Software Archives - Page 5 of 14

Useful links: Troubleshooting CSS, Carousels, Accessible Forms, Smart Dust

I mentioned my new blog yesterday. I was thinking about using a carousel on it. Now Jared Smith and Craig Grannell are saying this: Accessibility Expert Warns: Stop Using Carousels. Well, Jared, you convinced me.

Making an Accessible form with ARIA, part 1 is from Deque.

No, Google Glass is not the ending point of Moore’s law, just another step along the way. Smart neural dust could carry sensors deep into the human brain, send data back out is further proof of where we’re going as a society with technology. So why can’t we find a form of energy that doesn’t create a hot planet?

Is Adobe Creative Cloud a Recipe for Failure?

There’s quite a discussion on a mailing list I belong to about whether or not Adobe is shooting itself in the foot with its new Adobe Creative Cloud subscription-based business model. The folks who argue that Adobe has doomed itself to failure cite several other companies that have tried a similar business model and it proved to be their undoing.

Do you have an opinion about the decision Adobe made? Have you subscribed, or have you decided you will not ever subscribe? Are there stories about other companies that have tried this and failed – or succeeded – that you can share as examples?

Useful links: REM, 3-D Printing, Coding Tools, JS libraries

Easy-peasy REM Conversion with SASS is from Stubbornella.

3-D printing is capable of anything, apparently. What won’t we make with 3-D printing in the future? Now there’s a duck with a new foot thanks to 3-D printing. How about a house? A bus? A person (beam me up, Scotty)?

Coding Tools to Make Life Easier is from Ann Maria’s Blog.

Which JavaScript Library Should I Pick? Here are some tips to help you evaluate the numerous JavaScript libraries that are available now so you can make an intelligent choice.

Useful Links: DW CC Tutorial, print styles, POUR

Dreamweaver CC is very different in appearance and interface from previous versions. The wizard for creating CSS rules that has been in place since the early days is gone. Here’s a nice tutorial with downloadable files that will walk you through some of the ways to use the software interface now while making a simple web page.

Tips and Tricks for Print Style Sheets brings you up to speed on the modern way to create print styles.

Pragmatica11y: Teaching Accessibility Core Rules is the second of two posts by Dennis Boudreau. The first boiled down the rules for the Perceivable part of POUR. This post covers the Operable, Understandable, and Robust aspects, simplified down to the ‘core.’

Useful links: UX Video, remote control, Instagram video, mobile #fails

How to Fail at UX in 3 Steps is a very short video, but it makes strong points.

Where will this lead? Microsoft shows off a wall of 200 Windows Phones you can control remotely.

In case you’re already deeply committed to Instagram’s new video service, here’s How to Embed Instagram Video on Your Website.

Mobile Web Problems and How to Avoid Them is a series of problems collected by Brad Frost and Jen Simmons over the last few months. You see screen shots of the problem and get tips on how to avoid the errors.

Adobe Creative Cloud

I knew I’d have to do it sooner or later as long as I continue to teach. And, oh, wow, look at my Dock:

That’s a lot of Adobe software, folks.

I joined Adobe Creative Cloud the other day. I downloaded everything! It took a long time, and my computer was burning hot when it was over.

I don’t know what half of these programs do. I must spend some time mining the video tutorials on the Adobe site to learn about all the fantastic new stuff I can now do. Jeepers, maybe I’ll be able to export SVG from Illustrator soon.

One piece of good news. The Extensions Manager version I had before CC crashed each time I tried to use it. The new one works. I have two extensions managers now, one for CS6 which works on Fireworks CS6, and one for CC, which works on everything else.

The biggest piece of news is that I completely misunderstood what Adobe Creative Cloud was all about and how it was going to work when I first wrote about it. So here’s the deal for those of you who are confused like I was.

When you purchase a plan, you can download any or all the software you paid for access to. It will automatically be updated (which I sincerely hope happens faster than the initial downloads). You can keep files on your own computer, you can back them up to the cloud, you can share them with collaborators – or not. You can install on more than one computer, too.

You see that curvy looking icon at the far left in the image of my Dock at the top? That’s the CC icon, and it works like going to the app store for updates (well, until iOS 7 kicks in). You see what you have downloaded, what’s available for download, and what’s ready to update in a handy little interface.

You don’t have to be connected to the Internet to use the software.

Useful Links: the future of content, Adobe web fonts, HTML Imports

Drupalcon Keynote by Karen McGrane with Video, Slides, and transcript. One of many worthwhile ideas she discusses:

I’ve gotten the reputation of being the president of the WYSIWYG Haters Club, which is true, and if you don’t buy into my rationale here today…

I’m going have to continue my graffiti crime spree. People assume I must be some kind of markdown evangelist. The problem isn’t the toolbar. Truth is, I don’t care if users make headings and bulleted lists with a toolbar or markdown codes. The problem with WYSIWYG is that we are allowing content creators to treat the web like it’s print.

Where do you think WYSIWYG came from?

It came from XEROX. Xerox PARC. Because they invented the laser printer.

How to Use Adobe Edge Web Fonts on Your Site from Design Shack is a good look at how to make the new Adobe Edge Web Fonts work for you. Both the problems and the benefits are outlined along with step by step instructions.

The W3C released the first working draft of HTML Imports. HTML Imports are a way to include and reuse HTML documents in other HTML documents.