Photoshop CS3 Scripts: Batch Processing a Group of Images
By CodeAvid | November 27, 2008
First, record and save the steps to done for the Batch. Next, open the images and apply the script.
CREATE THE ACTION SEQUENCE:
Photoshop is open and so is one of the images to be modified.
Window > Actions will open a small window. At the bottom of the window, click the icon CREATE NEW ACTION (next to the trash icon). HINT: hover the mouse over the small icons to read the description tags.
Enter a name, (something that will mean something in six months) and click RECORD
Complete all of the changes to the image that will be required. For example:
mode to RGB
image size to 72 dpi, 500px high
save-as jpg
close image
CLICK the Stop Playing/Recording button (square) to complete the action.
TO APPLY THE ACTION:
File > Automate > Batch > use the drop down to select Default Actions and the Action Name > OK
NOTE: If I am converting a folder of images, I use Control D (on a mac) to duplicate the folder and work on the copy.
Topics: Photoshop CS3 | No Comments »
Note to Self: Links to Music
By CodeAvid | November 18, 2008
I was just over at Real Music, checking out some work I heard they were having done to their site. I noticed they have added a blog. Each entry is by a different artist with pics of CDs and samples of music. I love the idea of the Real Music Community blog. It was a bit disappointing to click on an album cover thumbnail and have a new window open and a slightly larger thumbnail pop up. Who wants to do that? It was also unsatisfying to click on a link to hear a sample of music and have a new, ALL WHITE page open, with nothing to look at but a QuickTime logo.
NOTE TO SELF: this week, embed a good sized pic of a favorite album here, with a play bar as a bottom border, that plays when you click it.
And, Real Music have worked hard on their music and their site. It really is worth going over to have a look-see and a relaxing listen.
Topics: Audio, Notes to Self | No Comments »
An UnOrdered List WITHOUT Bullets
By CodeAvid | October 26, 2008
This taken from a source I like to reference - the pages look great and they are easy to read, and even better, scan: A List Apart
“There may be times when you have a list, but you don’t want any bullets, or you want to use some other character in place of the bullet. Again, CSS provides a straightforward solution. Simply add list-style: none; to your rule and force the LIs to display with hanging indents. The rule will look something like this:
ul {
list-style: none;
margin-left: 0;
padding-left: 1em;
text-indent: -1em;
}
Either the padding or the margin needs to be set to zero, with the other one set to 1em. Depending on the “bullet” that you choose, you may need to modify this value. The negative text-indent causes the first line to be moved to the left by that amount, creating a hanging indent.”
Topics: CSS, UnOrdered Lists | No Comments »
How Useful is a DreamWeaver Template?
By CodeAvid | October 7, 2008
OK, here is the question:
How useful is a site formatted with a DW template to the end user if they don’t have DreamWeaver?
. . . I’m still thinking
If the end user does not have DW, they still have the benefit of a page that has sensitive parts locked down so they don’t have to worry about dinging the spry menu, for example.
They can still use a WYSIWYG editor to manage the rest of the page. Or BBedit to make changes on the fly.
For me, the beauty of a .dwk page is, say you have a few dozen pages and you want to add another click to the nav bar. With a DW template, open the whole smash in DreamWeaver and add the new link to the main template page, and when you save the change, DW updates all of the other pages made from it. There is a real time saver. :)
Topics: DW Templates | No Comments »
Create a DreamWeaver Template
By CodeAvid | October 6, 2008
First, create a master .html page and style sheets.
Include everything you need, keeping in mind this will be your starting mark-up for the rest of the pages and it is easier to remove divs than add them.
Save the page as a .html file.
I use names like 0-master.html. This bumps the working page up to the top of the list in your DW file panel.
To create a template from the 0-master.html page,
use the top menu to save the page as a template:
File > Save As Template > Update links YES
Now look at the code and see DW has added some editable regions in the head for you. One holds the title and the other is empty. They look like:
<!– TemplateBeginEditable name=”doctitle” –>
<title>This is your page title. It counts in every part of the searching and viewing process</title>
<!– TemplateEndEditable –>
and
<!– TemplateBeginEditable name=”head” –> <!– TemplateEndEditable –>
But things have changed - again - since DW added this help. There are other tags that are now required for optimal Search and viewer results. So, I move the close tag to include them:
<!– TemplateBeginEditable name=”doctitle” –>
<title>This is your page title. It counts in every part of the searching and viewing process</title>
<meta http-equiv=”Content-Type” content=”text/html; charset=UTF-8″ />
<meta name=”description” content=”Three sentences can fit here. The first one counts the most” />
<meta name=”keywords” content=”Be oh so careful how you use these. Spam them and they will be ignored. Keywords must mirror the page” />
<!– TemplateEndEditable –>
I wrap the head Editable around a style so individual pages can be styled individually:
<!– TemplateBeginEditable name=”head” –>
<style type=”text/css”>
.fontsize16 { font-size: 16px }
</style>
<!– TemplateEndEditable –>
‘Doctitle’ has meaning to DW. Haven’t broken that code yet. When I do, I will rename the tag from doctitle to meta.
Going back to the DESIGN VIEW
select/highlight the area that will be designated as EDITABLE. Once the area is highlighted:
Insert > Template Objects > Editable Region > enter a name that relates to the area that can be changed.
Save and Close the template page.
NOTE: DW instructions say, when you want to edit a .dwt page, open it from the ASSETS panel in DW.
Topics: Templates | No Comments »
Martha’s Having a Contest!!!!
By CodeAvid | September 17, 2008
This should have been a follow-up on my last post about embedding a podcast. Promise to Self: Next Post!
I just checked in with the Martha Blog and she is having a contest! And getting a new blog . . . and I can’t wait to see it. The first one is a thing of beauty. The first time I laid eyes on it I could not believe how so little on the page could look so good. An aqua bar across the top, some light filled columns down each side, and tre-fabu pics down the middle. Personal pics of dogs and trips across water, gardens in the winter and trips to New York and What They had for Dinner, all down the center of the page.
Her color palette certainly influenced what I am trying to do here, I like these water and sky colors.
I am not finished of course. And since this is a Notes and Practice type blog, it may never be finished. Except for the podcast notes of course, I need those all in one place.
Normally I think I post over at Martha’s blog with my Life in the Land of the Good and the Plenty ID, but I haven’t been there in months, too busy trying to get this new business hatched and prospering :D)
Now, back to finishing up the podcast linking/downloading project. I know it is easy, but can it be, Elegant?
Topics: Colors, WordPress Themes | No Comments »
Put a Podcast in your WordPress blog
By CodeAvid | September 7, 2008
Some AUDIO NOTES:
This just opens a new page and starts playing:
<a href=”http://aurielamccarthy.com/Audio/whine10601b.mp3″>My podcast</a>
My podcast
http://codex.wordpress.org/Podcasting
says I need this:
<a href=”http://example.com/my-podcast.mp3“>My podcast</a>
and this:
http://example.com/wordpress/?feed=rss2
or this:
http://example.com/wordpress/?feed=atom
and this for iTunes:
itpc://domain.org/path/?feed=atom
The instructions say the feed links go at the bottom by default.
I suppose I use a widget? Or do I put it in the php code?
Topics: Audio, RSS | No Comments »
Animoto Slide Show
By CodeAvid | August 10, 2008
I say this Animoto.com slide show on another site and liked it. So, I made one of my own. These are images I took the last time I was waiting for the Marin Airporter at SFO. The music is supplied by Animoto.
Topics: Video | No Comments »
A GOOGLE READER to Track the Blogs You Like to Read
By CodeAvid | August 4, 2008
Now that I get more emails than ever, a weekly emailed blog update is more likely to get deleted than read in my email inbox. I want to read them, I just don’t have the space where I can open a blog email and really delve into it. And if I do, I find the only thing I look at is the picture, if there is one. Or scan the paragraphs and close it again, thinking I will look at it ’some other time’. My ‘email time’ is no longer a good time to read and enjoy the latest entry to a friend’s blog.
So what else is there? The Google Reader! And how hard is it to get one?
Google.com >More > Reader > Sign in to Google Reader with your Google account. Don’t have one, it takes minutes to create one. An email address and a password is all it takes.
I have been using the Google Reader for almost a year now, and it is replacing emailed blog updates. All of the blogs I am interested are now here. I can see the list and also, what has been updated since I was last in. The time I spend here is allocated and work related and I don’t feel like I have just lost an hour when I reach my max and close the reader.
Who is in my reader? I have 97 subscriptions, which sounds like too many. But it isn’t. Some days I go in to read the CSS related blogs, some days I am looking for the podcast tutortials. Catching up on The Martha Blog, Zen Habits, and Tim Ferris gives me a lift of spirits, as well as seeing the wedding pics over at chir.ag ‘blog. I read a couple of blogs from designers in Japan and there is some pretty nice stuff coming out of Norway also.
I find that I favor the blogs that post less. For me, Pro Blogger is almost impossible to keep up with, they average 3 to 4 posts a day. As I write this article, I see I quit reading Pro Blogger sometime in July. Which is a shame because I missed an announcement about the aWeber Reader Count Chicklet. And, the good news of course is, I didn’t miss it, everything is held in my Google Reader till I have time to find it.
Topics: Google Reader, RSS | No Comments »
FeedBurner, FeedBlitz, & Google
By CodeAvid | July 31, 2008
It has been so long since I have been over to Feedburner, I don’t even remember how to navigate their pages anymore. No worries. It appears everything has changed. PRO services are now free . . . what were the PRO services?
I was reminded about FeedBurner when I got a blog update in the mail this morning. Now that I use the google Reader I don’t subscribe to blogs via email anymore. This one must have just gotten by.
Logging into FeedBurner, I see my account is inactive, but the emails are still going out. I am not sure what the point of having this account is anymore. As I navigate through FeedBurner, the answers are not forthcoming. Google now owns them? Maybe I should check out FeedBlitz while I am walking down memory lane. A comparison might give me a better view as to what these services have to offer me.
FeedBlitz has gone from too many puffy buttons, to still too many puffy buttons AND pages of information I can understand. The question still lingers; why bother with either of these accounts. Do I care if readers can access my blog updates through email? And what about the Google Reader? Why would anyone junk up their email box when blog updates can all happily wait in the reader to be seen and appreciated?
More on this next post . . .
Topics: RSS | No Comments »