June is an exciting month for Web Developers. Opera 9.5 has just been released, Firefox 3.0 scheduled for June 17th, and Safari 3.1 out for a little more than a month, we will have new tools to play with as far as development. The only popular browser that is losing in this race is IE with it latest version still in beta.
With these new browsers being released, I wonder if each one is focusing on becoming more compliant with CSS standards and accessibility, not just adding new bells and whistles. Only time will tell.
I usually take a couple of minutes a day catching up on current events, whether it is on new technologies, current events or even funny videos. I recently read an article about "The Most Memorable Web Videos of 2007" by People of the Web Team at Yahoo! news. Americans watched about 100 billion internet videos this year. Imagine that, more viewers than the population of the earth! Then I realized that there must be a reason why so many individuals are able to access this information easily and reliably. The Flash Player.
There has been a tread of sites that are migrating to the use of Flash as their platform of delivery. Is it because it's a light weight foot print, or is it because of its market penetration around the world. With the Flash Player being installed in almost 100% of computers, this makes it one of the highest adopted application in today's technology.
So as you surf the net for the next top story or memorable moment in history, take a second to remember the words of the following video:
I recently had a chance to test out the new version of Captivate. I've got to say it was a pretty decent upgrade, considering the fact that Captivate 2 didn’t even work on Vista Machines.
A couple new features for the new release include XML integration, randomizing quiz questions and a new Rollover Sidelet tool (Additional info is revealed when the user rolls over a specified hotspot). Though I didn’t get a change to play with the XML feature, I will soon enough, the other tool seems to be very useful.
I still was able to crash and burn Captivate, making it frustrating to work with the program for long periods of time. Always save is my motto, even if I don’t follow it all the time.
That time is upon us once again. The yearly Max convention has arrived and I couldn't be more excited. This years location of choice is the windy city of Chicago.
For those of you who aren't familiar with MAX, this convention is a place to geek out with other like minded professionals and gurus. Also, you get a chance to take a peek at the new applications and products that Adobe currently has in the works. And if that isn't enough for you, meet the product teams and ask them why they added or removed certain features from your favorite Adobe products.
The Lumenbrite Team will be there again this year, so maybe I'll see you there. We'll be sporting the new Lumenbrite gear, fancy.
Steve and myself are currently working on establishing an Adobe User Group here in Phoenix area. We hope to get a good number of members to attend this nerd gathering. We hope to showcase new product features, ticks and tips, and have professional gurus share their knowledge to our members.
We will be offering snacks and drinks to all who attend, and an occasional goodies raffle. So check out the new site at www.phxaug.com, and become a member. Feed the brain!!!
For those of you who purchased the new CS3 software bundle and are looking for the ImageReady button within Photoshop, your hunt will be in vain. Adobe has discontinued the robust web graphic creation software, yet Fireworks prevails!
As a long time supporter of "Little Engine that Could", I was afraid that Fireworks would be fazed out without a thank you or good bye. So for those of you who pledge your devotion to this little powerhouse, chalk one up for Fireworks.
Though ImageReady has been deleted, Photoshop has inherited some of its traits. For example, Photoshop has gained a new arsenal of tools like the Slice and Pill Rectangle tool. But not all the functionality has been added. You will no longer be able to create an Image Map by place hotspots on a graphic. To get a complete overview of the new added features, click here.
With the acquisition of Macromedia in full swing for more than a year now, Adobe has been changing a few things hear and there. One that may stand out the most is the name change of the power house program, Breeze.
Adobe Connect, or Breeze, allows training organizations to create interactive training modules on the fly, business entities to meet and collaborate with their clients all over the world without leaving their office, and creation of large scale webinars with user registration, notification, and tracking.
We have seen an increase in training demand in Captivate and Connect Presentation. The need for easy to use tools is growing as Computer Based Trainings (CBTs) is becoming a more popular method of learning. And Adobe is here to lead the way.
Choosing the right color combination can be some what of challenge, especially if you are used to using blue, black and grey.
Adobe Labs has a nifty little tool called Kuler. Kuler is a web-hosted app built in AS3 that allows you to find the perfect color combination to fit that green that you've been dieing to use. Not only can you create your own custom color combination, but take look at other concepts submitted by Adobe users. Who knows, maybe you just might find some inspiration.
To run this app, you'll need to have the latest flash player installed. Click here to get Flash Player 9.
If you ever created a basic two column layout with CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), you’ll notice that unless you statically set your heights they will never match. DIV tags have a tendency to wrap around content, changing it’s height to accommodate. I was recently looking for a solution and stumbled upon a nifty little JavaScript file that takes care of this.
Stephan Mischook’s from killersites.com has a great step-by-step tutorial that guides you through the process of implementing this solution. The only draw back to using this fix or any other js file is that the client can have JavaScript turned off on their browser. In this case, it’s purely cosmetic.
These guys mean serious business when it comes to web design and development. 2Advanced Studios have developed sites for big name companies such as Ford Motor Co. and Nintendo. See what a real "Flasher" looks like.
Lumenbrite Training is proud to sponsor The Rings of Age film festival that will be held at the newly renovated Plaza Theatre in Downtown El Paso. All independent film makers are encouraged to submit their films that focus on the issues of aging adults.
