BMTutorials: Redefining The Web One Pixel At A Time http://www.bmtutorials.com/ Redefining The Web One Pixel At A Time en Copyright 2007 Fri, 01 Sep 2006 10:22:48 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=3.2 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss It has been awhile bmtWell it has been awhile since we worked on the site so here is a little heads up on what has been going on. We started moving the system over from a movable type system to wordpress and after making about 30 layouts we finally picked one however mid process into coding the layout in wordpress both me and Mario were moving into new jobs so it kind of fell through the cracks for a bit.

Now that things are getting back to normal we will have time to finish up the new site and get it back on track to what our vision of it was orignally. We have some really great ideas for this site so stick around it will be coming soon.

Quick note that for right now comments are not enabled due to being spamed to hell from various spam pill pushers, so until the new site is up this will be disabled.

]]> http://www.bmtutorials.com/2006/09/it_has_been_awhile.php http://www.bmtutorials.com/2006/09/it_has_been_awhile.php In The News Fri, 01 Sep 2006 10:22:48 -0500 Ajax Shoutbox Here's a great little tool I came across while searching for a shoutbox to put on my website. The crazy thing about this one is that it's made with AJAX, that's right - no refreshing involved. So now you can watch people post shouts on your website in realtime.

It's really easy to setup and should only take 10 minutes to setup on your own website. If you know how to upload files you should have no problem at all installing it.

Website: AJAX Shoutbox

]]> http://www.bmtutorials.com/2006/06/ajax_shoutbox.php http://www.bmtutorials.com/2006/06/ajax_shoutbox.php Resources Thu, 01 Jun 2006 13:29:00 -0500 HTML Knowledge Levels 456 Berea St has made a list of knowledge levels for HTML specialists. It is actually a well made list that really shows the seperation of what people really know when dealing with HTML. Check it out and see what level you are.

Website: Levels of HTML Knowledge 

]]> http://www.bmtutorials.com/2006/06/html_knowledge_levels.php http://www.bmtutorials.com/2006/06/html_knowledge_levels.php In The News Thu, 01 Jun 2006 02:03:09 -0500 Photoshop CS2 Layer View bmtHave you ever been using Photoshop and had so many layers you had no idea what was on each one? Well if you have I have a solution that should help you out. In Photoshop CS2 there is an option that will show your image in the layer palette as the actual size of the image and not the entire document. So instead of that big white box with something inside of it that you can't really tell what it is this will zoom the thumbnail to what that layer actually is.

If you wish to download an exe full sized version of this it is located here. Also, a fullsized web version is located here.

This is the first of many flash video tutorials I will be creating. So kick back and enjoy the show.

]]> http://www.bmtutorials.com/2006/05/photoshop_cs2_layer_view.php http://www.bmtutorials.com/2006/05/photoshop_cs2_layer_view.php Tips & Tricks Tue, 30 May 2006 12:26:46 -0500 JavaScript Reflections Reflections.js has been in beta for awhile but with the new version it looks like a lot of the kinks have been worked out and it is very stable. What Reflections.js does is make a mirror image that is flipped vertically to display your image with a reflection. This gives the same effect of looking at a shoreline on a lake. If used correctly I could see this being a great solution for some cool easy effects.

Website: Reflection.js 

]]> http://www.bmtutorials.com/2006/05/javascript_reflections.php http://www.bmtutorials.com/2006/05/javascript_reflections.php In The News Mon, 22 May 2006 01:27:03 -0500 What Does Adobe Have Up Their Sleave? adobeAdobe is starting to leak some information on a few of the upcoming updates and new programs on the horizon. Most of the information is claiming that Adobe has its eyes set on taking on Quark and stomping them into the ground with the new InDesign. There has also been a lot of talk on Adobe Apollo which is supposed to be a desktop application flash program that can be run at boot which will fuse acrobat with flash and make developers lives hopefully a hell of a lot better. The bigger news however is that all CS3 applications are being launched in Spring of 2007, which is usually the case for Adobe's every 2 years pump out a new bundle tradition.

Websites: Adobe Looks to Photoshop to take on Quark , Adobe Reveals More Details On Apollo

]]> http://www.bmtutorials.com/2006/05/what_does_adobe_have_up_their.php http://www.bmtutorials.com/2006/05/what_does_adobe_have_up_their.php In The News Fri, 19 May 2006 14:07:58 -0500 Google Releases A Web Tool Kit Google has released a Google Web Toolkit that empowers AJAX to help you create online applications easier. As a lot of you know most of the Google applications are based off AJAX and they were one of the first big companies to start using that technology for online applications, so they know a thing or two about what they are doing with AJAX. The Google Web Toolkit in essense is a framework for Java to output standards-compliant code that works on all broswers. I am glad to see a lot of companies (IBM, Adobe, Google, etc...) are trying to make AJAX easier on the end users.

Website: Google Web Toolkit , Download Google Web Toolkit

]]> http://www.bmtutorials.com/2006/05/google_releases_a_web_tool_kit.php http://www.bmtutorials.com/2006/05/google_releases_a_web_tool_kit.php In The News Wed, 17 May 2006 14:19:51 -0500 Google Notebook Launched Google Notebook is basicly a web broswer based notepad that can leave notes that you make on pages that you mark. I am sure everyone at one time or another has tried to remember a site that they needed something off of and couldn't remember it or couldn't remember what exactly it was on the page. Well, Google Notebook is your saviar for this.

Here are some useful things it does:

  • Clip useful information: You can add clippings of text, images and links from web pages to your Google Notebook without ever leaving your browser window.
  • Organize your notes: You can create multiple notebooks, divide them into sections, and drag-and-drop your notes to stay organized.
  • Get access from anywhere: You can access your Google Notebooks from any computer by using your Google Accounts login.
  • Publish your notebook: You can share your Google Notebook with the world by making it public.

Give it a shot if any of the above would be any help to you.

Website: Google Notebook

]]> http://www.bmtutorials.com/2006/05/google_notebook_launched.php http://www.bmtutorials.com/2006/05/google_notebook_launched.php In The News Wed, 17 May 2006 14:03:36 -0500 CSS Optimizers Recently there has been a lot of CSS Optimizers poping up lately. While they all do mostly the same thing which is optimize your code based on how much space your want to save or give up on readability there are differences between them all.

The best one I've used so far is CleanCSS. It allows you to optimize your CSS based on 5 different settings. You can also setup a custom optimization if your want your code a certain way. Along with that there are 15 or so settings that change the way it optimizes your CSS. The other thing nice about CleanCSS is that it shows you what has changed compared to your original source in a clear defined viewing area.

Website: CleanCSS

Next up is CSS Optimizer, it does essentially the same thing but this one tries to condense the space your code uses to the extreme and kills all your readability. It does however allow you to upload a CSS file as well as paste it in and input a URL to it.

Website: CSS Optimizer

There are a few other CSS Optimizers out there but they general fall under the same options as the two mentioned above.

]]> http://www.bmtutorials.com/2006/05/css_optimizers.php http://www.bmtutorials.com/2006/05/css_optimizers.php In The News Wed, 17 May 2006 13:43:58 -0500 Motion Graphics Effects All you motion graphics artists out there have some stuff to drool over now since DigitalAir has released how to do a lot of the techniques and effects that you see in comercials and movies now a days. They have broken down how to do each effect along with a preview clip of it in action. Check it out and enjoy the show.

Website: DigitalAir 

]]> http://www.bmtutorials.com/2006/05/motion_graphics_effects.php http://www.bmtutorials.com/2006/05/motion_graphics_effects.php In The News Tue, 16 May 2006 18:31:18 -0500 WebServerXKit For OSX If you work on a Mac and do web database work then you know it isn't a whole lot of fun setting up a web server on it. Well RBSoftware has come to the rescue and created a package that installs everything you need to get up and started and more.

The package contains the following:

  • Apache 2.2.0 (with mod_rewrite, mod_fastcgi, ssl ...)
  • MySQL 5.0.20a
  • PHP 5.1.2 (with gd, mbstring, curl, xml, xsl ...)
  • PostgreSQL 8.1
  • Ruby On Rails 1.1.2

The only limitations on this is you must be running OS X 10.4.5

Website: WebServerXKit

]]> http://www.bmtutorials.com/2006/05/webserverxkit_for_osx.php http://www.bmtutorials.com/2006/05/webserverxkit_for_osx.php In The News Mon, 15 May 2006 08:38:43 -0500 Turn Your LCD Into A Tablet A Korean company called Navisis introduced a new product called EZ-Canvas that is something completely new and different. It uses sensors at the top of the montor to turn your lcd into a tablet screen thus making your monitor one giant wacom tablet. Hopefully this will work out as good as it looks and will be able to turn your plain jane lcd into a super expensive wacom cintig.

Website: Transform your LCD into a Tablet Look-A-Like

]]> http://www.bmtutorials.com/2006/05/turn_your_lcd_into_a_tablet.php http://www.bmtutorials.com/2006/05/turn_your_lcd_into_a_tablet.php In The News Thu, 11 May 2006 13:32:16 -0500 QuarkXPress 7 Universal Binary public beta 1 quarkQuark revealed its next beta of QuarkXpress version 7 today calling it Universal Binary public beta 1. Some new features in this version are transparency, drop shadows, Composition Zones™, enhanced PDF creation, and enhanced color management features. How does this do up against InDesign? Well I guess the answer to that question is really which one you prefer. If you would like to try out the beta 7 of QuarkXpress it is free and all you need to do is sign up below.

Website: QuarkXpress 7 Universal Binary public beta 1 

]]> http://www.bmtutorials.com/2006/05/quarkxpress_7_universal_binary.php http://www.bmtutorials.com/2006/05/quarkxpress_7_universal_binary.php In The News Mon, 08 May 2006 14:15:37 -0500 Free Pixel Fonts Style-Force Semplice has created some great pixel fonts and made them available for free. All of the fonts are sized for 8 px, which is common with almost all pixel fonts. If you don't know what pixel fonts are or have never used them they are great for small type and most commonly used in flash to have incredibly clear text. Since there is 19 free pixel fonts off of Style-Force Semplice's site I highly recommend using them and experimenting with them, it could open your eyes to a whole new world with fonts.

Website: Pixelfonts 

]]> http://www.bmtutorials.com/2006/05/free_pixel_fonts.php http://www.bmtutorials.com/2006/05/free_pixel_fonts.php Resources Mon, 08 May 2006 10:17:32 -0500 Firefox Extensions For Web Development firefoxThe Moleskin has put together a great list of the top web development Firefox extensions. Most of these I currently use and I must say that they really help out when creating or editing sites. One thing to be aware of when downloading and installing extensions is that your current version (1.5.0.3) matches the extensions supported Firefox version.

Website: Firefox Extensions For Web Development 

]]> http://www.bmtutorials.com/2006/05/firefox_extensions_for_web_dev.php http://www.bmtutorials.com/2006/05/firefox_extensions_for_web_dev.php In The News Mon, 08 May 2006 10:08:29 -0500