How To Gurus Blog

Image File Size and Resolution

2009-12-04T14:11:00.000-08:00

Hi I just viewed the image size-resolution portion of your cs2 video and I can't figure out

why one of my images is 2900x2900 and the other is
about 2500x2700

the large one is 3.30 MB
and the other is 700 KB

why such a big difference in doc size?

I would like to learn more about this.

Mike

Hi Mike,

Hi Mike,

The two main things that control image file size are image size (size of image on page) and image resolution (number of pixels per inch). My guess is that your 3.30MB file is at 300 pixels per inch and your 700KB file is at 72 pixels per inch.

Also, everything else being equal, the image mode will also impact file size, RGB has 3 data points per pixel and CMYK has 4 data points, so at the same image size and resolution a CMYK image will have a larger file size than a RGB file.

Also different file types will have different file sizes, for example the Photoshop format (PSD) is uncompressed where as the JPEG file format is compressed, so at the same image size and resolution a PSD file will be much larger than a JPEG file. The main file types you will probably be encountering in Photoshop are PSD, BMP, TIF (all uncompressed) and GIF, JPG (JPEG), and PNG (all compressed - much smaller file sizes).

You can see the file type and image mode in the header of the image window, it will show you the file name, the zoom percentage and the image mode. You can see the resolution by going to the Image Menu and clicking on Image Size. The top of the box shows you the image size (usually in Pixels, number of pixels per inch) and the bottom of the box shows you the size on the page and the resolution. The higher the resolution, the more pixels per inch, and the larger the file size. Changing the resolution will not change the size on the page, but it will impact the file size (and quality of the image if you go to a lower resolution). My personal preference is to work on a image in PSD format at 300 pixels per inch, then convert the image to JPG or GIF compressed to a lower resolution for use on our disks or the internet. If I am creating an image for use in print I leave it at 300 pixels per inch.

George Peirson
How To Gurus

For the best computer training please visit
www.howtogurus.com

Using forms on a Yahoo web site

2009-02-05T12:47:00.000-08:00

Hi George Peirson,
I bought "How to Gurus" DVD training for Adobe Dreamweaver CS3, and I have
been learning a lot from them. Thank you for you good job.
I have a question about forms. I didn't't find answer from Yahoo about
what kind of script I can use to my e-mail form. They said, "I am sorry but
Yahoo! Web Hosting does not provide assistance for advanced PHP, Perl
scripts." Perhaps I didn't't make my self clear to them, but I follow your
advise in the DVD to find how they deal with forms. I would like to know
if you can help me about this.
Thank you very much,
C.S.

Hi C.S., Yahoo uses their own system for such things as email forms.

Here is where I found it in our Yahoo website (could be slightly different
for you depending on the Yahoo service you purchased):

Go to your Web Hosting Control Panel
Click on the Create & Update tab
In the Add-Ons section you should see Visitor Feedback Tools.
One of the Visitor Feedback Tools is Email Forms
Use either their Sample Email Form 1 or Sample Email Form 2 to add a form to
your web page
You can then use one of their web tools, like PageBuilder, or you can
use Dreamweaver to modify the form by adding or deleting form fields.
If you use Dreamweaver you will need to set up Dreamweaver to access your
Yahoo account.
By using one of the Sample Forms you will get the correct coding to run the
form on your web site, then just edit the form as needed.
The form software is built into the Yahoo server, so you don't need to worry
about that.

George

2009-01-10T10:06:00.000-08:00

Q. Do the so called "gurus" who advertise systems that can give you a guarnateed #1 Google position in 1-3 months really work, or are these just bs?

A.
It takes at least 6 months to even show up on Google, usually a year or more to get a good position using all of the tricks. I have never seen a site go to #1 in Google in 1-3 months. Their are some services who advertise fast listing, one to try is ineedhits.com.

As far as what works in my experience:

Most important is your email list, we get most of our email addresses from sales on eBay, Amazon, and our other outlets. With an email list you can do some direct marketing. But even with that our email campaigns are just bonus income, they never come close to the income we get from our regular sales outlets.

Articles are very successful on helping your Google position. But they need to be well written and you need to submit them all over the place. I write several articles a year and submit them to about 20 article distributing sites. The way these work is if the article is interesting enough people will put the article on their site and with the link back to your site at the end of the article it will create those needed back links.

What I have found more successful though is using internal links and making sure you use the correct alt tags in your document. Google seemed to like internal links as much as external links. But, I say seemed to since Google changed their algorithm at the beginning of the year and it is back to square one on figuring out what is going to work this year. Last year I had the #1 position for the search term Photoshop Tutorial Training, our web site home page was optimized for that. As soon as Google did their algorithm update (in the industry called the Google Dance as all the listings shift around) our page position dropped to #20 (bottom of second page). So it looks like the internal links and alt tags are no longer working this year.

Best tricks:

Make sure the code on your site is up to date with good quality content.
Use this service to optimize your site for Google: http://www.ibusinesspromoter.com/ This is the best tool on the market for optimizing your site. What it does is deeply analyse your site compared to the top 5 positions on Google, then gives you a list of recommendations. Up to you to do the actual optimizing.

Write articles and submit them to these main sites:
iSnare.com
ArticleDashboard.com
Ezinearticles.com
GoArticles.com
You can find more by doing a Google search for Article Submission Service or similar search term.

Only optimize for one keyword or keyword set on a page. It is extremely difficult to optimize for more than one keyword set.

Take a very careful look at the sites that are at positions 1-5, whatever they are doing is working. This means carefully examining their content at the code level (Google robots look at the code, not at the page visually). (Use the tool listed above)

Keep in mind that everyone is trying for that #1 position, so it is a race that never ends, no way to guarantee that #1 position (unless you optimize for a keyword no one has thought of, but then again if no one thought of it no one would search for it either).

Don't try to go for #1 position on extreamly popular keywords, I would never try to get #1 position on the keyword "photoshop". Too much work competing against companies like Adobe who have who teams of people who do nothing else but work on their Google position.
Google likes sites that have been around for a while, so get your site up immediately to get the clock started. Sites that have been on Google for a few years will always get a boost in position.
Keep in mind that there are thousands of people trying to do the same thing you are doing, so you need to do it better. If everyone used the same info from the same marketing gurus and aimed at the same keyword, there would still only be one #1 spot on Google. So whatever you do you have to do it better than your competitors.

The more of an exclusive niche you can aim at the better your chances. For me it is much easier to get a good placement for "photoshop tutorial training" than it is to even get listed for "photoshop". And of course Google changes things every year. Last year we had the #1 position for this term, this January we are back to #20 (back to a new round of page optimization).

With all that said, who knows you may get lucky.

Hope all this helps.

On Using DIV tag layers

2008-12-05T12:34:00.000-08:00

"What my instructor had me do for that graphic placement issue in DW was just create a new CSS rule and create a DIV tag called #wrapper. Then I just positioned the graphic where I wanted it."

Response:

Using a DIV tag (creating a floating layer) works fine. If you follow my previous email you will see that the layer will be positioned above the background image, so that any image you place into the layer will appear on top of the background image.

The CSS rule is so that you can easily update the layer formatting in the future and the #wrapper is just a label for the layer (DIV tag). You can call the layer anything you want, if you don't name the layer then Dreamweaver will simply apply a number to the layer. The label allows you to easily find the coding for the layer and also allows you to refer to the layer in your code (for instance if you want to make a button that will hide or show the layer you would need a label for it). Personally I would have picked a name that exactly matched the image contents, so if the layer contained my logo I would call it something like this: #_logo_layer (the _ symbol is just being used as a spacer to make the name easier to read, you can't use spaces in label names so the _ character is a good alternative, I could also have used - but I prefer the underscore like this _ ).

If you look at the coding for the DIV tag (near the top of your code) you will first see the wrapper section (following the name that you gave the DIV tag), you will also see the x and y positions (measured from the top left corner of the page), whether the layer is relative or absolute (if it floats or is locked into a specific position relative to the upper left corner of the page) and you will also see a number for z-index. The z-index is the stacking order of the layer on the page. The larger the number the higher up in the stack the layer will be (like a deck of cards). Most likely your layer is showing a z-index of either 0 or 1. As you create more layers on the page Dreamweaver will give them a new z-index position above the previous layer. So if your original layer was z-index=1 then the next layer will be z-index=2. If you need to rearrange the order that the layers are on the page simply adjust the z-index number. Again think of the layers like a deck of cards numbered 1 at the bottom of the deck, changing the number on the card will change its position in the deck.

George

Images and Background Images in Dreamweaver

2008-12-03T13:34:00.000-08:00

"With my form project I am having difficulty placing a saved graphic created in PS into/on top of a background image I also altered in PS and saved for Web and Devices and used this graphic as a backgrond under my body DIV TAG(not a Pseudo-Tag)."

Here are some basic ideas on the background image. When you put a background image into a web page it is inserted in the opening body tag, everything else on the page comes after that tag. You can only have one image in the body tag, so you can't put a logo graphic on top of a background image in the body tag. What you need to do is to create a table or other container right after the opening body tag, put your graphic in that container and center that container on the page. That will give you the effect you are looking for by placing the graphic in front of the background image. If you use a table you can go even further as your table can also contain a background image and then have graphic placed into a cel in the table.

So, think of it as a stack of pictures on a table. The background image is the bottom of the stack, the table is then placed on top of the background image. If you put a background image into the table that image will be on top of the page background image as well since it is in the table. You can then put an image into a table cell and that image would be on top of the table background, which is on top of the page background. You can go even further by using layer elements (DIV tags), these float above the page. You can use as many DIV tags as you like and they will also stack (like a stack of cards) depending on the number you give the tag. This is all explained more thoroughly in our Dreamweaver CS3 training.

Can I add Video to a Web Page using Fireworks?

2008-11-24T12:00:00.000-08:00

On adding video to a web page using Fireworks, you can't do that. Fireworks is designed to create graphics for web pages, it is not designed to create actual web pages. Fireworks assumes that you will be interfacing with Dreamweaver to create the actual web page, so you will need to place any multimedia using Dreamweaver.

But, you can use Fireworks to lay out the page so that it is ready to accept video in Dreamweaver. What you need to do to make sure that your layout is not affected is to put in a placeholder image using Fireworks that is the same size as the video you want to insert using Dreamweaver, that will create a properly sized place for the video to go. Then simply replace the placeholder image with the video in Dreamweaver. If you open the Fireworks Help file and do a search for Video you will get step by step instructions on putting in a placeholder image.

Fixing palette and menu locations in Dreamweaver 8

2008-10-31T10:54:00.000-07:00

Hi George:

I did something to dreamweaver and lost the side panel and properties director.

These things came up automatically. Also, when I did this, I could not expand the page to the side to see the files, css etc. Nor, Can I expand the file downwards.

Could you please let me know how to make this correction.

Try this. Go to the Window menu,

Scroll down towards the bottom

You will see Workspace Layout

Clicking on that will open up a flyout menu

Click on Designer in the flyout menu, that is the default for Dreamweaver

That should put everything back to the normal setting.

George

Some thoughts on Computer Monitors

2008-10-29T12:39:00.000-07:00

"Hi George,

I'm starting to look for a new computer monitor that will be used primarily for Photoshop editing etc. There are a number of 20" to 22" inch widescreen LCD monitors in the under $300.00 range - however, I'm not sure if widescreen systems are the best choice for digital editing. I noticed some of the specs describe 1680 x 1050 resolution and a 16:10 aspect ratio. The small print in the specs also say if you use a resolution other than the recommended one, you may see degradation or other visual artifacts.

Any tips on what I should look for in a monitor or suggestions on specific models that you might have experience with would be greatly appreciated." ....

No specific recommendations, but I do have some general ones. First off, if you are looking for exacting color accuracy then you should be looking at a CRT and not an LCD. Most people don't need exact color match, but if you are working in the printing industry then this could be a consideration (designing magazine ads for instance). Any design work for the web or digital output (CDs, DVDs) really doesn't need the high color accuracy of a CRT, since you have no control over what monitor the image will be viewed on. Differences in viewing monitors will be much larger than any color inaccuracy in an LCD.

The more expensive the LCD, generally the better the color accuracy. I do all of my design work using a CRT, but I have an LCD as a second monitor on my system.

As far as screen resolution goes, it really doesn't matter. Basically the larger the resolution the smaller the images will appear on the screen, so with a large screen you can go for a large resolution. A smaller screen would require a smaller resolution so that the images (icons, text, etc.) would not get too small to be useful. Most CRTs can change resolution with no loss of quality. Most LCDs are limited to a small number of resolution settings and many are limited to one recommended setting. Changing resolutions on an LCD can cause a significant loss of quality, so you should stick with the recommended setting. A wide screen useful in a few cases: you can see a larger desktop on your computer (like taking a normal screen and stretching it out sideways to show more of the desktop). This would allow you to have more room on your screen to work with, which can be useful if you are creating wide images, like 2 page magazine spreads. Of course a wide screen will also show wide screen DVD movies more accurately, so if you plan on watching movies on your computer a widescreen LCD would be a good choice. Also if you are planning on editing video, then the same advantage applies. Most print design work is vertical so a wide screen would not be an advantage there. Basically with a wide screen you can have your program opened up normally and still have some space off to the side to show more stuff. But aside from that there is no real design advantage to having a wide screen.

As far as specific models, go with a well known name brand, my personal preference is for IBM and NEC but there are lots of other good name brands out there. Don't get a budget monitor, you will get what you pay for. There are many areas in the computer world where price and quality don't really matter, but Monitors are one of the few areas where it is worth spending a little more for better quality.

George

Putting borders on tables in Dreamweaver 8

2008-09-04T16:52:00.000-07:00

Question:

Hi:
I Purchased you complete software program dream weaver 8. I am having a problem. When I want to create a new document Basic - HTML, I then put in a background display which is twinkling stars GIF. I go to insert and put in a layer. The layer box that shows is in blue. I then go to insert a table. When the table appears it does not show any rows or columns it is as if they are hidden. I know I programmed the table right giving it rows, columns etc. I don't understand why the table does not show the rows and columns. I must of done something to hide them and this pertains to all the tables that I sent up in my web site. I might of changed the visual and preferences but I am not sure. Please help me with this.

Answer:

By default there is no border shown on tables in Dreamweaver. You can easily add a border using the Properties palette below the design window. You can also show a design outline for the table if you want to see the borders, but not have them showing on the web.
To put a border on the table that will show on the web:
Click anyplace inside the table,
Then below the design window you will see a line of text something like this: body table tr td
It won't necessarily be exactly the same, just similar.
Click on the table text that is furthest to the left, this will select the whole table on your page
Now in the design panel below the design window you will see the properties for the table, where it says Border with a box after it put a 1 in the box, this will add a 1 point border to your table. Try different numbers to see what happens.

To put a border on the table that only shows in Dreamweaver Design View, but does not show on the web:
Click on the View menu
Click on Visual Aids,
Then click on Table Borders.
This will put dotted lines around all of your tables, rows, and cells, making them easy to see while you work on your layout.
These dotted lines will not show up on the web, only in Dreamweaver Design View.

George

Using PageMaker to create interactivity

2008-09-03T14:22:00.000-07:00

> Hello. I recently purchased the pagemaker training and found it very
> helpful, so thanks for that. However, I am trying to design an
> interactive manual, similar to the "How to Gurus" home page, where you
> have a listing on the left side of the screen and by clicking on a topic
> it will take you to that subject. Can that be accomplished in pagemaker?
> If so, I would like to know the best way to do it. Any help would be
> appreciated. ..............Thanks

PageMaker is designed for creating printed material, not interactive
materials. So you can't create the interactivity in PageMaker. What you can
do though is to do the design/layout in PageMaker, then save the file as
Adobe Acrobat (this would of course require that you also own the full
version of Acrobat). You can then put together the interactivity in Acrobat.
This is basically what I did for an e-Book that I am giving away on our home
page, the e-Book was designed in InDesign, but I didn't do anything that you
couldn't do in PageMaker. Once the e-Book was laid out I saved it as a PDF
file (Adobe Acrobat), opened it in Acrobat and then put in the interactivity
by creating links to the different pages. We don't currently have any
training on Acrobat, but it is pretty easy to use and has a good help file.
Go to www.howtogurus.com to get the free e-Book for an example of using a
page layout program (PageMaker, InDesign, QuarkXPress) along with Acrobat to
create interactivity.

George

Photoshop Elements 5 saved Image location

2008-08-21T12:50:00.000-07:00

I have purchased your training for Adobe Photoshop Elements 5 but still have a few questions.

I received an email from another person that has Adobe Photoshop Elements 5. It seemed like they were having trouble with having disconnected files and a hard time trying to burn them as a backup onto a CD. What method do I use to prevent that?

I have a file system on the computer where my pictures are organized. I have not moved all of them to Adobe Photoshop as yet especially after i heard this i was hesitant.

I was also confused with making a duplicate copy of all the pictures. When i have edited a picture it seems to make another copy and my original is still there. What is the need to make a duplicate copy?

Thanks Luella

----------------

Hi,

Photoshop Elements always makes backup copies of files and works on the backup. It never edits the original file directly. This is a safety precaution. If you go into the Organizer side of Elements, then open up the Edit menu and click on Preferences, the click on Files (or click on General, then on Files) you will get a page which shows you the different preferences set for saving files in Elements. On the bottom of this page it will show you where Elements saves the catalog (thumbnails shown in Organizer) and where it saves the files that it is working on. You can change where Elements saves files by clicking on the Browse button and choosing a different folder. When you backup the files that you have worked on to a CD you need to backup the files in this folder. If you want to save a specific file to a specific folder location then open the file in Elements Editor and click on File/Save As, then navigate to the folder you want to save to.

My guess on your friend's problem is that they don't understand how Elements organizes files and they were backing up the wrong location. You are also able in Elements Organizer to Move the Files Offline (a file menu option), what this does is put the working files anywhere you choose and only keep a thumbnail in the Elements file folder. Then if you backup the Elements file folder you will only get the thumbnails, not the actual files.

My recommendation in Elements is to set the preferences (as described above) so that you know exactly where Elements is saving the files. Then all you need to do is save that file location. I admit this is one drawback in Elements, that it wants to use its own organization scheme, but as long as you understand what it is doing it should not be a problem.

So, real basic description: When you add images to Elements Organizer it simply creates thumbnails of your original images and displays the thumbnails. It saves the thumbnail images in a location displayed in Preferences/File. When you edit a file in Elements Organizer or Elements Editor it saves the edited version in a location displayed in Preferences/File and leaves the original alone. You can change the location of thumbnails and saved files using Edit/Preferences/File. And you can save a single file to a specific location using Elements Editor/File/Save As.

George

Do I need to learn ActionScript 3.0 to use the new Flash CS3

2008-08-21T12:45:00.000-07:00

Do I need to learn ActionScript 3.0 to use the new Flash CS3 or can I still use ActionScript 2?

ActionScript 3.0 was a major change over previous versions, although the
basic programming language stays the same. The layout of 3.0 is different.
But, you can still program in ActionScript 2.0 if you are using Flash CS3
and there is no reason not to unless you are an advanced programmer. When
you open up the Actions pane in CS3 there is a drop down list that lets you
select which version of ActionScript you want to use. You can also decide on
which version you want to use when you create a new file.

George

Sound Controls using ActionScript

2008-08-21T12:41:00.000-07:00

Question:
I installed a instrumental drum music on stage from the
library in flash CS2 and a layer of 2 buttons on the stage named "sound
on" and "sound off". I cannot get the correct scripting for shutting off
and on when pressing the relative buttons. I have also asked a few friends
and no luck. Please help. I have the music on "loop" and "stream".

Answer:
The function you want to use is setVolume()

For no sound it should look like this setVolume(0)
For full sound it should look like this setVolume(100)

With the number being the percentage of sound.

"Help, Dreamweaver preview is going to my live site instead of previewing locally."

2007-01-17T14:22:00.000-08:00

That is not how Dreamweaver is supposed to act. You can check the preview setting by going to the Edit menu, Click on Preferences, then click on Preview in Browser in the left side Catagory list. You should see "iexplore F12" in the window. You can change this by clicking on the Edit button.

One thing though, if your site uses absolute links then those links will go to the live site. You need to use relative links for proper testing on your local machine. Here are examples:

absolute link: http://www.howtogurus.com/support.html

relative link: ../support.html or just support.html, depends on where the file is relative to the page linking to it.

Basically if your links have http://www.whatever.com (your web site address) included in them then those links will go to that live page. Also if your opening page automatically goes to your live site through a forwarding absolute link (like you have a splash page or something) then you will see the live site and not your testing site.

My guess is that you have absolute links on your testing site. But even with absolute links it should show the first page you open on your local machine since you are not going to that by an absolute link, but are opening it directly.

Updated software recommendation list

2007-01-12T12:29:00.000-08:00

Every so often I update my recommended software list.

Here is my recommended list for best programs to use for professional graphics work:

Adobe Photoshop - working with photos and other raster graphics
Adobe Illustrator - working with vector graphics (logos and stuff like that)
Adobe InDesign - page layout program
Adobe Dreamweaver (used to be Macromedia Dreamweaver) - best web design program on the planet
Adobe Flash (used to be Macromedia Flash) - for web based animations
Adobe Premiere Pro - video editing. This is a Prosumer program, better than consumer, not as good as fully professional products like a stand alone Avid editing station. Good choice for TV and commercial work.
Adobe After Effects - for video effects and title sequences

Since Adobe purchased Macromedia about a year ago they have basically cornered the market on quality graphics programs.

The only non-Adobe recommendation I would make is if you are using a Mac computer and you are planning on working for a Magazine. They all use QuarkXPress for page layout, but if you are working freelance InDesign is about 100 times better than Quark and any magazine can use InDesign files. Many major publications are now switching away from Quark and going with InDesign.

George

Dreamweaver Flash Buttons only allowing one link

2007-01-10T11:41:00.000-08:00

Using Flash Buttons in Dreamweaver can be a little confusing. You would think that you are creating a Flash graphic and that you can change the link as you like on different pages, but this is not so.

Flash buttons have the link built in. If you use the same Flash button on a different page it will retain the same link. No way around this. If you want a button on a different page that goes to a different location you will need to create a new Flash button for that link.

So think of it this way, for each link to a specific page you need a separate Flash button. You can then use that Flash button on any page that you want to have that link. So, each new link gets its own Flash button.

Personally I never use Flash buttons, mostly because of this limitation. I create all of my buttons from scratch in Photoshop as images, I also create a second version to use as a rollover image. Then when I use those in my web pages I can put any link I want on them, since images don't store link info, the link info is specific to the image use on the one page.

But to be complete on this discussion, if you have a button that says one thing (like HOME) in your web site, that button should always go to that one page link, no matter what page it is used on. This is a usability issue, where people will expect a certain button to do the same thing each time they click on it no matter what page they find the button on. So in this respect the Flash buttons are behaving properly by only accepting one link.

Hope this helps,

George

How do I set up Dreamweaver to use ACDSee to view image files?

2006-05-17T14:13:00.000-07:00

To set Dreamweaver to open the images in ACDSee, you need to set ACDSee as the file Editor for that image type. Here's how:

Go to the Edit menu and click on Preferences at the bottom of the menu.
Under Category on the left click on File Types / Editors

On the right side you will now see two lists, one showing the file types that Dreamweaver can recognize and one showing which program is used to edit that file type. Click on each of the file types in the left window and then edit the program associated with that file type in the right window. You will need to do this for each needed file type separately. The ones you want are .png .jpg .gif

To set the program associated with the file type, first click on the + button and locate the program you want to use. The file will be in your Programs folder, probably in the ACD Systems folder, then in the ACDSee folder, then in the 8.0 folder, probably named ACDSee8.exe. I don't have version 8 here but I am guessing that I am right on all this.

You will now see ACDSee in your list of Editors for the file type. Now select ACDSee in the list and click on the Make Primary button. Once you have done this for all three file types click on the OK button to close the dialog box and you should be all set.

George

I just finished a page and in Internet Explorer...looks great...then I check Firefox and Netscape...and everything is all over the place..

2006-04-07T11:30:00.000-07:00

You hit on the biggest problem on the internet, different browsers see things differently. But here are a few hints to keep things consistent.

Only use simple fonts (Ariel, times new roman, etc.) Dreamweaver comes with only 6 fonts as standard, stick with those.

Don't us layers. Netscape has a real problem with layers (specifically the div tag).

Keep styling of fonts to a minimum and use CSS. If you need a fancy headline or other font use, better to do it as a graphic.

Make sure that your graphics are created at the correct size for where they are placed. Don't resize graphics in Dreamweaver, do your resizing in Photoshop then put them on your web page. Some browsers will not see the Dreamweaver resize and will show the graphic at its original size. So make the original size correct. You should be doing this anyway.

The reference files in Dreamweaver have good information on which browsers support what. If you are using Dreawmweaver 8 look in the Window menu and click on Reference. Dreamweaver MX and MX 2004 have reference in the panels on the left.

Basically Netscape and Firefox use a different interpretation of HTML than IE uses. So you will see problems, especially with Layers and JavaScript. Netscape and Firefox also interpret CSS differently, especially with font styling.

So, bottom line, keep it simple. Use only simple fonts. Don't use layers for anything important, or for layout (I always use tables). Do all your fancy stuff with images. Or if you want a perfectly controlled web site that views identically in all browsers build the whole thing in Flash (but you will lose your search engine compatibility)

And don't forget that all of the browsers let the user customize how they work, including how they handle fonts. So even with your best efforts there will be people who will see your page layout differently than you designed it.

It is possible to use a JavaScript to see what type of browser is being used to view the page and then have the viewer forwarded to a page built for that browser. But in my opinion that is really doing things the hard way.

Do you recommend using ImageReady to create web pages?

2005-10-05T21:57:00.000-07:00

I only use ImageReady to slice images. That was what it was designed for originally, to make Images Ready for the web, and that is still what it is best used for. Everything else I do in Dreamweaver. This is partly a personal preference and you can do quite a bit with ImageReady, but even Adobe has a different product for creating web pages in GoLive.

My personal preference is to use the best product or tool for the job.

My personal favorites are:

Photoshop for image creation

ImageReady, used with the Photoshop images if needed.

Dreamweaver for web development work

Flash for animations

Freehand for vector images (I like Freehand a lot better than Illustrator)

I have found that Dreamweaver has some problems with ftp access to some servers, so for those problem servers I use WS-FTP.

I also don't use any templates, I always create web pages either from scratch, or based on an existing web page that I built from scratch. I just prefer the greater level of control doing it myself.

How do I capture video from my computer screen?

2005-10-04T13:14:00.000-07:00

I use a high-end professional screen capture and editing program, so that will not fit your needs. But there is a good, relatively low cost, product on the market that does a good job of capturing screen video. It is called Camtasia from Tech Smith. Here is their web site: http://www.techsmith.com/

Their Camtasia Studio costs about $300 but it is the best low cost solution that I am familiar with. There are probably others out there and a lot of times you will find software like this bundled with computer video cards.

As far as video format, I would recommend recording your videos as .avi files. This is an old standard and most video players can play this type of movie. I use avi myself because you can easily record larger videos, where some of the more modern video formats limit you to a specific screen size or resolution.
Also, to learn all there is to learn, just go to Google and do some searches. Try "video capture" "screen capture" "avi", I know you will think of some more.

What is the difference between Photoshop 7 and Photoshop CS?

2005-09-28T11:22:00.000-07:00

Photoshop CS is also known as Photoshop 8, but I personally would have called it Photoshop 7.5. It is not that big of an upgrade, mostly new tools as opposed to updating version 7. Here is a short list of what is new, there are other minor upgrades as well:

• The File Browser has been enhanced
• New Multi-page PDF and slide show tool
• Photomerge tool (useful if you do lots of panoramas from multiple photos, but not really necessary)
• Tracking Edit History (Useful if you need to document editing, scientific or legal uses)
• Crop and Straighten Photos (nice tool if you do lots of scanning)
• Versioning and Version Cue (useful in a multi-user environment)
• New Keyboard shortcut list
• Photo Filter Effects (not really that useful)
• Shadow/Highlight Corrections (really useful if you do lots of professional photo processing or scanning. For a professional this one feature would be worth the upgrade cost in time savings)
• Pixel Aspect Ratio adjustments (useful for video work)
• Match Color (useful when scanning)
• New Filter Gallery (if you use lots of Filters this can be a time saver)
• Lens Blur Effects (fun, but not ground breaking)
• Fibers Filter (useful if you like to create your own textures)
• Layer Comps (very useful. Allowing you to easily create several different versions in one file)
• Scripting (useful for batch automation)
• Text on a Path (I have this one as my online demo, useful if you do page layout in Photoshop. Personally I prefer to use InDesign CS for all my page layout)
• Custom How To links (useful if you manage Photoshop users in a business or school setting)

There are also some upgrades to ImageReady as well, the most important being that ImageReady can now make proper slices and tables. But I do all of that work in Dreamweaver MX 2004.

Load images in place of the Flash in the event a Flash player is not present

2005-09-10T13:06:00.000-07:00

Question: I have successfully built a great new home page using both Dreamweaver and Flash - however, I need to have the page load images in place of the Flash in the event a Flash player is not present.

The Flash file will automatically check for the Flash Player and if it is not present it will attempt to download the Flash Player from Macromedia. So in most cases you do not need to worry.

But in case you want to have an alternate image here are the steps:

You need to create a second html page, one that does not contain Flash and has the alternate images instead (one page with Flash, one page without)

Open the Flash page in Dreamweaver.
Go to Code View.
Click anywhere inside the main body section of the web code.
Open up the Tags palette on the right side of Dreamweaver.
The Tag section heading should say Tag body
Click on the Behaviors tab
Click on the + button
In the popup menu select Check Plugin
The Plugin should say Flash, if not use the drop down menu and select Flash
Leave the "If found, go to URL:" line blank.
In the line that says "Otherwise, go to URL:" use the browse button and click on your non-Flash page.
Check "Always go to first URL if detection is not possible"

That should do it.

Personally I prefer to have the visitor download the appropriate Flash player instead of sending them to a non-Flash page, so I don't do these steps on my sites.

You can find a sample from the Flash set here: http://www.howtogurus.com/video/flash-demo.html

A Message from George Peirson about Identity Theft

2005-08-19T11:27:00.000-07:00

Some info on credit card security and identity theft.

Using credit cards online is about the safest way to use credit cards, as long as you can trust the company. Most major companies online are very reliable, including the two that I recommended. The reason online payments are so safe is all the security features built in to using a credit card online. Everything is handled using encryption and the actual credit card number is only shown to the credit card company. The online seller actually never sees your full credit card number, they only get a verification from the credit card company.

The least safe way to use a credit card is in a restaurant, where the waiter takes your card away to get it approved. During that time your credit card is in someone else's hands and you can't see what they are doing. Most credit card theft comes from restaurants, stores and other outlets where you hand someone your card and they walk away with it. The second most common way to have credit card numbers stolen is by having your credit card bills stolen out of your mail box. Online credit card use is considered the safest way to use a credit card.

Identity theft is a whole different issue and if you are using eBay you will start getting emails that are termed "phishing" emails. These will look like they come from either eBay or PayPal and ask you to update or confirm your identity or information. EBay, PayPal and all banks will never send you an email asking you to update your information. All of these emails are fakes and are trying to steal your info. Be very careful about these. They usually look just like authentic emails and they have links that take you to fake sites that look just like the real sites, but their sites only have the page that asks for your information, any other link on that fake page will take you back to the real site, making them seem even more real.

The rule of thumb here is to never click on any email you were not expecting from eBay, PayPal or a bank. The only emails from eBay that will have valid links in them will be for auctions that you bid on or know you won and were expecting. To be safe you should always to go eBay or PayPal by typing in the address in your web browser. Simply type in http://www.ebay.com for eBay and https://www.paypal.com for PayPal. If you are unsure about an email from either eBay or PayPal you can forward it to them and they will let you know if it is genuine or not. Forward to one of these addresses: spoof@ebay.com or spoof@paypal.com

Believe it or not, I get about 20 of these fake emails a day and always forward them onto eBay and PayPal so that they can track down the crooks.

What programs do you recommend for new Web Designers?

2005-08-19T11:23:00.000-07:00

Here is what I recommend Web Designers should know:

Dreamweaver
HTML
JavaScript
Photoshop

These are the core programs and will handle 95% of your needs.

You may want to add in Flash training, and if you decide to create web sites for other companies you should learn either PHP or ASP (web programming languages)

As in anything else, the more you know the better off you are. I don't have any specific recommendations for books, except the Photoshop Bible by Deke McClelland.

A great source for free information on HTML and JavaScript is http://www.internet.com/

What are Unique Visitors to a web site?

2005-07-27T11:39:00.000-07:00

Unique visitors are figured on a daily basis. So if one person went to your site 10 times in one day he would be listed as 1 unique visitor. If he came back the next day he would again be listed as a unique visitor.