I’ve been working through the Total Training video series on Adobe’s Creative Suite 3: Web Premium package. I’m almost done with the second Photoshop DVD, and I’ve learned a lot. I also feel that I have uncovered a beast that no amount of training will allow me to fully appreciate. Photoshop is intense! There is so much that you can do, and so much that needs to be understood. I have a headache thinking about it, and am a little worried that I will not learn it as much as I would like. I also can reassure myself by recognizing that I don’t need to know it all.

Today’s effects that I learned about are the glow and emboss effect. I was inspired to create an eclipse using this tool, and while I was at it I turned it into a logo for an imaginary web design studio (perhaps something I’ll use some day). I am a firm believer in turning anything new that is learned with a design software program into something usable. In this case, I was given an opportunity to practice typography as well.

Don’t believe the mark just above this line. This page is not CSS checked. I wish it were so, but it isn’t. For those who don’t know, the mark above is a sign of validation that your site conforms to the CSS standards set forth by an organization known as the World Wide Web Consortium. The idea here is that all web pages should conform to a standard, therefore reducing the errors that run rampant on websites.

For the past five years, I have been creating websites using only HTML design code. Within those past five years, this way of coding websites is becoming a no-no. The proper way is to use one language (XHTML) to define your content, while you use another language (CSS) to style those various types of content. The result is nothing short of magnificent compared to the old way of doing things. There is much more flexibility and beauty in the page, it loads faster, and renders fewer errors on various browsers. The problem is, I’m used to doing things another way.

I have recently decided to force myself to learn the contemporary way of coding websites by hand (as opposed to relying on Adobe Dreamweaver). I am sitting at Panera now, and I just finished my first page that uses CSS in partnership with XHTML exclusively.

Check it out.

Oh, and yeah, while I didn’t put the graphic on the page, it has been validated

Tomorrow I will be presenting at the eTech Ohio Conference for Ohio’s school technology coordinators and teachers. I have been selected to present on the topic of the use of open source software in the school setting as it relates to student instruction. The session will take a look at the following programs: GIMP, Nvu, OpenOffice, Scribus, Blender, Inkscape, and Dia. We will see how these programs compare to their commercial counterparts, see examples of student work using these programs, and discuss resources available to help teachers and students alike learn more about these free programs. Below you will find a link to the handout from the session, with links to the download sites for these programs, as well as a treasure-chest of free helpful resources for learning how to use them.

Open Source Software Resources (.pdf)

Something has got me singing this past year or so. I have been using a web site called Yodlee to assist me in keeping track of my financial accounts. The site is an aggregator of information from various accounts. I can’t actually do anything with the money in the accounts through Yodlee, but I can view, sort, and group transactions from bank accounts, credit cards, investment accounts, student loans, mortgages, and just about every other type of money-related account that involves me. The site can even keep a relatively accurate estimated home value (by tying into Zillow.com) in order to calculate my net worth. The only thing missing from the picture is the values of my assets around the house (only eBay knows what that is). There are also many useful features, such as charts, graphs, and email messages that warn you of all sorts of things that you might want to know about (such as a withdrawal over a certain amount, or a minimum balance alert).

I personally use Yodlee to send me an email every week that gives me a summary of my bank account balance, just to make sure that everything is going according to plan. I have done searches through my transactions for a particular merchant, and it returns any purchases made to them through both my credit cards and my bank account. I often give a brief scan to the balance of all of my accounts just to make sure that no irregular activity is going on, especially for those accounts that I don’t use very often.

Yodlee is very secure, requiring authentication to log in, with strong encryption, and periodic requests to enter a password. Even with all this in place, your account numbers and passwords are still hidden from view, and I don’t see how anyone could do any harm even if they did get your account (although I’m sure there is something, somehow).

Bottom line, I love the site, and if you do most of your transactions via a credit or debit card, it is a handy way to archive and organize your financial transactions in one place.