In this section of our site you'll find information
about tutorial articles, as
well as software tips, book suggestions, and more.
Luckychair designer, Sue Jenkins, writes articles
on a variety of computer subjects for the ezine, TechTrax.
Many articles have focused on Dreamweaver and
Web Design, but you'll also find articles about early
childhood computer learning and software reviews.
Be sure to also check out the Luckychair Blog:
Photoshop and Dreamweaver:
Making Optimized Graphics with the Paste Command
Pub Date: 05.23.07 The
lovable folks at Adobe have outdone themselves again
with all the enhancements they’ve made to the CS
suite with the release of CS3. Across the board, I am
happy to report that nearly all of the new features are
super easy to learn. In this article I will be focusing
on the integration between Photoshop and Dreamweaver
that now allows users to create optimized graphics on
the fly using Photoshop’s copy command and Dreamweaver
CS3’s paste command. Truth be told, this trick
also works when copying graphics in Illustrator!… Read
the full article…
Creating Custom 401 and 404 Error Pages
Pub Date: 01.23.07 Ever
tried to access a particular URL and instead of seeing
what you expect you see there you see a strange message
that says something about a 401 or a 404 error? To show
you more specifically what I mean, go to… Read
the full article…
Creating Custom History Panel Commands
Pub Date: 04.01.06 The History
Panel is one of those tools in Dreamweaver that
many users don't take full advantage of. When the panel
is open it records all the actions you make in an open
document, up to a certain number of steps (as specified
in the General category of Dreamweaver's Preferences),
and lets you take multiple steps backwards with the
use of the panel's slider… Read
the full article…
The
Power of Snippets
Pub Date: 12.01.05 If
you build a lot of Web sites you know that you’ll
use certain elements over and over again, but each time
you need them you either have to recall a particular
command, or more likely copy and paste the code containing
the content you want to reuse. Knowing that is not the
most efficient way to work, Dreamweaver created a solution
that most people don't know about called Code Snippets… Read the full article…
Rumble in the Docs:
Library Items vs. Server-Side
Includes
Pub Date:
08.01.05 You may have been designing
websites in Dreamweaver for a while now and, regardless
of whether you have used Dreamweaver’s Library
Items before, you’re
hearing more and more talk about these things called
Server-Side Includes (SSI) and you want to know if you
should be using them. More exactly, you want to understand
what SSIs are and find out whether you should use them
instead of Library Items. Poll 10 people on their preference
and you are likely to get answers weighing in on both
sides of the debate; some people are die-hard Library
Item users, while others swear by SSIs. This article
will generally describe both Library Items and Server-Side
Includes, as well as how to create and use them. It will
also provide you with reasons for using both and suggestions
for when you’d choose one over the other. There
is no true victor in this debate, but rather a time and
place for using both of them… Read the full article…
Teaching Your Infant/Toddler/Preschooler
to User
the Computer
Pub Date:
03.01.05 A few months back I reviewed a Computer
Learning toy that my mother had sent me for my son,
who at the time was a little over 1 yrs old. Back then
we installed the software, hooked the “child’s
keyboard” onto
the standard keyboard, and plopped my son down in front
of the computer to see what would happen. The toy was
interesting enough and held my son’s attention
for a few minutes, but ultimately, even with repeated
sessions, the program just wasn’t that fun to him.
Ironically, the manufacturer of the program, Fisher-Price,
has a website that offers free animation and interactive
games for babies and children which my son tended to
prefer much better than the at home toy. Over the past
year, by playing around on the internet, my son has learned
to recognize and press letters on the keyboard, move
and click the mouse, and respond to directives given
on interactive children’s websites. He nearly knew
the alphabet and numbers 1-20 going in, but the computer
has definitely reinforced his learning… Read the full article…
Review of JSCD’s COOLjsBuilder
JavaScript
Menu Program
Pub Date: 12.01.04 The
internet is constantly changing and as a web designer
I’m always
on the lookout for new solutions
to designing navigation menus that
are good looking and fast loading.
While searching recently for a simple to use, easy to modify,
cross-platform, cross-browser navigation menu, I came across
the CoolDev website (JavaScript.CoolDev.com).
They offer free STANDARD version downloads for a couple
of menu and tree building products, as well as PRO versions
for registered users at ridiculously reasonable rates.
Then, just a few months ago, they launched the COOLjsBuilder
program which takes most of the guess work out of creating
menus by hand-coding… Read the full article…
Review of the Fisher-Price Baby SmartTronics
Computer
Learning System
Pub Date: 09.01.04 My
mother just sent me a Fisher-Price Baby Smartronics!
Computer Learning System for my son, who just turned
16 months old (that’s 1yr 4 months in people years).
She’s an elementary school teacher and thought
this would be great for his intellectual development,
and right up my alley since I’m a big time computer
user… Read the full article…
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Article Suggestions
If you've got any Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Illustrator, CSS, Validation,
or other web design related issues that are driving you
nuts and you'd like to read—in plain English—more about
it, please feel free to
to us for
an upcoming article. We'd be more than happy to consider
it for inclusion here or in the next issue of TechTrax!
Read
the full article…
