To educate, inform, inspire

National Web Design Contest

June 22, 2016 - Travel , Web , WOW - by Mark - No Comments

As you are reading this, our national web design contest is happening in Louisville, KY. This will be the 13th consecutive year we have held this competition. We hold this in conjunction with the SkillsUSA national competitions. We provide a contest for secondary students and a separate contest for post-secondary […]

Kentucky caves

June 15, 2016 - Travel - by Mark - No Comments

My wife and I took our grandsons on a tour of selected caves in Kentucky (and a natural history stop near Louisville). I thought readers might be interested in some of these spots. I used my GoPro camera and created a series of time lapse videos for various aspects of […]

Working Connections 2016

June 8, 2016 - Learning , Technology - by Mark - No Comments

During the week of May 23, Working Connections was held in Springfield, Illinois. This represented the 14th year for this event (and my 13th year teaching a class at this event). I thought it might be helpful for others to learn more about Working Connections and why I think this […]

Book review: Digital Defense

June 1, 2016 - General , Security - by Mark - No Comments

Periodically, I review books for the American Library Association. I thought it might be helpful to students to include a copy of my latest book review here as well. This will be published in the June issue of Connect Magazine at the ALA site also. I do need to keep […]

Adobe Spark

May 25, 2016 - Adobe , Technology , Web - by Mark - No Comments

Adobe recently announced Spark. This is more than a “re-branding” of the iOS only apps Voice, Slate, and Post. The links in the previous sentence take you to my initial reviews of those iOS apps. The significance of Spark is that these apps are also now available via the web. […]

Labcoat

May 18, 2016 - Learning , Web - by Mark - No Comments

I recently provided an overview of the “design in browser” approach to working with a web site. Since that post, I have become aware of the Labcoat browser plugin. It only works for Chrome that being said, it has some powerful capabilities. Before you can work with this tool, you […]

Adobe XD and Material Design

May 11, 2016 - Mobile Apps , Technology , Web - by Mark - No Comments

Google announced Material Design in June, 2014. The main goals are discussed in the Material Design specification. Essentially, there are two goals (below copied directly from above link). “Create a visual language that synthesizes classic principles of good design with the innovation and possibility of technology and science.” “Develop a […]

LIX 3D Printing Pen

May 4, 2016 - Learning , Technology - by Mark - No Comments

On Monday, May 2, 2016, my LIX 3D printing pen arrived. At long last. I ordered this on August 24, 2015. I was notified it was ready to ship on March 25, 2016. It shipped on April 25, 2016. Overall cost was $154.95 (including $15 shipping). Now that I have […]

Design in Browser

April 27, 2016 - Web - by Mark - No Comments

There have been a number of discussions at various WebProfessionals.org meetings about the concept of “design in browser.” As the spring semester starts to draw to a close, I thought it might be an appropriate time to review this concept as it helps bring a number of aspects of web […]

Web Design MOOC 2016

April 20, 2016 - Adobe , Learning , Web - by Mark - No Comments

I recently completed teaching another MOOC (Massive Open Online Course). This one was on web design using the Adobe MUSE application and was done as part of the Adobe Education Exchange. This course ran from January 25 to March 11, 2016. If you have been reading this blog for a […]

Critical Error – Start Menu Not Working

April 13, 2016 - Technology , Who knew? , Windows - by Mark - 5 Comments

For the past month (March 8 to April 6, 2016), my sole Windows 10 laptop has been experiencing a strange problem. Every time I clicked on the Windows logo “new start menu,” I received the following error message. Of course, you can’t close this message. Clicking “Sign out now” is […]

Natchez Trace

April 6, 2016 - Travel - by Mark - No Comments

During spring break this year, my wife and I spent a fair amount of time in the state of Mississippi. Last week, I reviewed the Mississippi petrified forest. After leaving the petrified forest, we decided to drive on the Natchez Trace Parkway (from Jackson, MS to Tupelo, MS). Yes, Tupelo […]

Mississippi Petrified Forest

March 30, 2016 - Fossils , Travel - by Mark - 4 Comments

During the week of spring break (March 21 – 25, 2016), my wife and I visited various areas in Mississippi and Missouri. I thought it might be interesting to review some of the places we visited instead of focusing on technology for the next couple of entries. Since the main […]

Chrome Browser Extensions

March 23, 2016 - Security , Technology , Web - by Mark - 2 Comments

Those who know me realize that I am always interested in web technologies and how they relate to business. I thought it might be helpful to identify some of the Chrome browser extensions I use on a regular basis (and my rationale for using them). Although I use a fair […]

Adobe XD

March 16, 2016 - Adobe , Mobile Apps , Web - by Mark - 2 Comments

A new preview product was released by Adobe on Monday, March 14. It was first demonstrated at AdobeMAX and looks to be very useful from a UX/ UI design workflow. Previously, one could develop simple mock-ups of web pages or mobile apps using tools like Photoshop or Illustrator. However, it […]