Free Web tutorials

One thing I love about the Internet is that is offers free learning in a lot of ways. Back in 1999, I taught myself Perl basically overnight using Web-based tutorials (training). Of course, I already had been programming in school for years, so it was learning the language syntax rather than learning how to program. I already understood loops and if statements and classes and all that, so it just became learning a new set of words. With Perl, however, there was the wonderful word of "regular expressions"that I had never seen, so that took a while to master. Instead of having to do a lot of complicated searching, for example, you can replace one set of characters inside a string with another using commands like this:
s/original/replacementstring/gi;

That would take you a few lines of C++ code, for example. I was always taught that you want to choose the right programming language based on the task you wanted to do, and for string manipulation or interacting with the operating system, Perl is much better than C++.

Anyway, point being, once you have a foundation, you can always update your skills. I've had to do that this summer - I went to a four-day PHP training. If you don't have a job paying for it, you can always find things online that will help you. For example, a friend recommended a site called W3Schools to me a while ago, and they seem to have some nice free content.

Just remember, especially for those of you in the Information Technology field...learning is not a product - you don't just learn and that's it. You will need to keep learning over time, especially in this field.

http://w3schools.com/

You Suck at Photoshop

I have posted this before, but it's definitely worth a revisit, especially since there are now two seasons worth of episodes.

There is a series of Photoshop tutorials (training) called "You Suck at Photoshop". They are very informative and I've learned stuff about Photoshop watching them. However, there is a twist. It's basically half comedy and half training. It's training, but set against the story line of the guy teaching you Photoshop going through a rough time in his life. It's very amusing. My Web Graphics class seemed to like it a lot last week.

It's kind of NSFW (not safe for work) - there is some cursing involved - don't click if you are easily offended!

Link to Site

PRISM Handouts

I wanted to make this information more available to all my PRISM workshop attendees from the last two days by bringing this to the top (hi, all!).

Here are the handouts, slightly updated, available for viewing and download. Don't be shy, tell your friends!

PowerPoint 2003/2004 Tips & Tricks

Google Tips & Tricks

How the Mayans did math

Education is always a very interesting topic to me, of course. Why do we learn things the way we do? Because that's how people in the generation before us learned them, in general. Sometimes you wonder, how were things done way back?

For example, how was math taught many years ago? Here's how the Mayans did it. It's really interesting and I am still trying to wrap my head around it at the moment.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=cVPOSvPNn28

Thanks to Catalina for the heads up!

Bitmap image conversion to vector image

Image editing application software such as Photoshop or Fireworks contain a tool that will allow you to convert a bitmap image (such as one taken with a digital camera) in to a vector image (one that looks "drawn" - and one that can be resized easier.

If you are ever doing any professional logo design and have very little Graphic Design talent (guilty!), you can take an existing photograph and turn it in to a vector image to save yourself time drawing. For example, let's say you wanted to make a cell phone logo - you could take a picture of a real cell phone, "vectorize" it, and then just edit it to suit your needs.

If you're curious as to what I am talking about, you can actually try it for free on a Web site such as vector magic - they will let you try it for free without letting you save - or you can do it in a tool such as Photoshop or Fireworks.


Try it on Vector Magic's Web site for free

How to do it in Photoshop

Photoshop Tutorials

Adobe Photoshop is one of the most powerful image editing tools available. Many people stick with the tools they get with a digital camera, but if you have the money to spend, Photoshop is an incredibly versatile and potent tool.

The folks at Photoshop Roadmap have put together a list of free tutorials (training) for specific tasks you might want to perform - from the easy (removing red eye) to more difficult (removing wrinkles, changing a person's facial expression).

Here's the link...scroll down past the ads up top and you'll find tons of tutorials that might be of use!

Link to site