How can I import my backupped .mbox files in Mac Mail?
To backup a mailbox in Mac Mail, just drag it on the desktop or into another folder directly from Mail.
To import the back-upped .mbox folder, don’t select the .mbox folder itself, but the folder it’s in. So if its on your desktop, just select your desktop folder.
Original post: Importing Mail .mbox files
How can I play .MOD movie files on my Mac?
I recently had to import movies to my Mac from a Cannon FS100 camera. This and other similar cameras record their movies as .MOD files. After some web-surfing I found out MOD video files are actually MPEG-2 files with AC3 audio.
MPEG2 files are not supported by Quicktime by default. You have to buy the QuickTime MPEG-2 Playback Component from the Apple store. It costs $20.
There are some free alternatives to view MPEG-2 files on a Mac:
- For playback, I liked the VLC player the best.
- An alternative player is MPlayer (but it played my movies rather slow)
- To convert .MOD or MPEG 2 files to another format use ffmpegX
NOTE: Apart from ffmpegX the above players don’t recognise the .MOD extension. There is a simple workaround for this; just change the extension of the file you want to play to .mpg.
The missing link
OK, so this works, but having to change the extension or convert the file is not very practical, especially when you have a lot of movie files.
But that’s when I bumped in to VideoPier from Aquafadas. It’s a program especially designed for Macs to work with MPEG2 camcorders. “The missing link between MPEG2 camcorders and your Mac” as they call it. It’s a bit like iPhoto for MPEG2 Camcorders. It has no problem with the .MOD files, lets you browse them, play them and export them to Quicktime, DV, iMovie, iPod, iPhone or Apple TV.
VideoPier has a free but limited trail version, the full version costs $49.
How can I use online images in my e-mail signature?
It can be nice to use images in your email signature, for example a company logo. But preferably I think this image should not be sent as an attachment. If you do, messages like this will get mixed up with messages including “real” attachments. I personally can find this quite frustrating, for example when I’m trying to find back a certain e-mail with a certain attachment.
By hosting the signature image somewhere online, the recipient of the e-mail will be able to view the image, but it won’t be attached to the e-mail. Disadvantage of this method is that quite a few email clients have the display of online images switched off by default, so those recipients won’t be able to view the image (unless they switch them on offcourse).
Mac Mail
To use on-line images in your Mac Mail signature, this is how you go about:
1. Set up a (placeholder) signature in Mac Mail
2. Quit Mail
3. Create a web page representing you signature in your favorite editor
4. Open the page in Safari
5. Save the page as a web archive
6. Place the web archive in the Library -> Mail -> Signatures directory residing in your user directory, and give it the same name as the signature you want to replace.
More detailed tutorial: Custom CSS Signatures in Mail
Original post: Create HTML signatures for Mail
Mac Entourage
After a lot of trying my conclusion is that it’s not possible to use on line images in a Microsoft Office 2008 Entourage signature. So, the only simple alternative is to send them as an attachment after all.
I did find a nice Apple Script which lets you send HTML pages as e-mail in Entourage. It lets you select an HTML file or a pages from Internet Explorer (???), to be sent as an e-mail. You can choose to send the messages with images attached, or referred to online. In theory you could select an HTML file with this script every time to use as your signature, but that’s a bit complicated I guess.
Link to the script: Send Complex HTML X 2.1
Developer homepage: homepage.mac.com/berkowit28/
Webmail
If you use a webmail service like Gmail or Hotmail, the Firefox WiseStamp extension might be worth a try (Did not test it yet myself)
Windows
This is how it should work in Outlook 2007 (did not test it yet):
Easy: Creating HTML Signatures on Outlook 2007
Harder: Email Signature Etiquette with Outlook 2007
Although not exactly what I was looking for, in the process I found out on Windows there are quite a few applications which let you manage e-mail signatures company-wide. This is a review of some of them:
Standard Corporate Signature Template
What is a good open source online .flv video player?
Recently a client asked me to post a Flash Video (flv) on his website. I did a little web-surfing-research to find a nice open-source flv player to show the video. I ended up using the FLV Player.
I liked it the best because of the way it looks (don’t be put off by the green color, this can easily be changed), because of the easy and extensive configuration, and because it’s really open-source (opposed to the popular JW player for example, which is not free for commercial use).
Link: www.flv-player.net (I prefer the Maxi version of the player)
Status: Tested it, liked it
Why do my colors look different when I use the “Save for web” option in Photoshop?
The hidden sRGB option (turned on)
When I used the “Save for Web & Devices” option in Photoshop CS3, I noticed the colors of the saved image looked different from the colours of the original. After some web-surfing-research I found out the problem was this: by default, images saved with Save for Web and Devices are converted to the sRGB color profile. Switching this option off solved my problem. The option is hidden in the little arrow button right from the color preset selection menu (view screen-shot).
Original post and more in-depth discussion about the use of color profiles in web-design: Photoshop CS3 and Save for Web issues | Tancredi
Where can I test different Content Management Systems?
If you’re looking for an open source LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL PHP) based CMS, but you want to test some first, try opensourcecms.com. They provide working demo’s of just about every open source LAMP content management system.
Link: www.opensourcecms.com
How can I measure things on my screen in Mac OSX?
As a webdesigner I often want to measure if a certain distance or size in a browser window corresponds to the distance I want it to be. A handy way to do this is to use an on-screen ruler which measures distances in pixels on your screen.
I used to use the ruler option in Art Directors Toolkit for this, which comes bundled with Mac OS X. What I like about this ruler is the compound option, so you can measure horizontal and vertical distances at the same time. A disadvantage is that it has the default Mac OS X shadow. This can make it quite difficult to measure things exactly, because the shadow blocks your view. You can solve this problem by using ShadowKiller, a little app which removes (or returns) all shadows behind Mac OS X windows. It works, but is not very handy.
Today I found PixelStick. It is a ruler, but with no shadow! Great! And it’s free too! Disadvantage: no compound option. But I like the simple-ness of it. You can use it to measure distances in any angle (default), but also lock it to measure only horizontally or vertically. And just as the Art Directors Toolkit ruler it always stays on top of the other application windows.
Links:
Art DIrectors Toolkit: www.code-line.com/software/artdirectorstoolkit.html
PixelStick: www.pixelatedsoftware.com/products/pixelstick/
Status: Tested (both), Works (both)
What is an easy way to get all the data from my MySQL database?
I recently just wanted to get all the data from a MySQL database, without having to install phpMyAdmin or something similar extended. This nice script did the job.
Link: quirm.net/2008/10/02/mysql-backup/
Status: Tested it, works, like it
To view the code press: Read the rest of this entry »
How do I prevent a textfield in Actionscript from scrolling 1 line when it shouldn’t scroll?
There is a strange bug in Actionscript which makes a textfield which shouldn’t scroll still scroll one line. I only found this bug in Windows and only when scrolling using the scroll-wheel.
The code below, although not very beautiful, will prevent the textfield from scrolling. I found it here.
myTextField.addEventListener(Event.SCROLL, onScroll);
function onScroll(evt:Event):void {
myTextField.scrollV = 0;
}
Link: http://www.kirupa.com/forum/showthread.php?t=288955
Status: Tested it, works
What is a good, secure, developer friendly and user friendly PHP login script?
I wrote one myself, it’s called P.U.L.S. and you can download it and read all about it on dodona.wordpress.com/puls. P.U.L.S means PHP User Login Script and is a PHP scritp which enables users to register and then login to a website or -page.
