Posts Tagged ‘Control’

Search Engine Optimization-Inter-link your Blogs

Tuesday, July 15th, 2008

Increasingly bloggers are starting or joining blog networks to enjoy the benefits of multiple sites and writers working together. One of the advantages of networks of sites is that they usually link to one another. In doing so you have complete control over how your sites are linked to from multiple domains. It is worth noting that you should be careful with this approach - if all your sites are hosted on the one server many think that Search Engines will work out what you’re doing and the impact will be lessened.

101 Photoshop Tips Transcribed

Tuesday, July 15th, 2008

We’ve transcribed all 101 tips here. To fit our Mac-centric audience a little better, we’ve switched everything around to the default Mac keyboard commands.

1. Want to copy a Layer? Jump it: Command-J
2. You a Windows user? Press Control instead of Command.
3. For a new Layer: Command-Shift-N
4. To Delete a Layer, hit the Move Tool (v) and       Command-Delete.
5. Every letter selects a tool. Except for:
6. F for Fullscreen.
7. Q for QuickMask.
8. D for Default colors.
9. X for Switch colors.
10. Press a Number to change Opacity.
11. …or Two Numbers for better Control.
12. Shift-Plus (+) to Advance a Blend Mode.

13. Shift-Minus (-) to Go Back one Blend Mode.

14. Shift-Option+[a letter] for a specific Blend Mode(Dissolve=I, Multiple=M, Screen=S, Overlay=O, Soft Light=F, Hard Light=H, Linear Light=J, Vivid         Light=J, Pin Light=Z, Color Dodge=D, Color Burn=B, Darken=K, Lighten=G,Difference=E, Exclusion=X,   Hue=U, Saturation=T, Color=C, Luminosity=Y, Behind=Q)
15. Windows Folks, Option means Alt for shortcuts.
16. Command-Plus (+) Zooms In.
17. Command-Minus (-) Zooms Out.
18. Spacebar gets the Hand so you can drag the image around.
19. Command-Spacebar = Zoom Tool In.
20. Option-Spcebar = Zoom Tool Out.
21. Command-Spacebar-Drag to zoom in on a specific area.
22. Command-Z for Undo.
23. Command-Option-Z Steps Back one action.
24. Command-Shift-Z Steps Forward one action.
25. Command-Shift-F Fades the last edit.
26. F12 = Revert Document.
27. Hey! You can even Undo a Revert!
28. Command-X = Cut.
29. Command-C = Copy.
30. Command-V = Paste.
Deke sings about how wonderful he is…
31. Image Size = Command-Option-I.
32. It’s partner, Canvas Size = Command-Option-C.
33. Command-F repeats the last Filter.
34. Command-Option-F repeats last Filter with Different Settings.
35. Using Selection Tools: Drag to start a new selection.
36. …or drag to move a selection outline.
37. …add to a section using Shift.
38. …delete from a selection using Option.
39. …find the intersection holding down Shift-Option.
40. …Press Spacebar to move the selection on the fly.
41. Command-A = Select All.
42. Command-D = Deselects Everything.
43. Command-Shift-I Inverts the existing Selection.
44. Command-Option-R brings up Refine Edge.
45. Option-Click with Lasso tool to select a straight-sided selection.
46. Shift-Click with Brush to draw straight lines.
47. Press Option with Brush to get the Color-Lifting Eyedropper.
48. Press Command to get the Move tool.
49. Command-H = Hide Selection.
50. Command-1 shows 1st channel (Red or Cyan)
51. Command-2 shows 2nd channel (Green or Magenta)
52. Command-3 shows 3rd channel (Blue or Yellow)
53. Command-Tilde (~) shows a Full-Color Composite. (Read about the tilde if you like.)
54. Command-L for Levels.
55. Command-M for Curves.
56. Command-B for Color Balance.
57. Command-U for Hue/Saturation.
58. Add the Option-key to bring up last settings for those last four.
59. Command-Shift-Option for Black and White.
60. In Levels & Curves, Option-drag that White Slider to preview your clip highlights…
61. …Option-drag the Black Slider to preview clip shadows.
62. DekePod-DuplicatefromHistory.pngWant to duplicate an image? Cool tip! Click this Icon at the bottom of history palette.
63. Command-W to Close an image. Then…
64. …Y to save changes. (Windows Only)
65. …N to abandon changes. (Windows Only)
66. …On a Mac: S=Save and D=Don’t Save.
67. …ESC to Cancel on both Mac and Windows.
Deke sings some more… (whew! Lots of typing!)
68. Press Command-T to invoke Free Transform…
69. …Enter to Apply, or ESC to Cancel.
70. Command-Option-T will Transform a Copy!
71. Command-Shift-T repeats the last Transformation.
72. Command-Shift-Option-T plays a Transformation sequence.
73. Press the Bracket keys [ or ] to change the size of a Brush.
74. ..add the Shift key to change the brush hardness.
75. Caps Lock for Precise cursors.
76. Option key switches from Dodge to Burn or Burn to Dodge.
77. Hitting the Period in Gradient tool switches between gradients.
78. Here’s a tip: The Sharpen Tool Sucks! Don’t use it!
79. Command-Click the Thumbnail in Layers or Paths palette to Load a Selection.
80. Type Slash (/) to lock/unlock a Layer’s Transparency.
81. Press Tilde (~) to hide an image while Viewing a Mask.
82. Press Backslash (\) to view a Layer’s Mask.
83. Command-Delete fills selection with the Background Color.
84. Option-Delete fills selection with the Foreground Color.
85. …add the Shift key to fill just the Opaque pixels. (cool!)
86. Shift-Delete to bring up the Fill dialog box.
87. Filling using the Behind mode locks out “preserve transparency”.
88. Command-Brackets ([ or ]) moves Layers up or down.
89. …add Shift to move Layers all the way to top or bottom.
90. Option-Brackets ([ or ]) Selects Layers.
91. …add Shift to select multiple layers.
92. Command-Option-A to select All Layers.
93. Command-G groups Layers into a group.
94. Command-E will Merge Selected Layers.
95. Command-Shift-E will Merge Visible Layers.
96. Command-Option-E will Merge selected Layer onto the Layer below.
97. Command-Shift-Option-E will Merge Everything onto a New Layer.
98. Command-Shift-C Copies a Merged version of Layers.
99. Command-Shift-V will paste an image into a Selection.
100. Hit Tab to Hide all Palettes.
101. Hit Shift-Tab to Hide just the Right-side Palettes.

Seo:How Search Engines Work

Tuesday, July 1st, 2008

Search engines come in two varieties, human-edited and spider indexed. The two major human-edited search engines (or directories as they are properly called) are the Open Directory Project (dmoz.org) and Yahoo. Search engine optimization is lost on the human-edited directories. Because humans will write your title and description for your site when they place it in their directories, using both objective and subjective methods, you have no control in the SEO-world over how your website will rank in these directories.

In both DMOZ and Yahoo, you can suggest a title and description, but most often your words will be rewritten by an editor and placed in their directories according to criteria of which you will not be privy to knowing. One of the big differences between DMOZ and Yahoo is that DMOZ is free and Yahoo is a paid inclusion. With both search directories there is the possibility of not being included, but as stated before DMOZ is free and with Yahoo, if you are not included, no refund will be given.

The only types of search engine in which you have some control are the search engines, which use spiders (sometimes called robots) to read, index and rank your site. The robots (and this is plural because some search engines like Google have several) are basically software applications that travel the Internet by following links and finding websites to read and add to their databases. These robots will travel to your website if you submit your site directly to them (hand-submit) or indirectly submit (through another software submission service or application) or fail to submit (they will follow incoming links to your sites also).

Once the robot finds your site and indexes it, it will move along to other sites from your outbound links. When you site is indexed, then another process takes place and this is the process of determining your ranking for specific keyword or key-phrase searches performed upon the search engine. All of the major search engines that use robots to index websites also use complicated algorithms for determining the page rank of your site. The search engine algorithm software looks at the title and description of the website along with keyword density and prominence to name a few to see which keyword or phrase your site is optimized for (if any). Certain weight is given for each of these components and the page is ranked accordingly.

The advantages of the spider-driven search engines over the directories are that first, search engine robots will continue to index your site on a regular basis whereas the directories basically will stick with the same title and description for the life of the website. Second, a webmaster or SEO professional has control over the optimization process in relation to the search engines, whereas in the directories, optimization is mostly irrelevant. Third, the volume (and popularity) of people using the search engines far outweighs the volume using the search directories. This means that yes, the major search directories are important places to submit your website to, but the major search engines are an absolute necessity.

PHP:Write Clean Logic Statements

Monday, June 30th, 2008

Example 1: Unclean Conditional Logic

<?php
if($userLoggedIn) {
// Hundreds of lines of code
}else{
exit();
}
?>

The above statement seems straight forward, but it’s flawed for the reason that the developer is giving this conditional block too much responsibility. I know that might sound a little weird, but stay with me.

The type of conditional organization above makes for unnecessarily complex code to both interpret and maintain. A brace that’s paired with a control structure hundreds of lines above it won’t always be intuitive for developers to locate. I prefer the style of conditional logic in example 1.2, which inversely solves the previous example. Let’s take a look.

Example 2: Clean Conditional Logic

<?php

if(!$userLoggedIn) {
exit();

}

// Hundreds of lines of code

?>

This conditional statement is more concise and easier to understand. Instead of stating: “if my condition is met, perform hundreds of operations, else exit the script”, it’s saying “if my condition is not met, exit the script. Otherwise, I don’t care about what happens after that. I am only concerned with stopping execution”. So, by doing this, you’ve limited the operations that a given control structure has been tasked with, and that will help other developers quickly understand your code.

PHP: Prevent PHP script Caching

Monday, June 30th, 2008

// prevent caching
header(”Expires: Sat, 01 Jan 2000 00:00:00 GMT”);
header(”Last-Modified: “.gmdate(”D, d M Y H:i:s”).” GMT”);
header(”Cache-Control: post-check=0, pre-check=0″,false);
session_cache_limiter();
session_start();

Firefox:Improved Memory Management

Friday, June 27th, 2008

With all new management functions in place, Firefox 3 keeps memory usage under control. The XPCOM cycle collector continuously cleans up unused memory. Plus, hundreds of memory leaks are now remedied.

Cpanel takes control of Windows servers

Saturday, June 21st, 2008

Cpanel, one of the leading providers of control panels for Linux and FreeBSD web hosting servers has announced that it would be releasing a beta version of a new Cpanel Server Suite that would be its first Microsoft Windows Server® 2008-based product line.

A Slashbot job advert seems to suggest that Cpanel is recruiting Windows application developers for this new venture.

Cpanel has been working on this Windows version for some time now. The only difference this time is that they are re-staffing and commiting more time and resources to it. Cpanel is expecting to release the beta version of the product on December 15th 2007 and have the production release available by March 30th 2008.

A press release by Microsoft quotes cPanel CEO J. Nick Koston as saying:

“Microsoft has shown a strong commitment to the hosting industry over the past several years. cPanel’s Windows development team feels that IIS7 offers a robust, high-performance Web server with increased security that the industry will quickly adopt. Microsoft Server 2008 and IIS7 with its modern architecture and support for legacy products was the natural starting point for our expanded product offering.”

Control all open windows using windows shortcut keys

Tuesday, June 17th, 2008

A cool tip to minimize and maximize all your active windows programs. You can do all using your mouse, but if you want to do this with keyboard then simply press Windows key+M to minimize all active programs and later maximize it using Windows key+Shift+M.

If you want to minimize the all active windows programs one by one then use the shortcut by pressing Alt+Space+N keys and sequentially maximize the active windows programs using shortcut Alt+Space+X keys.

More Control Over Your Computer’s Boot Process

Tuesday, June 17th, 2008

You can set the boot time in windows XP as your wish if you are install two operating systems on same computer, for example window 2000 with windows XP or more than two. Yow can do this with editing Boot.ini file. Here you can also set the sequence for operating system which operating system boot first.

First Right Click on My Computer option and then select its Properties. In next dialog box open Advanced tab button. Under Startup and Recovery, click on the Settings button. Use the spin box “Time to display list of operating systems” to set the number of seconds you want the system to wait before automatically starting the default operating system. Here you will set time in seconds and its range start from 0 and ends with 999 seconds.

After set the time, then click OK option to close the dialog box to save your change. The next time you restart, the new time will take effect.