Canon - Back-button autofocus explained

Here's a very useful article by Canon on how using another button to achieve focus, other than the shutter button, is useful.

http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArticleAct&articleID=2286

JQuery carousel slider

A very nice JQuery example of a carousel slider, can also be dynamically driven using PHP and Ajax:

http://sorgalla.com/jcarousel/

Varial - visual artist and photographer

Some really well executed post-processing and photography from Varial, a French and Canadian creative visual artist:

http://www.varialstudio.com/

Derek Cooper | Photographer

I stumbled across a wonderful photographer today, his name is Derek Cooper.

His work can be found on several websites, and here are a couple:

http://derekcooper.com/

http://www.modelmayhem.com/86603

http://www.derekcooper.com/blog/

PHP MySQL Database Class

Here's a useful set of classes for executing basic MySQL functions, like insert, update etc.

http://www.micahcarrick.com/04-19-2005/php-mysql-database-class.html

JQuery Slideshow - Anything Slider!

Here's a really nice JQuery slideshow, includes dynamically generated navigation links, and auto-play functionality. Check it out here:

http://css-tricks.com/examples/AnythingSlider/

21 useful business tools brought to you by Smashing Apps

Here are 21 useful business tools brought to you by SmashingApps.com.

http://www.smashingapps.com/2009/07/08/21-free-business-web-apps-that-can-make-your-lives-easier.html

My favourites are:
https://invoice.zoho.com/
http://timeglider.com
http://apps.onyaka.com/
http://www.deferredsender.com/
http://www.syncplicity.com/
http://www.zapproved.com/
http://www.curdbee.com/

Enjoy!

How to move your Modx site to your server

At the time of writing this article, ModX v0.9.6 was used. I believe the procedure has altered somewhat since that version so please check the official documentation if in doubt.

I've been working with Modx recently, and it's a cool CMS system. One area that I initially struggled with is getting a local site working on a hosting server. So here are my observations on what to do, or try, to get it working for you:

1. Create the database on your server
2. Upload all the site files to your server
3. In 'manager/includes' folder, make sure the 'config.inc.php' file is amended to suit your server database details
4. In 'assets/cache' folder, delete the 2 (probably) 'siteCache.idx.php' and the 'sitePublishing.idx.php' files.
5. Login in to the manager.
6. Go to 'Tools / Configuration' and select the 'Interface & Features' tab.
7. There, amend the 'Resource path' value to reflect your servers site path to the 'asset' folder. Then save.
8. Once saved, click the 'File Manager' tab
9. There, amend the 'File Manager Path' to reflect your servers site path to the web folder. Then save.

Your website should now work.

Nice tabbed JQuery tabs

This is cool:

http://cse-mjmcl.cse.bris.ac.uk/blog/jQueryNestedMenus/nested.html

Michael Jackson, 50, dies after suffering a cardiac arrest

Still hard to believe this, but I learnt this evening that Michael Jackson has died! First Farrah and now Michael on the same day. This is a sad day.

Whatever has been said and thought about Michael over the last few years, no one can deny his music has touched us all in some way.

From me, I can only say "Thank you Michael, for the great music you gave us all for many years".

Farrah Fawcett, 62, dies after 3 year battle with cancer

Today, I am shocked and sad to learn that Farrah Fawcett has died after a 3-year long battle with cancer.

Rest in peace Farrah.

JQuery and PHP | Drag and drop

Check out this useful code; using JQuery to enable drag and drop, but it also uses PHP to store the order state into the database. Look here for more info:

http://www.webresourcesdepot.com/dynamic-dragn-drop-with-jquery-and-php/

Louise Cliff - model

Great look from model Louise Cliff, see more of her work here:
http://louisecliffemodel.com/

Cool form validation

Here's some nicely executed form validation using JS, check out the demo here:

http://tetlaw.id.au/view/javascript/really-easy-field-validation

Nick Vidler : Photographer

Good work from Nick Vidler, check out his work here:
http://www.nick-vidler.com
http://www.purestorm.com/profile.aspx?id=Nickcv

IE8 and IE7 compatibility mode

If you are experiencing problems with IE8 rendering a website correctly, then you may find that forcing the browser to use IE7 compatibility mode may be the solution.

I recently tried this on a website and it works; simply add the following code into the header:

meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=EmulateIE7"

NB. the opening < and the closing /> have been removed to allow posting.

This code will force IE8 to run in IE7 mode even if the browser is set to run in IE8 Standards mode.

JQuery Tools : the missing UI library for the web

Here's a great supplement to JQuery, and it's only an additional 5.8Kb! Check out the website, and in particular, the demos page.

Click here to visit the JQuery Tools website

Internet Explorer tester software

For all you web developers out there, a friend recommended some software which allows you to test your web pages in several flavours of Internet Explorer.

It's called IETester, and is free to use. Click here to visit the website.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 and Favourite icon

If you're looking to add a favourite icon beside the domain name in your browsers address bar, then this works for Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox:

Simply add it between the HEADER tags in your web pages (between the < and > characters)

link rel="Shortcut Icon" href="images/favicon.ico"

Note:
For some reason the ico file must go into the 'images' folder for it to work; anywhere else and IE doesn't show it.

Photoshop tutorials for digital photography

Here's a great selection of tutorials for any digital photographer - everything from how to change the colour of hair to adding eye make-up, great stuff so be sure to check some of these out.

Click here to go to the tutorials

I really like this chaps photography - stunning work:

http://www.richardbakker.com/

Canon EOS 5D Mark II .MOV files and VLC Media Player

If you use VLC Media Player to view HD videos recorded with the Canon EOS 5D Mark II and the playback is jerky, then this may fix your problem (works for me and many others judging by feedback in various forums):

Quote:

H.264/MPEG-4 AVC playback is too slow

You can speed up the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC playback by disabling loop filter for H.264 decoding. To do this go to Tools -> Preferences... (set Show Settings to All) and Input / Codecs -> Other codecs -> FFmpeg and in the drop-down box for Skip the loop filter for H.264 decoding change it to All. Remember to press Save to save VLC settings and restart VLC after that to make sure changes are enabled.

Wonderful photographer - afashionshooter

Love this photographers work, simply stunning.

Click here to visit www.afashionshooter.com

Oh, and here is more of his work...

A better bounce card

The classic better bounce card by Peter Gregg...



- Youtube link

Studio lighting tutorial for Maya 2009

If you use Maya and have an interest in replicating studio lighting, check this out:

http://www.sohipitmhz.com/tutorials/studio-lighting/

Cool CGI Artist

Just a quickie, stumbled across Dan Platt's website today - awesome Maya work. He's worked on movies, including i-Robot.

http://www.danplatt.com

Plogger - PHP gallery system

Quote taken from the website:
"Plogger is the next generation in open-source photo gallery systems. A web application not bloated with superfluous features or complicated configuration settings. Plogger is a simple yet powerful tool — everything you need to share your images with the world. Plogger is your photos integrated into your website, a fully featured photo sharing package with an attractive and easy to use administrative interface that makes managing your galleries a breeze. Integrating our gallery software into your website is as easy as inserting three lines of PHP code. And did we mention the price? Absolutely Free. Plogger requires a server setup with at least MySQL v3.23, GD1.0, and PHP4."

Visit their website to download Plogger and learn more:
http://www.plogger.org/

3D architectural scenes to learn from

If you're an avid 3D Studio Max user, along with V-Ray, you may find this learning material useful. This product provides you with 10 ready to render architectural scenes which, judging by the images on the website, look brilliant. It's called Archinteriors Vol. 1 and it comes from Evermotion. At the time of writing it costs 120 Euro plus shipping.

Click here to visit the website and learn more.

CSS Menu Generator

A handy online CSS menu generator with loads of samples and code for you to play with.

Click here to visit CSS Menu Maker

Samantha Buxton - Glamour model

Based in the UK, Samantha Buxton is a gorgeous glamour model. Whilst going through some photography websites I stumbled across her profile. Would love to work with her one day...

Visit her website here

Cool iPhone wallpapers

I stumbled across these wondeful wallpapers for the iPhone, enjoy:

View wallpapers

Adobe Flash email links

When invoking an email link from within Flash (using the getURLmailto:email@somewhere.com) you may find that Internet Explorer opens a new blank window. This doesn't happen in Firefox. To resolve this issue simply remove the target parameter, see below.

ActionScript code before:
on(release){
getURL("mailto:springheadpark@cpplc.com","_blank");
}

ActionScript code after:
on(release){
getURL("mailto:springheadpark@cpplc.com");
}

IE 6 PNG fix

For those of you out there still developing for IE6 (eek!) then this may help with providing PNG support. The cool thing about this implementation is that it supports background-repeat and background-position in CSS.

Here's the link:
http://www.dillerdesign.com/experiment/DD_belatedPNG/