dx-xel: December 2007

Thursday, December 27, 2007

The Crestock Photoshop Contest 2007 - Creative!

You should check this out, the Crestock Photoshop Contest 2007. The contest was already end anyway and the winner already announced.

The rule is simple, for each round, Crestock supplied a set of source photos from their image library. The contestants were free to edit/modify the image as creative as they can.

Ok, check out the:-

I was totally impressed with all the winners above. Creative, skillful and of course, knowledge and experience is the important element to achieve that level.

Fuuhhh..it looks that I need to work hard in order to design great image..hehe..

That's all..yeahh!!!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

How to get Blogger.com image URL?

Hmm..another simple tip for Blogspot user. This time, I'd like to show you how easy it is to get the image URLs in Blogger. As we know, all images that we've uploaded through the blog post was stored in Blogger database. And of course, you can delete them.

But why do you need the image URLs?

There are several reasons:-

To place the image permanently on your blog sidebar
To get the full size image (I used it in my tutorials section)
Use it for blog background image
Submit the URL to forum, email, comment box etc..

and so on..

As for example, I've upload my Gmail signature (image above). And this is what I got in the HTML mode:-

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_-NP5DNrjW60/R2iH1VaQlqI/AAAAAAAAAoA/
sWnxavlCThc/s1600-h/dxcontact.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_-NP5DNrjW60/R2iH1VaQlqI/AAAAAAAAAoA/
sWnxavlCThc/s320/dxcontact.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5145511924620891810" border="0" /></a>

As you can see, there are two image URLs above; red and blue.

When and how to use it?

If you want to submit the URL to forum, email or comment box, use the red one. Just place the URL directly to the forum textarea.

And if you want to use it as an image for your blog sidebar or background, use the blue one. To use it, simply paste it in this single line code:-

<img src="blue URL" />

See, it's easy right?

Other than that, the top reason why you should use the image in Blogger.com is that it has an unlimited bandwidth. It's different from your uploaded image in Google Pages, where it has a limited bandwidth.

I think that's all for now. Still working for my new blog template. Hehe..

Friday, December 14, 2007

NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Demo (video)

Ok, check out the demonstration video of NVIDIA GeForce 8800 graphics card, the world’s first DirectX® 10 GPUs. It is one of the GeForce 8 Series family.

"The wait is over. Awesome power. Awesome price."

Hmm..by the way, you can read the review and benchmarking results of GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB, the latest graphics card in GeForce 8 Series.

That's all..yeahh!!!

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Download Glassy Apple (Wallpaper)

[ Download | 1280 x 1024 ]

Ok, another wallpaper designed by me. I use my drawing and tracing skills to create this wallpaper. At first, I'd like to add some busy image design for the background, but it was really sucks. I never like some complicated and "too busy" design. I will stick to my simplicity concept.

Check out the details:-

Name: Glassy Apple
Type: Wallpaper
File Format: JPEG
Dimensions: 1280 x 1024
Theme: Apple
File size: 123 KB
Date created: Dec 12, 07
Software: Adobe Illustrator
Color: Grey, White, Black
Background Color:

HEX: #262626
RGB: 38, 38, 38

Extract the file using WinRAR.

That's all..Yeahh!!!

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Windows XP - Create one click shutdown shortcut

Let’s go for XP tip for today. But before that, as you can see, I have used a custom domain for my blog. I’ve moved my blog from http://dx-xel.blogspot.com/ to http://dx-xel.net/. All of my previous blog URLs will be redirect to my brand new domain. It was pretty cool. Hehe.. Next time, I will show you step by step on how I move my blog to my own domain.

Ok, back to the topic. This is how you can create a shortcut on your desktop and when ever you click at it, your Windows will be shutdown.

Step 1

Right click on your desktop > New > Shortcut

Step 2

You will see a pop-up window. Enter SHUTDOWN -s -t 01

Note: Enter c:\windows\rundll.exe user.exe,exitwindows (if you’re using Windows95, Windows98 or ME)

Click the Next button and name the shortcut as Shutdown, Turn Off, Stop or whatever. Then click Finish. DONE.

Optional:

1. You can make a keyboard shortcut for that icon and by pressing them, you will be able to shutdown Windows. Right click to that shortcut icon > Properties. Click the Shortcut key’s textbox and press the combination of keys that you prefer (e.g. Ctrl-Alt-Q)

Click the Apply button and then OK.

2. You also can change the shortcut icon. (Image at the top). Right click to the shortcut > Properties and click the Change Icon… button. Select any icon you prefer, click OK. Then, click the Apply and OK button.

By now, you should be able to shutdown Windows with a single click. That’s all for today…Yeahh!!!

Credits: Wowarea

Friday, December 7, 2007

Desktoptopia - Feed your creativity

Desktoptopia is a desktop background manager for the Apple Mac user. I'm a Windows user for sure but that's not the point.

As a designer(not really), I'm really impress of all the artworks right there and feel some kind of envy when looking at their high quality design. Fuhh..it's look that I'm still far behind them. I'm still thinking the best way to improve my skills and really hope that I can find a job in the graphics designer area. It was a pretty tough to compete with a lot of skillful designers out there.

By the way, I've decided to submit my design at Desktoptopia next time. Hope they will accept my artworks. Hehe..

That's all for today!!! Have fun!!!

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

How to delete image or picture in Blogger?

"Oppsss...I have uploaded a wrong picture!! &^%#&#!!" Yeah..it sounds familiar. It also happened to me. It's not a big deal if you've upload a 100kb or 300kb image. But, how about 3mb or 5mb? As we know, Blogger only provide 1024mb free space to store your picture.

Of course, you can delete your new post including the image that you have just uploaded. Then, how about the old posts? Do you want to delete them just because it has the photo of your old fashion hair style??

No worries guys. Normally all images that we have uploaded was stored in the blogger.com database. And the only way (I guess) to access all of them is in the Picasa Web Album. Just open that link. You'll see the Albums based on how many blog you've created. If you have created 3 blogspot blog using the same account, then you should have 3 Albums.

If you still confuse on how to use the Picasa Web Album to delete your image, just follow these simple steps:-

Step 1

Click to your blog's Album which you want to delete a picture on it. You may see something like below:-

Note: If you want your image to display a little faster, just click on the Size: Small Thumbnails (on the right side of the page)

Step 2

Click on the image that you want to delete. The image should be in a single page right now. Go to the right sidebar menu and click Delete this photo.

You will see a confirmation message. Press Ok to delete your picture. DONE.

Note: The picture will no longer appear in your blog.

This step was useful if you only want to delete one image. If you want to delete a multiple images, go to Organise (image on step 1). Then you will see a thumbnails images. Hold down the Ctrl key and click on multiple photos to select them. After that click the Delete button. As simple as that.

The advantage of deleting your image is that you can save a lot of space in your blogger account. Another good tips to save your image space is try to use the .gif file format instead of .bmp and resize your image to 300x300px or 400x400px.

From May 23, 07 until now, I'm currently using 5MB (0.56%) of my 1024 MB storage with 257 uploaded photos.

That's all for today!!!

Note: You also can purchase additional storage from Google if you have out of free space.

dx-xel

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