http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Design/Software A listing of the most recently indexed works about Design and Software in the field of technical communication. en-us Copyright (c) 2005-08 by the EServer. All rights reserved. tclib-editorial@eserver.org (TC Library Editorial Board) webmaster@eserver.org (Geoffrey Sauer) http://tc.eserver.org/images/newlogo.gif http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Design/Software http://tc.eserver.org/35741.html http://tc.eserver.org/35741.html I am working on a number of website projects right now. My mission is to banish ‘lorem ipsum’ by working text into page designs before development starts. I wanted to find a tool that would let me create page mockups quickly and try out different combinations of copy and layout. Eventually, I settled on Balsamiq Mockups, which is an awesome tool. The rest of this article describes the different alternatives I considered and concludes with a detailed review of Balsamiq. http://tc.eserver.org/35742.html http://tc.eserver.org/35742.html The Pencil Project's unique mission is to build a free and open-source tool for making diagrams and GUI prototyping that everyone can use. http://tc.eserver.org/35706.html http://tc.eserver.org/35706.html For a database administrator, DBM (database management) tools make tasks related to maintaining relational databases efficient and fast. Prior to the popularity of these tools, most DBA’s had to use the command line to create, edit, and delete databases. In this article, we present to you the top five most popular/most voted for database management tools. http://tc.eserver.org/35649.html http://tc.eserver.org/35649.html For the last 6 months, I have been using Microsoft Expression Blend as my primary design tool. Blend, shown in Figure 1, is quickly becoming a powerful product. Its new Sketchflow module had me at hello. http://tc.eserver.org/35539.html http://tc.eserver.org/35539.html New FrameMaker documents have default Master Pages. Single-sided documents have one, called "Right," and double-sided documents have two, called "Left" and "Right." We use these pages to place the objects we want to repeat on all the Body Pages, things like our running heads, page numbers and repeating graphics. But what do you do when you need a different look for a Body Page, on a repeating basis? For example, no page number on the opening page of each chapter? You set up a custom master page. Here's how. http://tc.eserver.org/35457.html http://tc.eserver.org/35457.html Most people who have designed websites or apps in Photoshop will, at one point or another, have had issues trying to match colors in images to colors generated by HTML, CSS or code. This article aims to solve those problems once and for all. http://tc.eserver.org/35149.html http://tc.eserver.org/35149.html Working with InDesign is interesting. On the one hand, it’s not really a tool built for technical writers. It’s intended for people laying out magazines, brochures, other heavily designed print matter. As such, some things can be confusing. Cross references, figure references, a table of contents — get ready to search the help to figure these out. On the other hand, the power of the InDesign is somewhat captivating. You’re only limited by your own ignorance. http://tc.eserver.org/35059.html http://tc.eserver.org/35059.html The two most well-known XSLT processors are probably the Apache project's Xalan (available in both a Java and C++ version) and the Java-based Saxon, which was written by XSLT 2.0 specification editor Michael Kay. If those are the only two XSLT processors you currently use, it's worth checking out Daniel Veillard's libxslt. http://tc.eserver.org/34766.html http://tc.eserver.org/34766.html The official Adobe Reference guide is available online and in PDF form. While not exactly a “quick” reference guide, it is essential for anyone who uses Photoshop professionally. http://tc.eserver.org/34735.html http://tc.eserver.org/34735.html There’s simply no way to learn InDesign (or any other major application) all at once. If you’re a frustrated newcomer to InDesign, or even if you’ve been using it for some time and want to expand your knowledge, here’s a suggestion: Set aside about 15-20 minutes every day to learn the basics of one feature. It doesn’t really matter what that feature is. http://tc.eserver.org/34335.html http://tc.eserver.org/34335.html This generator will create a fluid or fixed width floated column layout, with up to 3 columns and with header and footer. Values can be specified in either pixels, ems or percentages. http://tc.eserver.org/34336.html http://tc.eserver.org/34336.html This web-based service will develop a CSS file (with appropriate resets) for a multi-column web design to suit your preferences. http://tc.eserver.org/34337.html http://tc.eserver.org/34337.html Given how hard it is for students (and their programs) to afford the expensive tools in our profession, I thought it might help to pass along these alternatives to commercial products. I think anyone breaking into the field (or a new type of tool) would do very well to train up on these open source tools and create portfolio pieces with them. http://tc.eserver.org/34330.html http://tc.eserver.org/34330.html I decided to simplify the DITA publishing process for myself by building a Windows interface to Ant. Ant was developed to allow programmers to write a simple build file in an XML format, and then process that XML file with the Ant build software. http://tc.eserver.org/34331.html http://tc.eserver.org/34331.html This procedure is used to modify the DITA Open Toolkit build files to allow an external map file reference and alias strings to be added to the HTML Help Project file before building, as part of the transformation to Microsoft HTML Help (CHM) format. http://tc.eserver.org/34312.html http://tc.eserver.org/34312.html Unless you’re a one person web shop with no team to collaborate with, you’ve experienced the frustration that goes along with file sharing. No matter how hard you try, when multiple people are working on a single project without a version control system in place things get chaotic. In this article, I’ll give you a quick review of Git, an excellent version control system. http://tc.eserver.org/34313.html http://tc.eserver.org/34313.html Git, though remarkably handy and powerful, is also remarkably hard to use sometimes. Though you can learn the basics easily enough, it can be really tough to dig yourself out of certain corners if you don’t understand what’s going on under the covers. This page provides links to documents, how-tos, cheat sheets, tips, and tricks related to learning and using git. http://tc.eserver.org/33905.html http://tc.eserver.org/33905.html Advances in word processing technology now enable people to author simple documents in an interface they are familiar with. They no longer need to know a lot about markup, the schema in use, or be distracted by other concerns than writing what they want to write. This simpler interface, built upon a Microsoft "Smart Doc" solution provides support for authors who are focused on the content they are writing rather than the markup that describes it. At the same time, the author is producing valid XML that can be routed for review and approval, used for multi-channel delivery, or reused by other authors in the enterprise. Several scenarios of how such an authoring/management system could be used to solve business challenges are described. http://tc.eserver.org/33761.html http://tc.eserver.org/33761.html XML editors have traditionally been modeled after the first SGML editor written in 1985, a long time before creating, managing, and distributing structured information was well understood. Now, nearly 20 years later, there are more choices for users interested in creating structured information. Specifically, this presentation discusses alternatives that include Web-based distributed collaborative XML document creation, "tag-free" tools, non-formatting structured editors, and even using common office tools in creating your XML documents. http://tc.eserver.org/33421.html http://tc.eserver.org/33421.html Debates about Microsoft Word vs. Adobe Framemaker appear with regular frequency on the tech-writing mailing lists I am subscribed to. Everyone agrees Frame is an awesome publishing tool. Yet, everyone keeps cribbing about it. So, why does a bright bunch of people who are masters at figuring out stuff, otherwise known as tech-writers, only hesitatingly agree Frame is “kind of great”? I think it’s mostly because Frame is so difficult to use. http://tc.eserver.org/32874.html http://tc.eserver.org/32874.html Dreamweaver allows developers to be prompted when inserting certain web elements that may need accessibility attributes added to them. Unfortunately, these options are disabled in the preferences by default.ImportantBy default, the accessibility options are disabled in Dreamweaver MX. Once selected, Dreamweaver will display a prompt for accessibility features when each of the identified elements are inserted into a document. http://tc.eserver.org/32875.html http://tc.eserver.org/32875.html When designing with FrontPage, some basic accessibility features must be added manually. Despite some of these shortcomings, it is definitely possible to create accessible web pages in FrontPage, often without leaving the WYSIWYG environment. http://tc.eserver.org/32641.html http://tc.eserver.org/32641.html Photoshop. Fireworks. If you’re a serious web designer (and not using the GIMP) you’re going to be using one or the other. But which is best? http://tc.eserver.org/32652.html http://tc.eserver.org/32652.html Django is an open-source Web framework, written in Python, that allows you to easily and rapidly develop interactive, data-centric web applications. It came into being when two Web developers—Adrian Holovaty and Simon Willison—in Kansas, after moving their newspaper’s website from PHP to Python, found themselves repeatedly solving similar problems. They decided to extract the common functionality and released the resulting framework in 2005. http://tc.eserver.org/32265.html http://tc.eserver.org/32265.html More accessible documents through authoring tool supports. Exploit mainstream tools for easier information retrieval and document manipulation. http://tc.eserver.org/32044.html http://tc.eserver.org/32044.html Conditional-CSS allows you to write maintainable CSS with conditional logic to target specific CSS statements at both individual browsers and groups of browsers. http://tc.eserver.org/32071.html http://tc.eserver.org/32071.html This tutorial will teach you how to quickly create a 'grunge' effect for your photos using ONLY Photoshop. And while you might not need a grunge image, it will show you how to create a vector mask which will give you a tool to create numerous effects easily. http://tc.eserver.org/31951.html http://tc.eserver.org/31951.html There’s no question that developers need version control when working on an app. But what about designers? In this article Chris Nagele, founder of Beanstalk, talks about the benefits and basics of Subversion for designers. http://tc.eserver.org/31753.html http://tc.eserver.org/31753.html What distinguishes the underlying strategies of Adobe InDesign from QuarkXPress is the absence or presence of a content management system (CMS). And each company asserts that it’s following the less-traveled road. The problem is they’re both taking roads most traveled because of their respective stances towards integrated content management systems, and I’ll show you how after looking at their respective strategies. http://tc.eserver.org/31473.html http://tc.eserver.org/31473.html New conferencing and collaboration solutions are being announced at the pace of one or more tools per week. New versions and upgrades are promoted even more frequently, and in this avalanche of "this is the best, don't look anywhere else" claims, it is hard to distinguish the good from the average. How should you select your web conferencing tool? Which companies are more reliable and how do you find out? How can you be sure you will not be disappointed? These are tough questions to answer, as there are a million vendors out there and an army of supposed experts all claiming to have the best solution while offering different ones. http://tc.eserver.org/31187.html http://tc.eserver.org/31187.html Defining a site is one of the more complicated procedures in Dreamweaver, so do not attempt this process unless you have some time, patience, and knowledge of how to transfer files to your server space. http://tc.eserver.org/31159.html http://tc.eserver.org/31159.html Thanks to my Google News Alert service, I recently discovered some on-demand XML Editors supporing DITA. While Salesforce democratized software on-demand in the CRM market, I am still perplexed on the future of on-demand pure play software. So let's see first what makes on-demand software, also known as Saas (Software as a Service), so attractive nowadays. I see five compelling reasons. http://tc.eserver.org/31149.html http://tc.eserver.org/31149.html Wer kennt das Problem nicht? Aus einem riesigen Dokument wurde ein PDF erzeugt. Nun muss es auch noch für den Druck aufbereitet werden. Dafür fehlen aber die Druck- und Schnittmarken. Acrobat 7 hilft hier aus der Patsche. http://tc.eserver.org/31151.html http://tc.eserver.org/31151.html Mit dieser Technik steht Ihnen eine einfache Methode zur Verfügung, Webseiten oder einzelne Bereiche eines Webs downzuloaden und als PDF zu speichern. http://tc.eserver.org/31133.html http://tc.eserver.org/31133.html InDesign is Adobe's replacement for the aging PageMaker application. In many ways, InDesign is very similar to PageMaker, but there are differences that can throw an experienced PageMaker user for a loop (albeit briefly). In this tutorial you will set up a simple layout and master page. http://tc.eserver.org/31097.html http://tc.eserver.org/31097.html Tables make information easy to find and understand and are often used for illustrating comparisons among similar data. A table usually consists of a heading row and one or more body rows and may also contain a title. http://tc.eserver.org/30821.html http://tc.eserver.org/30821.html The Stomper Scrutinizer is a webkit based browser that includes a simulation of human foveal and peripheral vision. By providing a realistic distortion of non-focused page content, the Scrutinizer reveals the perceptability of design features. It is also useful for conducting usability tests, design reviews, and has a number of features (including screenshots) for talking about design. http://tc.eserver.org/30787.html http://tc.eserver.org/30787.html HTML Indexer is a commercial stand-alone indexing tool that is designed solely for the indexing of web sites. This article shows how to extend the functionality of HTML Indexer by including special codes in the entries, then post-processing the generated HTML to obtain final HTML. http://tc.eserver.org/30526.html http://tc.eserver.org/30526.html Un weblog / magazine avec les techniques de conception graphique avec le logiciel Adobe Photoshop. http://tc.eserver.org/30382.html http://tc.eserver.org/30382.html Recent research focusing on a minimalist approach to computer software documentation has explored ways to design computer software tutorials and workbooks for users with an active learning style. The principles of minimalism and active learning styles, however, are less frequently applied to traditional reference manuals. This paper reviews several elements of minimalism and suggests ways to apply strategies for active learners to traditional reference manuals. http://tc.eserver.org/30192.html http://tc.eserver.org/30192.html Customize how Acrobat works for you by building and using batch sequences. The beauty of a batch sequence is that you can modify or run it as you like. http://tc.eserver.org/30107.html http://tc.eserver.org/30107.html In Google's search results, and in the results of most other search engines, the listings of most PDF files appear at best unprofessional, and at worst, downright embarrassing. http://tc.eserver.org/30110.html http://tc.eserver.org/30110.html Most PDF files do not include bookmarks. This is a pity, because they are so easy to add, and because the real-world usability of longer PDF files suffers significantly by their absence. And there's no shortage of tools for creating and managing bookmarks, as this product survey article explains. http://tc.eserver.org/30108.html http://tc.eserver.org/30108.html Demonstrates and explains a collection of handy tips dealing with various tools and features of Adobe Acrobat. http://tc.eserver.org/30105.html http://tc.eserver.org/30105.html New office document standards like the OpenDocument Format(ODF) and Office Open XML (OOXML), however, are making office document integration in business processes a reality. A key benefit of ODF and OOXML for developers is the reuse of existing standards. http://tc.eserver.org/30074.html http://tc.eserver.org/30074.html When faced with having to respond to increased demands for online documentation using outdated tools, the technical writing staff of Hughes Network Systems (HNS) realized the need for a whole suite of state-of-the art tools and techniques. The challenge lay in convincing management to spend the time and money to acquire them. By coupling an understanding of their own needs as well as those of their customers with an appreciation for the HNS corporate culture, the writers were able to effect a strategy that guaranteed success. http://tc.eserver.org/29936.html http://tc.eserver.org/29936.html If you are posting your PDF document to a web site, you'll generally want to upload a clean copy that will streamline the viewing experience for your site visitors. This tip outlines a quick way to remove unnecessary annotations, widgets, JavaScript, links, bookmarks and attachments, along with optimizing your documents for fast web viewing. http://tc.eserver.org/29937.html http://tc.eserver.org/29937.html When you receive a PDF that contains, say, an image that is surrounded by text, how do you highlight the image? One way is to export the graphic to an imaging application such as Photoshop, but that involves additional applications and the associated loading times. A great 'quick and dirty' fix here is to use the 'Crop' tool to hide the content that surrounds the image, leaving you with PDF which displays only an image, just the way you wanted it. This tip explains how. http://tc.eserver.org/29931.html http://tc.eserver.org/29931.html While Acrobat comes pre-loaded with a selection of stamps, including 'Approved', 'Declined' and 'Accepted', users can also create custom stamps of such things as company logos for use on their PDF documents. Complex or graphically rich stamps can be created or prepared in imaging applications before being added to Acrobat's selection. This tip explains how to create a custom stamp using an existing file. http://tc.eserver.org/29934.html http://tc.eserver.org/29934.html Using Acrobat, PDF has been established as a popular and user-friendly medium for collaborative workflows. Not only can you add sticky notes or highlight text, you can even draw polygonal or freehand annotations. This tip explains how. http://tc.eserver.org/29933.html http://tc.eserver.org/29933.html Adobe Acrobat allows users to configure the opening settings of PDF documents to display them in full screen mode. It's as effective as a PowerPoint display and very easy to accomplish. This tip explains how. http://tc.eserver.org/29932.html http://tc.eserver.org/29932.html Are you looking to remove all distractions to read your PDF content? Perhaps you just want to remove all distractions so that you can skim through your PDF document before signing off on it and sending it off? This tip explains how to reduce on-screen clutter in Acrobat to allow you to focus your attention completely on the content. http://tc.eserver.org/29319.html http://tc.eserver.org/29319.html Dreamweaver's Layers let you position images, text, movies and more with the same drag-and-drop ease print designers enjoy. Here's how to use them. http://tc.eserver.org/29314.html http://tc.eserver.org/29314.html It's next to impossible for one person to know the ins and outs of every single facet of Photoshop. With that in mind, we present three video tutorials to plug a variety of holes in your Photoshop knowledge. http://tc.eserver.org/29311.html http://tc.eserver.org/29311.html Every avid chef has little gizmos and gadgets, designed for specific tasks, that find their way to the back of a drawer and are then forgotten. Like those special tools, the Pathfinder commands in InDesign are often forgotten or considered too sophisticated for non-artistic types. Yet they can slice and dice and combine paths in unique ways that add vastly to the repertoire of the InDesign chef. Added to InDesign's other ways to mix up text and graphics, Pathfinder can help you further push the creative edge. http://tc.eserver.org/29313.html http://tc.eserver.org/29313.html With a few free tools from software companies and other users, you can carve out more time for what you really love -- creativity. http://tc.eserver.org/28737.html http://tc.eserver.org/28737.html FrameMaker seems to be Adobe's best-kept secret. A tremendously powerful desktop-publishing program, FrameMaker has been ritually ignored by reviewers who instead concentrate on the big three DTP apps: QuarkXPress, InDesign, and PageMaker. Adobe positioned FrameMaker as a niche 'word-processing' product appropriate only for long-document production. http://tc.eserver.org/28736.html http://tc.eserver.org/28736.html In Adobe FrameMaker, it is necessary to use special keyboard combinations to insert special typographic characters in your work. You can find an extensive list of special characters in FrameMaker's online help. You also can paste in special characters from Word or HTML. http://tc.eserver.org/28523.html http://tc.eserver.org/28523.html Step 1. Clean up any blemishes or distracting marks in the illustration. Make it as perfect a B & W illustration as you can. Make sure the contrast, sharpness and clarity are uniform throughout. Step 2. You will have sharply clear demarcations of tone which are easy and you will have areas where the tones between parts are quite similar and therefore more difficult. Start by using the Keep-Color brush to preserve everything you do not wish to color. Carefully outline each element with your chosen color being sure there are no unwanted gaps. Where there is no demarcation between tones, you should outline each color as precisely as you can. Also, the original may have lines separating the sleeve from the jacket for example. Cover that line with the Keep-Color brush and put a line of your chosen color closely beside each side of the line. Step 3. Press the run button (green arrow) and be amazed when your B & W illustration pops into color just as you ordered. Press the green check mark , the AKVIS window closes and the changes are applied to your original graphic. Save your new image immediately." http://tc.eserver.org/28488.html http://tc.eserver.org/28488.html Whether you're creating a personal page for your family, a school or classroom web site, or one for your small business, Dreamweaver is a powerful tool that will help get the job done. Each Dreamweaver tutorial features text and screen shots, and some include narrated multimedia tutorials in Flash. http://tc.eserver.org/28455.html http://tc.eserver.org/28455.html This tutorial teaches CSS using both hand-coding and Style Master for Windows. You can also follow it using instructions for Style Master for Mac OS X. By working through the exercises you will learn all about CSS for text styling and page appearance including layout, and create a stylish looking page like this. If you want to learn CSS by hand-coding alone, simply work through all the exercises and code examples and skip all the specially styled Style Master instructions. http://tc.eserver.org/28202.html http://tc.eserver.org/28202.html This page contains a listing of twenty-four links to technical illustration tutorials and how-to articles for illustrators using draw software, especially CorelDraw. http://tc.eserver.org/28187.html http://tc.eserver.org/28187.html One of the more tedious and error-prone processes in technical writing is that of collaborative document review. Even when documents are shared electronically, keeping track of comments, suggestions, and changes contributed by multiple team members can be exasperating. Too often errors due to collaborative review lead to delays, missed deadlines, misunderstandings and an inaccurate final document. http://tc.eserver.org/28141.html http://tc.eserver.org/28141.html This is a simple tutorial on how you can make a statue from a portrait with Photoshop. It is highly recommended if you're using a close up portrait of a woman/man. http://tc.eserver.org/28069.html http://tc.eserver.org/28069.html During a recent development effort, one of our clients was alarmed at the conversion costs of the proposed XML-based content management system compared to the existing MS Word-based process. This was just one instance of an alarming trend of balking at XML-based systems in favor of using public web folders, indexed by some full-text search engine, as part of a local intranet. In the short run, these edit, drop, and index solutions have some appealing features, including low development and conversion costs. But they are short-lived systems that either wither from lack of functionality or rapidly outgrow their design. http://tc.eserver.org/28056.html http://tc.eserver.org/28056.html In Photoshop CS2, many of the shortcuts for the application menus, palette menus and tools can be customized using the Keyboard Shortcuts editor. Although this document mentions some of the more common editable shortcuts, it also provides additional functionality only accessible through using keyboard modifiers which can't be changed through the Keyboard Shortcut editor. Although this is not a completely comprehensive list of all of the keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop CS2, it is my goal to present the shortcuts and additional functionality that enable me to use Photoshop CS2 both more freely and efficiently. http://tc.eserver.org/28063.html http://tc.eserver.org/28063.html Ever forget the exact location of a menu command in InDesign? You can use this tip to make your menu commands easier to locate. http://tc.eserver.org/28057.html http://tc.eserver.org/28057.html Automating repetitive tasks in Photoshop can increase productivity as well as save time and money. Almost any command (or set of commands) in Photoshop can be recorded into an action to be applied repetitively to a single file or across multiple file. The most basic action will execute one command such as resizing an image or displaying a dialog box. More complex actions can execute multiple commands automating more elaborate tasks. When used with the Batch command and/or Droplets, these actions can be applied to multiple files at once, enabling Photoshop to do repetitive tasks more quickly than even the best-trained Photoshop user! When repetitive tasks in a more involved workflow need to be carried out between applications, then AppleScript, Visual Basic, or JavaScript can be used to create scripts which work with Photoshop. In the case of conditional logic (a fancy way of saying 'Make a decision!') when an action needs to be applied to some files but not others, JavaScript files can be written to fulfill this need. One word of caution when first trying to conquer actions - run them on duplicate files, leaving your pre- cious originals unaltered. As you become more Action savvy, you can kick off those training wheels, and batch away! http://tc.eserver.org/28062.html http://tc.eserver.org/28062.html You can use InDesign's compound paths and transparency features to create a recessed text compartment in an image. http://tc.eserver.org/28059.html http://tc.eserver.org/28059.html There are a number of ways in which you can use drag and drop to get content in and out of InDesign. http://tc.eserver.org/28060.html http://tc.eserver.org/28060.html If you're used to other layout applications, you may be unaware of all the things you can do with ruler guides in InDesign. If you use guides in your work, read on. http://tc.eserver.org/28064.html http://tc.eserver.org/28064.html InDesign shares a feature with Illustrator that enables you to select a color stop in a gradient and replace it by clicking on a color swatch in the swatches palette. http://tc.eserver.org/28058.html http://tc.eserver.org/28058.html The frame grid feature enables you to use multiple baseline grids on your pages. http://tc.eserver.org/28061.html http://tc.eserver.org/28061.html Ever been copyfitting and wished there was a quick way to kern word spacing but leave letterspacing alone? There is. http://tc.eserver.org/28006.html http://tc.eserver.org/28006.html More and more people are working with texts and documents in XML format. With the increasing popularity of XML, the number of XML editors is also increasing and it can be difficult to choose the editor that best suits a particular user or task. The aim of this Information Paper is to provide an introduction to different features XML editors can have and the extent to which these features are implemented in various editors. It also presents the result of an evaluation exercise where different user groups tried a number of the editors. http://tc.eserver.org/27951.html http://tc.eserver.org/27951.html So you know all about reading and parsing XML files, and even checking if they're well-formed and valid. Now, take a step into more advanced territory with this expose of two objects that let you dynamically create well-formed XML documents in your ASP.NET scripts. http://tc.eserver.org/27656.html http://tc.eserver.org/27656.html At the 2004 WritersUA and STC Conferences, structured FrameMaker and XML were among the more popular session topics. There is obviously significant interest in the user assistance community about authoring XML documents with structured FrameMaker. This is not surprising, as many organizations are struggling with the problems of creating and delivering increasing amounts of user assistance in multiple formats, and managing their content in a way that maximizes their capabilities to reuse content across multiple publications. http://tc.eserver.org/27595.html http://tc.eserver.org/27595.html This page provides some answers to the question 'What resources would you recommend for someone moving from unstructured Frame to Frame+DITA?' Carla Martinek, Translation Coordinator/Editor, started making this list in response to a CMS question on the FrameMaker+DITA listserv, and thought it would be worth sharing. http://tc.eserver.org/27592.html http://tc.eserver.org/27592.html Presentation software has been stuck in neutral forever. Web applications, however, are firing on all cylinders. Some say Word and Excel are about to be Web 2.0 roadkill. Not me. The browser can’t yet substitute for those applications. But for PowerPoint? Any day now. http://tc.eserver.org/27575.html http://tc.eserver.org/27575.html Your requirements document needs to focus on the user’s goals. They should not be marketing’s list of features 'we’ve got to have' because the competition has these features. They should not be a list of things the programmers think ought to be included 'because we can add those things for very little cost.' Feature bloat does not benefit the user. http://tc.eserver.org/27554.html http://tc.eserver.org/27554.html If you ever create multi page layouts such as brochures, newsletters or booklets there is an application that is made for you. InDesign, which can be purchased as a stand alone product or as part of the Adobe Creative Suite, has many, many tools for streamlining the process of setting up and working on these types of projects. In this article we will look at what InDesign is for and highlight some of the features that set it apart from other applications. http://tc.eserver.org/27556.html http://tc.eserver.org/27556.html Not everybody likes working in code view, indeed I would guess that many folks purchase Dreamweaver just so they don't have to work in code view. In this article we will look at how you can insert DIV tags into your code, precisely. We will do this from Dreamweaver's design view by making good use of the insert div tag function that can be found on the insert bar. http://tc.eserver.org/27483.html http://tc.eserver.org/27483.html Web accessibility evaluation tools are software programs or online services that help determine if a Web site meets accessibility guidelines. While Web accessibility evaluation tools can significantly reduce the time and effort to evaluate Web sites, no tool can automatically determine the accessibility of Web sites. http://tc.eserver.org/27428.html http://tc.eserver.org/27428.html Shows how to create a stroke layer style in Photoshop CS2 to quickly add a custom border to your photos. http://tc.eserver.org/27430.html http://tc.eserver.org/27430.html Shows how to simulate a depth of field effect using a filter. http://tc.eserver.org/27426.html http://tc.eserver.org/27426.html Shows how to find the exact center point of your Photoshop document. http://tc.eserver.org/27431.html http://tc.eserver.org/27431.html Use an Adjustment Layer to easily change a color in your photo, and then quickly change it back if things don’t work out. http://tc.eserver.org/27440.html http://tc.eserver.org/27440.html 'Step-and-repeat' is the term used for the process of duplicating an object and spacing or transforming the duplicates sequentially. http://tc.eserver.org/27232.html http://tc.eserver.org/27232.html Objects in the drawing layer are visible in Page Layout (Print Layout) view and Print Preview but not in Normal view. Interestingly, a frame is a sort of hybrid object that can appear to float (and text can be wrapped around it), but it is actually inline and can be viewed (though not in position) in Normal view. http://tc.eserver.org/27213.html http://tc.eserver.org/27213.html Word's draw layer is a metaphysical space where floating objects reside. It really isn't a layer, since floating objects can be sent behind the text layer or brought out in front of it. Either way, they continue to reside in the draw layer. http://tc.eserver.org/27183.html http://tc.eserver.org/27183.html The natural tendency of most users of word processing applications is to create a document and use it as a model for future documents. That is, you format a letter the way you want all (or most) of your letters to look, save it, and then, when you want to write a letter, open this document and save it under another name as the starting point for your letter. In WordPerfect, until recently, this was the only way to create a template. Word uses a different approach. http://tc.eserver.org/27157.html http://tc.eserver.org/27157.html Macromedia Flash is spreading rapidly across the Internet and many web designers and developers believe Flash, as it is commonly called, is the future of Internet design. The use of Flash includes moving graphics, sounds, motion, and interactivity. These are great from a graphics standpoint although the areas most important to web surfers are content, speed and simple navigation. 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Then, I want to drag over it so that the B&W blend into color. Basically, a nice transition from no color to colorized. http://tc.eserver.org/26865.html http://tc.eserver.org/26865.html Although collage is an old art form, tools such as Photoshop CS2 give it a new twist. You don't need to get out paint, brushes, scissors, and glue to make art. Instead, everything you need is on your computer. With a handful of photos, Photoshop, and the desire to experiment, you're well on your way to creating collage art. Helen Bradley gives the how-to's for creating a collage in Photoshop by using photos and other techniques, and how to use some design and Photoshop tricks to make sure the result is balanced and pleasing to the eye. http://tc.eserver.org/26867.html http://tc.eserver.org/26867.html A very frequently asked question in Photoshop 911 is putting text into a circle or a shape. A number of readers have asked how to put text into a shape so it runs around pictures. This is all doable so long as you remember the rules of putting text on a path. http://tc.eserver.org/26866.html http://tc.eserver.org/26866.html Don't be satisfied with boring rectangular photos! Thanks to Photoshop, you can use simple techniques to create amazing edge effects and cool artistic borders that can add the ultimate finishing touch to your photos. Dave Cross shows you how easy it is to create many different variations from three key techniques. http://tc.eserver.org/26559.html http://tc.eserver.org/26559.html Find out how to use Adobe's single line and paragraph composer, hyphenation settings and other typographical controls. http://tc.eserver.org/26558.html http://tc.eserver.org/26558.html Familiarize yourself with QuarkXPress 6.x work area. http://tc.eserver.org/26560.html http://tc.eserver.org/26560.html Sometimes when making PDFs from InDesign, white outlines appear around graphics. Here's why and how to solve it. http://tc.eserver.org/26565.html http://tc.eserver.org/26565.html Spend any time with Visio and you'll find yourself wondering how glue works. In the real world, it's pretty straightforward: put glue between two things and they'll stick. Although glue is used for sticking shapes together in Visio, the metaphor ends there. http://tc.eserver.org/26511.html http://tc.eserver.org/26511.html This is a quick rundown of the Print with Preview function of Photoshop. While it is not a complete guide, it will satisfy the most common needs for the non-designer or the in-house designer. While this article is not meant to explain the Print Preview in all of its details, it will shed light on the most important ones. http://tc.eserver.org/26477.html http://tc.eserver.org/26477.html U ovom jednostavnom tutorialu naučiće∫ kako da pomocu photoshopa napravi∫ jedan ovakav efekat na nekoj fotografiji. http://tc.eserver.org/26478.html http://tc.eserver.org/26478.html Jedan kratki tutorial na bosanskom jeziku, a moze i hrvatskom jebiga. http://tc.eserver.org/26467.html http://tc.eserver.org/26467.html This InDesign class will give you the basics on which you can then develop further skills and become proficient at using this powerful layout program. Further articles will be written to develop some subjects that might need to be taken more in-depth. http://tc.eserver.org/26468.html http://tc.eserver.org/26468.html Have you ever wondered why, no matter how much time you spend trying to find an option for it in QuarkXPress, you just cannot get that picture to print the way you want it? Be happy, or may be not, because it is not that you are overlooking the right options in the program. The option just does not exist in all versions of QuarkXPress prior to version 6. http://tc.eserver.org/26365.html http://tc.eserver.org/26365.html This paper outlines the requirements for console accessibility in Microsoft Windows XP. http://tc.eserver.org/26371.html http://tc.eserver.org/26371.html Learn about the advantages of, as well as common tools for creating customizable sounds. http://tc.eserver.org/26344.html http://tc.eserver.org/26344.html D:Photoshop strives to be a well-written source of news, information and techniques for intermediate and advanced users of Photoshop. Users who have a few years of Photoshop experience and a good grasp of its basic tools and tactics will benefit from this ongoing source of production techniques, step-by-step tutorials, reviews of upcoming Photoshop-related products and industry news. There are four sections to D:Photoshop: Techniques, which includes articles on specific Photoshop tools and techniques and how they affect an image. Tutorials, which include step-by-step applications of Photoshop tools and techniques that can unlock your productivity and capabilities in real-world production situations. Reviews, thorough commentary on the Photoshop products hitting the market this moment, including books, videos and other media, hardware and software. News on current events in the Photoshop industry. http://tc.eserver.org/26326.html http://tc.eserver.org/26326.html It's ironic that the process of exporting a document from Word to HTML would have the effect of breaking the web page in Internet Explorer only. It's also pretty darned annoying. http://tc.eserver.org/26317.html http://tc.eserver.org/26317.html A detailed article on using the HTML Tidy utility to clear up problems in an HTML file. http://tc.eserver.org/26220.html http://tc.eserver.org/26220.html The accessibility toolbar is to aid the manual process in validating web sites. Developed by AIS and provided in Europe and the UK by Southbourne Internet Ltd. http://tc.eserver.org/26212.html http://tc.eserver.org/26212.html The documentation conversion tool market is relatively new, but several vendors have established reputations in the market. http://tc.eserver.org/26016.html http://tc.eserver.org/26016.html If you approach InDesign as you did your former page layout application, you may be missing out on some features that will make your life easier. http://tc.eserver.org/26015.html http://tc.eserver.org/26015.html Consistency is one of the principles that designer must follow. Style Sheets help the designer so he doesn't have to apply manaully the same type of formatting over and over again thrughout the document. Let me give you an example. You are designing a magazine promoting a certain item. You want to have all of your titles with a certain font, a certain size and a certain colour. You can record all of these information in a Style Sheet and then apply them to each title with a click. Now, let's say that you decide that the titles are two small and they all have to be made 4 points bigger. Well, you just go to your Style Sheet and modify the size of your font there and all of the parts of text with that Style Sheet will change in one go. This tutorial is for users of QuarkXPress 5 and 6. If you want to know how to create Style Sheets in QuarkXPress 4 follow the instructions for QuarkXPress version 5. http://tc.eserver.org/26011.html http://tc.eserver.org/26011.html Character Style Sheets can be real time savers for designers especially in the creation of long or multi-page documents. Character Style Sheets are simply recorded format that you can then use in your design at will. Consistency is one of the principles that designers must follow. Character Sheets help the designer so he doesn't have to apply manually the same type of formatting over and over again throughout the document. http://tc.eserver.org/26008.html http://tc.eserver.org/26008.html Line art and stencils from a bitmap? Tough question. If it's line art you're looking for, convert the bitmaps to grayscale, then use the Brightness / Contrast adjustment layers to 'homogenize' your image and clean up edges. http://tc.eserver.org/26004.html http://tc.eserver.org/26004.html Mixing vector and photo is one of the hottest trends in the illustration industry today. We've seen this effect used in national ad campaigns from Anheuser-Busch to Hawaiian Tropic. In this tutorial, we’ll take a look at how to create this effect in Illustrator. Before you begin, keep in mind that you can download the Illustrator source fi le used in this column. http://tc.eserver.org/25960.html http://tc.eserver.org/25960.html Putting type on a path is not a new concept. However, Adobe InDesign CS adds a new twist to it. Not only can you put type on a path, but you can also link from path to path to have one continuous text flow. In this tutorial we’ll use this technique to replicate Apple’s new AirPort Express ad. http://tc.eserver.org/25958.html http://tc.eserver.org/25958.html With this tutorial you will learn how to use InDesign's Paragraph Palette. Here is an explanation of most of InDesign's Paragrah Palette's functions which should arm you with enough knowledge to do most design tasks you might need to do while laying out a design document. http://tc.eserver.org/25961.html http://tc.eserver.org/25961.html Templates are a core tool in Dreamweaver--and one that's gaining in importance and use. Many designers employ templates at the most basic level to ramp up their production efforts; however, an equal number of designers now avoid them because incorrect setup and application left a bad taste. 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