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Author: Dan Richard

Canadian eh?
Sorry about the new Ad Boxes… No choice.

Sorry about the new Ad Boxes… No choice.

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Hey all,

My apologies for the new separate boxes for the ads on the site and the increased visibility of the ads. Unfortunately Google has asked me to remove the ads from within the various content boxes becuase those boxes were labeled "Latest 20 tutorials", "User Dock" etc… I personally think it's ridiculous seeing as that means I can not blend ads in with content in the slightest and I now have to add more bulk to everything with separate content boxes for everything and pretty much kills the ads. We're sort of giving this all a band-aid fix because I have been told to change everything within 3 days and I am leaving for a couple of days as of tomorrow. NG and I are basically scrambling to patch this now and we'll see what we can do in the coming weeks.

So again, sorry guys, it's a necessary evil and Google decided it needed to be completely in your face more than it already was.

Dan

General P2L Update – So what's up Doc?

General P2L Update – So what's up Doc?

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Hi all, how's everyone doing?

I've been a bit quiet in the news lately trying to get the ads sorted out (still ongoing), writing tutorials and trying to catch up on emails and approvals. I would really like to get back to the 3 – 4 queue time we had going, but I've been struggling with a 10 day queue time Christmas. The reason? Traffic and submissions are going UP! So it's a mixed blessing I suppose, and I'm determined to get it all under control, just taking some time. And before you post it, no I won't be getting anyone to help me process the submissions

In terms of stats, P2L now receives over 27,000 visitors a day and goes through over 13 GB of bandwidth a day. To date we've had almost 50,000 tutorials submitted to the site and we currently have almost 26,000 live tutorials! Since we released P2L v3 in August, we've processed over 14 million searches and over 40 million tutorials have been viewed since the site was launched 3 years ago. We may not be Slashdot, but that's some very impressive numbers and I'm really proud of where this has been and it's continued growth.

In the coming months I would like to focus our development team on going through the support forum and beta areas and start fixing any lingering bugs or half finished features that has been untouched for awhile. I know a lot of you have been waiting for the auto-submit API to be completed among other things, plus I have a fairly big list of quirks I'd love to address, so if you have any additional bugs or problems, make sure you post them in the support forum. I'm going to be working closely with Nick and Jaime to see what their schedules are like and see how we can address these problems, and look at possibly bringing on someone to help out with the coding. If we do end up needing someone, I will contact those of you that have already expressed your interest to help out in the past, and if I still can't find someone, I'll be sure to post a want ad

I'll also be looking at closing up the tutorial FFA forums now that all tutorials should be published in the P2L Publishing System. We'll keep old threads open so people can still comment and post their questions on tutorials that have already been posted, but we suggest to everyone they look at re-posting them in the Publishing System. The tutorial request forum will of course stay open so people can get ideas for new tutorials or you can ask for help on how to do stuff.

People have also been asking me about when we're doing a new contest because of that other thread where I was asking about what kind of prizes they would like to win. Well at least 1 big contest is still on the way, but my hands are tied until goodies like the desired gaming consoles are readily available on the market. I'd also like to get some of these bigger issues off the plate and out of my head so I can plan some cool contests and not just go through the motions and wing something. If we're going to be giving out sweet prizes, the we need to have a sweet contest!

And finally, I would like to offer a hearty thanks and round of applause to the staff and the tremendous job they have all been doing on a consistent basis. They all work very hard to keep the forums and index clean and I can not thank them enough for all the hours they put in. They all deserve our thanks for the work they do on here 24/7, way to go guys!

Ooohh… and one final note. Those of you that have been requesting a chat. I am currently in the process of testing out a very nice Java based chat script that ties in directly with IPB that has all the chat components you are used to seeing in IRC. If all goes well with the test (I am testing it on another smaller forum I run), I am very seriously thinking of adding it to P2L.

That's about it gang, be good!

Dan

How to enable the Classic Start Menu in Vista and Enable the Run Option!

How to enable the Classic Start Menu in Vista and Enable the Run Option!

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Welcome to my first of what will probably be several Windows Vista tutorials!  Most people associate my tutorials and general knowledge with graphics and photography, but I spent many years in IT as a Hardware and Software manager and as a department lead, so I have tons of OS experience as well.  So with that said, I would like to expand my repertoire of tutorials to cover the latest MS operating system, Windows Vista.
I just installed the Ultimate version tonight and man, what a battle and a half to get this beast where I need it.  I really dig the new GUI functionality, but there was a lot of new goodies in this bag that had me tearing my hair hair out.  The first issue is the new Start Menu and this horrible selection method they have for the complete program list.  The entire scrollbar concept and forward/back thing just isn’t working for me.

Let’s have a look at the new Vista Start Menu:

Here you can see me browsing All Programs:

Now as you can see in the screenshots above, I have a Run command button.  If you are running a fresh install of Vista, you don’t have that available, and the thought of not having a run command is probably gnawing at your very soul!  Let’s get our Classic Start Menu and our precious Run button back!

Step 1 – Start by right-clicking on the taskbar and then click on Properties:

Step 2 – That will load up the Taskbar properties menu… click on the Start Menu tab to access the required settings:

In the Start Menu tab, you have two main radio buttons:  One for Start Menu (default) and one for Classic Start Menu (Windows goodness).

Step 3 – Click on the Classic Start Menu radio button:

Step 4 – TO ENABLE THE RUN BUTTON, you must click on the Customize button to the right:

Step 5 – Here you can enable/disable various functions within the Start Menu including the Run button, which I have circled in red.  Once you’re done, click OK to return to the main menu.

Step 6 – Good to go?  Click on OK to close and apply the new settings:

And VOILA!  Classic Windows Nirvana!

Thanks for playing!
Dan

Understanding the Fill Palette Options in Corel Photopaint – Solid, Gradient etc

Understanding the Fill Palette Options in Corel Photopaint – Solid, Gradient etc

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Introduction

In this tutorial, I would like to help Photopaint users explore their fill color options a bit more in-depth and introduce you to the ability of going beyond a solid color when using fill.  By fill, I mean the inside of a circle, square, or any other drawing element you create that uses a fill color.  Many new comers to this application constantly use solid colors, then use complicated and time consuming methods of applying gradients or texture fills, when you can easily do it right from the get go.  In fact, you have 4 options to choose from when it comes to fill:

  • Uniform Fill (Solid color)
  • Fountain Fill (Gradients)
  • Bitmap Fill (Using other images)
  • Texture Fill (Pre-Formatted Textures and Styles)

Step 1 – We’ll go through each option and I’ll explain how you use each one and show you an example of the fill in action.  So go ahead and create yourself a blank document and then double click the fill color to access the Select Fill menu:

Select Fill Menu is open:

PART 1 – Uniform Fill

The Uniform Fill option is fairly straightforward and allows you multiple methods of selecting a solid color using various palette methods.  We’ll go over the color models, mixers and palettes.

Step 1 – Click on the Uniform Fill button and click Edit

Once the Uniform Fill menu is open, you’ll find 3 tabs, which provide you with 3 methods of selecting a solid fill color:

  • Models
  • Mixers
  • Palettes

All menus allow you to select various presets or save color selections to your current palette bar, or you can browse through the options, which allow you to change between color formats and various other color tweaks.  In this screenshot, you can see the color value options:

You can also name a custom color and add it to your Palette:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is Your Linux Box Ready for the New Daylight Savings Time Change?

Is Your Linux Box Ready for the New Daylight Savings Time Change?

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Don’t forget that this year the DST changes have changed and you need to make sure your Linux box is ready for it! Not sure if you’re in the clear? Log in to SSH as root and run this command:

zdump -v EST5EDT|grep 2007

If the result displays March and Novembrr dates, Linux is ready. The only other issue you may have is Java… Java has its own timezone file so you need a patch or may need to upgrade the whole package.

(Thanks Elvio for the heads up!)

Aside from that, hope everyone has been well. I’ve been super busy with some extra site projects and catching up on outstanding work, but fear not, many new goodies are coming up for you guys in the P2L community!

Dan