The New Big » tips

The New Big Screencast, WordPress Tips, Edition One: Create a Portfolio Page

stumax — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 06:58:59 +0000

So, here’s the start of a new series of Screencasts: WordPress Tips. This ‘cast covers the high-level overview of how to create a custom category page, useful for creating a single portfolio page from all posts in a category.

Show notes In this screencast, I review the following steps for creating a custom portfolio page:

Create a category for your portfolio

Create a custom category page

(optional) Hide portfolio posts from your main page

Create your posts within your portfolio category

Alter the time stamp to change the order in which the posts appear

Add your category page to your navigation

I’m happy to hear any feedback or take your questions either in the comments here or at stuart@thenewbig.com

More Big Things

The New Big Screencast, OS X Tips, Edition Two: Organize Your Apps

stumax — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 02:33:45 +0000

Whew! That took a little longer than I had intended. Three weeks… oy! Well, better late than never.

Welcome to Screencast Number Two: a 15-minute look at the various ways to organize your applications in OS X. Just like the first screencast, this one is aimed at switchers and other Mac newcomers, so I tried to strike the right balance of explaining enough while not insulting your intelligence. I’m happy to hear any feedback about how I did either in the comments here or at stuart@thenewbig.com

I used ScreenFlow to record this ‘cast, so if you’re interested in my further thoughts on the screencasting process, I’ll include them in the full post (click the ellipses, if you’re on the home page). Enjoy!

Show notes

The three methods I looked at for organizing my applications were to use folders, Spotlight Comments, or standalone applications.

Lifehacker article Tags: Metadata as a ‘filing system’, by Nick Santilli, discusses how to use Quicksilver and Spotlight Comments to organize your files.

Punakea provides a complete tagging interface for applications.

DockFun lets you swap in customized docks or just use the menu bar icon to access your apps.

DragThing is a very powerful and flexible organizer that lets you access applications both online and on your computer.

TabMeister is a simple slide drawer for files.

Leap is a very interesting and powerful program for drilling down through large file libraries quickly and easily.

I’ll bet I missed some good software. I know I forgot to mention using Smart Folders. Anything else? Leave me a comment.

Things I learned this time:

My workflow was basically the one I described in the after-post for the first screencast. However, I used ScreenFlow as my recording app this time. ScreenFlow is amazing, and once I had tried the demo, I couldn’t see going back to a less-capable app. That decision probably cost me a few hours during the creation process just to learn how to set up and use everything for the new workflow.

I didn’t zoom in far enough most of the time. Once the movie was resized to fit the website, much of the text was too small. Sigh. I’ll make it better next time.

I liked using NoteTaker to handle the display of my notes, but it was a little unwieldy to keep up with clicking through the notes and displaying them properly on the screen. I’ll refine that, too, for next time.

I probably could have cut this into three 5-minute segments. I think I do okay keeping things moving for about 80% of the ‘cast, but I’m pretty sure shorter shows will still be better.

I discovered this cool little online aspect ratio calculator to help me figure the values for re-sizing the movie.

More Big Things

The New Big Screencast, OS X Tips, Edition One: the Menu Bar

stumax — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 21:45:59 +0000

Howdy, y’all. I’m trying a little experiment today: a screencast that I whipped up to show switchers and other Mac newcomers how to manage the OS X menu bar. Just click on the embedded player below to check it out. Show notes are located beneath the video, and I’ll post some thoughts about the screencasting process separately.

I’d love to hear what you think. Please leave a comment here, or email me at stuart@thenewbig.com.

Show Notes

Turn off the translucent menu bar in Leopard 10.5.2 by opening the Desktop & Screen Saver Preference Pane and unchecking the box next to “Translucent menu bar.”

Many menu items can be turned off by clicking on the icon and then clicking the bottom-most menu item

Move icons using Command+Drag (left or right). Remove icons by Command+Drag off menu bar. (thanks to this forum thread on MacWorld.)

iStat Menus is available at iSlayer.com

Caffeine (to keep your display awake) is available from Lighthead Software.

Slim Battery Monitor by Colin Henein can be found here.

And you can download Free Ruler from Pascal.com