Comments are Working Again
August 5th, 2009 — 2 Comments
Earlier today I realised that nobody was leaving any comments on the last few posts so something must have gone wrong or my writing got even worse overnight which is very possible!
Turns out that upon hitting the submit button, a blank page would appear and nothing would happen. I managed to recreate the bug on my local install of WordPress and discovered that there was something wrong with the database.
After spending far too long in phpmyadmin trying to figure it out, even with a developers help, we were stumped. The problem was obviously with the wp_comments table so I tried repairing it but no luck. Then I noticed I had the option to optimise the table. I had no idea what it does exactly but when can optimising anything be bad, right? Well, it did the trick.
Despite all the problems, I’ve picked up a couple of things about working with databases so it’s not all bad. Apologies for the inconvenience but everything is back to normal.
Comment away!
Read more...Quick Tip: Create New Keyboard Shortcuts in Photoshop to Increase Productivity
August 4th, 2009 — 2 Comments
Let’s just start off by saying that Adobe haven’t exactly put as much effort into keyboard shortcuts as they could have. You’re all familiar with the claw right? This is a reference to the complex nature of the ‘save for web’ shortcut Cmd + Alt + Shift + S (Ctrl + Alt + Shift + S on a PC)Â in Photoshop. Thankfully someone at Adobe must have realised that their keyboard shortcuts weren’t exactly innovative and included a way of assigning your own, located in Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts…
Create Shortcuts for Common Tasks
One of the most frequently and repetitively used feature of Photoshop are the layer styles. Rather bizarrely, there’s no keyboard combination for copying or pasting layer style to and from layers.
Another great example is cropping. Just about every other image editing software includes a keyboard shortcut for crop so why doesn’t Photoshop?! It’s a strange one for sure.
You can even go as far as creating a shortcut to invoke a filter. Creating shortcuts for specific functions can improve productivity if it is something you use multiple times a day so the point is that if it’s something you use a lot, and it doesn’t have a keyboard shortcut, create one.
BONUS: One problem creating new keyboard shortcuts is when using another machine that has the default configuration can be frustrating. Fortunately Bittbox have found a way to sync Photoshop settings between multiple computers. Very handy if you’re using different computers at home and at work.
Read more...CSS Colour Quick Tip
June 18th, 2009 — 1 Comment
Using commenting in code is a good way to describe sections of code or giving a visual structure, helping anyone else who sees or has to edit the code. I find that a good way to use commenting is to include a list of all colours used in the CSS at the top of the CSS file. This, combined with a short description of what the colour is and where it is used on the site, is a good way of not only helping others edit a file but also helps yourself during the CSS development stages.
/* ------------------------------------------------------
Colours:
#555 - grey (used on text)
#33281E - very dark grey (used for block headers)
#A64A23 - brown
#9C9A69 - green (used exclusively on the Beneficiation page)
#ECE2DE - light grey (used for third level navigation)
------------------------------------------------------- */
It can be a frustrating experience to edit someone else’s code as everyone does things differently so something as simple as helpful comments will go a long way to reducing that frustrating down the road.
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