Computer and Web Design Resources

Home > Web Tools > Web Site Picks > October 2003 Web Picks

10/31/03 - Read the article "Why Tables for Layout is Stupid" by Bill Merikallio and Adam Pratt. Another article worth reviewing is Why Design Matters During a Slow Economy by Eileen Parzek.

In honor of Halloween, we have the Little Web of Horrors article at About.com. About.com is also looking for "Guides" for their web site, you can apply here.

For those of you interested in PHP you may want to read Build PHP Applications With Macromedia Dreamweaver MX at SitePoint.com.

In case you're interested, the new Flash sites are up at Cool Web Design.

10/30/03 - Bookpool.com is currently having a 45% off sale. There are a lot of popular titles on sale including Eric Meyer on CSS, Designing with Web Standards, Macromedia Dreamweaver MX Killer Tips, Flash MX Hands-on-Training, & PHP and MySQL Web Development. This sale includes Sams, Que, New Riders Publishing, Peachpit Press, Adobe Press and Macromedia Press books. They also have free shipping on orders over $40.00.

Quirksmode - 150 pages of CSS and JavaScript tips. Wow! This site studies browser incompatibilities and develops workarounds.

10/29/03 - "The Web Standards Project is a grassroots coalition fighting for standards that ensure simple, affordable access to web technologies for all."

10/28/03 - There is a new magazine on the block. MX Developer's Journal is now available. You can download and print a free issue. This free issue is 52 pages, please do not print it in class.

10/27/03 - Dale asked about the usage of Curves vs. Levels in Photoshop and other graphics applications. In a nutshell, Curves gives you more precise control over the tonal values of an image. There are many tutorials and essays on this subject, here are a few that I found helpful. The Photoshop Book for Digital Photographers book, which is now available in class, has tutorials on using Levels and Curves. It also has the step-by-step process of adjusting Photoshop color preferences and utilizing curves so that you can get the best possible results from your photos (page 106). If you don't feel like buying the book, the Golden Mean has an Introductory tutorial on Curves in Photoshop. Curves, Levels, or Contrast Brightness is an informative article by Jay Arraich. Vivid Light Photography also has a tutorial on Understanding Curves and Levels. You might want to read the Curves vs. Levels discussion on photo.net (there are many interesting discussions at photo.net). Clive R. Haynes wrote an article that explores Threshold, Brightness & Contrast, Levels and Curves. TechTV also has a Photoshop Tip on Curves. Petteri Sulonen has a very detailed article on Curves along with a lot of other photo related tutorials. Nature Photographer's Online Magazine has a Curves Primer. Finally Photoshop Curves A Command Primer at Luminous Landscape is another good article on using Curves.

10/24/03 - I thought I would pull together some pages on Mac vs. PC and web development. We now have a Mac in the class and you will be able to test your pages on it. Here are some sites that talk about the things that need to be taken into consideration when you're developing web pages for both platforms. The two major issues discuss in these articles are display colors and font sizes. Images and colors in general appear darker on a PC and fonts look about two points bigger on a PC. Before we begin the design sites, I would like to share this article with you on Mac vs. PC for those of you who might be considering buying a new computer in the near future.

Designing for the "Other Platform" - This article was written by Joe Gillespie, Web Page Design for Designers, and it discusses design issues the Mac developers must take into consideration when they are developing for the PC. Of course this information can be used for PC developers also. This site has has loads of other articles on design.

Web Vision - By Eric Siegmund, MacPug Papers. This article again outlines the different design issues that developers must take into consideration when designing for both platforms. There is also some freeware software for the Mac that allows developers to toggle between Mac and PC Gamma settings. (Tony....This software is available for the Macintosh only and here is a whole site of all Mac software.) If the link to the GammaToggleFKEY software on the MacPug site does not work, the software is available here http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/mac/1796.

The Windows vs. Mac Font Size Problem - This article discusses how to overcome the font size obstacle by using CSS style sheets and JavaScript. You also might want read Text Size Control with CSS by Web Monkey and Working with Fonts from Apple.

The Browser Compatibility tutorial at Net Mechanic has a lot of interesting information. Net Mechanic sells on-line web development tools, but they have a lot of good, free information.

If you really want to be sure of your colors on both platforms, use Lynda Weinman's Browser-Safe Palette when you're designing.

If you are interested in more information on fonts, About.com has a web font section (please note that some of the links on the page are broken, but there are still useful resources).

I also found this condense article on basic design issues that you might find useful.

One final Mac resource - WebmasterMac - for all of your Macintosh webmastering needs.

10/22/03 - I came to work on Monday to find a crashed PC. This was not what I wanted to deal with on a Monday or any other day for that matter. I was lucky, most of my work was backed up to CD and/or stored on the network. Unfortunately, I lost all of the programs that I had installed on my system. I was really thankful that I had my software picks pages, they really helped me to find all of those goodies that I had installed on my old system. MW Snap, a screen capture program, the Google Toolbar, which now includes a pop-up stopper (very cool!), and Ad Aware, a program for checking your system for spyware are a few of the programs. Speaking of crashing computers, be sure that you are backing up your class work on a regular basis, either to CD or to your web host.

I lost my fonts, so I thought I would share a few of my favorite font sites with you: Acid Fonts - Great site, tons of fonts that you can browse or search for by name. Unfortunately, all of these free fonts come at a price; the site has a lot of pop-up ads. If you can't find what you're looking for at Acid Fonts, try High Fonts or Abstract Fonts. Just a tip: When you develop a web site, be sure to write down the fonts that you used on your site and where you obtained them. Also be sure that you have a backup of the actual fonts that you used on your site a long with the web site. I have some additional font sites listed at putertutor.net.

10/20/03 - Edith asked for directions for creating a mail merge document in Word XP. I found a tutorial on Word XP Mail Merge from Hollins University. Missouri State University also has a tutorial on Mail Merge in Word XP. Please ask your instructor before printing these guides. I also found a comprehensive list of Word 2000 tips and tricks.

The National Adult Literacy Resource Documents has a many tutorials and e-books for ESL (English as a Second Language) and students looking for simple computer books. Take a look at the Word 2000, (also available in PDF).

While we're on the subject of MS Office, I have found some supplemental tutorials to help prepare for the Quiz tests that you must take to receive a certificate for each application.

Word 2000

Create a Table of Contents in Word 2000 - Instructions for Word are dark gray. To update an existing table of contents press F9.
Converting Text to a Table - On the test you will be converting a document that uses tabs.
How do I create multiple versions of a document?
How do I create, apply, edit a macro?

Excel 2000

Create a simple macro in Excel - On the test you will be asked to create a simple macro that inserts text into a cell and moves to an adjacent cell (cell below) in Excel. Click Tools > Macro > Record New Macro. Type the Macro name and click OK (note: on the test you do not need to insert a shortcut or description). At this point Excel is recording every mouse click and keystroke. Type the text (something like Bessie's Bakery) in the current cell and press Enter on the keyboard. After pressing Enter, click the Stop Recording icon.
How do I create a Scenario? - You will only need to create one scenario. The necessary cells will already be selected and the test will provide you with the values to use for the scenario.
Paste Link - Note: You will copy the data between two Excel Worksheets.

Access 2000

Creating a Mailing Label Report in Access 2000 - Use one of your existing databases to practice creating reports.

10/17/03 - About.com has two articles this week that you might be interested in; What is the Best Graphics Software and What is the Best HTML Editor. While these articles do not actually tell you what the "best" program is, they do give the top five programs for Windows and Mac. They also give brief descriptions of each program. Is There Such a Thing as Perfect Page Layout is another article worth a read.

I just got the latest issue of the SitePoint Tribune and there are several interesting articles and tips. Cleaner, Sharper GIF, JPEG, And PNG Images is an excellent article on the difference between the various file formats. There is also an article on Search Engine Optimisation for Web Developers that's worth a read. Finally, CSS Positioning Properties At-A-Glance Guide is a handy resource on CSS positioning. There were two tips in the newsletter that I could not find posted on the web site that I wanted to share. Both involve using the wheel on your mouse; the wheel used in combination with the CTRL key increases the font size on a page and if you use the SHIFT key with the wheel you can navigate backwards and forward through visited pages.

10/16/03 - What are your thoughts on the Cool Web Design Links of the Week? We will also take a look at the sites in the Clean & Simple category. Both of these links require Flash.

Photoshop Upgrade Tips & FAQs is all about installing the newest version of Photoshop.

Someone in class asked about buying a printer. I am not up on all of the latest gizmos and gadgets, but there is an article from About.com on the Top 5 Bargin Personal Inkjet Printers. Before somebody asks, there is also an article on the Top 5 Digital Cameras Less Than $100. Need a new computer? How about Top 5 Budget Desktop PCs Under $500.

Portfolios.com is a web site for designers to promote their work. You can upload samples of your designs to their server and have exposure 24/7. I have not personally used this service, so I wouldn't recommend paying for a package, but they have a free "Vinyal" account that you can try out.

10/15/03 - Contracts, Contracts, Contracts. It's important to protect yourself legally when you're starting your own web development firm. Creating a comprehensive contract is one of the first steps. Here are some contracts that I have found on the Internet that might give you some ideas. Remember, you cannot copy these contracts, they are for informational purposes only.

http://www.wilsonweb.com/worksheet/pkg-con.htm
http://www.aquariandesign.com/samplecontract.html
http://nscomputing.melwestmarket.com/services/webdesign/samplecontract.html

There is also a software program called ProposalKit that you might want to check out.

10/13/03 - Firdamatic is an on-line tableless layout generator. You can generate your page layout with this handy tool and then modify the layout to suit your needs. Inknoise Layout-O-Matic is similar. Inknoise also has the Amazing Rolloverer and the List-O-Matic. C|Net also offers Style-O-Mattic which generates CSS 1 code. Hiveware Enkoder 6.0 encode e-mail addresses for web pages so that the spambots can't harvest your e-mail. Enkoder is an easy to use form that generates code that can be copied and pasted into your HTML. Color blindness is an issue for millions of people. Color Schemes Picker assists the web developer in creating a color scheme for people with visual impairments. About.com also has a color gallery that might be helpful when selecting color schemes for your web site.

Visit Websiteoptimization.com to analyze your web page performance. This free, on-line tool calculates page download time, size and composition.

10/9/03 - Some students have requested some information on Windows 2000 file management. There are some nice tips for working with files within MS Office at California State University, Northridge and at the University of Wisconsin. The University of Nebraska has written an informative document called Making File Management Easy with Windows Explorer. The University of Birmingham has also written an Introduction to File Management in Windows 2000. Keep in mind that when you are using these tips in the classroom, you should use your PM?? folder on the network instead of My Documents or drive C:\.

10/3/03 - Today's sites are all about color! First visit the Web Design Color Guide, another ESG & Associates resource. This site has several articles on the use of color on a web site. It's not just about what colors "work together", but also about what emotions certain colors stir. Be sure to read Choosing the Perfect Colors for Your Web Site. While you are visiting ESG, also read the Use of Form in Web Design & Navigation in Web Design articles.

I was reading the latest edition of SitePoint's newsletter and discovered this handy little CSS Creator site. There is a CSS forum, links to other sites, and the Creator itself which is a JavaScript program that generates CSS code based on your selections from an easy to use form.

10/2/03 - Sitemaps are Excellent Fodder for Search Engines - Discusses the importance of content rich sitemaps.

10/1/03 - MalekTips - Tons of computer related tips (web development, Windows, Internet, digital cameras, Word, Access, and more). This site is worth a visit or two since new tips are added frequently. Boutell is another FAQ (frequently asked questions) type of site that has lots of information on basic web development and the Internet in general. The Quick Web Development Tips from ChannelJamaica.com is a handy cheat sheet of web development do's and don'ts. The Top 20 Things That Should Never Appear On Your Web Site is also worth a read.

TamingtheBeast.net has excellent articles on SEO (search engine optimization), e-commerce, and web marketing and development. Lots of great reading material at this site!

Take a look at some of the portfolio examples at Accounting & Computer Enterprises. We will discuss these in class.