Super Ginormous

Category: Design

Posts on graphic and web design.

  • Metro Spirit Hiring Graphic Designer

    logo_metrospirit.gifThe Metro Spirit is looking for a Graphic Designer. If you’re interested in the position, hit Stacey Hudson up with an email for more information.

  • Updated Information on Installing Adobe CS3

    If you are having problems installing Adobe Creative Suite 3 (CS3), you may want to check out the links below for additional information. This information came directly from Barry Hills (Sr. Director, Engineering and Program Mgmt, Creative Suites) via another thread here on my site. I am reposting it, and updating the other articles on this site to this information.

    Uninstall Flash Player completely:
    http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_14157

    Make sure you have the right MacOS:
    http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb401617&sliceId=1

    The “Help” page for installation related issues:
    http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/microsites/searchEntry.do?locale=LA_eng_US&publicationstatus=KCP_Publish&;usemicrosite=true&cmd=search&product=SG_CREATIVESUITE_1_1&searchString=installer&micrositeId=MS_Customer

    How to locate the installation log file:
    http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb400593&sliceId=1
    (This is very handy to have prior to calling technical support since it will help facilitate troubleshooting.)

    Also, update Acrobat to 8.1.

    If these don’t work and you still are having trouble installing a Creative Suite you have purchased and our Customer Support has not been able to help, please send me an email directly at:

    bhills@adobe.com
    Barry Hills
    Sr. Director, Engineering and Program Mgmt
    Creative Suite

    I hope this information helps those individuals who are still struggling to install CS3. In spite of all of the problems I had installing CS3 myself, I’m glad I upgraded. I’ve really enjoyed how well the apps work together, so much so that I ended up buying InDesign CS3 as well.

    Barry, thanks for the updated information, and for being proactive on this matter. You’re restoring my faith in Adobe.

  • HP Blog Printing

    HP Blog Printing graphicAt first glance, the HP Blog Printing plugin for Movable Type and WordPress seemed rather pointless to me. Then I used it. All I can say is wow.

    Typically, if you were worried about how your content might look when printed out, you’d create a print stylesheet that would control, to some extent, how things look when they print out. The HP Blog Printing plugin eliminates that problem, by allowing users to create an easy-to-read, printer-friendly PDF of your latest content on the fly. Best of all: it’s free.

    For those of you who don’t have a site powered by Movable Type or WordPress, it might be worth looking into Tabblo Print Toolkit (developed by HP). By using a bookmarklet while viewing one of the supported sites, you can generate a PDF of the current page content.

    I’ve now incorporated this feature into the website. You can access it via individual posts in the sidebar. Hopefully you’ll find it as useful as I have.

  • Webmaster Jam Session 2007

    Webmaster Jam Session 2007

    I got the go ahead last week to register for Webmaster Jam Session 2007! I’m really looking forward to attending the two-day conference. (I don’t get to leave the office all that often.) The speakers list is impressive! There’s going to be so much going on… so much to learn.

    I’m especially looking forward to Bryan Veloso and Dan Rubin’s “Design is in the Details“, Jeff Croft’s “Typography: Beyond the Font” and so much more… I follow the blogs of so many of these designers and developers… it’s going to be sweet to learn from them face to face.

    I’m making the trek alone as of right now. If you’re planning to attend, let me know!

  • Add IAB Ad Sizes to Photoshop CS3 Defaults

    1. Go to: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS3\Required
    2. Open: Default New Doc Sizes.txt
    3. Add the following somewhere in the file:You can also do this in CS3. A few IAB ad sizes are actually included by default:
      ; Interactive Marketing Unit (IMU) ad formats, defined by the
; Interactive Advertising Bureau, <http://www.iab.net/>

"Medium Rectangle, 300 x 250"	300	 250	pixels	screen dpi RGB 8 1.0
"Rectangle, 180 x 50"		180	  50	pixels	screen dpi RGB 8 1.0
"Leaderboard, 728 x 90"		728	  90	pixels	screen dpi RGB 8 1.0
"Wide Skyscraper, 160 x 600"	160	 600	pixels	screen dpi RGB 8 1.0

      You can replace those entries with this to get all of the default IAB ad sizes into Photoshop CS3:

      ; Interactive Marketing Unit (IMU) ad formats, defined by the
; Interactive Advertising Bureau, <http://www.iab.net/>

"Button 1, 120 x 90"		120	  90	pixels	screen dpi RGB 8 1.0
"Button 2, 120 x 60"		120	  60	pixels	screen dpi RGB 8 1.0
"Full Banner, 468 x 68"		468	  68	pixels	screen dpi RGB 8 1.0
"Half Banner, 234 x 60"		234	  60	pixels	screen dpi RGB 8 1.0
"Half Page Ad, 300 x 600"	300	 600	pixels	screen dpi RGB 8 1.0
"Large Rectangle, 336 x 280"	336	 280	pixels	screen dpi RGB 8 1.0
"Leaderboard, 728 x 90"		28	  90	pixels	screen dpi RGB 8 1.0
"Medium Rectangle, 300 x 250"	300	 250	pixels	screen dpi RGB 8 1.0
"Micro Bar, 88 x 31"		88	  31	pixels	screen dpi RGB 8 1.0
"Rectangle, 180 x 150"		180	 150	pixels	screen dpi RGB 8 1.0
"Skyscraper, 120 x 600"		120	 600	pixels	screen dpi RGB 8 1.0
"Square Button, 125 x 125"	125	 125	pixels	screen dpi RGB 8 1.0
"Square Pop-Up, 250 x 250"	250	 250	pixels	screen dpi RGB 8 1.0
"Vertical Banner, 120 x 240"	120	 240	pixels	screen dpi RGB 8 1.0
"Vertical Rectangle, 240 x 400"	240	 400	pixels	screen dpi RGB 8 1.0
"Wide Skyscraper, 160 x 600"	160	 600	pixels	screen dpi RGB 8 1.0
    4. Restart Photoshop CS3.
    5. The new IAB ad sizes will be available when you create a new document, and choose the Web preset.

  • Deciding on which CS3 to buy.

    Before deciding to upgrade to CS3, I had a hard time trying to decide between Web Premium and Design Premium. I’m primarily a web designer these days, but I do some print work every now and again. Either version would work well for me.

    Web Premium comes with Photoshop CS3 Extended, Illustrator CS3, Acrobat 8 Professional, Flash CS3 Professional, Dreamweaver CS3, Fireworks CS3 and Contribute CS3. It retails for $1599 for the full version and $599 for the upgrade. Design Premium comes with Photoshop CS3 Extended, Illustrator CS3, Acrobat 8 Professional, Dreamweaver CS3 and InDesign CS3. It retails for $1799 for the full version and $599 for the upgrade. (Fortunately, I was upgrading from CS2 so I qualified for upgrade pricing.)

    (more…)

  • The Time to Act is Now

    My traffic has nearly tripled in the past two weeks. The cause? People are having LOTS of problems installing Creative Suite 3. Most of the traffic has come as a result of search engine queries. Of my top 20 search terms since April 27th, 12 have been related to CS3. Coincidence? I think not.

    cs3 install problems (37); cs3 install (20); cs3 install problem (14); cs3 installation problems (14); install CS3 (14); cs3 will not install (10); adobe cs3 installation problems (9); trouble installing cs3 (6); how to install cs3 (6); photoshop cs3 installation (5); installing cs3 (5) … and so many more…

    Adobe: The time to act is now. Loyal users are suffering silently, searching the web for any and all help they can get. You’ve offered little help. Forcing people to run CleanScripts, editing their registries, changing system permissions in order to install software in unacceptable. The CS3 Installer is broken and it needs to be fixed NOW.

    What’s the solution? Calling Support is almost out of the question. Before I even got CS3 I waited on the phone three times for 30 minutes or more. I suggest we start calling and writing and/or faxing letters to Corporate voicing our dissatisfaction. What better place to start than at the top?

    Adobe Systems Incorporated
    345 Park Avenue
    San Jose, CA 95110-2704
    Tel: 408-536-6000
    Fax: 408-537-6000

  • Unacceptable

    component-install-failed

    It’s 12:30am, and I’m giving up on trying to install CS3 for the night. I’m tired and frustrated. Updating software shouldn’t be this difficult, nor should it take as long as it does. Just installing the smallest app, Contribute CS3, takes over an hour because of all of the “Components” that need to be installed. This is complete and utter nonsense.

    When I upgraded from Photoshop 7 to Creative Suite I didn’t experience any problems. When I upgraded from CS to CS2, I experience no problems. Now, because I – like so many other people – decided I’d like to try out a Beta application from Adobe, I’m getting screwed out of hours upon hours of my time – because their software simply doesn’t work like it should.

    I expect more from Adobe, and frankly this situation is making me seriously reconsider upgrading the rest of the designers in our office.

    Tomorrow morning I’ll need to spend some time trying to make sure CS2 works like it should. I have a feeling it’s going to be a while before I waste any more time trying to install CS3.

  • The Web Design Survey 2007

    Designers, developers, project managers. Writers and editors. Information architects and usability specialists. People who make websites have been at it for more than a dozen years, yet almost nothing is known, statistically, about our profession. Who are we? Where do we live? What are our titles, our skills, our educational backgrounds? Where and with whom do we work? What do we earn? What do we value?

    Read More and Take the Survey!

    i-took-the-2007-survey.gif

  • Things To Do

    I feel disconnected from the design and web community of Augusta. I don’t really have a desire to get involved in the local AdFed, but there isn’t anything else out there in this area. Perhaps this presents a good opportunity to fill a void?

    I’m thinking about contacting Adobe to start an Adobe User Group (AUG) for the Augusta, Georgia/Central Savannah River Area. Honestly, it doesn’t even have to be an AUG. It could be something more along the lines of what they are doing in Alabama. I know of a few local designers that read my blog from time to time… would any of you be interested in getting involved in something like this?

    I’m also going to start the process of getting certified in one or more Adobe applications. Considering I’m mostly self-taught in Photoshop, Illustrator and Dreamweaver, I think going for certification in one or more of those apps would help to solidify my knowledge of the applications…