- Welcome to 2001...
- Pretty soon you’ll be worrying about taxes, then spring, then graduation, then
vacation and on and on. January is almost over -- for all practical purposes it IS
over if you’re in marketing or retail. You’re probably already working on March or
April, right? Did you know that January is Fat-Free Living Month and Diet Month at
the same time? Did you know that January is also High-Tech Month and Hot Tea Month.
Interesting how people attach meanings to different months of the year. Campbell
Soup Co callis it National Soup Month, and Quaker Oats calls it National Oatmeal
Month -- the California Prune Board calls it National Prune The Fat Month and the
National Association of Broadcasters calls it National Radio Month. Wow... so many
ways to celebrate it’s really too bad that by the time we get over New Year’s there’s
little time left.
__ The day I’ll always remember is January 30. Why?
Not because it was Franklin Roosevelt’s birthday... not because it marks the anniversary
of the TET Offensive in Vietnam. It just so happens to mark the last public appearance
of the Beatles, on the roof top of their Apple studios in London, England. So in
celebration of this event, the Publishers’ Warehouse folks will be opening the Dock
in London. Won’t that be just chipper!
.
- Zen of the Pen arrives at the Design University...
- The big news is the launch of Sharon Sterer’s “Zen Of The Pen” Seminar in the
Design University. I first got in touch with Sharon in 1990 after seeing an article
about her in the Step-By-Step (Dynamic Graphics) newsletter. She graciously agreed
to be one of the panelists on my “Great Graphics Tips” panel at Macworld that year.
Photoshop was just being introduced, but Sharon was using Color Studio to produce
stunning full color posters. I’m so pleased now, ten years later, that we can once
again make Sharon’s wonderful talents available to you.
__ We hope to get that Seminar open at "Zen
of the Pen." by the end of the month.
.
- Two major events happened late in December...
- First, Gary David Bouton's INSIDE
PHOTOSHOP 6 book arrived and it's a whopper! This is the one for any Photoshop
user. Along with that event, came a second wave of very good news: Sharon Steuer's
Illustrator 9 WOW! Book arrived
on the shelves. As you know, any time a WOW book comes out we like to celebrate.
All of the WOW books are a superb experience for all creative visual communicators.
But that's not all...
.
- Who and what are we? Design Center Community Census
- It's been a lot of fun preparing for this issue, even though it's been a lot
of hard work. In both the online and PDF versions of DT&G we'll publish the Design
& Publishing Center Community Census. For the first time ever we'll share with
you the complete demographic break-down of who we are: who visits and how often,
what they do, where they're from, and what computers they use. We've spent many hours
pouring over our server logs, response forms and spreadsheets to bring you a good
overview of the community you are part of. While we're not one of those dot-com sites,
I think you'll enjoy discovering your fellow Design Center readers and participants.
.
- &Else is Back
- For years and years we've run a column in the DT&G PDF edition called "&Else."
It always contained interesting or beneficial information that had come to our attention
during the month. The &Else section on the web site was called "DTG Resources"
... which eventually grew into the DTP-Jumpstation. In the PDF edition, it got smaller
and smaller until it is just a single page, primarily our own promotions.
__ Folks, &Else is back, and now will once again
become a regular column, and full page in the Design Center. You will find it right
here in the News Department under "else" . . . www.graphic-design.com/news/else/
.
- Publishers' Warehouse is Closed during January
- There are still lots and lots of goodies there in Falls Church for everyone who
has not been there already. Later in January we'll be back with a whole new batch
of goodies for your Valentine's Day, Black History Month, and February fun.
__ You'll directions to the next Loading Dock, so if
you haven't figured out the next location of the Loading dock from this newsletter,
then you'll need to go and get the keys from the Publishers'
Warehouse home page
.
- 2001 in the Designers' Bookshelf
- We've identified our favorite books in 2000 and posted them all in the Designers'
Bookshelf. Yesterday we uploaded more than 75 titles that arrived between August
and November. Lots and lots of excellent information and training. The February Bookshelf
will feature several dozen new books which arrived during December, and a number
of very hot titles promised for January delivery and during Macworld. http://www.design-bookshelf.com/
.
- Web Site Reviews at WebDesign & Review
- If you were one of the 200+ web owners out there who wanted your web site reviewed
this month, then you'll wantgto stop in at: http://www.graphic-design.com/Web/Reviews/NEW.html
..to see if yours was selected!
__ New web sites will be pasted around mid-month, and
the previous month's entries will be moved into their department page.
__ Remember: if you would like to have Design Center,
and Web Design & Review readers to take a look at your web site, come'on in and
register:
http://www.graphic-design.com/Web/Reviews/Submit.html
.
- Calendar? What's with a calendar???
- What we should probably do is just stop going by the monthly calendar. Things
are happening so fast, they’ve become a blur from one month to the next. DT&G
Magazine online offers some interesting things this month... first we’ll be launching
the return of &Else! to the web site. I think
many who remember the old days of &Else! will be happy to see it return.
__ Joyce
Evans returns with new reviews, and some changes are taking place in the way
we format and deliver both the Web reviews and Letters
columns. I’m going to be revisiting the Moose’s Pub Web site in a few days to see
what’s changed there, and we’ve got a whale of a newsletter feature being prepared
for the February issue.
.
So folks, it's going to be a great month. Keep those cards
and letters coming, and have a great time.
.
Fred
PS: You didn't miss last month, did you?
.
- This month’s EDITOR'S CHOICE could be in the mail to you...
- Yup, you could win the Editor's Choice
each month... just by visiting any of our reader web sites: www.graphic-design.com/WEB/Reviews
and write your review of the site! Do
it today!
OR
Write a good LETTER to the editor,
sending a question we can get our teeth into for the "Feature" letter each
month. If your letter gets published you automatically win!
OR
Cool Tips for Cool Shareware, freeware, or public domain software program what has
made a difference in your professional/hobby computing experience! Just use our handy
form for submitting your favorite.
.
PS:
Folks, we can’t help you if you don’t
cooperate...
This month, more than 200 accesses (looking for that new EPS clip art disk) were
denied to the Publishers’Warehouse because the email address keyed into the UserID/Password
request was incorrect, or no longer in use. I find it hard to believe that people
would register for something and then drop the address.
. . . How do you expect us to send you the UserID/Password if you give us a non-working
email address. Yes, it is an automated listbot and it sends the info if your mail
is correct. We are alerted of "bounces" and this month I followed up with
EACH one ... getting the same bounce results.
. . . If you were rejected, then please try again and use a properly formatted and
functioning email address. Remember: no spaces, correct spelling. Dozens of
AOL users didn't put in "@aol.com" -- remember: name@aol.com, no spaces.
(We assume they were AOL since they had no "@" indicator.)
. . . Remember too, that once you arrive at the "Warehouse" you MUST key
in the ID and Password EXACTLY as was sent to you, upper and lower case, etc. We
recommend you use the number row on your keyboard rather than the keypad for numbers.
For some reason there has been problems with some users where the number row worked
when the keypad didn't. Strange, eh?
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