Blog entries tagged tutorials

Drawing Realistically Simple Clouds in Photoshop

Melissa Burnham — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:41:39 +0100

I didn’t realize how difficult it would be to draw realistic-looking clouds in Photoshop. I didn’t want to just slap on a picture of some heavenly fluffiness and have to mess with cutting, pasting and arranging layer upon layer of duplicated images. Neither did I want to make Mickey Mouse cartoon clouds that any preschooler could sRead More...

Designing Custom Reflections

Melissa Burnham — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 05:00:00 +0100

There has been an enormously popular trend going around throughout websites, and design in general, but it’s mostly hoarded by Apple. The effect is the reflection, as if the object or image undergoing the effect is sitting upon a sheet of glass or any shiny surface. As I said, this is extremely popular so my little tutorial on how to reproduce it may seem (un)fasRead More...

Web Design that Breaks Borders

Melissa Burnham — Fri, 22 May 2009 05:00:00 +0100

I had an art project once to make a sculpture out a rectangular block of plaster molded from a milk carton. I had to be somewhat delicate with it to make sure it didn’t break into a million pieces, which is mostly the reason why the sculpture retained some of its blockiness. In the end, it had a good, interesting design, but you could still follow the lines around it and decipher its original form.

Now, my forte is not sculpting obviously, but the same principle can be appRead More...

Spacing: Leaving Room for White

Melissa Burnham — Fri, 08 May 2009 05:00:00 +0100

One of an artist’s greatest fears is a white canvas. It’s the ubiquitous blank page for a writer, and the stark empty template for a web designer. The whiteness glares at you, forcing you to cover it all up with images, text, links, buttons, menus, miscellaneous boxes and whatever else. Before you know it, the canvas has become cluttered, the page now beyond usable functioRead More...

Creating the Magic Touch

Melissa Burnham — Mon, 04 May 2009 05:00:00 +0100

So far, I’ve been blabbing about very general and hopefully commonsensical aspects of web design. This time I’m going to get a little more specific, talking about some finer details.

I mentioned before that a couple major rules to follow are to keep things consistent and to focus on busting out some quality details. This is the founRead More...

Finding Free Images Online

Greg Rivera — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 05:00:00 +0100

Something that I have taken notice of as of late is all the great photos that are out on the web. A lot of these images have me wondering how much it costs to take a shot like that. Or better yet how can I afford to have that great image on my site when I clearly don't have the money to do so. Well I guess the good news to tRead More...

Designing with Type in Mind

Melissa Burnham — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 05:00:00 +0100

One of the geeky aspects of being a graphic designer is memorizing fonts. It’s not easy, but after years of designing, all the fonts just seep into your head like osmosis. Then you’ll be criticizing every website you visit, saying, “Why did they use Copperplate as a header title?!” or “Is that the font from Star Wars?”

There are a few rules and regulatiRead More...

Learn HTML and Photoshop Slicing

Joseph Leon — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 05:00:00 +0100

I was recently asked to help someone find a good place to learn HTML code and Photoshop slicing. They asked:

"Hey Joseph, need some advice! Thinking of doing a short course in HTML formatting and basic web design. The type where you can make illustrations on Photoshop and make blog templates…thus the need to learn html formatting. Any suggestions on what tRead More...

Color Vision

Melissa Burnham — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 05:00:00 +0100

Color deserves some serious respect. We first learn about color as a game when we are kids. It's fun to mix each one to see what kind of mess you'll get next. For designers, color is a fascination that started from that innocent beginning. Little did we know that color would rule our designer lives from then on.

The use of color can be a very delicate art. ItRead More...

We can do This the Easy Way or the Hard Way

Greg Rivera — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 05:00:00 +0100

Something easy and simple that I learned recently from a good friend was how to keep simple code clean in Joomla! Prior to learning these simple tricks, I would have been using a WYSIWYG Editor (What You See Is What You Get) in the back-end of Joomla! and this editor is great for using when first being introduced to Joomla! However the WYSIWYG Editor will not keep your code nice and clean, in-fact wRead More...

Textures: Must Haves for Sweet Sites

Melissa Burnham — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 05:00:00 +0100

I am not a tech, so don't read this looking for programming advice. This is purely for all of the amateur web designers out there, in Houston, Texas and everyone all over the world.

First off, if you are a true designer, you should be using Photoshop to begin building your site ideas for the web. You need to know what your site will look like, how it will be laid out first and foremost. A sketchbook and pencil works wonders for that. And don't be afraid to go all out.

SRead More...

20Something Badges for WordPress

Joseph Leon — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 05:00:00 +0100

I was recently asked about inserting the badge from 20SomethingBloggers into a WordPress blog page.

"u know why "twenty something bloggers" badge not coming on my blog as it shud have??"

The badge for twenty something bloggers will give you some code that looks like this…

<embed wmode="opaqueRead More...

HTML for Bloggers

Joseph Leon — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 05:00:00 +0100

I recently got an Email about how to use HTML for blogs. It read:

"I'd thought I'd take you up on your offer about HTML. I'm new to blogging and getting super frustrated when it says my blog can't post due to HTML. I never know what the problem is. Any idea what that means? Do you have any key pointers to a new blogger about HTML?? Thanks so much! Any help is much appreciated!"

This person blogs on Blogger.com so I will use that site as an example.

The Client - Web Designer Relationship: Communicating with your "Web Guy"

Daphne Hager — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 05:00:00 +0100

The relationship between a business and its web designer is not one to be overlooked. A happy, professional interaction can lead to a fruitful transaction, while a distant or uninvolved relationship will most certainly hinder the potential of your website or web application.

Obviously, we can say be nice. Still, there is so much more. If you would like to get the absolute most out of your website - and there's no reason you shouldn't - you should absolutely heed these notes.
Read More...

Social Media: Facebook

Daphne Hager — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 06:00:00 +0100

Facebook is well known to many, but its usefulness may not be as familiar. What may be a waste of time for most can bring a great return on investment of time to others. Below is an overview of steps that should be taken to promote your business using Facebook.

What Can Facebook do for My Business?

Facebook has a LOT of users. Those users may be your business’ potential clients. IRead More...

Ethical Hyperlinks and SEO

Joseph Leon — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 06:00:00 +0100

Hyper link no-nos

Link stuffing is shoving tons of links into a page that have no real use other than to take advantage of search algorithms. This is unethical and deteriorates the quality of the Internet. Users need to feel confident that links point to relevant information.

Before 2003 black-hat developers would create severRead More...

Neat Halftone Patterns in Photoshop

Joseph Leon — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 06:00:00 +0100

I learned how to make neat half-tone patterns in Photoshop this week. Here is a step by step guide on how to create neat halftone textures. I will assume you already know how to open Photoshop and make simple operations within Photoshop.

Step 1: Open Photoshop and make a new document about 600x600 pixels. Create a new blank layer.

Step 2: Select the Brush Tool anRead More...

Joomla! TotW: 04 - Giving Your Images and Content a Little Space

Greg Rivera — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 06:00:00 +0100

You might have found that some of the images that have been inserted have the issue of running up the edges of content or words.

To give the image and content the proper amount of spacing we’ll have to inform the editor that there will need to be spacing placed between these two items.

To do this, just follow these steps:

Inside a Joomla! article select an image fRead More...

And So I Blog... About Blogging

Daphne Hager — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 06:00:00 +0100

I have been asked to explain what makes a good blog post, or at least how to effectively blog, write well, SOMETHING to help with bloggers' issues. What style, format, length, etc. is appropriate? And for which situation? I intend to touch on a few things in order to point the lost in the right direction.

What to Blog About?

What moves you? Or what do you think will move other people? What Read More...

IES4OSX - Getting Internet Explorer on Your Mac

Matthew Hager — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0100

There are many times when for one reason or another I need to have Internet Explorer on my Mac. For the longest time I thought the only way was to use Boot Camp or Virtualization until recently I discovered IES4OSX.

IES4OSX allows you to install a few different versions of the Internet Explorer (currently pre IE7) on your Mac and a few popular browser plug-ins. We have had varying amounts Read More...