Blog

CMairsCreate and Candyce Mairs blog about Adobe Dreamweaver, ColdFusion, Acrobat, Captivate, eLearning, Fireworks, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Livecycle Designer and all things web and mobile. Learn tips and tricks on a variety of web, PDF, and elearning in the posts below.

HTML Bold vs Strong Tags in Dreamweaver

With the advent of HTML5, the b and strong tags have once again become a part of the language. They had been removed in prior versions of HTML. In order to produce bold text, you now have 2 options depending upon the circumstances.

Screen readers require the strong tag in order to read text on a web page in a stronger way than other text on the page. If you wish to simply make the text appear bold on the page for visual readers, you use the tag.

The same approach is available for italic text, although italics are not used often on the web due to its poor readability. The em tag tells a screen reader to add emphasis to the word when it is being read to a user. The i tag simply makes the text look italic visually.

Different Dreamweaver versions set the specific tag differently when you choose the B or I in the Properties panel. Newer versions of Dreamweaver are targeting the HTML5 doctype, so the tag that is created using the B icon in the Properties panel can vary.

The Preferences area in Dreamweaver allows you to control which tag is being created by default. Go to Edit-> Preferences (Win) or Dreamweaver -> Preferences (Mac) and choose the General Category in the left column. Within the Editing options area the 5th option down allows you to choose whether you want the or created by default within Dreamweaver.

If you check that option under Editing options, you always have the tag created by Dreamweaver so all screen readers will read the text in a stronger way than standard text on the page. Earlier versions of Dreamweaver did not offer this option since HTML had dropped the use of the b and i tags.

eLearning & Captivate Resources Added

New eLearning resources now available at CMairsCreate! The eLearning industry is expanding as more companies want to offer training in a variety of ways that can adapt to each worker’s needs. Creating training courses that are engaging and always available is an ever expanding industry. Due to this need, there are 2 new resources pages that have been added at cmairscreate. There are now resources specific to the eLearning industry along with Adobe Captivate resources.

Adobe Captivate offers a way to produce interactive eLearning that can be provided on any device. Content can be published out into a variety of options to suit your exact needs. Learn more about Captivate at the new Captivate resources page at CMairsCreate.

If you are looking to move into the eLearning industry, get familiar with the terms, statistics and industry using the links located at eLearning resources. Get started developing eLearning courses to suit your needs. Should you need classroom or online training for Adobe Captivate, contact Candyce Mairs.

Adobe Discontinues FormsCentral

FormsCentral is being retired by Adobe in 2015. FormsCentral offered Adobe Acrobat users an online service for creating and managing PDF forms. If you are presently using this service, you will need to transition to another solution by July 28, 2015.

PDF forms offer a simple solution for gathering data from users. The PDF solution does not require a web developer to create an maintain HTML forms. Adobe offers two solutions for creating PDF forms, Adobe Acrobat and LiveCycle Designer.

Adobe Acrobat users had an additional product installed onto their system for managing PDF forms. Included with an Adobe Acrobat license was an online service for PDF forms called FormsCentral. This service was installed along with Adobe Acrobat in a standard install. FormsCentral allowed you to create, store and manage PDF forms. Forms created and user data gathered using the service could be maintained online. FormsCentral was designed to allow you to easily build and manage PDF forms created on FormsCentral.

Adobe has announced that the FormsCentral service will be retired on July 28, 2015. Anyone presently using this service will need to transition to another option for working with PDF forms. Here is the retirement schedule:

June 23, 2015 – New forms can no longer be created and form data can no longer be collected. You can still download data collected from existing forms.
July 28, 2015 – FormsCentral service will be retired and no longer accessible.

If you are presently using FormsCentral and wish to transition to another similar service, Adobe recommends other third-party services such as Formstack, JotForm, SurveyMonkey, and WuFoo.

Please view FormsCentral FAQs for further information about the retirement of FormsCentral.

Adobe Creative Cloud Users (CC version only)

If you are an Adobe Creative Cloud user and have the subscription service, be sure to stay up to date on all the various software updates within Creative Cloud. Adobe is continuously updating software within the Creative Cloud, so it is easy to simply apply an update if you are prompted, and not realize that included in that software update are some new features that can save you hours of time in your workflow.

A quick and easy way to stay on top of the changes is to click the What’s New link below the specific software name before you select the Update button. This area gives you a quick overview of what is new in that update, so you can easily see if there is anything specific to your workflow, or anything you should look into a bit further. Included in the What’s New text are links to additional details about the update including documentation about fixes to known issues within the software.

We are all so busy trying to complete our work that is is difficult to find the time to stay updated on new features. Keep in mind that those new features may allow you to skim minutes if not hours off your workflow. Start scanning the What’s New text before making your updates, and you can easily determine if you should explore the update a bit further before moving into your daily work. Taking 30 seconds before updating could make a huge difference in your daily work!

Extract Service for Adobe Creative Cloud

If you are an Adobe Creative Cloud user and create Photoshop PSD files to use as a base for web designs, you will be pleased to hear Adobe has introduced a new service to assist you. Extract for Creative Cloud allows you to copy all the CSS needed to reproduce your Photoshop page design directly into your web files. This feature eliminates hours of struggling to determine what CSS rules will duplicate the look and feel of your PSD web designs within Photoshop.

Learn more about this amazing new free Adobe Extract service automatically included with your Creative Cloud membership. Take advantage of the hours of time saved using this service available with your Creative Cloud membership.

CC 2014 Creative Cloud User Update

Adobe Creative Cloud users have an update once again. Adobe has been very busy creating new features for Creative Cloud users. Creative Suite users (CS6) continue to fall behind in features within Adobe programs such as Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, InDesign and others within the Creative Suite. So many new features have been added since the Creative Cloud release, and this cycle will continue moving forward.

Many users do not even realize these new features, many of which would greatly speed their workflow. When a new update for Creative Cloud comes out, be sure to update it. This will give you access to the updates within the various programs you have access to through Creative Cloud.

Included in the most recent update is access to prior versions of Adobe programs should you need them. This is crucial to me since I teach Acrobat and Dreamweaver on a wide variety of versions based on my client’s needs.

It is easy to stay up to date with new features within the programs you use in the Creative Cloud. Once you have installed an update to a specific program such as Photoshop within the Cloud version, click the View tutorials link in the Home category of the Creative Cloud interface. Once there, select the Whats New link at the top of the page. You then get an overview of the new features for the program you updated. Here is the Photoshop new features page as an example.

If you take the time to do this as you update programs, you can pick & choose the features within each program that you use and quickly learn more about those features. The short amount of time it takes to stay up to date is well worth it to speed up your workflow efficiency within those programs. It will also be helpful to update these programs if you’re wanting to use some of the latest plugins for each software package, such as these various photoshop brushes for the latest versions of photoshop as an example.

Want to test out the new CC 2014 version of a program but do not want to disturb your present version? Do not worry, all version CC 2014 programs allow you to install them and keep your present version as it is. Be sure to watch the install screens to be sure you are installing correctly to maintain your present version.

As an example, I am able to keep Dreamweaver CS6, CC & CC 2014 on my same machine as completely separate versions. This capability allows a Creative Cloud user to customize their installations to suit their needs.

Adobe Creative Cloud continues to offer new features without overwriting previous versions of Adobe programs. I continue to be amazed at all the Creative Cloud offers to Adobe users.

ColdFusion 11 & ColdFusion Builder 3 Released!

The latest and greatest versions of ColdFusion and ColdFusion Builder were officially released recently. ColdFusion 11 offers new mobile development features that allow you to develop end-to-end mobile applications quickly and easily. ColdFusion Builder 3 has a new updated interface, and allows you to more easily develop ColdFusion applications including addon features using extensions. Get a listing of new ColdFusion 11 features.

The CMairsCreate ColdFusion resources page has been updated to include ColdFusion 11 and ColdFusion Builder 3 links and information. Be sure to check out all the new information that is available about these exciting new products by Adobe specifically for ColdFusion.

New ColdFusion Public Beta Released

A public beta has been released of the next version of ColdFusion, code named Splendor, This upcoming ColdFusion release is now available for download. This upcoming version has many new exciting features, one of which is all new functionality for developing mobile applications.

ColdFusion Builder has also been updated with a new public beta release. This upcoming version has an improved interface that expands the program well beyond the capabilities of ColdFusion Builder 2. Download the public beta of ColdFusion Builder code named Thunder and explore the various new features to improve your ColdFusion development.

Use your ColdFusion skills and CFML to build mobile applications directly within ColdFusion. Preview a video of the new mobile application features and the mobile workflow by Ram Kulkarni. These new features will be included in the upcoming release of Coldfusion, and Adobe is allowing the public to begin to work with them now with this beta release.

The upcoming version of ColdFusion also offers new tags, functions, capabilities and security enhancements to make your ColdFusion applications easier to build and more secure, it’s recommended to carry out extensive mobile app performance testing considering the builder is still in beta. Get a head start on the various new features by working with the public betas now.

Watch the ColdFusion Resources page at CMairsCreate for links related to the public beta release.

 

Acrobat XI Video Course Completed!

Candyce Mairs is excited to announce that her portion of a new Acrobat XI video course was completed yesterday. The course has now officially been moved into post production mode.

This course covers the basics of Adobe Acrobat XI to give you a good foundation in the many features built into Acrobat XI. Learn how to convert, edit, manipulate, sign, secure and add features to Adobe PDFs in this soon to be released video course.

New Acrobat XI Video Course Soon Available

Adobe Acrobat XI is the first version in the history of the product to allow fully editing PDF content. If you are not using the PDF standard for your digital documents, this version of Acrobat may convince you to do so.

Watch this blog or my Facebook, Twitter or Google+ pages for the official release information. Be sure to Like my page while you are there!

Adobe ColdFusion Education Initiative

New Adobe EDU Initiative for Adobe ColdFusion

ColdFusion is a server-side language created by Jeremy Allaire that was moved into the Adobe family of products when Adobe purchased Macromedia. ColdFusion allows you to work with any web server and any database to create database-driven websites.

ColdFusion is not a hugely marketed product, so many people do not even know that it is an Adobe product. I just learned via an article on a blog by Gavin Pickin of an Adobe US representative named Elishia Dvorak who deals with the new Adobe Education Program and support. She tweeted mentioning an Adobe EDU initiative for ColdFusion.

Looking for Companies to Provide ColdFusion Internships

Elishia Dvorak is looking for interested companies willing to offer internships to new ColdFusion developers. The idea behind this initiative is that Adobe has created a Web Development curriculum that includes back end technology using ColdFusion. Students completing this curriculum could then move directly into positions at companies that have agreed to offer positions to students involved in this program. If you provide a good lead to Elishia, an iPad may await you for your trouble.

This is a new attempt at promoting Adobe ColdFusion, and is a great way for students to be able to immediately locate jobs as a web developer. Elishia can be reached via @elishdvorak for more information if you know of schools or companies in your area that might be interested.