Archive for March 2004

Create a collage with Fireworks is a step-by-step tutorial shows you a few techniques that will come in handy when you design with Fireworks.

Macromedia’s site also has posted a few Dreamweaver MX 2004 CSS tips covering classes, IDs, and rounded corners in just a few pages worth of content. [ Via InformIT ]

Some projects are destined to fail because they only involve the IT team in the Web design decision making process. IT should have little involvement as their only purpose is to provide information on servers, hosting, space, etc. or taking care of purchasing of such.

It’s the marketing people that need to be involved from the get go among other teams, but that’s not the focus of this entry. Seven Conversion Rate Concepts for the Final Exam clearly explains how marketing’s role is important to the design process.

Marketing may not be able to talk tech-ese, but that’s what analysts are for… translating their business requirements into high level design, which is the in-between document (between marketing and technical). After that comes the more technical documents.

Design shops help remind marketing the site is for the users and not marketing. What marketing may like isn’t necessarily going to impress users thus enters the concept of personas and user testing. [ Originally posted in InformIT ]

When I am away from the computer and can’t do any work, this is what I am doing. I can’t stop playing!!! (249990) It’s been helpful as I’ve come down with something and am on antibiotics. So I sit in bed or on the sofa playing the game.

Apple has announced the next release of Mac OS X will introduce Spoken Interface for Mac OS X, which provides a combination of spoken and visual cues, and keyboard navgiation to help those with sight impairments.

More discussion in MacRumors forums and in BusinessWeek .

Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 updater is available, all 20 megs of it (22 for Macs). On the updater page are links to information on the update. Quickly, it has three key improvements: performance and stability, restoration of the timelines feature, bug fixes.

When I first tested the beta version, I was impressed with the improved CSS coverage, but annoyed with its bloated size as it took longer than ever to load. I haven’t had a chance to install the updater yet, but expect me to share my feedback.

Also available from Macromedia is an article on Validating Code in Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004, which has three demos showing how to go about validating.

Two more goodies include Gradually Implementing CSS in Your Site and From Screen to Print: Creating a Print CSS in Dreamweaver. [ Via InformIT ]

I haven’t been a happy camper in a while, so buying the Tungsten T3 was worth it as it gave me something to get excited about. I’m in geek love!

Been a PalmOSer since the Palm Pilot 1000 came out. Scrambling to find a case and I spent a lot of time reading a lot of reviews on various brands. Narrowed it down unfortunately to two expensive products (this one, they are out of the non-custom version of the one I want, go figure) that allow me to Hotsync with the case on (I got tired of taking the case off every day to put the Palm in its cradle), carry cards, and use a non-magnetic or velcro enclosure (magnets can cause problems and velcro is noisy). I don’t think this is a tall order, but apparently it is.

Update: I ordered the Vaja Case from another site that had the basic version at the non-customized price. I did check the Internet and eBay, which is how I found this one. Best I could do and I gotta protect my new baby!

Oskar is also a Palm fan since the Pilot days and shared a few suggestions:

Put your favorite RSS into www.mobilerss.net and slurp it into your Palm with www.isilox.com + www.isilo.com. Give Memo Pad the power of wikiwiki with HWiki. Adobe and Real got (free!) readers for PalmOS (Meryl here: these came with my T3). Be secure with Cryptopad.

Here’s a great case study from D. Keith Robinson, one of the great people I met at Digital Web Magazine. I think case studies are an excellent way to learn as I learn from example.

I had an adventure trying to help with a redesign yesterday.

I got me a new toy! It’s charged and I have to wait till I get home from work to load the software before I can start fiddling with it.

Came across Choose the right software for your Palm and it highlights all the tips I typically follow when deciding whether or not a software is for me. Good advice.

InformIT has been redesigned and it works much better and loads faster as it now uses CSS for positioning and transitional XHTML. It has a few quirks needing tweaking, but at least the major problems have been addressed and those on alternative devices can read it.

The sections are continuously being updated or getting new sections. If you see something missing or needing an update, let me know. You can also comment, discuss, and criticize each section and blog entries.

AOL Jumps into the social network craze with ICQ Universe. No, I won’t do it. I am not going to register and bug people again. Orkut was the last straw. [ Via Smart Mobs ]

It’s time to work with the ones you have signed up for and make the most out of them. Ryze has been the winner for me although I find its usability needs help.