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The JavaScript Anthology: 101 Essential Tips, Tricks & Hacks (external link)
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Blog Entries from July 2007
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Photoshop: Simple Logo
Today we are going to learn how to create a stylish and simple logo.
Step One:
Start by creating a new image document. The dimensions can be whatever you like; I will be using 244x72 pixels.
Step Two:
Select the "Type Tool" and write the name of your website. Use any font and any colour you like. For the font, I will be using a black (#000000) "Orator Std". Edit the first letter to be the same colour as your background; in my case, this colour is white (#FFFFFF).
Step Three:
Now grab the "Custom Shape Tool." Place a shape of your choice where normally your first letter would be. Make this shape any colour you like. I will be using Lowter's infamous "L" arrow, slightly modified to fit my logo.
You should now have something like this:
Step Four:
Once again, grab the "Type Tool." Write your website's slogan using a smaller font-size than on your website's name. Place this slogan at the end of your website's name so that the last characters of both text are aligned. Then change the colour of the first word in your slogan to the same colour as your custom shape.
You should now have something like this:
Step Five:
Now your logo looks quite decent doesn't it? However something is missing... something small. Let's do something about that! Grab your "Pencil Tool" and draw a 1px line from the top of your slogan to the custom shape. Repeat this step, but instead from the bottom of your slogan. Last, in the middle of your two new lines, add a 2px line.
Here is my final result:
There we go! I hope you have learnt a new way to create a simple stylish logo.
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Ubuntu for a Family Computer
Last week I officially converted my family's computer to Ubuntu (external link). Previously, it was running Windows XP and it was littered with spam, viruses, and other junk. Being an older PC, it ran disappointingly slow on Windows. Overall, the computer was due for a fresh install of something; Linux seemed suiting.
In the past, I have used various Linux distros and have never been truly satisfied. Hardware configuration always presents a problem, trying to recompile the kernel with various drivers and such. It just never seemed to work like Windows in terms of ease of setup. I had heard all of this talk about Ubuntu, so I figured I would give it a shot.
I spent an hour backing up emails, photos, documents, and other data from the family computer.
Installing Ubuntu was a snap. When you pop the CD into the computer it boots into a Live-CD version of Ubuntu. There is then an icon on the desktop to begin installing Ubuntu to the hard disk. It actually installed in less than forty-five minutes!
Ubuntu appears to run much faster than Windows did. There is virtually no delay when logging in and applications run perfectly. No spam pop-ups either, thank goodness.
While configuring Ubuntu, the only issues I ran into were screen resolution and screen positioning. I ended up finding an ideal resolution, but the positioning still seems to constantly reset itself when the computer wakes up from sleep mode. I am still attempting to fix this annoying problem.
Permissions, in Linux in general, are a real pain. I login as root, open up a CD containing backup data, and distribute files to each user's home folder. When I login as these users I cannot open or move the files because they are "owned" by the root user. It just becomes a hassle when you are trying to manage the system. I was using Nautilus (GNOME's file browser), so perhaps this exact permissions behaviour is Nautilus-specific. Nevertheless, it is a hassle to general users.
Mozilla Thunderbird (external link) turned out to be a big flop. After installing Thunderbird, I quickly realised that there was no import/export tool! I tried manually moving the mbox files into Thunderbird, but alas Thunderbird would not except them. I ended up using Evolution, Ubuntu's default email client, which worked perfectly.
Installing most applications is a cinch. You can find a ton of applications from Ubuntu's application manager, which can all be installed with a few clicks. The application directory contains every application that the average user will need, and much more.
Overall, I am extremely pleased with how far forward Linux has moved in such a short period of time. Ubuntu (external link) actually makes Linux enjoyable! It's free too, which is certainly a perk.
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Developing with Facebook
Just a quick props to David Mytton for his latest article published on SitePoint: Developing with the Facebook Platform and PHP (external link). Anyone interested in developing a Facebook application should definitely take a look at it.
I also came across a tutorial for developing Facebook applications using Ruby on Rails (external link).
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