Illustrator CS4 Tool Panel Overview
Illustrator CS4 Tools Panel Overview
May 29, 2009 By 2 Comments
How to subscribe to RSS
May 28, 2009 By Leave a Comment
RSS in Plain English by Common Craft is the best explanation of how to subscribe to an RSS.
Here’s a website that has an RSS feed you may want to subscribe to.
- Farm Equipment Classifieds
How to add a transparent favicon
May 4, 2009 By 3 Comments
Your favicon should be viewable across multiple browsers. Different browsers read things differently, so using two separate favicon images will assure the graphic will have a transparent background in all of them.
Create a new 16×16 pixel document with a transparent background in Photoshop. Draw or paste a graphic into the space. Part of a logo or image that carries the brand is best.
Save the file as Windows .ico format into the images folder of the website. In Photoshop CS4, the save as .ico format option is built in. CS3 and below requires an additional free plugin to have .ico as an available format.
Next, use the same imge and save for web. This time use a .png 8 format and 16 colors. Put it in the images folder again.
Put this code in the between the head tags of each page you want the favicon to show up on. If you are using a template or include file, better yet. You only have to do this once.
<link rel="shortcut icon" href="/http://yourdomain.com/images/favicon.png" type="image/x-icon" /> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="http://yourdomain.com/images/favicon.ico" />
That’s it! You have a new transparent favicon. If it isn’t working, make sure you uploaded all of the images and the pages.
Absolute vs. Relative Links
May 2, 2009 By 1 Comment
A link which shows the full URL of the page being linked at. Some links only show relative link paths instead of having the entire reference URL within the a href tag. Due to canonicalization and hijacking related issues it is typically preferred to use absolute links over relative links.
Example absolute link
<a href=”http://customdesigntools.com/folder/filename.html”>Cool Stuff</a>
Example relative link
<a href=”../folder/filename.html”>Cool Stuff</a>
Should You Design in RGB or CMYK?
January 3, 2009 By 7 Comments
The familiar color picker from Photoshop.
This is not the be-all end-all guide for color modes, just best practices from my experience designing for the printing industry.
The only thing that matters is the output.
The simple rule is: web=RGB, print=CMYK.
If you are designing for print, what will the final output be? What kind of press will this be printed on?
Offset: CMYK
Offset presses print from plates. Process printing uses cyan, magenta, yellow and black, or CMYK. It is an offset press that will print spot colors or varnish. Offset presses are for large print runs of single sheet printing like letterhead, cards or fliers.
Web press: CMYK
Newspapers and magazines are printed on a web press.
Ink jet: RGB
Desktop ink jets utilize the RGB data for printing. If you send a CMYK document, it will actually convert it to RGB so it can process it. Converting the color twice in this case will likely print unexpected color.
Digital: CMYK or RGB, not both.
Digital presses have a RIP that can process color data and make it printable. It can process RGB data and make it printable and it can process CMYK. If you have RGB and CMYK data on the same document, the RIP gets confused as to how it should handle the data and something will not look right. Pick a color mode and stick to it. Digital presses are similar to a color copier in function. They have a set number of colors, no spot inks and they print on very limited paper stocks. Formats larger than 12×18 inches are rare and costly. Digital presses are cost effective on runs up to about 500 before you are better off printing offset. If you are printing variable data, like addresses or names, this is what a digital press was made for.
Large format: RGB
Large format printers are ink jets. They usually have seven or more inks which allow a very wide color gamut. If you narrow your document down to only CMYK, you will not be using those seven inks to your best advantage.
Why use CMYK?
CMYK
You know what your color breakdowns are and you know what the end result will be. You are able to monitor your ink mixes exactly throughout the design process and there are no surprises.
If you design in RBG and convert to CMYK, no matter what conversion settings you use, your colors will shift. There is no black in RGB, so anything that is meant to be black will be washed out and probably print on all four plates. If you have small type, this will be a huge problem. Press registration will have to be dead on to match up all four plates of tiny type to make it look black and that never happens. With CMYK, you can use pure 100% black for the type and avoid any problems.
RGB has a much wider color gamut than CMYK. There are millions more colors available on screen than can be mixed using four inks. Any out of gamut colors will be estimated to something that is within the printable range. If you are using bright colors on screen, specifically greens, blues and purples, you are probably going to be disappointed. This applies whether you are converting final images in Photoshop or exporting a PDF with print settings.
The only drawback I can think of to designing in CMYK is the limited filters in Photoshop.
My monitor only shows RGB.
RGB
RGB is colored light, CMYK is colored ink. Any screen shows RGB because it has to. There is no ink in your monitor. However, a good calibrated monitor will show simulated CMYK. Working in CMYK mode will not display electric blues or radioactive greens. The final printed result will be much closer to what you see on screen.
Organizing Photoshop Files
October 29, 2008 By 8 Comments
Organizing files in general is important. Photoshop files can become unwieldy after adding a couple dozen layers, paths and alpha channels if you don’t maintain an organization system. Files are archived for later use or handed off to another design for some reason or another. Taking over a Photoshop file, or any file from a disorganized designer can be a nightmare, so just take a few extra seconds while you are working to tidy up the file. The sanity you save may be your own.
Do your Photoshop layers look like this? Take five minutes more and organize the files before archiving or handing off to a service bureau or another designer.
Recently, a designer sent me a Photoshop document with over 130 unnamed, unorganized, scattered shape layers. It took 45 minutes to organize the layers before I could start working.
Here are some tips to keep your files neat and organized.
Name your layers.
Yes, all of them. Give them unique, meaningful names that will be easy to recognize later.
Group related layers.
If you have twelve layers of type, put them in a layer group called “type”. Not too tough. If you have a tree, branches, apples and a drop shadow on seventeen different layers, put them in a group called “apple tree”. Simple.
Collapse expanded layers or groups.
Yes, I know Photoshop defaults to expand everything all the time. Yes, it’s a pain to click that extra time. Yes, I have requested that Adobe change this. Just take the fraction of a second necessary to collapse each expanded layer as it is created. You will gain the benefit of seeing more layers in the panel at one time making it easier to edit.
Always save the original PSD.
Seems like common sense, but you would be surprised how often the original file is unavailable when revision time comes around. Save the original layered PSD and send a flattened file to clients for approval.
Delete empty layers
As you are working, you may copy text from one layer to another leaving the first layer empty. Deleting an object in Photoshop does not make the layer containing it to go away. The shape or text may be gone, but the layer is left behind.
Work in the correct color mode.
This may not seem like an organization issue, but it is a common mistake. If you designing for print, work in CMYK. Designing for web, RGB. It really doesn’t seem like a big deal when you are printing from your desktop ink jet, but when you send your file out to a commercial printer you might find this to be a costly oversight.
Happy Photoshopping.
