Animated with Picasion

Although web designers tend to dislike them, animated icons and buttons can really hit the spot when it comes to creating simple moving images. Some people also like to use them in email signatures. To achieve this effect you will need to use an animated GIF. This is a graphics file format that stores a sequence of photos that can be ‘chained’ together to form the electronic equivalent of a flipbook that mimics movement when played back. By choosing pictures carefully and then going to the Picasion website, it is possible to create smooth animated sequences that are both fun and effective. This Workshop explains how to choose suitable images and turn them into an animated GIF that can be used on a website, blog or as a forum icon.

We are going to start by creating a picture for an online-forum profile. This picture will appear next to any contribution we make on the forum and so other users can quickly identify our posts. Each forum has its own rules that determine the maximum file size and preferred dimensions for pictures like this, so check first to see what is allowed. We have four photographs of one of our writers showing his face as expressionless, starting to smile, smiling and, finally, grinning: we are going to use the Picasion website to combine them into a single animated GIF to create the impression of movement.

After checking the rules of the forum we are going to post on, we know the preferred picture size is 115x140 pixels, with a maximum file size of 51KB, so we need to make some changes to these four pictures. Using a photo editor (the one shown here is the excellent Photo Filtre, free from www.snipca.com/x253) we crop the photos into portraits and then reduce their size to the correct dimensions. Then we save them as either JPEG, GIF or PNG files, numbered in sequence order.

With the photos prepared, launch a web browser and go to www.picasion.com. When the site loads click the top Browse button and use Windows Explorer to navigate to the first of the photos that will be used to create the animated GIF sequence. Just select the picture and click the Open button, then add the next picture in the same way. If you need to add more than three just click the ‘Add one more picture link’ to open another empty picture box and keep adding more.

To ensure the pictures are the right dimensions, open the dropdown menu underneath Size, select Advanced and then type in the width specified in the forum where they are going to be used. Since this sequence of photos shows someone smiling, it will be better if we speed up the playback to make it look more natural. To do this, open the Speed dropdown menu and choose Faster. To upload the photos in Picasion and assemble them into a single animated GIF, click the Create animation button.

When the pictures have finished uploading, the animation will appear in the main Picasion window and start to play back immediately. To keep the animation safe, click the ‘Save this animation’ link at the bottom of the screen and choose a destination on your PC. When it has finished downloading, find the animated GIF and double-click it; here the GIF is playing back in the Windows Picture and Fax Viewer. To check the size, right-click on the picture file icon and choose Properties.

Although they share some of the same characteristics, every forum is slightly different. Here, we have visited a forum we use regularly, signed in and viewed our control panel (often called a profile or user account), and then clicked the Browse button to upload our newly created animated GIF. After locating the photo on the hard disk, we can then click the Upload Avatar button (this is a fancy name for the picture we are using to represent our profile). From now on, whenever we contribute to the forum, our animated picture will appear next to our posts.

The animated GIF can be used elsewhere thanks to the HTML code that Picasion generates to go alongside it. Flip back to the Picasion website, highlight everything that appears in the HTML code field, right-click on it and choose Copy. As an example, we signed into one of our blogs at www.blogger.com. We clicked on Layout, Add a Gadget and then chose HTML/Javascript. This displays an empty window into which we have pasted the code using right-click and then Paste.

As well as getting pictures from the hard disk, Picasion can also import photos directly from popular online photo libraries like Picasa (www.picasaweb.com) and Flickr (www.flickr.com). For example, return to the Picasion home page and then click the ‘Import images from Flickr’ link. Flickr organises photos by user name and tags so you will need to know both to find the pictures you want (find out more by visiting www.flickr.com and having a look round) ­ then just click ‘Get pictures’.

It’s important to make sure you have permission to use any photos grabbed from Flickr or Picasa. We are using ones from our own library of photos. When the pictures appear as a strip of thumbnails just select the ones you want to use as part of the animation by putting a tick in the empty box in the top left-hand corner of each one. Once that is done, choose a size and animation speed and click the Create animation button.

Once Picasion has created the animation, it can be saved to the hard disk, or the accompanying code copied to a blog, or any popular web-editing program. By choosing a slower speed for the animation to play back it is possible to create simple self-running slideshows that are really effective. The only downside of Picasion is that it puts little Google adverts above and below the finished animation, though they are pretty unobtrusive.

Fill Any PDF

Filling in online forms is commonplace these days. Unfortunately, some websites and online services insist that visitors download and print out forms before filling them in manually, and then return them by post. This can be both annoying and time-consuming, particularly for long forms.

However, a website called Fill Any PDF may help automate things a little. While it cannot walk to the post box for you, the Fill Any PDF website does enable any form in PDF format to be filled in electronically ­ even if the original is locked for editing. It’s easy and free to use, though registration is required.

To begin, visit the Fill Any PDF website and then follow step by step below :

When the website appears, click the Signup button on the right-hand side. On the Pricing page, click the ‘Sign up for Free’ button below the member login box on the left. Now fill out the short registration form, choosing a password of at least six characters in length. Click to tick the terms of use checkbox and then click the Submit button.

A confirmation email will be sent to the email address entered in Step 1, though it doesn’t require anything to be clicked. Instead, just stay in the web browser and return to the Fill My PDF home page by clicking Home at the top left. Now type the username and password you set up into the Member Login area and click the red Login button.

The Fill Any PDF website will now display the user account page. As we have yet to do anything with the service, there is nothing much to see here. The first step is to upload a PDF form to be filled in. If you don’t have one immediately to hand, Government websites are good places to find them. We are going to work with a Gift Aid declaration form, which can be downloaded from the HM Revenue & Customs website (we have created a shortcut to the specific page at www.snipca.com/x216­ – just click the ‘Gift Aid declaration form (PDF, 88KB)’ link and follow the prompts to download the file to the Windows Desktop). Back at the Fill Any PDF user account page, click the Import Form link.

The Import Form page requires that you give the uploaded form a name, so type in a fitting description in the Name box. Now click the Browse button alongside the File field and use Windows Explorer to navigate to the PDF form file. The fields on the right-hand side of this page are optional, and really intended for use by businesses that use document controls (to automatically number documents and apply revision data and so forth). To learn more about an option, just click the little blue question mark icon alongside. Otherwise, just click Submit to upload the PDF.

And here’s our form uploaded to Fill Any PDF. This is exactly how the PDF file would look if we had clicked to open and view it on our PC. However, the big difference now is that we can use Fill Any PDF’s facilities to fill in most or all of the form without having to resort to handwriting. To begin, click the Type/Write button in the toolbar above the form.

Click the Type button, move the mouse pointer over the first part of the form that needs to be filled in and click. It’s now possible to type directly into the form. Fill Any PDF automatically attempts to choose an appropriate font size but, if it’s too large or small, use the font size box at the right-hand side of the toolbar to change it. Similarly, the default text colour is black. If you want to use a different colour, click the colour selection box to the right of the font sizer. We have stuck with the defaults here.

We have made a mistake when entering the gift amount, positioning it too high above the line. The problem is easily rectified, though. With the Type tool still selected, left-click the offending entry and hold down the mouse button while dragging and dropping it to the correct place.

This particular form has a couple of checkboxes, one of which needs ticking. It would not be too taxing to tick this one box with a pen after printing out but Fill Any PDF does have a ‘freehand’ tool that can be used to do the job while we are here. Click the Write button. The mouse pointer will change to a pencil, move this into the relevant checkbox and then click and hold down the left mouse button while drawing a small tick. If you make a mistake here, or anywhere else, click the Undo button at the top to go back a step.

That is pretty much it for this form. It does require a signature at the bottom, though. Fill Any PDF does have a Sign button, but this simply employs a cursive font for a bit of extra flair, and adds a verified date to the bottom (this is handy for business use). However, we will just sign this form with our own signature after we have printed it out. Click Print and then click Save & Close.

Fill Any PDF now offers the opportunity to email the form. If you want to do this type in an email address and message and click Send Copy, otherwise click Do Not Send. The form is now stored on the Fill My PDFs website and can be opened for viewing, printing for further editing. Click the Manage button to view the list of stored forms. Old or otherwise unwanted forms can also be deleted from here.

Wajah Baru Beranda FACEBOOK

Awal pekan ceria bagi para Black Community FACEBOOK atau lazim disebut dengan nama FACEBOOKer. Wajah baru menyambut kunjungan pemilik Profile saat memulai rutinitasnya pada salah satu social network dengan User terbanyak saat ini. Tidak banyak yang berubah saat Blackinnovationawards goes to campus profile Anda disana. Apa saja yang berubah...........??? LOGIN dulu bro...

Perubahan drastis pada halaman Beranda Profile FACEBOOK. Setidaknya ada bebarapa point yang sempat menjadi perhatian Ambae.exe pada profile miliknya yang beralamat lengkap http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1406277723. Seperti diutarakan Admin FB pada pesan yang muncul disana, template Beranda FB kini lebih disederhanakan.

Ambae.exe mencoba mengupas sedikit tentang point tersebut. Perhatikan bagian Menu yang ada di bagian atas halaman Profile. Jika sebelumnya Menu Beranda, Profil, Teman dan Pesan Masuk berderet di sisi kiri atas, kini berderet di sisi kanan dengan wajah yang lebih sederhana. Terpampang pada pojok kanan yakni Beranda, Profil dan Akun. Sementara Akun diset dengan tambahan Menu Drop Down yang di dalamnya terdapat sub menu berupa :

1. Sunting Teman
2. Pengaturan Akun
3. Pengaturan Privasi
4. Pengaturan Aplikasi
5. Saldo Kredit
6. Pusat Bantuan
7. Keluar

Perhatikan juga pada bagian kiri atas, Disediakan pula Toolbar dengan tampilan baru yang sebelumnya hanya tersedia pada halaman Beranda saja, kecuali tool Pesan. Namun kini dapat diakses meski User berada pada halaman profil dan halaman lainnya. Ketiga tool tersebut yakni Permintaan Pertemanan, Pesan dan Pemberitahuan.

Selanjutnya bagian tengah pada gambar di atas, tampak Menu yang tidak lazim lagi bagi seorang FACEBOOKer. Sebelumnya dikenal 2 menu yang tidak jauh berbeda yakni Berita Terkini dan Kabar Berita. Dengan tampilan baru saat ini, Berita terbaru dibagi dalam 2 sub Menu yang baru dengan nama Berita Teratas dan Terbaru. Definisi “Berita Teratas” tak ubahnya dengan dengan istilah “Kabar Berita” pada wajah sebelumnya. Sedangkan “Terbaru” dapat diartikan sebagai “Kabar Terkini” pada tampilan yang lalu. Tak ubahnya Headline News pada sebuah Website atau Blog, Kabar Berita Terbaru menampilkan berita-berita terhangat dari Teman Kontak Profil bersangkutan. Sedangkan Kabar Berita Teratas, oleh Ambae.exe menyimpulkannya sebagai berita terpopuler dari Teman Kontak Profil bersangkutan.

Sekarang kita lebih ke bawah lagi agar lebih terasa Djarum Black Menthol yang dari tadi dinikmati bersama hidangan Djarum Black Slimz dan Djarum Black. Di bagian kiri nampak teks bertuliskan ONLINE. Teks ini bakal muncul jika chat room profil bersangkutan dalam status OFFLINE, demikian pula sebaliknya. Kemudahan didapatkan, karena teks tersebut sekaligus sebagai shortcut untuk mengaktifkan dan menonaktifkan Chat Room FACEBOOK.


Point terakhir yang coba diuraikan yakni fasilitas terbaru dan benar-benar baru pada halaman profil FACEBOOK. Sebelumnya aplikasi ini hanya akan tersedia bilamana menambahkannya ke dalam halaman profil. Namun atas kemurahan hati si Admin FACEBOOK, aplikasi Translate ditambahkan langsung di dalamnya. 109 macam Bahasa disiapkan pada Aplikasi Terjemahan milik FACEBOOK ini. Selain shortcut yang disiapkan pada pojok kanan bawah, user pun dapat langsung mengunjungi alamat di bawah ini :

>Terjemahan
>Aplikasi Terjemahan


Jumlah bahasa yang lebih banyak dibanding sebelumnya oleh Admin FB menyatakan telah mendukung 40 Bahasa. Dengan Aplikasi Translate ini, user akan lebih dimudahkan dalam menerjemahkan tiap kata yang mengganggu pikirannya selama ini. Bila menengok ke belakang, beberapa waktu silam. Di warnet milik Ambae.exe, sering dihebohkan dengan salah seorang pengunjung yang berteriak seperti ini Sob, apa artinya Good. Dengan nada lemah lembut pengunjung lainnya menjawab teriakan tadi dengan : The meaning GOOD is baji’-baji’ ji alias baik/bagus (Ungkapan Bahasa Makassar yang dilontarkan saat muncul pertanyaan khas orang Mangkasara’ yakni Apa Kareba Siana’...??? alias Apa Kabar Saudara...???). Satu lagi yang lebih menceriakan wajah para FACEBOOKer yakni hadirnya Basa Jawa (seperti yang tertulis disana) selain Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Melayu, English dan Bahasa Kotak-kotak lainnya.


Butuh tutorial versi Admin Facebook? klik disini