Tip of the Week - Design Premium CS 5.5 Overview with Terry White

Scott Kelby Webinar Today - 3PM!

I know some of you were with me when we went to Boston for a Photoshop webinar with Scott Kelby. It was wonderful - he is THE Photoshop guru! He's doing a webinar this afternoon on Professional Portrait Retouching Techniques for Photographers Using Photoshop (also the name of his new book). He is giving away some copies to webinar attendees and the webinar is free, so why not join in? I'm going to be there!

I should also mention that Scott is the founder of NAPP - The National Association of Photoshop Professionals. I am a member and I highly recommend you join. It costs $99 per year, but you get a lot for your money. Great website with wonderful tutorials, discounts at live events, etc. It is well worth the money.

Searching for the Perfect Font

Everyone who knows me is aware of my love of fonts. I am always looking for something new that will give my Photoshop creation that little extra edge. So, it stands to reason, that I love finding free fonts and free font sites. I found one today while looking for the font "Tidal" to complete a tutorial on one of my favorite sites vector tuts+ (actually I love all of tuts+ and have a membership I pay for myself). A search for the font brought up a new site (for me) fonts2u. It's easy to use and download fonts at fonts2u. Check it out and see what you can do with some of the fonts available. There are several appropriate for Easter, including "LMS My Favorite Rabbit" and "KG BUNS1".

Adobe and Sesame Street

Tip of the Week - Adding Closed Captions

The following tip is from ClickStart:

Adding Closed Captions
If you include a voiceover in your project, you should also include closed captions. Closed captions allow users who can’t hear (including users who have their PC muted) to read your voiceover text.

To add closed captions:

• Select Audio > Advanced Audio.
• Click a slide that contains audio.
• Click the Closed Caption button. The slide’s audio will appear as a waveform.
• Click inside the waveform where you want to sync the audio and the caption.
• Click the + button.
• Type the caption.
• Click OK.

For more on this subject visit ClickStart

Captivate Webinar on Tuesday

FYI - I'm teaching a Captivate webinar Tuesday afternoon - the basics for new staff or those new to Captivate. I plan on teaching an advanced (beyond the essentials) later in the year.

Tip of the Week - Adobe Launches CS 5.5

It's finally official - Adobe announced the upcoming release of CS 5.5. For more information check out Adobe's Creative Suite Family 5.5 page.

Contribute Basics Handout

I promised the attendees at yesterday's Contribute webinar that I would create a handout for what I showed them yesterday. So, I did and you can download it here. I added in the steps for creating anchor text as promised. Hope it helps!

Photoshop Island Freebies

I know I've mentioned it before, but for those of you who haven't taken the time to check it out, Photoshop Island is a great source for brushes, designs, etc. They give away freebies that are worth downloading. All you need to do is sign up. It is free and easy. Here's the current freebie - Designer Notes Font Family. Just download and install.

One freebie you might want to check out is the Spring Flowers PSD file.

For more freebies and other information go to photoshopisland.com.

Tip of the Week - eSeminar from Adobe for Captivate Users

Many of our staff are using Captivate to create videos for the web. Captivate is also a great tool for creating interactive training programs. Adobe has a great eSeminar (free) to Adobe members on Creating an Effective, Self Guided Knowledge Based eLearning Module with Adobe Captivate 5. Create an account if you don't already have one and view the seminar as your schedule permits.  For more information, read  the write up from Adobe:

"Many of us have need to develop traditional knowledge based training. One great way to increase user satisfaction with these modules is to make them self-guided. In this eSeminar Dr. Allen Partridge explains how a typical self-guided knowledge based module is constructed and shows an example."

Take a look. I think you will find it valuable.

How to Draw Concentric Circles

For all of you shape lovers, check out this tutorial for InDesign by Mike Rankin from InDesignSecrets.com. I think you will love it!

After you are finished making amazing shapes, be sure to check out some of the other great tutorials, podcasts, videocasts and articles such as:

• 10 Ways to Add a Color Swatch
• Tab, Tab, Tab - from the Beginners Corner
• New Interactive Keyboard Shortcuts Guide for InDesign CS5

Be sure to listen to InDesign Secrets Podcasts when you get a chance. They are posted bi-weekly and can be a great way to use your time as you are working on something repetitious.