One of our instructors and well known author David Powers, has just released his latest book “Adobe DreamWeaver CS5 with PHP” published by Adobe Press. The book is currently a very affordable £18.50 on Amazon, and is David’s 8th book on the subject of Web Development. David has had some great reviews on his previous books published by Friends of Ed and we’re sure this new one from Adobe Press will prove to be just as popular. He probably knows more about DreamWeaver than almost anybody we’ve ever met, and that’s saying something. Congratulations David.
Andy Gardiner
Aug 252010
Aug 022010
If you are using products such as Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, DreamWeaver, PHP or Blender then there are a number of new groups now available on LinkedIn which you might want to join.
For those who haven’t heard of LinkedIn before it is a business networking site with over 70 million members of all levels, and can be a great place to network, find new opportunities and learn from the community (plus it’s free).
The groups which have just gone live are listed below:
Jul 012010
There has been a lot of talk lately about HTML5 and whether it would negate the need for Flash. In fact this turned into a fairly mainstream discussion over the last few months after Steve Jobs made his position very clear, by refusing to support Flash on the iPhone, changing the T’s and C’s of the iPhone developer program and publishing an open “Flash Bashing” letter for all to read.
I had an irritating problem with InDesign CS5 this week. It seems after uninstalling the CS4 version of InDesign, Windows 7 no longer recognised the default program for the .INDD file type. I presumed this was because when I installed the CS5 version the installer left the default version set to CS4 still and then removing CS4 confused it (a glitch in the CS5 installer).
Apr 142010
If you haven’t heard already Apple has changed the terms and conditions of it’s developer program to stipulate that all applications must be written in native code, and that software created using “an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool” are prohibited. Whilst this hits a number of products out there such as Titanium from Appcelerator it’s hard not to see it as a shot at Flash CS5 and it’s new built-in tool for creating iPhone apps, especially with the announcement made just a few days before the widely publicised CS5 launch.
Create distinctive vector artwork for any project. Used by design professionals worldwide, Adobe Illustrator CS5 software provides precision and power with sophisticated drawing tools, expressive lifelike brushes, a host of time-savers, and integration with Adobe CS Live online services*.
Perspective drawing, variable-width strokes, a new brush that lets you control bristle characteristics, and innovative ways to quickly build shapes, are among the new features in the comprehensive vector environment of industry-leading Illustrator CS5.
Apr 122010
Flash Professional CS5 software is the industry-leading environment for interactive authoring and delivery of immersive experiences that present consistently across personal computers, mobile devices, and screens of virtually any size and resolution. 
Design expressive content, write code precisely and efficiently, and deliver superior-quality video to audiences practically everywhere.
A powerful new text engine, expanded support for mobile and consumer devices, and enhanced coding tools are among the new features in Adobe Flash Professional CS5 software, the industry-leading interactive authoring tool. Flash Professional CS5 offers unrivaled integration with Adobe Photoshop®,
Publish engaging documents for print, online, and mobile devices. Lay out compelling pages, brought to life with interactive media to attract new audiences and deliver enhanced reading experiences.
Adobe InDesign CS5 software lets you focus on your layout, with the flexibility to publish your pages to a wide range of media. Whether you’re creating print or digital documents, you can save time with online services* that integrate with and are directly accessible from InDesign, as well as other substantial productivity enhancements. Whether you need to reposition an image within a frame or change the radius of a rounded corner, InDesign CS5 helps you work more efficiently. A robust set of new tools let designers create interactive documents that capture readers’ attention both online and offline.
Work visually or directly in code, develop with dynamic third-party application frameworks like WordPress, Joomla!, or Drupal, and troubleshoot efficiently with CSS inspection tools. 
Simplify advanced website development with custom PHP code hinting. Work more securely in a team environment with enhanced support for Subversion® software. Integration with Adobe BrowserLab—a new Adobe CS Live online service*—gives you access to fast and accurate browser compatibility previews, including dynamic content and user-generated interactions.
For the last 20 years Photoshop has been the leader in “digital image manipulation” but the reality today is that this description no longer does it justice, when it is capable of so much more.
Photoshop CS5 takes the time and frustration out of making precise image selections and masks, providing you with a faster way to extract subjects from their backgrounds and create realistic composites. New intelligent selection technology offers better edge detection and faster, more accurate masking results of complex subjects, like hair. Automatic color decontamination helps you eliminate background color around the edges of a selection, resulting in more seamless compositions when placing extracted subjects on new backgrounds. Experienced Photoshop users know that the best selections are created by constantly adapting the selection technique for differences in the subject’s edges—one method for hair and another for the edge of a building.