The Studio 119 Degrees Blog

Ok, so I thought I’d post something that covers two areas that are close to me… Music & Web Design. Having recently posted something on the David Gilmour site, I didn’t really find this too far off-base really. Plus, I got the notice on my MySpace page, went over to the new Clapton site and was pretty impressed. I even became a fan of his page on Facebook, so I guess you could say I’m a bit pumped about this?

The other item I forgot to mention, is that when I looked at tour dates, I noticed Eric was playing the Royal Albert Hall in London tonight (actually is now on stage as I’m writing this) & I wanted to jump on this opportunity to promote his site and his tour. The Royal Albert Hall is, for those of you that don’t know, quite the venue. It makes an appearance in the Beatles song, “A Day in the Life“. The line is, “Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall“. The hall is circular in shape and is well-known for it’s great acoustics. Many famous concerts have taken place here, so it would suffice to say that it has a bit of history behind it. It was built in 1871 and is still standing tall as one of the most sought after places for a musician to play. If you’ve played here, then you’ve pretty much made it as a musician.

Getting back to the Eric Clapton Web Site though, I’d have to say it’s one well-thought-out and laid-out site. I immediately went to the video section to find this great 1991 version of “White Room”, which is show above. Okay, so it isn’t Cream performing it, but Eric’s playing is still impressive. One of the most expressive guitar players I’ve ever heard… and that’s coming from a devout Jimmy Page fan!

I think the photo section will grow as the tour progresses and it certainly will be something else to see and hear Eric together with Stevie Winwood again on this tour. The video section also could be a little more robust, but the interviews make up for it. I always enjoyed listening to Clapton talk and this was no different. Pay special close attention to his take in the Concert for Bangladesh he did with George Harrison. Having just read his autobiography, these comments from him really hit home. I do kind of wish the music section, or discography rather, would include some small sound clips from the songs and then also have a feature to buy the song/songs from either iTunes or Amazon, but maybe that was a legal decision. The mini-player of Eric’s music at the top of all the pages is nice though… would be even nicer if while the song played and one navigated to a new page, the song would persist to play, but it does not.

A link to Eric’s enduring fight to help people with addictions is also on the site up top in the header. The facility is called, “The Crossroads Centre” and is truly an amazing thing Eric has given back to this world. All in all, a good site. It might need a little growing into and more content created or added to it, which I believe will take place soon. A site any Clapton fan would be please to visit.

So there you have it, my tribute to Eric Clapton’s start of a 10-night stay at the Royal Albert Hall starting tonight!

Visit the site and enjoy it!

Chris J. Politzki
Studio 119 Degrees

February 24th saw the release of the new and improved DexKnows.com 2.0 web site. With it, also came the updated Free Tools page. As with the 1.0 site, I helped develop not only this page, but also the newly-branded Banner Ads, Search Boxes, Widgets & Gadgets, and Text Links. I will, for purposes of this post, only go over the Search Boxes and Widgets.

What’s New With The Dexknows.com Site, Search Boxes & Widgets?

All of us who work at Dex are really excited about the new 2.0 site launch. I’m especially excited about the new Search Boxes, Widgets & Gadgets. So what’s new about these from the previous versions? Good question! Keeping in mind that the Search Boxes are mainly used by Dex Affiliates, I wanted to streamline the code that needed to be copied and pasted to implement them into pre-existing sites. In order to accomplish this, I used div tags instead of the previous methods of using tables in the HTML. These div tags were then controlled by specific CSS to perform better across all browsers. There’s even a custom CSS rule to accomodate the Safari browser, which I think everyone should download. It’s available for both the Mac & PC and is quickly becoming one of the up-and-coming browsers people use today.

Code Implementation for the DexKnows.com Search Boxes

So how does one go about using these so-called Search Boxes? It’s as easy as copying and pasting two bits of code into your HTML. 

• Step 1 – Paste this code below between the <head></head> tags in your HTML.

<script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://images.dexknows.com/logo/searchbox-files/widget.js”></script>

• Step 2 – Paste this code below between the <body></body> tags in your HTML.

<form class=”search” name=”search” id=”search” action=”http://www.dexknows.com/rd/” onsubmit=”return checkform();”> <input type=”hidden” class=”dku” name=”dku” value=”http://www.dexknows.com/search/?mkt=dk20&mkw=L2Us300x250″ /> <div id=”dex_widget300x250″> <div id=”top300x250″><IMG SRC=”http://images.dexknows.com/logo/searchbox-files/300x250_top.gif” alt=”Dex is one of the leading Yellow Pages publishers. Dex publishes the AT&T Real Yellow Pages in Illinois and NW Indiana, the EMBARQ™ Yellow Pages, and the Dex® Yellow Pages (as the official publisher of Qwest®).” width=”300″ height=”70″ border=0 usemap=”#DexLogoLink”></div> <div id=”bottom300x250″> <div class=”styleWhat300x250″><LABEL for=”what”>What</LABEL><br> <input name=’what’ type=’text’ class=”formbox300x250″ id=’what’ tabindex=’1′ value=’category, business name, keyword or phone number.’ maxlength=”50″ onClick=”clearWhatData();” onKeyPress=”this.style.color = ‘#000000′;” /> </div> <div class=”styleWhere300x250″><LABEL for=”where”>Where</LABEL><br> <input name=’where’ type=’text’ class=”formbox300x250″ id=’where’ tabindex=’2′ value=’city, state, address, ZIP code or landmark.’ maxlength=”50″ onClick=”clearWhereData();” onKeyPress=”this.style.color = ‘#000000′;” /> </div> <div id=”search300x250″> <input name=”image” type=’image’ tabindex=’3′ src=’http://images.dexknows.com/logo/searchbox-files/300x250_button.gif’ title=”Begin Your Search” /></div> <div align=”center”><a href=”http://www.dexknows.com/rd/?dku=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dexknows.com%2F%3Fmkt%3Ddk20%26mkw%3DL2Us300x250″ title=”Visit DexKnows.com” target=”_blank” class=”styleYP300x250″>DEX YELLOW PAGES</a></div> </div> </div> </form> <map name=”DexLogoLink” id=”Map”> <area shape=”rect” coords=”-196,1,300,70″ href=”http://www.dexknows.com/rd/?dku=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dexknows.com%2F%3Fmkt%3Ddk20%26mkw%3DL2Us300x250″ target=”_blank” alt=”Dex is one of the leading Yellow Pages publishers. Dex publishes the AT&T Real Yellow Pages in Illinois and NW Indiana, the EMBARQ™ Yellow Pages, and the Dex® Yellow Pages (as the official publisher of Qwest®).” title=”Visit DexKnows.com” /> </map>

And that’s all there is to it to get a Search Box working on you web site. Now anyone can perform a business search on the DexKnows.com site directly from your site! Here’s how the above code looks once implemented:

The code has been stream-lined to dynamically load the necessary CSS for each separate Search Box from the javascript call within the header. And since this code and all the images are hosted on a DexKnows.com server, this means no taxing of the users server and translates to better load time and functionality. There are 8 different IAB-approved sizes for the Search Boxes, so you should easily be able to find one that fits your web page.

The New and Improved Dex Gadgets & Widgets

Not only did the Search Boxes get and overhaul, but so did the Gadgets & Widgets. There are currently 4 choices to choose from. A Dex iGoogle Gadget for your iGoogle Home Page, a Dex Google Gadget to install in your Google Desktop, a Dex Yahoo! Widget for Yahoo! Widgets, and finally a Dex Mac Widget for the Mac Dashboard. The latter three contain a version checking script which will allow easy validation for users of the Gadget or Widget to check if they are up to date on the most current version. A 5th Widget will be added in the future, but for now will be posted here for you in advance so that you can test it out. This would be the WidgetBox Widget and is shown below:

 
Thanks and enjoy the new DexKnows.com site and all of it’s new features!

Chris J. Politzki
Studio 119 Degrees

Adobe Photoshop never ceases to amaze me. I’ve been working with it since version 3, which would have been somewhere around 1995 or 1996? So when I found this new automation in CS3, I was really psyched to be able to share this new feature I found. I used to take hours sometimes to do what Photoshop now does with a click of a button.

So what is this new feature?

Well, as an avid enthusiast of photography, I’m always exploring ways to further the art of creating an engaging image. Upon my explorations, I’ve dabbled in creating panoramas. Never resorting to purchasing either a wide-angle lens or a proper panoramic camera, I was left to discover cheaper methods to satisfy my explorative cravings in photography. I even briefly offered my panoramic photography services out to realtors before it was a common feature on realty web sites. These were Quicktime VR files, which were interactive (some examples of my quicktime vr examples). The creation of these files took an enormous amount of manual labor. The new automation ‘Photomerge’ within Adobe Photoshop CS3 is a godsend!

How do you make this new feature work?

This ‘Photomerge’ feature is found in the top menu under ‘File’=>’Automate’=>’Photomerge’. A window will popup which gives you the option to work with individual image files or a folder of images.

Adobe Photoshop CS3 Photomerge Dialog Box

Demonstration

I’ll demonstrate working from a folder of images. Select which layout you prefer on the left-hand side (I’ll show samples of all these layouts at the end of this post), select ‘Folder’ and then click on ‘Browse’. I always choose the ‘Blend images together’ checkbox as this helps in blending imperfect matches between image edges.

Adobe Photoshop CS3 Photomerge Choose Folder Dialog Box

Hit the ‘Choose’ button. This adds the selected images to the queue. Finally, hit ‘OK’ and see this magical feature perform it’s task.

Samples

Here’s the results below with different layouts used.

The ‘Auto‘ layout: (Full-size image)

The ‘Perspective‘ layout: (Full-size image)

The ‘Cylindrical‘ layout: (Full-size image)

The ‘Reposition Only‘ layout: (Full-size image)

The ‘Interactive Layout‘ allows you to manually move around the images. This can be useful when the automation isn’t quite perfect. All-in-all, a nifty little feature to have!

Chris J. Politzki

Studio 119 Degrees

I’ve come across another great site… this one deals with the likes of the legendary David Gilmour of Pink Floyd. It’s really well done and goes through David’s gear setups and much, much more.

A lot of time and effort went into this one and you can tell. It’s called ‘Gilmourish‘ (http://www.gilmourish.com) and by the looks of it, it looks like it has been setup with WordPress, a popular blogging tool and just so happens to be the one I employ to do this blog here. Anyhow, the producer of this site, Bjorn Riis does a fantastic job at going through almost everything Gilmour-related.

First Section of the Site…

Bjorn’s first section goes through David’s gear and is therefore titled, “The David Gilmour Gear Guide“. In his own words, he says:

In this section you’ll find information about David’s guitars, amps and effects on each Pink Floyd album and tour as well as David’s solo albums including the recent On an Island tour.

It’s really a nice touch on the right-hand side, where he’s broken things down into:

Each section goes through things in complete detail, leaving no fan disappointed.

I

David Gilmour with famed 'Workman Tele' in 1984

It’s an absolutely stunning job Bjorn has done with this site. Kudos to him for spending the time and effort to share with us the information he’s collected.

I’ll continue my exploration of his site in a future post… until then, rock on and enjoy this amazing site!

Chris J. Politzki
Studio 119 Degrees

So we’ve got a few days off here in America for Thanksgiving. I thought I’d write some on the old Blog that I’ve been neglecting. I think I’m going to keep another non-serious thread going here to lighten up the load on the work-related items.

So how shall I start? Hmmmm. You know, there’s a site I really enjoy checking out almost everyday when I log on. This is from a british photographer by the name of Ross Halfin and seeing as how he’s got some good writing on his site, I think I’ll start out talking about him.

Ross has a ‘Diary‘ section on his site which is really amusing and informative at the same time. His travel photography I really enjoy as a beak from all of the great rock and roll photography. He’s photographed nearly every great musical artist there is! You name it, The Who, David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, Pearl Jam and of course my favorite, Led Zeppelin… he’s photographed them all! Here’s an example of Jimmy Page at the recent Olympic Games in Beijing of 2008.

One of my favorite series of photographs from Ross contains this image here below of Jimmy at Shepperton Studios in 1993.

I really enjoy reading Ross’ writing in his Diary on his site. He writes about all kinds of things. Mostly commenting about others on his travels across the globe. His comments hold nothing back and he is oftentimes very critical of others, but that can be quite refreshing to hear what a person is really thinking rather than sugar-coating everything. Oftentimes, his comments are related to his travels.

A sample below:

My flight is full, absolutely rammed, only got a middle seat (okay, I’ll admit I’m flying business) but sitting inbetween an old man and a Chinese man who keeps knocking my arm trying to get more elbow room or whatever you call it. I wonder how long I’ll last without a row with him, – he’s now done it four times.

And yet another sample when he was currently in Kansas City when shooting a Metallica show:

Kansas. Yes, somewhere over the rainbow. The airport is about a hundred miles from downtown. Okay I’m exaggerating, but it was a long way. Around the arena are lots of Irish bars and places to eat meat, lots of meat. Most of the people walking around are the size of cows, it’s like herds of human cattle. Kazuyo says ‘It’s so boring here all they do is eat.’

I got out of a taxi at the venue. A large heifer comes over, ‘Hey are you Lars?’. Firstly, could you see Lars getting out of a cab in the street and saying at the stage door ‘Hello my good man. Is this The Kansas Sprint Arena and can I come in?’ I say no and he then looks at me as if he’s just seen the awakening of Christ and says ‘You really look like Lars are you sure?’ I’m sure and just to clear up any misconceptions, Lars looks like me – except I’m far more handsome…

Ross has some great photographs of some of the most famous and influential musicians ever, so check out his site and see how he allows us access into his perspective on a quite intriguing career as a photographer. Well worth return trips to the site to see what he’s up to, where he’s travelling to, and who he’s photographing or bumping into at hotels in Hollywood.

http://www.rosshalfin.com

Chris J. Politzki
Studio 119 Degrees

The DexKnows.com site recently posted a new page I helped develop.

It contains all of the current Widgets, Gadgets, Text Links, Banner Ads as well as ‘What & Where’ Search boxes. It’s known as the Free Tools page and is available anywhere on the Dex site if you head to the bottom of the page and click on the link, ‘Free Tools’ in the footer. This is right in between the ‘Direct Marketing’ & ‘View Phone Books’ links.

These are nifty little free tools that one can use to search the Dexknows site.

The Search Boxes are great for embedding into your own HTML page. They come complete with Javascript, CSS, & HTML code for a great looking resulting search box! They come in a few varied sizes to perfectly fit into the right spot on your web site. 728 x 90, 468 x 60, 300 x 250, 234 x 60, 160 x 600, & even a 120 x 90 size, which is pretty small, but could very well fit in a tight spot.

If you only want a text link, this is also available. Banner Ads as well.

The Gadgets and Widgets include an iGoogle Gadget for your iGoogle Home page. There’s a Google Desktop Gadget which you’ll have to download the Google Desktop application first, but the link for that downloaded is provided. Then there’s a Yahoo! Widget that also requires an external application to run, but once again the link is conveniently provided. There’s even a Apple / Mac Dashboard Widget, which I’m quite fond of being a Mac user.

The next feature is a Widgetbox Widget and I’ll embed it below to show you how easy it is to obtain. Go ahead and try typing something into the ‘What’ & ‘Where’ boxes and hitting enter or the ‘Find’ button above and see how the widgets work and function.

I personally like the cohesive design on all of these. Some sites have multiple platform widgets and gadgets, but haven’t kept the design the same across the board. Maybe because there were multiple people working on the different platforms? Perhaps. Not the case here though. I saw the design & development from end to finish and the result is there for you to see.

Can’t wait for our next versions of these to come out! In the meantime, enjoy!

Chris J. Politzki
Studio 119 Degrees

Stay tuned! Formulating a new design for the site. It’s about time I must say… the site has been effective, but needs a freshening-up, so-to-speak.

Chris

Update!!!

Monday, March 9th, 2009

I recently found the time to update the Studio 119 Degrees Web Site. Please have a look and make a comment here as to what your thoughts are on the new look and feel to the site.

Thanks!

Chris J. Politzki
Studio 119 Degrees

Just set-up my first Blog here… Within the next few days I’ll start posting items of interest.

Keep checking in!

Chris