Friday, February 25th

BBCode?  - or

Bulletin Board Code

category: database

BBCode stands for bulletin board code. It's a variant of html that allows bulletin board users to format their postings. Instead of html's angle brackets, < >, BBCode uses squared brackets [ ]. BBcode typically appears on bulletin boards driven by PHP. It allows users to post sample code without the problem of the code being executed in the bulletin board. With a simple text editor such as TextPad or WordPad, you can change the square brackets to angle brackets using the find and replace function.

He said on 02.25.05 @ 12:44 PM CST [entry page] is printer friendly




Monday, February 21st

Spammed Out?  - or

Prevent Spam Email Crawlers from Harvesting Your Site

category: spamming, javascript

I don't know about you, but my delete key is wearing out. If you have your email address displayed on a web page, then here is some javascript that will help you slow the spammers down a little. What it does is create your email link when your page loads, providing no email address for spam crawlers to harvest. I don't know how smart these crawlers have become, so I have used silly variable names, an "%40" instead of the typical "@" sign, and spread the relevant components around a little. This may be a little paranoid, but as I said, my delete key...

He said on 02.21.05 @ 04:25 PM CST [entry continued] on printer friendly page




Thursday, February 17th

Do Not Execute  - or

Posting Code in Greymatter Blogs

category: software

I was having trouble posting sample html code in my Greymatter blog. Greymatter insisted on executing the code rather than allowing me to post code as if it were text. It seemed ridiculous that I couldn't post code in a blog.

She said on 02.17.05 @ 01:07 PM CST [entry continued] on printer friendly page




Tuesday, February 15th

Predictable Line Drawings  - or

Creating Line Drawings in Photoshop

category: digital photography and image editing

There are a variety of interesting and creative ways to convert an RGB image into a line drawing in Photoshop. One method stands out as being predictably successful, especially when you want a very finished looking drawing with lots of nice shading. As with most of these techniques, you'll want to start this one by converting your RGB image into black and white. The most straightforward way to convert your image to black and white is to click Image, Adjustments, and then Desaturate, but this is probably not your best choice. Better is to select a channel that has good detail and contrast in the areas of your image you would like to emphasize in your line drawing and use that channel. You can also enhance a channel with the channel mixer. If you use any method that leaves your image in greyscale mode, such as converting to Lab color and capturing the lightness channel, or, of course, if you start with a black and white image, be sure to convert your image to RGB mode before you go on.

He said on 02.15.05 @ 02:59 PM CST [entry continued] on printer friendly page




Friday, February 11th

Would You Like a Server With That?  - or

Net Folders NOT Supported in Outlook 2003

category: software

Microsoft in its infinite lack of wisdom discontinued support for one of its more useful Outlook features, the Net Folders option, in Outlook 2003. Net Folders allowed a user to share contact folders with other users over the Internet. For users who did not share information over a central server or did not want the hassle of using Microsoft Exchange, Net Folders allowed them to share contact information. Bill just wants everyone to have to buy more hardware and more software. What a guy.

She said on 02.11.05 @ 12:37 PM CST [entry page] is printer friendly




Wednesday, February 9th

What? Speak Up!  - or

SoundBlaster Sound Card Problems

category: hardware

When your Sound Blaster sound card simply ceases to make sound, and it happens, just replace it with a Hercules Game Theater XP 6.1 or 7.1 soundcard, and you'll be far and away better off. For less than half the price, the Game Theater comes with an external desktop rack, like SB Audigy 2 EX, giving easy access to the audio connectors, game port, and 4 high speed USB ports.

He said on 02.09.05 @ 12:25 PM CST [entry continued] on printer friendly page




Monday, February 7th

This is where we keep our notes, how to's, and workarounds  - or

Tips and Tricks Weblog

category: trends

This weblog is where we keep our notes, how to's, and workarounds.

The Staff at Awesomely Active Web Design

Staff said on 02.07.05 @ 05:40 PM CST [entry page] is printer friendly





Notes to readers:
Information on any general topic can easily be found by clicking on the links in the Search by Category section of the sidebar. Highly specific, or cross topic searches can be performed by entering key words in the Search by Keyword form in the sidebar.

Readers with Internet Explorer can use this link to "Add to Favorites."

Click here to add this site to your favorites!

Remember, these Awesome Tips and Tricks are also provided by the other members of our back office staff. Awesomely Active Web Design, located in Chicago, creates and extends web sites with focus on e-business applications and custom design. Oh, the guys in the front office want us to remind you to check out our services links because we do, after all, do this stuff for a living.

Monthly Cartoon
Monthly Cartoon


Awesome Services