Tryangled Solutions web designing tips tricks

Enable the Microsoft Window XP mouse Snap To feature to automatically focus on dialog box buttons. Enabling this feature will automatically move your mouse cursor to the default button on any dialog box that appears on Windows. This is a great way to save a little time and not have to move you mouse cursor to the “Ok” button each time a dialog box appears. To enable this feature follow the below steps.

1. Click Start, Settings, Control Panel.
2.  Double-click the Mouse icon
3. In the Mouse Properties window click the Pointer Options tab and check the “Automatically move pointer to the default button in a dialog box” option.

In order to do some of our tutorials (or program with PHP and MySQL in general) you need to be able to run PHP and MySQL. Although most free hosts do not have PHP and MySQL support there are some that do, and there are also many low cost hosting options available. If you already have hosting and are unsure if you have PHP and MySQL support you should contact your host directly. If you are shopping for hosting be sure that they support PHP and that your package includes at least one MySQL database.

Another option is to install PHP and MySQL directly onto your Windows computer. If you are a Mac user you already have the capability and just need to activate PHP and MySQL.

IE 7 boasts a new slimmed-down appearance which can take some getting used to, even for the most experienced users. In its initial state, the browser hides many of the buttons and options that a lot of us have become accustomed to seeing in earlier versions. However, once you get comfortable with where everything is located, things are not as bad as they appear and Microsoft’s self-proclaimed streamlined interface seems like just that. Feedback regarding the new design has been lukewarm so far, but over time I feel that IE users can grow to appreciate it.

Like Mozilla’s latest release, IE 7 also offers multiple searches via a large grouping of search engines, encyclopedias, etc. While both browsers allow you to add more search engines from a predefined list, it is much easier to create your own in IE as opposed to Firefox. Microsoft provides a few easy steps to install your own search engines, while Mozilla requires you to create an OpenSearch plug-in to achieve the same result.

For a while it looked as if Mozilla’s Firefox browser was destined to become a huge threat to Internet Explorer in the web browser wars. Firefox has continued to slowly but steadily eat away at IE’s market share, and for good reason. In many ways it was just a better overall browser than IE 5 or 6. Enter Internet Explorer 7. With many of the same features that helped spark Firefox’s popularity as well as its intimate coupling with the Windows Vista operating system, Microsoft’s newest browser offering has raised doubts as to whether Mozilla’s market share can continue to grow at its current rate.

Both of these browsers have their own respective appeal and deciding which one may be right for you can prove to be a daunting task. This article attempts to make things a little easier for you when decision time arrives.

Below is a list of keyboard shortcuts that can be used in Mozilla Firefox version 2.0 for Windows.

* CTRL+D: Add a bookmark.

* BACKSPACE: Move back.

* CTRL+B: Open Bookmarks in browser sidebar.

* CTRL+I: Open Bookmarks in browser sidebar.

* F7: Toggles Caret Browsing on/off.

* CTRL+W: Close current tab.

* CTRL+F4: Close current tab.

* ALT+F4: Close current window.

* CTRL+C: Copy.

* CTRL+X Cut.

* CTRL+MINUS: Decrease text size within web page.

* SHIFT+DEL: Delete an individual form.

* CTRL+J: Launch Download Manager.

* CTRL+G: Find again.

* SHIFT+F3: Find previous.

* F11: Put the current browser window in full screen mode.

* F1: Launch Firefox Help.

* CTRL+H: Display your browsing history.

* ALT+HOME: Load your home page.

* CTRL+PLUS: Increase text size within web page.

* F6: Move to next frame.

* SHIFT+F6: Move to previous frame.

* CTRL+T: Create a new tab.

* CTRL+TAB: Make the next tab active.

* CTRL+N: Open a new browser window.

* CTRL+O: Launch the Open File dialog.

* CTRL+ENTER: Open a link in a new tab.

* CTRL+U: Display the source of the current page.

* CTRL+V: Paste.

* CTRL+PAGE UP: Make the previous tab active.

* CTRL+P: Print.

* F5: Refresh the current page.

* CTRL+F5: Refresh the current page, overriding your cache.

* CTRL+S: Open Save Page As… dialog.

* ALT+ENTER: Open Save Link Target As… dialog.

* CTRL+A: Select all.

* CTRL+L: Select location bar.

* CTRL+DOWN ARROW: Select next respective search engine in search bar.

* CTRL+UP ARROW: Select previous respective search engine in search bar.

* CTRL+Z: Undo.

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.

<desktop.google.com>: For Windows only - a way to search your computer’s contents faster than any built-in finder function. Works very well when it comes to searching Word documents, AOL IM messages, web searches, etc. You can pause it if you don’t want what you’re doing to be indexed by Google. The information isn’t shared with Google itself (you know this because it works even if you are offline). Be sure to read the FAQ. Mac folks get the same functionality in the Spotlight search built into Tiger, the latest version of OSX.

I’ve spoken previously about Windows Live Contacts but never really did much with it. I didn’t have an immediate use for it and I was growing increasingly apathetic about the entire area of contact grabbers / importers. It was a shame really as it was a really exciting project with Microsoft leading the way in the area. It’s been only recently that Google and Yahoo have caught up and released their own APIs for accessing their users data.

I’ve moaned about how great it would be if we could get a users contacts without having to ask for their password. With services like Windows Live Contacts this is finally possible

With the possibility of actually using the code myself creeping up on the horizon I decided to put the time in to write wrappers for PHP. It can be broken down into two components.

Windows Live Delegated Authentication The first thing we need to do is get permission from the user to access their data. There was already a PHP wrapper for this but it did far more than I needed so I’ve rewritten it and ignored the parts I don’t expect to need. This evening I submitted it to the PEAR proposal process.

Windows Live Contacts The second step is fetching the contacts for the user after you have their permission. I could only find a small test script for this so a more complete implementation was definitely needed. Again, I’ve just submitted the code for this to the PEAR proposal process.

Both of these packages will likely undergo changes as they go through the proposal process but if you can’t wait to get started the files are available to be installed now on the proposal pages. The easiest way is using the PEAR installer. If you haven’t used PEAR before please take a look at the manual. If you’re still unsure of anything post a comment below.

Create two bat files on your desktop.
“save.bat”
“netsh -c interface dump >net.txt”
“restore.bat”
To restore settings use “netsh -f net.txt”
You can save current settings and then change them via standard way from Control Panel, when you’re done you can restore previous settings by clicking on “restore.bat”