Welcome to the new How To Gurus Blog

Where you can always find my latest Demos and YouTube Videos. You will find samples taken from my Training DVDs and also exclusive videos created specifically for my online audience.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Fixing palette and menu locations in Dreamweaver 8


Hi George:
I did something to dreamweaver and lost the side panel and properties director.
These things came up automatically. Also, when I did this, I could not expand the page to the side to see the files, css etc. Nor, Can I expand the file downwards.
Could you please let me know how to make this correction.

Try this. Go to the Window menu,
Scroll down towards the bottom
You will see Workspace Layout
Clicking on that will open up a flyout menu
Click on Designer in the flyout menu, that is the default for Dreamweaver
That should put everything back to the normal setting.
George

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Some thoughts on Computer Monitors

"Hi George,
I'm starting to look for a new computer monitor that will be used primarily for Photoshop editing etc. There are a number of 20" to 22" inch widescreen LCD monitors in the under $300.00 range - however, I'm not sure if widescreen systems are the best choice for digital editing. I noticed some of the specs describe 1680 x 1050 resolution and a 16:10 aspect ratio. The small print in the specs also say if you use a resolution other than the recommended one, you may see degradation or other visual artifacts.
Any tips on what I should look for in a monitor or suggestions on specific models that you might have experience with would be greatly appreciated." ....


No specific recommendations, but I do have some general ones. First off, if you are looking for exacting color accuracy then you should be looking at a CRT and not an LCD. Most people don't need exact color match, but if you are working in the printing industry then this could be a consideration (designing magazine ads for instance). Any design work for the web or digital output (CDs, DVDs) really doesn't need the high color accuracy of a CRT, since you have no control over what monitor the image will be viewed on. Differences in viewing monitors will be much larger than any color inaccuracy in an LCD.
The more expensive the LCD, generally the better the color accuracy. I do all of my design work using a CRT, but I have an LCD as a second monitor on my system.
As far as screen resolution goes, it really doesn't matter. Basically the larger the resolution the smaller the images will appear on the screen, so with a large screen you can go for a large resolution. A smaller screen would require a smaller resolution so that the images (icons, text, etc.) would not get too small to be useful. Most CRTs can change resolution with no loss of quality. Most LCDs are limited to a small number of resolution settings and many are limited to one recommended setting. Changing resolutions on an LCD can cause a significant loss of quality, so you should stick with the recommended setting. A wide screen useful in a few cases: you can see a larger desktop on your computer (like taking a normal screen and stretching it out sideways to show more of the desktop). This would allow you to have more room on your screen to work with, which can be useful if you are creating wide images, like 2 page magazine spreads. Of course a wide screen will also show wide screen DVD movies more accurately, so if you plan on watching movies on your computer a widescreen LCD would be a good choice. Also if you are planning on editing video, then the same advantage applies. Most print design work is vertical so a wide screen would not be an advantage there. Basically with a wide screen you can have your program opened up normally and still have some space off to the side to show more stuff. But aside from that there is no real design advantage to having a wide screen.
As far as specific models, go with a well known name brand, my personal preference is for IBM and NEC but there are lots of other good name brands out there. Don't get a budget monitor, you will get what you pay for. There are many areas in the computer world where price and quality don't really matter, but Monitors are one of the few areas where it is worth spending a little more for better quality.
George