Category Archives: Web Design
Amazing Opening To Adobe MAX here in Los Angeles
I'm just getting back from the Adobe MAX Keynote where we announced a bunch of NEW Apps, acquisitions and the Adobe Creative Cloud. Rather than sit here and try to recap every detail it's easier just to point you to the Adobe Blog posts that have already been written on each topic (I'll personally have more to come on each of these as time goes on:)
Adobe Photoshop Touch <-Photoshop on your tablet!
Adobe Touch Apps (see videos of the Adobe Touch Apps in action here)
Adobe Digital Publishing Suite SINGLE EDITION <-what so many of you have been asking for!
Woodwing moves their solution over to the Adobe Publishing Suite!
Adobe to acquire Nitobi, creator of PhoneGap
It was definitely an exciting keynote and I'm jazzed about the new possibilities!
August 12th, 2011
12:50
My Photography Website & Studio Updates
I just wanted to take a moment and update you on two things. First off I'm enjoying my time off and having a ball with my photography hobby. As I stated in my "I'm on Sabbatical" post, I'm in the process of moving into a new larger studio and for the most par the move is complete. I'm thrilled with the way everything turned out and although at times it felt like "work", I am enjoying the break from my day job "work". 
With that said, I updated my Photography website with pics of the new studio AND a NEW Portfolio look/template.
The Turning Gate Horizon CE Plug-in
I wrote a post a while back about using The Turning Gate (TTG) Lightroom Plug-ins to generate and update my website completely from within Adobe Lightroom 3. While I dabble in web work with my day job, I'm not a web guy and I don't have one on staff either. This means that I either have to do the work myself or pay someone each time. While I certainly see the value in paying a pro (like Erik who designed my blog templates), when it comes to my photography website I need the ability to update it as frequently as I want to. This means doing the updating myself. That's why I'm glad that The Turning Gate plug-ins exist.
The New Horizon CE Plug-in is what I'm now using for the Portfolio pages. I first saw this "scrolling" kind of web gallery on Scott Kelby's site and back then Scott did a post on how his was created by the very talented "RC Concepcion". While Scott's site is great, I don't have an "RC" on staff . At first I wasn't sure that I would like the Horizon plug-in. It was just so different from the ones I've used in the past in terms of navigation being a simple scroll bar. However, after I loaded my images in and tested it I got used to it right away. Also it's important to me that my site work on mobile devices like smartphones, iPads, iPhones and other tablets. The Horizon CE Plug-in generated pages are mobile compatible and use the device's built-in scrolling capabilities. This means no need for Javascript or plugins when viewed on non-desktop browsers.
While my old TTG plug-ins worked both on the desktop and on mobile devices, I was using the AutoViewer galleries for desktop viewing and they are Flash based. I liked the way they worked, but it was a two step process to update them. I'd first have to export the container/mobile gallery and then the AutoViewer gallery. With the Horizon CE plug-in I only have to do one export for each gallery and replacing it is as easy as doing another export with new pics.
Check out The Turning Gate Lightroom Plug-ins here. Thanks again Matthew for making my life a little easier.
The Plug-ins That Created My Site:
TTG Pages CE, TTG Stage CE, TTG Auto Index & TTG Horizon CE
The New Studio
Like I said, I'm having a blast now that I get to use the studio. Above is a production shot of the Westcott Spiderlite TD6 and the 54"x72" LARGE shallow softbox.
You can check out the Studio pics and my updated photography website here.
June 22nd, 2011
12:33
Adobe Gives a Sneak Peek at its Upcoming HTML 5 Animation Tool
Have first look at Adobe Edge above.
Also be sure to check out Adobe's FREE HTML 5 Camp in San Francisco on July 22, 2011. Details here.
May 25th, 2011
12:36
Go From Adobe InDesign CS 5.5 to HTML 5
In this episode of the Adobe Creative Suite Video Podcast I'll show you how create animations in Adobe InDesign CS 5.5 and then how to convert those animations into HTML 5 to be used on the web or in your interactive digital publications using the Adobe Digital Publishing Suite.
See more of my Adobe Creative Suite Videos on my Adobe Creative Suite Podcast and get the App here. It features EXCLUSIVE CONTENT that no one else gets to see. This episode has a BONUS CLIP that is available only in the App:
April 28th, 2011
12:01
LIVE: Ask a CS Evangelist – again
Join me, Jason Levine (Video Evangelist), Greg Rewis (Web Evangelist) and Paul Trani (Flash Evangelist) for a another LIVE Creative Suite Q&A session Today!
We will show our Top 10 Favorite Features of Adobe Creative Suite 5 and 5.5
Date: Today, Thursday, April 28, 2011
Time: 11:30 AM EDT (GMT-4)
Where: Online in our Connect Room
Cost: Free
Registration: Here
Will there be demos?: Yep
Will there be prizes?: Yes!
What questions can I ask?: Pretty much anything you want, but let's keep it Creative Suite related
February 14th, 2011
12:55
Is Facebook the New “.com”?
photo compliments of iStockphoto.com
Facebook has been growing by leaps and bounds and with over 500 Million Users it's no longer just for kids nor can it be ignored. I've noticed that more and more companies are not only staking out a presence on Facebook, but they are even using their Facebook Pages in lieu of their corporate sites when they advertise on TV and in print. All of these screen grabs (Pepsi, Gerber, Carnival, etc.) were from the last frame of their respective TV commercials…
People don't wake up to go your site every day
One thing I came to the realization of last year was that while we may flatter ourselves in thinking that our customers love to come to our sites on a regular basis, chances are the vast majority don't visit your corporate site each day. Think about it. You probably go to most corporate sites when you either have a problem or you're ready to buy something new. It's probably not your daily hangout. You probably don't think to go there to "connect" with the company. On the other hand people go to Facebook EVERY DAY with the sole purpose of connectingt with others. While I definitely appreciate those of you who come here and read my posts, I know that there are millions of people out there that will NEVER come here. In 2010 I had the goal of "being everywhere." What that meant to me was expanding beyond my own .com and placing my content in more places. I was very happy with the results. I now have over 8,000 Twitter followers and over 3,000 Facebook Fans (Likes). I also have over 3 Million views of my YouTube content as well as millions of downloads of my content on iTunes. In most cases many of these users would never see my content on the other/opposite sites.
Why are more companies using Facebook?
Besides the obvious reason of there being a potential audience of 500 million users, Facebook makes it easy for companies to have DIRECT contact with customers without resorting to spam, opt-in policies, building microsites, etc. Also existing Facebook users are more likely to check out their favorite brands on Facebook.com than they are to visit those same corporate sites on a regular/daily basis.
The other benefit is that while many of these companies have their own "forums" for direct communication, users don't have to setup logins for multiple sites. Just log in once to Facebook and visit any company you want and post on their wall. I think that another reason why companies are putting themselves on Facebook is that it's much easier and faster updating a Facebook Page than it is going through the usual red tape, legal, political fronts getting the main corporate site updated. Usually the larger the corporation, the harder it is to get something on the official company website. Sometimes I think the US Congress moves faster! Companies tend to be a little more lax and "casual" when it comes to their social media presence and that's actually a good thing! It feels more "friendly".
You have to be prepared to take the bad with the good
December 1st, 2010
3:49
Creating an HTML 5 Website for Photographers in Adobe Lightroom 3
This one is for the Photographers out there!
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom has had web galleries since day one. You can either export out an HTML gallery of your images or a Flash Gallery of your images. Each one of course having its advantages and disadvantages. I find that photographers in general like Flash galleries because of two things: 1) they're (pardon the pun) flashy. You get transitions, animations, zooming, automatic slideshows etc. 2) they offer one more level of image protection by making it harder for people to just right click and download the images. The disadvantage is that not every device can display Flash galleries. If you go with an HTML gallery it can be seen on just about any device, but you lose the flashy appeal.
What about HTML 5?
Up until yesterday my photography website was all Flash with an HTML fallback. I loved the features of my template. I loved the animations, image fading and slideshows and while I did have an HTML fallback for those that couldn't see the Flash site the biggest problem was keeping them BOTH up to date. The Flash site was driven by XML and was pretty easy to update with new images.. The HTML part was driven by a Lightroom web engine (more on that later) and required a separate export and upload each time I needed to do an update. It wasn't the end of the world to update them both, but I found myself updating the Flash site more often (because it was faster), which meant that people on non-Flash devices/computers wouldn't see my latest images. Not good!
What's this HTML 5 thing anyway? HTML 5 is next standard of HTML and it's still very much a WORK IN PROGRESS. This is why you don't see a ton of tools for it yet. Also and probably the biggest thing to note is that HTML 5 may never do all the things that Flash can do. This means that it's not a direct one to one replacement. At least not today for sure. HTML 5 authoring isn't just one thing. It's using HTML 5, CSS3 and Javascript. . Actually it's CSS3 that's the really interesting part. If you're really interested in developing in HTML 5 Adobe has already released the HTMl 5 pack for Dreamweaver and Illustrator. Check them out on Adobe Labs. More tools are in the works! Back to the photographers…
My goal
I started thinking about my site and the fact that it was a pain to update and therefore I wasn't updating it as often as I'd like to. Then I started listing the ideal things that I would want to have to make it easier:
- I'd want as much of the site as possible driven by Lightroom since that's where my images live anyway.
- Until HTML 5 is further along I still want Flash galleries for those who can see them.
- The site has to be viewable on devices/computers not running Flash
- I only want to update ONE set of images. In other words, both the Flash and HTMl version would use the same images.
- I want Video that plays on everything <-this is not as easy as you think!
- I don't want to write any code! Writing a line here and there during setup is fine, but I don't want to have to code the thing with every update.
The Turning Gate To The Rescue
Once again The Turning Gate has come through for me. You might remember my post on using one of their web engines for my client review galleries. Since that review went live I've been working with Matthew Campagna at TTG on the ultimate solution to my goals. After countless emails back and forth (he's a great guy!) on what I wanted and tweaks to his engines based on my feedback I was able to create my entire site from scratch using Lightroom 3 and three TTG plug-ins.
Continue reading “Creating an HTML 5 Website for Photographers in Adobe Lightroom 3” »
September 24th, 2010
3:12
Adobe Illustrator CS5 Gets HTML 5 Savvy
Last week I mentioned that Adobe Illustrator 5 got a NEW HTML 5 pack. This week you can see the video on how it works:
September 13th, 2010
12:46
Adobe Releases the Illustrator CS5 HTML 5 Pack!
Adobe is pleased to announce the availability of the Adobe® Illustrator® CS5 HTML5 Pack. This add-on for Illustrator CS5 15.0.1 provides initial support for HTML5 and CSS3, extends SVG capability in Illustrator CS5, and helps you easily design web and device content. In combination with the HTML5 features available in the Adobe Dreamweaver CS5 11.0.3 updater, these new tools allow web designers to take advantage of the latest advancements in HTML5.
While HTML5 and CSS3 will not be finalized for some time, and SVG support in browsers will continue to evolve, the extension provides support for a set of currently implemented features.
Benefits of the Illustrator CS5 HTML 5 Pack
- Efficiently design for web and devices by exporting Illustrator Artboards for unique screen sizes using SVG and CSS3 media queries.
- Create web widgets with Illustrator by generating dynamic vector art for data driven web work-flows.
- Take advantage of the latest enhancements to SVG and Canvas to generate interactive web content.
- Map artwork appearance attributes from designer to developer tools—export from the Illustrator Appearance Panel to CSS3 for streamlined styling of web pages.
Grab it here and get started with Illustrator and HTML 5 today! Don't have Illustrator CS5 yet? Download a FREE fully functional 30 day trial here.
August 31st, 2010
3:05
Getting Started with HTML 5 Video
Adobe's Worldwide Web Evangelist, Greg Rewis returns to give us his 3rd installment on Creating HTML 5 and this time it's how to Get Started with HTML 5 Video. Greg shows how to use the HTML 5 Pack for Adobe Dreamweaver CS5 to create HTML 5 video that reaches the largest audience of viewers.
I will cover the technology, gadgets, events and cool toys that have affected me in some way. I will also give recommendations on the products that I have actually used.
October 3rd, 2011
3:49