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Flash CS4 and the annoying tweens
Friday, January 7th, 2011This post doesn’t have anything to do with people of a specific age range or singers with floppy hair. The tweens I’m referring to are the traditional animation settings of Motion Tweening and Shape Tweening that have been part of Flash forever. Motion Tweening is what you would use to move objects around, possibly change their color, or make them fade in and out. Shape Tweening is what you would use to have some thing morph into another. It could also be used for color changes or moving things around. Each one had its place. Starting in CS4 they added a new one. This was actually a very good thing, however it still caused me to scream in frustration. Here’s why…
Many people who know what I do, have worked with me, or taken my classes, know that I have a deep and abiding love for Adobe Software. Teaching Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, and others is one of the best jobs I can think of. Like any long-term relationship however, there are times when you want to shout “You have GOT to be kidding! Did you take a tall, refreshing glass of ‘freakin’ moron’ this morning?!”. Flash CS4 did this to me. We now have Flash CS5 but I was teaching CS4 today and was thinking about this on the way home – hence the post.
One of the assumptions that Adobe (and most software companies) seem to make it that users will look at the new features before getting a new version and playing with it. In truth, it’s often that people get new software installed at work or when they get a new computer that they begin playing with the software. Plenty of people will download trial copies, but not all of them will look at videos, posts, and websites before they start trying to do things. It’s often only weirdos like me that do that.
So here’s the problem… If you were using Flash 8 or CS2, or any version before CS4, you had Motion Tweening and Shape Tweening. In CS4 you have Motion Tweening, Shape Tweening, and Classic Tweening. Which one is new? Motion Tweening [insert sound of slapping forehead here]. What we used to call Motion Tweening is now Classic and the thing NOW called Motion Tweening is new and behaves just differently enough to make things really confusing the first few times.
The new Motion Tweens are powerful and in many ways easier to do, but… (you knew there was a ‘but” coming).. it was not a lot of fun when CS4 first came out having some users get frustrated and confused. Adobe is hardly the only company that does this. I’ve been teaching Office 2007 or 2010 New Features classes to lots of people who were never told that many, many things had changed – some of them only found out what was new by having the software installed by IT and trying to get work done (only to get really lost).
So my take-away advice tonight would be “If you install new software and feel lost – it’s not you. Just google the “New Features” of whatever it is and take whatever time you can spare to read up before beating your head against the wall. Software can be fun but it’s rarely intuitive.”
Need to scale video for a website?
Sunday, December 5th, 2010In going through my posts and trying to clean up tags and categories I came across a few posts I want to move back to the front again – re-post really. So, a few times a month I will add some comment and re-post some information. – like this…
Putting video on a website is more tedious than hard. There are resources for getting a video onto a page, post, or sidebar but you usually will need to know what the dimensions should be. If you have a large YouTube video that you want in a sidebar, you will need to scale it to keep the correct height/width relationship – if you don’t, you will get distortion.
Try this site – Proportioncalc
InDesign Users – Have you been to the plug-in directory lately?
Friday, November 19th, 2010If you are using InDesign CS3 or CS4 and have NOT been to this site – go there now.
Really, go… I can wait.
It’s pretty good for all versions but many of the hot plug-ins will add CS5 functionality to earlier versions and might help speed things up for you.
Here’s the link – http://indesign.pluginsworld.com/
CSS Tests
Monday, November 8th, 2010Bless you Bruno!
I only this week stumbled upon your page with stunning numbers of tests/experiments in css.
THIS IS IT
Thank you!
Quick Pro and Con list – Outlook 2011 for the Mac
Saturday, November 6th, 2010I have been prepping a series of basic Outlook 2011 class that was scheduled to start the day after the software was released. I was lucky enough to be able to use a legal manufacturer copy on a client machine for a few weeks beforehand.
What I am listing here is the general information I’ve gotten from websites and my playing with the software. I have hopes that a few releases will make this into software I really like. As it is, it’s software I don’t actively hate. Much of the information here is loosely based on a wide comparison matrix- Outlook 2011 for Mac vs. Apple Mail, Entourage 2008, and Outlook 2010. Some of it is my opinion but most of it is from my searching other reviews.
If you are an Entourage 2008 user this will be less buggy, especially backups. It IS a 1.0 release so is NOT a fully ready version (no matter what the press releases say). Do I own it now? – Yes. Would I have bought it yet if I weren’t a trainer? – No. However, I expect that after a few of my heavy-duty issues are fixed I will move my home machines onto Outlook.
If you are thinking about switching to Outlook 2011 for the mac you should first do some searches and see what people are saying about the features you can’t live without. If you don’t find issues that affect you, have at it. I find there are so many issues that are missing or broken that I will describe it as a “not-ready-for-primetime” release – which can be said for most 1.0 releases. For me, the biggest issue is that I can’t work without my google calendar. Gmail, google cal, and dropbox are HUGE for me. As of this posting there is no iCal or Google calendar Sync. It is “planned for a future releaseâ€.
Pro
- Not one Giant DB like Entourage – spotlight search works well. Time machine backups are much, much faster BUT getting a partial restore from a backup is a real pain
- Faster than Entourage 2008
- Import .pst file from Windows Outlook
- Import Rules can be very buggy
- It is really easy to add Exchange or POP/IMAP accounts
- Has the Win 2007/2010 ribbon (is this a pro?)
- Overlay Calendar when viewing multiple calendars
- Shows calendar preview in Meeting Invites
- Single Inbox option for multiple accounts
- Quick Look preview of attachments
- Imports International Holidays easily
- Valid addresses are easier to see
- HasEntourage’s My Day (a way of viewing tasks and some appointments when application is closed)
- Scheduling and Mailing List Managers same as Entourage
- Search Options are easy AFTER you give up on having separate filters (Filter creates search in the main window – they took away the separate filter/search window.
- Redesigned AppleScript directory
- On My Computer – Both Pro AND Con. What this means is you can turn on having a “On My Computer†option. This gives you a separate, local Inbox, Calendar, Contact Groups, Tasks, and Notes. This can be VERY confusing for people. If you are using Outlook Web Access then you should be careful. Anything saved to “On My Computer†is local only and will not be available from elsewhere
- Meetings still in inbox and not replied to are faded out on mac and easy to spot, not like this on Windows
- Better HTML mail then Entourage
- Create Meeting from Message
Con
- Default Compose setting cant be set at the account level (HTML vs plain)
- No Read or Delivery receipts
- Newsreader removed
- No Plug-Ins
- No Switch Identities
- No More Favorites bar
- No Ruler/Tab Management
- No Custom Numbering Sequences
- Can’t export .pst file only .olm – what does that mean? You can’t export your mail/calendar, etc for most uses
- Smart Folders/Search Folders – folders is the WRONG NAME
- No autoarchive, no mbox format
- Outbox is temporary only. You can’t keep it on the screen.
- Appends signature – does not replace it
- Category rename makes duplicates
- Recurring tasks and time zones is buggy
- NO SYNC SERVICES
- No resend
- No Edit Message (remove html backrougnd or other garbage on received mail
- No Cleanup Text
- No Redirect
- Send as attachment strips your signature
- Autocomplete is buggy
- NO Exchange server 2003 or earlier
- No Outlook Social calendar
- No backstage view (not a con in my view, but was for one source I list below)
- No Kerberos
- If choice between 2010 or 2011 – 2010 is MUCH better
- Pricing is punishing multiple mac users – like me
- Conversation View can confuse subjects and mix the view
- No Task Status Reports
- No Voting Buttons
- NO PROJECTS like in Entourage
- No Paste as Quotation
- No Increase/Decrease Quotes
- Filter and Search are the same – this is a loss of functionality from other products
- This is HUGE for me – Date Navigator will not select custom days
- OH.. and Diane Ross MVP in the forums? Rude.
I dug some of this out myself but the rest I got from the following sites:
TidBits
NetworkWorld
BoyGeniusReport
Addictive Tips
PC Mag
Mashable
NYT – David Pogue
Telegraph UK
Techworld
Macworld
Mac2Microsoft
OfficeForMac
Support.Microsoft
Mac.zicos
TechNightOwl
Liquida
Creating documents with an easy screen capture
Saturday, November 6th, 2010Screensteps
My husband found this software and I am going to try it out. If you make documentation with screen captures like I do, you might find this helpful. I will post more on this after I’ve had a chance to play with it.
Google SSL Search
Wednesday, October 27th, 2010Looking for decent (but not free) CSS templates?
Monday, October 18th, 2010There is a new one at Project Seven you should check out.
http://www.projectseven.com/products/templates/pagepacks/mirage/index.htm
From the Blog
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Saturday, April 28th, 2012 - A Learning and Development Professional’s Continuing Education
Wednesday, March 21st, 2012 - Photoshop CS6 Sneek Peek #3
Monday, February 13th, 2012