Dynamic mp3 player

For the Elastic Artists website, a dynamic MP3 player was required that could be controlled and loaded from the backend.

I decided to go with a Flash based player and found a great tutorial for creating a flash MP3 player using XML. In order for the player layout to match the design called for by the client, a few tweaks were needed:

Original code:

_root._x = 5;
_root._y = 40 + (i*15);
_root.but_txt.text = songname;
if (i >= 3){
_root._x = 160
_root._y = -5 + (i*15);
}


My code:

_root._x = 0;
_root._y = 55+(i*30);
_root.but_txt.text.html = true;
_root.but_txt.htmlText = "Artist: "+songband+""+newline+"Track: "+songname;

The original produces two columns of 3 tracks side by side and just displays the song name. The amended code produces one list of tracks with font-color black (other font info was applied through flash) in the format:
Artist: artistname
Track: trackname
The amount of tracks returned will always be nine. This is controlled by the backend of the website.

Other than all the various original design elements, the only other change called for was for a playlist generated from a database table. While the tutorial makes use of a user-generated XML file, I used a php file that generates XML:


header("Content-type: text/xml");
$xml_output = '$xml_output .= '';
//connect and run query to return values for track title, artist and link to mp3 file
$title = $row;
$url = $row;
$artistName = $row;
$xml_output .= '';
$xml_output .= '';
echo $xml_output;

The client can then control the contents of the playlist via the site backend.

Wordpress plugins worth your time

Wordpress plugins can make your blog better and your blogging easier. These are my new faves.



Bad Behavior
Bad Behavior complements other link spam solutions by acting as a gatekeeper, preventing spammers from ever delivering their junk, and in many cases, from ever reading your site in the first place. This keeps your site’s load down, makes your site logs cleaner, and can help prevent denial of service conditions caused by spammers.

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Broken Link Checker
Checks your posts for broken links and missing images and notifies you on the dashboard if any are found.

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Comment Info Tip
When you mouseover a commenter’s name you will see a tip appear displaying some information about that given commenter.

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Contact Form 7
Contact Form 7 can manage multiple contact forms, plus you can customize the form and the mail contents flexibly with simple markup. The form supports Ajax-powered submitting, CAPTCHA, Akismet spam filtering and so on.
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Embed Iframe
Embed Iframe is a Wordpress plugin that will let you embed iframe – an HTML tag that allows a webpage to be displayed inline with the current page, in a Wordpress post. Although an iframe can lead to a complicated website, it can be very effective when used appropriately.

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Do you have problems that other people hotlink your images in guestbooks, bulletin boards and other sites? Then this plugin for Wordpress helps you without breaking online feedreaders. Normally, if someone hotlinks your image the plugin will serve your custom image or this image:

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MoFuse is a service that allows bloggers to easily create a mobile-friendly version of their blog for free.

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Lifestream
Lifestream is a plugin built on top of the WordPress platform. It allows you to effortlessly integrate your social network activity across the web with your blog.

Out of the box, Lifestream is just streams in RSS/Atom feeds and prettying them up, but deep down it's a very flexible platform allowing developers to integrate any kind of activity they desire.

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SexyBookmarks
Though the name may be a little "edgy" for some, SexyBookmarks has proven time and time again to be an extremely useful and successful tool in getting your readers to actually submit your articles to numerous social bookmarking sites.

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Ultimate Category Excluder
Allows you to quickly and easily exclude categories from your front page, archives, and feeds. Just select which categories you want to be excluded, and UCE does all the work for you!

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WP Greet Box
This plugin lets you show a different greeting message to your new visitors depending on their referrer url. For example, when a Digg user clicks through from Digg, they will see a message reminding them to digg your post if they like it. Another example, when a visitor clicks through from Twitter, they will see a message suggesting them to twit the post and follow you on Twitter. You can also set a default greeting message for new visitors (not matching any referrer URLs) suggesting them to subscribe to your RSS feed.

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Elastic Artists

AIRCO

Great Use of Typography in Modern Web Design

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Coda: An In Depth Look at 25 New Features

The fonts you use for your website are an important decision, as they will often reflect your site’s tone and affect its visual impact.



When I was just getting started in design, I asked one of my favorite designers what single thing I could do to improve and expand my capabilities as a designer. His answer: "Read. Read everything you can get your hands on, empty your bank account, then read some more". Looking back on 7 years of designing, I'd have to say that was the single greatest bit of advice I ever received. So, without further ado, here's my list of recommendations.

Universal Principles of Design: 100 Ways to Enhance Usability, Influence Perception, Increase Appeal, Make Better Design Decisions, and Teach Through Design by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, and Jill Butler. Out of every book on my shelf, this is the one I find myself returning to time and again. This is an amazing little hardcover that breaks the entire world of design into 100 distinct, easy to follow concepts that will focus the way you think about anything that's been designed (and that could be everything, but I'm not here to debate religion). If you're to buy one book on this list, this is the one. Useful, practical, easy to read.
Soak, Wash, Rinse, Spin by Tolleson Design. This was one of my first design books, and still one of my favorites. Chalk full of useful information about the process behind successful design projects.
Screen: Essays on Graphic Design, New Media, and Visual Culture by Jessica Helfand and John Maeda. For anyone who's ever complained that there isn't enough relevant, contemporary, erudite writing about modern design dillemas, I submit exhibit A. As one reviewer on amazon put it: "Things we all were thinking... only worded much better". This tiny book packs a whallop of mind-bending analysis.
Noise Four by Attik. Often called the "big white book" or "the design bible" (although I would disagree), this 5lb book is a visual feast of experimental design pieces. Great resource if you're seeking a quick entry into modern experimental graphic design or just some inspiration to break up the monotony of cut and paste projects.
Visual Creativity by Mario Pricken. Great analysis of the mental processes behind "visual imagination". This book systematically breaks down different types of visual imagination and provides lots of great excercises that one can practice to enhance their own capacity to blow people's minds. Oh, and it catagloues some of the greatest pieces of advertising in the last couple years on high quality glossy paper. Perfect coffee table fodder for the budding graphic artist.
Typography 27 by the Type Directors Club. Really, any book from this series is worth its weight in gold. If you're going to follow one series of design annuals, this is it... phenomenal from every aspect.

Grid Systems in Graphic Design by Josef Muller-Brockmann. THE definitive guide on grid systems in graphic design. A fantastic guide for solving just about any design problem with a grid. If you haven't cracked into grid systems yet, this is the book; if you've backslidden in your ways, now's the time to reaffirm your faith.

I'll be adding lots more in the future... I pride myself on a library of great design books and magazines. For any budding designer looking for a way to go beyond the standard textbooks, books are a great way to get started (and I would argue that these are perhaps a better, more robust form of education than the textbook variety).YouWorkForThem.com and Amazon are great places to pick them up on the cheap too.

jQuery: A Round Up of the Best Tutorials Around

The fonts you use for your website are an important decision, as they will often reflect your site’s tone and affect its visual impact.



When I was just getting started in design, I asked one of my favorite designers what single thing I could do to improve and expand my capabilities as a designer. His answer: "Read. Read everything you can get your hands on, empty your bank account, then read some more". Looking back on 7 years of designing, I'd have to say that was the single greatest bit of advice I ever received. So, without further ado, here's my list of recommendations.

Universal Principles of Design: 100 Ways to Enhance Usability, Influence Perception, Increase Appeal, Make Better Design Decisions, and Teach Through Design by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, and Jill Butler. Out of every book on my shelf, this is the one I find myself returning to time and again. This is an amazing little hardcover that breaks the entire world of design into 100 distinct, easy to follow concepts that will focus the way you think about anything that's been designed (and that could be everything, but I'm not here to debate religion). If you're to buy one book on this list, this is the one. Useful, practical, easy to read.
Soak, Wash, Rinse, Spin by Tolleson Design. This was one of my first design books, and still one of my favorites. Chalk full of useful information about the process behind successful design projects.
Screen: Essays on Graphic Design, New Media, and Visual Culture by Jessica Helfand and John Maeda. For anyone who's ever complained that there isn't enough relevant, contemporary, erudite writing about modern design dillemas, I submit exhibit A. As one reviewer on amazon put it: "Things we all were thinking... only worded much better". This tiny book packs a whallop of mind-bending analysis.
Noise Four by Attik. Often called the "big white book" or "the design bible" (although I would disagree), this 5lb book is a visual feast of experimental design pieces. Great resource if you're seeking a quick entry into modern experimental graphic design or just some inspiration to break up the monotony of cut and paste projects.
Visual Creativity by Mario Pricken. Great analysis of the mental processes behind "visual imagination". This book systematically breaks down different types of visual imagination and provides lots of great excercises that one can practice to enhance their own capacity to blow people's minds. Oh, and it catagloues some of the greatest pieces of advertising in the last couple years on high quality glossy paper. Perfect coffee table fodder for the budding graphic artist.
Typography 27 by the Type Directors Club. Really, any book from this series is worth its weight in gold. If you're going to follow one series of design annuals, this is it... phenomenal from every aspect.

Grid Systems in Graphic Design by Josef Muller-Brockmann. THE definitive guide on grid systems in graphic design. A fantastic guide for solving just about any design problem with a grid. If you haven't cracked into grid systems yet, this is the book; if you've backslidden in your ways, now's the time to reaffirm your faith.

I'll be adding lots more in the future... I pride myself on a library of great design books and magazines. For any budding designer looking for a way to go beyond the standard textbooks, books are a great way to get started (and I would argue that these are perhaps a better, more robust form of education than the textbook variety).YouWorkForThem.com and Amazon are great places to pick them up on the cheap too.