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Help Test jQuery 1.3 Beta 2

jQuery Blog - Mon, 2009-01-05 23:39

We’re getting ever-closer to the final release of jQuery 1.3! In a follow-up to the recent 1.3 Beta 1 we have another test version for everyone to try. As with before, it’s not ready for production use yet but we definitely need help in hunting down any bugs that we may have missed.

Please don’t test 1.3 Beta 1 anymore - all testing should move on to beta 2. The final release of jQuery 1.3 will be on the 14th of January with a final release candidate available a few days before.

Download

A copy of jQuery 1.3b2 can be found here:

Please don’t use minified or packed versions of jQuery when testing - it makes locating bugs difficult.

Changes

So far two changes in 1.3 have been the most likely to cause problems:

  1. Old, XPath, style attribute selectors: [@attr=value]. These have been deprecated for quite some time - and we’re finally removing them. To fix it just remove the @!
  2. Bubbling triggered events. Triggered events now bubble up the DOM - some plugins haven’t expected this and have had to adapt. Its pretty easy to fix your code to “protect” against bubbling - add the following statement to your bound handler: if ( this === event.target ) { … }

Tests

The test suite is holding up quite well. We currently have 1370 tests covering all aspects of the library and passing in all the major browsers:

How to provide feedback:

  • Submit a bug to the jQuery bug tracker (you will need to create an account, first).
  • Be sure to include a simple test case for any problem that you’re experiencing (either attach the test case or provide a link).
  • Mention that you’re testing “jQuery 1.3 Beta 2″ (otherwise your ticket will get confused with another release).
  • Email a link to your test case and bug report to the jQuery Dev list so that the dev team will be notified about your issue.

Thanks to everyone, in advance, for all your help in testing this release. We’re really excited about this release and can’t wait to get it into your hands.

Categories: Ajax and Javascript, Libraries, Frameworks and Applications

Joomla Developer’s Toolbox

Smashing Magazine - Mon, 2009-01-05 21:16

By Steven Snell

Joomla is a popular free and open-source content management system (CMS) that can be used to power all kinds of websites. After we published developer’s toolboxes for a variety of other CMS’, many readers requested a collection of resources for Joomla users and developers, so here it is. Joomla grew out of the Mambo CMS and has since built a large and loyal group of users, much like the other popular open-source options. What this means for users and developers is that there is a wealth of information and resources available, and in this post we’ll take a look at many of the best.

Other developer’s toolboxes from Smashing Magazine:

1. Official Resources

Although the Joomla community of users provides plenty of valuable resources, there are also some official resources from Joomla that are worth noting:

Joomla Home
The official home of Joomla, where you can get information about the system and download the files.

Documentation
A wealth of information that should be bookmarked by any Joomla user or developer.

Joomla Community Magazine
A great resource for Joomla users and developers to stay up-to-date.

Team Blogs
Each working group within the Joomla community maintains its own blog to communicate with the community.

Joomla Forums
If you’re looking for support or just a place to pose general questions to the community, this is the resource.

2. Getting Started

If you’ve decided that you want to give Joomla a try, take a look at these three resources to help you get started the right way:

Getting Started with Joomla
If you’ve never used Joomla before, this is a good starting point.

Joomla 1.5 Installation Manual
If you need help getting Joomla installed, this provides you with instructions.

Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Joomla
A great resource for those who are just getting started; includes information on installing, admin options, the templating system and more.

3. Tutorials

If you’re looking to learn more about working with Joomla-powered websites, developing your own templates, working with plug-ins and more, here is a collection of categorized tutorials:

3.1 Working with Templates

Joomla Template Tutorial
Learn how to create a Joomla template in the developer network.

Edit Template
Shows you how to edit your template from the admin panel.

How to Determine Which Page You Are on from within a Joomla 1.5 Template
When developing templates, you may want to style pages differently. This tutorial will help.

Editing the CSS File
A visual guide to making basic changes to Joomla’s CSS file.

Understanding Output Overrides in Joomla 1.5
An explanation for designers and developers about the output generated by Joomla.

Paging in Joomla
For Joomla developers who need help creating pagination.

Page Titles in Joomla 1.5
A look at working with page titles and modifying them to suit your needs.

Styling Front Page a Different Way
A quick tutorial on applying different styles to the front page of a Joomla website as compared to other pages on the website.

Custom 404 Error Pages
How to set up your own custom 404 error page on Joomla.

3.2 Working with Databases:

Export Joomla Database
The basic steps for exporting your database with phpMyAdmin.

Joomla Coding Practices: Tables and Primary Keys
Some helpful information about naming tables.

3.3 Website Administration

How to Change the Administrator Template in Joomla 1.5
Learn how you can make changes to your admin interface to suit your needs.

How to Change Your Default Images Directory in Joomla 1.5
It’s possible to change your image directory in a Joomla website, and this article shows you how.

Import Your WordPress Blog into Joomla
If you’re interested in moving from WordPress to Joomla, this article shows you the steps to take.

Keeping Your Joomla Installation Safe Against Hacks and Exploits
Some quick advice for securing your website.

Securing Your Administrator Directory Using .htaccess Files
A quick tutorial on securing your Joomla website against hackers using .htaccess.

Moving Joomla Websites
Changing Web hosts or domain names can be very frustrating. This article shows you the process for a Joomla website.

3.4 Working with Feeds

Leveraging Feeds in Joomla 1.5
A helpful guide to working with feeds in Joomla.

How to Have RSS on Any Page of Joomla 1.5
A very quick tip for getting an RSS feed from any page.

3.5 Working with Modules, Plug-Ins and Components

Module Manager
A simple guide to Joomla’s module manager.

How to Create a Joomla Plug-In
Are you looking to enhance the core functionality of Joomla for yourself or others? Here is a look at the basics.

Include Any Module Within Content in Joomla 1.5
A tutorial on integrating AdSense, PayPal and AdBrite within Joomla content.

Introduction to Joomla Component Development
A basic look at the subject of component development.

3.6 Other Tutorials

The Super Secret Site Map Trick
Get a site map without installing any extensions.

Joomla Performance Tuning: Module Cache
Learn how to improve your website’s performance with this tutorial on module caching.

How to Embed a YouTube Video in an Article in Joomla 1.5
This article shows you how to use a simple plug-in to insert YouTube videos easily.

Joomla Search Engine Optimization
A five-step approach to optimizing a Joomla-powered website.

4. Joomla Templates

The Joomla community has already created thousands of templates. There are several different websites that offer premium theme membership clubs, and there are also plenty of free templates available. Here we’ll look at some of the best places to get free and premium templates.

JoomlaJunkie
JoomlaJunkie offers club memberships that give users, designers and developers access to premium templates, and it also offers several free templates.

Best of Joomla
Developers can submit free templates here to be downloaded by others. Best of Joomla also offers some additional resources aside from free templates.

Joomla24
Provides more than 1,500 free Joomla templates.

Design for Joomla
A large collection of free templates for downloading.

Funky Visions
Offers a number of free templates for downloading.

IbolDesign
IbolDesign offers some free templates for downloading.

Rocket Theme
Rocket Theme is another premium template club; it also offers four free templates.

Joomla Shack
A marketplace for free and premium templates.

Joomla Jet
A premium theme marketplace that offers three different levels of membership.

Joomla Art
Another premium template club; it also provides some tutorials and additional resources.

Blank Joomla 1.5 Template
A free starting point for your template development.

DJoomla
A collection of free user-submitted templates, among other resources.

SiteGround
This hosting company provides a number of free templates for Joomla users.

OSSkins
A home for free and premium templates for Joomla, WordPress and Drupal.

5. Extensions, Plug-Ins, Add-Ons

Like any other open-source CMS, Joomla comes with certain features and functionality out of the box, but additional features are available through extensions, plug-ins and add-ons. Like the templates, some are free and some are premium. In this section, we’ll include links to the best places to find the right extensions for your projects.

Joomla Extensions Directory
The official directory of extensions.

Joomla Add-Ons
An excellent collection of free components, modules and plug-ins, as well as some for sale.

Elsak.org
A collection of extensions for Joomla.

JoomlaWorks
JoomlaWorks sells some premium plug-ins, but it also offers a number of useful plug-ins for free downloading.

Joomla Bamboo
Joomla Bamboo offers premium extensions and templates, but it also has some free resources.

VirtueMart
VirtueMart is a free open-source e-commerce solution for Joomla and Mambo websites.

DJoomla
Directory of user-submitted Joomla modules.

iJoomla
A third-party extension directory is available at iJoomla.

SiteGround
A collection of Joomla add-ons, some free and some premium.

UltiJoomla
A blog that includes a number of free extensions.

6. Inspiration

If you would like to see what other designers and developers have been able to accomplish with Joomla, you’re in luck. There are several websites dedicated to Joomla inspiration, and a few others that include Joomla along with inspiration from other CMS’.

Joomla Based
A large showcase of Joomla-powered websites.

Joomla Showcase
A Web design gallery specifically for Joomla-powered websites.

Best of Joomla
An inspirational gallery that also provides free templates.

Joomla Case
Another design gallery just for Joomla.

CMS Showcase
There are currently almost 40 Joomla-powered websites featured on CMS Showcase.

Joomla Showcase
The Joomla forums include an area for showing off custom Joomla templates and getting inspiration from the work of others.

Joomla Zone
Joomla Zone includes a Joomla Powered section, where website owners and designers can submit their Joomla-powered websites to be displayed

7. Compared to Other CMS’

If you haven’t used Joomla before, you’re probably wondering how it stacks up against other CMS options. The following resources, featuring the opinions of others on Joomla and other open-source CMS’, should help. Keep in mind that each has its own strengths and weaknesses, and no CMS is right for every project.

Joomla vs. WordPress
A discussion thread on the SitePoint forums.

Which CMS? Joomla vs. Drupal vs. WordPress
This video discusses each of these three open-source options.

WordPress vs. Joomla: A Handy Guide
This post on YOUmoz looks at the topics of usability, versatility and SEO.

Why Can’t We Be Friends? Joomla vs. Drupal
A balanced article that looks at the pros and cons of each.

Joomla and Drupal - Which One Is Right for You?
This article is about two years old, but it may still be helpful if you’re trying to compare.

8. Developer Resources

These resources don’t fit very well in the other categories in this post, but they’re all worth pointing out, and they all focus on meeting various needs of Joomla developers.

JoomlaCode
JoomlaCode.org is a resource for developers to build and manage open-source software projects centered on Joomla.

Joomlancers
Freelance job marketplace for Joomla developers.

Joomla Developer Resources
A resource for developers who are developing, or want to develop, custom components and add-ons for Joomla.

About the Author

Steven Snell is a Web designer and blogger. He actively maintains his own blog at Vandelay Design, where he frequently publishes articles about design, collections of resources and inspirational galleries. You can also follow him on Twitter. (al)

Categories: Ajax and Javascript, Design

Writing Effective JavaScript Unit Tests with YUI Test

YUI Blog - Mon, 2009-01-05 18:38

One of the biggest under-the-radar movements in JavaScript development during 2008 was the reemergence of an interest in unit testing. YUI Test, YUI’s unit testing framework, reached GA status in February and other libraries either introduced their own unit testing frameworks or started publicizing existing ones. As a result, there’s a lot more documentation regarding the creation of unit tests for JavaScript. Simply having JavaScript unit tests isn’t enough, though; if your tests are written improperly, they can lead to a lot of lost time. Learning to write effective JavaScript unit tests will save you time and headaches in the future.

What are you testing?

The key to writing effective unit tests is to understand the word "unit." In testing terms, a unit is an isolated part of code that can be tested independent of other pieces of code. In an object-oriented language like JavaScript, each method is considered to be a unit. Proper OO design typically entails nicely encapsulated methods that serve a single purpose and are therefore easy to test.

Traditional unit testing is designed to test the implementation of an interface, so private methods don’t get tested explicitly. This is called black box testing. The idea is that you can swap out the implementation of an interface and the unit tests will all still pass because they are completely agnostic to the underlying implementation. All the tests know is a set of constraints that must be met; they don’t care how those constraints are met.

Writing tests

As I said in my talk, unit tests should test inputs and outputs. Inputs can be named method arguments or changes in globally accessible variables that the method depends upon to function correctly. Outputs can be return values, changes in the state of variables, and even thrown errors. For each input-output set, there should be a single unit test. Each test should explicitly state, "given these inputs, I expect these outputs." Any deviation from that statement is a failed test.

Each test should be as simple as possible and test only one input-output set; combining sets into a single test minimizes the effectiveness of the unit test. For example, consider the following test of a function called trim():

var testCase = new YAHOO.tool.TestCase({ name: "trim() Tests", testTrim: function(){ var result1 = trim(" Hello world"); YAHOO.util.Assert.areEqual("Hello world", result1, "Leading white space should be stripped."); var result2 = trim("Hello world "); YAHOO.util.Assert.areEqual("Hello world", result2, "Trailing white space should be stripped."); } });

Here, the testTrim() method of the test case is actually testing two different input-output sets:

  1. Input string has leading white space; return value has no leading white space.
  2. Input string has trailing white space; return value has no trailing white space.

The problem is that these two sets have literally no relation to one another, yet if the first input-output set fails to produce the correct result, the second set will never be tested. This is a situation where one failure masks another. It is more effective to separate out these input-output sets into two tests:

var testCase = new YAHOO.tool.TestCase({ name: "trim() Tests", testTrimWithLeadingWhiteSpace: function(){ var result = trim(" Hello world"); YAHOO.util.Assert.areEqual("Hello world", result, "Leading white space should be stripped."); }, testTrimWithTrailingWhiteSpace: function(){ var result = trim("Hello world "); YAHOO.util.Assert.areEqual("Hello world", result, "Trailing white space should be stripped."); } });

This code now properly tests the trim() function’s input-output sets, keeping them separate.

Unit tests are always written as if the code being tested works correctly. Good software design involves mapping out these input-output sets ahead of time so that you know exactly what the result should be in each case. In this way, unit tests become a type of technical requirement document in addition to actual code.

Effective assertions

One of the most important parts of writing unit tests is proper assertion definition. Each assertion specifies a condition that, if not met, indicates that the functionality isn’t behaving appropriately. It’s important to use only as many assertions as necessary to properly test the code output. Too many assertions can lead to false failures while too few can lead to false passes.

In the previous example, each test contains a single assertion because that is all that’s needed. I know exactly the value that to be returned and so I test specifically for that. The tests may both look very simple, but they get the job done. Again, there’s no rule about the number of assertions that make a good test, just make sure you’re testing every expected output of the code for the given input.

To make test failures more coherent, you should include a failure message with each assertion. In YUI Test, this is always the last argument of any assertion method. A failure message should tell you what should have happened, not what did happen. Some examples:

//Bad failure message YAHOO.util.Assert.areEqual("Hello world", result, "The result wasn't 'Hello world'"); //Good failure message YAHOO.util.Assert.areEqual("Hello world", result, "Leading white space should be stripped.");

Note the difference between the bad and good failure messages: the bad tells you what happened and the good tells you what was expected. When running your tests, a failure already indicates that something unanticipated happened, so there’s no need to simply repeat that something unanticipated happened. It’s more helpful to know what should have happened because it is an exact representation of your requirement. By taking this approach, failures end up being a list of unfulfilled requirements that you can go back over and evaluate.

Working with the DOM

JavaScript is unique to other languages in that it frequently has ties to the environment, the DOM. Methods that interact heavily with the DOM are difficult to unit test because the entire environment must be setup in order for the method to execute completely. Further complicating matters is the tendency of JavaScript to be triggered by a user action such as a mouse click. YUI Test provides event simulation to aid in creating tests for methods that are reliant on DOM interaction, however, this starts to cross over into the area of functional testing.

Functional testing, as opposed to unit testing, is designed to test the user’s experience with the product rather than input-output sets for code. If you find yourself wanting to test that the user interface responds in a specific way due to user interaction, then you really want to write some functional tests rather than unit tests. YUI Test can be used to write some basic functional tests, but the most popular (and quite good) tool for such testing is Selenium.

The best way to determine if something is a unit test is to ask if it can be written before the code that it’s designed to test actually exists. Unit tests, as part of test-driven development, are actually supposed to be written ahead of the actual code as a way to guide development efforts. Functional tests, on the other hand, cannot exist ahead of time because they are so tied to the user interface and how it changes in response to user interaction.

Structuring test hierarchies

YUI Test, just like other unit testing frameworks, supports a hierarchy of test cases and test suites. Each test suite can contain other test suites as well as test cases; only test cases can contain actual tests (methods beginning with the word "test"). The best way to organize your test hierarchy is to follow a very simple pattern:

  • Create one test suite for every object you’re going to test.
  • Create one test case for every method of an object you’re going to test and add it to the object’s test suite.
  • Create one test in each test case for each input-output set.

In this way, your test hierarchy mirrors the code you’re testing and it’s easier to figure out where new tests should be created.

Run your tests!

Perhaps the most important part of unit testing is to run your tests frequently. Testing is only effective when done on a regular basis. At a minimum, you should be running your unit tests before checking in changes to source control. Optimally, you’d also run the tests automatically on a regular basis to validate any changes after they’ve been committed to source control. This is how you’ll get the biggest benefit of unit testing: quick discernment, and hopefully prevention, of regressions.

Further information

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Categories: Ajax and Javascript, Libraries, Frameworks and Applications

Stationery Icons, Soccer Icons And Atlantic WordPress Theme

Smashing Magazine - Mon, 2009-01-05 16:35

Last year, some of our readers complained about the lack of diversity in the sets we released in 2008. We heard you, came up with new ideas and decided to offer our readers a wider variety of sets. From now on, we are going to release more specific, more practical and (hopefully) more useful icon sets — not just social icons or RSS icons. We start 2009 with a stationery icon set, a soccer icon set and a fresh Atlantic WordPress theme. Please let us know if we are on the right track.

Stationery Icon Set

This is a useful set of 22 vector icons (256 by 256 pixels). It contains book, brush, crayon, clip, color pencils, document, eraser, pad, palette, post-it note, scale and scissors, as well as the Fireworks source file. In particular, you may want to use the set in corporate designs and on blogs for various purposes. The set was designed by Deziner Folio and is released in conjunction with Smashing Magazine as a gift to our readers and the design community.

Soccer Icon Set

We are aware it’s winter out there right now, but it’s always good to prepare for summer early, right? This set was designed with the owners of sport-related websites in mind. If you are a fan or have designed a soccer-related website, these icons may come in handy. The set contains 8 icons in resolutions ranging from 32×32 to 512×512 pixels. It was designed by the design agency Artua especially for Smashing Magazine and its readers.

Motivation behind the design

Here are some insights from the designers of the theme:

Soccer is the thing that inspired us to create this icon set. Being the most popular game in the world, it can also be a great source of inspiration!

These icons are meant to be used on the desktops of soccer fans, but even if you don’t like soccer or don’t know what a penalty kick is, but you like the shapes and colors, feel free to download them!

We also have a small request for you all who like to download icons from Smashing Magazine: please tell us which theme for the next free icon set you would like the most!

Thank you, guys!

Atlantic WordPress Theme

Atlantic WordPress theme was designed by the design agency Farktory from Turkey. It has two fixed-width columns and is cross-browser consistent and SEO-ready. The theme uses sIFR for headlines and includes a built-in Twitter application, gravatar support and Flickr RSS support.

Download the theme for free!

The theme is released under the GPL. You can use it for all your projects for free and without any restrictions. Please link to this article if you would like to spread the word. You may modify the theme as you wish.

Motivation behind the design

Here are some insights from the designer himself:

The Web has changed. Blogs have to change, too, in order to keep abreast of the times. The first way to achieve this renewal is by modifying our themes. But it’s hard to find a harmonized theme for both blogger and reader.

On our crew, everybody has a blog, and we know the difficulties of this stuff. So we researched for a very long time before revising our themes. We were fortunate to be able to search, experiment, try new and old themes and also see all the comments about themes throughout Smashing Magazine. Then we asked a question of some bloggers: “What do you need in your blogs?” Based on their answers, we made a list of necessities. From this list, one of our interface designers, Ali, designed this dream-like theme and played PES while designing it. (We were certain that the theme would be all green, but he surprised us!) :) Our front-end developer, Ça?atay, converted the artwork to CSS, HTML and PHP. Our interface designer, Murat, tested the theme. I only gave it a name: Atlantic!

Why Atlantic? Because the theme reminds me oceans: their color, happiness and power. As I said, we all have blogs and use WordPress. Like everyone else, we use social media tools (social networks, sharing platforms, micro-blogs, etc.). If blogs are a reflection of our personalities, then they have to include our social media contents. So we attached Flickr and Twitter gadgets to our theme.

Also, we didn’t forget the classic WordPress functions. :)

We didn’t want to release our theme on any other website than our lovely Smashing Magazine. We are so thankful to Vitaly. He has always supported us. God bless you, man! :)

Hope you all like the Atlantic theme.

Gülnur, from Farktory, Istanbul, Turkey.

And thanks again, guys!

Which freebies did you like? What would you like to see released next? Please let us know in the comments to this post.

(al)

Categories: Ajax and Javascript, Design

50 Excellent Adobe Illustrator Video Tutorials

Smashing Magazine - Sun, 2009-01-04 21:50

Adobe Illustrator is the industry-standard when it comes to the creation of vector graphics. Though a very robust tool - the learning curve involved in mastering it can be high. Thankfully, there are abundant resources on the web that allows you to “learn by doing”.

Video tutorials (in general) enable the learner to witness – step-by-step – how a particular technique works. We often learn best by seeing how things are done and following along with the instructor (much like in a classroom environment).

In this article, we present to you 50 excellent Adobe Illustrator video tutorials. We’ve broken down the video tutorials into several categories that include creating objects, effects, and general tips and techniques.

So fire up Illustrator, watch a few of these videos, and hopefully you will have learned a tip or two by the end of your adventures into these Illustrator video tutorials!

General Tips and Techniques

Patterns and Shapes in Adobe Illustrator
This tutorial is based on an advertisement that uses patterns and shapes to create a unique design effect.

Importing and Manipulating Images in Illustrator
Learn the concepts of importing and manipulating external images in Illustrator.

Creative Masking Techniques
See a method for using complex masking techniques in Illustrator.

Making a Custom Art Brush
Create your own custom Art Brush that you can re-use in multiple projects via this Illustrator video tutorial.

Using Kuler with Illustrator
This tutorial walks you through the process of interfacing with kuler (a community website for sharing color themes) via Illustrator so that you can easily select your color pallete.

Live Color in Illustrator CS3
Learn about the Live Color option in Illustrator.

Complete Guide to the Pen Tool
Master the Pen tool (one of the most used and complex features in Illustrator) in this video tutorial.

All about Masking
Learn the concepts of masking in Illustrator in this video tutorial.

Adobe Illustrator Masking Tutorial
This short and sweet tutorial will cover the basics of masking in Adobe Illustrator.

Opacity Mask
You’ll learn about a technique for performing opacity masking (usually done in Photoshop) in Adobe Illustrator creative selecting with the Marquee tool.

Clipping Masks
Learn about clipping masks to streamline the creation of complex objects in this excellent Illustrator video tutorial.

Vespa Speed Trace
In this video, you’ll see a method for speed tracing a stock image (in this particular case, a Vespa scooter is used as the reference image).

Offset Path tool
Master the Offset Path tool by following along this video tutorial.

Using the Paintbrush Tool
You’ll discover the powers of the Paintbrush tool in Illustrator in this excellent video tutorial.

Working with Layers and Groups
Understanding layers and groups in Illustrator (which is slightly different in Photoshop) can be a daunting task – but not so if you watch this video tutorial.

Working with Gradients and Blends
Learn the concepts and techniques behind utilizing gradients and blends to add graduated colors onto your Illustrator objects.

Select Objects Faster and More Efficiently
Maximize your workflow by learning how to select different objects on your Illustrator document in this video tutorial.

Creating Objects

Creating an iPod
In this video tutorial, you’ll see the process involved in rendering an iPod Nano from scratch using the 3D Effect tool (among other tools and techniques) in Illustrator.

Creating 3D Shapes in Illustrator
Utilize the Revolve tool in Illustrator to create a great-looking 3-dimensional shape.

Draw Fluffy Clouds
Create an illustrated cloud using the Pencil tool in Adobe Illustrator via this video tutorial.

How to Draw an Eye
In this video tutorial, you’ll learn the process of drawing an eye in Illustrator.

Drawing Face
Witness a process for creating a vectorized face using a reference photo.

Create a Gear
You’ll witness the creation of a complex gear object in this Illustrator video tutorial that involves a variety of techniques and tools like the Pathfinder tool.

Drawing a Gel Progress Bar
Learn how to create a stylish progress bar (inspired by the iPod progress bar) using a combination of techniques including the use of gradients and masking techniques.

Create Swirling Rainbows with Ease
Create the popular swirling rainbows graphic in Adobe Illustrator by following along this video tutorial.

Make a Fully Vector Metal Help Icon/Button
Make a metallic, shiny vector (and thus flexible in scale) icon via this Illustrator video tutorial.

3D Brochure
Add a bit of flare onto your print design mock-ups by making them 3-dimensional. This video tutorial shows you how to do it with a brochure, but it can easily be adapted to CD labels, software boxes, and other print design objects.

Watermelon
Learn how to render a watermelon in Adobe Illustrator via this excellent video tutorial.

Vector Drawing: “Dog”
In this fast-paced video, you’ll witness the steps involved in drawing a dog in Illustrator.

Creating Vector Swirls and Swooshes
This tutorial shows you how to create trendy swirls and swooshes using the Pen tool.

Roundtrip Logo from Illustrator to Photoshop
Find out the methods of an effective workflow that utilizes the power of Illustrator and Photoshop to create a grungy logo design.

Batman Logo
Create the Batman logo via this tutorial that shows you the true powers of the Illustrator’s Pathfinder tool.

Feynman Diagrams
Create a Feynman diagram in Illustrator for presentations and reports.

Create 3D Pyramid
This Illustrator video tutorial will walk you through the creation of a 3-dimensional pyramid.

Drawing a Nice Vector Golden Badge Award
In this video tutorial, you’ll be using a variety of Illustrator techniques including masking and working with the Pen tool to create a gold badge.

Vectoring an EyeBall
Learn to vectorize a human eye using a reference photo.

Creating Seamless Pattern
You’ll be creating a seamless floral pattern in this Illustrator video tutorial.

Tribal Sun Vector
Create a tribal Sun illustration by following along this excellent video tutorial.

Effects

Simple Silhouettes in Illustrator CS4
Apply silhouettes onto objects by utilizing the Gradient Mesh tool.

Create Wood Effect Using Gradients
Create a wood texture in Illustrator by using the Gradients tool.

Creating a “Firebrush” Logo
Make a fiery, fierce abstract logo design in Adobe Illustrator video tutorial.

Brushed Metal Effect
Give objects scalable “brushed metal” (also known as “brushed aluminum”) texture by following along this Illustrator video tutorial.

Vector Grunge Patterns and Distressed Text
Give text a distressed/worn effect via this Illustrator video tutorial.

Creating Glass, Shining, Reflective, and Vector Text
Go Web 2.0 in Illustrator by creating this sleek, shiny, glossy text effect.

Creating Comic Book Style Text
Give your text a comic book look-and-feel by following along this video tutorial.

Creative Background Effects
In this video tutorial, you’ll learn how to create abstract backgrounds/textures in Illustrator.

Abstract Vector Background
Create a stylish vector background by viewing this excellent Illustrator video tutorial.

Adding Texture
You’ll learn how to give your vector objects some texture in this video tutorial.

Create Intricate Patterns
Learn to create complex patterns in Illustrator via this detailed and highly-involved video tutorial.

Creating Vectorized Shining and Sparkling Heart Artwork and Icons
Make a vector heart piece by following along this wonderful Illustrator video tutorial.

Related content About the Author

Jacob Gube is a Web developer/designer and author of Six Revisions, a blog on Web development and design. If you want to connect with the author, you can follow him on Twitter.

Categories: Ajax and Javascript, Design

jQuery UI 1.6rc4: It’s getting really close

jQuery Blog - Thu, 2009-01-01 02:48

Attention: We found a regression in the rc3 release that breaks datepicker in Internet Explorer. The issue has now been resolved with the rc4 release - please do not download the rc3 release anymore. We apologize for the inconvenience.

I’m absolutely thrilled to announce the latest release candidate for the long awaited jQuery UI version 1.6. It has been a busy couple of months, and not only our team but also our processes, specifications, and codebase has been updated. This means that rc4 isn’t simply a bugfix release on top of rc2, but really a whole different level of code. Using a our new interaction design processes, we build up the foundation of many widgets from the ground up, and refactored widgets multiple times until we finally reached the look and feel we were confident with. So, let me show you quickly what has changed especially in this release!

Datepicker and slider refresh

In order to make room for the new theming, we needed to unclutter the datepicker a bit. A couple of options have been removed, changeMonth and changeYear have been changed to be disabled by default and showButtonPanel was introduced as new method. More on that soon, detailed information can also be found in the related ticket.

The slider also went through a refactor. The ‘axis’ option was changed to ‘orientation’, the ‘handle’ and ‘handles’ options were removed, ’steps’ and ’stepping’ were removed in favor of ’step’, ’startValue’ and ‘moveTo’ have been removed in favor of ‘value’ (option and method), and much more. For more detail, see the slider specification page.

We will provide detailed compatibility information and upgrade solutions with the final release, so stay tuned.

Drag & Drop logic overhaul

The positioning and intersection logic of drag and drop and sortables has been completely redone, along with more than 200 automated tests to test all different environments, i.e. scroll offsets and position values. As positive effect, at least 30 conditions where the positioning was failing (i.e. scroll not included, helper stick at top) had been fixed.

New widget designs

jQuery UI 1.6rc4 features an entirely new look and feel, designed by our new Interaction Design team and powered by the new jQuery UI CSS Framework. Each widget’s markup and CSS has been re-approached to provide our cleanest and most flexible solution yet.

CSS Framework

jQuery UI 1.6rc4 is built upon a brand new powerful CSS framework. The new jQuery UI CSS framework is built to support not only jQuery UI’s own plugins, but also custom plugin development. It is a special kind of CSS framework that is aimed specifically at user interface development as opposed to overall page layout. The framework provides classes for commonly used UI utilities, states, containers and icons and is manipulated by jQuery UI ThemeRoller. Read more about the
framework API here: http://jqueryui.pbwiki.com/jQuery-UI-CSS-Framework

Refreshed demos


The website is currently going through some major updates, and in the first block of changes we’re happy to announce that the demos section has been completely redone from scratch. We removed the demo carousel (which was nice but not really usable), and introduced a page that both includes real world and functional demos for all widgets and interactions. The demos are directly pulled from the actual demos/ directory in our code repository, and then ajaxified. They are bookmarkable, and if you download the development bundle, you’ll see they even come as standalone!
This is only the first step of where we want to go for the final 1.6 release. If you’re interested in how it might look in the end, have a peek at our design wiki!

Themeroller v2!

ThemeRoller has been completely redesigned to compliment the new CSS framework and widget designs. ThemeRoller now resides in a vertical sidebar and has loads of new features added, such as:

Toggle-able panels with previews

ThemeRoller’s levers are now grouped into collapsible panes for ease of use. Each pane shows a preview of that state’s current styles so you can still view its settings while collapsed.

New Levers! Round corners! Drop shadows!

We’ve added new levers to the application for highlight, error, corner radius, overlays, and overlay shadows. Try em out!

Icon sprites

The jQuery UI CSS Framework comes with loads of icons for custom widget development. Icons are now packed into sprites and classes for each icon can be found in the docs.

New themes

We’ve added a bunch of cool new themes to the new gallery which can beviewed and customized in the gallery tab of ThemeRoller.

History/back button support

Every action you take in TR is now undoable/redoable through your browser’s history.

Legacy theme support

Themes designed using the older version of ThemeRoller will load just fine in ThemeRoller v2, but keep in mind that there are a number of new settings that your old theme will not have yet. This version of ThemeRoller allows you to still download any ThemeRoller theme for jQuery UI 1.5.

Coming soon…

  • PNG 8 Support in ThemeRoller
  • New ThemeRoller developer tool: Pull ThemeRoller into any page on the web and design themes for custom components built using the jQuery UI CSS Framework.
  • New ThemeSwitcher bookmarklet: A quick script that will allow you to bring a miniaturized Theme Gallery into your web pages to allow visitors to quickly change themes for custom components built using the jQuery UI CSS Framework.
Download and test!

Now go ahead and download from our download page, then help us test and report anything odd that looks like a bug in our bugtracker. Also note: jQuery UI 1.6 final will ship with and require jQuery 1.3, so please let us know if you find any issues when combining this release with jQuery 1.3b1.

Cheers!

Categories: Ajax and Javascript, Libraries, Frameworks and Applications

50 Incredible Stop Motion Videos

Smashing Magazine - Wed, 2008-12-31 18:13

By Vailancio Rodrigues

Stop motion animation is one of the hottest areas of film-making today. Stop motion is an animation art through which one can spring life in inanimate things and do the unnatural. It works by shooting a single frame of an object, then moving the object slightly, and then shooting another frame. When the film runs continuously in a film projector, or other video playback system, the illusion of fluid motion is created and the objects appear to move by themselves. This is similar to the animation of cartoons, but using real objects instead of drawings.

Well, how can you make use of stop motion in web design? Some design agencies integrate stop motion in their showreels, some may use it to present a product or a service. The main advantage of the technique is that it really looks different, unusual and therefore memorable. In technical terms, stop motion consists of many forms according to techniques used to create, animate and film it - pixilation, cutout animation, time-lapse, clay animation and many more. Stop motion animation is time-consuming, repetitive process which requires patience.

Below we present over 50 amazing examples of stop motion videos, a tribute to hard work of animators, artists and creative folks.

You may be interested in the following related posts:

Stop Motion Videos

Fat City Reprise - Long Gone video by Cesar Kuriyama
Music video was created entirely from 45,000 Photographs taken by a Nikon D200 DSLR.
This Photographs were stitched together to create the illusion of video.

Human Tetris video by www.notsonoisy.com

Super Mario Bros 3 LEGO video by jmehatesyou

Human Skateboard video by SneauxShoesVideo

Happy Thanksgiving video byMentalLapse

Abstract thoughts video by Darryn ray

A short love story video by Carlos Lascano

Chess clay stop motion video by ricx78

Shaving by Hand video by theyear1988

PSP Commercial video by dark420bishop

7×7x7 cube assembly video by qythium

Rubik’s Cube video by viralvideos

Lego Millenium Falcon video by technomonkeymedia

Chocolate creme suicide video by chuwichuwi

Tony vs Paul video by Tetriscide

Video by Kendall Hunt

Commercial - Swiss Made video by filmbaeckerei

Western Spaghetti video by PES

Commercial: Even your food wants it video by DestinationPro

Tomato video by Androsky Knauer

Livin La Vida Sconsin video by mysteryd8

Music Condenser video by Promesto

Musician video by lassegg

Guns N Roses video by ClayMationMCO

Process Enacted video by Jordan C Greenhalgh

Commercial - xBox video by retiredbutBACK

Ad - Hands video by Rocketman1964

Video by MyDriveThru

Light-Paint Piano Player video by Ryan Cashman

Commercial: Marching Cigarettes 1948

Ad- Best Beer video by videos0wnit

Food Fight video by touristpictures

Video by TheLastLaugh

Video by JeanCarpentier

Video by JelleVanDun

Video by SSCxProduction

Video by wemakesoap

Video by Neylano

Spinning Rocks video by lunalady

Pancakes video by GiR2007

Video by benzo31

Video by guillaume Noue

Video by Wyc Tippins

Video by Brian Storey

Cardboard Box Race

Gloomy Valentine video by Wazza001

Frog Skeleton

MUTO a wall-painting video by blu

Origami In the Pursuit of Perfection video by Mabona origami

Revamped Graphic Equalizer video by Marcelo Costa

Sia – “Breathe Me”
Music video made from several thousands Polaroid photos.

Further Resources

Area for further articles and related resources.

Related Posts

You may be interested in the following related posts:

About the author

Vailancio Rodrigues is an emerging webmaster who runs Tiny Goa, a travel and tourism website. He also maintains a blog of his own, Technology Tips, which provides reviews, tips and tricks for various gadgets.

Categories: Ajax and Javascript, Design

Configuring Your Machine For Testing With A Screen Reader

YUI Blog - Wed, 2008-12-31 00:32

When developing using the WAI-ARIA Roles and States, you need to test your code in a screen reader to ensure everything is working as you expect. As a follow up to my presentation on Developing Accessible Widgets with ARIA and in the interest of helping other developers test their code, I thought I would provide some tips on how to configure your development environment for screen reader testing.

Step 1: Install A Virtual Machine

Before I install and configure screen readers I start by installing a virtual machine. (This is mostly out of necessity because I use a Mac and the most-popular screen readers run on Windows.) Using a virtual machine provides a couple of benefits when testing with a screen reader: To start, a virtual machine provides a sandboxed environment, so I am protected if anything goes awry when I am installing and configuring each screen reader. (So as not to give the impression that screen readers are unstable pieces of software, this is definitely the exception more than the rule.)

The second benefit to using a virtual machine is that they allow you to save and restore state. This is an especially helpful feature for efficiently testing and re-testing specific pieces or states of complex web applications. So, using a virtual machine can help save you time when testing.

Which virtual machine to use? If you use Windows, you can download and install Microsoft Virtual PC for free. As a Mac user, I have found both VMware Fusion and Parallels Desktop work well.

Step 2: Install Browsers

It is important to remember that to work, ARIA requires a team effort between the browser and the screen reader. To test ARIA you’ll need to install browsers that both support ARIA and are supported by screen readers that also support ARIA. For example, Opera has support for ARIA, but is not supported by screen readers. Currently only Internet Explorer 8 and Firefox 3 have support for ARIA, and are supported by several screen readers for Windows that also offer support for ARIA.

After installing each browser, be sure to save the state of the virtual machine. That way you’ll be able to quickly revert back to a clean, working state should anything go wrong during the screen reader installation.

Step 3: Install & Configure Screen Readers

With the browsers installed the next step is to install and configure each screen reader. The two most-popular screen readers for Windows, JAWS and Window-Eyes support ARIA and work with both Internet Explorer 8 and Firefox 3. Free, trial versions of both products are available for download from Freedom Scientific’s and GW Micro’s websites. The open-source screen reader NVDA also has excellent ARIA support and currently works with Firefox 3. Knowing that most visually impaired users use more than one screen reader, I recommend installing all three for testing.

As a sighted person I disable a couple of features of each screen reader and change some configurations so that I can test more efficiently. For example, most screen readers are configured to startup automatically when you start your computer. This is obviously not desirable when you have multiple screen readers installed, so I turn off that feature. Additionally, every screen reader uses a different keyboard shortcut for toggling the virtual buffer on and off. To avoid having to remember the keyboard shortcut for each screen reader, I configure them all to be the same: Ctrl + Shift + Space. (For more on the virtual buffer, read Making Ajax Work with Screen Readers.)

The following sections provide step-by-step instructions for configuring JAWS, Window-Eyes and NVDA.

Configuring JAWS Changing The Virtual Buffer Toggle Keyboard Shortcut
  1. Open the “Keyboard Manager” dialog by selecting “Utilities” -> “Keyboard Manager” in the JAWS application menubar.
  2. Select the “default” profile in the left, “Profile” pane.
  3. In the right pane, sort by the “Script Name” column, then find and select the item named “VirtualPCCursorToggle”.
  4. Open the “Change Keystroke” dialog by either right clicking on the “VirtualPCCursorToggle” item, or by pressing Ctrl + H.
  5. In the “Change Keystroke” dialog, choose the new keystroke by pressing the desired keys. (I use Ctrl + Shift + Space.) JAWS will warn you if the keystroke you choose in already in use.
  6. Press the “OK” button to close the dialog.
Disabling JAWS From Starting Automatically
  1. Open the “Basic Settings” dialog by selecting “Options” -> “Basics” in the JAWS application menubar.
  2. In the “Basic Settings” dialog, make sure the checkbox labeled “Automatically start JAWS” in not checked.
Configuring Window-Eyes Changing The Virtual Buffer Toggle Keyboard Shortcut
  1. Open the “Browse Mode Hot Key Definitions” dialog by selecting “Hotkeys” -> “Browse Mode…” in the Window-Eyes application menubar.
  2. In the “Browse Mode Hot Key Definitions” dialog, scroll down to the item named “Browse Mode” in the scrollable “Keys” list.
  3. Select the “Browse Mode” item and then press the “Capture Key” button.
  4. Press the keyboard combination you want to use. (I use Ctrl + Shift + Space.)
  5. Press the “OK” button to close the dialog.
  6. Save the configuration by selecting “File” -> “Save” -> “Set File and All Dictionaries” in the Window-Eyes application menubar.
Disabling The Mouse Voice

By default Window-Eyes will speak in response to some mouse gestures. For example, when you press the left mouse button, Window-Eyes will say “left”. As a sighted person I find this feature unnecessary, so I disable this feature.

  1. Open the “Mouse Voice” dialog by selecting “Mouse” -> “Voice” in the Window-Eyes application menubar.
  2. Select the “Off” item.
  3. Press the “OK” button to close the dialog.
  4. Save the configuration by selecting “File” -> “Save” -> “Set File and All Dictionaries” in the Window-Eyes application menubar.
Disabling Window-Eyes From Starting Automatically
  1. Open the “Startup Options” dialog by selecting “File” -> “Starup Options…” in the Window-Eyes application menubar.
  2. In the “Startup Options” dialog:
    • Uncheck the checkbox labeled “Run Window-Eyes at the Login Screen”.
    • Uncheck the checkbox labeled “Run Window-Eyes after login for all users”.
    • Select the radio button labeled “Never” under “After login for Current User, Run Window-Eyes”.

  3. Press the “OK” button to close the dialog.
  4. Save the configuration by selecting “File” -> “Save” -> “Set File and All Dictionaries” in the Window-Eyes application menubar.
Configuring NVDA General Settings For Efficiency
  1. Uncheck the checkbox labeled “Show this dialog when NVDA starts” that pops up the first time NVDA starts
  2. Disable the confirmation dialog that pops up when you exit the application:
    1. Open the “General settings” dialog by right clicking on the NVDA system tray icon and selecting to “Preferences” -> “General settings” in the context menu.
    2. In the “General settings” dialog, uncheck the checkbox labeled “Warn before exiting NVDA”.
    3. Right click on the NVDA icon in the system tray and select the “Save configuration” menu item in the context menu.
Disabling the Mouse Voice

Like Window-Eyes, by default NVDA will speak in response to some mouse gestures. For example, when you move the mouse NVDA will play tones to help the user track the position of the mouse. As a sighted person I find this feature unnecessary, so I disable this feature.

  1. Open the “Mouse settings” dialog by right clicking on the NVDA icon in the system tray and selecting “Preferences” -> “Mouse settings” from the context menu.
  2. In the “Mouse settings” dialog, uncheck both “Report text under the mouse” and “play audio coordinates when the mouse moves”.
  3. Right click on the NVDA icon in the system tray and select the “Save configuration” menu item in the context menu.
Changing The Virtual Buffer Toggle Keyboard Shortcut
  1. Shut down NVDA - right click on the system track icon and choose “Exit” from the context menu.
  2. Navigate to the path “C:\Program Files\NVDA\appModules”.
  3. Open the file named “_default_desktop.kbd”.
  4. Find the line: “NVDA+space=toggleVirtualBufferPassThrough”.
  5. Change to: “Control+Shift+space=toggleVirtualBufferPassThrough”.
  6. Save the file.
  7. Restart NVDA.
Step 4: Restart Windows & Save State

With all of the screen readers installed and configured, restart Windows. Once Windows is restarted, take another snapshot of the virtual machine’s state. If you are using the free, trial versions of JAWS and Window-Eyes they will require you to restart Windows after using either product for ~30 minutes. Using the virtual machine, you can revert back to using JAWS and Window-Eyes more quickly than you would if you had to restart Windows.

Steps Summary

That’s it. The steps for configuring your development environment for testing using a screen reader can be summarized as follows:

  1. Install virtualization software
  2. Install browsers & take a snapshot of that state
  3. Install and configure screen readers
  4. Restart the virtual machine & take a snapshot of that state
Resources & Further Reader
Categories: Ajax and Javascript, Libraries, Frameworks and Applications

Desktop Wallpaper Calendar: January 2009

Smashing Magazine - Tue, 2008-12-30 22:48

Desktop wallpapers can serve as an excellent source of inspiration. However, if you use some specific wallpaper for a long period of time, it becomes harder to draw inspiration out of it. That’s why we have decided to supply you with smashing wallpapers over 12 months.

And to make them a little bit more distinctive from the usual crowd, we’ve decided to embed calendars for the upcoming month. So if you need to look up some date, isn’t it better to show off a nice wallpaper with a nice calendar instead of launching some default time application?

This post features 40 free desktop wallpapers, created by designers across the globe. Both versions with a calendar and without a calendar can be downloaded for free.

Please notice:

  • all images can be clicked and lead to the preview of the wallpaper;
  • you can feature your work in our magazine by taking part in our desktop wallpaper calendar series. We are regularly looking for creative designers and artists to be featured on Smashing Magazine. Are you one of them?

So which wallpapers have we received for January 2009?

In With The New

"I know that you require entrants to send in their work at least 2 days early and I admit that this is pushing it. I know that you’ll do your best as this took a fair bit of time hence the late entry.

This entry basically reflects releasing the old and embracing the new. The whole concept is revolving around something big and embracing it as well as accepting it with style." Designed by Umer Tahir from Calgary, Canada.

Think New

"January brings a new year, a new U.S. president and a new beginning. Inauguration Day, January 20, 2009" Designed by Mediumjones from USA.

Ethnic

"Ethnic Colors of India. I thought of making a wallpaper with traditional touch and here it is. Wish u all a Better ‘09, Happy New Year!" Designed by Laxman Koushik from India.

December is dead

"Everyone who watched the first 1989 Batman movie, probably remembers the quote of the birth of Joker - “Jack? Jack is dead my friend. You can call me… Joker.”, so here it is, with just a bit of a 2008 Dark Knight’s flavor sprinkled over the no-calendar version." Designed by Mariusz Ciesla from Poland.

Readers

"There are cartoon girl and a spider, which are reading wonderful letter." Designed by Valeria Kuzminskaya from Ukraine.

Odd World

"The objects in this wallpaper are separately rendered in 3d Max and Zbrush then finalized in photoshop software. The motivation behind this wallpaper was to portray an odd ,colorful and seductive world that you would like to watch it but never wish to be there.I hope you will like it." Designed by Kasra Safavinia.

Digital art

"Everyday Coffee, some how i use abstract, i not used days on top just for indication i used coffee mug for sunday. we have off on sunday." Designed by Girish Chaudhary from Pune, India.

When Dreams Find Inspiration

"Our aim with this design? To capture the wonder and amazement that children experience every day of their young lives." Designed by David Pritchett “The Random Group” from Toronto, Canada.

Trees

"This picture was taken at the cost of the East See in North Germany, late December 2008. These old trees catched my attention. Looking upward, their branches merged in front of the grey blue sky. They seemed to wait for the New Year to come and for the next spring to continue where they stopped last autumn." Designed by Hans-Georg Krejci .

Happy New Year

"The image that appears was done by us in a session of photos of Christmas in order to congratulate the year. We think that the new year is going to be very good and for this reason we want that it is a good year for everybody." Designed by Eva Casado Elegido from Spain.

Photography Alaska

"At a time of year when most people are jovial I chose to embrace the potential darker side of the season. The theme of this wallpaper and photo is loneliness. Having spent time in Alaska during the winter the concept of loneliness and the realities of Alaska go hand in hand thus the name.

Ultimately I wanted to toy with light. In the end the photo was too full of emptiness not to do something with it." Designed by Bryce from USA.

Illustration Year of the Cow

"How fast a new year comes in. The Chinese Zodiac animal of 2009 is busy celebrating the new year in winter wonderland style." Designed by Jolene Judziewicz from USA.

Typography Lustrous New Year

"My idea behind this wallpaper is that the new year brings in a clean slate for everyone! As midnight hits, we all enter January with new goals, dreams, and high hopes for a blessed year! Everything from the previous year can slowly be forgotten as we forge a new year in our life! This wallpaper was also designed with the focal point of the desktop in mind. Both PC and Mac users align their icons on the left or right side. Having the text and calendar in the middle would have it stay away from all the clutter of a desktop!" Designed by Anthony Nguyen from USA.

Two Zero Zero Nine

"January 2009, the start of another new year. Time is travelling faster than ever, demonstrated by a simple figure of 2009 written in clouds." Designed by Milan from UK.

ART-The effort

"This is the calendar design I created fot January 2009. " Designed by Murat SIR from Turkey.

Winter - Ice?

"The result of an hour long staring at a frozen window." Designed by Makhsut Kutlukov.

My Fragile world

Designed by Maryam Kazerooni from USA.

Blaze of Light

Designed by Oliver Twardowski from Germany.