The world of programming is a desolate wasteland filled with less than signs and semi-colons. Well, that is what it seems like to most, but it doesn’t need to be that way. Programming can be easy and organized without all this additional confusion. With some of these easy tips, you won’t have to worry about these problems anymore.

Most of these tips will work for all programming languages, but I will give some specifics for other languages. One of the most important tips is a developer’s reference. There are some languages where it may be best to use a book, but most of the time an internet source is the best. For example, every PHP developer should have http://php.net bookmarked to get to it quickly.

Also, developers should use Google often and learn how to directly or indirectly search for their issue. For instance, if one cannot find their specific issue, they should have a general idea on how it would be done to indirectly search the method in which they can accomplish their goal. This is a very important skill because as programmers become more advanced, many times their projects will become either unique or all other options have been released as either closed source of a paid script.

Above all, programmers need good communication with other programmers. The best way to continue improving your skills is to talk with your other expert friends and having them share their tips with you and vice versa. Most people learn better from another person than from a text book in the first place, so this would definitely constitute itself as a worthwhile reference.

So overall, programming is not a very confusing thing to do; one just needs to know where to start. So through time of finding your resources, using them properly, and finding other experts to speak with, one can make their experience level go from beginner to expert fairly quickly. But as all things do, programming takes time to learn and memorize so you can program things efficiently. These tips should help, however, in making that journey a quicker and more enjoyable one!

Regards,
Dennis M.
Freelance Programmer
http://microsonic.org/

There are so many terms when it comes to graphic arts. Problem is, for the newcomers in this particular field, not to many divulge on what these terms exactly mean. So what am I providing for you as a reader today then? Commonly used graphic (GFX) terms! If you’re new to the graphics area, these are definitely some terms you should go over and familiarize yourself with. Once you get familiarized with these specific terms, it will help you in furthering your graphics experience! So then, let’s get started shall we?

GFX Basic Terms

1. Stock – Word used to describe the picture that you will be using. This is generally a picture that has no copyright infringement attached. In other words, you are legally permitted and allowed to use these pictures in your own graphics.
2. Render – A 3D object you will be including in the picture. A render is generally made by/on the computer.
3. Font – The text you will be using for the picture.
4. Typo – Text/Colour
5. Blending – How well the stock blends in with the background. Mainly a comparison.
6. WIP – Work In Progress
7. KIU – Keep it up! As in keep up the great work.
8. BG – The actual background of the picture you are creating.
9. CnC or C&C – Critique and Comment. This is so that once you’ve completed your picture, you can ask others to point out some flaws and perfections of it. This will help you improve your work over time, by taking other peoples opinions into consideration.
10. Ripping – Stealing others people’s GFX. In other words, stealing another users work.

Little More Advanced GFX Terms
1. Opacity – This is used to see how much you can see through an image.
2. Saturation – This is used to dramastically brigthen a dominant color in your graphic.
3. Depth – Creating a 3D look to your picture so that it stands out from the rest of your graphic. Making it the key focal point.
4. Sprite – A .gif material stock. (.gif is an extension normally used for animated picture)
5. Contrast – Putting contrast up on an image can make the picture brighter, but can limit the colors, while putting contrast done will make the whole colour scheme of your graphic darker.
6. Hue and Saturation – Your colour
7. Brushing – Used to create effects on your pictures. Such as splatters, blobs, and much much more.

These are some basic terms normally used by GFX artists. If you’re planning on going into the field, I highly recommend getting used to these terms. Although these are some helpful terms, there are plenty more out there that are commonly used as well. So keep your eyes peeled and your brain moving and learn as much as you can!

Hello everyone, you may have thought about opening your own community in the past, or will in the future, this is a general guide of how to open up your own forum community.

Common Forum Types

There are endless amounts of forum systems out there, but I will be outlining a few for you to look at.

Free Forums

Phpbb- phpbb is an open source board that has been around since around 2000. I highly recommend phpbb to people new into the forum “scene.” It has an endless amount of free mods and themes to fit your any need, and a very easy-to-use admin system. For more info on phpbb, visit their site [here].

Simple Machine Forum- SMF is a free board that doesn’t need a lot of resources to host. It is very friendly towards coding, so you can code your own mods for the board if you can’t find a mod you want out of the huge selection. There is an easy-to-use theme builder built into the forums as well. For more info on SMF, visit their website [here].

Paid Forums

IPB- Invision Power Board Is one of the two most used paid forums. There are loads of free and premium skins, mods, and resources around for IPB. IPB also features a great, easy-to-use system for the users, and a easy-to-use admin panel. For more information on Invision Power Board, visit their website [here].

Vbulletin- Vbulletin is the other main premium forum used other than IPB. Vbulleton has loads of mods and themes available for use with the forum. Vbulleton is unique in which they set up the admin panel, they have it organized differently then most of the forums out there. Overall, it is a great forum, for more information on VB, visit their website [here].

Finding your Niche

This is one of the hard parts you will run into when making a community. When making your community, you want it to stand out from the others in a market that isn’t overrun with forums on the subject. You must pick something that you are knowledgeable in and can provide unique, quality content on.

Advertising

Advertising plays a big role when making a website. When buying advertisements, I would stick to places that have a page rank of at least 2-3 so your links are valued by Google. You should also advertise on website related to your niche. If you properly market and advertise your community, you will find yourself succeeding.

As you may tell, I have lined up a few tips for you to follow when making a community, If you would like me to write into further detail, just get ahold of me.

Thanks,

Daniel Johnston