A quick update on what's new around here, and then on to your questions, comments, complaints, rants, insights, etc and my responses:

Macworld review of Flash CS3

Flash CS3 Professional, the first version of Flash released under Adobe’s aegis, is arguably the most dramatically enhanced program in the new CS3 suite. Flash has two interacting components: ActionScript, Flash’s powerful programming language, and the timeline-based stage, Flash’s unique design environment for generating vector-based (scalable) animation. My only complaint with Flash CS3’s predecessor—Macromedia Flash Professional 8 ()—was a lack of really exciting innovations in the design aspects of the program. I no longer have that complaint. The most exciting new features in Flash are on the design side, along with some fine-tuning and nice small enhancements in the coding environment. Read article

Macworld: Review of Flash Professional 8

Flash Professional 8 constitutes a leap in the evolutionary chain for Macromedia’s Web video and animation authoring program; it provides significant enhancements in scripting, graphical effects, Web-video display, and development of media destined for mobile devices. (Macromedia is also offering, for the first time, Flash Basic 8, a lower-priced version of the software that includes much of the program’s core functionality, but which is targeted to designers who don’t need high-end digital video or mobile phone authoring features.)

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Macworld: Review of FlashPaper 2

FlashPaper 2, part of the Macromedia Studio 8’s version of Contribute 3 (, February 2005), allows you to effortlessly convert Microsoft Office documents to Flash (SWF) files.

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CreativePro: Review of Macromedia Dreamweaver 8

The release of Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 (as part of Studio 8) comes at a time when the graphic and interactive design community is buzzing with speculation about what apps will be left standing after the Adobe's acquisition of Macromedia is completed. While Macromedia spokespeople told me they can't yet comment on acquisition issues, Dreamweaver will likely emerge from the process as the single dominant professional Web design package. I got an official "no comment" from contacts at Macromedia, but sources at Adobe winked and nodded when asked if Dreamweaver would win the battle of the Web-development tools.

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TUTORIALS at Unleash.com

• 8 Steps to Creating a Web Site
• Promoting Your Web Site
• Develop Your Web Strategy
• Choosing a Web Authoring Tool
• Eight Steps to Implementing a Web Site

Just outa' the oven:

Dreamweaver 8 How-Tos: 100 Essential Techniques is a highly focused survey of the one-hundred most essential things anyone needs to know to use Dreamweaver 8. New web designers will find clear, basic, easy-to-understand explanations of the techniques, tools, and tricks they need to quickly create professional quality web sites.

Experienced users or designers migrating from GoLive, FrontPage, or HTML hand-coding will find a handy reference with insights, tips, and shortcuts that will help even experts be more productive..

Last year I finished a couple of Adobe Illustrator books: Adobe Illustrator CS2 How-Tos: 100 Essential Techniques is a highly focused survey of the one-hundred most essential things anyone needs to know to use Illustrator CS2.

Folks new to Illustrator will find clear, basic, easy-to-understand explanations of the techniques, tools, and tricks they need to quickly become productive with Illustrator. Experienced users will find a handy reference with insights, tips, and shortcuts that will help even experts be more productive.

Adobe Illustrator Gone Wild -- If you watch Commedy Central late at night, you'll associate this with some offensive-to-women videos for morons, but the only connection is that the publisher wanted me to go really crazy and push the envelope.

Which meant, of course, a call to Illustrator Genius (ig for short) Bruce K. Hopkins. Rather than just plunder his portfolio, as I have done for previous Illustrator books, Bruce cooked up some stuff that is really beyond what should be legal with Illustrator. I set up a page for the book : Illustrator so I won't ramble on more here. If this book comes out the way it should, it will be something pretty unique. As long as I'm doing a book that does NOT cover the basics of Illustrator CS2, I included some free learning resources (including video) at my Illustrator page.

Also did a book called PC Magazine Guide to Printing Great Digital Photos. It showed you how to print onto DVDs and CDs (hence the pic on the left). For a few months, ads in PC Magazine seemed to have induced some sales, but this is one of those books that stayed on the shelf for about six weeks. Too bad - there really aren't that many good books on printing digital photos. Everything from archive quality framing to printed mugs, Dye subs to eight color inkjet printing. A full chapter on monitor calibration for crying out loud? Maybe it was just ahead of it's time?

A book it doesn't look like you'll see is one I was trying to do on web site accessibility. The concept was to team up with the Center for Accessible Technology here in Berkeley, and draw on their amazing and - sorry about the corniness here - but heartwarming work to make the web (and computers) accessible to people with a wide range of disabilities. The book was going to explain how anyone can create web pages that folks with bad eyes, hands, or cognative issues can use. Not that sexy a title - I guess :(

I co-authored a couple books on digital photography with (make that for) Serge Timacheff. Working on Total Digital Photography: The Shoot to Print Workflow Handbook was an amazing experience looking over Serge's shoulder and seeing how a real gonzo photojournalist (now that HST is dead, I can claim I invented that term - sorry Dude).

I've really been more of a cheerleader, personal coach and formatter, particularly on our second book - Total Digital Sports Photography by Serge Timacheff, David Karlins (September 14, 2005). Something like Flav O' Flav when he used to back up Chuck D in Public Enemy. I slipped a photo or two into these books, but the best thing about them is Serge's amazing photos and insights. Total Digital Sports Photography is a highly accessible book for amateurs or pros, with really valuable tips from Serge and other sports photographers.

Q&A with Readers....

David, I enjoyed the first 3 chapters of 'BYO Website' this morning. Its very good; however, I'm planning a site which will provide content originating from Excel files. So far your book hasn't mentioned how I'd prepare this content, and I don't find Excel in the Index. How would you recomend I prepare a web page from an Excel workbook of 30 rows and 30 columns for example, having both data and text within the cells? Convert to text and go from there? Thank you.

There are a couple dimensions to this challenge. One is that 30 columns of data does not translate well onto a web page - too wide. In general, for aesthetic and accessibility reasons, you want to avoid having visitors scroll horizontally. The other is that if you're going to be updating your Excel files frequently, you might consider some form of embedding live data in a web page. Embedded, live data is a process that goes beyond what most folks can do themselves, and thus is not included in BYO Web Site (although I do discuss it in the Idiot's Guide to Dreamweaver MX, and go into it in detail in the FrontPage 2000 / FrontPage 2002 Bible).

That said, the easy solution is to simply upload your Excel files to your server, and include links to them in your web pages. That way, visitors with Excel (or the free, downloadable Excel reader available from Microsoft.com) can open them right in Excel.

... Or... just copy and paste the Excel cells into your web design software.

Hello David,

I have your Virtual Classroom book which I find very useful although it is an old version. I am having a problem find out how to underline text. Please would you let me know how to do this. It is probably very easy, but I just can't seem to work out how to do this. I look forward to hearing from you.

-> Next time I update How How to Do Everything with Illustrator CS I'll have to remember to investigate this more, but weirdly enough - I find nothing in the AI CS documentation on underlining! I can copy and paste underlined text from Word (and copying and pasting is the preferred way to do basic type formatting), but don't see an underline attribute in Illustrator. I know underlining is out of date and out of style as a formatting tool- but it'd be nice to have the option!

Hi there David,

I've been using your book to help me with my first ever attempt at building a web site for a small business. I've been looking at examples of other web sites and I saw one that had pictures scrolling across the top of the screen.  It looks really good and would be ideal for the type of site I'm trying to build.  Only problem is, I don't know how to do it!  And I'm not even sure what you would call it so that I look up how to do it.  Would you be able to help me with an answer to this please? Any help would be gratefully appreciated. Oh, nearly forgot, I've got Microsoft Office 2000 on my computer and will be using the Frontpage that comes with it.

-> Both FrontPage and Dreamweaver can generate DHTML. D stands for dynamic - which means either animated (moving) or interactive (responds to user input). You can generate pictures that move across the top of the screen with either of these programs, or others - I think even the Geocities sites that are covered in Build Your Own Web Site. Since you have FrontPage, why not use that?

David,

I am loath to criticize a persons work, but I am now going through your Idiots Guide. I have used Dreamweaver 1 and 2 before a long gap and lots of stress of losing a wife, I have returned to attempt a new web page. <I am sure there is some sort of a sentence there. ;-) In any event, Your book is next to impossible to understand. You are giving too much information way too soon and lots of confusing bits of information. You are telling me to create a site and guided me through the "site" window. Without having me MAKE a page, you have me connecting to the net! in Chapter 3. Hell make a page first and then connect to net. I think connect to net is way down the road. ...

-> Thanks for the feedback, including additional details I'm not posting here. However, I continue to preach that creating web pages in Dreamweaver (or with, or without, any other tool) before defining basic site navigation, aesthetics, and folder structure is as functional as painting the rooms of a house before laying a foundation or putting up a frame. This is something that causes a lot of ongoing tension between those of us who teach, write about, and consult on web design, and folks who want to "dive right in" and start designign pages. I think I have made the case for this over my past dozen or so books -probably most clearly and coherently in Build Your Own Web Site.

Dear Mr. Karlins, first of all I want to thank you for your" adobe illustrator" book.  It is very clear and useful.  but I have one problem: the minute I begin working with gradients this message appears: "can't finish previewing. there was not enough memory or an object was too complex, reducing the size of the window can help." I have a brand new computer with 1050 mb so memory should not be a problem the object is not too complex like a triangle etc. reducing the size of window    is no way for me to work, so please Mr. Karlins can you please advise what is amiss?

-> All I can really say is that while Illustrator is an insane memory hog, 1 MB RAM should be enough to keep it running smoothly - even if you have Photoshop or some other monster running at the same time. Gradients do stress system resources, but not that much. As I'm a technophobe, all I can tell you is that there is something wrong with your system or configuration because that should be enough RAM to function in Illustrator.

David,

I used your books (Virtual Classroom and the Bible) to create my own web site - they were excellent reference resources (the videos on the CD were very useful and the quality of the content and production values was excellent) and allowed me to create a good looking site fairly quickly without major expense.

However, I want to publish Word and PDF files to my site so that people can download free information.  In looking through the index and contents pages it is not clear how to find the sections of the books that explain how to do this.  Would I be right in assuming that you load the files much like a media file and then create a hyperlink to them on the appropriate page?  Is this all you have to do having created the PDF file of course)?

I would appreciate your assistance in what I understand from others should be a fairly simple exercise when I know how.  What is the best procedure? Are there any good books that explain how to do it if the process is
complicated?  What would you recommend for a web design novice with good computer skills?

Keep the books rolling - you have done wonders to promote web site design and use by small business owner/operators like myself who don't have huge resources to put into IT and web development.

-> That's nice to hear, thanks. You guessed right - you can simply upload PDF or Word files to a site, and then create links to those files. Of course visitors will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the PDF files, or Microsoft's free Viewer for Word to open the Word files - but you can include links to the download pages if necessary. You might find handy tips on this at the Build Your Own Web Site book site.

Dear Dave, ...

have recently decided to build a web site. The site I want to build will be extremely large, difficult to build and have many links and such. I was wondering If you could give me any pointers? I have been reading your book but sense I want such a large website I am starting to think I need more help. Also I don't have $35.00 a month to spend, I am only 13 so it is difficult for me even though I am very advanced. Thank you and I look forward to your answer.

-> Well, I guess people mean different things by "extremely large" and "difficult to build." But I think there is an important question you're asking. Large web sites require more planning, and more overview. Decisions about navigation logic (what pages are accessible from what other pages) are more complex and can't just be ad libbed or freelanced. For one thing, I'd start out by drawing a flowchart of all the pages that will be in your site. That way you can keep track of the pages and links. You'll also want to use tools like templates and style sheets in Dreamweaver, or Themes in FrontPage, to coordinate colors, fonts, and page layouts throughout your site. You shouldn't have to spend more than $15 / month for a pretty large site - unless you are putting a lot of media on it (like audio and movies). Keep in touch.

Hello, David,

I have questions about Front Page 2002. I hope that you can help me, thank you very much. I used Front Page 2002 to created my website for school project. I used the Banner Ad. function (Web Component -> Dynamic effects -> Banner Ad.). The images came out fine (images rotation) with my Windows 98 computer at home. However, the images are not coming out in my school Windows 2000 computers. It is weird. I have checked everything but it is still won't work in Windows 200. Please help me to fix this problem. Why it won't work for win 2000 ? I appreciated you help and thank you very much.
take care, P/S I love to read your book by the way. (FP 2000)

-> School, huh? They still have those where you are? Here in the Bay Area they had to close a bunch of them due to budget cuts/ And there's not much left at a lot of the rest - no sports, no music, no full-time principals. Anyway, the problem with FrontPage is that those components only work on a FrontPage server. So, it's hard to say but my guess is that the school server is different than your local server at home? I can't figure out any other reason. I keep getting FrontPage questions even tho the product died a few years ago - can't you guys switch to Dreamweaver or GoLive or something? Or that free program that comes with Geocities? What's your URL? On the other hand... I think Windows 2000 requires that you install Java, which makes it particularly annoying that (Microsoft) FrontPage elects to use Java to generate scripts that could be done so easily with JavaScript.

Hi Dave,

This morning, I installed the Java Virual Maschine to the win 2000 computer. Guess what ? It's work ! yes !!!  I am so glad ! This have been boring me since April . I am so glad to find the solution ! Thank you so much Dave ! Thank you for  your help ! P/S: Do you recommend Dreamweaver over Front Page ? How about GoLive ? Thanks

-> The Java weirdness we just went thru illustrates why it's best to stay away from FrontPage. I maintain one site using FrontPage, just to torture myself, but use Dreamweaver for everything else - including this site. GoLive, like Dreamweaver, is much more --- reliable I guess is the world, and less reliant on proprietary Microsoft stuff and Microsoft whims.

[writer was in too big a hurry or under too much stress to include a salutation:] I've read the book cover to cover - built the site - links are fine in Front Page (and on the web).  For some reason the apache2 server will not recognize my index page as a home page and returns a list of folders instead.  Changing the properties of all folders except the index bring up the home page, but all other content is forbidden.  Any ideas what I'm missing?

-> I'm gonna guess " the book" was one of my FrontPage books like the FrontPage 2002 Bible? I think I wrote at least six of them, but it's been a while since I (and everyone else) left FrontPage behind. Ah... so many products left behind in the digital ratrace. What ever happened to CorelDRAW? Microsoft Money? And all those other products I churned out books for? (And, whatever happened to Applixware for Linux?!!)

Anyway... check with your server administrator and find out what the deal is. Some servers require the home page be named default.htm, but your server admin will know. BTW, you know I have a current book out on Web building that covers FrontPage, Dreamweaver, and the free Yahoo Geocities site program - Build Your Own Web Site.

Hi David,

No wonder I could not find the timeline - it was left out of DW2004 - and just recently made available with a 20MB download - which I have now done. 

-> Right. Readers of the Complete Idiot's Guide to Dreamweaver MX, who are using Dreamweaver MX 2004, will find that the Timeline feature mentioned in the book is gone in the new version. But, as you discovered, you can download an extension that replaces it. Guess Macromedia didn't realize how much it would be missed!

Hello David Karlins,

Please forgive my nit-picking but the link to Useable Info Technology is Jakob Nielsen's (not Jacob Nielson) -- his name is misspelled on the Other Resources. http://www.buildyourownwebsite.us/Resources.html I noticed it because I am reviewing his book "Designing Web Usability". I did appreciate your letting me review "Build Your Own Website" last spring and I have  noticed that it is finally in the Books-A-Million store here. I hope it sells well. If I had my life to do over, I would want to be a professional web-designer.

-> Not picky! Thanks - good thing I made the mistake at the web site, not in a book (although, in books I have editors who check such things). I really feel useit.com is a great resource. Now, the big question is, why not go ahead and be a web designer now? You don't have to be a full timer?

David ....

I am in the process of getting ready to retire (I am 65 now) and have been going to school trying to learn how to develop Web Pages & Sites.... I find it requires a lot of my time to study. As a beginner I am finding out that there is a big new world out there after being a Maintenance Technician all my life.... for some years I have had a program called "Microsoft Image Composer 1.5" on my computer which I use from time to time to do simple resizing of photo's without knowing just what a power house program it is. In talking with an instructor at school I found that with the proper use I could do many things..; I went looking for a book on the program and found one called "wild Web Graphics with Microsoft Image Composer" on ebay .   I bid on and won.... It arrived today and of course I jumped right in only to find that the pictures of the screens in the book are not the same as what comes up on my screen... I have looked thru the book and it does not say what version of Image Composer it covers.  Would you be kind enough to supply that information and if need be where i can obtain a newer version if required. Is there any other book I may purchase that covers this program that a beginner should have ?

-> Good to hear about you going to school. As for Image Composer, this was the free web graphic software that shipped with FrontPage 97, 98, and I think some versions of 2000. I wrote a half dozen FrontPage books, including one just on Image Composer. Full color, with lots of advice on web graphic design, I think it stands up OK except that nobody uses the program any more. I bailed on FP after 2002, and Image Composer got dropped by then. However... Wild Web Graphics has some useful generic stuff on web graphics, and so your money wasn't wasted. I wouldn't, though, try to learn MSIC now - pick up something else, anything - like Photoshop Elements or software that comes with printers. Or, if you must, I think there was a Dummies book that covered ver 1.5.

David,

I'm looking at a career change coming out of management in the electric sign mfg business. My computer skills are mainly in Microsoft Office suite. I've been exploring the idea of building a website similar to rentclicks.com or apartments.com. You can assume I'm patient and like to read. (I'm going to get Build Your Own Website) What program(s) would I have to learn to be able to put a site together like those? I'm open to any other thoughts you may have on the subject.

-> The sites you mention use extensive server-side programming, meaning that someone is writing programs to manage data to make sales, match people with apartments, etc. The front end of a site like this is created by a designer, but the real work is the back end that processes the form data. You can connect your site to other sites that will manage that for you - like Yahoo Store. BYO Web Site will get you started on the front end design side, but the back end is beyond us. Keep me posted on what you do.

Hello David,...

I can't really afford Photoshop, what do you think about CorelDRAW as a budget alternative? Should I get your book on CorelDRAW? ...

-> Draw isn't actually that cheap. And, it's mainly a (pretty powerful) vector (drawing) program, that includes PhotoPaint. Check out this table from my upcoming PC Magazine Guide to Printing Great Digital Photos:

Table 4-1: Photoshop and Lower Priced Alternatives