These days, becoming an ACE (Adobe Certified Expert) can give you a leg up in landing a job, not to mention honing your skills to a finely burnished edge.
To become an ACE you need to pass a closed-book, multiple choice test: you sit in front of a computer screen and answer the questions. The test is administered by Pearson VUE or Thomson Prometric at their testing facilities world-wide.
Pearson VUE: check for locations online at www.pearsonvue.com
Thomson Prometric: check for locations online at www.2test.com
Below the Adobe Flash CS4 ACE Objectives, all the Flash topics that will come up on the ACE test.
To prepare for the test you may be interested in taking our Flash Level 1 class and our Flash Level 2 class (Actionscript). We make sure to go over the ACE Objectives in the class, and we provide resources and sample tests after the class. The classes are described on our web site Multimedia Resource Group http://www.multigroup.com
Self-employed and unemployed people may qualify for a discount for these classes.
Flash CS4ACE Exam Objectives
1.0 Planning and designing Flash applications
1.1 Given a scenario, choose the appropriate type of image asset and explain when and
why you would use that asset type. (Image asset types include: vector, bitmap, SVG)
1.2 Given a requirement based on your audience, determine the appropriate Flash features and options used to meet the needs of your audience. (Audience requirements
include: publishing to AIR, accessibility, player version)
2.0 Creating and managing assets
2.1 Given an option in the Library panel, explain the purpose of and how to use that
option.
2.2 Given a tool, create a shape by using that tool. (Tools include: Deco, Spray Brush, Rectangle Primitive)
2.3 Given a tool, work with an existing asset by using that tool. (Tools include: Transform, 3D Rotation, Bone)
2.4 Given an asset, modify individual properties to achieve specific design requirements. (Design requirements include: advanced text controls including anti-aliasing,stroke control and styling)
2.5 Import external assets into Flash. (External assets include: XFL from InDesign or
After Effects, Photoshop files, Illustrator files, and images)
2.6 Create and manage text fields by using the Text tool.
2.7 Given an asset, convert that asset to a symbol.
2.8 Given a component, explain the purpose of or how to use that component.
2.9 Edit the skin of a component.
3.0 Creating Flash movies
3.1 Create animations by using the Timeline.
3.2 Edit animations by using the Motion Editor.
3.3 Reuse animations by using Motion Presets.
3.4 Incorporate and manage audio and video in your movie.
3.5 Apply filters and effects to Movie Clips and text.
3.6 Manage performance by utilizing bitmap techniques.
3.7 Apply inverse kinematics to objectives by using the Bone tool.
4.0 Programming with ActionScript 3.0
4.1 Given an ActionScript class, create an instance from and work with the properties of that class.
4.2 Given an object-oriented concept, explain the definition of or purpose associated
with that concept. (Object-oriented concepts include: Classes, Interfaces, Inheritance, Polymorphism, and Packages)
4.3 Create custom classes. (Options include: Extending, Subclassing)
4.4 Explain how to use the Document class.
4.5 Load content and data from external sources. (Sources include: XML, SWF, and
remote objects)
5.0 Testing, publishing, and deploying Flash movies
5.1 Recognize effective optimization considerations when testing and debugging Flash
applications.
5.2 Test an application by using the Debugger.
5.3 Given a code snippet, find the error in that code snippet.
5.4 Given a scenario, select the appropriate Publish settings to deploy a Flash movie. (Scenarios include: Web delivery and AIR)
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Overview of the Debugger in Flash CS4
Using the Debugger Overview
Ok, this is not the sexiest Flash topic out there, but I've found very little on this topic when I did a search so I thought I'd make this contribution for the collective benefit of Flashinistas world-wide.
The Debugger in Flash CS4 is a window and set of related tools to help you “debug” or troubleshoot Actionscript code that is not executing properly. Typically to make full use of the Debugger you’ll need to set a breakpoint in your code that tells the Flash player to stop executing your Actionscript at the particular line in your code where the breakpoint is set. Think of it as a tool that allows you to freeze time, or at least the time during which your Actionscript code is executing.
Then using tools in the Debug Window you can very deliberately choose to execute the specific line of code in which the breakpoint is set and then observe what happens. This ability, to step through your code (among other related tools which will be described in greater detail below) line by line can be extremely useful when trying to find the fly in the ointment (or the bug in your code).
Try this simple example:
Create a new file.
Select the keyframe in frame one , open the Actions panel and add the three trace statements, one on each line:
trace(“first”);|
trace(“second ”);
trace(“third ”);
Add a breakpoint by only after before the first trace, clicking to the left of the number 1 (the line numbers that should automatically be generated as you write Actionscript code. A red circle indicating the break point should appear.
Select Debug Movie from the Debug menu to enter the debugging window.
You’ll notice a set of interrelated panels: in the upper left the Debug Console; lower left Variable Panel; The area at the top center display a line (or lines if more than one) where Actionscript was encountered in the file, below that the code for the currently selected frame or a selected external Actionscript file; and the Output panel at the bottom .
You will notice that the string “First” being evaluated from the first trace function has not yet appeared in the Output panel, the reason is the break point stopped the execution of the code just before that line was executed.
In the Debug Console panel in the upper left hand side click on the green “Continue” button which will execute all the code till another break point is encountered. . Note that the evaluation of the trace function now appears in the output panel and all three trace statements appear: “first”, “second”, “third”.
Close the Debug window by either clicking on the large red X in the Debug Console or clicking on the close button for the swf file that was generated when you first choose Debug movie.
Go back to the Flash file and execute Debug Movie again.
This time click on the Step Over button which will cause the debugger to jump to the next line of code and stop. Continue clicking on the Step Over button to step through your code line by line. If there were any variables and properties in your code you can seethem and check their values changing in the Variables panel in the lower left corner.
Note the other two buttons:
Step In will jump to any function or method reference on the current breakpoint line and then step through the code of that function or method a line at a time.
Step Out moves the debugger to the exit point of the current function or method, typically to where the function or method returns a value (if it returns a value.
Mastering the debugger just takes a little knowledge and a bit of practice, and it's on the ACE test!
Ok, this is not the sexiest Flash topic out there, but I've found very little on this topic when I did a search so I thought I'd make this contribution for the collective benefit of Flashinistas world-wide.
The Debugger in Flash CS4 is a window and set of related tools to help you “debug” or troubleshoot Actionscript code that is not executing properly. Typically to make full use of the Debugger you’ll need to set a breakpoint in your code that tells the Flash player to stop executing your Actionscript at the particular line in your code where the breakpoint is set. Think of it as a tool that allows you to freeze time, or at least the time during which your Actionscript code is executing.
Then using tools in the Debug Window you can very deliberately choose to execute the specific line of code in which the breakpoint is set and then observe what happens. This ability, to step through your code (among other related tools which will be described in greater detail below) line by line can be extremely useful when trying to find the fly in the ointment (or the bug in your code).
Try this simple example:
Create a new file.
Select the keyframe in frame one , open the Actions panel and add the three trace statements, one on each line:
trace(“first”);|
trace(“second ”);
trace(“third ”);
Add a breakpoint by only after before the first trace, clicking to the left of the number 1 (the line numbers that should automatically be generated as you write Actionscript code. A red circle indicating the break point should appear.
Select Debug Movie from the Debug menu to enter the debugging window.
You’ll notice a set of interrelated panels: in the upper left the Debug Console; lower left Variable Panel; The area at the top center display a line (or lines if more than one) where Actionscript was encountered in the file, below that the code for the currently selected frame or a selected external Actionscript file; and the Output panel at the bottom .
You will notice that the string “First” being evaluated from the first trace function has not yet appeared in the Output panel, the reason is the break point stopped the execution of the code just before that line was executed.
In the Debug Console panel in the upper left hand side click on the green “Continue” button which will execute all the code till another break point is encountered. . Note that the evaluation of the trace function now appears in the output panel and all three trace statements appear: “first”, “second”, “third”.
Close the Debug window by either clicking on the large red X in the Debug Console or clicking on the close button for the swf file that was generated when you first choose Debug movie.
Go back to the Flash file and execute Debug Movie again.
This time click on the Step Over button which will cause the debugger to jump to the next line of code and stop. Continue clicking on the Step Over button to step through your code line by line. If there were any variables and properties in your code you can seethem and check their values changing in the Variables panel in the lower left corner.
Note the other two buttons:
Step In will jump to any function or method reference on the current breakpoint line and then step through the code of that function or method a line at a time.
Step Out moves the debugger to the exit point of the current function or method, typically to where the function or method returns a value (if it returns a value.
Mastering the debugger just takes a little knowledge and a bit of practice, and it's on the ACE test!
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Top 10 Adobe Creative Suite Keyboard Shortcuts
By popular request, the top 10 Adobe Creative Suite Keyboard (and other) shortcuts allowing you to boost your productivity and impress your friends.
Note: these shortcuts are guaranteed to work with Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign 24/7, 365 days a year, Christmas and holidays included, unless otherwise noted.
10: Copying a graphic or object: select the graphic/object, hold down the alt key (option key on a Mac) and drag;
9: Zooming Out with the Zoom Tool (Magnifiying Glass Tool): hold down the alt key (option key on Mac) and click with the Zoom Tool selected.
8: Displaying a page or document at 100%: A: Hold down the Control Key and the "1" key; or, my favorite, double click on the Zoom Tool (Magnifiying Glass) in the Tool box.
7: Displaying a document within the existing monitor screen (Fit in Window): Hold down the Control Key and the "0" (zero) key on the keyboard or double click on the Hand Tool in the Tool box.
6. Temporarily displaying the hand tool to scroll around the page: hold down the spacebar and click and drag the mouse; let go of the spacebar to return to the previous tool you were using.
5. Hide all panels and toolbars: hold down the Tab key.
4: Hide only the panels on the right hand side of the screen: hold down the Tab and Shift keys.
3: Cycle through the screen modes (Photoshop and Illustrator only) : hold down the F key on the keyboard. (Note: this single-key keyboard short cut is also a "gotcha" one that you can very easily accidentally implement in the normal course of working in Photoshop and Illustrator.) The various screen modes in Photoshop and Illustrator are also accessible by clicking and holding down the mouse on the icon at the bottom of Tool Box. (Gotcha Alert: all the tools in the Tool Box in both Photoshop and Illustrator have single-letter keyboard shortcuts, so if you're not careful you can easily and accidentally trigger one of these shortcuts.)
2: Draw a perfect circle or square (depending on what tool you use) hold down the Shift key and keep it held down while drawing.
And the number one Creative Suite Keyboard Shortcut:
1: To draw a shape or selection from the center out (instead of the default upper left corner): select the desired drawing tool (rectangle, ellipse, etc, or rectangular or elliptical selection tools) hold down the alt key and click and drag the mouse.
Bonus Keyboard Shortcut: Control - Z (Windows; Command -Z on the Macintosh) is Un-Do.
Photoshop has only one level of Un-Do, that is you hit Control Z you go back on step. Illustrator has multiple levels of Un-Do, every time you hit Control Z you go back another step, same with InDesign. However Photoshop has another feature: Step Backward, keyboard shortcut is Alt-Control-Z. Every time you use it you go back another step. This feature ties in with the History Panel in Photoshop (which is sort of a super Un-Do). More on the History Panel in Photoshop later.
Next month: silly (but interesting) Photoshop tricks.
Note: these shortcuts are guaranteed to work with Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign 24/7, 365 days a year, Christmas and holidays included, unless otherwise noted.
10: Copying a graphic or object: select the graphic/object, hold down the alt key (option key on a Mac) and drag;
9: Zooming Out with the Zoom Tool (Magnifiying Glass Tool): hold down the alt key (option key on Mac) and click with the Zoom Tool selected.
8: Displaying a page or document at 100%: A: Hold down the Control Key and the "1" key; or, my favorite, double click on the Zoom Tool (Magnifiying Glass) in the Tool box.
7: Displaying a document within the existing monitor screen (Fit in Window): Hold down the Control Key and the "0" (zero) key on the keyboard or double click on the Hand Tool in the Tool box.
6. Temporarily displaying the hand tool to scroll around the page: hold down the spacebar and click and drag the mouse; let go of the spacebar to return to the previous tool you were using.
5. Hide all panels and toolbars: hold down the Tab key.
4: Hide only the panels on the right hand side of the screen: hold down the Tab and Shift keys.
3: Cycle through the screen modes (Photoshop and Illustrator only) : hold down the F key on the keyboard. (Note: this single-key keyboard short cut is also a "gotcha" one that you can very easily accidentally implement in the normal course of working in Photoshop and Illustrator.) The various screen modes in Photoshop and Illustrator are also accessible by clicking and holding down the mouse on the icon at the bottom of Tool Box. (Gotcha Alert: all the tools in the Tool Box in both Photoshop and Illustrator have single-letter keyboard shortcuts, so if you're not careful you can easily and accidentally trigger one of these shortcuts.)
2: Draw a perfect circle or square (depending on what tool you use) hold down the Shift key and keep it held down while drawing.
And the number one Creative Suite Keyboard Shortcut:
1: To draw a shape or selection from the center out (instead of the default upper left corner): select the desired drawing tool (rectangle, ellipse, etc, or rectangular or elliptical selection tools) hold down the alt key and click and drag the mouse.
Bonus Keyboard Shortcut: Control - Z (Windows; Command -Z on the Macintosh) is Un-Do.
Photoshop has only one level of Un-Do, that is you hit Control Z you go back on step. Illustrator has multiple levels of Un-Do, every time you hit Control Z you go back another step, same with InDesign. However Photoshop has another feature: Step Backward, keyboard shortcut is Alt-Control-Z. Every time you use it you go back another step. This feature ties in with the History Panel in Photoshop (which is sort of a super Un-Do). More on the History Panel in Photoshop later.
Next month: silly (but interesting) Photoshop tricks.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Dreamweaver Training Tips
Below we've listed some of the basic considerations you should be aware of when creating or managing a web site. Keep in mind that it's not absolutely necessary to use Dreamwever but the alternative is essentially hand coding...that is knowing all the technologies involved so well you can write the code yourself.
Static or Dynamic?
Web sites come in two basic "flavors": static or dynamic.
A static web site is one where the content you put on the pages: text, graphics, etc., doesn't change until you change it and update the web site.
A dynamic web site is one where the content changes "dynamically" typically based on user input. Think of Amazon.com, say you're interested in a book but you forgot the title but remember the author's name. You go to Amazon and you type in the author's name and hit "enter". After a second or two a list of all the books by that author appears on the page. That information is typically being pulled onto the page from a database or some other external data file, such as an XML file. (An upcoming post will have more information about how XML files may be used in web sites.)
Dynamic web sites are cool but the techniques and technologies used in them represent a leap above the technologies used in static web sites. If you're interested in dynamic websites you still need to master the techniques and technologies needed to create static web sites. (We hope to post an article soon here on dynamic web site technologies.)
When creating a Dynamic Website typically you also need to pick an application server and scripting language. The reason for this is that pages in dynamic web sites typically have code in it that executes on the server, unlike html pages on static websites. Because the pages are doing more on a dynamic website, you need an application server that knows how to interpret the code that's on the page.
Below a quick reference to other techniques and technologies you will use in creating any web site, whether static or dynamic but don't be intimidated by that, in almost every case Dreamweaver will create the code you need for you and please note that all of them (except creating graphics, which is a separate class) are covered in our Dreamweaver Web Design class: http://www.multigroup.com
Graphics
Dreamweaver (or any other product that allows you to create or manage web sites) does not create graphics. You'll need some other application to create graphics for the web. Again, we're some what biased but Adobe does produce the industry-leading products in this regard, too.
Photoshop, Illustrator and Fireworks can all be used to create graphics for the web. (See our post on Fireworks but keep in mind Photoshop and Illustrator are also great products for creating graphics for the web though if I had to pick one product it would be Fireworks, then Illustrator and then Photoshop.. in my opinion and given my proclivities. (We hope to devout an upcoming post on the differences between Photoshop and Illustrator.)
Both Photoshop and Illustrator have their strengths and weaknesses and in the best of all possible worlds if you're serious about designing for the web and print you would use both.
Graphics formats that are supported on the web are: gif files, jpeg files and png files.
All of the above listed products can output these files.
HTML and XHTML
Web pages are basically html files, each html file is another page. Dreamweaver writes the html for you, strictly speaking no knowledge of html requited but in practice a little knowledge of html helps. (We provide html basics in our Dreamweaver class.)
Keep in mind that html is not a programming language, it's a mark up language and relatively simple to understand and use. Years ago I worked in a publishing company and I would watch the typesetters sitting in front of dedicated computers used only to set type for a magazine.
If they wanted to indicate to the computer that a word should be bold they would put the word inside of a bold tag. When printed by the computer those words would appear bold. Well that's exactly how html works, except it's the browser that makes the words bold when it sees the appropriate html tags around the word.
Note that html was not what was used way back when I worked for the publishing company with the dedicated typesetting machine. However that language was one of the sister languages to html created from SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language).
For More information SGML and how it relates to HTML see the Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGML#Original_uses
XHTML is html's younger brother. For all intents and purposes you can simply think of it as the latest version of html and it is recommended that you use it. (The latest version of Dreamweaver will write xhtml for you by default and there is no practical reason that I can think of why you shouldn't.
For more informaton on XHTML see the Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XHTML
Cascading Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are a required supplemental technology in creating and maintaining web sites these days. (See our blog entry on using CSS to format text.)
We provide substantial information about using CSS both to format web pages and to create layouts with div tags, and you're in luck again because Dreamweaver will write the CSS code for you too, and CSS while not exactly a mark up language is also fairly simple. Here's a sample of CSS code designed to format paragraphs (note the reference to "p") with the Aral font, but keep in mind that Dreamweaver will write the CSS code for you.
p {
font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
}
Javascript
Javascript is another supplemental technology that may or may not be used on web sites today.
One common example of using Javascript on a web page would be to create a rollover effect: the user moves their cursor over a button and it changes (color, size or shape). That's typically done with Javascript. (Note Javascript is not the same as the programming language Java though it is a scripting/programming language... but have no fear-
Dreamweaver comes to the rescue again: it will write and create some of the more frequently used Javascripts for you without you having to write the code yourself, but keep in mind the Javascript that Dreamweaver writes for you is typically created by using the Behavior panel in Dreamweaver and it represents a subset of some of the more frequently used Javascript functions, not the entire universe of Javascript functions.
You can hand code it all if you're proficient with xhtml, CSS and Javascript, (for a static web site, dynamic web sites also require server-side scripting) or you can use Dreamweaver, the swiss army knife of web design.
Any questions about any of the issues raised here please email me at: kdurso@nmultigroup.com
Static or Dynamic?
Web sites come in two basic "flavors": static or dynamic.
A static web site is one where the content you put on the pages: text, graphics, etc., doesn't change until you change it and update the web site.
A dynamic web site is one where the content changes "dynamically" typically based on user input. Think of Amazon.com, say you're interested in a book but you forgot the title but remember the author's name. You go to Amazon and you type in the author's name and hit "enter". After a second or two a list of all the books by that author appears on the page. That information is typically being pulled onto the page from a database or some other external data file, such as an XML file. (An upcoming post will have more information about how XML files may be used in web sites.)
Dynamic web sites are cool but the techniques and technologies used in them represent a leap above the technologies used in static web sites. If you're interested in dynamic websites you still need to master the techniques and technologies needed to create static web sites. (We hope to post an article soon here on dynamic web site technologies.)
When creating a Dynamic Website typically you also need to pick an application server and scripting language. The reason for this is that pages in dynamic web sites typically have code in it that executes on the server, unlike html pages on static websites. Because the pages are doing more on a dynamic website, you need an application server that knows how to interpret the code that's on the page.
Below a quick reference to other techniques and technologies you will use in creating any web site, whether static or dynamic but don't be intimidated by that, in almost every case Dreamweaver will create the code you need for you and please note that all of them (except creating graphics, which is a separate class) are covered in our Dreamweaver Web Design class: http://www.multigroup.com
Graphics
Dreamweaver (or any other product that allows you to create or manage web sites) does not create graphics. You'll need some other application to create graphics for the web. Again, we're some what biased but Adobe does produce the industry-leading products in this regard, too.
Photoshop, Illustrator and Fireworks can all be used to create graphics for the web. (See our post on Fireworks but keep in mind Photoshop and Illustrator are also great products for creating graphics for the web though if I had to pick one product it would be Fireworks, then Illustrator and then Photoshop.. in my opinion and given my proclivities. (We hope to devout an upcoming post on the differences between Photoshop and Illustrator.)
Both Photoshop and Illustrator have their strengths and weaknesses and in the best of all possible worlds if you're serious about designing for the web and print you would use both.
Graphics formats that are supported on the web are: gif files, jpeg files and png files.
All of the above listed products can output these files.
HTML and XHTML
Web pages are basically html files, each html file is another page. Dreamweaver writes the html for you, strictly speaking no knowledge of html requited but in practice a little knowledge of html helps. (We provide html basics in our Dreamweaver class.)
Keep in mind that html is not a programming language, it's a mark up language and relatively simple to understand and use. Years ago I worked in a publishing company and I would watch the typesetters sitting in front of dedicated computers used only to set type for a magazine.
If they wanted to indicate to the computer that a word should be bold they would put the word inside of a bold tag. When printed by the computer those words would appear bold. Well that's exactly how html works, except it's the browser that makes the words bold when it sees the appropriate html tags around the word.
Note that html was not what was used way back when I worked for the publishing company with the dedicated typesetting machine. However that language was one of the sister languages to html created from SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language).
For More information SGML and how it relates to HTML see the Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGML#Original_uses
XHTML is html's younger brother. For all intents and purposes you can simply think of it as the latest version of html and it is recommended that you use it. (The latest version of Dreamweaver will write xhtml for you by default and there is no practical reason that I can think of why you shouldn't.
For more informaton on XHTML see the Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XHTML
Cascading Style Sheets
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are a required supplemental technology in creating and maintaining web sites these days. (See our blog entry on using CSS to format text.)
We provide substantial information about using CSS both to format web pages and to create layouts with div tags, and you're in luck again because Dreamweaver will write the CSS code for you too, and CSS while not exactly a mark up language is also fairly simple. Here's a sample of CSS code designed to format paragraphs (note the reference to "p") with the Aral font, but keep in mind that Dreamweaver will write the CSS code for you.
p {
font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
}
Javascript
Javascript is another supplemental technology that may or may not be used on web sites today.
One common example of using Javascript on a web page would be to create a rollover effect: the user moves their cursor over a button and it changes (color, size or shape). That's typically done with Javascript. (Note Javascript is not the same as the programming language Java though it is a scripting/programming language... but have no fear-
Dreamweaver comes to the rescue again: it will write and create some of the more frequently used Javascripts for you without you having to write the code yourself, but keep in mind the Javascript that Dreamweaver writes for you is typically created by using the Behavior panel in Dreamweaver and it represents a subset of some of the more frequently used Javascript functions, not the entire universe of Javascript functions.
You can hand code it all if you're proficient with xhtml, CSS and Javascript, (for a static web site, dynamic web sites also require server-side scripting) or you can use Dreamweaver, the swiss army knife of web design.
Any questions about any of the issues raised here please email me at: kdurso@nmultigroup.com
Friday, January 18, 2008
Photoshop, Illustrator or...Fireworks
We see a lot of people taking web design classes at our Adobe authorized training center the Multimedia Resource Group
that are confused. They want to use Dreamweaver to create their websites, a great product and the number one product on the market for creating and managing websites, but it doesn't create graphics. Their confusion: Photoshop or Illustrator...which one should they learn first if they are primarily interested in creating graphics for a web site?
I usually surprise them by saying if they don't yet know either of those two great products (both of which can be used to create graphics for the web) I'd recommend Fireworks... Adobe Fireworks.
Usually this evokes a quizzical expression on the person's face. Chances are they've never heard of Fireworks or perhaps heard of it but don't know much about it. I then go on and explain: Fireworks was a product that Macromedia developed to create graphics for the web. That's all, just graphics for the web. They had bundled it with Dreamweaver. It's a great product that combines aspects of both Photoshop (bitmap/rastor graphic editing) and Illustrator (vector graphic creation). It exports gif, jpeg and png files, all of which can be used on the web.
And, just like Photoshop and Illustrator, Fireworks allows you to "slice" a layout, in other words exporting the pieces of the layout as individual graphics like a jigsaw puzzle, and exporting out the html file, taking those "pieces" (the slices, the exported graphics) and putting them back together for you in a web page (an html file). Which you can then open up in Dreamweaver to continue working.
Photoshop and Illustrator are great products with lots of bells and whistles for creating graphics for print and the web. Fireworks was created specifically to allow you to create and optimize graphics just for the web.
If you just need to create graphics for a web site, and you don't already know Photoshop or Illustrator, you owe it to yourself to check out Macromedia, oops... I mean Adobe Fireworks.
A one-stop solution to your web graphic needs.
that are confused. They want to use Dreamweaver to create their websites, a great product and the number one product on the market for creating and managing websites, but it doesn't create graphics. Their confusion: Photoshop or Illustrator...which one should they learn first if they are primarily interested in creating graphics for a web site?
I usually surprise them by saying if they don't yet know either of those two great products (both of which can be used to create graphics for the web) I'd recommend Fireworks... Adobe Fireworks.
Usually this evokes a quizzical expression on the person's face. Chances are they've never heard of Fireworks or perhaps heard of it but don't know much about it. I then go on and explain: Fireworks was a product that Macromedia developed to create graphics for the web. That's all, just graphics for the web. They had bundled it with Dreamweaver. It's a great product that combines aspects of both Photoshop (bitmap/rastor graphic editing) and Illustrator (vector graphic creation). It exports gif, jpeg and png files, all of which can be used on the web.
And, just like Photoshop and Illustrator, Fireworks allows you to "slice" a layout, in other words exporting the pieces of the layout as individual graphics like a jigsaw puzzle, and exporting out the html file, taking those "pieces" (the slices, the exported graphics) and putting them back together for you in a web page (an html file). Which you can then open up in Dreamweaver to continue working.
Photoshop and Illustrator are great products with lots of bells and whistles for creating graphics for print and the web. Fireworks was created specifically to allow you to create and optimize graphics just for the web.
If you just need to create graphics for a web site, and you don't already know Photoshop or Illustrator, you owe it to yourself to check out Macromedia, oops... I mean Adobe Fireworks.
A one-stop solution to your web graphic needs.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Why You Need to Use Cascading Style Sheets on Your Web Site, Part I
Many people take our Dreamweaver class expecting to learn how to use Dreamweaver to create or edit a website. What they often don't realize is that they also need to learn Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) , too. Fortunately we provide significant information about CSS in our Dreamweaver class in addition to a new class just on CSS that we'll be offering in early 2008.
Why do you need to use CSS when creating a website? Well, one very basic reason, without CSS you would be using the html font tag to format text, what's wrong with that? The font tag is officially "deprecated" by the w3c, the World Wide Web consortium that controls and mandates standards for the web,. (http://www.w3.org/). "Deprecated" means it's on its way out, that some time in the future a browser is going to come out that does not support the font tag. In other words if you create a website today that uses the font tag to format text (choosing a typeface, a color, a size, etc.) it should be fine...for now, but what happens when a new browser appears that doesn't support it? All the text on your site will appear using default attributes not they way you intended it to look.
So using CSS now is recommended to avoid that problem, but that begs the question "Why is the font tag deprecated?" Or, put another way..."Why the big push to use CSS?"
In short, two reasons: one, CSS makes updating and maintaining your site a whole lot easier than using the font tag. Imagine if you need to change the color or typeface of the all the paragraphs in your site, using the font tag you'd have to go to every instance of it and change it, not just on one page but on every page of your site. On any medium to large site, this would be a long and tedious job.
With CSS, chances are that you'll make one quick change to change the color, typeface and size of all your paragraphs throughout your entire site.
The second reason to use CSS is that it there are loads of typographic controls that you have when using CSS that you just don't have when using html. For instance, line spacing (or "leading" as it's called by typographers), it's just not an option in html, but it is in CSS.
Also, CSS allows you to separate the content of your web site from the formatting/presentation of your site, which allows for the same content (the text, graphics,etc) to be layed out completely differently just be switching CSS files. This is a bit more advanced than just using CSS for formatting text, as we've mentioned previously, and I will discuss this issue further in an upcoming post.
For now, just remember using CSS for formatting text on your web site is THE way to go for ease of use, saving time and adding typographic control unavailable in html, but for those with a sentimental streak or html antiquarians remember there is still the forlorn, deprecated font tag still out there and still supported by all major browsers...for now.
Why do you need to use CSS when creating a website? Well, one very basic reason, without CSS you would be using the html font tag to format text, what's wrong with that? The font tag is officially "deprecated" by the w3c, the World Wide Web consortium that controls and mandates standards for the web,. (http://www.w3.org/). "Deprecated" means it's on its way out, that some time in the future a browser is going to come out that does not support the font tag. In other words if you create a website today that uses the font tag to format text (choosing a typeface, a color, a size, etc.) it should be fine...for now, but what happens when a new browser appears that doesn't support it? All the text on your site will appear using default attributes not they way you intended it to look.
So using CSS now is recommended to avoid that problem, but that begs the question "Why is the font tag deprecated?" Or, put another way..."Why the big push to use CSS?"
In short, two reasons: one, CSS makes updating and maintaining your site a whole lot easier than using the font tag. Imagine if you need to change the color or typeface of the all the paragraphs in your site, using the font tag you'd have to go to every instance of it and change it, not just on one page but on every page of your site. On any medium to large site, this would be a long and tedious job.
With CSS, chances are that you'll make one quick change to change the color, typeface and size of all your paragraphs throughout your entire site.
The second reason to use CSS is that it there are loads of typographic controls that you have when using CSS that you just don't have when using html. For instance, line spacing (or "leading" as it's called by typographers), it's just not an option in html, but it is in CSS.
Also, CSS allows you to separate the content of your web site from the formatting/presentation of your site, which allows for the same content (the text, graphics,etc) to be layed out completely differently just be switching CSS files. This is a bit more advanced than just using CSS for formatting text, as we've mentioned previously, and I will discuss this issue further in an upcoming post.
For now, just remember using CSS for formatting text on your web site is THE way to go for ease of use, saving time and adding typographic control unavailable in html, but for those with a sentimental streak or html antiquarians remember there is still the forlorn, deprecated font tag still out there and still supported by all major browsers...for now.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
SmartSketch Lives! (Inside of Flash)
A long time ago (1993) , in a place far, far away (San Diego, California) there lived a small company called FutureWave Software. They produced a software program named SmartSketch a vector-based drawing program and at one time the number one drawing program on the Macintosh in Japan.
SmartSketch had all kinds of "friendly" features, very different from the dominant drawing program of the day, Adobe Illustrator.
In 1995 they decided to add animation to vector drawing and released FutureSplash Animator, a program for creating animations on the web. Soon after, Macromedia acquired FutureWave and in a victory for the Society of Short Syllabic Words changed the name to Flash.
Macromedia however didn't release SmartSketch under the Macromedia banner, they had already acquired Freehand, another vector-based drawing program which competed with Illustrator and saw no need to muddy the market further... but don't despair, SmartSketch still lives!
Even though Macromedia, and now Adobe, have tweaked it, the guts of the drawing program in Flash today is still essentially SmartSketch. If you've used the drawing program in Flash you know what I mean: the" intelligence" behind the pencil tool options: "straighten", "smooth" and "ink"; the "knocking out" and joining together of graphics, the "natural drawing" tools, that's all from SmartSketch now playing nicely and in the same family as the program it once tried to rebel against, Illustrator.
People coming to Flash with no Illustrator experience enjoy working with it once they get the hang of it; Illustrator users may complain a bit, but additions to the Flash drawing program, the Pen tool, for instance, make Illustrator user's feel a bit more at home, still it's different enough to be a bit of a pain for hard core Illustrator power users and certainly it's not as powerful.
Illustrator user may want to skip it: these days with better integration between Flash CS3 and Illustrator CS3, there's less need to use the drawing program in Flash, just create in Illustrator and import into Flash.
More on that some other time.
If you're not an Illustrator aficionado yet you may just want to stick with SmartSketch, otherwise known as the drawing program inside of Flash.
SmartSketch had all kinds of "friendly" features, very different from the dominant drawing program of the day, Adobe Illustrator.
In 1995 they decided to add animation to vector drawing and released FutureSplash Animator, a program for creating animations on the web. Soon after, Macromedia acquired FutureWave and in a victory for the Society of Short Syllabic Words changed the name to Flash.
Macromedia however didn't release SmartSketch under the Macromedia banner, they had already acquired Freehand, another vector-based drawing program which competed with Illustrator and saw no need to muddy the market further... but don't despair, SmartSketch still lives!
Even though Macromedia, and now Adobe, have tweaked it, the guts of the drawing program in Flash today is still essentially SmartSketch. If you've used the drawing program in Flash you know what I mean: the" intelligence" behind the pencil tool options: "straighten", "smooth" and "ink"; the "knocking out" and joining together of graphics, the "natural drawing" tools, that's all from SmartSketch now playing nicely and in the same family as the program it once tried to rebel against, Illustrator.
People coming to Flash with no Illustrator experience enjoy working with it once they get the hang of it; Illustrator users may complain a bit, but additions to the Flash drawing program, the Pen tool, for instance, make Illustrator user's feel a bit more at home, still it's different enough to be a bit of a pain for hard core Illustrator power users and certainly it's not as powerful.
Illustrator user may want to skip it: these days with better integration between Flash CS3 and Illustrator CS3, there's less need to use the drawing program in Flash, just create in Illustrator and import into Flash.
More on that some other time.
If you're not an Illustrator aficionado yet you may just want to stick with SmartSketch, otherwise known as the drawing program inside of Flash.
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