To educate, inform, inspire

2015 Illinois Web Design Contest – the code

May 6, 2015 - Learning , Web , WOW - by Mark - No Comments

I previously discussed the Illinois web design contest at a high level. I thought it would be important to also focus a bit on the code and related design aspects of the sites. Note that these comments are my own and do not represent the observations of any judges in […]

2015 Illinois Web Design Contest

April 29, 2015 - Learning , Web , WOW - by Mark - No Comments

I had the great opportunity to supervise the Illinois Web Design contest in Springfield on April 23 – 24, 2015. As always, our contest focuses on professionalism (we are WebProfessionals.org after all), current web design job skills, and industry best practices to help students be better prepared to enter the […]

Tagged: Web Design Contest

What I like about Adobe Acrobat DC

April 22, 2015 - Adobe , Mobile Apps , Technology - by Mark - No Comments

Adobe recently released a significant update to Acrobat. When I first opened the tool [viewing a PDF document], I saw the following (and felt a bit overwhelmed). Note the changes to the interface, particularly the options on the right for the given document. Wow. There are a lot more options. […]

Adobe Slate

April 15, 2015 - Adobe , Web - by Mark - No Comments

Adobe recently released a new iPad only app focused on creating content. One can then view this content in browsers on any Internet connected device. The content is displayed in a manner appropriate for that device. The app is called Slate (I placed the logo below). The tag line “Make […]

Adobe Comp CC

April 8, 2015 - Adobe , Web - by Mark - 2 Comments

Adobe recently released a new app for the iPad – Comp CC. In many ways, this app reminds me of Adobe Proto. There are a number of differences. The most important is that one can create low fidelity wireframes or much more detailed mock-ups of a web site, print document […]

2 factor authentication

April 1, 2015 - Security - by Mark - No Comments

I recently provided a post on passwords. I mentioned that one should employ 2 factor authentication where possible. Given that many readers and students may use WordPress as a blog platform (or for other purposes as it is a rather flexible platform), I thought it might be helpful for individuals […]

Wipster and Adobe Voice

March 25, 2015 - General , Technology - by Mark - No Comments

I have been experimenting with the Wipster application for a few weeks. Essentially, this is a site where you post a video for others to review and approve. They can add comments in the video (as it plays). Although the service is not free, I am finding this to be […]

Office Mix

March 18, 2015 - Learning , Technology , Windows - by Mark - 1 Comment

Assuming you are running MS-PowerPoint 2013 or higher, you might want to try Office Mix. It is a free add-on for PowerPoint which allows you to “create and share interactive online videos.” You can include screen captures, screen recordings, polls, and quizzes. You can upload your completed presentation to the […]

Passwords

March 11, 2015 - Security - by Mark - No Comments

Passwords – “can’t stand them, can’t live without them.” We must access many computer resources every day and have to rely on passwords to verify we are who we say we are. I can’t count the number of times people ask me about what constitutes a good password. Therefore, I […]

Screen Capture Utilities

March 4, 2015 - Adobe , ICC , Learning , Technology - by Mark - No Comments

I have been helping a peer with one of their online classes this semester. They expressed an interest in learning about different tools to record the screen. I decided to take a different approach this week and provide this document I created for their use. This is an alternative approach […]

Web Vulnerability Scanners

February 25, 2015 - Security , Web - by Mark - No Comments

One of the many classes I teach is CMWEB 270 – Web Application Security. I thought it might be helpful to readers to review a couple of the tools one can use to automatically scan for website vulnerabilities. I consider it good practice to use a number of tools. Obviously, […]

Fixel

February 18, 2015 - Adobe , Mobile Apps - by Mark - No Comments

Fixel is an iOS app from Adobe Labs which runs on either iPad or iPhone. Sorry, no Android capabilities. Many thanks to my colleague, Matt Clasener, for making me aware of this app. Essentially, it allows you to clean up your images (remove unwanted litter from a photo, for example). […]

PaintCan

February 11, 2015 - Adobe , Mobile Apps - by Mark - No Comments

I recently became aware of an interesting app from Adobe Labs – PaintCan. Many thanks to Tom Green for making me aware of this iOS app (sorry, no Android version). For those of us with limited graphical talent, we can now paint using just our fingertip. We can work with […]

Aurasma

February 4, 2015 - Technology - by Mark - No Comments

Augmented reality is a concept which has fascinated me since I first learned about it a number of years ago. I was recently exposed to Aurasma by a colleague. This is an app which runs on iPhone and Android devices and allows you to scan an image to display additional […]

Amazon Echo

January 28, 2015 - Technology - by Mark - 2 Comments

This may come as a surprise to readers of this blog, but I do like to stay on top of technology. Recently, Amazon unveiled the Echo. Of course, I had to try one out. What is it? Good question. Think intelligent radio (on steroids). You interact with the device almost […]