Why is responsive web design crucial? Because there are so many screen sizes out there, that designing a solution for each one of them is too costly and there is no real reason to do this. Responsive web design offers us the solution to designing for all screen sizes in the same time back in 2010 and since then it became a trend. Responsive web design is brilliant and the results are more than satisfying.

Back in 2011 many websites started to be coded responsively and while the concept is still young, it is already well known and popular. Media queries are a great invention and only show how web designs keeps running just behind technology evolution. Having a version of your website for a mobile phone is something everybody needs to have today, because let’s face it, who doesn’t (or will not) have a smartphone or a tablet?. Now we have internet wherever we go, 24 hours a day, 7 days per week.

Images courtesy of mediaqueri.es.

Besides making websites work on all screen sizes, building websites responsively taught us something else as well: that content is as important as ever. Content is also in focus when designing responsively, because we need to cut back on too many design elements and make the content easy to read and clear; fonts have a very important role here as well.

If you thought 2011 was the year of responsive web design, I think you are wrong. Buckle up, 2012 will bring even more exciting things.

Grid systems are also partially involved in responsive web design. More and more of them appear on the web and people have started using them more frequently. Now that they’ve been out for a long time designers are starting to trust them and this only makes the web better. Frameworks were very popular in 2011 and will continue being so in the following years. They offer fluidity and give a sense of discipline to every design built on them.

designinfluences.com/fluid960gs/

cssgrid.net/

960.gs/

Typography is not something that just appeared last year, it’s been out for a long time. Steve Jobs said himself that he studied calligraphy back in college. That was more than 30 years ago. Typography started as a discipline on the web around 5 years ago, when people realized how powerful it can be and the effects it has over how people perceive content. Typography continues to grow, people continue (or start) to read books about it and get better at combining typefaces and using them properly in order to create the desired effect.

However, for the last year something is worthy to note – people started realizing fonts are made to be read and likewise the content. Using too many fancy fonts that were difficult to read disappeared and this will continue in 2012. Education happens really fast on the internet nowadays and people tend to learn about common sense in design more than everything else. Emphasizing content is still something people have to learn more about, but this is exactly what is going to happen in 2012.

englishworkshop.eu/

kantt.dk/

The fold’s importance has been played down a lot in the past couple of years since smartphones emerged. People now think it is OK to scroll. I debated this topic one month ago here. People can have their own opinions and this made some of them start realizing scrolling isn’t a problem for users. And let’s face it, nothing is a problem until you make it a problem. If scrolling is not an issue for you, then the fold’s importance is minimal.

Now that smaller screens have become popular, scrolling is something that people just can’t avoid, so we will have to embrace it. The ones trying to play down the fold’s importance managed to do it thanks to the technology and gadgets which emerged on the market in the last years. With this trend set to continue, it’s clear “the fold” will be history by the end of this year – or at most by the end of the next one.

However, if there is something we will see a lot of during the next years, then this is the parallax effect. It is at its bottom scrolling, but not by using the wheel or the trackpad. You simply scroll to another area of the page by clicking the buttons in the menu. The parallax effect is something I simply love and I can’t wait to see more of it – it is just such a great way to make peace between the fold-lovers and the other people. The only issue is that it doesn’t fit with the responsive web design at all, so this is something that developers will try to sort out during 2012.

Using modular interfaces is also something that has become quite popular lately, although it is still a debatable practice. There is not much research behind it and we are still not sure how well it works – but this is why we have 2012. This year we will see how successful the modular interfaces will get.

Google Web Fonts

People will also keep it minimal. Minimalistic design has been the most popular throughout 2011 and this style will continue dominating the industry – although not very easy to design because of its multiple theories, it is quite easy to code and is very pleasant to the eye. It is simple, gets right down to the point and doesn’t waste anybody’s time – just what everybody looks for – information given as fast as possible.

Simple, eye-catching and elegant designs will emerge even more and will continue to stand out in 2012. People with inspiration and imagination will turn their designs into huge hits. With minimalistic web design being very simple, there are not too many ways of finding something new that nobody thought of before. The designers that manage to do it this year will definitely be the key people of 2013.

wearepropeople.com/

freshness.hu/

Otherwise I don’t see too much new stuff coming in 2012. I see designers and developers continuing on the same track and improving the concepts and tools they use right now. I also see web designers digging motivational articles even more, because this is something that keeps them running.

Until next time… what do you think I missed? Is there something else you consider important enough to mention? Do you have a prediction for this year?

What is the Trend for Web Design in 2012?

As I have learned more about the complexities of light, I have begun to appreciate to a greater extent the magical experience of shooting just after the sun has set, utilising the fading ambient light to create some of my favourite work.

What’s so special about dusk?

So often in photography you will hear that it’s all about the light and who am I to disagree. The fundamental element of photography is the light used within the shot as it dictates the outcome of the photograph.

Twilight offers a unique lighting scenario, within which ambient light (sunlight) gradually fades, creating a sparse but magical effect that is almost impossible to create artificially. It fades into the artificial light being emitted by street lights. Houses and offices and can sometimes create an ‘un-real’ feel as the shortage of light diminishes the eye’s perception of distance.

Photo by Subadei

Portraits before the sun goes down

So before we get on to the hours of twilight photography within which the sun has set, I just wanted to highlight the opportunities offered by the hours just before sunset, often referred to as ‘The Golden Hours,’ along with the hours around sunrise.

This natural formation of light offers extremely beneficial photographic conditions, as the low golden light from the sun is projected sideways. It delicately warms the subject matter with enough light to work with, without having the over bearing brightness of direct sunlight closer to midday.

This can be extremely useful for landscape photographers, but is also utilized by portrait photographers looking to conduct a shoot outdoors as it offers a very welcome warm glow to their models features.

Photo by Sean Molin

Timing the magical light

So when do you find this inspiring lighting effect? Well, timing is everything. So head out well before the sun has set, at least half an hour and find a suitable location for your shoot. Set yourself up and start shooting. Be sure to peel your eyes away from your viewfinder to appreciate the changing light around you. The ethereal atmosphere will be present as the ambient light fades into darkness.

I like to continue shooting as the light changes, often leaving the camera on it’s tripod in the same spot, so I can see the changing light through the series of shots.

Photo by Aigle Dore

What settings are required for shooting in low light?

You’ll find that you need to keep adapting your settings according to the amount of ambient light available. However, I’ll try and fill you in on what would normally be required for shooting in low light.

First up, you’ll be using long shutter speeds, anything longer than 1/60 and I’d use a tripod. It will be essential for keeping your camera steady and getting sharp shots after the sun has gone down. When working with landscape shots a narrow aperture is required to ensure a deep depth-of-field.

As you are using the shutter speed to control the light, this won’t need to be adjusted according to the light available, but purely to ensure the correct depth-of-field. You can also afford to select a low ISO, as you do not need to increase the sensitivity of the sensor as you have enough light coming in due to lengthened shutter speed.

As far as white balance is concerned, when working in tricky lighting conditions, I would always shoot in RAW and adjust custom white balance in post-processing. As the sun goes down and the light fades, the temperature of the light will change as you move from capturing purely ambient light, through a combination of ambient and artificial light to purely artificial light. This way, you can alter the custom white balance settings according to the type of light within each shot.

Photo by Alternate Words

Working with landscapes in the evening

My favorite type of shot to take during the twilight hours are landscapes. The warm, colored light breeds an other-worldly atmosphere which only seems to enhance the breathtaking scenery before you. As always with landscape work, finding the best vantage point is essential. Once you’re there, it’s a case of letting the light work it’s magic. Be patient.

Look for particular highlights with the scene before you that might add interest to your shot. Foreground elements are always welcome. When working in mountainous terrain, look to capture the distinction in depth between the mountains closer to you and those further away. As the light fades the tones of further away objects will become more faint, highlighting their distance.

Photo by Simon Bray

Stunning sunsets

As I admitted earlier, I’m a sucker for taking photos of sunsets, but many photographers get tired of seeing endless sunset shots as they can all get very predictable. It’s essential to try and be inventive. Utilizing the colors in the sky is obviously essential, but try and compose your shot in a way that adds more interest and depth to the scene than purely the colors on show.

Add some foreground interest or find a line that the eye can follow through the shot to add some depth. Try using a filter, such as a graduated neutral density filter, to enhance the color in the sky.

Photo by Simon Bray

Getting great urban shots

It’s not only landscape shots that can benefit from evening light, you can also get some great city and urban shots. Try working in amongst the architecture before the sun has set. The low sun will cast ambient light over the buildings and can create some really attractive contrasted scenes alongside the shadows.

Later in the evening, as the sun sets, try to find a vantage point to get a cityscape shot. The fading ambient light and glowing artificial lights will offer the perfect city scene to capture with a long shutter speed.

Photo by Simon Bray

Subtle silhouettes

With the fading light, it’s not always possible to light subject matter adequately, but do not worry, these twilight scenes are the perfect time to try some silhouette photography! Look out for opportunities to work with interesting corresponding shapes. It’s important to utilize the available light as the back drop for your silhouettes to enhance their form, particularly if there are attractive colors in the sky.

Photo by Luz

Dealing with practicalities

It always pays to travel prepared, and when you’re heading out into the night to take photographs it’s even more important. Always take a torch, just a small pocket sized flashlight, it will not only help you find your way but will also aid you when trying to adjust settings on your camera.

Make sure you dress for the cold and account for the fact that it’ll be a lot colder once the sun goes down! Tell someone where you’re going and when you expect to be back.

Photo by Ed Yourdon

Now it’s over to you!

Hopefully, you are now equipped and prepared to go and take some of your own twilight shots. The difficulties of ensuring that there is enough available light is easily outweighed by the magical quality of light that can often occur (depending on the weather).

You could choose an area or specific subject to work with, or just go on a photo walk and shoot as you explore your surroundings, it’s up to you. As always, please feel free to share any shots you’ve taken in the comments below.

Photo by Mgermani

An InDepth Look at Dusk and Twilight Photography

This discussion will cover some basic pointers that you must keep in mind while hunting for the best font for your upcoming design. Remember, at the end of the day, the end result must be aesthetically pleasing. 

NOTE - My examples and my text in this discussion might look overly simple but it has been done with a purpose. The whole idea is to provide you with an explanation using the simplest possible style. (Was this a disclaimer?)

Analyze Your End Result

Isn’t that obvious? You can’t start searching for the best font unless you are sure of the end market for that font. Jot down the kind of viewers that you are expecting. Will the readers of your website be night life lovers or white collar employees? All this depends on the type of content and your niche.

See, it is very easy to just decide on a font and go with it when your readership isn’t huge and you’re just starting out. It is later on that you will understand how much the wrong font selection can effect your site (after you’ve finished this article, there will be no reason for you to make bad font decisions). Once you understand your goals these tips will be more meaningful.

The White Space

Those who smiled after reading “The White Space” know exactly what I mean. A font that does not care about the spacing between two letters can mess it up big time for you. Tightly placed letters can confuse an eye and result in visuals that aren’t actually there. Properly calculated white space helps the eye to run as fast as the mental skills of the reader permits.

I don’t mean that white spacing must be taken care of all the time. There will be niches where the abrupt spacing of letters will give a high to its readers. But, such cases are rare.

Don’t Over Experiment

It will be weird if you opt for a font with uneven shapes and sizes just because they provide the artsy look you want for your text. If you end up with fonts that have artistic deformations then the reader’s brain will take more time to process the information. Like, the below image I tried to over experiment with fonts and you can see the end result. Total confusion!

The delay in time might just be enough for the reader to move on to another window. Something that you don’t want! Do you?

Headline Fonts aren’t Meant to be Paragraph Fonts

Get it? C’mon! Wasn’t that simple to understand? There are fonts that are designed for a specific purpose. Fonts that are specifically designed for headings. You use them for headings and the reader will be in awe of your choice of font. But, just because a font looks good as a header or paragraph font, that doesn’t mean the opposite is true.

A font designed for headings will never fulfill the purpose when used in paragraphs. Now get it? Huh!

The Classic Choices

Times New Roman might not provide your design with an over-the-top edge but it also won’t look terrible. These good old fonts have been around for ages and they have been used over and over whenever designers were confused about the right font.

It might not give you the high that you are looking for but sometimes these fonts are just enough (like the font selection in New York Times). Perhaps, they are the high quality font that will complete your design. You just don’t know yet!

Avoid High Contrast

So, how does contrast apply into the world of fonts? Wasn’t this supposed to be inclined towards the world of photography?

Enough kidding! By contrast I mean the difference in design of two fonts. It is suggested that you don’t use two completely different fonts on the same page and, moreover, next to each other. Please understand that it is the gradual change which is soothing for the reader’s eye. If you end up confusing the reader’s mind by drastically changing fonts at short intervals then it might just kill the purpose.

Designers have to choose fonts that merge with their design and not fonts that pop out and kill the design. Make sure you help the reader save time instead of wasting their time while they try to understand what is happening.

But, do get a Little Cheeky

Some of my above tips might prevent you from getting cheeky, but that does not mean that you are not permitted to experiment. Though you got to stick with the standard decision throughout the design yet there can be these occasional texts that will stand out and leave your readers wanting for more. Experiment!

The Magic Formula to Wrap this up

I guess we have already done plenty of reading over here so I thought why not submerge my traditional conclusion with the last (and the most obvious) tip. See, at the end of the day it will be your choice that will prevail so instead of thinking too much just follow the basic steps that you would follow in any situation (which is nowhere related to fonts):

• Look for familiar fonts and create a list.
• Look out for fonts that you haven’t seen before. You will have to dive into forums and various typography websites but the research will be worth the time spent.
• Start playing with each font in your end result and see which suits your design the most.
• Increase/Decrease the size of font and make them uppercase occasionally. See how they look.
• Choose with your gut feeling.

Remember, if you like it then you will be able to represent it too. But, if you aren’t confident with your choice then you will find 10 critics killing your hard work. Be confident (and vigilant)!

How to Choose the Perfect Font for Your Needs

Networking Guide for Bloggers Making a Good First Impression (Part 5)

In this tutorial you’ll learn how to give your photos a darkroom look by adding light leaks in Photoshop.

Click on the Adjustment Layer button at the bottom of your layers panel, and choose Hue/Saturation.

The Hue/Saturation layer will appear above your photo layer.

Click on the layer to make the Hue/Adjustment settings appear.

Take the Saturation down to -20, and take the Lightness up to +15.

This dulling of the photo will have given it a faded look.

Next click on the New Layer button at the bottom of the layers panel.

The new layer should appear above the Hue/Saturation layer, you can name it ‘light leak 1? by double clicking on the text.

With this layer selected choose the Marquee tool and make a rectangular selection over the left side of the photo.

Next got to Edit>Fill, and for the Contents choose Color, then select a bright red.

This will have filled your selection with red, and you can now go to Select>Deselect, to remove the selection.

Next go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and take the Radius up to 130 pixels.

Now click on the blending modes dropdown list and choose Color Dodge, then set the Opacity to around 90%.

This leaves you with a red light leak across the left of your photo.

Next we’ll add some yellow.

Add a new layer above the first light leak layer, then use the Marquee tool to draw a rectangular selection about half way across the first one.

Again, give it a Gaussian Blur set to 130 pixels.

Set the layer’s blending mode to Color Dodge and the Opacity to 90%.

Next we’ll add a different light leak, this time with a streaked effect.

Choose the Oval shape tool and draw a vertical red oval on the right side of the image.

This time got to Filter>Blur>Motion Blur and set the Angle to 90 degrees, and the Distance to the maximum amount.

This will have vertically blurred the shape, but made it loose some visibility.

So duplicate the layer, then right click again and choose merge layers.

Change the layer’s blending mode to Color Dodge, and it’s Opacity to 60%.

Next give it a Gaussian Blur set to 8 pixels.

Finally we’ll add some dust to the photo. You can find some great dust textures here.

Once downloaded, drop the texture into your document above all the other layers, and change the layer’s blending mode to Screen, and it’s Opacity to 90%.

Below are a couple more examples of the effects that can be created using this technique.

Creating Digital Light Leaks

How to Design the Clineo Portfolio Template

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Web Icon Set Giveaway 5 Business Subscriptions for our Loyal Readers

Even if most people consider the motivational articles a waste of time, they actually offer solutions to problems more important than color theory, typography or web usability. The inner problems can stop freelancers from finding the right balance between work and personal life and, at some point in time, can even force them to retire or change careers.

The issue with having bad moods or difficulty getting into a working mood is that it seriously affects your results. It can make you miss deadlines, deliver poor-quality products and even break agreements before being done with them. If you are interested in being efficient, then this article is targeting you. If you don’t know how to be, then pay attention to this advice

Lack of motivation

Most of us have a goal in life. It can be a job you always dreamed of having or something that will bring you lots of money. It’s totally up to you. When you’re still going after the goal, you motivated are most of the time . However, when there is nothing more to achieve (or no more goals to achieve), lack of motivation appears very often and damages your work. Working in the same position for a long time may also be another why you lack motivation.

Let’s face it, few of us would work if we didn’t need it to survive. Sometimes it just gets boring to work, it’s highly unlikely that it you aren’t nodding your head in agreement yet. The good news is that there are many ways ways to cure a lack of motivation.

Image by DonnaGrayson.

Steve Jobs said it himself: “Stay hungry, stay foolish!” By always wanting more, there is always enough motivation. Regardless of where you are right now, always wish for more. This way you will always work in order to achieve that goal you set for yourself. You also need to find a balance between work and personal life. Having too much free time can affect your productivity while spending too much time at work can damage the relationships with your family and friends – and maybe even more importantly, your health.

Lack of clients

If you work freelance, you are most probably delivering the work and finding clients. This can be overwhelming and with no work there is no money. It is something every freelancer is afraid of, especially the ones who are inexperienced.

Some solutions could be saving money for back-up. Lack of clients might be something all of us will encounter sometime and it is very good to have some savings. Not having clients is worse than getting fired from your 9-to-5 job, because if you get fired there, you are probably entitled to some kind of financial aid; there is no such thing while you freelance (it might, however, depend on the country). Therefore always be wise and have some money for the rough periods.

Another good way of solving this problem is maintaining contact with several clients. Having your income come from only one client is dangerous, but working with more at the same time is likely to feed you for some months to come.

As I always say, when you deliver a project make sure to check on the client once or twice afterwards. Make sure you maintain a good relationship with your former clients, otherwise there is no chance you will ever get hired by them again. However, if you convince them you are more than just “the guy who designs websites”, they will even further recommend you to their clients.

Family issues

Let’s face it, none of us are working machines. We provide good results based on external factors (skills) and internal ones (inner behaviour, trust, confidence, motivation etc). Both are important. If we have problems at home, how will we be able to focus on work? Our relatives and friends have a huge influence on us and one of them being sick or going through other difficulties is surely going to damage your motivation and self-belief. Any issue you have at home will affect your work life more or less.

I know it is something very difficult to work with, but making a clear difference between personal life and work will solve these issues in the end. However, this is not something you will achieve very easily. It might as well be the most difficult problem you will encounter during your freelance career. While clients and motivation come and go, family problems usually just come and will only disappear after long periods of time.

Image by auroneurotica photo.

Talking to your family about your work might help. Letting them understand what you do and why you spend so much time on even small projects, but also telling them that their behaviour affects yours and the monthly income will probably solve the problems you have. By trying to show you are the busy boss you will not solve too much – but you will do it by talking. Communication is important in today’s reality.

Fights with bosses

Although not all of us have a boss on paper, all of us have one, even freelancers. If the client is the one paying  you, he is most definitely your boss. You probably won’t last long at an agency if you’re always arguing with your boss. Bosses are usually disregarded by employees, but having a good relationship with them will help you along the way. Web design agencies work usually as a team and having a weak link in your team will decrease the chances of success.

Sometimes it might be just too difficult to agree with your boss. Most of the time in this case it is easier to just try following their advice – even if it is something you do not agree with. In the end, you can always hold them responsible for your poor work if they just push ideas down your throat.

I, however, prefer to use dialogue. I always prefer to communicate before making any major decision. And most of the time there is a reason behind someone being my boss – so I respect that. Remaining frustrated is never going to solve your disputes with your bosses, so try to free yourself and follow his advice. And let’s face it, it’s never nice to have a boss who wants to take revenge on you for something.

Difficult clients

We all encounter, at some point in time, the so-called “client from hell”. People who only know the basics at best and think they know better than us  – this is when we start calling them clients from hell – when they think they know better.

Image by Filippo Venturi.

It is very difficult to work with them because they will do everything to convince you they know better. And while they pay, there is not very much you can do other than try to discuss things with them. Some of them can even get aggressive and instead of just giving some feedback, actually force you to do something. It is very difficult to maintain a good relationship with this kind of client. Although some say communication works, I doubt it. These people are not willing to listen. They just want a product, know how they want it to be and that’s it.

In my opinion not dealing with this type of client at all is the way to go. When you feel one of your potential clients might be a difficult one to work with, just avoid him. It might sound weird – we are all designers and look for work, but we need to avoid these guys. Well yes, it is weird and it shouldn’t be like that, but think that some of them don’t even pay. Some of then will knock your moral down to the ground. After working with two or three of those, you will need a break. It is not worth it. Drop them and move on!

Bonus: lack of inspiration - a whole article about it.

Bottom line

Freelancing is something very challenging and now and then you will encounter these difficulties, but the quicker you get past them, the quicker you will be able to get back to work and earn some money. As said earlier, all these motivational articles are good for you and your work process in general, although in the beginning they might seem like a waste of time. If you find yourself surrounded by all these kinds of problems, it is best to even spend some money and buy books about how to solve them – there are hundreds of them out there and they can’t do any harm.

Until next time… which of these problems do you encounter most? How do you solve them?

How to Overcome the Bad Moments of Your Career Like a Boss

Along the way, we will mainly talk about how to use layer blending mode and adjustment layer to apply texture onto the text.

Get your creative juices flowing by checking out some of the inspirational business cards created by top notch designers.

Here is a preview of the final effect I have for this tutorial: (click to enlarge)

Alternative version with cooler colour:

Step 1

Create a new document with 1200px * 700px with black background. Let’s start by preparing the background – load the paper texture image into Photoshop, select a piece of it as shown below:

Copy and paste the selection onto our canvas (resize to fit if necessary), add the following 2 adjustment layers on top of it:

Black and White

Levels

Use a soft eraser (set opacity and flow to be 40%) to remove some parts of the paper texture, you will have the following effect:

Step 2

We will add some metal texture onto the background – load the metal texture into Photoshop, select a piece as shown below:

Copy and paste the selection onto our canvas, then change the blending mode to “overlay”, you will have the following effect:

Add the following 3 adjustment layer as clipping mask to this metal texture layer:

Black and White

Levels

Curves

and here is the effect so far:

Step 3

We will start making the text effect – load the font and type some texts onto our canvas:

Apply the following layer blending mode to the text layer:

Drop shadow

Bevel and Emboss

Then add a layer mask to the text layer, erase the lower part of the text with a soft brush:

Then paint some shadow under the text with a black soft brush to add some depth:

Step 4

Now we will add the metal texture onto the text – go back to the metal texture and select a piece with the text layer selection:

Copy and paste the selection onto the text, you will have the following effect:

Add the following 2 adjustment layers as clipping mask to this text metal layer:

Black and White

Curves

Then, go back to the text metal texture layer, use a soft eraser to remove some part of the texture, as shown below:

Hint: make sure you set the eraser flow and opacity to be around 20%, and gently erase the texture. This will add variety and depth for the text.

Step 5

We will add some fire texture onto the text. Load the fire image into Photoshop, and use a 30px feather lasso tool to select a piece:

Copy and paste the selection on a layer below the text layer, so it appears behind the text:

Hit Ctrl + L to bring up the levels adjustment tool, apply the following setting:

Change the blending mode of this fire texture layer to “Screen”, you will have the following effect:

Duplicate this fire layer a few times, resize and rotate them, scatter them around the text:

Step 6

We’re almost done! To add some more details, I flatten the image and applied some “Reduce Noise” filter effect as shown below:

Add a new layer and use a soft white brush with around 40% flow and opacity, paint some highlights for the text:

Add a curves adjustment layer on top with the following settings to bring out more contrast:

I then further added some colour and light adjustments and here is the final effect I have: (click to enlarge)

Alternative version with cooler colour:

That’s it for this tutorial! Hope you enjoy it and find it useful! Till next time, have a great day!

Create a &quotReal Steel&quot Film Poster Inspired Text Effect in Photoshop

How to give a Glass effect to text? Here we tried to show you in simple steps.

Lets get started…

STEP-1

Let’s start by creating a new document. Set the dimensions of the canvas to 900×1200 px.

STEP-2 (Creating gradient background)

Double click on the Background layer to access Layer Style and  add Gradient Overlay as I shown

Arrange colors in gradient Editor as shown and click OK

Background will look like this after adding Gradient Overlay

STEP-3 (Adding cloudy texture)

Create a new layer and set the background color BLACK and foreground color WHITE in the bottom of tool palate, then go to Filter > Render > Clouds. Change the blend mode to Overlay and reduce opacity to 50%.

STEP-4 (Creating glassy effect)

Create a new layer and Type your text with Horizontal Type Tool (T). I have chosen font Cooper Std. Size 225 pt.

Double click on the text layer to access Layer Style and  make changes as shown

Then add inner shadow as shown below

Next add Outer Glow

Next add Bevel and Emboss

Next add Gradient Overlay

Then add Stroke

After adding all above styles the effect will look like this.

STEP-5 (Arranging text)

Duplicate the text layer and place it in such a way one overlays the other to witness the glassy effect

Now add your own text, I go with “GLASS”

STEP-6 (Create shadow)

Create a new layer, draw oval shape and go to Select > Modify > Feather (Alt +Ctrl + D) give feather radius 10 pix then fill it with BLACK color and keep this layer below the text layers.

STEP-7 (Creating mirror effect)

Duplicate all the text layers and merge them. Then with transform selection (Ctrl +T) flip vertically and place it below the original text as I shown.

Erase slightly at the bottom part using Eraser Tool (E) and reduce the opacity of the layer to 50%

STEP-8 (Adding special effect)

In a new layer using default brush Crosshatch4 with 50 px. Create star glow effect on text with white color as I shown.

here is how our final effect looks.

Final Image:

Make an Awesome Glassy Text Effect in 30 Minutes

Okay, so who are the winners?

The Lucky Winners:

1. Igor Nikitenko
2. Gorkii Baksim (baksimgorkii)
3. Vincent (commenter #55)
4. Chucky (commenter #59)
5. Kamil Burek (Mestiso)

Congratulations everyone! We will be contacting you shortly on how you can claim your prize. In the meantime, don’t forget to tell your friends about TN3Gallery.

Winners have been randomly selected.

The Prize:

Winners will get a single domain license containing all of the image gallery’s features.

Horizontal Thumbnail Carousel

Vertical Thumbnail Carousel

Want it too?

There is a free version that you can try, and upgrade to Pro license if you want to explore more.

What are the features of the Free version?

• Search engine ready
• Image preloading
• Supports mobile browsers
• Transition effects
• Fullscreen option
• Cross-browser support
• Optional captions
• CSS skinning on default skin
• Works with Cufon and @font-face
• Document-wide linking
• Horizontal thumbnail carousel
• Slideshow
• Powerful API

What is in Pro license that isn’t on the Free version?

• Fullscreen keyboard navigation
• Option for additional skins
• Multiple albums
• Vertical thumbnail carousel
• XML support
• Multiple galleries on same page
• Flickr support
• Picasa support
• Mouse wheel navigation
• Permalinks for images
• Dynamic image sizing
• Unbranded
• Support and Updates for 1 year

If you’re an affiliate marketer looking for other products to promote, then TN3Gallery is for you. TN3Gallery offers 50% commission for their affiliates for every sale.

Congratulations!

TN3Gallery Giveaway Winners Announcement

Tags

• daily inspiration

This post is part of our daily series of posts showing the most inspiring images selected by some of the Abduzeedo’s writers and users. If you want to participate and share your graphic design inspiration, just send us, via email, the image with the link from where you found it, also use “Daily Inspiration” in the subject, and don’t forget to send your Abduzeedo username; or via Twitter sending to http://twitter.com/abduzeedo.

If possible use the HTML code: <p class="imgC"><a href="Link to the page you found the image"><img src="Link to the Image" /></a></p>

Do you want to see all images from all Daily Inspirations? Check out http://daily.abduzeedo.com

You can also submit your images and inspiration to RAWZ via http://raw.abduzeedo.com/

Alen Lipuš

Ariel Vicioso

Arjun

Artem Mukhin

berkaydaglar

blackdreamer

Bogdan Sandu

Casper Biemans

Cédric Léonard

cuded

designaemporter

Gabor Kerekes

Giovanni Giaquinta

gustando

humza

jenpique

jesuislelit

Joachim Beyrowski

krzysiek

ktcify

Let me be inspired

Luis Arenas Ortiz

Magyar Peter “MEDOKS”

marcopuccini

max

Mushcube

nenuno

Pascal Meyer

paydencobern

Petr Mika

rebins

sawasdeekarn

sea-graph-x

solemone

thaeger

thefreedomclub

Tobia

UCHEUGO

Visuall

weiting06

Daily Inspiration #1061

Note - My initial way will be more or less generic and will depend on how much you practice the same. You will have to scan your typeface multiple times and experiment with the steps that I will list. The second way will help you understand a hidden Windows tool that can be used to create characters that can be used over and over using your Character Map.

Create Your Own Font Using Paid Software

This method is going to be a bit boring and might just force you to give up on it while half way through. But, I will suggest you stick around as the end results will be amazing. I don’t promise that after your first try itself you will be the Fontographer that you want to be, but sooner or later you will be swimming in the river of your own fonts. Who knows someday 1WD might just list your font in its showcase. #Dreaming!

So, lets start with the usual steps that will teach you how to create your own font. But, remember that you will have to inspire yourself to create your own thing.

• Start Consuming Information - You might have been a designer all your life or may be a writer by birth, but creating your own font is a different theory altogether. Issues like spacing, bends in letters, curves, angles etc. become so important that overlooking any one of them might just kills the whole experience. I won’t be jotting down all those concerns as understanding the science behind fonts is a different story and one can write multiple articles on that itself. Let me jot down some articles and books that will help you gain insight into the mechanics of fonts:

1. A Short Course On How To Improve Your Site’s Typography on 1WD.
2. Fonts and Encodings by Yannis Haralambous.
3. The Complete Manual of Typography by Jim Felici.
4. Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton.

• Learn To Sketch - This is very important. I have this cousin of mine who loves logo designing. I saw that he was designing logos directly in Photoshop. I helped him understand the importance of sketching before moving on to Photoshop. Today, he thanks me for the push that I gave him. It is important for designers to understand how sketching on paper is a lot different from what they do directly on computer. You will never be able to get the real feel of curves and angles unless you have a pencil in your hand. Later on, the pencil sketch will act as the much wanted skeleton that will be the backbone of your digital font. Keep it clean and see the magic. Remember that sketching on paper will give you the liberty to understand the quality of lines and their exact geometry. Spacing will be taken care of by your software later on once you go digital.

• Scan Your Sketch and Convert to Vector Art - This is it. Time to go digital! Once you are done with your sketch and you are sure that the end result is exactly what you want your font to look like then it is time to scan your sketch and clean it up a bit. Use Photoshop (or any other image editing tool for that matter) and clean up your sketch. Let go the smudges and stray lines. Covert the sketch to vector art before you proceed.
• Time to Pick Your Font Software - This is the point where most of the readers might just give up. The reason being that most of the good font software out there will cost you some cash. Buy one and start learning them. One of the best in the business in Fontographer. I will suggest that you go ahead with Fontographer as it has a lot of resources on the web that will help you understand the software and create your very first font. Stick with the adrenaline rush and don’t stop until you have your own typeface!

[image via Soft Pedia]

• Lastly, let us know once you have your own font up and ready for use.

Create Characters Using Secret (and Free) Windows Software

Private Character Editor! Heard of it before? Well, PCE is Windows-based software which is already installed on your machine. You just don’t know it yet. Those looking to create their own fonts or characters real quick can use this tool and start rolling in no time.

PCE can help you create around 6400 characters which can be used on your documents using “Character Map”. Now, let us quickly understand how PCE works:

• Click on Start button and then click Run (or Windows key + R). Now in the dialog box type C:\WINDOWS\system32\eudcedit.exe (considering that your Windows is installed in C: drive) and hit enter.

• You will be greeted with PCE’s “Select Code Window”. Basically, this window will be your map using which you will use to map the characters that you create in the Windows character library. You can use any of the boxes that are blank. Choose any one of these and click Ok.

• A grid measuring 50×50 pixels will open. You can use the tools on the left to create your own character. Take your time and edit your character as much as you want. The drawing area is overly simply for anyone to understand what is happening. Though, you will have to be a calligraphy expert to come up with a really attractive design. As you can observe in the image below, I ain’t one!

• You can even copy and paste the bitmap selection between PCE and paint.
• Also, you can use an existing character as a base for your new design. Copy the existing character to the grid by using Edit > Copy Character. Change it with the available tools and have fun.
• Once you are done with your design then either you can map your character to all the fonts in Windows or to selected ones as per your choice. Go to File > Font links .. to understand what I mean.

• Lastly, save your character before closing from Edit > Save Character As.

• Now, it is time to use your character. Again, open the Run dialog box and type charmap.exe and hit enter.

• From the Font drop down menu opt for All Fonts (Private Characters) and voila!

• Select your character and click the Copy button. You can paste your selection anywhere including the notepad.

Conclusion

As you can see, creating your own font isn’t an easy task but there are options available. Creating your font will require a lot of concentration and commitment. Remember that you won’t be able to create your font if you give up on yourself. Also, for those who don’t want to go through the process of scanning or for those who don’t own a scanner, PCE is always there for help!

Create Your Own Font and Kill Comic Sans

Well, a website is nothing more than a creatively designed collection of different sections put together to create something aesthetically pleasing. A wardrobe is a collection of different articles of clothing that you put together as fantastic outfits. In short, both are a combination of different items that make a visually pleasing whole. If you’re still a little unsure about this comparison, don’t worry. By the end of this article, everything will make much more sense.

Breaking Things Down First

*Image Credit: hellojenuine

The best, and most practical, thing to always do is to break things down first. So we are first going to relate the basic structure of a website (header, body sections, sidebars, footers, and misc.) to the typical items of clothing one wears everyday. Let’s get started, shall we.

The Header

In any website, there is something about the way the header is designed that decides how well the website as a whole will turn out. If its looks messy, unorganized, wild, and like little thought was put in, the conversion rate for a website with a header like this won’t change at all. It should be pretty obvious where this is heading. In a UX perspective, the header of a website relates directly to ones headwear (which in this discussion can include hair styles).

Everyone has had a bad hair day. Maybe you’re balding or you got a bad haircut and you need to hide it for a while. Well the silver lining to that is the invention of the hat. The proper headgear can make it all better in the blink of an eye.

The Body Sections

Now the body sections of a website are the largest part. This is the area where all the content in a website goes, which is pretty much the whole reason anyone visits a website, at least in an ideal world. Moving on, the body sections connect everything together and the rest of the website is built upon. So with that in mind, the body sections of a website relate to the torso and leg areas. This is like the website version of t-shirts, blouses, tank tops, jeans, skirts, or whatever else is suitable attire for your style and gender.

The Sidebar

The sidebar(s) is the area that sees the most influence from other parts of a website. This is because the size and importance of a sidebar is derived from how the rest of the website is designed. Since the sidebar is the main dependent aspect, and is not always a necessary section but always adds a little something whenever in use, it correlates directly to outerwear(coats, jackets, etc.).

The Footer

There have been studies that show the type of footwear a person wears says a lot about them. The footer and footwear have a stronger relationship than just their names, positioning, and functions. Like the shoes on one’s feet, a footer needs to strong, durable, and stylish all in one. That is a lot of pressure for something at the bottom of a website, but considering that in most cases a footer can make or break a design, it’s quite understandable.

The Miscellaneous (Popups, Overlays, etc.)

The miscellaneous areas of a site are best described as the areas that aren’t really necessary and can hinder the experience of a website if not properly incorporated. However if done correctly, they add to the overall experience of the site. The idea is to keep these unnecessary areas to a minimum and only use them when needed. For this reason, the miscellaneous sections of a website are like jewelry.

In Summary

Since all the sections have been broken down, labeled, and classified, let’s just do a quick review to make sure that everything is understood. The header is the headwear (which for this case includes hair), the body sections are the torso and leg areas (shirts, blouses, sweaters, jeans, skirts, etc.), the sidebar(s)  your outerwear and the footer is the footwear area, and the misc. area is the jewelry.

Deciding Factors

*Image Credit: cmozz

The basic wardrobe structure has been broken down, and the understanding of this relation is pretty much set. There is only one thing missing. What about the deciding factors that determine the wardrobe combination of said broken down sections?

Region

By definition, a region is defined as being an area or division having definable characteristics, but not always fixed boundaries. With this definition in mind, it is safe to say that different industries and/or markets are distinctive clientele regions. Correct? Well for that very reason, the industry (government, education, healthcare, business, etc.) the website one is hired to aid in building will be defined as the region.

Climate

After figuring out the region, there is another important step to take. This of course being finding out the weather of said location. Once the region is identified, finding this out is a breeze. For the most part, every area within a specific region has a general climate characteristic that relates with other areas at all times. Of course there will be slight timely variations for each area, but for the most part what is to be expected can easily be generalized. Isn’t safe to assume that most companies and/or organizations within the same industry will have the same type of content, but with personal variations? For this reason, the content/copy a site showcases is considered the climate.

Applying

*Image Credit: Fuschia Foot

Okay now the relation is understood, the deciding factors are determined, all that is left is to put this new information into practice. To help guide you along applying your new knowledge, take some time to look at this easy to follow example.

Example: The Photographer

So a new client, a freelance wedding photographer, approaches you to design their new portfolio site. From this profession description the deciding factors are quite easy to find. The region in this example is of course weddings, and the climate is wedding photos. Next you need to decide how the design of the website will be handled, or dressed.

Since content wise this site will be nice and breezy, any heavy wardrobe needs shouldn’t be brought here. Below, a sample breakdown is provided:

• Header: Since the weather is pretty fair, going heavy anywhere on the site is not a priority. All that is required here is a definitive style featuring of course the information we have come to know for a header. This being simply the name/company logo and the navigation menu.
• Body Sections: It may be good weather, but this area can’t just be blank. This section is reserved for your content of course, things like information about the photographer and photos of their work.
• Sidebar(s): In this weather situation, adding any extra clothing would just make the wearer uncomfortable if it’s too heavy. So this section is not needed, but can be applied if kept very light.
• Footer: With everything here going down the minimal path, it only makes sense to continue that here. A strong footer here can include something as simple as a line of bottom links, copyright info, and some social links.
• Misc.: Although the rest of the clothing currently being worn is leaning toward minimal, a little something extra will really make everything stand out. In this case, things like lightbox overlays in the area showcasing the client’s photos, implementing jQuery to tag the photos by year, part of wedding, and/or angle so that once clicked on only that section shows up, or other things of this nature.

Have any more thoughts? Can the wardrobe strategy you have help?

Why UX Design is like Your Clothes

5 Simple Steps to Fight Spam

Tags

• daily inspiration

This post is part of our daily series of posts showing the most inspiring images selected by some of the Abduzeedo’s writers and users. If you want to participate and share your graphic design inspiration, just send us, via email, the image with the link from where you found it, also use “Daily Inspiration” in the subject, and don’t forget to send your Abduzeedo username; or via Twitter sending to http://twitter.com/abduzeedo.

If possible use the HTML code: <p class="imgC"><a href="Link to the page you found the image"><img src="Link to the Image" /></a></p>

Do you want to see all images from all Daily Inspirations? Check out http://daily.abduzeedo.com

You can also submit your images and inspiration to RAWZ via http://raw.abduzeedo.com/

8beats

adamchoobi

adekunleGOLD

aesonb

al b sure

António Peixoto

Artists Inspire Artists

Best Bookmarks

Bogdan Sandu

Casper Biemans

Cleber Carvalho

Cosmin Sandu

cuded

disenyolebogarte

Email Inspiration

ewelinarosinska

fksd

Giani

Glipty

gnarledbranch

hptoy

inspirationfeed

j-irai-pisser-chez-vous

Jimmy Vega

John Ical

Jonathan Hasson

Jo On

Let me be inspired

LuizcomZ

Lucas Bonifacio

Markus K.

max

mibstudio

Mihis Design

nenuno

Omnia Ali Amer

onat öktem

pk

Puglisi Gabriel

raid71

royal-nightmare

Sara Baccin

Sascha Hahne

sea-graph-x

SpEEdyRoBy

thaeger

thecompanionbook

Tobia

Vinko Jovanovac

Daily Inspiration #1060

Tags

• daily inspiration

This post is part of our daily series of posts showing the most inspiring images selected by some of the Abduzeedo’s writers and users. If you want to participate and share your graphic design inspiration, just send us, via email, the image with the link from where you found it, also use “Daily Inspiration” in the subject, and don’t forget to send your Abduzeedo username; or via Twitter sending to http://twitter.com/abduzeedo.

If possible use the HTML code: <p class="imgC"><a href="Link to the page you found the image"><img src="Link to the Image" /></a></p>

Do you want to see all images from all Daily Inspirations? Check out http://daily.abduzeedo.com

You can also submit your images and inspiration to RAWZ via http://raw.abduzeedo.com/

Aaron Randall

Abhilash

adamchoobi

al b sure

anideaeveryday

anonimus4me

Artists Inspire Artists

bananabun

Best Bookmarks

bryan pickens

chrisblissdesign

cuded

doubbled

Edward McGowan

element media

esotericmindzet

ESTEBAN BERMUDEZ

Franz Ferdinand Kubin

gian piero

hagbarth

heartbreaks

Heitor Kimura

hptoy

inspirationfeed

j-irai-pisser-chez-vous

Jason Jeffery

Jonathan Baranowski

Josh Archer

Jo On

Let me be inspired

majofo

marvelgd

matthias-ragossnig

Mihis Design

Nacho Umbral

nenuno

nostalgiavenue

onat öktem

photomusiclife

pk

positivepill

Rafael

Rafael Fonteles

Robin Lakowitz

Sebastian Haus

St.Nikke

thaeger

theextasis

Trevor Williams

Visuall

WhatAnART

zayar lynn

Daily Inspiration #1059

It’s time to get real, and come to terms with the fact that social media networks are not just for teenagers anymore. Even setting up something as simple as a customized Facebook fan page can enhance your brand online. Studies show that socializing is important for maintaining a happy and a healthy lifestyle. So it kinda makes sense that the same holds true for businesses, no?

Read on for some cold hard facts about why social networking is a must for you and your company.

Shared by our friends from Wix!

Via: Wix.com

Why Your Business Must Go Social [Infographic]

Mac OS X Mountain Lion&#8217s Galaxy Desktop Wallpaper

Cloud Hosting How Does it Really Work?

This is useful if you want to notify users about updates or changes. This also means that you don’t have to force someone to register simply to get the download. OSDownloads is designed to work with MailChimp.com.

Here’s how to install and configure OSDownloads:

Step 1. Download

You can download the component by clicking here.

Step 2. Install

Go to Extensions > Extension Manager. Browse for the file you downloaded then click Upload & Install.

Step 3. Access the component

Go to Components > OSDownloads to access the controls for the component.

Step 4. Add categories for your downloads

You can arrive at this page by going to Components > OSDownloads > Categories Or if you are already in the control panel for OSDownloads click the Categories tab.

Click New to start adding Categories.

You will find the entry form to be exactly like the one used for content categories. Give your category a title and fill in the rest of the information required.

The categories you enter here will not be a part of the content categories, they only apply to your downloads.

Save each category you create.

Step 5. Add the files to your download archive

Click the Files tab, then the New button to start adding files.

Name – the name of your download

Alias – will be automatically created from the title unless you fill in a custom alias.

Upload the File – Browse your local computer to find the file and add it here.

Category – The categories you entered will be in this drop down box. Choose the correct one.

Description 1 – Appears in the short description in a list of downloads and above the email field on the page (sample below)

Description 2 – Appears below the email field on the page (sample below)

Require email – Check to require an email address before you allow the download

Require agreement – If you require a software agreement check this box and you will see required box on the page.

Download text – The text that appears on the download button

Download color – the color of the download button

Documentation link – Link to help documentation. You can use an internal link or if it’s an external page use http:// when you create it.

Demo link – link to a working demo if applicable. Can be internal or external link.

Support link – link to help desk or forum

Published – Yes or No

Sample: The download list

If you make link to the list type menu, Description 1 shows up as the introduction. Description 2 and all the rest of your information will be available from the Read more link.

Sample: the download page

Here is what the page will look like on your site. If you leave Documentation, Demo and Support Links blank, you will not have the buttons at the top that you see here. This shows you what is included in a full display when you check all the boxes and fill in all the link fields.

Step 6. Create a link to the download page by creating a menu item.

Go to Menus > Main Menu > Add New Menu Item

You don’t need to put it on the main menu. You could create a menu just for downloads or place it on any other menu you’ve created. The process will be the same.

Click Select to choose a Menu Item Type

You now have a new menu item type under OS Downloads. You can create a link to a list of all downloads or to a single download file.

Download list will be menu link to a page to every download available in a single category.

Download file will be a menu link to a single downloadable item.

For this tutorial we’re going to choose a single file. The process is the same for a list view of the downloads. You might want to create a menu item for All Downloads and then have the individual files as sub menu items. The process is identical to creating categories and articles, except in this case, the articles are a unique type for downloads.

You’ll be returned to the menu manager, at the right you will see the download options. Choose the correct file from the drop down menu. (Or correct category if you are creating a download list) Finish filling in any other fields you want and save your work.

At this point you will have added a menu item to your menu, that is linked to the page for downloading the file.

Step 7. Check to see who downloaded

Go to Components > OSDownload > Email from the main menu and you will see the list of emails from visitors that have downloaded your files under the Emails tab.

Step 8. Add these to your email list in MailChimp

Return to the Files tab and click on the Options button.

Choose the MailChimp tag and select Yes for Connect to mailchimp.

Enter the MailChimp information required

Click Save or Save and Close at the upper right hand corner of the screen.

Step 9. Adjust the labels and language

You can change the labels on the the buttons, the link to the terms, and other language specific to this component by going to the Languages tab when you are in the dashboard for OS Downloads.

Step 10. Create a Thank You page

Click the options button at the top of the File or Category tab.

OSDownloads – Joomla Downloads Plus MailChimp

Alternatively, picture this (comparatively better) scenario: you are a web designer (if you are reading this blog, chances are that you indeed are a web designer). You need a hosted, no-frills solution that lets you create websites for your clients (who may or may not be tech savvy), and resell them.

What is PageLime

If either of the above mentioned cases hold true, allow me to introduce you to PageLime, a web-based Content Management System.

PageLime

PageLime is a hosted CMS service that lets you quickly set up and publish websites. Depending on the plan you opt for, you can add features to your site such as custom domain mapping, unlimited users/administrators, etc. You can also use it to re-brand the websites that you create and resell them to your clients. Sound good so far? Let’s dive in to check out its features!

Plans, Pricing, and Features

PageLime currently offers four plans, namely:

• Free: As the name suggests, this plan is free to use. You can create up to three websites and have an unlimited number of users (but only one of them can have administrative privileges). However, you cannot map your own domain or use the websites for reselling. Plus, you will have to tolerate the PageLime logo on your site.
• Professional: This plan lets you create 50 websites and have unlimited users (again, just one administrator). Additionally, you can use your own logo and colors, as well as map your own domain. And just in case you need it, reseller tools are also allowed in this plan. The Professional plan costs $19 per month.
• Business: The Business plan gives you everything under the Professional Plan, with the added bonus of unlimited websites (and unlimited administrators). It costs $69 per month.
• Enterprise: This plan targets large enterprises and service providers. The USP of the Enterprise Plan is that you can host it on your own server.

Also, you can try the Professional and Business plans free for 14 days before making up your mind.

Modus Operandi

We shall now take a look at the manner in which we can perform basic tasks in PageLime, and how it fares as compared to traditional CMSs. Please note that here, ‘traditional CMSs’ refers to what we’ve been using, such as WordPress, Drupal and Joomla!

Since we are evaluating PageLime as a potential alternative for traditional CMSs, for the sake of simplicity, each category of operation will be looked at individually.

Running Multiple Websites

As mentioned above, PageLime lets you create multiple websites (ranging from 3 to infinite, depending on your plan). Each website has its own admin panel, domain/sub-domain, and user accounts. You can login to your master account, and then select the website that you wish to modify/manage.

Running Multiple Websites

Speaking of traditional CMSs, support for multiple websites within the same installation, though possible, is cumbersome to say the least. Movable Type lets you create user blogs and websites within one installation, and so does LifeType. WordPress, on the other hand, tries to make the task comparatively easier, but it too caters to “a large network of blogs“. All in all, PageLime comes with excellent support for multiple websites.

Editing the Website(s)

PageLime offers an easy interface for editing websites – pretty much on par with other CMSs – bit more ‘beautiful’, but nothing out of the ordinary. Once you add the Pagelime editable CSS class to the code, you can edit pages, links and other components of your website. However, since PageLime caters more to websites, rather than blogs/journals, it offers features such as Live Preview that lets you view the changes that you make to your website on the fly. Furthermore, another unique feature includes Content Versioning – your previous drafts are saved, and if you ever mess anything up, simply head to Restore!

Editing Your Websites in PageLime

Among traditional CMSs, many offer the Versioning and Restore feature, and Concrete5 has been supporting Live Preview for quite some time.

Data/Media Management

PageLime comes with a built-in Image Editor (no, do not expect Photoshop). You can zoom, crop, sharpen and resize images. Beyond that, you can modify colors or use some predefined effects. All in all, you can happily upload images and modify or tweak them for the web within the CMS.

Managing Images

Hardly any other traditional CMSs offer this feature – though some offer file management options, but image editing is something you’re expected to do BEFORE uploading. CMSs especially built for image galleries, such as Piwigo, however, do provide you with such editing abilities.

‘Smart’ CMS

You can save pages as templates in PageLime for future editing, and it also comes packed with a Code Editor. Further more, it offers several pre-defined ‘templates’ that make your task easier.

Saving Pages as Templates

This is perhaps an area where traditional CMSs do a better job, with no strings attached. While PageLime delivers what one would expect of it – you will definitely miss the freedom of WP Themes and Drupal Modules.

SEO, White Labels and Other Goodies

PageLime offers SEO options out of the box – you can edit metadata and other related info easily. Plus, the Business and Professional plans offer detailed statistics for each website that you create.

Detailed Stats

On the other hand, many CMSs such as Joomla and even Concrete5 offer sitemaps and SEO natively. At the most basic level, WordPress does the same by the use of plugins.

Reseller Tools

Quite unarguably, PageLime’s USP lies in its Reseller Tools. While the Free plan isn’t much, all other plans come with awesome reseller abilities. Apart from hosting multiple websites (each with its own admin panel and domain), you are provided with the option to re-brand and resell the websites (instead of PageLime’s, it shows your logo in the admin panel). Further more, your Reseller Panel shows you client payments, subscriptions and other sale-purchase transactions. And if that isn’t good enough, PageLime can automate recurring payments and invoices to make your life easier.

Reseller Tools

Obviously, such re-branding and reseller tools are not offered in any traditional CMS natively. WordPress and, to some extent, Drupal have plugins/extensions that can help you take care of the same, but the CMSs in particular do not come with reseller features.

The Verdict

So, the bottom line. Who should use PageLime?

Well, if you are a designer or a developer, you should consider using it for the ease of use and the reseller tools that let you offer it to your clients.

Also, if you do not possess the geeky expertise of web administration, Pagelime might just fit the bill for you. However, in this case, you should also bear in mind that in order to get the most out of it in terms of customization, you’ll probably need a rudimentary knowledge of HTML/CSS.

On the downside, the product seems a bit over priced if you do not wish to resell and make money using it. If, for instance, all you need is a simple no-frills website and are considering PageLime in order to avoid the other complex CMSs, even the cheapest plan will cost you $19 monthly (we are not considering the Free option as it does not have custom domain mapping, and a yourname.pagelime.com sub-domain is not something you might want for a website).

At the end of the day, PageLime is described as a “simple CMS for your clients”. In other words, it is full aware of the fact that its forte lies in the Reseller Tools.

Thus, PageLime should be in your arsenal if you are managing multiple websites or need an easy to use solution for your clients’ needs. For all other reasons, you’ll be better off using tradition Content Management Softwares.

If you have used or are using PageLime, feel free to share your views in the comments!

PageLime A CMS Specifically Made for Web Designers

Start by creating a new ActionScript 3.0 document in Flash. You can find the UI components in the components window. Press ctrl+F7 to open the components window and drag some radio buttons and checkboxes to stage.

I have dragged 3 of each to stage.

At this point these are pretty generic components but you can see that they are visually perfect, the only visual details that need to be changed are the text. If you press ctrl+ENTER to test the movie at this time you can click on these and see that they really work.

Now lets change some of the settings of these components. Select any of the components and head over to the "Component Parameters" section in the properties window. You can see some properties listed here. The properties are pretty much self-explanatory but I will explain them just in case. Lets go to the radio button’s property first.

The first thing here is the "enabled" checkbox. This would enable or disable the radio button to be selected. Group name sets the group that the radio button belongs to. A user can select one option from one set of radio buttons. The selected option specifies whether the button is initially selected or not. The value field sets a value that the radio button contains. So if a user selects this radio button then we can retrieve its value with ActionScript. At last the visible property selects whether the button is visible to the user or not. This property has some pretty limited applications.

If you head over to the checkbox component parameters you can see that all the properties are same except the label placement. This property selects the placement of label relative to the checkbox. Also note that there is not group name here. That is because there are no groups in checkboxes and each checkbox is independent.

I have labeled all the checkboxes and radio buttons with some names of foods. Now we examine the code that we need to process these components. For the code to work with these components, they need to have some variable names. I have given these the names of radio1_mc,radio2_mc,radio3_mc,check1_mc,check2_mc & check3_mc. I have also created a button that would be used to submit these values and I have named it submit_btn.

Now create a new layer for actionscript and insert the following code in it.

submit_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,processButtons);

function processButtons(e:MouseEvent){

if(radio1_mc.selected){

trace("Radio button 1 is selected");

}

if(radio2_mc.selected){

trace("Radio button 2 is selected");

}

if(radio3_mc.selected){

trace("Radio button 3 is selected");

}

if(check1_mc.selected){

trace("Checkbox 1 is selected");

}

if(check2_mc.selected){

trace("Checkbox 2 is selected");

}

if(check3_mc.selected){

trace("Checkbox 3 is selected");

}

}

The code is pretty simple but let me explain it to you. First I add and event listener that handles the clicks on the submit button. In the event handler I check the "selected" property of  all the radio buttons and checkboxes. If that is true then it means the radio button or checkbox  is selected and so I trace on to the output that the radio button/checkbox is selected.

I hope you have learned how to use these UI components. Use these components to make your applications user friendly and save precious development time.

How to Use Checkboxes and Radio Buttons in Flash

Create a Flashing Text Effect in Photoshop – Final Preview

Final Preview

Lets start to create our flashing text effect in photoshop.

Step 1

Create a new document (Ctrl+N) with 800×500 of size.

Create New Document

Step 2

Set background color #101010, select Text Tool from tool panel type some text with 200px of size applying white color #ffffff. Here I am using Unrealised Font you can select your own choice of font.

Type Some Text

Now I am going to applying some Blending Options on this text layer.

Go to Layer > Layer Styles and applying these Blending Options.

Bevel and Emboss

Bevel and Emboss

Gradient Overlay

Gradient Overlay

After applying these blending options we get nice effect on text layer.

Get a Nice Effect

Step 3

Hold Ctrl key then click thumbnail of text layer to make a selection.

Make a Selection

Go to Select > Modified > Contract, and set contract by (5px), after set contract selection decrease 5px around the text as like in preview.

Set Contract

When we set contract selection decreases 5px round the text layer.

Get Result

Step 4

Create a new layer (Shift+Ctrl+N) name it Noise, fill selected area with white color #ffffff.

Create New Layer

Now I am going to applying noise of this layer.

Go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise.

Add Noise

After add noise we get cool effect on noise layer.

Get Cool Effect

Press (Ctrl+F) three times to make noise effect more effective.

Get Noise Effect

Step 5

In this step applying Dust & Scratches Filter on noise layer, don’t deselect the selection now, keep working on it.

Go to Filter > Noise > Dust & Scratches.

Dust & Scratches Filter

After applying dust & scratches we get beautiful result.

Get Beautiful Result

Step 6

Now applying Emboss Filter on this noise layer.

Go to Filter > Sterilize > Emboss.

Emboss Filter

When we set emboss filter we get nice effect on noise layer.

Get Nice Effect

Step 7

In this step we are going to set the Brightness & Contrast of this noise layer.

Go to Image > Adjustment > Brightness & contrast.

Brightness & Contrast

After set brightness we get this new result, Now press (Ctrl+D) to deselect selection.

Get New Result

Set Fill (70%) of this noise layer.

Set Fill of Noise Layer

Step 8

Now go to the Blending Options and applying some Layer Styles on this noise layer.

Go to Layer > Layer Styles and applying these Layer Styles.

Inner Shadow

Inner Shadow

Bevel and Emboss

Bevel and Emboss

After applying these layer styles we get beautiful effect on noise layer.

Get Beautiful Effect

Step 9

Now create a new layer go to Layer > New > Layer or press (Shift+Ctrl+N) to create new layer, select Star Brush (60px) of size paint with white color #ffffff.

Paint With Star Brush

Same as select star brush and paint other several areas with white color #ffffff as like in preview.

Paint With Star Brush More Several Areas

Now I am going to applying Gaussian Blur Filter on star brush layer.

Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur.

Gaussian Blur Filter

After applying gaussian blur we get new effect on star brush layer.

Get New Effect

Step 10

Select original text layer go to the Blending Options and change the Gradient Overlay setting of original text layer.

Go to Layer > Layer Styles > Gradient Overlay.

Gradient Overlay

After applying this gradient overlay we get beautiful resut.

Get Nice Result

After complete all the procedure we get our flashing text effect in final preview.

Final Preview

Final Preview

Design a Flashing Text Effect in Photoshop CS5

Step 1 Levels

a)    Duplicate the background layer and change the name

b)   Create a new adjustment layer (the small Black and White circle) and select levels.

c)    Select the White eyedropper and click in a medium tone in the face, for example the cheek.

d)   Now select the Black eyedropper and click to sample in dark tone, for example the eyelashes

Step 2 Blending mode

a)    Duplicate the highlight layer and move it above all layers and effects

b)   Select image>adjustments>curves

c)    Select the red channel and modify the curve for making more reddish the image

d)   Set the blending mode to softLight.

And that’s it, a very simple technique for creating highlight portraits.

Create a Cool Highlight Portrait Using Levels

Step 1 – New Document

Ok lets get started! First of all we need to create a new Photoshop document, so "File > New" from the menu bar, and I’m going to be using a canvas of 640 pixels wide by 300 pixels high. You can choose a different height but it’s probably easier to work out small first to youcan get the detail right.

Step 1 – Making the selection

Ok, so now we have a new canvas set up, we are going to make the basic shape of our cloud. First of all we need to create a new layer, so from the top menu click " Layer > New > Layer" and I am going to rename this layer " Clouds ".

Next we are going to select the "Lasso Tool" from the toolbar,which looks like this :

When you select the Lasso tool, you will notice that at the top of the screen, your options have changed specifically for this tool. We need to have a feathered selection instead of a hard one, I’m going to increase the Feather to 60px. This allows the clouds to spread out more without having such a hard edge.

Now we are going to simply create a cloud shaped selection using the Lasso tool on our canvas. Here is the shape I made :

Step 3 – Making the clouds

As you have created your new layer, and you have an active selection on the screen, hit "D" on your keyboard to reset the color palette to a black foreground color and a white background. This will ensure that we won’t have strange colored clouds, unless you want to of course! The from the menu, go to "Filter > Render > Clouds", and you should end up with something like this :

Now we want to duplicate this layer, so from the menu, " Layer > Duplicate Layer" and rename this layer " Clouds Overlay". We want to change the blending mode to " Hard Light ", so if you navigate to the layers panel and click on the duplicated Clouds layer, there will be an option at the top of the panel selected on Normal. Click this and changeto " Hard Light". You should end up with something like this :

Step 4 – Adding the gradient

As you can see, our cloud is looking at bit weird with the surrounding white. So we are going to quickly add a blue gradient to the background layer, so you need to click " Background " on the layers panel, then from the tools bar, then click the gradient button ( Labeled 1 below ). Ensure you have a decent foreground and background color palette ( Label 2 ) – I’ve used two blues for a sky type background. Then, click and drag your cursor to make a straight gradient, ( Labeled 3).

And you should end up with something similar to this :

Step 5 – Creating the rain

Ok this is really simple, all we are going to do is make a new brush. So we are going to make a new document ( File > New ) but don’t close the clouds file we have been working on. I suggest using the same size you did before for the clouds file.

We are going to select a soft round small brush from the brushes menu ( to get to the brushes palette, click the brush tool or hit "B" on the keyboard and from the tool menu click the arrow next to the selected brush, this is illustrated below ).

Let’s reset out color palette to black and white, so hit " D" on your keyboard. And all we want to do now is create a new layer and click once in the center of our canvas to create a little black dot. ( Labeled 1 below ). Then we want to duplicate this layer ( Layer > Duplicate Layer ).

We now have two layers containing the dot, select the lower layer from the layers panel, then from the top menu click ‘ Filter > Blur > Motion Blur ‘ change the angle to 90 degrees and the distance will define how long your raindrop will be ( I’ve chosen 19 for this example -refer to label 2 below ).

We now want to select the Move Tool, ( The highest icon on the toolbar, or tap ‘V’ on your keyboard ), and just move our blurred rain above the rain dot, labeled in step 3.

Step 6 – Creating a dynamic brush for the rain

Now we have our single drop of rain, select it using the ‘Rectangular Marquee Tool" Hit ‘M’ on your keyboard, and just click down on the canvas and drag to select an area around your drop. We now need to make this into a brush, so click from the menu bar " Edit > Define Brush Preset" A diag box will pop up, just hit ok.

Now select this newly created brush from the brushes palette ( Check back to step 5 if you can’t remember how ), and your new brush will be the last brush on the list.

When you have selected your brush, you need to open the brushes panel, so from the top menu, " Window > Brushes ". When this is opened, I am going to change the parameters for the rain brush, i’m going to click " Scattering " option, and change the scattering to 1000%.

Step 7 – Adding the rain

We need to open back up the clouds file, and create a new layer ( Layer > New Layer ) and our rain brush is already selected, so change the foreground color to white in the tools panel. All we need to do now is paint on the rain below our clouds! If you like we can erase the top section of the rain using the erase tool ( Hit ‘E’ on the keyboard ) tocreate a smooth flow!

Here is my finished product!

Cheers!

How to Create Raining Clouds – Adobe Tutorial

Tags

• daily inspiration

This post is part of our daily series of posts showing the most inspiring images selected by some of the Abduzeedo’s writers and users. If you want to participate and share your graphic design inspiration, just send us, via email, the image with the link from where you found it, also use “Daily Inspiration” in the subject, and don’t forget to send your Abduzeedo username; or via Twitter sending to http://twitter.com/abduzeedo.

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2colorideas

adamchoobi

anna khilko

Anoop Surendran

anonimus4me

Ashley Verkamp

Avid

bananabun

Carlos Pujols

Christian Ortiz

cuded

Damian Misiura

danfleites

danielbevis

eamon nawal

fksd

floatingpix

Franco Mathson

funnybandsproject

Gary F.

Glipty

hptoy

inspirationfeed

jajanbarcode

javier

John Scruggs

Karol

Kris

Let me be inspired

masonbeckman

matthias-ragossnig

Maxamalism

Mihi? Design

Moe Pike Soe

Neil Duerden

nenuno

odinio

Pablo Alejandro Gomez

pk

paydencobern

radoslaw rzepecki

sofiabolona

sunny

thaeger

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wordsbrand

Daily Inspiration #1058

Scheduling in time for social media

Once I began scrutinizing my daily work flow, one of the first things I discovered was that, while I was keeping a steady stream of engagement, the stream of engagement was chaotic and sporadic. In the social media world this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, however, if you are trying to get real work done it is actually a huge distraction.

Every time I broke my train of thought to answer a tweet or respond to a Facebook comment, I was breaking down my productivity and inevitably getting less work done. So I hit Google with a few quick searches, looking for some advice. I quickly realized that the main problem was in my lack of planning and scheduling. Maybe if I devoted a fixed amount of time to social media engagement I could keep from breaking my concentration multiple times an hour.

Image by Habatares

I decided to make a list of the most important social media interactions and execute them all within 10-15 minutes. My initial list looked something like this:

• Browse Dribble, bucket a few great pieces, follow a few great designers, comment on any good shots.
• Check Google Reader and add any worthwhile articles to Buffer (will talk more about this later)
• Respond to any @ replies on Twitter
• Respond to any interesting Tweets in my HootSuite feeds
• Browse StumbleUpon and find something worth sharing
• Reply to any comments on my blog

This list is in no way complete, nor is it a one size fits all. Your list might look completely different. Maybe you find the best engagement on Facebook. Maybe you’re more of a Forrst user. Maybe you’re an avid Yelper or Stack Overflow user. Your list should be tailored to your preferred networks and preferred level of engagement.

Use it

You’ve got the list, now use it. And if you can’t accomplish it in 10-20 minutes, keep working on it until you feel it can complete it within a reasonable amount of time. Now go through the list once in the morning, then put it away, focus, and get some work done.

Making the most of your time

Now that you have a simple strategy for social media engagement without wasting time, using different tools can really help you get the most out of these small windows of interaction:

Scheduling tweets

An obvious problem with the 10-20 minute strategy is that you run the risk of flooding your streams with links and content in a really short period of time. Some of your followers/friends might not care for this as it feels spammy and can be kind of annoying.

Using a tool like Buffer can minimize this by scheduling your tweets to be shared at different times of the day. I’ve never been a huge fan of scheduling tweets but I have realized that, like most social media techniques, there’s a right and a wrong way to use it. Putting link shares on a schedule is fine because there’s no time factor. No one cares whether you actually shared an article right at this moment or shared it this morning and it’s just now showing up. However, any tweet which answers the question “What’s Happening?” should not be scheduled as it can be really misleading to your followers. I’m open to other opinions here, this is just how I’ve come to see it.

Social media dashboards

Social media dashboards can help you manage your social feeds and allow you to engage more quickly, efficiently and maintain a higher level of quality within your interactions. I’ve used a few social media dashboards here and there but the one I’ve settled on is HootSuite, mainly because it works well overall and is free. I also recommend Seesmic or TweetDeck, both of which are pretty solid and well vetted. If you know of any others which are worth mentioning, please share in the comments section below.

Practice makes perfect

The first time you employ the 10-20 minute engagement strategy, you may be left feeling like you haven’t done enough. This technique isn’t common and is pretty much the opposite of the way we are used to doing things. Just stick to it and you’ll start seeing the benefit within the first day. The more you work at it the better the engagement will become.

Social media apps and integration tools

In the past, social media apps and integration tools which cause mobile alerts and desktop notifications have led me to dramatic decreases in productivity. This might not be a huge distraction to everyone but, if you’re like me, when you see a growl notification, a red number on top of a dock icon, or hear your phone vibrate on your desk, you can’t help but check it.

If this sounds like you, the main advice I can give you is to examine your social media apps and tools and ask yourself if you really need them on during the day. Are they really worth the distraction and loss in productivity? If the answer is no, uninstall and stick with the 10-20 minute strategy we discussed earlier. Trust me, you’ll thank yourself at the end of the day when work has actually been done

Social web browsers

A social media web browser can be a great way to stay connected to your various networks during the day. Be careful though, as they can quickly become a hefty distraction. I don’t personally recommend using a social media browser while you are working but, during down time, they can be really useful and a great way to keep up with your networks.

An obvious contender here is RockMelt. I have a couple pals who use it and rave about it. RockMelt renders like Chrome, but as I mentioned above, I don’t recommend using it for development.

I haven’t come across many other decent social web browsers (aside from the now deadpooled Flock). Do you know of any other contenders? Let me know in the comments section below!

Going Dark

The best thing you can do to minimize social media distractions is to go dark. The goal here is to cut yourself off from the networks which are distracting you and taking attention away from your work. Pretty much anything which produces alerts, notifications or messages is a potential distraction.

This concept was tough to wrap my head around at first. Once I gave it a try, though, I saw immediate results. My time in the “zone” increased and I felt more accomplished at the end of the day. This might seem scary at first, but try it for an hour, then two hours, then three and you will see a notable increase in productivity.

If you want to get extreme, I recommend shutting off your phone and logging out of your email as well. It might not be wise to ride a blackout like this for too long, but a little time in the dark side will help you appreciate the light side even more!

Conclusion

Engaging in social media is one of the best things you can do for your digital self. Creating relationships and engaging others is extremely important. It only becomes a problem when social media engagement interferes with your other projects and tasks. Hopefully I have helped you come to realize that the solution comes down to scheduling, proper time management, and of course the occasional blackout

Do you have any other tips for keeping up with social media without losing productivity? Let me know in the comments section below. Thanks for reading!

How to Twitter and Facebook and Still Get Things Done

You feel that a creative block is imminent, but it’s not too late! There are a few things that you can do to get past this bump in your flow and get back on track. Note that these mostly apply to freelancers or those with more flexible jobs in regards to hours and working place.

Your working environment

While your workspace should be comfortable, it shouldn’t provide any distractions which could prevent you from focusing on the task at hand. Working from home is a perfect example of a distracting environment. Personally, I can almost never concentrate there because there are so many other things that I could do instead (laundry, dishes, cleaning, you name it); it’s the fault of that pesky subconscious that insists on relaxing at home.

In this case, you need to take some of the comfort away from your comfort zone. Try working at a desk, sitting on a chair that’s uncomfortable enough to keep you from taking a nap, but comfortable enough that it doesn’t break your spine. If you can, try working in a different place altogether, eliminating all of the distractions from your home. If you’re a student with 24/7 access to your university and you don’t have to go on a pilgrimage to get there, it might be worth a shot. Continuity is key in keeping your workflow intact, so interruptions are your worst enemies.

Now that we’ve fixed your working space, let’s have a look at generating ideas.

Scribble scribble

Paper. Yes, I just said paper. It’s that thin white thing made from trees, and, believe it or not, people still use it! Jokes aside, it’s very stimulating to write or draw your ideas with a pen or pencil, compared to using your keyboard. This is because of the processes that occur inside the brain; writing by hand involves more complex motions than typing, thus requires your mind to do more work.

When we type, it’s just a matter of recognizing the correct letter or symbol, and pressing the corresponding key. Handwriting requires you to actively draw the shapes and letters, naturally triggering more reactions. Regardless of their sources, stimuli can lead to many creative sparks.

So don’t be afraid, choose your instrument and go all out! Doodle on the edges of the paper! Sketch nonsense! Anything goes since you can never know what can come out. Just don’t stray too far. Perhaps now you need someone to keep you in check?

Two heads are better than one

Sometimes a sparring partner can be a lifesaver and can take your rough ideas in directions you would’ve never thought of. Find someone who’s willing to brainstorm with you, give them the basic rundown, sit down and start throwing ideas around. It should be someone whose skills complement yours, who has a different take on things and isn’t too shy about their point of view.

You may be thinking “How will that help? Won’t we end up arguing?” and it’s a legitimate question. Ideally, the two of you should listen to each others opinions and try to compromise in order to advance. You will try to find loopholes in your friend’s argument so that you can fit your own idea in, and sometimes you might have to alter it so that it can go through. Remember to explore, rather than just shoot down ideas for the simple reason that you don’t like them. Why don’t you like the idea? What would it take for you to like it? How can you modify it?

I once brainstormed with a friend for over six hours and we mercilessly shot down poor ideas, developed the good ones and even explored the absurd. Neither of us ever said “I just don’t like it.”. The day was extremely productive, we had fun, we laughed and we celebrated with a well-deserved drink.

I don’t like it because of reasons

Feedback can produce a variety of feelings, from anger to relief to joy. We all dread negative criticism, especially when it comes from someone whose opinion we value and trust, and we feel downright insulted when it comes from random people. “Humph! What do they know?” you say, with your nose in the air. The most important thing is to not take it personally and try to understand what made them give you the feedback in the first place.

Your face might be all red and there might be smoke coming out of your ears, but you need to let things settle down and look at them again, with a clear head this time. Eliminate things that boil down to personal taste and points that are poorly argued; there isn’t much that you can do about them. Everything else qualifies as legitimate and should be looked into.

Your skill in Design has increased by 1

It’s time to open up new doors and directions, and a great way to do this is to learn something new, a new skill or even a new tool. Go to your favourite tutorial website and learn a new technique that might prove useful for your project; or maybe just something that you think is cool. Don’t blindly follow the tutorial, but adapt and modify wherever you can; see what else you can do with your new found ability and don’t limit yourself.

What about a book? Or an article? You’re reading one right now and hopefully you’ve found something that you didn’t know. As they say, “the more you know, the less you know”, and curiosity will eventually lead to improvement.

When I concluded that Photoshop couldn’t satisfy my craving for vector graphics, I set out to find a new tool that could. I got used to Inkscape (no, Illustrator doesn’t really suit me) and I’ve been happily using it ever since. The same thing happened to another friend after she discovered MyPaint; all she wanted was a light and simple program that didn’t need much configuration.

Fin

And that’s it. Hopefully now you can avoid getting stumped and losing your spark. If you’ve already tried these things or, better yet, have some other neat solutions, let’s hear them! Share with your fellow designers so we may never lose our creative flow!

5 Tips to Power Up Your Work with Unlimited Creativity Juice

Things You will Need:

-Adobe Photoshop

-Vector Package 1

-Custom Shapes Package 1

-How to download brushes/custom shapes & upload them to Photoshop

Opening New Document

Let’s open up Photoshop if you haven’t already…

Go to File > New… and these are the settings I used:

Background Gradient

I added a gradient of Red > Orange to my background to make it look like a sunset….

Inserting Skyline Silhouette Custom Shape

Once you’ve downloaded the Skyline Silhouette Custom Shape and uploaded it to Photoshop CS2 go to Layer > New > Layer and then go to Custom Shape Tool > Shape > Hebedesign_skylines (Figures Right and Below)

Now select which Sykline Silhouette you would like to use:

We are now going to draw the Skyline Silhouette on the top of the canvas … ( I chose London Bridge)

Next, in a new layer make a selection on the top half of the shape (Figure below)

Easy so far? Good …

Adding Vector Burst Background (Vector Package 1)

Once you’ve downloaded Vector Package 1 we can start inserting it behind the silhouette!

In that same layer, with that same selection lets go to Brush Tool > Brush > and choose Vector2_By_PhysicalMagic. (Figure below) Once that Brush set is selected, choose a brush you want to you. (I chose Vector 4)

Once you have selected the brush you want, let’s apply it to the canvas! Find the correct positioning of the brush, color, and size. (I placed it right in the center, used bright yellow, and kept it at the sample size)

Here’s a nice big screenshot of what I have so far!

This so far would have led you to the Skyline Silhouette Web Header.

Adding Template Navigation

Now in new layers I added a simple yellow text navigation

Skyline Silhouette Header