OpenSWF

OpenSWF.org is the source for information on the Flash File Format. Here you will find file format specifications, sample code, links to 3rd party tools and more.

OpenSWF. Resources>Web Design>Software>Flash

Precisely Positioning DIV Tags in Your Page From Design View

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.

Senior, Adrian. Community MX (2006). Design>Web Design>Software>Dreamweaver

Repent from Flash Sins

If I see another goofy Flash interface I am going to scream. Please do not take my prior statement as rejection of everything Flash. I love Flash. I think Macromedia Flash is a wonderful tool with wonderful potential. But along the way, we have a lot of learning to do.

Kennedy, Tim. Streaming Media World (2000). Design>Web Design>Software>Flash

Results From a Survey of Web Prototyping Tools Usage

In June 2002 GUUUI conducted a survey on web prototyping tools usage. The purpose of the survey was to find out what tools are used for prototyping, what requirements interaction designers have for their tools, and how happy they are with the tools they are using. This article presents the results of this survey.

Olsen, Henrik. GUUUI (2002). Design>Web Design>Software

Serving Up Web-Friendly Animations in a Flash: Macromedia Flash Basics

You've undoubtedly heard of Macromedia's Director and have oohed and ahhed over Shockwave movies on the web after, of course, they finally finished downloading. Flash, however, may be less familiar. The May release of Macromedia Flash 2, formerly FutureSplash, marked a new phase in web animation -- one that streams. Working with Flash will enable you to create sophisticated frame by frame animations that stream and include sound. Flash movies require a plug-in; however, you can export your final flash files in one of 12 other formats, including GIF89. So if you're of the anti-plugin crowd, don't hit your back button yet. Besides, if you're relatively sure your audience is using a 'new' browser, then they'll likely have the Shockwave plug-in built in (once both browsers 4.0 are out, that is).

Cowen, Amy. WebRef (1997). Design>Web Design>Software>Flash

Site Building With Dreamweaver's Power Tools: Templates

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. The benefits of templates far outweigh the time required to master them and it's definitely worth understanding how to do them right.

Lowery, Joseph. Layers Magazine (2005). Design>Web Design>Software>Dreamweaver

Sizing PDFs for Posting Online

What is the preferred maximum target file size for PDFs that will be accessed online by average users?

Miller, James. PDFzone (2003). Design>Web Design>Software>Adobe Acrobat

So Many Tools — So Little Time: Selecting the Right Online Tool  

There is a systematic and methodical approach to picking an online authoring tool. First, define the online requirements. Once this is done, match the available online technology to your online requirements. Finally, prototype using a number of different tools.

Kuse, Donna L. STC Proceedings (1996). Design>Web Design>Software>Dreamweaver

Software for Building a Full-Featured Discipline-Based Web Portal

The University of Wisconsin-Madison's Internet Scout Project [1] received funding in the fall of 2000 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation [2] to build an open source software package that would allow collection developers to share their collection's metadata via the web. The resulting software, the Scout Portal Toolkit (SPT), is virtually turnkey, very inexpensive to maintain and operate, and easy for non-technical staff to download, set up and populate with metadata. Conforming to international standards for metadata, data harvesting, and Web technology makes SPT useful for and usable by a wide variety of projects and organizations, allowing and encouraging collaboration and record sharing among projects. Over the SPT project's two-year period, beta testers and in-house quality assurance testing provided valuable feedback, helping to ensure that the software was robust, easy to use, and well-suited to the needs of the intended audience.

Almasy, Edward, David Sleasman and Rachael Bower. D-Lib Magazine (2002). Articles>Web Design>Content Management>Software

Source Code Made Easy

The new source code features in Adobe® GoLive® CSmake it easy to enhance the appearance of source code and specific HTML elements.

Adobe (2003). Design>Web Design>Software>Adobe GoLive

The Speechlet Project

Speechlet is a system which allows blind students of the Java programming language to use existing course material. Most Java courses use program examples that generate graphic output. The main reason for this is that students enjoy writing programs that produce interesting and exciting outputs. However, a blind student is unable to see the output of their program and is unable to even gauge that their program has worked. Speechlet was therefore produced to allow a blind student to move the mouse pointer over the screen and hear a spoken description of what is there. This paper discusses the reasons for the development of Speechlet, followed by a description of its operation and finally a discussion of its use in practise.

Mullier, D.J. TechDis (2003). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Software

A Standards-Compliant Publishing Tool for the Rest of Us?

Publishing with web standards is not for experts alone. A new tool hopes to make it easier for anyone. ALA interviews Six Apart’s Anil Dash about what might be the first standards-compliant web publishing tool for the rest of us.

Dash, Anil. List Apart, A (2003). Articles>Web Design>Software

The Stomper Scrutinizer: Web Browser w/Visual Simulation  

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.

Andy Edmonds. StomperNet (2007). Resources>Software>Accessibility>Web Design

Subversion for Designers

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.

Nagele, Chris. Vitamin (2008). Articles>Web Design>Collaboration>Software

SWFnews

A site with news about new products and techniques for Flash development.

SWFnews (1997). Resources>Web Design>Software>Flash

To Dream, Weave, or Read The Front Page?

What You See Is What You Get Editors (referred to as WYSIWYG editors from here after) are programs that have been written specifically to aid in the development of Websites and their components, I say components as in this day and age database management and script setup have major parts to play within the editors. In the next ten minutes you will realise that WYSIWYG editors are not the way to go.

Harrop, Jamie. DevBay (2005). Articles>Web Design>Software>Dreamweaver

The Trellix 1.0 Development Project

An overview of the history of the project that helped us come up with the ideas presented in Good Documents.

Bricklin, Dan. Good Documents (1998). Articles>Web Design>Software

Una Perspectiva Global de Flash

Salta a la vista que Flash en la web tiene muchos problemas de usabilidad y accesibilidad pero hay que juzgarlo por lo que es, y no por el buen o mal uso que se hace de él. Antes de poner mala cara ante todo lo que huele a Flash, como hacen muchos desarrolladores, hay que ver la herramienta desde un punto de vista global, con más perspectiva.

Garcia, Joaquin Marti. 7bytes (2003). (Spanish) Design>Web Design>Software>Flash

User Style Sheet Wizard

This is a simple 'wizard tool' to create a User Style Sheet. These can be extremely useful for students with visual impairments, scotopic senstivity or visual processing difficulties such as some forms of dyslexia. User Style Sheets are a client-side application of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), they can be used to overide the presentation of HTML based web pages. They can be extremely powerful in enforcing the way in which the user desires a web page to be presented. You can set option of text font, size and colour. The font colour of hyperlinks etc. The user style sheets can be used in Internet Explorer, Opera and Mozilla.

TechDis (2003). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Software

Using Opera to Check for Accessibility

There are a lot of tools available to check your Web content for accessibility. Some tools are Web-based (such as WAVE 3.0). Other tools are stand-alone software products that you install on your hard drive. One tool that you may have overlooked is the Opera Web browser. Opera is not an accessibility validator—it's a Web browser—but it can act like an accessibility validator if you know how to use it that way. In fact, it's one of the best available. This article explains why.

WebAIM (2003). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Software

Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools: Overview

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.

Abou-Zahra, Shadi. W3C. Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Software

Web Accessibility Toolbar  

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.

Southbourne Internet Ltd. (2004). Design>Accessibility>Software>Web Browsers

Web Indexing: Extending the Functionality of HTML Indexer

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.

Unwalla, Mike. TechScribe (2006). Articles>Web Design>Indexing>Software