We have finally completed the redesign of the Darley web site. We designed this site from the ground up using an open source CMS perfect for a company of this size. This site now encompasses all aspects of the web revolution. Video, community and user interaction. Most of this can be viewed on the first page. Darley is now focusing a large amount of time to video. They know to sell online video is more powerful that pictures.

I have focused a large amount of my time into 3D video using green screen technology. We want to give users a 1 on 1 product experience. Let them feel the product and control its movement. More on that in a few weeks. Getting back to Darley.com. You can quickly and easily navigate through this site with a redesigned navigation bar and follow up sub menus on the right.

We have also added many notable updates in our code using Moo Tools. One area is our specialty truck section. Here we can now quickly and easily add trucks via xml and have a nice gallery with specs. Another moo tool is our “Shared” button which you can find under any video that we offer. This gives the user the ability to post our video within MySpace, Facebook, and/or other third party cloud sites.

- Rescue Video with Shared button
- Moo Tool Interaction

One big problem that we tackled head on was catalog viewing. This company prints hundreds of thousands of catalog a year. We wanted to give the users who are use to the catalog a way to have that same feeling online but at the same time make it very easy to find what they are looking for.

- View Flash Catalog

I have a lot more to post in regards to this site I will save that for a later post.

I have purchased a new 15×20 green screen, new led lights and even built a turn table for $80 in supplies. http://labs.darley.com/ray/3ddemo/products-demo.html for a working example. The example was just a test for the live output.

I still need to do some major light adjustments and output to final cut but I am excited about what we can do.

I created a very quick PSD panel. I have named the layers and you can do as you wish. This took about 2 minutes to create and 5 minutes to upload and create this post. I recommend you play around with some of your own brushes and see what you can do.

Download PSD – 456kb 

If you use Photoshop you should know all about gradients. I have put 30+ of my own personal favorites gradients on line for download. If you don’t know about gradients and then be sure to check out some of the links to tutorials below.

Links:
http://9rules.com/blog/2006/08/a-gradient-tutorial
http://www.showandtell-graphics.com/gradient.html
http://tutorialblog.org/smooth-gradient-header

Technorati Tags: gradients, photoshop, photoshop gradient, download gradients

I created a very quick and easy logo when a client asked for a few recommendations. This logo did not make the cut but you can download the complete PSD.

Example

Logo

Download the PSD file of this logo. You will need Photoshop to view or edit this logo

Technorati Tags: logos, photoshop

One of the greatest and most powerful things about the Internet is the creative commons. Icon creators have taken the time to create some really professional icons placed them online and allows anyone to use them free of copyright restraints. There are over 200 icons that you can use because of Creative Commons. You need to make sure you read the rules so that you do not break any constraint rules.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Clear
(In other words you cannot claim them as your own)

Technorati Tags: creative commons, creative commons, free icons, icons

How to recreate your Pref within a Windows OS. Adobe seems to be a bit lacking in this area so I will give you a quick way to do it.

Exit Dreamweaver CS3.

Then find the “Configuration” folder for your OS.

Vista Users: Users>Ray>AppData>Roaming>Adobe>Dreamweaver9>Configuration

XP Users: C:\Documents and Settings\Ray\Application Data\Adobe\Dreamweaver 9

Move the folder to your desktop and then fire up DW3 and it will recreate your “Configuration” folder with new settings.

This method solved my problem of DW hanging at a “Initializing Extention Data…” screen. A reader also said it solved an issue with site cache taking a long time to load. Email me if you need more help.
ray at webpulse dot us

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.webpulse.us/booster/slideshow.swf" height="400" width="400" /]

I recently had a chance to work with the Monoslideshow flash program. It allows users to give images all sorts of transitions and menu options using a SWF file. When I first looked at this program and web site I was a little skeptical. I read the forums and also search the Internet for more uses. I noticed that the guys over at Rockettheme.com used this slideshow in a couple of themes that they created.

So I dropped the 20 dollars they were asking and tried this on my site as well as others that I work on. I must say that its a very simple program that uses and XML page to control all of the functions within the SWF file. My only big issue was getting the slideshow to work without displaying the Monoslideshow loading icon.

To remove the Monoslideshow logo you need to have Macromedia Flash and from there create your own SWF wrapper. This will allow you to create a brand free slideshow for your site. The Monoslideshow forums are somewhat helpful. However, if you read the manual that comes with the program in contains almost everything you will need to get this up and running on your web site.

Site: www.Monoslideshow.com

Technorati Tags: flash, macromedia flash, monoslideshow, rockethemes.com

I have been putting a lot of thought into this years FDIC show that takes place April 16-21 2007. First let me start off by filling you in about this trade show.

“For nearly 80 years, FDIC has maintained a steadfast commitment to one simple mission…to Train the Fire Service. With hundreds of classroom sessions, intense Hands-On Training (H.O.T) evolutions and workshops, and the industry’s largest exhibition showcasing 900 companies, no other event in the world provides more serious training for the serious firefighter.” …FDIC web site

Last year I covered just the Darley booth with a five minute video that showcased some booth products and people. It was our first year with a new camera and I really spent my time taking stills of all the booths.

This year my plan is to record several minutes of many booths and take vendor related pictures so that people can get a better sense of what the show is about. Video will be my primary focus on this years trade show.

I am going to create a new video preview on Darley.com which will allow for easier navigation and exploration of video from the show.

I will be adding video hourly as I get them processed. I will be working completely mobile this year with my Intel Macintosh and Verizon broadband card.

My plan is to also take as many still photos as I can. However, time is a factor that is not on my side. I will be there for two days and get as much content as I possiable can finished and uploaded to the server.

I will post more on this as the trade show approaches.

2006 Trade Show Pictures - Picture Gallery

2006 Video – View Video

Technorati Tags: darley, fdic, fire, fire fighting

Over the past two months I was using Vista RTM and Dreamweaver 8. In that time I experienced hard restarts and crash to desktops. Most of them occurred when I was trying to import my site from a backup or using javascript via the control panel.

I have searched high and low for a fix. Nothing to date has been found.