Cocomore (via DrupalFire)

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While this article focuses primarily on the state of Drupal “contrib” (modules and themes which are not part of the “core” Drupal download), it also takes a look at the greater “State of Drupal” in terms of sites known to be running on some version of Drupal, comparisons of the rate of uptake after Drupal 6 and Drupal 7 release, and a small case study involving attempting to perform a “major upgrade” from Drupal 6 to Drupal 7 on a site using a significant number of contributed modules.

The recent history of Drupal core usage

As a starting point, I think it is helpful to look at the recent history of Drupal core usage and compare the uptake of Drupal 6, after its release, with the uptake of Drupal 7. On June 22nd, 2008, when Drupal 6.0 was released, there were already significantly more sites using Drupal 6 than Drupal 5 (almost 32,000 on Drupal 6 vs almost 17,000 on Drupal 5). Both core versions of Drupal steadily gained users for a time, with Drupal 5 reaching a peak of about 24,000 sites about 7 months later, but by that time Drupal 6 was running on more than 100,000 sites. By late July 2009 (a similar point to now in terms of months after the major version release), Drupal 5 usage had dropped to about 20,000 sites and Drupal 6 was running on more than 160,000 sites; more than eight times as many installations. Since then, Drupal 5 usage has tapered to about 7,000 sites; a bit more than 1% of total Drupal usage (please note: it’s likely that many of the existing Drupal 5 sites do not report usage back to Drupal.org).

Now let’s look at the usage of Drupal 6 and Drupal 7 since the time of Drupal 7’s release. Drupal 6 peaked with about 355,000 sites, shortly after Drupal 7’s release in January 2011. At that time Drupal 7 was running on about 24,000 sites, a fraction of Drupal 6 usage at that time. Since then, while sites running on Drupal 7 have steadily increased to their present values, about 280,000 sites, Drupal 6 has hovered around the same value, drifting between about 320,000 and 350,000 sites, but not yet significantly dropping. Almost 13 months after Drupal 7’s official release, we still have more sites running Drupal 6 than Drupal 7 (and I suspect that a significant percentage of the Drupal 7 sites are in development rather than production). But what does this really say? Let’s look a bit closer at the numbers and trends:

Note: I banged this graph out in Excel since the Google chart of Drupal usage, normally displayed on project pages, seems to fail as “too large to process” for “core” usage statistics.

Drupal usage has grown by leaps and bounds since Drupal 6’s release. In June 2008, there were fewer than 50,000 sites using Drupal 5 and 6 combined. Now, a bit more than three-and-a-half years later, there are more than 615,000 sites running on some version of Drupal — more than a 12-fold increase in that time period! A year ago, this figure was less than 400,000, so Drupal 7 sites make up a large proportion of the more-than-200,000 Drupal sites added since then. The growth was steeper after Drupal 6’s release, but we still did not have 200,000 sites, total, by July 2009. In any case, it’s safe to say that for most use cases, we have the modules necessary to build a good site based on Drupal 7, so if you are hesitant to use it, don’t be. There are many great advantages to Drupal 7 and with the continual improvement of the contributed modules, we should probably build new sites on Drupal 6, only if modules critical to the use case are lacking for Drupal 7 (or if the “new” site is another site in an existing Drupal 6 “multi-sites” installation). Even if a “critical” module exists for Drupal 6 and not yet for Drupal 7, it may still be worth building the site on Drupal 7 if you have the coding experience to port the Drupal 6 module to Drupal 7, which would help alleviate the current issue that many significant modules are not yet available for Drupal 7.

State of Drupal 7 contrib (modules)
Good news: Almost all “Top 100” Drupal 6 Modules are ported to Drupal 7

The good news, especially for site builders creating a new Drupal 7 site, is that most of the top 100 modules are ready for use on Drupal 7. Nine of them are redundant (now included in “core”), 43 have “stable” releases, 23 have beta or RC, 11 have an alpha release, and 9 are in “dev” status, while a couple others recommend using another module which performs similarly.

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Károly Négyesi (via DrupalFire)

Private files are great but they are a huge resource hog. In certain scenarios, lower-resolution versions of the pictures are absolutely fine to be public, only high resolution originals need to be protected. In this case you can use Drupal's private file handling as it is and the following simple trick to make a style public.

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Icons is a part of website design normally but some time we need in our print media designs as well whenever we working on brochure designs or any publishing material as newspaper or designing while creative books, so many resources offering free download icons and some premium resources also exist with high-quality icons including free source files where we can modification as per our requirement.

Luckily today we arrange special tutorial roundup for icon designs from around the web, there’re a lot of icon design tutorials that go concluded the method of designing a beautiful icon, same way we choose and sharing to you below eye-catching icons design tutorials with easy steps and tricky ways of learning.

How To Draw a Vintage Polaroid Camera Icon

In this tutorial, we will create a Polaroid camera icon. We will use lots of layer styles and draw manually with the brush tool to achieve a realistic appearance. Let’s get started!

Create a Mobile App Icon in Photoshop

This tutorial is part of a three-part series explaining how to design UI elements for mobile applications in Photoshop. In this part, we will explain how to design an icon for your mobile device’s home screen. Let’s get started!

Create a Shiny Lock Icon Design

A popular icon that you can find on the internet is the lock icon. It is widely used to identify secure Web pages. It often indicates password fields for secure files. Wherever you wish to place a lock icon, this tutorial will show you how to create an attractive one for you to use!

Creating a Set of Digital Painting Icons Part 4 – Digital Tablet Icon

For this forth installment of the “Creating a Set of Digital Painting Icons” series we will create a pen tablet from scratch, specifically the Wacom 12″ Cintiq tablet. This model combines touch and pressure sensitivity, which allows users to draw directly on the screen. These capabilities make it a favorite for illustrators. Let’s get to work.

Create a Futuristic Bicycle Icon in Photoshop

It’s fun and challenging to create items from scratch in Photoshop. In this tutorial we will create a futuristic bicycle icon from scratch using some basic Photoshop tools. Let’s get started!

Create a Star Trek Style Communicator in Photoshop

In this tutorial, we will draw a retro Star Trek style communicator, a voice communication device used in the original Star Trek series. We will combine layer styles and lots of manual drawing. So, prepare your Wacom to boldly go where no Photoshop tutorial has gone before.

Creating a Cool Yellow Helmet Icon

Construction icons have always been popular on-screen, and although those dot-com “under-construction” pages have mostly vanished from our screens, the trusty ol’ yellow helmet icon still has its uses. In this tutorial, we’ll be creating our very own icon from a photograph.

Create a Sweet Donut Icon in Photoshop from Scratch

In this icon design tutorial we will learn how to make a sweet and tasty donut icon from an initial sketch. So let’s begin, and remember: don’t try to bite the screen!

Create an Open Book Icon In Photoshop

In this tutorial we will demonstrate how to create an open book icon in Photoshop. Let’s get started!

Draw a Roll of Camera Film in Photoshop

Icon design can be a lot of fun. In this tutorial we will demonstrate how to create a roll of camera film using Photoshop. Let’s get started!

Create a Download Folder Icon in Photoshop

Icons are an important part of most interactive and web design. While icons are small, they can often be challenging to create. In today’s tutorial we will demonstrate how to create a download folder icon using different shapes and reflections in Photoshop. Let’s get started!

Draw magnifying glass

Learn how to create magnifying glass, which you can use it as button or as icon

Create a Golden Heart-Shaped Box

In today’s tutorial, we will demonstrate how to create an elegant, heart-shaped box in Photoshop. Let’s get started!

Create a Battery Core Icon in Photoshop

In this tutorial you will be creating a semi-realistic, sci-fi icon that could be used as a battery or dock icon. Let’s get started!

Create a Cute Twitter Bird Icon in Photoshop

Today, we will demonstrate how to create a cute Twitter bird icon in Photoshop. Let’s get started!

Making a Photoshop Shield!

In this tutorial, we’re going to use the Path Tools in Photoshop to draw a shield-like shape. Then using some gradients, we’re going to give it a metallic edge and shiny center. I actually made this tutorial when making the default icons for some posts here on PSDtuts, so if you go to the main listing on the site you’ll see them in action.

How to Draw a Shopping Bag Icon in Photoshop

In this tutorial you will learn how to drawn a red shopping bag icon. This tutorial will cover the basic techniques of drawing such as creating the shape, shading, and adding shadows.

Draw a Trophy Icon in Photoshop

Today, we will demonstrate how to draw a trophy icon in Photoshop. Let’s get started!

Create a Camera Lens Icon in Photoshop – Screencast

Icon design is a fun but detailed process. In this tutorial, we will demonstrate how to create a camera lens icon using Photoshop. Let’s get started!

Create an Electrical Outlet Icon in Photoshop

In today’s tutorial, we will be making use of vector masks and layer styles in Photoshop to create a high quality electrical outlet icon. Let’s get started!

Create a Realistic iMac Icon in Photoshop

There is a lot that you can do in Photoshop with just a few select tools. Today, we will demonstrate how to create a realistic iMac icon in Photoshop that includes a 27-inch screen, a keyboard, and a mouse. Let’s get started!

Create an Iconic Retro-Modern Ball Chair in Photoshop

The ball chair, popularized by Finnish interior designer Eero Aarnio was the cornerstone of any mid-century or 1960’s living area. Today, we will learn how to create this iconic piece of furniture from scratch in Photoshop. Let’s get started!

How To Create a Detailed Briefcase Icon in Photoshop

Follow this step by step guide to create a detailed briefcase icon in Photoshop. We’ll build the rough outline with basic shapes, then add depth and definition with various Photoshop layer styles such as Inner Glow and Stroke. To really bring the icon to life we’ll use real photographic textures to give a tactile leather feel to the icon.

Create an Apple Safari Icon in Photoshop

Learn how to create a detailed Apple Safari icon in Photoshop. This tutorial will show you how to create shapes and use different layer styles to create effects.

Create A Wooden House Icon in Photoshop

In today’s tutorial we will demonstrate how to create a wooden house icon in Photoshop by applying textures to basic shapes.

It is often perceived that being a manager makes your life a lot easier. All you need to do is order people and get the task done. This is not the case in reality. We all know that everybody has his own personality so managing people with different attitudes is not at all an easy thing. Since one person is different from another, understanding them is really important to be able to manage the team properly. As a manager, if you know how to manage your team mates, you definitely will be able to make the work environment much more productive such as a graphic designer shows his productivity in printing services as well.

Employees can be of two kinds. You might have a few people who are analytical and some people who are more into the creative stuff. Obviously, you need to handle both the kinds with different set of rules. Creative people are a little more difficult to handle because their working style is associated more with emotions, visuals and they need an inspiration every now and then to work more effectively.

However, analytical people are not the ones lost in their own thoughts. They are more formal kind of employees and somewhat less difficult. Now, that you are aware of the kinds, if you look around, you can surely differentiate between the both kinds i.e., analytical and creative. You will mostly find the creative people in the designing department or writing department. Since creative people are difficult to handle, we will be giving away a few tips to manage creative people so that they feel at ease at work.

Discuss but do not Dictate

To begin with, working with a close coordination is way too important. Obviously, if you want them to work on a certain project, all you need to do is brief them about it. You should not get into too many details about the project or inform them of your expectations because if you are doing this, you are building walls against their creative thoughts. All you need to do is brief them and let them handle the project their way. Discussing your point of view is fine however, dictating them and giving them a set of rules and regulations is not good.

You can put creative people into boundaries. Be a helping hand in the development but do not create hurdles by giving too many instructions. The best way to handle creative employees is to give them the liberty and freedom to work in their own style. You can obviously coach them but as said earlier, do not dictate them. Give them a freehand when it comes to choices and avoid detailed planning.

Make Way for Organic Process

When it comes to creative people, a lot of their work depends on thinking and we all know that creative work is an organic process so let them do it their own way! Brainstorming can help in numerous ways so make sure you manage to have a lot of brainstorming sessions. Make sure you do not reject any idea and just make a list of all the ideas that are coming your way in brainstorming sessions. You can surely sort out the best ideas later on which are workable.

As a manager, you should also encourage your workers to have brainstorming sessions with each other. This will not only develop a healthy relationship among your employees, they will also sense the fact that you trust them and you are not always there to watch them. You can later on have a group meeting and the entire group can present you the best of their ideas.

Workspace Should Be Inspiring Enough

How dull and boring those cubicles in offices appear? Well, we all know that they look very boring and creative people can have a hard time working in a boring place. You need to foster your workspace with creativity. Make your office colorful and decorate it with the things which can help your creative team in their creativity.

You can always display your creative team’s best work which will always remind them of their best ideas. Your office does not have to be quiet. If it is dull, boring and quiet, you have created a killing environment for new ideas. Play some music and create a relaxing environment for employees. You can have a separate casual room for employees to have a casual communication. Do not be a rigid employer and if you can, make sure you allow flexible timings for your creative team.

Feedback is Important

Employees really want to know what you think of their idea so make sure you provide them with constructive feedback and criticism. Creative people are emotional people so they are attached to their ideas. As a manager, you should be very careful with the selection of your words for feedback. Never ever criticize your employee and try to focus on their work only. Anything that is creative will have to face a lot of opinions.

Creative people really appreciate feedback, even on smallest things like a business card design. Even so, some people appreciate a positive feedback and have little tolerance for negative criticism. Being a manager, make sure you analyze it thoroughly. If it exactly what your client needs and you do not like it, then it is just a matter of personal choice. If you think there is a room for improvement, do inform your employee about your opinion. Focus more on improving the project instead of criticizing it simple because you dislike it.

Setting Parameters is Important

It is important to give your creative team a freehand however, developing style parameters is also essential. You need to define deadlines and technical specifications so that they can work and complete the project within given deadlines and specifications. Setting guidelines is important when it comes to a certain kind of designing. So make sure you clear in the beginning what is and is not acceptable.

Failure is a Part of Life

No matter whatever the situation is, do not let failure affect you or your team. This can and things do go wrong. However, if your team has not managed to come up with a great project, you should not just stop giving them work. It is important for you to trust your team instead of taking the work away from them. Have faith in them and do not fear failure.

Teach them to Communicate Properly

Some ideas can be great but if they are not communicated properly, they are of no use. People who developed the idea might be able to visualize it perfectly but not everyone can do it. They have to be really good at communication to be able to deliver ideas perfectly. Arrange sketch pads and pens so that thinkers can also show their ideas to your client. Train your designers to be able to give logic for designing a certain thing in a certain way. Justifying the design is important so coach them to do it properly.

Having a Difference of Opinion Can Be Healthy

If your team is having difference of opinion, take it as a healthy sign instead of taking it negatively. Even you might have a difference of opinion with them but handle it in a calm and composed way. Make sure that the doors for communication is always open and every thing should be taken in a positive way.

Learning is Important

In creative world, technology is changing rapidly so you must make sure that you encourage your creative team to stay updated with the new developments and learn the new technology as well. As a manager, it is your duty to provide them with the material which can help them in learning.

Zoning out can be Productive

For creative people, sometime zoning out is the best way to think of new ideas so make room for it as well. Offer your employees some free time for relaxation. This will definitely increase their productivity level.

Conclusion

Managing creative people is never easy but it is not something impossible. If you do it properly, you can definitely have a great time working as well.

Metal Toad Media (via DrupalFire)

It can take a while when you're new, but once you start to wrap your head around Views, that is when Drupal gets really fun. In this tutorial, I'll go over how to use Contextual Filters in Views to alter your content dynamically based on information in the URL. If you're a visual learner, you can skip to the video at the end of this post for a detailed walk through of the process.

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Adobe Systems always present ultimate products especially for design industry as we have Adobe InDesign application; it can be used to create works such as print media designs as I have my own experience as poster designing, brochure designing, book designing, flyer designs, beautiful magazine designs and newspapers. In this roundup we have Adobe InDesign Tutorials can help you to increase your graphic designing skills with latest techniques of this best designing software, InDesign is the perfect choice for making even documents which you need as printed copies with graphs and high-quality images.

These of all InDesign tutorials are full of designing knowledge and special practices to get more grip as print media publisher as well, so I recommend to you all professional graphic designers and newbies.

How to Create a Music Magazine Cover in InDesign

In this tutorial, we’ll look at how to create a magazine cover in InDesign. You’ll learn how to set up a page layout and add text. This is an introduction to InDesign and no previous knowledge is required. This is a simple project put together to help get you started with InDesign. Let’s get to it!

Quick Tip: Designing a Business Card with InDesign CS5

Today we are going to take a business card design from first idea to preparing the file for print. So whether you need a business card for yourself or a client read on.

Create a Grid Based Resume/CV Layout in InDesign

Use the power of grid based designs to create a structured and professional page layout in InDesign, which can then be populated with a range of information to produce a polished CV or Resume.

Mastering Text Threading in InDesign

Text threading is a natural component when creating multipage InDesign documents. However, I still run into quite a few users that haven’t quite mastered the ins-and-outs of the feature. So, I figured I would get everyone up to speed on text threading, including taking it from a master page perspective, plus a few tips for speeding up your editing and proofing workflows.

Design a Print-ready Ad in Adobe InDesign

Want to learn how to make an ad that could go into a magazine? Jump into Adobe InDesign with this real-world tutorial on creating a print-ready ad. This tutorial is perfect for you if you’re familiar with Adobe Illustrator and want to get started with a layout program suited toward publication design.

Design a Print-Ready Beer Label in Adobe Illustrator

Alright folks, it’s time to roll up the sleeves and get down to business with this full-featured Adobe illustrator CS3 tutorial. This one takes you from setup to production of a really cool beer label, although this could be useful for any bottled concoction of your choosing.

Create Numbered Tickets the Easy Way in InDesign

In this tutorial, we’ll explain how to do an easy setup in InDesign for automatically numbered tickets. We will look at the handy “Data Merge Tool,” which is a great time-saver. Let’s jump into this quick tutorial!

Magazine Cover Design in InDesign

It may sound like a simple thing, but you better believe that a lot of thought goes into the design of a magazine cover. Covers compete for attention next to dozens of other magazines on the rack. In this tutorial, we’ll not only take you through the process of creating a cover, but also reveal techniques that designers use to make their covers stand out.

Create and Print a Brochure with Photoshop, Indesign and UPrinting.com – Part 1

The first thing you would normally do is get the project brief. In my case there is no client, so I’m just going to make up a project. Since this week we’re promoting GraphicRiver, I’m going to make a brochure about the site, as if it’s aimed at a designer who doesn’t know what the site offers. So it’ll really be a sort of basic catalog.

Create and Print a Brochure with Photoshop, Indesign and UPrinting.com – Part 2

The great thing about the Adobe product range is how easy it is to combine your work from one program to another. In this tutorial we’ll take the Photoshop work from Part 1 over on Psdtuts+, and place it into InDesign, create a stylesheet and then export a PDF. This workflow can be really useful particularly for larger documents where InDesign’s page layout features really kick in.

Quick Tip: Designing a Basic Compliment Slip with InDesign CS5

Make the most of InDesign’s tools and features to create an Compliment Slip for yourself or client. During this tut we will explore the Page tool and palette, Guides and Rulers.

Mockup Blister Packaging in Photoshop

Designers and clients often have different ideas about how a finished product should be presented. Designers want to show the finished artwork, clients want to know exactly how their design will look on the shelves. In this tutorial, we will demonstrate how to create a mockup for some blister packaging so that you can present your design to your clients. Let’s get started!

How to Create a Flag Graphic with Type in InDesign

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to use InDesign’s ability to create type on a curve, and flow that type from one curve to another. Along the way, you’ll learn a slick technique for step and repeat and how to apply gradients to text. This technique will work in InDesign CS or later. This technique would also will work in Illustrator, with minor modifications.

Design a portfolio magazine using InDesign

Use it as a way of making a first contact with a prospective employer or client, or as a reminder of your work after a portfolio presentation. It’s imperative that this type of item looks great and showcases your work well, because the recipient will regard this as the kind of work you’re capable of. Attention to detail is crucial.

How to Create a Coupon in InDesign

In this tutorial, we’ll explain how to create a coupon, double-sided in InDesign. This is a beginner level tutorial and by no means meant for print. It gives you a small intro into tabs, style sheets and glyphs. Let’s get stared.

Create a Professional Romantic Comedy Film Poster in Photoshop

Movie posters are often amazing pieces of art. What we see as a seamless design however is often a combination of several different images carefully blended and manipulated to produce a desired result. In today’s tutorial, we will demonstrate how to create the key art for a romantic comedy movie poster using a handful of photographs. Let’s get started!

Quick Tip: Using the Auto-Fit feature in InDesign CS5

The introduction of the Auto-Fit feature to CS5 should not be over looked. By the end of this Quick tip you – the designer – will be able to save some valuable time when importing images and graphics. Let’s take a look.

Using InDesign to Publish Your iPad Magazine

Adobe just took the wraps off the long-awaited Digital Publishing Suite that powers the Wired magazine and The New Yorker iPad apps. With InDesign CS5 at the core, you can now author your layouts, including interactive content, and export it out in the new .issue format.

Clipping Masks in InDesign

Without a dedicated menu item for creating a clipping mask, InDesign need to know the tricks for getting an image into a shape or text. AJ Wood shows InDesign users how to use the paste into command to insert an image into any fill-able frame or shape and to create a clipping mask from text.

How to Create a Professional Magazine Layout

A few times a each month we revisit some of our reader’s favorite posts from throughout the history of Vectortuts+

Speed up your InDesign layouts

With the new updates in CS5 and 5.5, you’re now able to distribute layout elements, resize gaps and customise frame corners faster using the interactive Gap tool and Live Corner Effects. These intuitive features enable you to manipulate objects without having to leave the spread or constantly switch tools – shaving valuable seconds off repetitive tasks.

InDesign CS3: Give Your Tables Some Style!

It’s here! InDesign CS3, along with the rest of the Creative Suite 3, has shipped. Now it’s time to dive into some of the features that will enhance your creativity and speed up your production.

Create a Stylish Coffee Cup With Smart Objects

In today’s tutorial we will demonstrate how to create a realistic coffee cup with a customizable label using smart objects in Photoshop. Let’s get started!

Quick Tip: Working with Text Wrap and Fit Content Options in Adobe InDesign

Adobe In Design lets you wrap text around any object, including text frames and imported images. There are different styles to choose from and some features you can set up including the distance between the text and object frame. In the following Quick Tip you will learn more about basic image and text placement in InDesign. Let’s get started!

Creating an interactive portfolio with InDesign CS3

Supplying your portfolio in printed form is so last century. Everybody who’s anybody is using PDF as the means to deliver their portfolios. So let’s learn not only how to create an easy-to-email PDF but also how make it interactive as well—with navigation buttons and even movies!

Design Business Cards in Adobe InDesign

This tutorial will guide you through the process of designing business cards and postcards in InDesign as well as providing press-ready templates to get you started.

Design a Coffee Shop Menu Layout from Scratch with Photoshop and InDesign – Part 1

This tutorial aims to be a guide for those starting on print design, we will cover several important subjects, such as: document settings, dimensions, layout, bleed and margins, working with color, adding typography and even printing the piece.

Animating in InDesign CS5

Jeff Witchel shows InDesign users how to use the Animation panel in CS5 to animate a layout to be interactive.

Design a Multimedia Website Layout in Photoshop

First impressions do count! Stunning our viewers with a visually compelling portfolio is one of the most important things that a designer can do to court a new client. Today we will demonstrate how to use photos, brushes, and textures, and 3D objects to design a creative multimedia website layout in Photoshop. Let’s get started!

Quick Tip: Create a Gift Voucher in InDesign

In this tutorial you will learn how to create a simple gift voucher. You will use pictures and text to create nice clean layout that’s perfect to print.

Quick Tip: How to Make Tables With Rounded Corners in InDesign

This tutorial will show you how to make fully editable tables with rounded corners in InDesign, quickly and easily. It’s actually a bit trickier than you would expect it to be, but if you follow this Quick Tip you will be making great looking tables in no-time!

Quick Tip: Quick Masking with the Pen Tool in InDesign

Let’s say you are up against a tight deadline and you need to send a proof within a matter of hours to a client. Within your design you want to include a clipping path and exclude an unwanted background on one of your photographs. You don’t really have time to switch to Photoshop to make your amends and then jump back into InDesign.

Creating iBooks (EPUBs)

There’s no denying that the Apple iPad is a popular and successful product. One of the things I was most intrigued by was the format that Apple chose for their eBooks (iBooks). The good news is that they went with the industry standard EPUB format, and the even better news is that InDesign exports EPUBs natively. I created my first iBook for iPad using InDesign CS5. Let’s take a look at the workflow.

Changing Defaults in InDesign

InDesign behaving strangely? Many times it is because users accidentally make changes to the default settings without knowing it. Jeff Witchel goes through some of the common default settings that can get messed up during the course of a normal work flow.

Quick Tip: How to Impose Business Cards for Digital Printing with InDesign

Sometimes you find yourself in a situation when your client needs to quickly print some business cards and you are the one, who gets the responsibility to do it. In this tutorial you will learn how quickly an effectively impose business card without using any paid imposition plug-in, using some basic InDesign functions and just in a few clicks.

For all and sundry who is in love with someone must like to celebrate the valentine day because it’s the day which provide you an opportunity to show your close relation with you lover. Love is a thing that will make you everlasting in the eyes of others and the valentine day provide you a chance to expose your love. So, that’s why here I am going to present you valentine wallpapers to make your love well-built and you can easily spend your valentine day with full of romance. These valentine wallpapers will provide you a whole new feeling on this day so, check out the below valentine wallpapers.

John Forsythe (via DrupalFire)

It's true, after four years of running DrupalModules.com, I'm moving on.

It's been an interesting ride, to say the least. When I started building the site back in 2007, I knew the idea of combining powerful search tools with user reviews had real potential, but looking back, it's amazing to see just how much impact it had.

To date, DrupalModules.com has served more than 1.8 million people (and 17.5 million page views), according to Google Analytics.

Thanks to the thousands of people who submitted reviews, rated modules, reported bugs, and helped spread the word about my little project.

To the thousands of Drupal developers that use the site every day, don't worry, you're in good hands. iO1 has the time and resources to continue bringing innovation to the site, and I look forward to seeing where it goes next.

Thanks to all my sponsors over the years: Acquia, DrupalConnect, AN Hosting, DrupalCon, OSTraining and iCopyright. And a very special thanks to everyone who donated personally. Keeping the site running all these years wouldn't have been possible without you.

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Sacha Chua (via DrupalFire)

“Why is your window transparent?” a coworker asked me when she noticed my screen. I told her about how I do my CSS theming, and she pulled another coworker over and made me repeat the explanation. Since that seems like something other people might find handy, here it is.

Sass: Syntactically Awesome Sytlesheets

I rarely do CSS/front-end theming work, but when I do, I try to make it as fun and easy as back-end development. I use Sass (Syntactically Awesome Stylesheets) so that I can use nested selectors, variables, and mixins. This makes my code cleaner and easier to write. You’ll need Ruby in order to install Sass, but the tool will give you CSS that you can use on any web platform.

Browser-based tools

I prefer doing the initial tweaking in Google Chrome, because I like the way that the developer tools make it easy to modify the stylesheet. The Chrome CSS Reloader extension is handy, too. Most of the time, I make my CSS changes in the text editor, then use the CSS Reloader to reload the stylesheet without refreshing the page. This makes it easy to manually toggle the display of some elements while allowing me to refresh style rules. If I want to figure out the values for a few simple changes, I’ll sometimes make the changes directly in Chrome (you can use arrow keys to adjust values), then copy the values to my Sass source file.

Colors, sizes, and spaces

A second monitor is totally awesome and well worth it.

Designs rarely specify all the colours, sizes, and spacing needed. To quickly get the color of a pixel, I use WhatColor. This shows the hex code for colors, and allows me to quickly copy the code with the F12 shortcut key. If you want to change the shortcut key, the source is available as an AutoHotkey script.

To make it easier to match sizes and spaces, I use WinWarden to make my browser window 20% translucent. Then I carefully position it over my design reference until the important features match. Magnifixer makes it easier to line things up because it can magnify a fixed portion of the screen. By focusing Magnifixer on the part I’m working on, I can tweak CSS without straining my eyes.

When I know I’m going to be making a lot of changes, I use AutoHotkey to map a shortcut so that I can refresh the CSS with one keystroke instead of several. When I happen to have my USB foot pedal handy, I rig it up to refresh my stylesheet.

Regression testing

Sometimes my CSS changes modify other rules. Instead of laboriously checking each page after changes, I’ve figured out how to use Selenium WebDriver to write a Java program that loads the pages in Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer, capturing screenshots and numbering them according to the pages in my design reference. This means that I can run the program in the background or start it before taking a break, and then flip through all the screenshots when I get back.

Cross-browser testing

What’s CSS theming without the requirement of browser compatibility? Someday, when I need to deal with more browsers, I might look into Selenium RC. In the meantime, I develop in Chrome, my Selenium-based program makes it easier to test in Firefox and IE, and it’s easy enough to try the URLs in Safari as well. Virtual machines handle the rest of the requirements. 

So that’s how I’ve been doing CSS theming on this project. What are your favourite tips?

Read the original or check out the comments on: My CSS theming setup (Sacha Chua's blog)

Drupal Science Camp was the first Drupalcamp in the UK of 2012. It was wonderfully organised by Rachel Lawson and Euan Bayliss at a magnificent venue provided free of charge by Napp Pharmaceuticals Limited.

Computerminds had the privilege of being one of the sponsors of the event. It was great to be able to support a weekend of learning and general Drupal fun.

We'd like to say a big thank you everyone involved with the event, from organisers to attendees and even those that weren't there, but made the event possible. Thank you! It was really great, and sets a high standard for Drupalcamps in the UK going forward.

Saturday was filled with great presentations about many different aspects of Drupal, from site migration to the Drupal community itself. Because of the efforts of Steve Purkiss many of the presentations were recorded and you can view them on archive.org. There was also plenty of time to chat to the other Drupal peeps, asking questions, connecting with people doing similar things and generally catching up.

Sunday was a much more free-flowing in format, people proposed sessions on large post-it notes and then they were arranged into a schedule on a wall. This was great, and again there were some really brilliant discussions happening and a lot of ideas being transferred and digested.

More Drupalcamps

There are already plans for more Drupalcamps this year in the UK:

• Brighton in April
• Edinburgh in May
• Oxford in June

Keep an eye on those links for more details, and hope to see you there!

Dries Buytaert (via DrupalFire)

We're proud to present a new design for the Mollom.com website.

We first launched the Mollom.com site in 2007. For more than four years, Mollom.com was using the same design. As we grew Mollom, we wanted to address some of the issues that we've been stewing over since our original design. We have been planning to redesign the site for over a year now but work on the Mollom web service and developing new Mollom products have always had a higher priority so we haven't found the time to complete the new design until now.

The old Mollom.com design that we used from 2007 to early 2012.

The new design is the first step in our plans to reorganize the website. We still have updates to make to the content of some pages, for example. Already, we think the new design is a fresh new change that improves usability.

Take a look at the new mollom.com, we hope you like it!

The new Mollom.com website design.

Lullabot (via DrupalFire)

Whether you're building a Delicious-style link archive or a personal portfolio site, Drupal's Link Field is a great solution for storing user-entered URLs as part of a node. If you want to display something more visual than a URL, however, things get tricky. Third-party thumbnail generation services can create screenshots of URLs, but most rely on clunky client-side scripts to layer the thumbnails on top of your design. The Pagepeeker module offers a slick alternative: it leverages an up-and-coming thumbnail service to generate site screenshots without any Javascript code.

Setting up the module is simple: create a Link field, then select the PagePeeker display formatter. You can choose from several thumbnail sizes, or pull in the 16x16 Favicon for the linked URL. If you're working with links that aren't stored in FieldAPI fields, the module also provides a helpful theme function. Just toss a URL at it, specify the size of thumbnail you want, and it will output a linked image tag.

With regard imaginative graffiti art tutorials with fresh look and useful trainings, in this tutorial roundup we have appealing graffiti tutorials to get more exposure as graphic designer, we have colorful graffiti designs by way of abstract artwork using Adobe Photoshop designing tool with more advanced techniques.

This awe-inspiring art belong to multicolor paints as our attention-grabbing in horde of colors but likewise improve them to make some of the most outstanding graffiti art designs. We hope you will learn more techniques from these of all Graffiti Art Tutorials.

Classic Photoshop Tutorial: Paint digital graffiti onto photos

Graffiti has influenced many of today’s graphic designers and illustrators: skateboard graphics, clothing, and the music industry have all drawn on it heavily, while the distinctive graffiti style pops up in ads, magazines and elsewhere.

Become a graffiti artist.

Street art has a massive influence on the graphic design scene. It affects the many different graphic ,disciplines, and touches all forms of design – just look in your local newsagent, on yourTV, the Internet or your nearest record store. It’s plain to see that the ‘graffiti style’ is becoming very popular indeed, and will soon dominate many visual campaigns.

Classic Photoshop & Illustrator Tutorial: Design a graffiti-style screenprint artwork

Screen-printing gives your designs fantastically rich colour and a quality of image that just isn’t possible with most other techniques – which partly explains why it’s become so hugely popular for designer prints in the past few years.

Create a Graffiti in Inkscape – Tutorial

Filip Komorowski shows us how to create a fresh throw up graffiti in Inkscape.This shown vector effects could be easily done in every other vector program as well.

Graffiti Fonts™ Tutorials – GF3 – Tutorail 1 – Using images as backgrounds & fills

This tutorial is done with Adobe Photoshop™, however this exact process can also be done in GIMP or even with the “Paint” application included on most PCs. This tutorial uses Highgrounds “Wildstyle” font family and images from the Graffiti Fonts™ 3.0 collection.

Graffiti stamp art in Photoshop

Photoshop‘s Brush tool doesn’t necessarily have to be used for painting. It can be a useful stamp for creating instances of stencil or stamp art as well. Instead of painting a stroke, you can use a single mouse-click to create an impression of your brush tip on the canvas.

JF-DRAW – Basic Use Manual- JF-Draw – Cross Platform, JAVA Vector Drawing Application

The interface is very self explanitory and user friendly. Anyone with experience in graphic design will figure it out quickly. Here are a few quick guides to perform basic tasks in VectorGraff.

Design Japanese-style graffiti

In this project, I’ll show you how to create an authentic-looking Japanese design of your own that can be transferred to a skateboard deck. It might seem easier to draw the letters – which here spell ‘Imaone’ – straight onto the board by hand.

Graffiti Art Effects

This tutorial is a step by step method of developing characters that appear authentic to graffiti street art.

From sketch to wall

This tutorial will guide you through the initial stages of planning through to the production of a finished painting. The process starts with a sketch that is then prepared and rendered in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.

Realistic Graffiti Tutorial

I was disappointed when I found none for the gimp. Even the photoshop ones sucked. I saw the thread on afro graffiti and started messing with it and here’s the tut. Oh and props to BlazingMoon13.

Realistic Graffiti Effect Photoshop Tutorial

This tutorial is to provide an aspiring Photoshop graffiti writer the techniques, which is required to attach an image and graffiti with realism.

From spray paint to pixel

“The main thing you’ll need is spray paint. Alien and Belton are my favourite brands, but have a go with Monster and Montana too. You’ll also need a selection of different caps for your cans. Available in fat, skinny or super skinny, they help achieve the different thicknesses you see on most graffiti art.

Creating and Implementing Graffiti

In this tutorial I will teach you how to create your own graffiti text. I will also teach you how to apply that graffiti text to a picture and make it look realistic.

Graffiti-style Flash

The Trace Bitmap function, which enables you to convert bitmap images into vectors, has been available in Flash since the earliest versions, but few of us use it. The secret is in the preparatory work in Photoshop, which enables you to use the threshold function to turn a portrait photo into a vector illustration.

Graffiti with Photoshop

If you like the vague version of step 5 more, but with the blurred edges, you can select the blurred layer and click (while holding CTRL) on the thumbnail of the original logo layer. This way you’ll select the outlines of the original layer. If you’ve done this, press DELETE to delete the selected part from the blurred layer.

Virtual murals

In this tutorial, we’ll look at how to plan a mural digitally, from taking the photos of a site through to wrapping up a cohesive digital image. We’ll explore a couple of techniques for creating stencils, as well as a method for incorporating hand-drawn ones. We’ll also have some fun playing with street signs, perspective distortion and image manipulation. There’s a lot to cover, so it’s probably best to get started!

Amazing Graffiti HDR tutorial

This graffiti tutorial incorporates mesmerizing features of HDR. Here, you will learn how to use HDR magnificently using just a single picture.

Create your own graffiti fonts

If you are itching to make your own graffiti font and do not have the time to create your own, there’s a hand-styled design in the support files so you can get started. To complete this tutorial successfully, you must be competent in Fontographer, Photoshop and Illustrator CS2.

Pringle Chips Logo as Wall Graffiti

This photoshop tutorial will teach you to draw pringle logo and make it a wall graffiti Everybody loves Pringles, right? well I do.

Make Graffiti Effect Photoshop

This tutorial is to make you understand that any kind of graffiti can be created. This also demonstrates the use of CS2 tools such a ‘transform’ and ‘perspective’ of Photoshop.

How to make a graffiti effect using Photoshop

In this tutorial we will show you how to make graffiti on any wall without running the risk of being fined.

Digital Graffiti

Use this photoshop tutorial to help you use the path and pen tool to create some trendy digital graffiti artwork. this graffiti tutorial is not like the other tutorials where you just follow step by step.

Drawing Graffiti

This tutorial is wonderful. It teaches how to incorporate your drawing tints into a real picture. It tells you about special tools of Photoshop, which assist a graffiti writer in changing the picture into a magnificent drawing.

Photoshop Graffiti Tutorial

You would love to learn this, if you are bitten by the bug of creativity. Blending two photographs in brilliant manner, it creates a transparency effect. This teaches to uses the overlaying tools of Photoshop.

Károly Négyesi (via DrupalFire)

I am taking a break from core development for personal reasons. After writing close to 800 core patches and spending years almost nonstop on core development, I need a break. Please leave me out of core debates on IRC, emails etc. Thanks! Contrib work will continue especially on redis_ssi and relation (mostly thanks to my generous sponsors). I am not against paid core bugfixes either :) contact me for paid core or contrib work, I promise to charge a lot less than normal for code contributed back to drupal.org.

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Metal Toad Media (via DrupalFire)

When we added the Compass CSS authoring framework to our projects, new wrinkles appeared in the deployment process. Committing the artifacts to Git was used for our first prototypes, but is unsuitable for team projects because it's a sure-fire way to introduce merge conflicts. Running compass on the server (either with Cap or the Drupal module) is appealing, but a minority of our projects deploy to hosts without the ability to install Compass. Rather than support multiple strategies, we decided on executing Compass locally on the workstation running Capistrano. Changes are needed to several files:

• Read more

Everyone planning their coming holiday “Saint Valentine’s Day” how to express feeling to a beloved one, so much ideas already publish on the web and some related with our blog are here below as “50 Valentine’s Day Inspired Wallpapers with More Love and Feelings” most attractive and romantic festivity ahead in few weeks. During this period everyone collect ideas and related stuff like all computer users are finding valentine themed wallpapers around the web and we instantly getting in touch with every updated regarding romantic day of February 14 2012.

We must give the chance to our computer desktop for celebrate this red color event parallel with us, so why you still thinking go below slowly and choose adorable wallpapers as your valentine.

As tutorial specific blog we are here always with useful and occasion related tutorials, in this roundup “Valentine’s Day Special – 30 Exciting Photoshop Tutorials” every designer must be busy to design their print media campaigns, website designs inspired by valentines, logo design according to this romantic occasion and some bloggers are busy to compile maximum data to present their respected visitors and readers to get ideas and design inspirations, how to design on valentine’s inspired designs and these of all below tutorials will help you a lot to design valentine’s special designs and also useful techniques and research work involve there when their authors was making this individual tutorial, you must be enjoy to get ideas for design your upcoming and ongoing designing tasks.

Design a Sleek Valentine’s Day Card

Valentine’s is all about love, although in recent years it’s also become about greeting cards! Luckily you can create your own Valentine’s card in Photoshop. Today we’ll be designing a sleek Valentine’s card to impress your loved ones.

Hearts on Sun Rays Background Wallpaper

A tutorial for creating a grungy heart and sun-ray wallpaper.

Rose for Saint Valentine’s Day

Learn in this tutorial how to create your own Saint Valentine’s Day wallpaper.

Make a Valentines Day Card

How to create elegant Valentine’s Day card with ornamental heart in Photoshop CS5

In the following Quick Tip tutorial you will learn how to use Custom shapes, Layer styles, and Gradients in Photoshop CS5 to create elegant Valentine’s Day card with ornamental heart. You can use these techniques and elements to create your own greeting card!

Valentine’s Day eCard – Photoshop Graphic Design Tutorial 16

It’s one day before Valentine’s Day, and I am sure that many of you guys out there are trying to find quick ways to impress your lover and say Happy Valentine’s day in a creative way.  Whether it’s a Valentine’s note or card, this graphic design Photoshop tutorial will show you how to design a beautiful and effective poster for your valentine.

Create a valentine’s day post card

In this tutorial you will learn how to create an romantic Valentine’s day postcard.

Valentine’s day hearts

The next lesson I’ll show you a possibility of designing the abstract background for Valentine’s Day, made very stylish.

Valentine’s Day Ideas

Learn in this tutorial how to create a vector Valentine’s heart with additional effects and textures.

Create an abstract Valentine background with hearts

In this tutorial, you’ll see how to create an abstract Valentine background, using a simple shape from Custom Shapes Tool and crosshatch brush from Brush Tool. So let’s start!

Creating a Simple Valentine’s Day e-Card

Alright folks, first tutorial here. We’re going to create a simple Valentine’s Day e-card for your special someone – as a plan B, just in case you forget that present. In the process, you will learn how to create a brush of your own and edit some of its more advanced settings.

Valentine card

This example shows how to create a Valentine’s Day card for your loved ones. With the collage creation program AKVIS Chameleonit is simple, and it makes the creative process a pleasure. Your gift will be original and unique.

Grunge Valentine’s Design

Foreground colour is not important as we will be adding a gradient overlay.

Valentines Day Card

Learn how to make a Valentine Day ecard in this tutorial:

Valentines Day – Photoshop Style

I also thought this technique could be used by others that have the same plan, so here it goes. I will teach you some nice techniques that could improve your experience and also help you make a great gift.

Show Your Love with Semitransparent Amorous Text Effect

This is a tutorial on how to make semitransparent amorous text effect by using some layer styles.

Quickie Valentine’s Day Wallpaper

Good evening welcome to another tutorial by hv-designs, this is just a quick tutorial for you all to try for valentines day.

Lovely Heart Vector

A lovely heart with flowers, leaves and curls. Have fun using!

Using Creative Art in Valentine Greeting Card

This holiday so important almost for each of us. That’s why I decided to prepare for you one more interesting Photoshop tutorial about how to make Valentine greeting card by using creative art.

Designing A Valentine Card From Scratch

I’ve created an illustration and convert it into a valentine card. I will show you the process of the creation. I am sorry to tell you that I am not going to provide the vector within the download for this tutorial. However, if you are interested in getting my sweet valentine’s couple,

How to create Colorful Valentine’s Day card with shining heart in Photoshop CS5

We have another great tutorial available for our readers today. If you want to learn how to create Colorful Valentine’s Day card with shining heart, using simple shapes and gradients in Adobe Photoshop CS5, then this tutorial is for you.

Valentine 1

Free valentine vector images especially for you:)

How to Draw the Declaration of Love

Learn how to draw the declaration of love in this cool tutorial:

Calendar Wallpaper (Valentine’s Day)

Valentine’s Day or Saint Valentine’s Day is a holiday celebrated on February 14. When I think of February – love, heart, images of happiness come to my mind. This happiness is the one that I wanted to express in the calendar.

Amorous Wallpaper

In this Photoshop tutorial we’ll be designing a simple but stylish amorous wallpaper.

How to create 3D Love text composition

In this tutorial, I will show you how to make a stunning 3D text effect using different textures to give it a unique look with Xsara3D & Photoshop.

Vector Wallpaper

Make anew file with 1024×768 px and 100 dpi. Take the following instrument

How to create abstract Valentine’s Day illustration with hearts in Photoshop CS5

In this tutorial, I will show you how to create abstract eye catching Valentine’s Day illustration with hearts from scratch using several techniques in Adobe Photoshop CS5. Let’s get started!

Valentine’s Day Cards

Learn how to design the background of heartshape forms for Valentine’s Day.

How to Create a Romantic Valentine’s Day card

In this tutorial, you’ll learn to design a romantic Valentine’s Day card from scratch in Photoshop. Here is a simple tutorial for beginners in the spirit of Valentine’s Day which will explain how to use Pen Tool, Custom Shape and Layer Style to create a romantic card in Photoshop. Let’s get started!

Find out how you can add a feedback form to your website using the Dreamweaver CS5.5 web editor. This is the final chapter of the Dreamweaver CS5.5 tutorial, so if you are considering creating a website with this editor, the complete tutorial is now available online.

Dries Buytaert (via DrupalFire)

Like at previous DrupalCon's, I'm co-organizing a Core Conversations track at DrupalCon Denver.

The Core Conversations track is a place for people actively working on Drupal or Drupal.org to meet and plan the future of Drupal. Each session is either two 15 minute or one 30 minute presentation, followed by 30 minutes of discussion.

I know a lot of you contribute to Drupal or want to start contributing. If so, Core Conversations are a unique opportunity to present in front of key Drupal contributors, and to make the case for why we need to do more of A or B (e.g. authoring experience improvements, API overhauls, etc.). We need UX conversations, performance conversations, feature conversations, etc. Please share your ideas with the world through Drupal core.

If you have ideas for Drupal core, and you are attending DrupalCon, I suggest that you submit a proposal as soon as possible. The deadline is February 1st so don't wait too long. To get your ideas flowing, here are our conversations from Drupalcon London and Drupal Chicago.

Cocomore (via DrupalFire)

Installing Tomcat6 and Apache Solr

Installation procedure

While there are several ways to install Tomcat 6 and Apache Solr, we will use the repository version to gain the benefit of automatic updates.

What is needed:

1. Tomcat6 as Servlet container

   sudo apt-get install tomcat6
   sudo apt-get install tomcat6-admin

2. Apache Solr Search Server

   sudo apt-get install solr-tomcat

Once everything has been correctly installed, you should see the message, “It works!” at http://localhost:8080 and “Welcome to Solr!” at http://localhost:8080/solr/

Configuring Tomcat 6

In the default Tomcat installation, no privileges are created for the Tomcat Manager, so in order to make use of the Tomcat Manager GUI, we still have to create the proper role and a corresponding user.

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