Finding Your Way Through the Labyrinth In April, I shared some of my insights and experiences with themes at the WordPress Southwest Florida MeetUp. Below are the slides and key topics from my presentation. There has been an explosion in the number … [Read More...] about How to Choose a WordPress Theme
Packaging Illustrator Files
Adobe introduced the package feature for Illustrator with CS6. Prior to this welcomed update, we had to manually duplicate our Illustrator files and collect all of the associated images and fonts into a folder. Talk about opportunities for error! Unless you were extra careful, it was inevitable that a font or image (or two) would be missing from the folder that you sent off to the print vendor. You can't simply email the Illustrator file to whoever needs it. You must provide the Illustrator … [Read more...] about Packaging Illustrator Files
Preflighting and Packaging InDesign Files
Sooner or later, you will discover that sending an InDesign file to another person or vendor is a bit more complicated than simply emailing the file. You must provide the InDesign document along with all of its associated images and fonts. Otherwise, the recipient won't be able to do much beyond opening the InDesign file. InDesign has two great tools that work in tandem with each other: Preflight Panel and Package. The Preflight Panel alerts you about any prepress issues in the file. If you … [Read more...] about Preflighting and Packaging InDesign Files
My Core Set of WordPress Plugins
There are so many WordPress plugins to choose from! How do you even begin to make choices? To help get you started, I've compiled a list of my "go to" plugins, the ones that I use for each WordPress install I do. Most are free, some are premium (you must purchase). Core Set of Plugins TweetMeme/Like/Share This — places a button at the top or bottom of a post, which helps readers share your content on a number of sites, such as Digg, Delicious, FaceBook, LinkedIn, MySpace, RSS, … [Read more...] about My Core Set of WordPress Plugins
Two Great Ways to Create Masks in Photoshop
Masks are powerful tools for manipulating images. Just as Halloween masks hide and protect areas of the face, Photoshop masks hide and protect areas of an image. You use masks to isolate the parts that you want to change. For instance, let’s say you are designing a magazine cover and do a photo shoot of a musician at the beach. When you get back to your studio, the client decides that the beach is too complex and he/she prefers a simpler backdrop…. Yikes! Instead of doing another photo shoot … [Read more...] about Two Great Ways to Create Masks in Photoshop
Distracted Driving Project 2017
I like to begin the school year with a socially relevant assignment in my Graphic Design 2 class. Last year’s distracted driving project provided a great forum for addressing a subject that touches all of us, so I assigned it again this year. At first, the students approached the assignment with some apprehension, partly because of the seriousness of the subject. But they analyzed the problem well and designed with unique perspectives that focused on the best ways to reach their target … [Read more...] about Distracted Driving Project 2017
How to Create Masks in Illustrator
Called Clipping Paths in Illustrator, masks are shapes that are used to hide areas of color or images. The portion of color or image that lies within the shape of the mask is visible. Designers create masks to clip images and insert images inside text. The benefit of masks is that they are non-destructive. The hidden areas are still in the file (they haven't been deleted) and you can easily edit them. Four Ways to Make a Mask 1 - Mask Button This is an easy way to mask an image with a … [Read more...] about How to Create Masks in Illustrator
Image Captions in WordPress
Shortly after writing an article about Adding Images to WordPress Pages and Posts, I received an inquiry about how to add captions to images. Captions are the small text that appears underneath pictures. They often contain brief descriptions and copyright information. You can add captions to individual images or to multiple images. Captions for Individual Images Sometimes you'll realize that a caption is needed for an image after you've written a post or created a page. Go to the post or … [Read more...] about Image Captions in WordPress
How to Create a MailChimp RSS Campaign
MailChimp is a great tool for managing email subscriptions and marketing campaigns. It is free to use, up to 2,000 subscribers. I use it to send out notices about my recent work, upcoming events, and new blog posts. One of MailChimp's wonderful features is the ability to create RSS campaigns that automatically send email notices to your blog subscribers when a new post is written. I'll walk you through the steps of creating and sending an RSS campaign. Create a Campaign Log into MailChimp … [Read more...] about How to Create a MailChimp RSS Campaign
WordPress Pages vs. Posts
WordPress newbies often misunderstand the differences between pages and posts. If you use WordPress solely as a website platform, without a blog, then the confusion might be heightened, and for good reason! Let's compare pages and posts, so you can see how they differ. Pages These are the regular, static pages of your website. The content doesn't change, unless you edit the page. Typical pages are: ABOUT, CONTACT, SERVICES, RESOURCES, etc. Individual pages can be added to the navigation … [Read more...] about WordPress Pages vs. Posts
Logging into WordPress and Viewing the Back End
All websites have a front end and a back end. The front end is what is viewed by visitors, where we see the results of what happens on the back end. The back end is hidden from visitors, and only viewable to those who can either log into the site (as in WordPress and other content-management systems) or have access to the files used for building the site. Login Page In order to login to your WordPress site, you must navigate to the login page. To get to that page, you can usually add /login or … [Read more...] about Logging into WordPress and Viewing the Back End
Create an Illustrator File with Bleeds
Adobe Illustrator is primarily a drawing tool for vector art. But, you can also use it as a layout program, and there will be times when you need to include bleeds if the final piece is going to be printed. Posters, magazine covers, business cards, and postcards are some of the 1- or 2-sided layouts you can create in Illustrator. If the project has more than 2 sides or pages, then I recommend using InDesign. Creating a file with bleeds in Illustrator is actually pretty similar to what you do … [Read more...] about Create an Illustrator File with Bleeds
Changing Image Opacity in Photoshop
There are times when you need to ghost back an image so that text can be read when placed on top of it or perhaps even another image can be seen below it. Reducing the opacity moves the image in a 2-dimensional space to the middle-ground or background. It also increases the transparency and enables us to see what lies underneath. There are a couple of simple ways to reduce opacity in Photoshop and the steps are outlined below. Option #1 - Opacity Setting Open the file in Photoshop. Make … [Read more...] about Changing Image Opacity in Photoshop
Create a Seamless Pattern in Adobe Illustrator
I love patterns! There are so many applications for them: website backgrounds and headers, books, posters, CD packages, wrapping paper, iPhone cases, fabric, and more. It's fun making them, too. My tool of choice is Adobe Illustrator and here's how I do it. Create a new document. The dimensions should be square. I usually make mine 600 x 600 pixels. The edges represent the seam. Place your objects around the edges of the square so that part of the object is visible inside the square and … [Read more...] about Create a Seamless Pattern in Adobe Illustrator
Placing a Logo in a Genesis WordPress Header
I use the Genesis framework for the bulk of websites I build in WordPress. The reasons are many, but quite simply Genesis rocks! Fundamentally solid with clean code, it's highly customizable and it has a generous, active, knowledgeable support community. In some cases, depending on the theme, uploading an logo to a Genesis header can be a really simple process. In other cases, it's still simple, but a few additional steps are required. I'll show you both scenarios. NOTE: Be sure to back up … [Read more...] about Placing a Logo in a Genesis WordPress Header