaming tool. On Windows, I use the free <a href="http://www.bulkrenameutility.co.uk/">Bulk Rename Utility</a>. It allows all sorts of file naming options including regular expressions, recursive file renaming of files in subdirectories, add suffixes, add prefixes and many, many more. It’s a little overwhelming when you first load the program. Thankfully, you can see the actual before/after of the file names, so you don’t have to guess at what you are doing. If anyone know of an OS-X bulk renaming tool, please contact me.</p> <p>My naming convention for a file name is photo_set-photo_subset-people_or_objects. For a photo of my parents, my bride and myself at my wedding, I used wedding-party-rachel-stephen-richard-mary-james.jpg</p> <p><strong>4. Create keyword-dense titles and keywords for each item</strong></p> <p>aving tags or keywords link similar items not only provides users of your site to easily visit similar items, but it also links the keywords with your content for SEO.</p> <p>Upon wanting to post over five hundred photographs of my honeymoon in Ireland to my Gallery2, I decided to write an automated PHP script that goes through the database and does the following:</p> <ul> <li> Reads in the file name</li> <li> Replaces the hyphens and/or underscores with spaces</li> <li> Removes Windows and OS-X renaming suffixes/prefixes such as numerals, parenthesizes and the word “copy.”</li> <li> Then, places this text in the item title field</li> </ul> <p>After creating the title, I re-run the php script that then adds keywords. It does the following:</p> <ul> <li> Reads in the file name</li> <li> Replaces the hyphens and/or underscores with a comma and a space</li> <li> Removes Windows and OS-X renaming suffixes/prefixes such as numerals, parenthesizes and the word “copy.”</li> <li> Removes common words such as the, of, to , with, on, through, in and single letters (A-Z)</li> <li> Then, places this text in the item keyword field</li> </ul> <p>Now you can do all this manually and probably get better results by fine-tuning each item’s keywords and title, but in this instance, I did not want to enter thousands of keywords and possibly misspell them.</p> <p>If you would like a copy of this script, I can email it to you. Please contact me. You will need to directly edit a PHP file, but I believe it is straight forward enough. It has no warranty for anything it does to your system. Before using it, backup your database. After the script has run, the database cache will need to deleted at Site Admin >> Maintenance >> Delete database cache</p> <p><strong>5. Optimize robots.txt</strong></p> <p>Some say to disallow search engines from listing keyword or tag pages by using disallow within one’s robots.txt. The theory behind this is that search engines do not actually stop looking at the pages listed after a disallow command. Disallow is there to prevent good search engines from listing disallowed pages in their search results. They DO read and evaluate disallowed pages for content. So the theory is that when a user searches for a keyword, the keyword page will not show up in the search results, but the actual content pages that the keyword pages link to will show up. This only works with search engines that value linking over keyword density. Since there is usually not much text on an item page, disallowing keyword filled dynamic albums might have negative effects. I suggest you research optimizing your robots.txt more, before disallowing hundreds of pages from search engine results.</p> <p><strong>6. Remove slideshows</strong></p> <p>I would say that this is the least important item on this list, but you want to be sure to remove as much duplicate content as possible, then to remove the slideshow:</p> <ul> <li> Goto Plugins on the Site Admin page.</li> <li> Deactivate Slideshow and Slideshow Applet</li> </ul> <p><strong>7. Remove multiple sizes</strong></p> <p>I’ve never had multiple sizes setup in my Gallery, if someone has the directions on how to deactivate this. It would be helpful.</p> <p><strong>8. Enable Google Sitemap</strong></p> <p>Sitemaps are an XML document that lists all content pages. When your site changes, it changes. Just like it says, it is a map. It doesn’t automatically get you a higher SEO, it only give the search engine a map to browse your site with. Personally, I’m not convinced that this helps SEO. It just makes sure all your pages get listed–which if you are practicing good SEO on your site, when you should not have to worry about a page not being listed. To enable Google Sitemap:</p> <ul> <li> Goto Plugins on the Site Admin page and deactivate Slideshow and Slideshow Applet</li> <li> Activate Sitemap</li> </ul> <p><strong>9. Optimize permalinks</strong></p> <p>Search engines do not like variables (question marks and ampersands) at the end of URLs. Gallery is made to be sticky with its items which makes human browsing easier and pretty much eliminates the need to use the browser’s back button. If you use the breadcrumbs in the upper left to view a parent album, you are shown the album page that contains the item you were just viewing. Below are changes to make to the Gallery2 code</p> <p>Comment out the urlParams call in /modules/core/classes/GalleryTheme.class<br /> LINE 1408 - BEFORE</p> <p><code>if (!empty($theme['parents'][$i + 1]['id'])) {<br /> $urlParams['highlightId'] = $theme['parents'][$i + 1]['id'];<br /> } else if ($itemId && ($i + 1) == count($theme['parents'])) {<br /> $urlParams['highlightId'] = $itemId;<br /> }<br /> </code><br /> LINE 1408 - AFTER<br /> <code><br /> /* if (!empty($theme['parents'][$i + 1]['id'])) {<br /> $urlParams['highlightId'] = $theme['parents'][$i + 1]['id'];<br /> } else if ($itemId && ($i + 1) == count($theme['parents'])) {<br /> $urlParams['highlightId'] = $itemId;<br /> } */<br /> </code><br /> <strong>10. Make item titles into heading text and links</strong></p> <p>Add heading tags to item titles in /themes/matrix/templates/album.tpl (with “matrix” being your current theme)</p> <p>LINE 121 - BEFORE</p> <p><code><p class="giTitle"><br /> {if $child.canContainChildren && (!isset($theme.params.albumFrame)<br /> || $theme.params.albumFrame == $theme.params.itemFrame)}<br /> {* Add prefix for albums unless imageframe will differentiate *}<br /> {g->text text="Album: %s" arg1=$child.title|markup}<br /> {else}<br /> {$child.title|markup}<br /> {/if}<br /> </p></code></p> <p>LINE 121 - AFTER</p> <p><code><h2 class="giTitle"><br /> {if $child.canContainChildren && (!isset($theme.params.albumFrame)<br /> || $theme.params.albumFrame == $theme.params.itemFrame)}<br /> {* Add prefix for albums unless imageframe will differentiate *}<br /> <a href="{g->url arg1="view=core.ShowItem" arg2="itemId=`$child.id`"}"><br /> {g->text text="Album: %s" arg1=$child.title|markup}</a><br /> {else}<br /> <a href="{g->url arg1="view=core.ShowItem" arg2="itemId=`$child.id`"}"><br /> {$child.title|markup}</a><br /> {/if}<br /> </h2></code></p> <p><strong>11. Prevent duplicate base URLs for your Gallery</strong></p> <p>On Apache servers, you can change by each directory how the web server serves up your pages within a file named .htaccess. If you have implimented the URL Rewrite plugin correctly, then you should already have an .htaccess file in your Gallery2 directory. Redirects affect SEO negatively, and it has been said that two site homepages, /main.php and /, harm SEO. To prevent the 301 redirect to /main.php, add the following lines to the top of your .htaccess:<br /> <code><br /> # Set the default handler.<br /> DirectoryIndex main.php</code></p> <p>It should be said that not all hosts allow you do change the DirectoryIndex. Also, this also might need to be done to get rid of “main.php” in the breadcrumb. I’m not sure if I changed this myself or gallery set it automatically, but on line 177 of /config.php, I have:<br /> <code><br /> # Set the default handler.<br /> DirectoryIndex main.php</code></p> <p>In a related note, some search engines will differentiate www.yourdomain.com and yourdomain.com. This not good and could result in duplicate content. You can search Google via site:yourdomain.com and find out how your site is currently listed. You want to be listed in the same format that external links and internal links are linking to your site. To redirect pages without “www” to a page with the prefix, add the following lines to the top of your .htaccess:<br /> <code><br /> RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.<br /> RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.%{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [R=301,L]</code></p> <p>If you are hosting, your Gallery2 in a subdirectory (e.g.- photos), use this:</p> <p><code>RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.<br /> RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.%{HTTP_HOST}/photos/$1 [R=301,L]</code></p> <p><strong>12. Add META tags to your Gallery2 pages</strong></p> <p>It has been said that META tags have lost importance since their glory days ten years ago. They have lost importance to external links, but they are not to be disregarded. To add the META tags keyword and description to your Gallery2 pages add the following lines to /themes/matrix/templates/theme.tpl (with “matrix” being your current theme).</p> <p>LINE 19 - BEFORE</p> <p><code>{* If Gallery doesn't provide a header, we use the album/photo title (or filename) *}<br /> {if empty($head.title)}<br /> <title>{$theme.item.title|markup:strip|default:$theme.item.pathComponent}</title><br /> {/if}</code></p> <p>LINE 19 - AFTER</p> <p><code>{* If Gallery doesn't provide a header, we use the album/photo title (or filename) *}<br /> {if empty($head.title)}<br /> <title>{$theme.item.title|markup:strip|default:$theme.item.pathComponent}</title><br /> {/if}<br /> <meta name="keywords" content="{$theme.item.keywords|markup:strip|default:$theme.item.pathComponent}" /><br /> <meta name="description" content="{$theme.item.description|markup:strip|default:$theme.item.pathComponent}" /></code></p> <p>Note: The above is only an addition of the meta tags.</p> <p><strong>13. Create SEO page numbers</strong></p> <p>This is related to number six, Optimize permalinks, but I have yet figured how to do it. I’ve read the Gallery2 forum thread, <a href="http://gallery.menalto.com/node/49021">URL Rewrite for page number</a>, but did not want to change my current item permalinks. If anyone has suggestions, I’d love to see this addressed.</p> <br /> <br /> -Stephen M. James<br /> <a href="http://www.smjdesign.com">www.smjdesign.com</a><br /> <br /> You may view the latest post at<br /> http://www.smjdesign.com/designwell/archives/add-seo-to-gallery2-search-engine-optimization/Stephen M. Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05407015936572411662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15350227.post-23334634104296424542007-11-01T18:29:00.001-05:002007-11-01T18:29:39.107-05:00Make the logo bigger!<p>I generally don’t promote specific websites on this blog, but I enjoyed this humorous designer-centric site, <a href="http://www.makemylogobiggercream.com/">MakeMyLogoBiggerCream</a> too much not to post. Not only does it offer Make My Logo Cream, but if you act now you can get Whitespace Remover, Starburst Dust, Fluorescizer and The Emotionator for only three payments of $29.99! Act now!</p> <br /> <br /> -Stephen M. James<br /> <a href="http://www.smjdesign.com">www.smjdesign.com</a><br /> <br /> You may view the latest post at<br /> http://www.smjdesign.com/designwell/archives/make-the-logo-bigger/Stephen M. Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05407015936572411662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15350227.post-92000248264439759882007-10-30T13:08:00.001-05:002007-10-30T13:08:04.422-05:00Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 crashing on startup and close<p>For a long time, I have had problems with Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 crashing at the close of the program. I had never had a problem with Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 crashing at startup until the other day. I surmise that Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 had closed and crashed as it usually did, but this time it wrote an invalid or corrupt Site Cache file. It took me a few hours to remove all parts of Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 from my system, but I finally found the corrupt site cache file in users/{username}/library/application support/macromedia/common/8/Sites/</p> <br /> <br /> -Stephen M. James<br /> <a href="http://www.smjdesign.com">www.smjdesign.com</a><br /> <br /> You may view the latest post at<br /> http://www.smjdesign.com/designwell/archives/macromedia-dreamweaver-8-crashing-on-startup-and-close/Stephen M. Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05407015936572411662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15350227.post-2573710108918599142007-10-30T12:47:00.001-05:002007-10-30T12:47:49.504-05:00Six plus hours uninstalling and re-installing Adobe Creative Suite 3 (OS-X)<p>Adobe Illustrator CS3 crashed every time I tried to print to a CD on my Epson Stylus Photo R220. I decided to re-install Adobe Illustrator CS3. I did an uninstall with the uninstaller found in /Applications/Utilites/Adobe Installers. I then tried to re-install Adobe Illustrator CS3 with the installation DVD. Twenty minutes into the installation, it said<br /> “Please insert Adobe ExtendScript Toolkit 2 to continue installation” I googled the error and found this Adobe support page, <a href="http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb402343">Message “Please insert Adobe ExtendScript Toolkit 2 to continue installation” when you install, reinstall or repair a CS3 Suite or CS3 application (Mac OS)</a> I could not find a “Add or Remove Adobe ExtendScript Toolkit 2 alias” in /Applications/Utilites/Adobe Installers, so I decided to re-install the whole suite!</p> <p>One of my co-workers warned that I needed to completely remove CS3 preferences, plists, and all those other files that OS-X applications install but never remove!!! I finally found this Adobe Support page, <a href="http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb401574">Remove CS3 prerelease software (Creative Suite and individual applications)</a>. I figured that it would remove release software, too. I believe that it does, but be sure you know what you doing when you use it. This script runs from the terminal, so it mainly a UNIX shell script that deletes folders and files.</p> <p>I am now back to Illustrator 13.0.0 instead of 13.0.2, but only after more than six hours of uninstalling and re-installing Adobe Creative Suite !</p> <br /> <br /> -Stephen M. James<br /> <a href="http://www.smjdesign.com">www.smjdesign.com</a><br /> <br /> You may view the latest post at<br /> http://www.smjdesign.com/designwell/archives/six-plus-hours-uninstalling-and-re-installing-adobe-creative-suite-3-os-x/Stephen M. Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05407015936572411662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15350227.post-8374227864962892612007-09-19T15:19:00.001-05:002007-09-19T15:19:52.360-05:00Why email isn't sending on iPhone<p>I don’t own an Apple iPhone. I don’t have a need for a smart phone (maps, sending email on my phone, or watching YouTube videos–can you do and still call it a “smart” phone?). I also don’t want to pay for AT&T’s media plan either. And I only use my 20GB iPod in the car. Three of my co-workers own iPhones though, and one asked me to configure it to send email.</p> <p>You would thin, since the only wireless carrier that the Apple iPhone works with is AT&T (albeit the new hacks that have appeared), that they would make the default SMTP server AT&T’s SMTP’s server. However, they didn’t.</p> <p>In <a href="http://www.wireless.att.com/support/knowledgeBase.do?content=KB72769.html">AT&T’s Support KnowledgeBase KB7276</a> it says:</p> <p>AT&T will provide support for sending E-mail using AT&T owned and operated <em>outgoing</em> server addresses:</p> <ul> <li>Former AT&T Wireless customers use “smtp.mymmode.com” (Standard POP/IMAP compatible via port 25 with no SSL.)</li> <li>AT&T customers use “cwmx.com” (Standard POP/IMAP compatible via port 25 with no SSL.)</li> </ul> <p>The configuration and use of any other <em>outgoing</em> server address will not be supported due to several factors including, but not limited to, the inability for the outgoing server to authenticate users (whether by IP or username/password) that are not directly connected to that Internet Service Providers network. This is mainly done to prevent unsolicited users from sending SPAM via the ISPs servers.</p> <p>Problem fixed!</p> <br /> <br /> -Stephen M. James<br /> <a href="http://www.smjdesign.com">www.smjdesign.com</a><br /> <br /> You may view the latest post at<br /> http://www.smjdesign.com/designwell/archives/why-email-isnt-sending-on-iphone/Stephen M. Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05407015936572411662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15350227.post-76615486587668854242007-09-15T14:09:00.001-05:002007-09-15T14:09:09.429-05:00Compatible ink jet cartidges are a great deal<p>Unless you use your ink jet printer for graphic design or photography, you should look into compatible ink cartridges. I have been using compatible ink cartridges for my ink jet printers for over five years now. On some models, manufacturers sell their printer slightly above cost, because they know you will buy their ink jet cartridges in the future, BUT YOU DO NOT HAVE TO!</p> <p>As to the quality, I have found them to slightly inferior. They seem more likely to have banding which can be fixed by a cartridge cleaning. They also may not last as long–if you are archiving. The majority of items I print I do not need to save for three years. I printed all of our wedding invitations with compatible ink jet cartridges, so we will see how those hold up in a few years.</p> <p>I don’t always buy my compatible ink jet cartridges from the same online stores. Since there only a few compatible ink manufactures, you will probably get the same cartridges. I just bought the following compatible ink cartridges from ABCink and SuperMediaStore:</p> <p>Epson Color Photo R220: 12-pack (2 of each) $29<br /> Epson Color Stylus 880: 6 black, 2 Color $35<strong><br /> </strong><br /> Also, you should only buy from places that give you free shipping!</p> <br /> <br /> -Stephen M. James<br /> <a href="http://www.smjdesign.com">www.smjdesign.com</a><br /> <br /> You may view the latest post at<br /> http://www.smjdesign.com/designwell/archives/compatible-ink-jet-cartidges-inkjet-review-epson-canon-hp/Stephen M. Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05407015936572411662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15350227.post-82323193427128274722007-09-06T12:38:00.000-05:002007-09-06T12:39:00.447-05:00Domain and hosting problems and how to prevent them<p>I have had a client choose to register their domain and host their website with AnywhereHost. About two weeks ago, AnywhereHost upgraded their servers and in the last week, they and GoDaddy, their registrar, have been having problems. This makes the client’s website intermittently down. It also has made the client’s email stop working entirely. As you know, email is essential to day-to-day operation at any modern company. Can you trust your email to a $7/month company with personnel that you’ve never met in person. This hosting company, AnyWhereHost has been called multiple times, but they refuse to answer their phone. We have been unable to obtain the domain from them.</p> <p>The best advice to prevent this from happening to you is DO NOT allow a shared hosting service to register YOUR domain for you.</p> <p>I know from experience. Many years ago, I tried to retrieve my domain from a hosting company and spent hours on the phone. It turned out that the hosting company had been bought out and split. I was talking to the part of the company that kept the old name, but had sold out. They still had my records, too, and told me I was their customer until I talked to a manager that knew the situation.</p> <p>Yes, you do need to know something of what you are doing to enter information into a few fields at a third-party registrar, such as Register.com or ItsYourDomain.com. You need to know your host’s name servers and that’s all. You can request those in a simple email to your host. It will cost you $15-$20 a year more to have a third-party registrar, but what is that small amount of money for a domain that you have control of at any moment. If you’re server and/or hosting company goes down, just move it.</p> <p>Also, remember to regularly back up your online site to you local computer in case you cannot contact your hosting service.</p> <br /> <br /> -Stephen M. James<br /> <a href="http://www.smjdesign.com">www.smjdesign.com</a><br /> <br /> You may view the latest post at<br /> http://www.smjdesign.com/designwell/archives/domain-and-hosting-problems-and-how-to-prevent-them/Stephen M. Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05407015936572411662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15350227.post-81888795033254875012007-08-02T20:10:00.001-05:002007-08-02T20:10:18.915-05:00Another hard drive crash--fixed in just an hour<p>Today, I came home to see the dreaded “DISK BOOT FAILURE - INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER” notice from Windows XP. This has already happen recently–a little over a month ago. This time though I knew what I was doing.</p> <p>All my personal data (photos, music, program installation files) are on a separate drive that I then backup every week to an external hard drive. This separates the data from the hard disk that contains the operating system and creates a second copy. Separating the data from the operating system also allows for an easier backup, since the whole drive and be duplicated. I use Retrospect Express that came free with my external hard drive to copy and verify the external drive.</p> <p>Most likely my master boot sector (MBR) became corrupted and so I told the Windows XP installation CD to install a second copy of Windows. This fixes the master boot sector and allow me to boot into the previous version. Walla! The problem is fixed.</p> <p>Now if I could only figure out why the hard drive’s master boot sector become corrupted in the first place. My first thoughts were heat, but then why would only the boot sector be corrupted. If you have any ideas, please post them!</p> <br /> <br /> -Stephen M. James<br /> <a href="http://www.smjdesign.com">www.smjdesign.com</a><br /> <br /> You may view the latest post at<br /> http://www.smjdesign.com/designwell/archives/another-hard-drive-crash-fixed-in-just-an-hour/Stephen M. Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05407015936572411662noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15350227.post-61793677881246118632007-07-25T14:40:00.001-05:002007-07-25T14:40:06.595-05:00Library book lookup from your browser<p>Have you ever seen a book on Amazon or another website and wondered whether your local library had a copy of it?</p> <p>I have to admit as much as I like my library, Indianapolis Marion County Public Library. I do not care for the web interface with it’s URL session ids and timeouts and JavaScript linking! So I try to stay out of the website until I want the book. I saw <a href="http://www.43folders.com/2007/07/10/amazon-library-bookmarklet/">LibraryLookup on 43 Folders</a>. I tried <a href="http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/stories/2002/12/11/librarylookup.html">LibraryLookup</a>, but was annoyed with the ISBN interface. <a href="http://www.bookburro.org/">BookBurro</a> looked promising but it only worked on 20-some library. I’m not a member of any of those libraries.</p> <p>I decided to roll my own Firefox Search Plugin–which is very simple to do. You just have to know the query keywords for your library (such as isbn, keyword, title). The IMCPL is an IPAC system and uses “UTL” for its title keyword. Just drop the finished file in your Firefox/Profile/searchPlugins folder with a “.src” extension, and restart Firefox. That’s all there is to it.<br /> Here is the code for the Indianapolis Marion County Public Library for title searching:</p> <p><search<br /> name=”IMCPL”<br /> method=”GET”<br /> action=”http://catalog.imcpl.org/ipac20/ipac.jsp”<br /> queryCharset=”utf-8″></p> <p><input name=”term” user><br /> <input name=”index” value=”UTL”><br /> <input name=”spp” value=”50″><br /> </search></p> <br /> <br /> -Stephen M. James<br /> <a href="http://www.smjdesign.com">www.smjdesign.com</a><br /> <br /> You may view the latest post at<br /> http://www.smjdesign.com/designwell/archives/library-book-lookup-from-your-browser/Stephen M. Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05407015936572411662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15350227.post-23783118716256663682007-07-24T09:07:00.001-05:002007-07-24T09:07:47.042-05:00DVD Studio Pro stops DVD burn / format<p>Over fifty-percent of the DVDs I burn in DVD Studio Pro 4 (DSP) fail and become coasters, and every fifth or sixth DVD I burn forces me to restart my Dual G5 Mac Pro! The problem is that I have to Force Quit DVD Studio Pro when it is burns or formats the DVD. I wait about five minutes after the status bar has stopped moving. I then force quit DVD Studio Pro with the DVD unable to eject without restarting OS-X. There are ways of ejecting the DVD through holes with paper clips, but I might as well restart my computer than do that. <strong><em>I hate it when Apple thinks they know best </em></strong>by not allowing for an eject button that is on the front of the computer and not software supported via the keyboard. I have the same drive (Pioneer DVR-109) on my PC at home, and do not have this many problems!</p> <p>To burn video DVDs, I’ve switched to the open source burning software, Burn. I’m sure many other programs will work that support the video DVD file system.</p> <p>Since I have switched, I have a 20% coaster rate, and this program verifies the data, too (which as far as I know DSP doesn’t do). Most importantly, I have not had to restart my computer yet! I must mention that I am burning at 4x. I going to guess that the DSP default (and only setting) is to burn at the maximum rate of the drive which is 8X.</p> <p>As a side note, we buy hub-printable white Taiyo-Yuden 8x DVD-Rs from <span class="name"></span><a href="http://www.allmediaoutlet.com/">AllMediaOutlet</a> for all our DVD burning. We also buy silver non-hub-printable Ritek CD-Rs for out CD burning. As far as I know, no one makes hub-printable silver CD-R or DVDs.</p> <p>Are there better consumer DVD-Rs out there?</p> <br /> <br /> -Stephen M. James<br /> <a href="http://www.smjdesign.com">www.smjdesign.com</a><br /> <br /> You may view the latest post at<br /> http://www.smjdesign.com/designwell/archives/dvd-studio-pro-stops-dvd-burn-format/Stephen M. Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05407015936572411662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15350227.post-55942180909809673632007-05-04T11:04:00.000-05:002007-05-04T11:05:00.292-05:00Project managment and timesheet accounting<p>I have used a few project management software packages <a href="http://www.artlogic.net/">ArtLogik</a>, <a href="http://www.aceproject.com/">AceProject</a>, and <a href="http://www.dotproject.net/">dotProject</a> (open source) at my current job and a former job. At my current job, online project management did not last long. Since we are small company of under 10 employees that do not pass projects back and forth often, there is not a great need for the overhead of project management software.</p> <p><strong>Personal Timesheet</strong></p> <p>We use job folders that an archive copy of the project on DVD and time sheets go into. Before tallying the final time sheet that is printed from Excel, I use a <a href="http://www.smjdesign.com/public/timesheet_smjdesign.pdf">personal time sheet</a> that I write on. It is a seven column time sheet with the date, start and end times, a short description, the hours of the task, the comp number (only used for print projects), and a column to check if I have transferred the time to the final time sheet that goes into the job folder.</p> <p><strong>Final Time Sheet </strong></p> <p>The <a href="http://www.smjdesign.com/public/timesheet_final_smjdesign.xlt">final time sheet</a> that is archived with the digital copy of the project files is an Excel template. It has a place for the job number client and project in the heading. The way these three spreadsheet cells are set up that increases productivity is that one can complete the information for all three cells, copy them to the clipboard, and then paste them into the file name of the Excel file. Thus the filename will be .xls and Spotlighting (from OS-X) the correct files in the future will be easy.</p> <p>After the heading, is a list of the tasks with their date, description and total time. Below the task hours that are billed are additional fees that can be charged such comp approvals, ftp approvals, pdf approvals, and DVD approvals. This is all where material costs would be listed. These section has five columns: the date, a description of there service, who the material was sent to, how it was sent, and who said to send it. This level of description allows for a paper trail of who did what and when.</p> <p>I hope that these thoughts and files help you in your project management. How do you do project management in your business? Do you use a paper trail? Track it all online? </p> <br /> <br /> -Stephen M. James<br /> <a href="http://www.smjdesign.com">www.smjdesign.com</a><br /> <br /> You may view the latest post at<br /> http://smjdesign.com/designwell/2007/05/04/project-managment-and-timesheet-accounting/Stephen M. Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05407015936572411662noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15350227.post-79526339278122617102007-05-01T09:24:00.001-05:002007-05-01T09:24:09.782-05:00Make coding easier: CSS, HTML, Javascript<p>I have not tested Dreamweaver CS3, but prior versions of the program do a mediocre job of displaying CSS correctly. For instance, div tags do not always display correctly without inline style tags–which we all know is such a coding faux pas. This has led to a departure from using a WYSIWYG editor and to using the browser to construct webpages. Below are the best aids I have found in debugging and editing webpages in the browser Mozilla FireFox.</p> <p><strong>Suggested extensions for making coding easier</strong></p> <p><a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/60">Web Developer</a></p> <p>The Web Developer FireFox extension was the first FireFox extension I ever installed. It was mid-2004, and I was frustrated with Cascading Style Sheets. I was using CSS, not for the first time, but I was using CSS for margins and padding and widths– all those things we used spacer gifs and tables for back in the web's infancy–for the first time. The sole reason that I would have even paid for this extension was the Outline tab and it's "Outline Block Level Elements." The fact that I could actually know where one element ended and another begin was a godsend. There are many more uses for the plug-in. Almost too many to name here. The highlights that I use (or used to use) regularly are:</p> <ul> <li>Outline and highlight block level elements, deprecated elements, frames, links, and other tag and CSS elements</li> <li>Disable images</li> <li>View the CSS for a particular element by clicking on that element</li> <li>Disable cache and cookies</li> <li>Display various page and screen sizes for testing (what does this site look like on an 800×600?)</li> <li>Disable background images (ever browsed though MySpace, which reminds GeoCities circa 1997)</li> <li>View the CSS for a web page while browsing</li> <li>Edit the CSS style sheet of web page without reloading</li> <li>Validate HTML, CSS, feeds, and links</li> </ul> <p><a href="http://www.getfirebug.com/">Firebug</a></p> <p>I have only mentioned Web Developer first because it was my gateway drug of FireFox extensions. I use Firebug more often now that CSS is even more prevalent then it was in 2004, thus simplifying the HTML and making hand-coding HTML much easier. Firebug focuses solely on the content of a page and doesn't have the browser related features such as disabling the cache or resizing the browser window. It shines when you want to tweak HTML, CSS and JavaScript contained in a page, all on the fly.</p> <p>The way Firebug works is by clicking the "Inspect" button and selecting an element on the page. The HTML and CSS associated with that element is then displayed. The inheritance and overriding of CSS attributes can be seen (hence the cascading in cascading style sheets) and any CSS attributes can be edited or disabled.</p> <p>Firebug helped make my CSS leaner. Before I discovered it, I often ignored the inheritance features of CSS and repeated the same attributes numerous times, since inheritance is an abstraction that is hard to remember without either modeling (which Firebug does) or precise documentation. Firebug shows this inheritance, thus making the relationships between.</p> <p>Firebug will measure and illustrate all the offsets, margins, padding, and sizes for you–similar to what you would have in a WYSIWYG editor. Since offsets, margins, and padding can often overlap, there is a "Layout" tab that allow editing of these qualities and shows their relationships.</p> <p><a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/532">Link Checker</a></p> <p>If you've ever clicked through a large site in order to test all the hyperlinks, you'll find this simple add-on convenient and productive. It will highlight valid and invalid links of a page. Once Link Checker is installed, you'll have to add the toolbar button yourself.</p> <p><a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/539/">Measure It</a></p> <p>You could use the guides in Firebug, but most times, one just wants to quickly estimate the correct margin or padding. This add-on gives the height and width in pixels of a rectangle that can be drawn atop the webpage.</p> <p><a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/271">ColorZilla</a></p> <p>ColorZilla adds an eyedropper tool to the status bar that allows color sampling and copies RGB values (in five different ways) to the clipboard. This means you don't have to go back to Illustrator or PhotoShop to grab RGB values for your CSS.</p> <p><strong>A note about Internet Explorer</strong></p> <p>Unfortunately, the majority of web users browse with Microsoft Internet Explorer and thus testing a site with IE is necessary. At work, I create my websites on an Apple Macintosh and have an old Dell laptop with IE 6 installed to test websites with Internet Explorer. A tool that I have not used extensively, but does help sometimes in debugging under IE is <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2005/09/16/469686.aspx">Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar</a>. </p> <br /> <br /> -Stephen M. James<br /> <a href="http://www.smjdesign.com">www.smjdesign.com</a><br /> <br /> You may view the latest post at<br /> http://smjdesign.com/designwell/2007/05/01/make-coding-easier-css-html-javascript/Stephen M. Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05407015936572411662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15350227.post-45060929247356042332007-04-30T11:09:00.000-05:002007-04-30T11:37:10.584-05:00Multiple CSS increases productivity of hiding and showing with display attribute<p>With the prevalence of DHTML, much less AJAX, I have begun to use separate Cascading Style Sheets for development and publishing. Since styles override each other, the easiest way to accomplish this is to add a second style sheet link after the publishing CSS link and comment it out when one wants to test the page.</p> <p><!--</p> <link xhref="../dev.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />–> <p>"dev.css" contains "display: block;" within all classes that in the publishing CSS contain "display: none;<br /> " much like that below:</p> <p>.profile_box { display: none;} <span style="font-style: italic">(index.css)</span></p> <p>.profile_box { display: block; } <span style="font-style: italic">(dev.css)</span> </p> <br /> <br /> -Stephen M. James<br /> <a href="http://www.smjdesign.com">www.smjdesign.com</a><br /> <br /> You may view the latest post at<br /> http://smjdesign.com/designwell/2007/04/30/multiple-css-increases-productivity-of-hiding-and-showing-with-display-attribute/Stephen M. Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05407015936572411662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15350227.post-1158591562384943412006-10-18T21:55:00.000-05:002006-10-11T13:49:07.646-05:00Flash workflow productivity tips: part 2<span style="font-weight: bold;">PNGs from Adobe Photoshop: Record an action in Photoshop</span><br /><br />Everyone agrees that color (hue, saturation, and brightness) inside Flash is inconsistent with any color space in Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. The closest I can get to the correct color in Flash involves saving all my images into PNG format. This makes sense, because Macromedia Fireworks (Flash's image editing sister) uses PNGs as it's native format.<br /><br />The annoying part of saving all your images that will end up in flash as PNGs is that it's an extra step. An extra step that is made worse by Adobe ignoring the last saved file format ("No, Adobe, we don't want to always save files as PSDs!"), and defaulting back to PSD everytime ones tries to save an image. To aid in that extra step, I recommend recording a action (or macro) in Photoshop to save an image as a PNG. Photoshop doesn't support layered PNGs (you'll have to import your PSDs into Fireworks and use the "Distribute to Layers" Command for that), but for single layer PNGs with transparency a macro is the way to go.<br /><br />Directions for creating this Photoshop Action:<br /><ol><li>Open a new document</li><li>Locate your Action palette in Photoshop</li><li>Press "Create New Action"</li><li>Assign a function key (I recommend F12, since this is similar to publishing in Flash)</li><li>Name the action "Save as PNG"</li><li>Click "Record"</li><li>Click File>>Save As...</li><li>Select PNG from the File Format drop down menu</li><li>Choose a standard location for your PNGs (I recommend "Desktop/PNG/")</li><li>Click "Save"</li><li>Select "Interlace: None"</li><li>Click "Stop Recording" on the Action palette</li></ol>Now you can save your current Photoshop document as a ready for flash PNG with one keystroke!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Place frame ActionScript on is own layer</span><br /><br />Ever get frustated when you come back to a project after a few months and have to change some ActionsScript and you can't find it? I recommend creating separate layers for your ActionScript such as the following:<br /><ul><li>functions_as: for function calls<br /></li><li>button_as: for onRollOuts, onRollOvers, and onReleleases<br /></li><li>stop_as: for stop() and gotoAndPlays</li><li>music_as: for cueing music</li><li>sound_AS: for cueing sound effects<br /></li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Hide mouseovers with another mouseover</span><br /><br />If I have an area that I do not want to be an active mouseover area for a onRollOut, onRollOver, and/or onRelelease, I use a 0% Alpha shape and place it on a layer above. I then apply the following ActionScript to disable, the hand cursor for that area:<br /><br />movieclip_MO.onRollOver = function() {<br /> this.useHandCursor=false;<br />}<br /><br />Now visitors, don't know anything is there!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Creating a mouseover of a different shape than the image</span><br /><br />If your image is square, but you need an irregular mouseover shape, select the area you want for the mouseover in Photoshop, make it a path, and then copy that path via the Clipboard into Illustrator. Then from Illustrstator, you can copy it via the Clipboard into Flash. Now you have a shape in Flash without any drawing in the Flash UI. I usually give my mouseover-only movieclips the extension "_MO".<br /><br /><br />--Stephen M. James<br /><a href="http://www.smjdesign.com/">www.smjdesign.com</a>Stephen M. Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05407015936572411662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15350227.post-1161185674837492042006-10-18T10:34:00.000-05:002006-10-18T10:34:34.843-05:00Free and paid video magazine subscriptionsFree and paid video magazine subscriptions<br /> <br /> <p>About half of the following magzines, you might be able to get for free. I just subscribe to a bunch of them, so I can’t endorse any of them.<br /> Videomaker (really basic, consumer level, but good beginner info)<br /> Cinema Editor (from American Cinema Editors)<br /> Videography<br /> Studio<br /> Video Systems<br /> Dynamic Graphics<br /> Photoshop User<br /> DV (a favorite)<br /> Post<br /> Cinefex<br /> Broadcast Engineering<br /> Film & Video (now only available online)<br /> TVB<br /> Government Video<br /> e-Media</p> <p>Stephen M. James<br /> smjdesign.com </p> <br /> <br /> You may view the latest post at<br /> http://smjdesign.com/designwell/?p=87Stephen M. Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05407015936572411662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15350227.post-1159451704839975182006-09-28T08:36:00.000-05:002006-09-28T08:55:04.936-05:00Illustrator: Align objects without moving one of the objectsSo you have a business card built in Illustrator and you want to center the text on the card. If you select the 3.5" x 2" box and the text box and click "Vertical Align Center" on the Align palette, Illustrator will move each object halfway towards the other object!<br /><br />If you want only to move the text and not the 3.5" x 2" box, you will need to make the 3.5" x 2" box the "key object." To do this, select both objects, then click the 3.5" x 2" box (not a Shift+click though). This will align all the other objects to the "key object" you just clicked.<br /><br /><br />--Stephen M. James<br /><a href="http://www.smjdesign.com/">www.smjdesign.com</a>Stephen M. Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05407015936572411662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15350227.post-1156451278523820782006-08-24T14:53:00.000-05:002006-08-24T15:42:48.136-05:00Final Cut Pro: Keyboard shortcut and neccessitiesMost users of Final Cut Pro for any substantial length of time will likely know all of the following, but if you are just beginning the following is indispensable, especially if you are editing in the presence of your boss or your client that is waiting to tell you directions.<br /><br />There are many more shortcuts than these, but if you don’t know these, you are not being as productive as you could be. I <span style="font-style: italic;">very, very much</span> wish someone had forced me to learn the “JKL”+ “IO” + “F9” workflow when I was editing back in college.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Cueing/logging footage</span><br />I: Mark in<br />O: Mark out<br />J: Reverse (press repeatedly to increase speed)<br />K: Pause<br />L: Forward (press repeatedly to increase speed)<br />F9: Insert from Canvas to Timeline<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Tools on Timeline</span><br />A: Arrow<br />H: Hand<br />B: Blade<br />N: Snapping<br />S: Slip<br />SS: Slide<br />R: Roll (single tracks)<br />RR: Roll (both tracks)<br />T: Select this track, from this point forward<br />TT: Select this track, from this point backward<br />TTT: Select all tracks from this point forward<br />Cmd+A: Select all tracks<br />P: Pen (Adjust sound and opacity on the Timeline Overlays (Opt+W))<br />M: Marker (I don’t mark often though)<br /><br />I used to log footage on paper and log clips via FCP’s Log and Capture window, but with the price and size of hard drives these days. It’s easier to capture all your footage--yes, just let it sit there and eat up your disk space. If you are short on space, then--at the end--use the File>>Media Manager.<br /><br />So once you’ve captured all your footage, add all the usable footage to a Sequence via the “Cueing/logging footage” keyboard shortcuts listed above. You won’t even need to use the mouse--which is always a great benefit. To start your actual timeline, duplicate the rough timeline and start moving your items around, if you need a certain cut, go back to your initial rough timeline and Copy (Cmd+C) and Paste (Cmd+V) it. If you have any additional tips to make an editor’s life easier, please post them.<br /><br /><br />--Stephen M. James<br /><a href="http://www.smjdesign.com/">www.smjdesign.com</a>Stephen M. Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05407015936572411662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15350227.post-1155831288792987912006-08-17T18:11:00.000-05:002006-08-17T11:19:46.430-05:00Lack of an Apple Option [is] Key in buying a computerI use a Mac for 8 hours everyday at work and they have definitely grown on me. Except for the simplicity of Finder (all 3 viewing modes are awful because they are not easily navigated by the keyboard) and lack of 10 million free programs that you can get off the net to run on Windows--I'd say I like it more (that's a big step, btw).<br /><br />So I'm in the market for a new PC and I actually thought about an Apple, but once I realized the options (or lack of), I didn't look back and bought parts for a PC.<br /><br />There are only 3 models of Mac: Mini ($500+), iMac ($1500+), MacPro($2500+). I am a media designer, and I will need 1GB+ to run Photoshop, Flash, and Illustrator at the same time. The only one that can do that (that also doesn't require buying a monitor) is the MacPro which costs five times as much as I'm making my new PC for. I'm only buying a motherboard, 2GB of memory, a mATX case/power supply, and an AM2 processor for $500 from Newegg.com, since I already have hard disks and 2 DVD drives and an LCD monitor.<br /><br />I know that building a PC from scratch is nothing compared to listening to the OS-X installation background music :-), but I'm sure I could get a Dell with enough processing power and upgrade the memory for $150. And anyway why would I need 4 Xeon processors (Mac Pro) if I'm not editing video? My work's dual G5's are fine. I think Apple just wants a pretty profit margin for their top of line system--one that I'm not willing to fill with my money.<br /><br />Sorry, Steve, you need more options.<br /><br />--Stephen M. James<br /><a href="http://www.smjdesign.com/">www.smjdesign.com</a>Stephen M. Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05407015936572411662noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15350227.post-1152545818926548592006-07-10T10:36:00.000-05:002006-07-10T10:36:58.926-05:00Flash: Old Flash Players for testingIt's a little hard to find the download page for the archived players that were previously released by Macromedia. The address has changed due to Adobe buying them, too. Every release is available in a 15MB download.<br /><br />Here is the current address for <a href="http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=tn_14266">Archived Macromedia Flash Players</a>.<br /><br /><br />--Stephen M. James<br /><a href="http://www.smjdesign.com/">www.smjdesign.com</a>Stephen M. Jameshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05407015936572411662noreply@blogger.com0