May 2008 - Posts
Did the title of this blog post get your attention?
Just what is Stiletto?
It is the code name for Dreamweaver CS4 and if you are one of those folks brave enough to download and install beta software you can try it out for yourself by downloading it from http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/dreamweavercs4/
Personally, I am downloading it as I type but being a veteran beta software user there are a few things I do to so that I do not end up wishing I had not been so adventurous. First, on my Windows computers I set up a Virtual PC for testing. Fortunately Microsoft will make that easy for you since Virtual PC is free and the Internet Explorer team gives away free testing images for IE 6, IE 7 and IE 8. Yes, they are time bombed but hey we are talking about using it with beta software so it really does not matter. In fact, think about it you are killing two birds with one stone. You can test your websites in whatever version of IE you do not have while at the same time protecting your system form possible beta software bugs. (Mind you I am not saying that you will experience system instability or other problems using the beta of Dreamweaver CS 4 on your primary computer but play it safe just in case.)
Then install Dreamweaver Stiletto in the VPC and play away. As for me I want to see the new interface, related files and code navigator bits that are new in CS 4. I also want to see what is missing re ASP.NET.
Ah, I mentioned what I will be doing on my Windows computers for testing out Stiletto but I do have a Mac sitting here. Now I must admit that I don't really care that much if I trash OS X while beta testing because there is nothing critical on that machine but it is a pain in the you know what to reinstall and set things back up. Fortunately, I'm running 10.5 and I'll make an image of my system as it is and tuck it away on an external drive before I install any beta software on it. I'll also spend a little bit of time trying to get Time Machine to work properly since despite the fact the external drive I use to back-up my Mac has 3x the space available of the entire hard drive in my MacBook it keeps telling me I have insufficient space for Time Machine to work properly, sigh.
Oh well, guess I know some of what I will be doing tomorrow, how about you?
I will be at TechEd again this year. Like last year I will he working in -the MVP booth. For a change I am going to actually try and use some of the sorrel networking tools so here is my TechEd connect card.
Technorati Tags:
teched08
While I have had bits and pieces of the Expression Web Basic tutorial series up on the site (under Media) they are now officially linked on the by-expression.com site's tutorial page. It took me some time to figure out the best compression ratio to file size and the right number of key frames to make sure you can see the parts that I am working on without too much jumping around.
If you prefer there is also an iPod version you can download of each of the tutorials. Whichever you chose if you plan on working along with the tutorial you should download the zip file that contains all the assets used in the site and the completed project.
Like the sample sites and page layouts we provide on by-expression you may use the basic layouts and DWTs but I would request that you switch out the images for your own graphics since they probably won't fit your site anyway. ;-)
If you do use one of our sample templates I'd like to see what you did with it so drop us a note.
Okay I normally limit my posting to Expression Web, general web design-development or Dreamweaver but thought I'd mention some graphic topics for a change.
First, the Expression Design team has started putty tutorials -video blogs in then blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/xdesignsupport/default.aspx
Next, I see people asking how attach text to a path. Since Fireworks is the image program I use most I found this tutorial worthwhile http://www.tommylogic.com/tutorial-blog/web-design-tutorials/39-web-related/66-fireworks-text-shape-tutorial
Finally, something I find myself needing to to is remove backgrounds from images. This is the best tutorial I know of for using Fireworks to remove the background http://www.tommylogic.com/tutorial-blog/web-design-tutorials/39-web-related/66-fireworks-text-shape-tutorial
Now that we have moved all the content from by-expression.com into the new community server 2008 based site I will be moving my blog in there as well. Sadly since there is not a good migration tool right now I will not be moving the archive over yet but all new posts will be at [...]
What is it moving the Webmaster Jam Session conference to Atlanta?
Ever since the first Webmaster Jam in Dallas two years ago this has been one of my favorite conferences. Top notch speakers, a reasonable price, altogether a great conference. The only downside was the conference hotel which sucked. The conference facilities were good but the hotel itself was NOT. At the end of the conference last year there was some discussion of moving the conference to Houston or at least to a different hotel so I was anticipating (happily) a change of venue.
To my surprise when I received word today that registration was opening for WebMaster Jam 2008 the conference was moved to ATLANTA. Crap, I really liked having a good small conference that was in Texas.
In addition, last year there was a "Platinum Pass" available with extra small session content. Every platinum pass holder I talked to last year would get a platinum pass again. Not only does that option not appear to be available this year the website itself is sketchy on details. Compare the information available about the 2008 conference http://2008.webjamsession.com/ with the 2007 conference http://2007.webjamsession.com. Heck, there isn't even hotel information on the website.
Over the last few years I have attended quite a few conferences ranging from small intimate ones like Webmaster Jam Session and Remix Boston, the way up to the huge conferences like MIX, SXSW and TechEd (I am hoping to make it to AdobeMAX this year) and Webmaster Jam Session has been up at the top of my list of "best" conference to attend.
Sadly, I am not sure that I will be able to make it this year with the move to Atlanta and the lack of information on the site.
Microsoft announced today that version 2 of Expression Web was released today. See http://www.microsoft.com/expression/ for more information.
Looks like you won't be able to buy it until June 1st but you can download the 30 day trial now. From what I've seen there aren't any major differences between the beta that has been available for awhile and the release version but I haven't had a chance to test for fixes to bugs that I saw during the beta.