Expanding the skill set: JavaScript and CSS Background Changer
Once again I find myself confronted with having to use Javascript for a project. This time a dynamic background changer was needed (aka skin toggle). Using my feeble JavaScript Skills and a bit of copy and pasting I manage to put together a working template.
Here is an example. You can change the background of this site by clicking on the following thumnails:
How it works:
Firstly the background images are created/selected and placed in a folder together. Next name them the same with a just changing a number/letter/word at the end that. I recommend numbering them sequentially.
In an image editor crop small area of the image you will use as a button for it. You can of course use text buttons instead. In this case I have chosen to make the area around the buttons to change background to match the background image. If you want this effect then crop the large background images into smaller ones that match the size of the area you want to skin. Name the small background images the same as their larger counterparts adding a letter/number to the end. In the example I have used letter ‘a’.
Filed under Ask the Guru, CSS, Newsflash, Tutorials, case study, expanding the skillset | Comments (4)Crazy Microsoft Office Pricing
Am I missing something or is it cheaper to buy Microsoft Office components separately rather bundled in one package?
Office Home and Student edition for £119 (£96 on Amazon) contains the main office suite - Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote.
Office Standard for £349 (£292 on Amazon) contains - Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook.
Outlook by itself is £85 (same on Amazon). So let’s see Office Home and Student PLUS Outlook separately is £96 + £85 = £181 and you have OneNote as an extra bonus (not that I’d ever use it).
Based on Amazon prices I’d be paying an extra £110 for the privilege of buying office with outlook in one box. Based on RRP I’d be paying £145 more. Plus I’d be losing OneNote.
Is there something I’m missing or is Microsoft really bad at math. The sad thing is a lot of people won’t notice this and will pay the extra £110-145 for a standard office edition - Madness!
Filed under Newsflash | Comment (0)Dreamweaver (and other XML editors) break Vista help and support
If you are installing a web design tool such as Dreamweaver be vary wary over making it your default editor for certain file types.
When I installed Dreamweaver it, by default, becomes the default editor for xml files. In previous versions of Windows this was not a problem. However, in Vista if you accept this you will no longer be able to view help or support pages.
If you’ve already screwed up help and support you can use this fix:
http://www.chris123nt.com/guides/RTM_Fixes/Fix_Help_and_Support.zip
This registry edit will restore Help and Support in Windows Vista.
Credit for this fix goes to Kristan - you can see the full thread on the Microsoft newsgroups.
Filed under Newsflash, Tech news, Tools, Tutorials, Vista | Comment (0)Windows Vista: DreamScene Preview released for Ultimate users
If you’ve seen the Microsoft CES 2007 presentation you’ll have noticed the cool new video desktop feature. This a available as free update for Vista Ultimate users. The Preview version of Dream scene was released yesterday.
DreamScene supports WMV and MPG video files. It only comes with one sample video file (not the one from CES that is sold by Corbis) with subtle movements making it suitable for desktop background use. WinCustomise.com have made a DreamScene enhancement that allows it to support the newly created .dream files. You can also download about 15 videos on the site.
Lots of forums are getting floods of requests for HD or DreamScene suitable video. Some good ones can be found here. There is definitely a market out there for a company to sell high-quality DreamScene desktops.
If you have Vista Ultimate do a Windows update and look for an optional Ultimate Extra called DreamScene Preview.
Some DreamScene videos in action:
This video demos not only dream scene but also windows sidebar Gadgets, Vista Aero effects, Flip3D, Windows media player 11, Vista image preview and more.
The Vista Experience
I’ve had Vista Ultimate installed for about a week now and feel ready to give feedback on the new Microsoft OS.
Installation
Having the full Ultimate 32-bit edition I had 3 install options - 1) Upgrade, 2) Clean install from within windows 3) Clean install booting from CD.
I used the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor to see if I could expect any hardware/software issues. While my hardware checked out ok there were several apps that were not Vista friendly. Two were flat out incompatible and required removal before an upgrade should be attempted. This was Norton Internet Security 2006 and Nero Burning Rom OEM.
This is where I think some people come unstuck with upgrades, they don’t check the software incompatiblies before attempting an upgrade. However saying that after removing the offending programs and a couple of the apps classed as minor problems my clean install from within windows failed.
I opted for a clean install booting from the Disc.
Drivers/hardware
After a fairly quick install I thought all my hardware had been detected as Windows looked so good. However, closer inspection showed a lot of missing drivers including my graphics, and sound cards. Without drivers the display was limited to 800×600 but still appeared clear and colourful. I still had sound, if only in stereo. Once the correct drivers were downloaded and installed I could get full surround sound, high-resolution graphics and the long awaited Aero enhancements.
Finding how to turn on the Aero enhancements wasn’t obvious but a quick search of the help solved that.
I thought I would have little use of Flip 3D other than showing off. However, as my Logitech mouse has additional buttons I found one of them activated flip 3D. I could then use the scroll wheel to skip through the open apps. Rather than waiting for the one I want to come to the front I could use the mouse to click any of the programs in the deck to go to it. This soon became a very quick and easy way to navigate between programes. I still use Alt-tab too but Flip 3D is defintely more useful than I imagined.
Ultimate Extras
The main reason I got the Ultimate edition was for the Ultimate Extras. So far it’s not earnt it’s hype. There have been no cool updates to speak of. Even the DreamScene and GroupShot extras demoed at CES are absent. I did manage to download GroupShot from the Microsoft research site (which works great) but this is available to all windows users (even xp I believe) not just Vista Ultimate. DreamScene is still unavailable as far as I can see.
Access rights
As I did a clean install of Vista on a different hard drive my previous XP installation was still intact. A problem I had in the past with dual boot systems was not being able to access some files on the alternate installation due to access rights. This is not a problem for Vista. When trying to view my windows XP documents folder I am warned I do not have Access rights, however, I am offered the option to “take over ownership” As long as you are logged in as an administrator on your Vista build you can take over ownership of any folder and then access it anytime. As to what happens to my XP installation when I try restarting that again I can’t say as I haven’t tried yet.
From the viewpoint of Front-end developer
Of course it wouldn’t be a good blog post without looking at Windows Vista from the viewpoint of a front-end developer.
The first change is of course Internet Explorer 7 being built in to the OS. This means if you were hanging on to IE6 for testing purposes you will need to get the stand-alone edition. I haven’t tested installing this on Vista yet but this worked fine on XP.
Firefox installed seemlessly as always but I encountered a problem when trying to view online video. Although Windows Media Player 11 is installed as part of Vista the required dll files required by firefox and other browsers are missing. This means playing streamed windows media is only possible in IE7. This is quiet a sneaky move by Microsoft but easily remedied. Simply download the missing dll files into the firefox plugins folder (usually C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\plugins) or better still in the windows media folder so it can be used by all browsers you may install.
You can find the missing files on dlldump.com
If this doesn’t solve the problem get more indepth help here: http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?t=206213
What about the tools of the trade? The Adobe/Macromedia Apps -
You’ll be pleased to know Dreamweaver 8, Flash 8, Photoshop CS2 and Fireworks 8 all run on Vista. However, there are some compatibility issues. If you use the Windows Aero effects you will find they become disabled when you open Fireworks. Windows Vista will switch to “Windows Vista Basic” mode until you close the program. Flash also has issues. It will not force Vista in to Basic mode but you will probably want to do this manually as whenever you enter or exit a set of grouped items the usually near instant transition effect of entering or exiting the group is slowed to a snails pace. This means a 2-3 second wait every time you edit or exit a grouped object - nightmare.
If found no negative side effects in Dreamweaver 8. Photoshop I’ve only opened to see if it would run and haven’t done any indepth testing yet.
The Vista shadow versioning feature could prove useful. Often I make sequence of pages and use one as a template for the next page. In my absent mindedness I sometimes save over my template with the most recent work - trouble. With Shadow backup each individual file is backed up by windows so that I can get back to previous versions of a file if I save over it. Not actually got it to work yet as none of my files seem to have previous versions yet even when I tried a creating a test file. This works like a charm now.
I use a program called PowerDirector from Cyberlink to edit and export video in web friendly formats or for making home movie DVDs. This cannot be run or re-installed anymore. Tech supports solution is to upgrade to their new Premium edition which is Vista Compatible. I am still considering this. Other Apps not liked by Vista is Norton Internet Security 2007.
Filed under Browsers, Plugins, Tech news, Tools, Tutorials | Comment (1)
