As you may—or may not—know, the blog you are now reading belongs to the Weblogs, Inc. Network (WIN).
The Weblogs, Inc. network features over 80 independent, unfiltered bloggers producing over 1,000 blog posts a week
across 75 industry leading blogs that include Engadget, Autoblog, and TVSquad. We figured we would skim the cream and
give you some of the top posts from a number of these sites—as determined by our bloggers—in one easy to read post each
week.
Damn that writer, where the hell is the text for my latest magazine layout? Guess I'll be using that lame
Lorem Ipsum generator included in Indesign or the ones availabe on the net. But
wait! Matt Round of Malevole offers a 'better' text generator based
on years of research. Compared to the tool available in Indesign, Matt's generator is somewhat limited by it's five
paragraph maximum. At the very least, the generated text is much more interesting to read than the regular filler text
we've been using all along.
We are in the final stages of choosing three
new bloggers with strong skills in 'Design'.
If you don't want to miss out on this opportunity, and would like to 'swarm blog' with us across one or more of these
areas:
Photoshop
Illustrator
Any other design tools
CSS
Flash
Web Design
Digital Design
Magazine Design
Please submit your three sample postshere. Sample posts should be somewhere between 100-500
words, with images and links attached. We will be making our final choices for our newly reconfigured Design blogs by
May 31st. Please also remember to submit a short bio on your background in the area of Design. Thanks!
PS: So don't forget to submit your samples and biohere. Or
here. Did I say
here?
Fanatical about Photoshop? Illustrator? Flash? Quark? CSS?
We are currently in the process of re-inventing and re-designing our 'Design' blogs and will be expanding our
'Unofficial' design tool coverage beyond Photoshop.
If you thrive on writing original content, reviews, tips and recommendations regarding your favorite design tools,
please write three post samples and submit them
here.
Please refer to Engadget, Autoblog,
and AdJab for guidelines on style, links, images, etc. Sample posts should be
between 75 - 500 words, in your voice, no "pull quotes", and express your passion for the topics you choose.
If you have previously written to us, expressing an interest in blogging about Photoshop, Design, etc., please still
submit samples via this link. Thanks!
Every friday a fresh, high-resolution, royalty free stock photograh for free download.
Our friends over at AbsolutVision are
offering The Design Weblog readers a free
download: A new, royalty-free image every week. This high-resolution stock photo comes in JPG and JPEG 2000
(JPF) formats, complete with clipping path and alpha channel.
Quark VS InDesign.com announces simultaneous design competitions celebrating InDesign and QuarkXPress. Creative
pros to compete for US$14,000 worth of prizes.
Yesterday Quark VS InDesign.com, The Authority for News and
Opinion on the War Between Desktop Publishing Giants QuarkXPress® and Adobe® InDesign®, announced two simultaneously
running design contests to create promotional postcards celebrating and honoring InDesign and QuarkXPress.
According to the website: "This is about celebrating and honoring two incredible tools of our trade, tools
that spare us from the grueling labor of hand-cutting ruby lithe and waxing up headlines, tools that save us from
having to get real jobs."
For those in the mind to switch from QuarkXPress to InDesign CS, Total Training is offering a free Switching
from Quark to InDesign CS video workshop CD. They're even picking up the cost of shipping!
Call 1-800-546-9620 to get your free copy. Ours are already on order.
Every friday a fresh, high-resolution, royalty free stock photograh for free download.
Our friends over at AbsolutVision are
offering The Design Weblog readers a free
download: A new, royalty-free image every week. This high-resolution stock photo comes in JPG and JPEG 2000
(JPF) formats, complete with clipping path and alpha channel.
How-To's Day is a regular feature of the Design Weblog in which we give you five highly useful how-to
tutorials—four from around the Web, and one created specifically for you by yours truly. How-To's Day is the
first, third, and, if there is one, fifth Tuesday of every month.
Sometimes the How-To's Day tutorials are hardcore design techniques, other times they're cunning production
procedures, time-saving shortcuts, and, once in a while, just plain old fun and funky how-to's.
Got an idea for a How-To's Day tutorial? Know of a cool tutorial elsewhere on the web?
Let me know. Have you written a killer tutorial?
Send it my way; it may appear in a future How-To's
Day.
National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) launches the Photoshop CS2 Learning Center—the most
comprehensive look at Adobe Photoshop CS2 available anywhere
Today NAPP announced the launch of the
Photoshop CS2 Learning Center. The learning center, which
covers not only Photoshop CS2 but InDesign CS2, Illustrator CS2, and GoLive CS2, features free online videos, articles,
reviews, news, a downloadable CS2 overview, and a CS2 discussion forum.
"I loved Photoshop 7. I thought Photoshop CS was even better, but Photoshop CS2 blows them both away. This is
clearly the most significant update to Photoshop in years," said NAPP President Scott Kelby. "This update has something
for everybody, but if you're a photographer, it's absolutely going to make your jaw drop. It's that good." Kelby
added.
Next to a camera, Photoshop is the most important tool of any professional photographer's trade. So what can the
photo pro or prosumer look forward to in the ninth release of Adobe's favorite son, Photoshop CS2?
Following the accidental early posting of the press
release announcing Photoshop CS2, which hinted at coinciding announcements about new versions of Adobe's InDesign,
Illustrator, GoLive, InCopy, and the Creative Suite itself, Adobe officially announced the new versions at midnight
Eastern Time.
According to Adobe.com: "Adobe® Creative Suite 2 Premium software is a unified design
environment that combines full new versions of Adobe Photoshop® CS2, Illustrator® CS2, InDesign® CS2, GoLive® CS2, and
Acrobat® 7.0 Professional software with new Version Cue® CS2, Adobe Bridge, and Adobe Stock Photos. Delivering the next
level of integration in creative software, Adobe Creative Suite 2 enables you to realize your ideas anywhere — in
print, on the Web, or on mobile devices."
Quark postcard campaign attacking Adobe backfires, offends and alienates customers.
On Wednesday
QuarkVSInDesign.com,
a news site dedicated to the desktop publishing industry and the legendary rivalry between Denver-based Quark, Inc.,
maker of QuarkXPress, and Adobe Systems, Inc., which makes InDesign and other high-end creative products, spilled the
beans about a unique and apparently very quiet marketing campaign from Quark. Sets of six postcard-sized promotional
cards were sent by Quark throughout early March to QuarkXPress users who had not upgraded to the latest version, 6.5.
According to sources, the cards are still arriving.
The cellophane-wrapped six-pack of cards opens with the one pictured here, which reads: "The news QuarkXPress 6.5
features were designed to blow your doors off. Making Adobe cry like a baby was just an added bonus." Several other
cards in the series continue the Adobe bashing.
It's "childish and immature. Like kids who stick their tongues out at others while hiding behind their mother,
knowing that they'd lose in an actual face to face battle," says Katharine Shade, a desktop publisher quoted in the
article, titled "Quark's Postcards from the Edge."
How-To's Day is a regular feature of the Design Weblog in which we give you five highly useful how-to
tutorials—four from around the Web, and one created specifically for you by yours truly. How-To's Day is the
first, third, and, if there is one, fifth Tuesday of every month.
Sometimes the How-To's Day tutorials are hardcore design techniques, other times they're cunning production
procedures, time-saving shortcuts, and, once in a while, just plain old fun and funky how-to's.
Got an idea for a How-To's Day tutorial? Know of a cool tutorial elsewhere on the web?
Let me know. Have you written a killer tutorial?
Send it my way; it may appear in a future How-To's
Day.
Engadget has
Creative Zen Vision about Microsoft "breaking some new
ground" with a… Battlebot (?!) walking around with Sony
Ericsson's new W600 Walkman Phone and chatting up how the
Nintendo Revolution won't support HD.
AdJab covers
AutoTrader's attacks, on
Heinz one-liners,
marooned on Gilligan's
Island and then
We are in the final stages of choosing three
new bloggers with strong skills in 'Design'.
Today NAPP announced the launch of the
What are the hot new tools and updated features in the latest version of the graphic design
industry's workhorse, Photoshop CS2?
According to Adobe.com: "Adobe® Creative Suite 2 Premium software is a unified design
environment that combines full new versions of Adobe Photoshop® CS2, Illustrator® CS2, InDesign® CS2, GoLive® CS2, and
Acrobat® 7.0 Professional software with new Version Cue® CS2, Adobe Bridge, and Adobe Stock Photos. Delivering the next
level of integration in creative software, Adobe Creative Suite 2 enables you to realize your ideas anywhere — in
print, on the Web, or on mobile devices."
On Wednesday
