Dan Jasker // Creative Graphic & Website Designer // Available For Hire

Two New Website Concepts

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 07:04:00 +0000

It's been ages since my last post and to be honest I haven't been in the mood to write up a blog about really anything. I've been strongly focusing on my work and taking a much needed time-out from the screen-casting and tutorials that I thought I'd really enjoy doing. The more and more I got into it I began to better respect those who do this for a living. With all the complaints and all the arrogant critics out there (you know who you are), props goes out to anyone who does these and lives to tell about it.

The point of this post is to show off two design concepts that are out there in the world and will be launching soon.

Both sites are going to be using ExpressionEngine as the CMS of choice and I will admit that both designs are a huge jump from the existing counterparts. This is a good thing and I look forward to seeing how the rest of the site turns out as well as the response from the clients that they are being designed for when they are finished.

I'd appreciate any feedback on these and I'll post an update when these are done. Thanks.

Clearing The First 1,200...

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 06:36:00 +0000

Clearing the first 1,200+ visitors goal of my little 100% Documented Freeway Tutorials website has been quite an honor. I'd like to thank everyone who followed the link, either on Freewaytalk.net or on this blog, and took the time to visit the site and then e-mailed me comments or suggestions about it. I find that these documented versions have been going faster than my actual video-cast's but they've also been a bit of a challenge.

Currently, as of this blog post, there are eleven 100% documented Freeway tutorials complete with screen-captures and thorough explanations for each step. Each topic is either chosen by a person who e-mailed me or is an updated version of a previous video-cast. I will admit that I've got some rather strange requests and it's been difficult trying to sort out the necessary from the ridiculous. There are just somethings that cannot be done easily I'm afraid, but I will admit that I looked into every one of them and tried to find a way to make it happen.

The website has an RSS feed to subscribe to as a way to find out when the latest tutorials are made available. Also there are separate mobile-optimized versions for iPhone users. Freeway tutorials on-the-go. How cool is that?

So go check them out and did I mention a new blog design is coming soon? Stay Tuned.

Documented Screen-cast's

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 09:24:00 +0000

Launching today is a trial run of documenting video-cast's by converting them into a manual like web version. These can be used instead of the typical video-cast's and will enable users to scroll down to a specific step within a document without having to re-download the video-cast and fast-forward to a specific spot. I got this idea from browsing around various other video-cast sites and found that little or no actual documentation was made available. It usually required going through various busy support lines or having to join a forum for something often trivial. This way you can quickly find the things you need without the hassle.

As far as video-cast's go I've revamped a few I had posted previously and would like to document the entire process and get those re-posted as soon as possible. I figure that working on both a new website and re-upping all my previous screen-cast's should keep me busy for a while. There are still quiet a few requests I've promised to fulfill and I will get to those. With that said I've posted my first revamped, and most successful video-cast with over 1,350 views, on creating simple fading slideshow's in Freeway. To those who haven't seen it, it's about using a single action to create a simple slideshow where you can have a series of images fade-in and fade-out all created in just a matter of minutes. So go check it out!

Lastly I'd also like to re-iterate that I'm currently available for freelance and even full-time work and have experience in handling all kinds of graphic design and web projects. I'd encourage you to contact me even if you'd like me to review a website or simply clean up your files if something isn't quite right. I accept either Freeway documents or just straight up CSS, (X)HTML, etc.

Well, what are you waiting for? Go watch the screen-cast and I'll be back with another one after I return home in about a week.

A Few Updates...

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 09:09:00 +0000

I'd first like to thank everyone for the feedback that was given on the last post about whether people would be into buying screen-cast's for a few dollars. I received overwhelming support for offering both paid and free version's and I have been building a site that will house these items. More on that in a minute.

Going beyond that this week I've been working heavily on the rebuilding and updating of EagleEngineSales.com. I've gone ahead and rebuilt the entire site from the ground up. I've integrated Expression Engine into the site and it has saved time in my workflow by allowing more site specific automation rather than placing content manually like the older site. It's also enabled me to better understand yet another dynamic CMS option and I look forward to using it for future sites. There are a few major improvements to the site which include a handful of new pages and content as well as a few updated graphic related items. Overall the majority of the work was done on the server-side and that included lots and lots of data entry and then a few new things including request and contact forms that contained a control mechanism over specific field entries that could then be exported out for use in any typical office software such as Word or Excel. Before the website had used Forms2Go and that served it's purpose but wasn't flexible enough to export the data. I used FreeForm from SolSpace.com and I'd recommend using that to anybody who wants to create forms easily. Overall I'm pleased with the update and I consider it an accomplishment because it took 5-6 months to get it together originally and then it only took a week and three days to rebuild it all.

I've also recently finished a website for a book publisher and that site can be found at Titopublishingcompany.com. What was great about this project was that it had existing content and any additional content that I needed was sent quickly by the client. What bothers me most about the preliminary web design process is unprepared clients who expect something to simply appear out of nothing. Things were different this time and I'd like to personally thank Cliff, my client, and I wish him the best with his website.

Lastly, I want to discuss this site I'm working on for the screen-cast's. I had an idea today that consisted of creating downloadable versions of my tutorials in PDF format. I thought about having them be written out and then have an optional video to watch. It seems like it'd be double the work, but some people like paper copies that are smaller than these often large video clips. I'd like to have my site content laid out like PSDtuts.com and would then have screen captures of the different sections and then offer an optional download depending on it's type. What do you think?

I know there's been quite a few people asking when it will be done and to be honest I'm working on it like crazy so it shouldn't be much longer. I appreciate everyone's support and I look forward to seeing how the community reacts to it.

FW5: Screen-Cast's Update!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 19:29:00 +0000

For a while now I've been recording free instructional screen-cast's on how to do various tasks, often outside of the program, for Softpress' Freeway web software. All of them seemed to be well received with download counts and views in the thousands and I want to thank everyone for taking the time to watch them. Although I will admit a few comments here and there were unnecessary and unfounded, I kept going and what I didn't know was that what started out to be a fun hobby could turn into a business. With that said I want to make one announcement and then present my readers with a question.

The big announcement is that any new screen-cast's will now be split into free versions and paid versions. The free versions, which there will be plenty, will cover simple topics and plenty of in-program tasks. The paid versions, with a brief preview available, will often be series types and will involve a bit more advanced knowledge and understanding in HTML and CSS. I've received quite a few e-mails from people who disagree about splitting things up, but I can't afford my time being given away.

I don't do these screen-cast's to feel like a "god" or for personal self-worth issues or for any kind of respect and recognition, I do these because I enjoy simply helping people and it also helps push my name a little bit further out there as I continue looking for full-time work.

I consider my time to be just as valuable as yours and, since in reality I'm helping you out, it's only fair. As far as pricing goes that will be announced soon, but don't expect anything more than a few dollars.

Now for the question part of this post, I'd like some feedback on this topic. A while back I was approached by someone who suggested the idea of doing hands-on training services to be offered over iChat through screen-sharing. The idea would be to charge a fee and then later remotely connect with them and show them how to do basic things in Freeway. Basically an interactive screen-cast / web-inar. The idea intrigued my entrepreneurial side of trying to create a successful business but I'm not sure how the Freeway user base would feel. Well, what do you think?

Thanks for reading!

Thinking Like A Graphic Designer

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 00:17:00 +0000

Since yesterday I've started reading an eBook called "How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer" by Debbie Millman. I've been reading it because it not only relates to my field but it also speaks more to the individual than it does to the design. Recently, as many of you know, I've been trying to land a job in the field of graphic design / web design. So I thought that reading more about a general history of my field, from people who started where I am, would somehow empower me to keep going no matter how amusing the lackluster search has been already.

The first part of the book is about how an interviewee needs to be engaged by an interviewer. This made sense in a way because I feel, if a role reversal had taken place, I'd want to engage my interviewee more than I've been engaged myself. When I've been interviewed I often get asked very generic questions by an HR person and the interview process has always lacked a certain kind of creativity from the interviewer and it often ends in a result of boredom by me the interviewee. This shouldn't simply be. Interviews must be tackled with zeal and the interviewer must control the discussion with the interviewee allowing time for the expected to turn into the unexpected.

The book continues on to walk you through the steps in the minds of various designers in different eras. Debbie starts with Michael Bierut and his transition into the design giant Pentagram. Followed by others such as Chip Kidd and Stephen Doyle. But what does this book really teach you to think about to be a great graphic designer?

So far, the first thing that it has taught me is to realize that as designers we pride ourselves in the past and that "we never forget our first" and we need to move on and let that go. What I believe is that we often pride ourselves in our old design because we want to constantly feel that genesis of being apart of something, perhaps somewhere else. I believe that we pride ourselves to the point that eventually later in our lives it has consumed us and the tragedy of it all is that we will soon find it hard to disguise the fact that the very thing that gave us pleasure for so long is now not enough for us. The book refers to this as a basic psychological reaction, "it's like rats with pellets in the maze."

The second thing I've learned so far is that you can compensate for whatever flaws and shortcomings you have as a creative person by being smart and well-read and by working really, really hard. This makes sense because the more opportunities you have to work hard the more success you'll have in your life. I admit, I work hard at what I do. I take pride in my design and I often try to shadow my flaws in my presentation.

The last thing I've learned so far is that we all find our way somehow and it very well may bring us back to where we started. For instance this week I'm working on a redesign of spiral94.com. Back in March of 2004 I designed it and had someone else put it together, but I took pride in it because it was my first big project. Now 5 years later, with nothing changed or updated since then, looking back it wasn't a big project, it was just big to me. I've learned this week that things don't always go according to plan and I think we'll find ourselves when we least expect it. Growing up I didn't know drawing goofy pictures would turn out to be a career opportunity. In fact for a while I gave up drawing and tried something else. But you keep going and that's what matters.

I'll have another post on this book after I'm done reading it. Thanks.

FW5: Using CSS To The Max

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:13:00 +0000

Now that the dust has settled and a new year is now upon us I've been looking over some of my past projects from the last few years and have been looking closely specifically at the design approach I took into each of them. I've been doing web-design for about 5 years now and I started out doing simple table-based designs that were very graphic heavy and I've quickly progressed into CSS-based designs. Along the way I hadn't used much CSS beyond styling text and felt that was as far as it'd go. Well, I was wrong.

One of my struggles in my web-design journey was finding a way to utilize anything and everything. Sort of a maxi-mist I'd like to say. I wanted to be able to utilize CSS to tailor my designs where if I had moved on from a project I could easily load up the files and feel like I could pick up where I left off. However in Freeway I felt like I couldn't do that because often my projects were passed onto other people who made their own changes and the way I had my projects setup would only allow me to work on them. The teeter-totter might bounce on this one for pro's and con's but in the work-place you need to be prepared for someone else.

Well how does one prepare for someone else? One place to start is with your CSS files. Today the word CSS is common place and more and more people understand how it works. Designers are able to change an entire site design through CSS without touching any of the HTML and by having properly setup CSS documents you can impress your clients with these professional features. With that said I've done my first screen-cast of the year on how to create external style-sheets properly using Freeway 5 Pro combined with CSSEdit (or you can use your favorite CSS editor.)

This screen-cast requires that you have installed the Action bundle found at (http://actionsforge.com/actions/index/20)

The screencast can be viewed at FreewayCast.com:

http://freewaycast.com/screencasts/view/31-using-css-to-the-max

Comments are welcome!

Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy!

10 Most Used Freeway Actions (Part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 22:30:00 +0000

If you remember in the last post, I went through my bottom five out of ten Freeway Actions that I use regularly within my design workflow. During that time, between part's one and two, I did make some corrections to the Action descriptions and fixed a program specific situation by replacing it with an Action that does pretty much the same thing. Continuing forward from "Part One" here is a list of the top 5 Actions I use regularly.

5. Google Analytics

Google Analytics now makes the features that experts demand easy to use for everyone. Gain rich insights into your website traffic with Advanced Segmentation, Custom Reporting, Motion Charts, and more.

Included in the Freeway 5 software series is the Google Analytics Action that allows you easy access to entering your tracking code from the free Google website tracking service. I use this service for every site I design and have had great success in knowing what people are looking at and if they're able to get around the site as intended.

4. Expression Engine ($40)

ExpressionEngine (EE) is a highly flexible content management system (CMS) that allows those without extensive PHP experience to create database driven websites that rival sites with tens of thousands of dollars of custom scripting and database development.

If you're building a website using a CMS, I'd recommend using Expression Engine. Combined with this Action set you will be able to create a manageable website that easily contains both static and dynamic content.

3. Crowbar

CrowBar is an enhanced version of the Markup Item.

I've used this Action recently with the Expression Engine Suite. It allows you to insert code snippets before or after a specific HTML item and is available in three flavors of "Page, Inline, and Item."

2. Upload Extra Resources

Use this Action to upload extra files/resources to your server.

This Action enables you to select external files, to eventually be uploaded to your server, that are not included within your Freeway document. It is great for uploading those externally linked PDF's or an image XML file for a slideshow.

1. External Style Sheet / Convert To Style Sheet

Use any external CSS style sheet in your Freeway page. This can be a page within the site that you converted to a stylesheet using the ESS-Convert to Style Sheet Action or a stylesheet created with another application.

This is my most used Action because of the lack of full-CSS support in Freeway. These two Actions allow you to attach your own style sheet to your projects and enables you to use your favorite CSS editor to do the things that Freeway can't.

This completes my list of "Most Used Freeway Actions" and I hope that you use these for your web projects as they are the best of the best.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great Thanksgiving.

10 Most Used Freeway Actions (Part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 09:10:00 +0000

I was asked recently what were my most used actions that I use for Freeway 5 Pro. If you haven't used Freeway 5 Pro you've been under a rock and a quick Google search will get you up to date. Although I don't use Freeway for my main web-design software, I find it's ease of use unmatched if you're in need of building something quick and easy all the while staying cost effective. Within the software are included "actions" which work like "plug-ins" that can help accomplish complicated things rather easily. The support and the development of these actions has been greatly appreciated so I'd like to take a moment here and thank everyone who has submitted an action.

The difficult part about this post is narrowing it down to 10 standard use actions based of a long and distinguished list of "comes with the program" actions and 3rd party actions. Usually my action selection is based on a project-by-project basis, but in my daily workflow I find that I use these 10 often and, regardless if you would use any of these, I find these the best of the best for me. I'll start off this two-part post with Part One of my bottom 5 and post another of my top 5.

10. Comment

Add a set of comments around any layer on the page. This helps you locate a particular element when viewing or editing the source code.

Since there are times when you have to edit the source code you'll need to be able to locate a specific area and nothing is easier than using the Comment action. It creates a nice HTML comment around, say, a specific DIV that you have placed. HTML comments are also a great way to organize your site, code-wise.

9. Dynamic Page Titles

Freeway will normally encode any non-alphanumeric characters, such as < and >, in page titles. This means that you can’t use ASP tags to dynamically generate titles.

If you're building a site using a CMS (content management system) and you want to put dynamic page titles for, say, your articles to include the title of the article in the bar at the top of the browser you'd use this action. Most CMS softwares use a tag based system and they can include "<" or quotation marks and when Freeway goes to publish your document it'll convert those symbols to the HTML equivalent.

8. Form Element Styler

Apply this action to each form element and set the style options. Handy for element widths, heights and setting coloured borders or fills for text fields and text areas.

If you're doing any kind of form work you'll need to have this action. It allows you to style the form elements (fonts, font-size, color, weight, background color...) as well as force their specific width's and height's. This action will save you lots of time in terms of styling and formating.

7. Fading Slideshow

Fading Slideshow is a great alternative to using Flash for a slideshow or using a Flash component. It uses javascript libraries and is super simple to use and understand. So simple in fact I did a screen-cast on it.

6. Slimbox

Let's you assign a Slimbox (Lightbox) popup image.

If you've been to any modern website I'm sure you've run across what Lightbox is and Slimbox is pretty much the same thing. Lightbox/Slimbox happens when you click on an image link and the browsers inner-window goes usually grey and then a white box draws itself out and inside of that holds your chosen photo acting almost as a layer above the page below it. This action is part of the MooTools Action Suite.

Now that Part One is completed please take the time to comment on any actions that are "must's" for you and would make your list.

Also I'd like to say that I am currently seeking employment opportunities in the United States and I know the economy is tough these days, but if you are in need of someone who is knowledgeable, educated, experienced, loyal, and committed to the success of your agency or small business I'd encourage you to drop me a line and give me the opportunity to show you what I have to offer. I'd greatly appreciate it.

Stay tuned for Part Two.

FW5: Forms To Go

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 04:24:00 +0000

The first post of October, too bad it's 2 weeks into it. I apologize for the delay as I've been busy working on a couple of projects that could go all in or could be abandoned all together. So without further ado here is a wish list fulfillment by having a screen-cast on the software package "Forms to Go." From BeBoSoft.com, Forms to Go is what they call the "swiss army knife for every web developer wanting to put an online HTML form to work: it is a form to e-mail script generator bundled with features that solves many form processing tasks easily, without programming, like: field validation, multiple e-mail destination, file uploads, database dumps, secure HTML forms and more!" Sounds great to me.

As a disclaimer to this screen-cast it's hard to figure out everyone's web setup or figure out how to adapt your web hosting package to fit the software. But I do try to fit the most "usual" setup's and if your setup is "unusual" thankfully there's plenty of options. For instance most forms and web services allow for PHP to be used. Others require ASP or PERL scripting languages to be run. Who knows what you may be running? But I think the big three are covered here and should at least get you started on your way to creating simple to complicated form for your website.

Instead of listing out the features of Forms to Go, here's what I cover in the screen-cast. I show you how to setup your Freeway document for entry into FTG, how to setup secure scripts by setting requirements for user input entries, create custom e-mail subject and body entries for simple text-based e-mails, creating multiple field validation options, showing the export process of creating the script, and wrapping up with the final steps in your Freeway document.

After the Freeway setup is complete I was unable to test out to show you that the form really works. In light of this, this has been my procedure for building forms using FTG for about 5-8 web projects without any complaints. So I'm confident that it's this easy to do.

So here it is:

Mediafire Links:

http://www.mediafire.com/?yoxynjimeot

Password: apple

Now available on FreewayCast.com

Comments are welcome!

Enjoy!

FW5: Fading Slideshow

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 01:21:00 +0000

This week has been a super busy week as I've been wrapped up in a project that required some serious unexpected attention. Although it has been busy, I haven't forgetten about my screen-cast's so this week it's a brief run through of using Weaver's Fading Slideshow Action in Freeway 5 Pro. This Action can be found on Weaver's website and can be used in Freeway Pro and Express. In exactly three minutes and four seconds you'll learn how to create an excellent Javascript scripted DHTML-based fading slideshow as an alternative to a Flash based one. Also, did I mention it works on the iPhone, and it's free?

Based off the Dynamic Drive website the description reads that this is a robust, cross browser fade-in slideshow Javascript-based DHTML script. It allows you to have multiple slideshows on the same page, optional linking for certain images, and the ability to randomize the display order. It also has the ability to pause when the mouse is over it and did I mention that it's compatible with major browsers like IE, NS6+, Firefox, Safari? One final feature, specifically in Weaver's Action, is that it allows your Freeway image that you import to be the first slide in your slideshow or as the image to be shown in-case a specific browser has Javascript turned off.

Another great alternative if you're out there and not comfortable with Flash or can't afford to pay someone to do it. It's all laid out nice and easy and all done in Freeway. A brief disclaimer is that the photo's used within the screen-cast are not mine and if these photos are yours then I can remove them. I take no credit for the photography.

So now that that is out of the way, devil in and enjoy another screen-cast.

Mediafire Links:

http://www.mediafire.com/?twmyi1it1yz

Password: apple

Action Link:

Found Here

**UPDATE** Now available at FreewayCast.com

http://freewaycast.com/screencasts/view/27-fading-slideshow

Comments are welcome. Enjoy!

FW5: Meta Tags

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 02:17:00 +0000

Today I'm releasing a screen-cast on entering META tags into both your Freeway Pro and Express documents that can be used to help describe and promote your published web pages. Although the Google giant has re-written the book on the dying Meta Tags, there are still a few tags you can use that won't affect your search-ability, in-fact it may help it. This screen-cast covers the basics of META tags, what they are, what they look like, and how you can use them to create a professional looking indexed website in either Freeway Pro or Express.

Although Google has re-written the book, they haven't authored it completely. Meaning that other major search engines still use META tags and have their own methods as far as rankings and page views. It doesn't hurt to have them in there and as mentioned in the screen-cast there are ways to effectively work together.

Overall this can be done either using Express or Pro versions of Freeway and with an effective understanding of proper site promotion you can have a professional and searchable website that shows a proper description tag while being indexed that will draw users to the information they need.

Also, all of my future screen-casts, for now, will be posted over at FreewayCast.com. A great site, just starting out, has offered to host my screen-casts for free. Thank you to them for their time and dedication to making Freeway better.

So, enjoy!

http://freewaycast.com/screencasts/view/25-meta-tag-entries-in-pro-and-express

*/ On A Side Note /*

I would like to personally thank Victor Hooper for the donation submitted today. It goes a long way and I greatly appreciate your giving attitude in these trying economic times. His website can be found here and looks to have lots of great things happening on it.

*/ End Side Note /*

Thanks again to everyone for their comments and suggestions and stay tuned as more screen-casts will be released shortly.

FW5: MooTools Preview

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 08:38:00 +0000

One of the hardest parts about buying software is not being able to see how it's more popular features work in your own personal workflow. Usually a demo of the software is offered with some-functionality with a 30-day limit to try it out. Within those 30-days you hope to walk away with an understanding of what you're going to be paying for and if it's procedures are manageable for your business.

However, when it comes to purchasing 3rd-party Freeway actions, there are not any demo's. You may get some documentation, but you really need some time to mess around with it. So, this week I'm taking on a product showcase to those people contemplating whether or not they need to buy the MooTools Action Suite ($15). I've taken the liberty to show one of the more popular features of building an "Accordion" style menu.

Essentially what MooTools does is that it uses several open-source javascript library files to create some great effects with no coding on your part for your website. The Action Suite comes with easy to understand documentation as well as a thorough change-log for it's features and new additions. MooTools has some simple demo's found here to give you an idea of what can be done. Although some of the effects from the demo site are not included in the Freeway actions, the important and simple one's are.

In this screen-cast I cover it's most popular feature and that is building an "Accordion" style menu. What this means is that it's a menu system that has hidden content that is "expanded" on the click of a link. It can be used to build a rather clever navigation system and I've used it on several of my own sites. So download the screen-cast and check it out.

A disclaimer for Freeway 5 users:

MooTools currently has issues with "Scriptaculous Actions." A bullet-point for FW5 notes the inclusion of Scriptaculous Actions. Fundamentally, these are incompatible with the Mootools Suite. To have the Suite and these other Actions play nice, you must avoid using an 'effect' (ie 'fade' or 'pulsate') in any of the 'xxx.FX' Actions that ship with FW. Work is being done to make the Suite intgrate seamlessly into FW5 and its new Actions (at the very least alert the user during the design phase).

Files for "MooTools Action Preview"

http://www.mediafire.com/?792mxebydss

Password: apple

Also I may have a new place for my screen-cast video's to be hosted so new links may be available shortly for all screen-casts. There are still some issues I have to work out, but I hope to have them up and streaming as soon as possible.

FW5: Horizontal Lists

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 20:14:00 +0000

In my last screen-cast I laid out the way to style a vertical list that had colored rollovers without using the CSS Menu Action. It could then be used, for example, as a link list for a recent entries section within a CMS built site. Although there are several other uses for vertical lists, a horizontal list can serve as a way to present a CSS based navigation that is simple but elegant. Lists are one of the most versatile items found on the web and by understanding the basics of styling them one can achieve some great effects while keeping high on search-ability.

Starting on a simplistic level you can style a list by first targeting "li" or "ul" or "ol" HTML tag elements and then you can style those specific elements using CSS attributes. As we've learned from the previous screen-cast that "ul" (unordered list) or "ol" (ordered list) deals with telling the browser that a list is here and "li" (list item) stands for each item in a list, either ordered or unordered. As we've learned in Freeway 5 Pro, they've made it easy to create a list but your options kind of end there. We've learned how to identify lists by id and class and that they can go either horizontal or vertical directions.

Changing a vertical list into a horizontal list involves merely changing one CSS attribute. When we created a vertical list we set the "display" CSS attribute to a value of "block." This meant that the list item will be displayed as a block-level element, with a line break before and after the element. Meaning it will keep the enter down's we put in there and put the next list item directly underneath it. When it comes to creating a horizontal list we simply change that display attribute to "inline." What this does is put the list items in one straight horizontal line with no line breaks before or after it. Then by simply adding margins and paddings to our "li a" or "li" tags you can then space things out a bit, remove those border styles, and begin styling away.

Instead of doing a screen-cast about this, please watch the vertical list styling video and simply change the "li a" or "li" CSS attribute of "display:block" to "display:inline."

Your list items are important in setting up a professional styled website as well as a way to present items neatly and organized.

*/ On A Side Note /*

I had received word a few days ago that my CMSMadeSimple sample Freeway files were corrupt and/or not working in adding META tags to it. I have since redone and updated the files so if you're having trouble with that it should be fixed now.

Also I am seeking full-time design-based employment opportunities so don't hesitate to view my resume or view my portfolio and see if I can fit into the design needs of your company or agency.

*/ End Of Side Note /*

I'd also like to add that I will be attending a concert tonight featured Cheap Trick, Heart, and Journey. I'm super excited to see these groups and will report how it all went down.

Have a great weekend.

FW5: Body Tag / Styling Lists Screencasts

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 02:40:00 +0000

It's been a while since I've posted a screen-cast for Freeway 5 Pro. I've been busy working in Freeway 5 Express and understanding if there's ways I can contribute templates or helpful screen-cast's specifically built for them. It's been a up-hill climb working in Express as I lose plenty of features but pick up a challenge which I'm used to working with.

This week however I'm releasing two new screen-casts called "Body Tag" and "Styling Lists." Both are great time-saving screen-casts that not only are easy, but it gets users more comfortable using the CSS palette in Freeway. It also gets people involved in using the "Extended" menu to be confident that they can accomplish what may not yet be available in Freeway. Quick and easy screen-casts for all kinds of users.

Here's a quick run-down on each one:

"Body Tag" - Screen-cast

File Link: http://www.mediafire.com/?438gt2hnwbq

Password: apple

Runtime: 3 minutes, 35 seconds

The body tag is important when it comes to laying the foundation of your HTML text for your website in Freeway. It involves creating one tag that will house your default font(s), font-sizes, font colors, and so on site-wide. It's a standard tag to Pro CSS developers and coders and can save you lots of time. Forget setting up individual styles using the same font-size or font-family for each one, simply create a body tag and the only styles you'll have to make are tweaks and adjustments.

"Styling Lists" - Screen-cast

File Link: http://www.mediafire.com/?4te1s4hqxwm

Password: apple

Runtime: 9 minutes, 37 seconds

Styling lists in Freeway is complicated. Sure, you have the comfort of the CSS Menu action, but what if you want something more tailored to your design without having all these extra CSS styles in your code that you can't control? This screen-cast covers first how to create a list and then explains in detail how it works so you can have a professional understanding of how to focus your styling needs to target each area. I start out explaining how to style a list that has no links and then wrap it up building it with links and rollovers. All accomplished in 4 styles. How easy is that?

Also a preview in the "Styling Lists" screen-cast begins to talk about using the iPhone simulator and lists. Good stuff coming up.

So enjoy these free screen-casts and thanks for watching.

FW5: Progressive Image

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:32:00 +0000

Today I am releasing this BlogSpot's previous template, now entitled "Progressive Image," as a free download for Freeway 5 Pro users. With a few tweaks here and there within Freeway an extremely similar look has been easily accomplished. It is built as a box-model site which provides a flexible layout (vertically) and is compatible with IE6/IE7/FF(PC) and all MacOSX browsers.

However, with my previous template, I had a few extra tidbits of CSS that were manually added into the style sheet to adjust some of the margins and paddings. If your template version doesn't look quite like mine used to this would be a probable reason.

This template is also distributed under Creative Commons Attribution (by) 3.0. This enables you to share (copy, distribute, and transmit) or remix (to adapt the work) to fit your needs. This also means that you cannot sell this template for personal profit or gain. There is a whole other mess of legal jargon, but essentially it means that I deserve credit as author and licensor of this template, but in no way suggest that I endorse you or support the manner in which you use the template. So, don't be bad with it because I won't endorse you anyways. But I am interested to see what Freeway users do with this and would like to see any links if you use it.

Finally this template file (located in the template folder) needs a BlogSpot address / and / or / an external server address to the Resources folder added under the "Upload" tab (in "Document Setup") to the "Web Address" field before any of the Blogger actions work. If you're not sure how to do this make sure and download my screencasts involving Blogger templates; now easily available in the sidebar.

The next hurdle is going to be distributing my new template here "InBeta." There are numerous CSS changes that were done manually using CSSEdit and I'm not sure how those are going to fit into Freeway's limited post-CSS routine. Most of the edits were to specific BlogSpot tags outputted by Freeway, so some CSS courage would be necessary if an easier way could not be found.

But till then enjoy the free template and stay tuned for the release of "InBeta."

Files for "Progressive Image"

http://www.mediafire.com/?w5atpjlj3yr

Password: apple

FW5: Pro Templates Soon!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:00:00 +0000

With a new template out today for this BlogSpot, named right now "InBeta", I will be releasing my old template and this new template to be used in Freeway 5 Pro. The reason for the change is that I felt my old template accomplished a form, but truly lacked function. It was easy to read, but not all of the links were easily viewable and were often being skipped over according to Google Analytics. The images and wooden background were a big hit, but from a strictly "posting" perspective it wasn't easily providing a styled way to distribute my thoughts, my experiences, nor my screencasts.

What I feel this template accomplishes is that it now has an "artistic" feel along with better typography and a modern color scheme. It compliments me as a designer and is another great example to the power of Freeway 5. This software has allowed me to build this easily and I would be interested in building more templates for others, and the program itself, in the future. I will admit there are a few things that cannot be done in Freeway 5 in the way of CSS additions that were manually added via CSSEdit, but overall the look is easily accomplished and its purpose could be used outside of BlogSpot.

Moving on, I am still actively seeking full-time employment. Right now I am focused on my existing freelance career and would love to transition over to an office setting. My resume and portfolio are promptly available via the links at the top and I would appreciate any applicable opportunity to present itself.

I've also noticed that Screenflow has been updated and looks to have better compatibility with PPC Mac's but the real plus is that the encoding process is said to go plenty faster. This is encouraging news because it takes on average about 2-3 hours to encode an 8-minute video. I also have a few screen-cast ideas I've said I'd do and a few I was not sure I'd take the time to, so with the update if encoding times improve stay tuned to those.

To wrap things up I'll say that I've had a great time with BlogSpot so far and I've enjoyed moderating the comments I get with people asking questions and I'll never be able to thank my readers enough for leaving appreciative notes and kind messages. It really has been a great learning experience and I hope that there is more I can contribute to helping out in the future.

FW5: Apple Homescreen Icons

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 20:21:00 +0000

I posted this over on the Freewaytalk.net forums and have decided to include this within my BlogSpot for my subscribers who are not Freeway users and for future reference.

With the update to Freeway 5.2, the ability to create "Homescreen Icon's" for the iPhone is now wrapped up within a simple action. You simply select a pre-formatted PNG file that you can custom design within Photoshop. This is an uber easy way and hopefully will get you started on making your own icons for your website projects.

Here's what you have to do:

1. Open Photoshop and create a new image that is 60px x 60px. (I've seen sites say that 45px x 45px is better but I find that the 60px x 60px version have better quality to them.) The iPod / iPhone will not adjust properly if the dimensions are not evenly square.

2. Set the DPI to be 72. Click OK.

3. Design your icon or place whatever you want into your new image box.

4. When you're done doing your thing, go to "File" then "Save for Web & Devices"

5. In the sidebar set it to be "PNG-8." Uncheck "Transparency," if checked and then hit "Save" and save it to someplace you'll remember. Make sure it has been saved in PNG format.

6. In Freeway go back into your "Action's palette" and select it, from the location you saved it to, from the drop down menu and wah-la!

The rounded corners occur on their own (on the iPod / iPhone) as well as the glossy part at the top of the image so you don't need to do any of that yourself.

**UPDATE** A screen-cast involving the Freeway part is found at FreewayCast.com

http://freewaycast.com/screencasts/view/28-iphone-homescreen-icons

Good luck and happy icon making!

FW5: Understanding Box Model

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:35:00 +0000

After about 5+ re-records and about 3+ hours of rendering time I've completed a roughly 8 minute screen cast introducing a Freeway 5 (and possibly 4) approach to building a website using a box model. I've also previewed a new template I am working on and the screen cast walks through the structure of a box model site using this template. I hope to be releasing the template shortly and make it available as a free download off this website.

Here is the link to the files:
http://www.mediafire.com/?wdjg9nmyadx
password: apple

*Update* - Part 2 is found here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?uztdmmzpd9w
password: apple
(Includes a start-up screen-cast and a sample file)

The hardest part about doing these screen casts is that there's no written script on my end and I tend to ramble and often contradict myself. I've tried to re-record my voice over the screen cast, as suggested, and it makes it harder to do. Bear with me as I get used to this. Overall my goal is to simply plan out what I'm hoping to accomplish and then I end up adding 50+ things along the way that I feel would be beneficial to know. Things that may be simple, but complicated for new users. What I hoped to accomplish in this screen cast is to expose Freeway's feature rich hierarchy of HTML item listing that fit a box model built site. A box model built site involves placing HTML items within other HTML items forming a parent-child relationship in coding terms. For the non-coders out there it's a box-within-a-box-within-a-box sort of deal. It mixes in a handful of "clear" and "float" terms and these are explained in the reference manual on the Softpress site.

If there's anything you get out of the video, watch the screen. I don't go through everything, but pause the video to watch my palette's for different items and look for percentages and pixel amounts for each.

Remember these principals as you're watching:

1. Setting an item's float to "none" and the clear to "both" will prevent any items from being put on that same line. In the screen cast these are the HTML item boxes of top, navbar, wrapper, footer, header, menuspacer, spacer, finalspacer. These are great for setting specific spaces in your project and are beneficial when IE6/IE7 doesn't understand margins.

2. If you're working towards a two column layout, after creating the larger "container," and you've inserted your two HTML items (for the columns) always float the HTML item at the top to float "right" and set the clear to "right." Then set the one that was underneath to float "left" and clear "left."

3. If your HTML items are not lining up properly or they drop down when you insert them after setting the floats and clears properly, you may have fallen victim of setting your leading in your body tag rather than the "p" tag. This happened to me several times, but was able to adjust it and have Freeway understand what I was trying to do.

Other than that, feedback would be great on any of the screen casts as I do these for fun and the benefit of helping others.

Enjoy!

5 Principles For Freeway Users

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 07:25:00 +0000

Creating a website is getting a lot easier these days. With third party programs, now being both affordable and attractive, we've seen the dawn of many people who never thought they'd be a designer and have now entered the age of digital freedom. People are now able to create attractive and professional print and web pieces with the greatest of ease. Paid designers are now being undone as they see their business not being able to output the quality that these programs now have to offer.

When it comes to strictly the web design part of today's digital age, it doesn't get any easier than software such as Freeway from Softpress.com. For this specific post I am going to be talking directly to Freeway users (both Pro and Express) who have taken their business into their own hands. I'd like to point out 5 essential principles that all new and old Freeway users need to know.

1. Don't Use All The Fancy Features Unless It's Necessary - One of my biggest pet peeves is finding people who have tons and tons of JavaScript coding all over their pages just because they can. Whether it is having a site unload for 20 seconds in a shingle format full of odd contraptions and delayed text modules. Understand the features before you use them and make sure that it fits a purpose.

2. Don't Underestimate The Dark Side Of Internet Explorer - For the past two days this site has failed to show up in both IE6/IE7 and even thought FW5 has IE6/IE7 compatibility it won't always fix the situation. If you ever loaded up that "ie6.css" file you'd see it's mostly fixing height issues along with an image loader for handling PNG transparency.

3. Understand both a CSS layout and a Table Based Layout - Understanding the program is the first step to mastering it. Whether you're trying to build a CSS layout or using tables, understand how to complete a project both ways because someday you'll run into someone who wants something the only way they understand.

4. Expect Delays In CSS - For years people have been complaining about the lack of a full CSS suite from Freeway 3.5-5.1.3. You'll see that not every option is available and the entire user base have begged for a resemblance to that of CSSEdit (from MacRabbit.com.) Makes sense to me and I feel this would be a huge step forward in the design process if everyone had options at their fingertips all under one category and all in one place.

5. You Can't Do Everything - Not to burst your bubble for number five, but there is just certain things you can't do. Day after day I run through new user messages and see people asking if Freeway has a built-in content management system or how to create a MySpace page. It can't do everything, but it can get you started and that's important for someone who doesn't understand always how it works right off-the-bat.

These are just 5 essential principles that can be used on any projects you're working on, but remember there is at least an infinite amount of great things that can be done properly.

------------------------

Glad to see people are still downloading the blogger tutorial and stay tuned for more updates.

New Site, Next Screencast, New Software...

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 22:04:00 +0000

Just wanted to announce a new site I designed using Freeway 5 located at www.production-studios.com. It had been quite a while since I had originally laid out the first design, but now I've redesigned it from the ground up and things have turned out quite well. The turning point in my design process was using the wood-background found on this blogspot and utilizing it in the designed site. It provides a clean and tailored feel and also draws attention to the way the photographs appear on the various pages. Thanks to Brandon and Sarah for the opportunity to clean up the site and I wish the best of luck to them in getting Production Studios running at full speed.

In other news, my next screencast is coming up and is being worked on. I've just checked my download stats tracker and about 50 people have downloaded my second blogger tutorial + template released in the last post. It's been downloaded faster than the other one and that's exciting and I've been receiving some solid feedback on it. Thanks to those who have downloaded it. However my next screencast steps away from Blogger and moves to another CMS (Content Management System) named Expression Engine. I've been learning Expression Engine for a project I'm working on and I have been finding it even easier to implement over my CMS Made Simple routine.

The site is being built without actions (although Joe Muscara it's been tempting) and has been written with tags in tact plus using Tim Plumb's paragraph tags action. It's actually easier for someone whose never used tags much before to figure out plus it's all done in Freeway 5. My next screencasts will be how I'm implementing Expression Engine tags into Freeway 5 then into Expression Engine and then finish with a preview. So stay tuned to that.

Finally I'd like to wrap things up with praise for a software item I've recently acquired named TextMate. I had seen the software title thrown around on a few websites with mixed reviews and never really considered it thinking it was just another text editor and felt that I was satisfied with Text Wrangler meaning that I didn't need anything else. I downloaded a trial and messed around with it and it's super intuitive and also an Expression Engine bundle can be added to it that with a few clicks can drop in the tags needed without having to look them up. Very convenient, 5 big stars to them.

That's all. Thanks for reading.

FW5: Your Second Blogger Template

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:47:00 +0000

For those who have been following this website closely you'll see that I've posted a Blogger Template tutorial using Freeway 5 Pro a while back. In that tutorial, I laid out how to build a flexible layout along with a few sample Freeway files and since then I've rebuilt and compressed that tutorial into a brand new second tutorial. First and foremost for the 90+ people that downloaded my first tutorial I'd like to thank you. It makes me feel the time I take to do these is worth it and that it is hopefully helping you understand how easy things work using the actions provided in Freeway 5.

Now we're going to be moving on from the first tutorial and onto the second by providing a new 4 minute Screencast that introduces how to implement them into your existing design. Before we had a list of instructions involving a structured list and some sample files, but people wanted a more advanced application and this is where the second tutorial takes off. The bonus to the second tutorial is that I've provided a free template that can be used in Freeway to be a jumping off point for your Blogger design. It features a simple two column layout and resembles what a stripped-down version of this site would be. Again this is provided free for the response I've received of people downloading the first one.

Screencast and Files can be downloaded here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?koquajzcdxu
Password: apple

I'm still planning on making another screencast for the use of Expression Engine with Freeway 5 and also some CSS edits for use in Blogger that can adjust your design further. Again, thanks to everyone for downloading.

I'd also like to take a moment and announce I will be attending the Journey concert in September. I purchased the tickets today and am super excited about it.

Let the wheel in the sky keep on turning....

FW5: CMS Made Simple Template

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 05:26:00 +0000

On the Freewaytalk.net forums there was some discussion on filling the void of a proper CMS Made Simple tutorial for building a template using Freeway 5 Pro. I first took the opportunity to sit down and spend some time learning the CMS software and finding the ways that made it "simple" over other management systems. What I found is that CMSMadeSimple requires simple HTML tags to be placed within a DIV (like normal text) and then there are optional parameters to achieve a more custom look.

After I had a grasp on the subject, I spent about 2 hours writing out a tutorial that came out to be like 5-8 pages, single spaced, and no images to describe what I was doing. Now my Blogger template tutorial on the other hand had no images either, but it had sample files and that seemed to be enough. So I created some sample files to get people going and I packaged everything (including the two actions required) and as I was reading through my tutorial even I didn't get it. That's not supposed to happen.

So I decided to try out "ScreenFlow" and create a 26 minute screen-cast video on how to build a template in Freeway 5 Pro and implement it successfully into CMS Made Simple. It has a prebuilt sample file, the 2 needed actions, and a decent video. Excuse the occasional coarse areas of the video, along with an occasional coarse voice crack due to dense humidity during the day. I also used my "Rock Band" microphone to record the audio, so turn up those speakers.

So without further ado here are the links:

The Entire Package: http://www.mediafire.com/?pqr5onwhgde (97.3MB)

Password: apple

CMS Made Simple History and FAQ: http://www.cmsmadesimple.org/support/faq

*The screencast requires Quicktime to run and can be found in the "video" folder.

I'd appreciate some comments on this or a simple thank you if it was helpful.

(Also a quick thank you to spiral94.com for the use of hosting the CMS software)

Enjoy!

FW5: First Blogger Template

noreply@blogger.com (Dan) — Sun, 25 May 2008 22:12:00 +0000

This article is a response to a link to my site found on Softpress.com for creating "Your First Blogger Template" (Found Here) using Freeway 5 Pro. Recently the tutorial has been updated involving a 4 minute screencast and a free blogger template that resembles me own site here.

These files can be found here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?koquajzcdxu
Password: apple

As noted previously, there are some serious limitations to these Blogger actions by Softpress, so in a future post I will have a few CSS edits that might help adjust some styles further. These changes will not be able to be done in Freeway 5 and therefore will require some CSS knowledge and/or courage. So read up and stay tuned!

Always remember that there's no special Blogger approved way to build your site and not all the Blogger Actions are required or necessary. Any questions or comments, please leave here and I check this site every day, so the turn-around time should be fast.

Good luck and happy building.