New from the Adobe Developer Connection Team

The Adobe Developer Connection team published and promoted the following articles and videos today:

• Generating a Windows installer for your AIR captive runtime application
• WebKit touch events: background and terms for Edge users
• Combining your web skills with PhoneGap to build mobile apps (from Inspire Magazine)
• How to decide: Mobile websites vs. mobile apps (from Inspire Magazine)
• Tune in to live radio with Adobe AIR
• Adobe Design Achievement Awards
• Source code – 720p video on iPad and Android tablets with Adobe AIR
• Ultimate guide to understanding advanced video delivery with AIR for mobile

They also launched the Adobe Developer Connection feedback site today and would appreciate any assistance in getting the word out.

Next Photoshop Evangelist - It Could Be You!

Creative Suite Podcast: Designers - Create Colors in Harmony with Ease in Illustrator CS5

First Look at Adobe Photoshop Touch with Russell Brown

Sneak Peak from PSDTuts - Adobe Camera Raw 7

O'Reilly Strata Online Conference (free)

Ownership of tablets, e-readers almost doubles in one month

Super Bowl gets social-media command center

New from the Adobe Developer Connection Team

The Adobe Developer Connection team published the following article and videos today:

• Adobe Edge Preview 4 feature demo
• Creating a simple mobile game using the Code Snippets panel in Flash
• Adobe AIR with captive runtime support for desktop
• Adobe AIR with captive runtime support for mobile
• Dynamically adapt the layout of tablet and mobile apps

We also updated some key ActionScript pages:

• ActionScript Technology Center
• Getting Started with ActionScript 3
• Learning ActionScript 3

Creating an iBook (ePUB) for the iPad with InDesign CS5

Photoshop: Animated Glowing Button

I was reading a review yesterday about a program that helps you magnify an image for large scale print with limited loss of quality and I must say I was intrigued. We often have the need for such a program, but I didn't think anything worth using existed - until now. The program, Akvis Magnifier, does a surprisingly good job! The image to the right is one I magnified from 801 x 599 pixels to 4005 x 2995. I brought the resized image down to 33% so you could compare, but the full size is really quite good.

If you are interested, they offer a 10 day free trial. The cost for the product is:

• Home - $129
• Business - $249

I'd be interested in hearing what you think, so if you give it a try, let me know. 

Tips, Tricks and Best Practices for Responsive Design

Create An Animated Bar Graph With HTML, CSS And jQuery

Photoshop World - March 24-26, 2012

If you've ever thought about attending an out of state conference, you should seriously consider Photoshop World. The upcoming conference in Washing, DC (March 24-26) looks absolutely amazing! The speakers are some of the best in the world, including, Scott Kelby, Terry White, Ben Willmore and Bert Monroy. I've had the privilege of seeing each of the above speakers in action and they are not to be missed. The conference is for Photoshop users and photographers with several concurrent sessions and tracks.

The schedule is full of opportunities to learn and share. The experience will help you upgrade your skills - always important during these trying times - and give you a chance to talk to other professionals. There isn't another opportunity that I know of to listen to and learn from as many experts as you will see at this conference, so I strongly urge you to attend if you can!

Note: If you are a student, Photoshop World has a Dean Collins Photoshop World Educational scholarship they are giving away. You must apply by filling out their form by February 17th. The scholarship includes round-trip airfare, hotel accommodations and a full conference pass as well as a years membership to NAPP!

Edge Preview 4 is now available on Labs!

With Edge Preview you can create animated web content using HTML5, CSS3 and Java Script. Edge Preview 4 is available on Labs:  http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/edge/.  Check it out!

Many significant new features, including Symbols, support for Web Fonts, and the ability to control how long an element is displayed.

Resources:

• New Features overview
• New Samples
• New video starring Mark 
• Updated FAQ (PDF)
• Blog  

New Articles from the Adobe Developer Center

• Avoiding common authoring mistakes in Flash Professional
• Situations to avoid when writing Action Script
• Issues involving project assets in Flash
• Preventing animation problems in Flash
• Avoiding common Timeline errors in Flash
• Preventing problems with buttons and interactivity in Flash
• Common mistakes working with fonts and text objects in Flash
• Strategies for organizing Flash projects
• Avoiding performance issues in Flash
• Considerations when working with pre-loaders in Flash
• Preventing publishing problems in Flash
• Game of Flex on tablets

No Stupid Questions with Colin Smith - How to Control Motion Blur in After Effects

"Motion blur is something that occurs naturally in photography but there are many ways that we can create realistic motion blur in After Effects too. Colin will show you the settings and options to help you control motion blur on animations, graphics and even on videos that don’t contain any movement at all. He will also demonstrate how to add motion blur to the many animation presets that ship with After Effects." from Adobe

Creative Suite Podcast: Designers - Create Colors in Harmony with Ease in Illustrator CS5

The most popular fonts used by designers

Animated Web Banners With CSS3

Introduction to Lightroom 4 Beta

New Articles of Note from the Adobe Developer Team

• Video encoding/transcoding guidelines for RIMBlackBerry PlayBook
• Dynamically adding digital signatures to a PDF document
• Securing your applications using HttpOnly cookies with ColdFusion

Photoshop CS5: Cinemagraphs

Essential Shortcuts for Lightroom 3's Develop Module

Lightroom - Select, Rate and Prioritize Your Images

Create a Web Hosting Landing Page in Adobe Photoshop

Creating a simple OSMF video player for AIR for TV using Flash Professional

Extending creativity with Adobe Touch Apps

Free HTML5 Class and more from Webucator

Webucator - one of our sponsors, is offering a free HTML5 class. Webucator offers a free class each month and has lots of giveaways. Here's a link to their monthly user group newsletter where you can sign up for free stuff and vote on which courses you would like webucator to offer.

At our next meeting (01/10/12) I will be giving away a certificate to one lucky winner for a webucator customized, instructor-led online class. So, be sure to attend our next meeting for your chance to win!

How to Create a Zodiac-Themed Portrait in Adobe Illustrator CS5

Here's a great Adobe Illustrator CS5 tutorial from Inside Adobe Illustrator. It's a great way to familiarize yourself with Illustrator and to brush up on your skills while having a bit of fun. Give it a try and let us know what you created.

While you are in Illustrator mode, check out some other great tutorials:

• Smashing Magazine's Adobe Illustrator Tutorials Best of
• n.design studio Illustrator Tutorials
• 22 Very Useful Adobe Illustrator Tutorials
• Design Modo: 35+ Excellent Adobe Illustrator Tutorials
• The Adobe Illustrator Color Guide - Adobe TV
• Using Symbols in Adobe Illustrator - Adobe TV
• 5 Tips for Drawing In Adobe Illustrator CS5 - Adobe TV

Review Of New Twitter and Tweetdeck – What’s new?

Interesting article from 1stwebdesigner on the recent Twitter upgrade/redesign:

"Recently, Twitter went through a significant upgrade and redesign. This time the update is huge and comprehensive – starting with new mobile apps and ending with a new version of popular tweeting platform Tweetdeck. What has changed? Are there some things you should be aware of? Continue reading and check out a review of the new Twitter web version and the Tweetdeck to find out what’s new." Keep reading....

Understanding and Using Embedded Fonts: What, Why and How?

Here's a great article from onextrapixel:
"There are so many great fonts available on the web, free or otherwise. In past years, only print design really got the privilege of using some of these gorgeous typefaces, and we web people were stuck creating websites with only the standard fonts that we could ensure were web-safe and compatible among various browsers. However, now font embedding is as easy and as compatible as ever, and as a result, we are seeing plenty of websites come out with unique fonts for blog headlines, regular page content, and other text that is variable and was once not practical to use a unique font that would require images." Keep reading.....

Photoshop Roadmap: How to Adjust the Distance Between Two Subjects