DTG News and Else
DT&G: Vol. 13, Number 5, MAY, 2003 ~ The eZine for Design, Typography, & Graphics   (since 1990) 

May: spring changes

Transition in the Design Center

Those of you in the CAFE who followed our ramblings on cascading style sheets, and good vs. bad web design will already know about the changes you're seeing in certain design center pages. A lot of thought and toil has been invested in these changes and we couldn't have done it without the help of all our readers! We thank you all for helping out.
      From this point on, all new content entering the site will be under the new styles. If you're running a level 4 browser you may experience some glitches in some of the pages.
      Many of the older pages will either be renovated and updated or scrapped. Please bear with us while we go through this transitional period.
* Go to the: Design Center front page

Key elements and changes

Under the new layout we attempted to reduce the number of clicks to a content item. You'll note the biggest change is in the front page which is no longer a "portal" style page, but a "real" front page.
      The "Editor's Column" (you are reading now) becomes the "&Else" news and goodies page. The email newsletter will contain both my message, and selected top items from &Else. Other Else articles will be added as they arrive. If you care to read this column, and else, it's a single click away instead of three clicks.
      I've posted a short article giving some of the ideas which were incorporated in the makeover, as well as the 8 or 9 books we studied in preparation for the transformation.

Spam Update FTC Spam Forum

One of the reasons I delayed the newsletter this month was to make sure I could include my reports from the Federal Trade Commission's "Spam Forum" held last week (May 1 and 2, 2003) in Washington D.C. I uploaded a report from the Forum each of the three days.
      To avoid double postings, I'm simply going to link directly to the AACUG's Anti-UBE department where the reports are located.
* Full story at: Spam Forum

UCE now "UBE" - Anti UBE Initiative

"UCE" means "unsolicited commercial email" and the new term for 'spam' is now "UBE" or simply unsolicited BULK mail. A number of the anit-spam promoters in Washington had previously established that term to include spam sent in bulk that is not necessarily 'commercial' -- like political messages, people's web cam announcements and others.
      AACUG has launched it's "Anti-UBE Initiative" with hopes of promoting it to the ISP industry for adoption. If the big ISPs adopt the initiative, some 80% of spam can be exterminated from the web in a matter of weeks.
      I encourage you all to go and take a look. Your comments and feedback will be greatly appreciated.
* Send your ISP to: www.ugnn/UCE/

Field Trip: Montreal's Chinatown

Those of you interested in bleeding edge avant garde photography will thank Eric Filion for sending the links to this month's field trip: Montreal's Chinatown.
      Here's a digital photography and media project which began in April 2002 and was concluded last month for its first public exhibition. The challenge was taking a specific subject each week and produce 7 digitals pictures with an HP pocketpc digital camera and the new bluetooth mobile photographic technology. a full time project ! The author's personnal vision of the people and area has resulted in a wider snapshot of the chinese culture in North America. * The tour starts at: www.Nokami.com

iView is back: Windows and Mac!

If you recall, back in 1990 we gave iView Multimedia (iView) a "BEST PRODUCT" award for their iView multimedia storage and slideshow program. Yet the lack of a Windows version was one of my disappointments because I couldn't publish iView photo CDs for my Windows clients.Now they've introduced and all new update -- this time with a Windows version.
      iView Media for Windows and Mac is designed for a consumer audience and widely used by photographers, graphic designers, and other media professionals. iView Media is easy to use and powerful. It allows users to manage, share and protect their whole inventory of digital media � including photos, graphics, video and music clips
* Check it out at: www.iView-Multimedia.com

CSS: 50+ Headings

One of the most influential books I studied during preparations for our renovation was Christopher Schmitt's "Designing CSS Web Pages". As I worked my way through the book I wrote Chris with problems I found in the book. Of course he helped me understand some of the tougher parts of CSS.
      Headings in Web pages--marked up with h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, or h6 elements�-help the reader determine the purpose of sections in content. It also does one other thing: it helps the reader judge if the material is something they want to read. The only problem, as you know, is that the default rendering of those headings is often visually bland.
      Christopher wrote last week to let me know he had set up a new CSS resource in order to help people create better designed headings. It's called 50+ Headings, where you can see up to fifty headings designs and their variations. Other CSS crafters are encouraged to submit their own heading variations as well. Very good stuff! See: www.CSSBook.com

The Digital Storytelling Festival

Thanks to Eduard Uzumeckis for alerting us about this wonderful event! This three-day showcase will take place June 12-14, 2003, in Sedona Arizona. It will feature ground breaking projects created and implemented in a variety of areas of Digital Storytelling -- recognized as a creative movement that uses digital technology to create media rich stories to impart meaning. It is successfully being used in areas of education and training, entertainment and creative design, personal and legacy storytelling, community building and corporate identity through branding and marketing.
      The list of confirmed Festival presenters and performers reads like the who's who of digital media: Carroll Parrott Blue, creator of "The Dawn at my Back: Memoir of a Black Texas Upbringing"; Mike Bonifer, creator of the all digital feature documentary, "Finding Bill Murray" which will have its world premiere at the festival; Russell Brown, Adobe Systems; Jonathon Delacour, award-winning photographer, author and pioneer in the online journalist community of Blogging Kit ; Joe Lambert, Executive Producer of Oxygen Media and many others.
      It's going to be fantastic! Plan your vacation now...
* Get directions and details at: www.DStory.com

Defensive Surfing?

Lucia Dickson has given us a tip for SurfOnGuard, a application that blocks popups and cleans your cache! In these days of super cookies, web bugs and all manner of online stalkers and predators, one can't be too careful.
      This light (322k) yet very nimble app effectively blocks all unsolicited browser popups or popdowns. With an intuitively designed setting pane you simply choose what you what to block. With just a simple click, users can inspect their internet folders -- Cookies, Temporary Internet Folders, History and My Favorites. Clean out these folders are just another click. Users can download SurfOnGuard for 15 day free trial. After 15 days, continued use requires registration. Registration is only $19.99. Small price to pay for peace of mind.
* You can get it at: Defensive Surfing dot com

Reader Tips: Old Rollers

We posted a plea for help on various lists looking for people's opinions of 11 x 17 laser printers. Ours has been dying a slow death and recently no longer picks up or feeds paper because the rubber feed rollers have become hardened and slick.
      Thanks to Anna Harbell, (www.thevidette.com) we're back printing like new! She writes:
"We too run an old old 11x17 printer, ours is an HP 4V. We have a similar problem with the feed roller wheels getting slick and no replacement parts. This last time we sweet-talked the repairman into buffing/scuffing up the wheels a tiny bit so they grab the paper again. You might try that. Good luck."
      Thank you Anna... it worked!

OS X Clipping Blues

In the old days Mac users had many "multi" clip board programs to chose from. In fact many of the programs like BBEdit and Qued/M had multiple clip board functions. I've used them for years.
      With OS X however it hasn't been possible until iClip came along. iClip is a utility that helps you get past the limitations of having a single Clipboard and allows you to quickly copy & paste and drag & drop clippings to and from its multiple "clipping bins" so that you can easily access them in the applications you're using. Any thing you can copy, cut or drag can become a clipping. It's very cool. It can download and try it free and it's only $19.95 once you realize you can't live without it!
* Download it now at: Inventive.us

Shareware: LaunchIt NOW!

If you're frustrated by wasting your valuable time searching for the programs, files, folders and favorite URLs you want to open, then take Billy Norwak's advice and try "LaunchIt NOW! Plus".
      Now you can access programs, files, folders and even favorite web sites right from where your mouse pointer is? LaunchIt NOW! Plus is very easy to set up and use; and offers full-size icons and labels just a hotkey away. It's fully configurable and customizable on a per-user basis, and supports full Windows Shell integration for better user experience. It is 100% compatible with all 32-bit Windows versions. Give it a whirl
* Gemis Corp's "LaunchIt NOW!"

Leisure time: Ponganoid

You enjoyed the thrill of Pong? Thought smashing bricks with Arkanoid was phat? Get the joint thrill, in the fast pace, very addictive game of Ponganoid! Thanks to reader Ben Phil's tip on this game we lost an entire afternoon of work trying to get the highest score! Beware, it is very addictive. PC: Windows all versions
* Time to play a game of Ponganoid?

Enjoy May... June is on the way

Fred Showker That's it for May... although it's really not. There are other areas of the Design Center sporting the new interface and all new content -- but you can discover those on your own! Until June, the Publishers' Warehouse guys are staying in Charlottesville, VA.
Next stop: June, and L.A., Catalina Island, CA and the big Summer Vacation issue! Don't miss it.

Parting words:

And in the famous words of John Fitzgerald Kennedy:
      "If art is to nourish the roots of our culture,
      society must set the artist free to follow his vision
      wherever it takes him."

Thanks for reading

Fred Showker
Editor / Publisher, DT&G Magazine

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