Building the Ultimate Dashboard

This dashboard slide deck is targeting marketing and sales people, but dashboards are useful everywhere, even in games.

The Nine Principles of Killer Dashboards from Salesforce

Add a Little Flair to your Web Site

I remember about five years ago there were all sorts of neat programs out there that would generate cool text effects for you in Flash SWF format. Some have gone by the way side, but here are a few that are still kicking that might be of interest.

http://www.wildform.com/
http://www.swishzone.com
http://www.xara.com/us/

If you know of any others, let me know and I'll post 'em.

Random Photoshop, CSS, and UI links

Here are a bunch of random UI, CSS, and Photoshop links.

http://trevordavis.net/blog/tutorial/the-6-most-important-css-techniques-you-need-to-know/
http://sixrevisions.com/graphics-design/photoshop_text_effect_tutorials/
http://sixrevisions.com/resources/cheat_sheets_for_web_designers/
http://designreviver.com/tutorials/50-excellent-body-enhancement-photoshop-tutorials/
http://psdtuts.com/web/20-insane-comic-book-style-photoshop-effects/
http://speckyboy.com/2008/08/28/75-powerful-adobe-fireworks-extensions-it-really-can-be-as-great-as-photoshop/
http://psdtuts.com/tutorials-effects/40-dark-and-futuristic-photoshop-effects/
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/top-ten-css-tricks/
http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/30-nicest-photoshop-photo-effects-part-ii/
http://www.noupe.com/css/form-elements-40-cssjs-styling-and-functionality-techniques.html
http://www.photoshoptechniques.com/texp/fireptk.php

Truespace 7.6 Free

I guess Microsoft bought Caligari software last year. Caligari's flagship software program was a pretty cool 3D package called Truespace.

As part of Microsoft's Virtual Earth push, Truespace, which once was around 600 bucks, is now FREE.

Need to spice up some GUIs? Then check out Truespace.

http://www.caligari.com/Products/trueSpace/tS75/brochure/intro.asp?Cate=BIntro

On a sadder note, I hate to see these smaller companies starting to succumb. When I first got into programming I really enjoyed using some of the smaller 3D packages out there like Poser, Bryce, Cool 3D, etc... It is a shame these companies are generally either going out of business or being bought up.

CGI Advancement

CGI takes another huge step forward, pretty cool.

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article4557935.ece

Column Side Gradients

I suck at Photoshop, not because I really suck, but because I don't get much time in on the design side. Too bad because I enjoy the design side a lot. I think ultimately I'd like to phase back on the coding side and spend more time on the design side. I figure the programming spectrum goes like this-

• Blur between Web Application Developer and Hard Core Low Level Programmer
• Web Application Developer
• Web Scripter
• Web Designer
• HTML Content Developer

I think I'd like to find myself in the "Web Scripter" category, someone who does back-end database programming, but also does design work. I think I could meet a lot of small business user needs that way. Small business owners don't need or care about the craft of programming, and they can't support the budget for solutions based on those methodologies, but small business owners do need interactivity and data storing/retrieval. A nice blend of task for a single coder or a small team. I think I'm getting burned out a little bit on the application development side of things. I see a lot of extra abstraction layers being added into the mix, which is all well in good, but often times the extra effort is unnecessary and it is only done to please the herd.

Anyway, that is neither here nor there. Here is a link to a Photoshop/CSS tutorial on how to create gradient fades on the sides of content columns, something I'm seeing a lot of these days.

http://www.projectseven.com/tutorials/images/gradient_tiles2/index.htm

The New Look And Feel

I found a pretty decent article on Web 2.0 design principles, check it out for yourself. Scroll down a bit, the site is a bit add heavy towards the top.

http://www.masternewmedia.org/information_design/information-design-principles/web-20-design-simple-social-design-components-20071017.htm

Highlights include-

- Centered Design
- Rounded Edges
- Large Fonts
- Simple, Consistent Navigation
- Logos and Icons
- Subtle 3D/ Refective Surfaces
- Whitespaces
- A whole section on the socal web.