ScreenCasts - Latest First

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Friday, October 17, 2008

FTP and Setting up a Site in Dreamweaver

FTP = File transfer Protocol. This is how we move files onto a web server for dlevery to a web browser.

Dreamweaver has a built-in FTP client and in this screencast we step through how to set a site up.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

HTML and CSS

The basics of HTML and CSS.... but really the basics.

I waffle on about tagging and what a basic HTML page looks like and how to use CSS.

Thursday, October 02, 2008

Introducing ExpressionEngine Templates

Here we look at templates and how they can be edited. We will observe that templates can be embedded in other templates and that by editing in one place, the changes will filter through to many parts of the site.

Images in the Blog

This demonstration covers how to upload images so that they will appear in the blog posts. The images can either be on their own, within the text. Or, they can be thumbnail images that will enlarge when clicked upon.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Building a Static Page within ExpressionEngine

Sometimes we might want to create a page that doesn't use dynamic content from the blogging/content management system but we want it to have a similar look. We can use Dreamweaver to help in this process.

In this session we look at this process so that we can create a page that has a link to a downloadable eBook (PDF).

I should mention that we do it this way becasue our team of learners do not have FTP access to the server. Images and PDFs can only beuploaded through the EE control panel.

An earlier screencast also showed how Dreamweaver could help edit templates.

Friday, May 02, 2008

From InDesign to XML

As well as a PDF of the eBook we may also need an XML file to keep for future generations (maybe PDFs will not be readable in 20 years time!).

This ScreenCast goes through the steps to create an XML from the InDesign ebook. The steps are as follows:

1. make sure that all text is 'styled' using paragraph and character styles
2. create tags that will be used in the XML (the names could be the same as the names of the styles)
3. map the styles to the tags
4. show the structure
5. export to XML
6. view with Internet Explorer

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Showing Extra Information on rolling over Hypertext

Want to show an image when rolling over some text in the eBook? This shows how to do it.

We use a form button and place an 'Icon' on this button. We then create another botton to show the first button.

Music Credit: Oleg Galkin | This piece is called Flora

Monday, April 14, 2008

Adding Interactivity to the PDF eBook

Three basic methods of interactivity are shown:

• Adding a hyperlink on a master page in InDesign. This gets carried over to the PDF.
• Adding a link in the PDF opening page
• Adding a forward and back button on everypage.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Setting the Initial View for the PDF

In this session I look at how metadata set in the InDesign document will have an effect on what the users see on opening the PDF. The session looks at setting the initial view within Acrobat, so that the PDF shows the full opening cover page in all its glory.

Music Credit: Oleg Galkin | This piece is called Flora

Friday, March 14, 2008

Interactive Contents for eBook

This session covers:

• Using styled content, such as headings and subheadings to create contents page
• making the contents list with page numbers
• separating the headings and page numbers with dots
• exporting to PDF and showing how the contents become navigation links
• showing how this also creates bookmarks

Sunday, March 02, 2008

Using Dreamweaver to Edit ExpressionEngine CSS template

Not the first time I have shown this. A useful way of making use of a WYSIWYG editor to change the style for your blog.

Friday, February 29, 2008

Basic Stuff you should Know about HTML and CSS

We look at what goes into a basic HTML document and how to apply styles with CSS. An important point is made about the use of standard HTML markup to get proper documant structure.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Indesign to PDF (session 1)

Just a short session looking a couple of issues when going from InDesign to PDF:

• Metadata - setting this in Indesign and then finding this in the PDF
• Setting the initial view within the PDF

Placing Graphics in InDesign (session 2)

When adding graphics to an InDesign document there are some details worth knowing:

• Images can have outlines or stroke
• Images can be viewed in better quality while working on the design
• Images can be anchored to a place with the text

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Placing Graphics in InDesign (session 1)

The page layout software, InDesign, is very powerful and there are several ways to integrate graphics with text. In this first session we look at:

• placing graphics on a layer and adjusting the transparency
• Placing a graphic within text
• wrapping the text around the graphic

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Using ExpressionEngine’s File Upload to change blog decoration

The session shows how to use the built-in file upload (in the publish section of your blog) to change the picture top right. This picture is actually set up in the stylesheet, and after uploading the new image you will then need to edit the CSS template.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Text Processing (removing unwanted paragraph breaks)

If we source a public domain text on the web, such as those from the Gutenberg project, we may well find that each line of thext has a fixed length. This is because the text was probably scanned in and then converted to real text through OCR software. The text is laid out exactly as it was in the original source. This facsimile is not appropriate for our needs.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Using Dreamweaver to help design ExpressionEngine Templates

The screen cast shows how to copy out the contents of a rendered ExpressionEngine site and then use Dreamweaver to modify the CSS. The screencast uses a standard default EE template.