Recent 3d Works (filler post lol) + news

March 2nd, 2010

This is just something to post in the meantime that should have been posted forever ago. I’ve been so damn busy lately but I am transitioning to stop taking on work and studying more/maintenance on my blog etc. Stay tuned for a new look on the blog too!

Click to view large version!

10 essential droid apps for the beginning of 2010!

January 11th, 2010

The motorola droid in all its glory!

Droid is here, and along with it comes new possibilities, experiences, and most importantly new apps!!! After getting the motorola droid and playing around with it for a month now here are my favorite apps! These are essential!

android top apps

How where they judged?

Well the apps where based on the following criteria:

  • Price
  • Wow factor (the kind that you can brag to your friends with lol)
  • GUI
  • If it has any real application (not just a gimick)
  • originality
  • how fun it is!

My Top 10 apps!

Facebook App-

You knew this one was coming. I use this program every single day… multiple times a day. It is extremely light, fast, and free!!!

Gps Navigation

This is where things get awesome with the droid. I purchased a top of the line GPS 2 years ago for $350, it is now obsolete with the droid. Not only that but the GPS app on the droid has 10x the features!!

Shop Savvy

Shop savvy in my opinion is half flare, and half functionality! What does it do? You can take a picture of a barcode and it will display the lowest prices in the area and online!! so cool!!!

Google Goggles

Google goggles takes the shop savvy concept a little further. You can take a pic of anything and goggles will scan it, and then display listings, options, or ratings. It is new so I have found it works great with logos but not everything. It does plenty more though check it out here!

Twidroid

When you first get droid you will be torn between using the browser, or using apps to access certain websites. This is one of those times, and the app wins in this case. Twidroid is a light, no bs twitter app that is amazing – go get it!

Snes/Gensoid lite

I put “lite” up because these do cost money, however the lite versions are free. I have to say that the snes emulator is a little better then the genesis emulator but still they are both great! They even allow you to search for roms within the program! wow!

Last.fm/pandora

Well if you are a last.fm fan, or pandora fan grab one of these. Both are amazing – However if you don’t have a last.fm account grab the pandora app as the last.fm app relies heavily on your music taste from your pre-existing account.

Photoshop mobile!

This is an amazing app. Its easy to use, very robust, and free! Its exactly what you think it is lol.

Sportstap

For the diehard sports fan there is sportstap. Following your favorite team was never so easy!

Rings Extended

you may think the droid can do anything.. but it really can’t. Try changing your ringtone, notification noises, etc and it will become immediately apparent. However, this program basically allows you to regain full control over your phones “noises” lol.

How to test websites for multiple IE(5,6,7,8)versions!

January 10th, 2010

Internet Explorer 6..who the heck still uses that?

internet explore 6 usage

From the W3C

Lots of people still use IE6, despite the fact that it came out in 2001!! That’s a whopping 9 years! Bottomline, ie6 users are not going anywhere, you must accommodate them!

Typical Internet explorer 6 user

The problem

Wow, where to begin. O I know lol, I hate Internet explorer 6. I found that a lot of my time developing websites was wasted testing the internet explorer series 7 and below to make sure there are no problems (along with a thousand conditionals for iftltIE) through various inefficient methods. Well finally there is a decent solution… enter IETester!

What does it do?

Pictured: Scirodesign tabbed in ie 5.5, 6, 7, and 8!

It allows you to test a website in all major versions of IE. Not only that but it has diagnostic tools within it to assist you with debugging and analysis. Simple problem, simple and elegant solution. Thanks DebugBar

What’s so great about it?

  • You can tab 5,6,7,8 all in one window!
  • Works on vista and 7
  • FREE!
  • No need to create a virtual box!
  • Once again NO NEED TO CREATE A VIRTUAL BOX!

Enough Talk! Where can I get it?!

download it here!!

(AS3) – Tweenlite delayedCalls();

January 9th, 2010

Tweenlite/Max is easily my favorite AS3/AS2 Tween Engine. Here’s a quick code snippet that most people do not know about!! If you enjoy using timers in AS3 check out the “delayedCall()” function in TweenMax/Lite. The key argument here is scalability, after a while using 1 line of codeĀ  (delayedCall) becomes a lot more convenient then the more involved timer class.


Std. Timer listener dispatch + function

package {
    import flash.utils.Timer;
    import flash.events.TimerEvent;
    import flash.display.Sprite;

    public class TimerExample extends Sprite {

        public function TimerExample() {
            var myTimer:Timer = new Timer(1000, 2);
            myTimer.addEventListener("timer", timerHandler);
            myTimer.start();
        }

        public function timerHandler(event:TimerEvent):void {
            trace("timerHandler: " + event);
        }
    }
}

VS.


Std. Tweenlite/Max delayedCall (v.11)

package {
    import com.greensock.*;
    import flash.display.Sprite;
    public class DelayedCallExample extends Sprite {

        public function DelayedCallExample() {
            TweenLite.delayedCall(0.5, myDelayedCall, [1,true]);
        }

        public function myDelayedCall(argument1:Number,Boolean):void {
            trace("that was easy!");
        }
    }
}
myD

Valuable SEO resource: SERPS Relationships

December 1st, 2009

Here is something I stumbled upon the other day. It is a flash chart that shows the current relationship of SERPS between all major search engines. It even has a date feature that allows you to go back about 9 years!!! Very valuable information(and cool)!

seo relationships

seo relationships

  1. Click Here for the current (interactive) chart!
  2. Click Here for the chronological chart

The easiest way to disable flash for testing alternate content!

November 4th, 2009

This is something I have constantly wrestled with to find a clear cut answer. Its funny because back in the day I can remember that I had to literally go into my C:\program files and change the name of someĀ  .dll, or .exe in order to cancel flash from loading. Adobe/Macromedia were pretty firm on the issue that they don’t want you “disabling” their plugin lol. Then there was an onslaught of plugins for FF, IE, etc that could also do it but none of them worked well. Finally FF was sensable about it and included an easy “disable flash” option which makes things so simple. The problem is that noone seems to know about it lol. So with that said, here’s how to do it!!


1. Here’s my Site!

sciro design

This is what my Site looks like with flash enabled. Pretty nice huh?

Now lets get rid rid of flash to see what my site looks like on a user’s mobile phone, older computer, or a computer at a business/school/etc that blocks flash all together!

2. Lets get rid of flash for a sec!

disable flash

To start head to the top of Firefox and find the “tools” menu. From there find “Add-ons” (as shown above) and click it!

3. The “Add-ons” menu!

disable flash2

After you clicked “Add-ons” from the “tools” toolbar you will get this dialog box that pops up. It should pop-up, and be on “extensions.” however we want to go elsewhere, so proceed to the next step!

3. Find the “plugins” section!

disable flash firefox

As you can see above “highlighted in red” simply click the “plugins” tab and then proceed to the next step! (we are almost done!)

3. Find “ShockWave Flash”!

disable flash how

After you clicked the “plugins” button you will be presented with a lot of different items (more or less depending on what you personally installed). Regardless, the list is in alphabetical order so scroll down to “S” and find “Shockwave Flash” which is “circled in red” above!

3. Disable/Enable Flash!

re enable  flash

Finally just click “Disable” to temporarily turn off flash. When you are ready to turn it back on, just press “Enable” and you’ll be able to view any flash content like youtube videos, flash sites, and most importantly facebook’s farmville again lol.

3. Begin testing!

sciro design no flash

Here is my site with flash turned off. I personally use swfObject 2.0 (I’ll blog about swfObject soon, and why its so good) which presents the alternate content to my users. If they don’t have flash, then they have two options. Either update flash to the current version, or enter my low bandwidth site which doesn’t really require flash for any crucial information!

Have fun and Happy testing!

I started using sticky notes They help so much lol

November 1st, 2009

I started using sticky notes with color codes for task management, and after my first week I have to say its awesome! I think I overdid it though lol, but I feel my overall efficiency is so much better!

sticky notes

A week of stickies lol

stickynotes stickied

stickies in action on my desk

The easiest way to resize your browser for testing webdesign!

October 14th, 2009

browser resize plugin

The Problem:

I constantly have this problem where I have to resize my browser window to check my sites/designs/etc on multi monitors. Normally I use my nvidia control panel, or just the plain windows display control panel. The problem though is that my monitors are not normal 4:3, I have a 16:9,and a 1:1. Whenever I use the graphic card based resize my monitors freak out and stretch, flicker, and give warnings etc.

The solution?

This awesome browser window resizer plugin for FF. Its so simple and has a variety of sizes:

windows_resizer

Supported Resolutions:

640×480

800×600

1024×768

1280×800

1280×1024

1600×1200

Grab it here!

PhotoSketch: Internet Image Montage

October 6th, 2009

This is the future of image searches!

PhotoSketch: Internet Image Montage from tao chen on Vimeo.

Old Games in the Real World!

October 6th, 2009

This is awesome!

Check it out if you are a fan of old games, or a fan of awesome photoshop! Wallpapers anyone?


 

Retro_Old_War___Advance_Wars___by_RETROnoob

Advanced Wars

Retro_Tower___Donkey_Kong___by_RETROnoob

DK!

Retro_Road___Outrun___by_RETROnoob

outrun!


Taken from abduzeedo.com

Probably one of the greatest things about design is when someone comes up with a good idea do revive old, cool games. What about a Mario Kart race going on in highway somewhere, or maybe Donkey Kong throwing stuff at Mario and Luigi from a real skyscraper?

View the full article here!