What I discovered, was that even with an instructor I had to learn a lot on my own. If you are interested in learning AS3 I recommend buying this book from Amazon: Actionscript 3.0 Cookbook. The examples are easy to follow and great building blocks to help you build a dynamic and interactive web site.

Here are my Top 5 Online AS3 Resources:

5. Learning ActionScript one-on-one With Doug Winnie

This is a great place to start. The site has a lot of helpful Actionscript 3.0 tutorial videos and if you don’t know much about flash it is a great place to get to know some of the basics.

4. ActionScript 3.0 Language and Components Reference

Adobe offers a really awesome library of components that you can reference. If you start coding and you find you don’t know the name of a function call or of a native variable you can very easily find it here. I just keep this site open in a window while I code.

3. Kirupa.com

Kirupa is a great place to find tutorials on everything from animations in Flash to tutorials for Actionscript 3. I found sometimes the content can be outdated so be careful when learning on this site. Be careful to ensure that what you end up doing is in fact the best, most current way.

2. Google.com

Google is obviously not a resource in itself but the best way to debug an AS3 problem, in my experience, is to enter the exact error string into Google. Usually you will get someone who has had the exact same problem. Especially if you are working from a tutorial. If you can’t find the exact problem then you should be able to at least find something close to offer some hints.

1. gotoandlearn.com with Lee Brimelow

Flash video tutorials, AS3 video tutorials and even a preview of Flash CS5. Lee Brimelow is that man when it comes to teaching Flash. I spent many, many, many, many, many hours, playing and replaying his tutorials. His site is very easy to use and is by far my favourite place to start if I’m looking to try something new. I highly recommend checking out this site if you are at all interested in learning Flash or Actionscript 3.0.

I hope you enjoyed this post. If you have any questions feel free to post a comment and I will respond.

If you live in Vancouver and want learn web design at an web design school in Vancouver, please check out the Interactive Design Program at Capilano University.

Thanks,

Duder (tvTayber)

Welcome to our office, we sell ideas...

I wanted to take a minute to share a few tips with anyone that is interested in hiring a web designer in Vancouver (or wherever you may be). You might need a new Blog or a website just for yourself, or you may be looking for a redesign for your outdated business website – either way these tips will put you well on the road to building a healthy relationship with your web designer.

Try and stay up to date with technology...

The more prepared you are before you start shopping around for someone to take on your contract, the better off your site will be. You will save money, time and headaches all around. You should also be able to avoid ending up as a post on the Client’s from Hell Blog

Web design isn't easy...

As web designers and web developers we are always pushing the envelope and trying our best to come up with innovative designs for you.

As students of the Interactive Design program we have learned to focus on usability, functionality and designing experiences that are engaging for your viewers.

One thing that we definitely have not learned though, is mind reading (too bad about that…). We are not magicians nor robots (although some may claim differently). To get your project off the ground we are going to need your help with a few things. Here’s a list to get you started!

Ask yourself these questions before you contact a web designer

#1) Brainstorm about the why, where, what, who’s, when and how’s…

Why: why do you need this website? What will happen if you don’t get a new website? What are your hopes for the website? Your motivations?
Where: where in the market do you sit? Who is your competition? Where is the niche that you fill?
What: what tasks need to be accomplished on your website? What do you not want on your website? What features and technology are you hoping to include and use? What information do you want to feature? And probably the most important detail of all, what is your budget?

Who: who are your clients? What are their motivations for visiting your site? Do you have a tag line that speaks to your customers? Who is your competition?
When: When do you want this new site to be live? What is your timeline?

How: Do you currently own the url that you want to use? Do you have your content ready (or at least an idea of the content that you want to feature? Do you have all of the photos (or videos) ready to go? Do you have a logo or do you need one designed?

#2) Research…

Do some research. Try to find at least 5 examples of websites that do something similar to what your website will do. Find sites that you love for different reasons (graphics, content, features, navigation, etc). If you stumble across a few that you don’t like, take note of those as well. This will help your web designer understand your tastes and get a feel for sites that you are comfortable with. It makes it much easier than saying “I want something with lots of white space and I love Facebook. So what can you make for me?”

remember, an email is better than a valentines card to a web designer!

#3) Communicate…

Be prepared to communicate with us! We are online most of the time – web designers love to send emails almost as much as they love to get them – they are better than a valentine’s card to us! We will have lots of questions, so the faster that you respond, the quicker that we can move forward with your project.

#4) Trust…

Believe in your web designer. You shopped around and then decided to hire us. Let us do our job and trust that we have your success in mind at all times. You wouldn’t go call a plumber and then question him every time he pulls out a tool. Trust that we know what we are doing (even if we dress funny).

#5) Take our advice…

We have lots of great advice. We usually know a little bit about a wide variety of things, from branding, to SEO, copy writing, video editing, and usability testing. We are up to speed on the latest design trends, so if we make a funny face when you ask for florescent lime green, shiny buttons to be on every page and an epic flash intro splash page don’t take offense. Rather, take a minute to check out some of the new, fresh examples and options that we will provide for you.

With that said:

The Interactive Design class of 2010 is just about to graduate! We are hoping to all launch into the market here in Vancouver and start our careers. Some of us have already started working with clients designing and developing some exciting new sites. Check out our program Interactive Design at Capilano University if you are interested to learn more about us, our work, or if you are looking for a web design school in Vancouver.

Twitter is a great web application that allows us to keep up with our friends and followers as well as all recent trending topics. I like to keep up on my Twitter account on the go. It’s the perfect activity while I’m waiting for the bus, having a coffee, or driving!

The big question is what Twitter App should I get for my iPhone. Well, here are the 5 best Apps I have used:

The 5 Apps reviewed.

Tweetie 2

Price: $2.99

Website: atebits.com

Review: This is hands down my favorite Twitter App. Tweetie 2 is incredibly intuitive and feels really light when it is running on your phone. I like the way that everything in this app is based on the touch interface. If you want new tweets you just pull the list down to refresh, if you’d like to RT or reply to a tweet just swipe across the desired tweet to see the options. Tweetie 2 also allows you to have more than one account open and accessible at the same time in the single app. This is perfect for someone who constantly updates a personal account and a few work related accounts. Over all I dig how minimal this app feels, it is a must download for any Twitter’r.

Push - Pull refresh function.

TweetDeck

Price: Free!

Website: tweetdeck.com

Review: TweetDeck for iPhone is exactly what you’d expect if you’ve used TweetDeck for Mac. It pairs perfectly and has all the same features. I like it because of the column layout TweetDeck offers, it is easy to switch between “all friends”, “mentions”, “direct messages”, and any other searches you have going. This layout system makes it straightforward to keep track of specific peoples tweets, or any hash tags you are currently following. If you are someone who likes to save lots of searches or hash tags then I think TweetDeck for iPhone might be the perfect app for you.

TweetDeck for iPhone

Twitterriffic

Price: Free! ($4.99 for Premium)

Website: twitterrific.com

Review: Twitterriffic is another straightforward Twitter app. All your friends tweets are displayed in a single column with all the controls in a small menu bar below. Here you can do all the usual things… reply, RT, or make a new posting. The free app was alright and I thought it was worth listing here but I did find it to be lacking a few features and thought that it was kind of difficult to figure out at first. Based on my experience using the free version I didn’t see the sense in upgrading to the premium version.

Twitterriffic in action.

Twittelator

Price: Free! ($4.99 for Pro)

Website: stone.com

Review: Twittelator is similar in features and functions to Tweetie 2. I found it to be simplistic in style and thought that it worked great. The free version is ad supported, but I found it to be good enough for my testing purposes. I’d recommend giving this app a try if you are looking for a generally basic Twitter app.

Twittelator

Simply Tweet

Price: $4.99 (Lite version Free!)

Website: motionobj.com

Review: Simply Tweet is a totally usable Twitter app. There isn’t anything in particular that seems to be wrong with it, but I wasn’t particularly impressed with it either. It does have a clean design and is seems simple to use, however at $4.99 I was kind of expecting something awesome. I can’t make a download reccomendation on this app, just based on the fact I don’t believe it offers enough value at $4.99, maybe try the lite version first…

Simply Tweet

There you have my Top 5 Twitter app’s… some good, some almost good but I did definitely think that they were all worthy of this list.

As a Vancouver web design student I hope my research on the usability of popular iPhone app’s should be on target since I have spent the last 2 years learning how to analyze this stuff… I hope that you think so too! If you are interested in learning about Usability Design or other Interactive Design related topics check out my program up at Capilano University

Trying to avoid this type of nerd fashion?

I was thinking about writing a post to help all the student web designers and even the professional web developers out there with their fashion choices.

I thought my nerd buddies could use a little help, so when they decide to actually close their laptops and venture out into the world for some socializing they will be able to hold their heads high and mingle in style.

But after some thought, I changed my mind and decided to focus this article on the Top 5 items to help you be a stylish nerd. The stylish nerd fashion that I found while surfing the net was just too cool to pass up (although I won’t waste anytime of your time talking about nerd glasses).

Nerd Fashion can start from the feet up

# 1) Twitter Kicks: Definitely at the top of the list I had to post these kicks. Nerds usually don’t have cool shoes in the best of times, never mind when they are broke design students. These sneakers are off the hook, custom designed & one of a kind! What nerd would not want to show up at the next Vancouver UX meetup rocking these seriously Geek Chic high tops?

Nerd Fashion on your wrist?

#2) 8 Bit watch: Telling the time circa 1983… Of course if you were a true nerd you could just check your iPhone but why not wow people with this 8bit inspired watch? You’re never too old to pay homage to this low fi design style. But if you are a bit too young to remember the good old days of game design you can always do some research about 8 bit on Wikipedia and then you’ll be able to make accurate references to the good ol days.

#3) Designer Zip ups: Capilano University sweaters are pretty awesome but why not break out of the student fashion rut and show up to the next iPhone development conference wearing this killer zip up? Everyone will instantly know that you are hard core about design…. CMYK all the way…

2010 Pantone bag is another design nerd necessity

# 4) 2010 Pantone Laptop Bag: Every year Pantone makes their “prediction” for that years most popular color. This year it just happens to be turquoise. Yup that very color that makes us all dream of vacations. So seeing as you may be a web design student on the verge of graduation why not trade in that student backpack for a wicked new laptop bag that will make it obvious that you know your stuff when it comes to design and the hottest Pantone colors? Take a moment to brush up on the details of 2010’s Pantone color if this is all news to you…

Hide a bad hair day with a trucker hat

#5) The ultimate nerd trucker hat: Let’s admit it, after you cram for several days straight, live in the coffee shop and don’t have time to shower you need a hat. So why not toss aside that old hat that you got for free last summer in a case of beer and wear this one instead. It says “I’m a nerd and I know it!” You’ll look good, I promise and if you tilt it low no one will see the reflection from your mac book that has been burned into your retina from endless hours at the screen.

Honorable Mention: I must admit that I just had to add these because they are so cool and uber nerdy that they had to be mentioned in this top 5 post. As Interactive Web Design Students on the verge of graduation many of us joke about the dream job or the dream practicum that we fantasize about. Imagine wearing these cuff links into an interview. You would be the coolest geek that they had ever met and I am sure you would get hired on the spot (hoping that the interviewer appreciated your Geek Chic accessories of course).

A true Apple Fan Boy's cuff link's

There you have it, Top 5 Geek Chic fashion or nerd fashion (call it what you will) suggestions. But we also do other things at school aside from trying to find super cool, nerdy high tops to wear. Check out our Interactive Design Program to find out more about this Vancouver web design school.

Well well well. I love these! It is often soooo cold in my classroom. What I wouldn’t give for a pair of heated mittens that I could actually type with.  I gifted these to my good friend Hillary, and she has nothing but good things to say about them.

and if gaming is your style, then no worries. Clearly, this person is enjoying themselves

2.USB Turbo Keyboard Vacuum

Miniature Vacuum.. also insanely useful.  I am looking at my keyboard right now, and it could definitely use some vacuum love.

The features on this thing are insane.

• Its got a separate attachment  for cleaning the keyboard
• LED light just in case you feel like… doing a Midnight cleaning.
• Turbo mode for twice the power.
• Retractable brush holder for those hard to reach places

I agree with this product. Here are a few more specs for ya:

3.USB Turntable in a Briefcase

I’m not sure you could get more hip than this.

I’d like to call it a fusion of the past and future. USB Briefcase Turntable! Tote your record player in style my friends.

This turntable isnt just for playing music, it also can convert the music to digital format. Nice!

Loving these features:

• Includes Audacity Software Suite for recording and editing audio content
• Belt driven turntable mechanism
• Plays 3 Speeds – 33 1/3, 45 And 78 RPM Records
• Plays 7″, 10″ & 12″ Records
• Fully automatic return tone arm
• Adjustable tone control
• Built-In dynamic full range stereo speakers
• Vinyl-wrapped exterior
• Chrome snap closure
• Heavy duty corner guards
• Dimensions: 18″ x 19″ x 9″
• Weight: 7kg

Can you argue with that? I’m not sure.

Here’s an image of the Turntable in Action. nice choice.

Here are the built in speakers. Wonderful!

4.USB Massage Ball

While life as a web designer is awesome and inspiring most of the time, its also very stressful. I often get what I’d like to call “you’re obsessed with the internet so here’s a stiff neck” syndrome. So I would absolutely love one of these little massage buddies.

oooh. calf massage.

5.USB Roll-up Piano

I dig this Roll-up Piano. Sometimes, I get a tune in my head, and it would be great to simply plunk it out on the piano (AND be able to save it to my computer)

Its powered by USB completely so nooo batteries!

Also, I think its very cool that there is simultaneous 49 key activation. We can actually play chords!

It also comes with software so that you can edit and play around with your creation.

Here’s the downside: Windows ONLY!! booo.

I know I said Top 5, but I just couldn’t resist adding a bonus USB gadget.

USB Rocket Launcher!!!

This thing.. would just be too much fun.

Well, now we can stay warm, keep our keyboards clean, listen to bad ass tunes, stay relaxed, create music, and assassinate our co-workers.  I like this plan.

Hope you enjoyed it!

Laura

Check out my Web Design School Program here: Interactive Design Lab