Step by step procedure to create a simple object reflection. Only the layer mask and gradient tool is needed for this tutorial.
For tutorial I have used a free stock image of glass of wine
Step I
Create a new PS documents with the size 640 x 480px.
Open up the image you wish to use as your reflection and copy and paste the image into the new Photoshop documents. To do this you choose Select > All then Edit > Copy. You then paste your image into the new document by selecting Edit > Paste.
You may wish to remove the background from your image.
Step II
Duplicate the layer by selecting Ctrl + J. And drag the duplicated image so that it’s directly underneath the original image. Make sure the images are touching. You image should look like below:
Now flip the duplicated image by selecting Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical. You image should now look like below:
Step III
Select Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All.
Now select the gradient tool with the foreground to transparent gradient selected.
Hold down shift and drag the gradient from the bottom of the image to the top, like below:
Object Reflection in PS
This Photoshop tutorial will teach you how to create a simple object reflection. The effect is very easy and creates a nice effect. Only the layer mask and gradient tool is need for this tutorial.
For tutorial I have used a free stock image of glass of wine which is available at: www.sxc.hu
Object reflection in Photoshop
Step 1
Create a new Photoshop documents with the size 640 x 480px.
Open up the image you wish to use as your reflection and copy and paste the image into the new Photoshop documents. To do this you choose Select > All then Edit > Copy. You then paste your image into the new document by selecting Edit > Paste.
You may wish to remove the background from your image.
Step 2
Duplicate the layer by selecting Ctrl + J. And drag the duplicated image so that it’s directly underneath the original image. Make sure the images are touching. You image should look like below:
Now flip the duplicated image by selecting Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical. You image should now look like below:
Step 3
Select Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All.
Now select the gradient tool with the foreground to transparent gradient selected.
Hold down shift and drag the gradient from the bottom of the image to the top, like below:
You should now have an reflected object.
For tutorial I have used a free stock image of glass of wine which is available at: www.sxc.hu
Object reflection in Photoshop
Step 1
Create a new Photoshop documents with the size 640 x 480px.
Open up the image you wish to use as your reflection and copy and paste the image into the new Photoshop documents. To do this you choose Select > All then Edit > Copy. You then paste your image into the new document by selecting Edit > Paste.
You may wish to remove the background from your image.
Step 2
Duplicate the layer by selecting Ctrl + J. And drag the duplicated image so that it’s directly underneath the original image. Make sure the images are touching. You image should look like below:
Now flip the duplicated image by selecting Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical. You image should now look like below:
Step 3
Select Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All.
Now select the gradient tool with the foreground to transparent gradient selected.
Hold down shift and drag the gradient from the bottom of the image to the top, like below:
You should now have an reflected object.
How to setup a subdomain on IIS 6 with same ip?
How to setup a subdomain on IIS 6 with same ip?
Conclusion
Sub-domain configuration starts with an entry in the DNS server of the parent domain and the lookup resolves the sub-domain to an IP address of the web server. The web server in turn delegates the requests based on its configuration for the sub-domain. Various sub-domain configurations can be used effectively to distribute the load evenly among available web applications or web servers listening to different IP addresses. The load distribution is achieved by the DNS round robin feature of the BIND. Other uses include application isolation, simpler and professional looking URL, content categorization etc.
If you are just trying to get another website going, it's easier to just create another virtual directory in iis, and put it on a different port. If you want to create a subdomain follow these instructions:
Subdomain Configuration
A subdomain configuration is very similar to a domain name configuration. The only difference is that the subdomain entry is tied to the corresponding domain name lookup. A request for the subdomain (e.g. http://content.websitegear.com) will be routed to a DNS server containing the DNS information for the parent domain (websitegear.com). Once the DNS record for the subdomain is resolved to a particular IP address, the request is sent to the web server listening on that IP address. The web server can now delegate the request to the particular website based on the subdomain name in the host header of the request object. Various combinations of subdomain configurations are possible by using DNS server entries and web server application setup for load distribution, application isolation or security purposes.
Subdomain Setup on DNS server
The forward lookup zone of the parent domain in the DNS server should contain a pointer to the sub domain using either an alias (CNAME), a hostname (A) or a mail enchanger (MX) entry. The alias (CNAME) record is used for a subdomain if the subdomain points to a website running on the same web server at the same IP address as the parent domain website. A new hostname (A) record is used if the subdomain points to a different web server, or to the same web server listening on a different IP address (as in the case of load distribution).
Alias (CNAME) Setup: An alias points the subdomain to the same web server, which hosts the website for the parent domain. The canonical names (CNAMES) are added for each of the subdomains as shown below. Once the subdomain is resolved to the IP address of the web server, the web server can route the request to a different website (see section on web server setup below). Note that an alias for www is setup as a subdomain by default by most hosting companies, so that requests to www.domain.com is sent to the same website that handles the requests for domain.com.
www IN CNAME domain.com.
subdomain1 IN CNAME domain.com.
subdomain2 IN CNAME domain.com.
Address (A) Record Setup: A hostname DNS entry is required if the subdomain is pointing to a different IP address than that set for the domain name. Add the address (A) records to the forward lookup zone of the parent domain and associate the address records with the IP addresses of the web servers, which will handle the requests for the subdomain.
subdomain1 IN A 123.2.33.45.
subdomain2 IN A 123.2.33.46.
Mail Exchanger (MX) Setup: The mail exchanger subdomain configuration is required if an email server is setup to handle the subdomain mail accounts. For example, an email address like joe@arts.myschool.edu will require a subdomain setup for resolving the mail server for arts.myschool.edu. The setup is similar to the CNAME setup but with MX records.
subdomain1 IN MX 10 subdomain1.domain.com.
subdomain2 IN MX 10 subdomain2.domain.com.
Note: If the sub-domain is configured on another DNS name server, a Name Server (NS) record has to be created for the sub-domain on the corresponding domain name DNS server, so that it can delegate the sub-domain lookup to the other name servers. Using different name servers can eliminate security issues in cases where the sub-domains are maintained by separate administrators. However, the lookup carries an additional overhead.
Configuring the web server for sub-domains
Once the DNS server is setup to send the request for the sub-domain to the corresponding IP address, the work of the web server begins. The web server needs to be configured appropriately to handle the request for the sub-domain based on either the IP address or the host header entry. Host headers are commonly used by web servers to host multiple domains or sub-domains on one IP address.
Microsoft Windows IIS : In case of Internet Information Server (IIS), create a new web site for the subdomain using the IIS Manager, and add the sub-domain (e.g. subdomain.domain.com) as a new host header value listening to the same IP address as specified in the DNS entry. The port is set to 80 (the default for http requests). The host header can be added by clicking on the advanced tab next to the IP address configuration for that web site application. If the subdomain points to a subdirectory of the web site for the domain, then set the home directory for the subdomain web site to the subdirectory. For example, if the domain.com points to C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\ and the subdomain needs to be setup for C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\subdomain, then the directory for the subdomain website should be set to C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\subdomain.
Apache Web Server : In case of Apache web server, the subdomain is configured by virtual host entries in httpd.conf as shown below.
Listen 80
NameVirtualHost *
ServerName www.domain.com
DocumentRoot /home/httpd/htdocs/
ServerName subdomain.domain.com
DocumentRoot /home/httpd/htdocs/subdomain/
Conclusion
Sub-domain configuration starts with an entry in the DNS server of the parent domain and the lookup resolves the sub-domain to an IP address of the web server. The web server in turn delegates the requests based on its configuration for the sub-domain. Various sub-domain configurations can be used effectively to distribute the load evenly among available web applications or web servers listening to different IP addresses. The load distribution is achieved by the DNS round robin feature of the BIND. Other uses include application isolation, simpler and professional looking URL, content categorization etc.
How To Create A Favicon In Photoshop
Mysteries Of The Favicon.ico — How To Create A Favicon In Photoshop
A Favicon is a little custom icon that appears next to a website's URL in the address bar of a web browser. They also show up in your bookmarked sites, on the tabs in tabbed browsers, and as the icon for Internet shortcuts on your desktop or other folders in Windows. And when I say little, I mean 16 pixels by 16 pixels. So if you like a good design challenge try your hand at this one.
All you need to add a Favicon to your site is a Windows Icon (.ico) file usually called favicon.ico that you upload to the main directory of your website. Nowadays, most browsers besides Internet Explorer can use a GIF (including animated ones) or PNG (including full transparency) instead. But since all browsers including IE understand the .ico format, and because it's got a lot of intriguing features that GIFs and PNGs don't, read on to find out how to make one.
Download The Plugin
You'll need the Windows Icon (ICO) file format Photoshop Plugin to export to the .ico file format. You can download the plugin from Telegraphics (temporarily unavailable - try here for now). The plugin reads and writes ICO files in 1, 4 and 8-bit Indexed and 24-bit RGB modes, and also reads and writes 32-bit "XP" icons (with 8-bit alpha channel). Make sure to install the plugin before you begin this tutorial.
Let's Begin
Because 16 x 16 is such a small canvas area, it can be very difficult to be creative. So instead start your project with a canvas set at 64 x 64 (always use even multiples when you plan on resizing files). Do this by selecting File>New, and opening a new canvas that is 64 x 64 pixels in size.
The Design
If you already have a logo you should reduce it to the 16 x 16 size to see if it holds up. If it doesn't look good at this size, work with the 64 x 64 canvas and try creating a simple design that incorporates colors from your website's palette.
When you're ready to test the design select Image>Image Size menu and enter 16 x 16. Click on Resample Image and choose "Bicubic Sharper" from the drop-down menu (CS only for this step). This is the best setting for making sure that an image doesn't blur as it's being resized. If it’s still not sharp enough, go back and oversharpen, oversaturate and/or heighten the contrast of the original image and then resize it again.
If you feel the icon is not quite what you wanted, just keep tweaking it until it is perfect. At this tiny size it can take a few tries before you get it right.
Saving The Custom Icon
Go to File>Save As and make sure you name the file favicon.ico. Under Format you must choose Windows Icon (ICO) from the pulldown menu. This format will only be available in Photoshop after you download and install the plugin. In the next step you'll need to upload this new file to the root folder of your website, so it's a good idea to navigate and save it to that location on your hard drive now.
Uploading The Favicon.ico File
Connect to your server and upload your Favicon.ico file to your website. You must place it into the same directory as your home (index) page, and leave it loose, making sure not to put it in an images directory or other folder. The standard location is the “root” folder of your site, which is same directory as your home (index) page, not inside an images directory or other folder. If you put it there (and name it favicon.ico), most browsers will find it automatically.
Some browsers will look for a direct link in the HTML source code to your site's favicon.ico file. You can help these browsers by adding this link in the head section of each page on which you want the Favicon.ico to appear.
Here is the link code to include:
Once you've added this code, upload all of your modified pages.
(Some people suggest that the following is actually more correct: You can use both if you want!)
If you want to use a GIF or PNG instead, use this format instead (just remember that it won’t work in IE):
or
Testing
If your new Favicon does not show up right away, try refreshing the page or clearing your cache — or put a '?' at the end of the url, which will trick a browser into thinking the page is new and not cached.
Troubleshooting
Browser Issues: Microsoft IE 6 for Windows will not display the favicon until the URL has been added to the favorites. Or try this trick: go up to the address bar, click on the existing (usually the IE default) favicon, then "jiggle" it a bit and let go. That will reload the page and should get the new favicon to show up.
Safari for the MAC will not display an updated favicon until the browser cache has been cleared. But choosing ‘empty cache’ from the menu won't help because Safari stores favicons in a separate cache. Go to Edit > Reset Safari, and check “Remove all website icons”. If you can’t find that, you must empty the icon cache yourself. Look for it in User>Library>Safari>Icons. On the Windows version of Safari, find C:\Documents and Settings\YourUserName\Local Settings\Application Data\Apple Computer\Safari\WebpageIcons.db. Quit Safari, delete the file, restart Safari. (Sometimes you need to restart the computer too.)
On FireFox, clear the cache and restart the browser. On Opera, just refresh.
Windows can actually be the most beligerent about not updating favicons for Internet shortcuts (on your desktop, for instance). This tip from www.vistax64.com/tutorials:
1. Right-click on the Desktop.
2. Select Personalize and select Display Settings (or simply Settings on XP).
3. Change the Color from 32 bit to 16 bit and click Apply.
4. Change the Color back to 32 bit and click Apply.
File Format Not Available: The Windows Icon (ICO) file format will not be available until you have downloaded and installed the plugin, and then Quit and Restarted Photoshop.
Troubleshooting Update
One person who had trouble with Internet Explorer 7 has sent us a little tip:
I had some trouble with IE 7 — but the addition of these 2 lines of code solved the problem:
I found the info here:
www.webmasterworld.com/html/3251565.htm
Multi-Resolution Favicons
So if you’ve gotten this far, you can already see your favicon in your browser’s address bar, and it probably looks great. Feeling ambitious and want to go one step further?
In Windows especially, favicons show up all over the place. For instance, if you put a shortcut to a website on your desktop, Windows often uses the favicon of the site as the shortcut icon. But on the desktop, Windows uses a much larger size icon, usually 48x48 pixels. When this happens, Windows has to scale up your favicon and it will probably look blurry and not so great anymore.
You can fix this. One of the neat things about .ico files is that they can contain multiple versions of the icon, at different sizes and color depths (kinda like an animated GIF contains multiple frames). When they do, Windows uses whichever size and color depth is most appropriate. For the sizes, 16x16, 24x24, 32x32 & 48x48 pixels are most common, and all can put bundled together in a single .ico file.
Creating a multi-resolution icon isn't much harder than what you did to create your 16x16 favicon, Telegraphics, the same place you got your favicon plugin, also has another plugin http://www.telegraphics.com.au/sw/info/icobundle.html (temporarily unavailable) that allows you to bundle multiple icons together in a single .ico file. (There are also many standalone tools that will create a multi-resolution icon for you from a single starting image. Here's a couple that are free to try: www.sibcode.com/icon-studio and www.aha-soft.com/anytoicon.)
As for color depth... again, if you're on Windows, you may have noticed before that some icons on your desktop have jaggedy (aliased) edges, while others blend smoothly on the edges. The smooth blending is because those icons contain a version with 32-bit color depth, which allows true transparency, just like your layers in Photoshop. You can create a 32-bit version of your icon, along with 24-bit (16 million colors, gif-like transparency), 16-bit (256 colors) or even 8-, 4- or 2-bit... all of which could again be stored in one .ico file!
So if you want to make sure your favicon looks great wherever people might see it, try creating a few versions in your favicon.ico file. For example:
16x16, 16-bit (256) colors
16x16, 32-bit colors
32x32, 16-bit (256) colors
32x32, 32-bit colors
48x48, 16-bit (256) colors
48x48, 32-bit colors
But don’t go too crazy, because every variation makes your favicon a little bit bigger, which means it will take longer to download.
Inspiration
If you need some inspiration have a look through this nice collection of favicons. Also look at the nice categorized list of 50 remarkable favicons at Smashing Magazine. You might find something that triggers an idea for your own.
That's it. Enjoy your Favicons!
A Favicon is a little custom icon that appears next to a website's URL in the address bar of a web browser. They also show up in your bookmarked sites, on the tabs in tabbed browsers, and as the icon for Internet shortcuts on your desktop or other folders in Windows. And when I say little, I mean 16 pixels by 16 pixels. So if you like a good design challenge try your hand at this one.
All you need to add a Favicon to your site is a Windows Icon (.ico) file usually called favicon.ico that you upload to the main directory of your website. Nowadays, most browsers besides Internet Explorer can use a GIF (including animated ones) or PNG (including full transparency) instead. But since all browsers including IE understand the .ico format, and because it's got a lot of intriguing features that GIFs and PNGs don't, read on to find out how to make one.
Download The Plugin
You'll need the Windows Icon (ICO) file format Photoshop Plugin to export to the .ico file format. You can download the plugin from Telegraphics (temporarily unavailable - try here for now). The plugin reads and writes ICO files in 1, 4 and 8-bit Indexed and 24-bit RGB modes, and also reads and writes 32-bit "XP" icons (with 8-bit alpha channel). Make sure to install the plugin before you begin this tutorial.
Let's Begin
Because 16 x 16 is such a small canvas area, it can be very difficult to be creative. So instead start your project with a canvas set at 64 x 64 (always use even multiples when you plan on resizing files). Do this by selecting File>New, and opening a new canvas that is 64 x 64 pixels in size.
The Design
If you already have a logo you should reduce it to the 16 x 16 size to see if it holds up. If it doesn't look good at this size, work with the 64 x 64 canvas and try creating a simple design that incorporates colors from your website's palette.
When you're ready to test the design select Image>Image Size menu and enter 16 x 16. Click on Resample Image and choose "Bicubic Sharper" from the drop-down menu (CS only for this step). This is the best setting for making sure that an image doesn't blur as it's being resized. If it’s still not sharp enough, go back and oversharpen, oversaturate and/or heighten the contrast of the original image and then resize it again.
If you feel the icon is not quite what you wanted, just keep tweaking it until it is perfect. At this tiny size it can take a few tries before you get it right.
Saving The Custom Icon
Go to File>Save As and make sure you name the file favicon.ico. Under Format you must choose Windows Icon (ICO) from the pulldown menu. This format will only be available in Photoshop after you download and install the plugin. In the next step you'll need to upload this new file to the root folder of your website, so it's a good idea to navigate and save it to that location on your hard drive now.
Uploading The Favicon.ico File
Connect to your server and upload your Favicon.ico file to your website. You must place it into the same directory as your home (index) page, and leave it loose, making sure not to put it in an images directory or other folder. The standard location is the “root” folder of your site, which is same directory as your home (index) page, not inside an images directory or other folder. If you put it there (and name it favicon.ico), most browsers will find it automatically.
Some browsers will look for a direct link in the HTML source code to your site's favicon.ico file. You can help these browsers by adding this link in the head section of each page on which you want the Favicon.ico to appear.
Here is the link code to include:
Once you've added this code, upload all of your modified pages.
(Some people suggest that the following is actually more correct: You can use both if you want!)
If you want to use a GIF or PNG instead, use this format instead (just remember that it won’t work in IE):
or
Testing
If your new Favicon does not show up right away, try refreshing the page or clearing your cache — or put a '?' at the end of the url, which will trick a browser into thinking the page is new and not cached.
Troubleshooting
Browser Issues: Microsoft IE 6 for Windows will not display the favicon until the URL has been added to the favorites. Or try this trick: go up to the address bar, click on the existing (usually the IE default) favicon, then "jiggle" it a bit and let go. That will reload the page and should get the new favicon to show up.
Safari for the MAC will not display an updated favicon until the browser cache has been cleared. But choosing ‘empty cache’ from the menu won't help because Safari stores favicons in a separate cache. Go to Edit > Reset Safari, and check “Remove all website icons”. If you can’t find that, you must empty the icon cache yourself. Look for it in User>Library>Safari>Icons. On the Windows version of Safari, find C:\Documents and Settings\YourUserName\Local Settings\Application Data\Apple Computer\Safari\WebpageIcons.db. Quit Safari, delete the file, restart Safari. (Sometimes you need to restart the computer too.)
On FireFox, clear the cache and restart the browser. On Opera, just refresh.
Windows can actually be the most beligerent about not updating favicons for Internet shortcuts (on your desktop, for instance). This tip from www.vistax64.com/tutorials:
1. Right-click on the Desktop.
2. Select Personalize and select Display Settings (or simply Settings on XP).
3. Change the Color from 32 bit to 16 bit and click Apply.
4. Change the Color back to 32 bit and click Apply.
File Format Not Available: The Windows Icon (ICO) file format will not be available until you have downloaded and installed the plugin, and then Quit and Restarted Photoshop.
Troubleshooting Update
One person who had trouble with Internet Explorer 7 has sent us a little tip:
I had some trouble with IE 7 — but the addition of these 2 lines of code solved the problem:
I found the info here:
www.webmasterworld.com/html/3251565.htm
Multi-Resolution Favicons
So if you’ve gotten this far, you can already see your favicon in your browser’s address bar, and it probably looks great. Feeling ambitious and want to go one step further?
In Windows especially, favicons show up all over the place. For instance, if you put a shortcut to a website on your desktop, Windows often uses the favicon of the site as the shortcut icon. But on the desktop, Windows uses a much larger size icon, usually 48x48 pixels. When this happens, Windows has to scale up your favicon and it will probably look blurry and not so great anymore.
You can fix this. One of the neat things about .ico files is that they can contain multiple versions of the icon, at different sizes and color depths (kinda like an animated GIF contains multiple frames). When they do, Windows uses whichever size and color depth is most appropriate. For the sizes, 16x16, 24x24, 32x32 & 48x48 pixels are most common, and all can put bundled together in a single .ico file.
Creating a multi-resolution icon isn't much harder than what you did to create your 16x16 favicon, Telegraphics, the same place you got your favicon plugin, also has another plugin http://www.telegraphics.com.au/sw/info/icobundle.html (temporarily unavailable) that allows you to bundle multiple icons together in a single .ico file. (There are also many standalone tools that will create a multi-resolution icon for you from a single starting image. Here's a couple that are free to try: www.sibcode.com/icon-studio and www.aha-soft.com/anytoicon.)
As for color depth... again, if you're on Windows, you may have noticed before that some icons on your desktop have jaggedy (aliased) edges, while others blend smoothly on the edges. The smooth blending is because those icons contain a version with 32-bit color depth, which allows true transparency, just like your layers in Photoshop. You can create a 32-bit version of your icon, along with 24-bit (16 million colors, gif-like transparency), 16-bit (256 colors) or even 8-, 4- or 2-bit... all of which could again be stored in one .ico file!
So if you want to make sure your favicon looks great wherever people might see it, try creating a few versions in your favicon.ico file. For example:
16x16, 16-bit (256) colors
16x16, 32-bit colors
32x32, 16-bit (256) colors
32x32, 32-bit colors
48x48, 16-bit (256) colors
48x48, 32-bit colors
But don’t go too crazy, because every variation makes your favicon a little bit bigger, which means it will take longer to download.
Inspiration
If you need some inspiration have a look through this nice collection of favicons. Also look at the nice categorized list of 50 remarkable favicons at Smashing Magazine. You might find something that triggers an idea for your own.
That's it. Enjoy your Favicons!
Print Window pop-up
This Script allows users to print the current html page.
//1. INSERT THE FOLLOWING IN THE HEAD SECTION
//2. INSERT THIS IS THE BODY SECTION
Print This Page
//1. INSERT THE FOLLOWING IN THE HEAD SECTION
//2. INSERT THIS IS THE BODY SECTION
Print This Page
Image Resizing in PS CS3
How To Resize Images And Maintain Original Sharpness
You have a nice big beautiful photo. It is gorgeous. But you need it much, much smaller, and by the time the file is down to the right size, you might find that the image has started to take on a blurry look. This is a real problem with resizing images, but luckily in Photoshop there's a very simple solution.
This tip will only work with Photoshop CS and CS2. If you don't have a CS version yet I recommend you try and get one as soon as you can, because they are full of powerful new features. For earlier versions of Photoshop there's a workaround at the end of this tip.
When you want to reduce an image go to the Image> Image Size menu. Click on Resample Image and choose Bicubic Sharper from the drop-down menu. This is the best setting for making sure that an image doesn't blur. The example photo of the flower started at 2,000 pixels across. I stepped it down to 250, and then again to 125 with almost no loss of sharpness. For enlarging an image select Bicubic Smoother.
I found this to be such an effective trick that I wished it had been the default setting in Photoshop for the Image Size menu from the start. Then I discovered I could set it as the default myself. All you need to do is go to Preferences> General and you'll see Image Interpolation and there you can pick Bicubic Sharper from the choices.
Another thing to keep in mind when resizing is to try to do it only once on an image. Many people will resize repeatedly as they search for the perfect fit for a design element, and then end up with an image with a lot of blur. It's always better to experiment on a duplicate of the image. Then, when you've settled on the final dimensions, you can go back to the original and resize it just once.
Pre-CS Workaround
In earlier versions of Photoshop simply zoom out so that your window and image are at either 50% or 25%, and then take a screenshot of the image window at this new reduced size. You'll find that the image will maintain its sharpness. Now open the screenshot in Photoshop, and crop and save. The trick to making this work is to use either a 50%, 25%, or 12.5% view size before making the capture. If you view the image at 66.7%, 33.3%, or 16.7%, the image will not be as sharp due to the way Photoshop draws images at those sizes.
Troubleshooting
Never resize a GIF image. First change the mode to RGB Color (Image> Mode> RGB Color), and then resize. You can still save your resized image as a GIF, just do not apply resizing while the image is in the GIF mode.
You have a nice big beautiful photo. It is gorgeous. But you need it much, much smaller, and by the time the file is down to the right size, you might find that the image has started to take on a blurry look. This is a real problem with resizing images, but luckily in Photoshop there's a very simple solution.
This tip will only work with Photoshop CS and CS2. If you don't have a CS version yet I recommend you try and get one as soon as you can, because they are full of powerful new features. For earlier versions of Photoshop there's a workaround at the end of this tip.
When you want to reduce an image go to the Image> Image Size menu. Click on Resample Image and choose Bicubic Sharper from the drop-down menu. This is the best setting for making sure that an image doesn't blur. The example photo of the flower started at 2,000 pixels across. I stepped it down to 250, and then again to 125 with almost no loss of sharpness. For enlarging an image select Bicubic Smoother.
I found this to be such an effective trick that I wished it had been the default setting in Photoshop for the Image Size menu from the start. Then I discovered I could set it as the default myself. All you need to do is go to Preferences> General and you'll see Image Interpolation and there you can pick Bicubic Sharper from the choices.
Another thing to keep in mind when resizing is to try to do it only once on an image. Many people will resize repeatedly as they search for the perfect fit for a design element, and then end up with an image with a lot of blur. It's always better to experiment on a duplicate of the image. Then, when you've settled on the final dimensions, you can go back to the original and resize it just once.
Pre-CS Workaround
In earlier versions of Photoshop simply zoom out so that your window and image are at either 50% or 25%, and then take a screenshot of the image window at this new reduced size. You'll find that the image will maintain its sharpness. Now open the screenshot in Photoshop, and crop and save. The trick to making this work is to use either a 50%, 25%, or 12.5% view size before making the capture. If you view the image at 66.7%, 33.3%, or 16.7%, the image will not be as sharp due to the way Photoshop draws images at those sizes.
Troubleshooting
Never resize a GIF image. First change the mode to RGB Color (Image> Mode> RGB Color), and then resize. You can still save your resized image as a GIF, just do not apply resizing while the image is in the GIF mode.
Mail Server Settings (POP3 & SMTP)
Incoming and Outgoing Mail Server Settings for Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, GMail, AOL and more
*Update, 29th of August 2006: the Google Gmail service offers a SMTP server (outgoing mail server) for Gmail accounts. To use the Google Gmail SMTP server, use the following information:
Google Gmail Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP): smtp.gmail.com
The Gmail SMTP server requires authentication (use the same settings as for the incoming mail server)
The Google Gmail SMTP Server requires an encrypted connection (SSL) on port 465.
Why & when do I need these settings?
Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, GMail and other providers are basically email services designed to provide you with email mailbox accesss directly from the web. However, going online and logging on to their sites is not always the most convenient way for reading and sending emails.
On the other hand, you have the alternative to send and receive emails through such a mailbox by using a local email client software, such as Outlook Express, Microsoft Outlook, Thunderbird, Thunderbird, etc. In order to properly use it, you need to configure your email software with the incoming and outgoing mail servers of your email provider (Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail or else).
· Hotmail Settings
As other web based email services, Hotmail is using the HTTP protocol for connecting you to your mailbox. If you want to send and receive Hotmail emails using an email client software, then your software must support Hotmail HTTP access for your email account. Some email clients, such as Outlook Express or Microsoft Outlook, offer builtin support for Hotmail accounts, so you only have to select HTTP when you are asked to select your email account type and select Hotmail as the HTTP Mail Service Provider.
· Yahoo! Mail Settings
Unlike Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail offers standard POP3 access for receiving emails incoming through your Yahoo mailbox, by using your favorite email client software. To setup your email client for working with your Yahoo account, you need to select the POP3 protocol and use the following mail server settings:
Yahoo Incoming Mail Server (POP3) - pop.mail.yahoo.com (port 110)
Yahoo Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP) - smtp.mail.yahoo.com (port 25)
· Google GMail Settings
The Google GMail service offers email client access for retrieving and sending emails through your Gmail account. However, for security reasons, GMail uses POP3 over an SSL connection, so make sure your email client supports encrypted SSL connections.
Google Gmail Incoming Mail Server (POP3) - pop.gmail.com (SSL enabled, port 995)
Outgoing Mail Server - use the SMTP mail server address provided by your local ISP or smtp.gmail.com (SSL enabled, port 465)
· Lycos Mail Settings
The Lycos Mail Plus service allows you to use POP3 and SMTP servers for accessing your Lycos mailbox.
Lycos Mail Incoming Mail Server (POP3) - pop.mail.lycos.com (port 110)
Outgoing Mail Server - smtp.mail.lycos.com or use your local ISP SMTP mail server
· AOL Mail Settings
The AOL email service is a web based system, designed for managing your AOL mailbox via HTTP IMAP access. Unlike Hotmail, you can use any email client to access your AOL mailbox, as long as it supports the IMAP protocol.
AOL Incoming Mail Server (IMAP) - imap.aol.com (port 143)
AOL Outgoing Mail Server - smtp.aol.com or use your local ISP SMTP mail server
· Mail.com Mail Settings
The Mail.com email service allows you to use POP3 and SMTP servers for accessing your Mail.com mailbox.
Mail.com Mail Incoming Mail Server (POP3) - pop1.mail.com (port 110)
Outgoing Mail Server - use your local ISP SMTP mail server
· Netscape Internet Service Mail Settings
The Netscape e-mail system is web-based, which means you can access their e-mail from any Internet connection. Netscape Internet Service also supports AOL® Communicator, Microsoft® Outlook, Microsoft® Outlook Express, and other POP3 e-mail software. The outgoing mail server needs SSL support, so make sure your email client software supports SSL connections over the SMTP protocol.
Netscape Internet Service Incoming Mail Server (POP3) - pop.3.isp.netscape.com (port 110)
Netscape Internet Service Outgoing Mail Server - smtp.isp.netscape.com (port 25, using a secure SSL connection)
· Tiscali Mail Settings
The Tiscali email service allows you to use POP3 and SMTP servers for accessing your Tiscali mailbox.
Tiscali Incoming Mail Server (POP3) - pop.tiscali.com (port 110)
Outgoing Mail Server - use your local ISP SMTP mail server
· Freeserve Mail Settings
The Freeserve email service allows you to use POP3 and SMTP servers for accessing your Freeserve mailbox.
Freeserve Incoming Mail Server (POP3) - pop.freeserve.com (port 110)
Outgoing Mail Server - use your local ISP SMTP mail server
· Supanet Mail Settings
The Supanet email service allows you to use POP3 and SMTP servers for accessing your Supanet mailbox.
Supanet Incoming Mail Server (POP3) - pop.supanet.com (port 110)
Outgoing Mail Server - use your local ISP SMTP mail server
If your email client does not support Hotmail as a Mail Service Provider or if it simply doesn't work with your mail server settings, you can use a 3rd party solution like Hotmail Popper, IzyMail, POP Peeper or Email2Pop. When using such tools, you should define your Hotmail account as a POP3 account and you will need to define your incoming mail server will as 'localhost' (or 127.0.0.1).
warnings in PHP
1. Warning: mysql_fetch_array(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource
Troubleshoot: it means your info is wrong (table, db, etc.) or the result is empty (there is no data in the table) so check that.
Troubleshoot: it means your info is wrong (table, db, etc.) or the result is empty (there is no data in the table) so check that.
Xampp & Oracle
Step by Step procedure to Configure Xampp & Oracle 9i
Install Oracle9i on a Remote Server (Installation of oracle 9i)
Install XAMPP for windows version 1.6.8 (Installation of Xampp for windows is discussed here)
Install Oracle Client 10g
Using oci module for connecting PHP & Oracle
Edit php.ini file, the path to this file is shown in phpinfo page under Loaded Configuration File
Uncomment the line shown below..
;extension=php_oci8.dll
(just remove the semicolon to uncomment the line)
Save the file
Restart Apache Tomcat
Check the phpinfo page, If all goes good u should be able to see the oci details under OCI8
Connect to your database using the php code as shown below
// try connecting to the database
$conn = oci_connect(’scott’,
‘tiger’,'(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=10.136.7.8)(PORT=1521))
(CONNECT_DATA=(SERVER=DEDICATED) (SERVICE_NAME = oracle9.itiltd.com)))’);
// check for any errors
if (!$conn)
{
$e = oci_error();
print htmlentities($e['message']);
exit;
}
// else there weren’t any errors
else
{
echo ‘Connection To Oracle DB Success.’;
}
?>
REMARKS: I’ve tried erlier with Oracle Client 9i. It didn’t workout & was showing error as unable to find php_oci.dll in apache error logs, so i switched to Oracle Client 10g & its working fine.
Oracle Database Connection Strings in PHP
Oracle Database Connection Strings in PHP
It’s easy to get confused as to how to specificy your Oracle database connection string, and there’s a handy new feature in Oracle 10g that makes this a whole lot easier. So here’s a little rundown of the three ways to connect to Oracle databases. You can use the:
- tnsnames.ora file
- Full connection string
- Easy connect string
These examples show how to specificy an Oracle connection string using the new OCI8 functions in PHP.
tnsnames.ora File
The tnsnames.ora file is a client side file that maps an alias used by client programs to a database service. It is used to connect to a non-default database. Here you have to have an entry in the tnsnames.ora file, and reference the alias to that entry in your connection code.
PHP code:
oci_connect($un, $pw, 'MYDB');
tnsnames.ora entry
MYDB = (DESCRIPTION = (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP) (HOST = mymachine.mydomain)(PORT = 1521)) (CONNECT_DATA = (SERVER = DEDICATED) (SERVICE_NAME = MYDB.AU.ORACLE.COM)) )
Full Connection String
The full connection string does not require the use of a tnsnames.ora file. You need to enter the full connection string when you connect to the database in your code.
PHP code:
oci_connect($un, $pw, '(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=mymachine.mydomain)(PORT=1521)) (CONNECT_DATA=(SERVER=DEDICATED) (SERVICE_NAME = MYDB)))');
Easy Connect String
This is one Oracle 10g feature that I use daily. As I constantly connect to so many different databases in my day, this has saved me so much time as I don’t have to configure anything, just know the machine name and the database alias and I’m off.
The easy connect string does not require the use of a tnsnames.ora file, and is an abbreviated version of the full connection string. you must have the Oracle 10g client-side libraries to use the easy connect string.
PHP code:
oci_connect($un, $pw, '//mymachine.mydomain:port/MYDB');
----
REMARKS: I'm using Full COnnection Strings method for HOST=mymachine.mydomain i've wrote Oracle Server IP Addres. Path of tnsnames.ora is DRIVE:\oracle9\network\admin\tnsnames.ora
Reference: alisonatoracle blog
SRS IN BRIEF [System Rquirements Specification]
An srs is basically an organization’s understanding (in writing) of a customer or potential client’s system requirements and dependencies at a particular point in time (usually) prior to any actual design or development work.
It’s a two-way insurance policy that assures that both the client and the organization understand the other’s requirements from that perspective at a given point in time. Benefits of a good srs establish the basis for agreement between the customers and the suppliers on what the software product is to do.
Reduce the development effort. Provide a basis for estimating costs and schedules. Provide a baseline for validation and verification. Serve as a basis for enhancement. What should the srs address to? functionality.
What is the software supposed to do? external interfaces. How does the software interact with people, the system’s hardware, other hardware, and other software? performance.
What is the speed, availability, response time, recovery time of various software functions, etc.? attributes. What are the portability, correctness, maintainability, security, etc. Considerations? design constraints imposed on an implementation. Are there any required standards in effect, implementation language, policies for database integrity, resource limits, operating environment(s) etc.?
what are the characteristics of a great srs?an srs should be
a) correct
b) unambiguous
c) complete
d) consistent
e) ranked for importance and/or stability
f) verifiable
g) modifiable
h) traceable little more about software specifications and system specifications
what is the difference between a system specification and a software specification?
very often we find that companies do not understand the difference between a system specification and a software specification. Important issues are not defined up front and mechanical, electronic and software designers do not really know what their requirements are.
The following is a high level list of requirements that should be addressed in a system specification: define the functions of the system define the hardware / software functional partitioning define the performance specification define the hardware / software performance partitioning define safety requirements define the user interface (a good user’s manual is often an overlooked part of the system specification.
Many of our customers haven’t even considered that this is the right time to write the user’s manual.) provide installation drawings/instructions. Provide interface control drawings (icd’s, external i/o)