How to Create a Watermark in Photoshop
Creating a watermark, whether for use in company stationery, or websites, or wherever, has become fairly important recently. It’s part of what is known as product branding. I won’t go into the discussion of designing logos, as it’s a very involved process. But many companies want...
developer console debug
How to use the console to debug in JavaScript
JavaScript is a great language.  It allows you to add all kinds of interactivity into your webpages.  However, sooner or later, we will make mistakes in our code.  The good thing is Chrome and FireFox both have JavaScript debuggers built into them so finding the general...
How to (Better) Convert to Grayscale in Photoshop
When we convert a color image to grayscale in Photoshop, we  obviously toss out color. But sometimes this makes the image look a little flat. Color can make an image look vivid, and not just because color is there. It also allows subtle contrasts, enhancements, and...
full screen background CSS
How to create a full screen background
In this post, we'll talk about how to create a full-screen background using CSS and HTML.  We are going to bypass all the CSS properties that exist for backgrounds to do this, so consider this a type of CSS hack (:  What we are going to...
How to Use the Organizer in Microsoft Project
The Organizer is one of the lesser-known features in Project. And it’s a shame that this one is overlooked. It can be a major help in both building templates and making already-built elements easily available. One common example is calendars. If you build a company calendar,...
redirect page with only HTML
How to redirect a HTML page
Sometimes in the web design world, you'll need to redirect a page.  Maybe it's because the page no longer exists, the page has been updated and moved, or it could be a page that you don't want the user to be on for very long.  There...
Using the ISNULL Function in Crystal Reports
The IsNull function in Crystal allows us to deal efficiently with nulls, or empty fields, in a data source. I talked about this in an earlier post. We don’t want to skip partly empty records, in most cases. But if we bring in nulls, we have...
for vs for in loops
For of vs For in JavaScript Loops
In JavaScript there are two kinds of for loops: for of and for in.  The difference can be seen when looping through arrays.  Let's take this array for example: var greetings = ["Hi","Hey","Hello"] It's just a normal array with three strings (words) in it called greetings. ...
How to Work with Nulls in Crystal Reports
Crystal Reports handles nulls, or completely unfilled fields, in a particular way. And it’s very important that anyone using the program understands the details clearly. A null, in Crystal’s view, is a database field which never had anything in it, and doesn’t now. A real-life example...
loop through object javascript
How To Loop Through An Object In JavaScript
In JavaScript there's a way to access all the items in an object called the for in loop.  It allows you to iterate (or loop) through all the key value pairs in an object.  For example, if we had this object: var jsobj = { company:...
Using Bitmap Mode in Photoshop with Text
Someone had a question about working with text in Photoshop using Bitmap mode. “Between 50% threshold, pattern dither, diffusion dither and halftone screen, which one is more suitable for text use?” This is the image mode which converts to strictly black-and-white pixels. We want to be...
stop loop from nested
How to stop a loop from inside a nested loop
There are times in JavaScript when we'll have a loop inside of another loop and we'll want to stop the outer most loop from inside the inner one.  Here is a block of code that is showing what I'm talking about: var i = 0; while(i...
How to Reduce Image Glare in Photoshop
Got a real-life question from someone this time, regarding how to fix glare. It’s a fairly typical problem in some images. Reflections off shiny surfaces, lights accidentally pointing toward the camera, even some kinds of glossy fabric, or curved glass acting as a lens can distract,...
dropdown placeholder select
How to create a placeholder on a select dropdown in HTML
In HTML there's this nifty attribute called the placeholder.  If you were to create an input text box like this: <input type="text" placeholder="Type Here"> It would create a text box with a placeholder in it which you can see below:     The text "Type Here"...
Using Master Pages in Adobe InDesign—Basics
The concept of master pages in Adobe InDesign is closely related to headers and footers in many other programs. Microsoft Word, Corel WordPerfect, or even Excel and Access all have a similar feature. So if you’ve used headers and footers, you won’t be on totally unfamiliar...
create basic vue page
How to start a basic Vue.js page
If you want to dive into Vue.js and don't want to mess around with Node.js and other installs this post is for you. To start using Vue.js in a webpage, all you need to do is set up a CDN (content delivery network) link just like...
Using Guides for Line-Up in Adobe InDesign
Although some people don’t think it’s vital, lining page elements up neatly—for which guides are very helpful—in Adobe InDesign can make a big difference in the final product. The eye is a better instrument than some people think. And visual neatness can greatly reduce perceived “clutter”...
How to Create a Preflight Profile for Adobe InDesign
When working with InDesign, we need to “preflight” files we intend to print. A pilot will inspect an airplane before flying it, which is where the term comes from. Similarly, we check a file for various potential problems before we print it. And if it’s going...
How to Create or Import a Table in Adobe InDesign
The table is just too useful to keep out of many business documents these days. It’s too good at organizing data. Luckily, even a desktop publishing program like InDesign has the feature handy. And we can even import an existing one pretty much as-is, to save...
Using the Symbol Sprayer and Shifter in Adobe Illustrator
The Symbol tools in Illustrator give the program some true artistic ability. Many people, even now, think this is lacking, and that Illustrator is more "tech" where Photoshop is “arty”. But if properly used, Illustrator can do some very arty things. Two of the Symbol tools,...