Tutorial Blog » Misc

5 Photo Gallery Plugins for WordPress

Spencer Spellman — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:28:11 +0000

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. If so, then these photo gallery plugins for WordPress must be worth volumes. Each plugin creates the photo gallery a bit differently — jquery slideshows, flash slideshows, automatically from your flickr set — which you choose is purely a matter of preference.

Image galleries are one of those features that can help your website or blog rise above the rest. Quality photos can draw in your visitors and keep them on your site longer. Sure, you can still add eye candy to your blog using the default installation of WordPress. But if you really want to go for sugar-overload, then you need to include a photo gallery.

Here are five WordPress photo gallery plugins that can add some interactivity and pop to your blog. Now that’s sweet. (...)
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Software Review: Vertus Fluid Mask 3

Charles McNally — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:00:27 +0000

I was a little hesitant when I signed up for this review. A masking program? I’ve seen quite a few masking programs that were hard to work with, with steep learning curves, bad tools, poor quality and more. I went in to it with pretty low expectations, to be honest, so I was blown away when I encountered the level of quality in Fluid Mask.

Most of the time I create cutouts using photoshop layer masks and spend a lot of time zoomed in up close. It’s seemed to work pretty well — I thought I was doing a good job, and fairly quickly. That was before I tried Fluid Mask…

Wow. Just wow. All that time I wasted! All those images that could’ve looked so much better! I wish I’d discovered Vertus Fluid Mask 3 sooner. (...)
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10 Places to Download Free Icon Sets

Joel Reyes — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:00:52 +0000

Whether you want to spice up the look of your desktop, create a unified theme on your website, or use them for graphic design, matching icon sets come in handy. Although in recent times the use of icons has shifted towards web and interface design, icon sets are useful for many purposes.

If you have the proper skills, you can use applications such as Illustrator to customize your vectors and design a spiffy icon set, but why re-create the wheel?

Here are 10 top resources for free icon sets. Download them directly onto your desktop for instant beautification. (...)
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How to Add HTML Code in WordPress — Try Embedit

Spencer Spellman — Sat, 09 May 2009 16:00:21 +0000

If you have a WordPress blog that you want to make more like a website, then at some point along the line, you’re going to want to add specialized code to it to give it some flare. This may be in the form of advertising, affiliate links, videos and something else. Whatever you want to add, chances are it’s going to require a little snippet of HTML. In this post we’re going to look at how to easily add HTML code to your pages and posts.

Sometimes you may just be able to copy and paste code or write HTML code directly into your posts. To do this, you just need to click the HTML tab at the top of the post and then write or paste the code into your post and publish it. (...)
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Remove Moiré Patterns in Photoshop

Barbara Holbrook — Thu, 07 May 2009 21:28:35 +0000

A TutorialBlog.org reader writes us today with a question about how to remove a moiré pattern using photoshop.

Are there any plugins for photoshop to reduce/eliminate moire patterns? — William

For those of you that don’t know, a moiré is an unsightly pattern that emerges when “two grids are overlaid at an angle, or when they have slightly different mesh sizes.” (Thanks, wikipedia.) (...)
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Photoshop Tutorial: Plain Pic to Glamour Girl, Retouching Techniques. (part 1 of 3)

Charles McNally — Fri, 01 May 2009 18:00:33 +0000

Greetings, pixel pushers! Today I’m going to teach you how to subtly transform a good picture into an excellent picture in just a few easy steps. By the end, you will be able to turn your pictures into beautiful portraits for business, friends, family members, even touch up your own myspace pics…

This will come in handy when using your own photography on a website, or using your friends for product demonstration photos. This process is very similar to what magazines do to make sure skin is smooth, color is correct, and there are no visible blemishes. We all get zits from time to time, but you never see them in advertisements right?

That said, I picked my friend Nikki’s MySpace picture to use for this tutorial (with her permission of course) because the on-camera flash is something you see a lot and this lighting style really shows off even the slightest imperfections in her skin. We don’t really notice these imperfections in peoples’ skin most of the time because we don’t walk around with large, high-powered lights strapped to our foreheads. At least most of us don’t… but our cameras pick them up, so we have to get rid of them.

(...)
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Easy Keys to Great Graphics in PowerPoint

Cynthia Giles — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:00:40 +0000

PowerPoint is all about making information interesting — and visuals have to do a lot of the heavy lifting. So incorporating graphics is one of the most important aspects of presentation development.

Creating a great graphic is the result of two obvious steps, plus one that people often forget . . .

1. Make it or find it
2. Insert it AND
3. Polish it!

Step 1 is outside the scope of this tutorial. But choosing the right images is crucial to success, so here are a few reminders: (...)
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Get Motion-Vated! Animate PowerPoint Charts

Cynthia Giles — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 17:00:02 +0000

So, you’ve worked hard to create an interesting, informative PowerPoint show. It looks good! Your presentation is well-organized, visually effective, and nicely paced.

But on presentation day, some people in the audience are still looking at their watches, staring out the window, or sneaking in some email responses. What’s missing?

Maybe it’s motion. Humans are actually programmed to pay attention when something moves, in case it might be something fierce. So take advantage of that fact by adding animation to your presentation. (...)
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Three Ways to Spark PowerPoint Creativity

Cynthia Giles — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 17:00:42 +0000

It’s really easy to get in a rut with PowerPoint, especially if you have to make presentations often. And if you don’t work with PowerPoint very much, it may be equally challenging to find a creative approach, instead of just getting some slides made as best you can.

Either way, it helps to be prepared! Don’t wait until deadline pressure is on top of you — keep some inspirations stashed away for the moment of need. And practice some techniques that can produce quick breakthroughs when you need a creativity boost.

Here are three sample sparks: (...)
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How to Install WordPress Themes

Spencer Spellman — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:00:53 +0000

Let’s be honest, the free WordPress themes users get after installation are equal to or lesser then the ringtones that come on new cell phones. Very rarely do users like the classic WordPress themes they are given, and even in those rare cases that they do, they’re probably going to want to switch it out before too long. Below I’m going to walk through installing and uploading new themes to your WordPress blog or website.

Fortunately, putting a new WordPress theme on your blog is not too different then putting new plugins on it. So if you’re familiar with installing WordPress plugins, then this process will be easier. Nonetheless, even if you don’t know how to install WordPress plugins, then this tutorial can get you started. (...)
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