If you looking for web design resources or references, I have these blogs to share with; it was like a main hub of information not just about web design, but photography, CSS coding etc.
So far, there’s many blogs and forum you can search and try to dig great stuffs. Well, I have “Filtered” them, and here I have 6 blogs provide great inspiration and ideas for my works.
Recently I was setting up a website for my church (PKCMC); and decided to signup the hosting package from 3ix (www.3iX.org) which only cost RM146 for 2 years.
One of the reasons I pick 3iX was because it has this “Fantastico”, Fantastico (wikipedia) is a commercial script library that automates the installation of web applications to a website. And wordpress is one of the features that had ready.
After installing and looked simple till I realized something not right when using Chinese Character and it display “?????”; well, I don’t have this problems on other blog (creadaq.wordpress.com). Searching through google and found out there were many type of answers.
Most commons from Wordpress Support, however, it doesn’t help and I keep on looking at some blog with the same file (wp-config.php) which it have this code…
define(’DB_CHARSET’, ‘utf8′);
define(’DB_COLLATE’, ”);
But it was working fine. So, don’t remove or replace it. It might corrupt your WP database.
Then I found out some resources about SQL database setting for WP. The main issue is that for most systems when you create a database, the collation is set at “latin1_swedish_ci” as default. You’ll need to change that to “utf8_unicode_ci” for all the tables where you plan to include Chinese characters in.
If you have cPanel, try look for mySQL Database or PhpMyAdmin
Well, first I though it was changed by just select it from the drop down. NO! There was many more to be done. Let me show the steps and screens. Please click screen to enlarge.
You’ll see something like this, might defer from yours as some plugins will add their own tables.
Anyway, on this screen, under the “collation” column, if you see latin1_swedish_ci, you’ll need to change that to utf8_unicode_ci!!! Click on the button 2nd from left on the column that says “Action”.
You’ll reach a page that says Structure as shown below, check everything that says latin1_swedish_ci, then click on the edit button which looks like a pencil.
You’ll reach another page like the one above, change everything to utf8_unicode_ci, then click Save.
Then, when you finished saving, go to the tab that says “Operations”.
Change again setting to utf8_unicode_ci, then press “Go”.
Repeat steps for all that are not “utf8_unicode_ci”. Make sure you click each of the list on the left menu.
Finally, you should be able to write in Chinese characters now. See pkcmc.org.
Choosing the right colors for your web design is a decision that should not be taken lightly. Color is the first thing viewers notice on a webpage. It can evoke a variety of strong emotional reactions and each color can contain a different association. Although everyone’s experience and taste can vary greatly, there are still some basic tenants one can follow when working with color:
Consistency
This applies not only to font and background color, but also to the images and other cursory elements. It would be awkward to have a black and white image on a site full of bright, colorful backgrounds. It is typically best to choose colors that go along with the company branding and it is important that the brand identity seamlessly fits into the design. Also, limiting the design to just a few main colors—2 or 3 main colors and 1 or 2 accent colors—is usually a good standard and helps to maintain the consistency. Too many colors can cause your design to become erratic and visually confusing to the viewer.
Contrast
If you use colored copy, make sure that it contrasts well with the background to be easily legible. Stark color contrast is a powerful tool and can draw the eye, so make sure the most important elements have the most contrast in the design. Having muted colors for your title copy and a bright bold color for the body would be a poor use of contrast, applying viewer focus to the wrong element.
Complements
Complementary color choices are also extremely important. And it’s not just the literal complementary colors that are key, but also colors that complement each other as an accent or highlight. There are many different types of color balances and every designer should be very familiar with color theory and its impact on design. Well, I suggest you can use some online tools such as Kuler Adobe (kuler.adobe.com) to deal with the best combination.
Sometime keep one-two colors . Less color which easy to manage the content and contrast of the branding.
Color Theory
Some designers feel that it is enough to just have a feel for the right colors and that color theory is unnecessary. While having a good eye for color can certainly help develop a good design, color theory is still important. It is important to know what types of emotions your colors will convey so that you cater to your target audience. Click here for more information on color theory. See Color Theory from ColorJack (www.colorjack.com).
Since when I was engaging with twitter, thanks to my old friend KCtang recommended. It was a great tool and so many people was engage with it, “have you twit lately?” soon it become a habit and you might feel uncomfortable if you don’t twit. Oh no! I think it was different type of “Bird-flu” spreading so fast….
Recently I realize some of user has done great design to personalize their designs on twitter. There has already been a range of quality designs showcased on various sites, which has shown an emergence of trends such as the ‘sidebar’. Let’s take a look at some of the best practices around Twitter background design and get to work creating our own.
There were 3 different types of background approach:
1) Using repeating background pattern
http://twitter.com/daniesq, http://twitter.com/msphotogirl and more
2) Background Graphic fading to background color
http://twitter.com/bittbox, http://twitter.com/GordyMac/ and more
3) Extra Large Background Graphic
http://twitter.com/ijustine, http://twitter.com/betterinpink and more
However, you could also get some customize background or template that provided by twitter, http://www.twitip.com/custom-twitter-backgrounds/
Personally I prefer 2nd approach that background graphic fading to the background. Using a single graphic on your profile can help add some visual interest. And it load much faster with less graphics. Let’s start to do my own background on my Sidebar!
First of all, click on profile setting and go to “Change design colors”. Well, brown is always my first choice, change the tone from background, links, text etc. Immediately you can preview the colors from screen. Save the settings once you have decided.
Once I have done that, I get the measurement which is width 460 and height 600; copy the exact background color and start my own theme.
First thing in my mind – Top view on my sidebar; it was easier to arrange my elements such as paper, camera and most familiar’s top view - a cup of coffee.
Just find some of the picture from Google images. Or royalty free images from Stock.xchng (http://www.sxc.hu/)
For example, nice quality of Pencil - http://www.remarkable.co.uk/downloads/wooden_pencil.jpg
Then, rotating and reshape my “ingredient” on PS (sound like frying and cooking, yeah!). Used a lot of drop shadow and simple effects such as rotate and wrap the graphics. Other than that, it was quite straight forward.
Once I have done that and save in JPEG, go back to the settings and click on “Change background images”. Browse and save changes. Done!
Take a look at http://twitter.com/twentyplus
Recently, I was researching and did some works on CSS and new photoshop technics. And I found some of the useful tutorials site that provide a very good steps and even trick to improve your website.
Tutorials 9 (www.tutorial9.net)
Kailoon Design (kailoon.com/category/tutorials/)
PSD tuts (psd.tutsplus.com)
PSD Rockstar (www.psdrockstar.com)
CSS Library (www.dynamicdrive.com)
CSS Drive (www.cssdrive.com)
LAYERS Magazine (www.layersmagazine.com)
Part of the design, part of creative, part of essays… without a typo, it will be not perfect. Typography is a must of the design elements; wrong used of it or apply the appropriate typography can be easily misleading the audience.
Typography is DEFINATELY one of the most important aspects of design. DEFINATELY!
Don’t underestimate the power of well placed and well edited type to be the driving force of a page. Properly emphasized type can drive a page’s design all by itself; carefully weighted type (through color and point size) can form a coherent visual unit without the use of graphics of images.
I have searching and did talk about free fonts before. This time I would like to share one of the great blog that talk about typography - I love Typography.
ILT has updated frequently, almost every week it has posted some article that inspired me.
What if you don’t have Adobe Photoshop installed in your workstation? Or, what if you have emergency to edit and upload an oversize image at cybercafé?
The solution is got it done online in any web browser (anytime, anywhere)! Try on Pixelr – Online image Editor. I found it quite useful and the tools are similar to Photoshop, well, it’s kind of online version.
It was integrated in Flash technology, interface and click through was excellent. First glance of it, the impression of “good to have”! Several thousands of visitors use the service each day according to blog.
Personally, it’s definitely much better than Microsoft paints! 
First of all, 65% of similarity in PS, you could find it here! Nevertheless, there were some limitation such as selections of Filters, layers etc. Overall, it gave convenience to most of the people who could edit their photo in one browser.
How to make skin smoother especially you have a wonderful shot but something was missing from perfection. In fact, it had been a while I wanted to try out this effect in PS (Adobe Photoshop).
Found a lot of steps from tutorials that teaching how to smoother skin in PS; yet I found one which is much simple and quick way to create smoother and younger skin.
Firstly, duplicate the same image in another layer; then create the effect of “Surface Blur” from PS filter > Blur; and depend on how much Radius (here I have used 20 pixels) and Threshold at 12-15 levels.
Secondly, use effect of “Smart Blur” from PS filter > Blur; with Threshold 100, for quality select on “High”, for Radius will be depending on results. If too much pixels selected then it will be looked too fake. But I have used 1.1 pixels.
Once have done on the effects, go back “Layers” and change the “Opacity” to 60% - 70%. Of coz it’s not done yet, there’s some manual work to be done. Use Eraser Tools to brush out the none-skin area such as her eyes, hair and background etc. About 2-3 minutes of brushing and erasing and finally the master-piece has completed.
Another smoother exercise for my son’s face… look more baby face (Right) now!
