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You're reading Best Free Websites Builders of 2018, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Thanks to website builders, almost anyone can create a low- or no-cost website. They bridge the gap between regular users and the internet, making them a part of the web community. They can be lifesavers for those who want to … View the full article

This is the second local privilege-escalation zero-day this APT group has exploited. View the full article

It pays to have some stability in life, especially if you’re a photographer. With more than just three legs and a clever head, the best tripods have a lot to offer, and not just in terms of giving you a stable shooting platform. The best camera for creatives in 2018 Many recent designs have legs that swing vertically upwards for stowage, so that the feet encompass the head when the centre column is fully extended. This reduces the packing length by about 8cm, but there’s a downside in that these tripods are a bit more fiddly and time-consuming to set up and fold away. A more time-honoured tradition for extending the maximum height while keeping the stowage size fairly small is to use four or five telescopic sections within each leg, rather than the more conventional three sections. It’s a useful space-saving feature, especially for ‘travel tripods’ but, again, there’s more setup time involved, with extra leg section clamps to operate. Top tripod tips Another top trick of some current tripods is that they have a pivoting centre column. In most cases, this enables you to use the centre column as a horizontal boom, as well as vertically upright. It can be a big advantage in macro photography, as well as for shooting with ultra-wide-angle or fisheye lenses. It’s also a bonus for really low-level shooting, given that most tripods these days have legs that can be splayed to lock at multiple, wider angles to the vertical. Some pivoting tripods go even further and enable you to lock the centre column at a number of angles through a full 180-degree arc. To save weight, many up-market tripods are available in carbon fibre. For a full-sized tripod kit, including head, you’re looking at a weight-saving of around 20 per cent compared with the same kit based on aluminium legs. The weight reduction is usually more minimal with smaller travel tripods. The main drawback of carbon fibre is that it’s more expensive to manufacture, so the tripod itself can be significantly pricier to buy. Let’s take a closer look at some of the best tripods available right now. Billed as a travel tripod, this Benro is sold as separate legs and head. There’s therefore no money-saving complete ‘kit’ option, but at least you can choose the head that best suits your needs. Benro’s B1 ball head is ideal. The swing-up legs enable a carrying length of just 49cm, yet the maximum operating height is a lofty 179cm, partly thanks to each leg containing four sections. One leg can easily be unscrewed and used as a monopod, in conjunction with the removable centre column. Like the Vanguard tripod in this round-up, the pivoting centre column can be rotated vertically through a full 180-degree arc, with multiple locking angles along the way. The pivot system is elegant and every feature of the overall design is immaculately implemented. A relatively simple and straightforward design, the Benro Mach3 has no pivoting centre column nor swing-up legs. It still folds down reasonably small though, thanks to having four-section legs, and they have the usual choice of three operating angles. Despite being fairly light in weight for an aluminium tripod, the Mach3 is very sturdy and both the legs and supplied 3-way head have an 8kg maximum load rating. A ‘TMA28AB2’ kit is also available, with Benro’s B2 ball head. As with a growing number of tripods, one leg can be unscrewed and coupled with the centre column for use as a monopod. Like the other Benro tripod in our round-up, this one is supplied complete with a posh padded bag and interchangeable spikes and rubber pads for the feet. A perennial problem with travel tripods that fold down to space-saving dimensions is that they fail to give a decent maximum operating height. The Kenro Karoo literally rises above that particular criticism. Despite folding down to just 48cm, courtesy of swing-up 4-section legs, it can reach a towering 190cm at full stretch. The extra height is due to an extending centre column, which also enables a 90-degree pivot facility for use as a horizontal boom. The tripod is reassuringly sturdy, as is the ball head that’s supplied as part of the kit. It comes complete with interchangeable metal spikes and rubber pads for the feet, and a padded carrying bag. The Kenro is great value at the price, and there’s also a carbon fibre version which isn’t much more expensive, although the saving in weight is fairly minimal. Despite being amazingly good value for a carbon fibre tripod, the Novo Explora 5 doesn’t cut any corners in build quality. It folds down nice and small with swing-up 4-section legs, has a respectable maximum operating height of 161cm and a hefty maximum load rating of 10kg for both the legs and the included ball head. The load limit is particularly impressive, given the relatively lightweight build compared with many similar tripods. There are two pan release knobs on the ball head, rather than the usual one, so you can pan the whole head or just the camera platform. An innovative friction damper is also fitted, with an adjuster that’s built into the main clamping knob. There’s no pivot facility for the centre column but one leg can be unscrewed and used with the centre column as a monopod. Another neat trick is that the rubber foot pads can be removed to reveal metal spikes. All in all, it’s a superb tripod for the money. Sold as separate legs and head, rather than a complete kit, the 055CXPRO3 tripod and XPRO Ball head are nevertheless perfectly matched. There are actually a variety of 055 legs available in both aluminium and carbon fibre options and with either three or four sections per leg. This three-section carbon edition is chunky and super-sturdy, with a generous maximum height of 182cm when the XPRO head is fitted. It’s relatively long when folded, but the 4-section edition packs away smaller. Both are quick and easy to set up, as the legs don’t swing up for stowage, and the 90-degree pivot facility for the centre column is also brilliantly simple to use. Unusually, these days, the leg section locks have a flip action rather than a twist mechanism, but they’re very effective. The XPRO Ball head is among the very best that we’ve ever come across. It’s available with Manfrotto’s usual 200PL quick-release plate, or in a pricier option with an Arca-Swiss compatible quick-release plate. Considering that this tripod folds down to just 41cm in length, it’s a little surprising that it weighs in at over two kilograms. However, the MeFoto GlobeTrotter has an impressive maximum load rating of 12kg for both the legs and the supplied ball head, and reaches a useful maximum operating height of 165cm, thanks to having 5-section legs. Following the current vogue, the legs swing up to reduce the carrying length, and one of them can be detached for monopod duty. Interchangeable rubber pads and metal spikes are supplied with the kit, along with a smart padded bag. All that’s really lacking is a pivot facility for the centre column, and there are only two lockable leg angles instead of the more usual three. A pricier carbon fibre edition of the kit is also available, which reduces the overall weight by 400g. With an emphasis on quick and easy setup rather than minimising the folded size, this Vanguard Alta Pro tripod has three sections per leg, and the legs don’t swing fully upwards for storage. That said, they do have four selectable lockable angles and, coupled with a full 180-degree pivot facility for the centre column, ultra-low-level shooting is a doddle. Another bonus is that, like in most recent Manfrotto tripods including current versions of the 055 and 190, there’s a 3/8-inch threaded socket for attaching accessories like an LED light. Build quality is very good throughout and the Vanguard is a joy to use, even if it doesn’t fold down very small. Building on the huge popularity of Manfrotto’s 190-series tripods, there are a number of new Manfrotto 190go! kits on the market. They’re easily distinguishable as they use twist-action clamps rather than clip locks. Kits are available with either aluminium or carbon fibre legs, and with either 3-way or ball heads. The legs have four sections in all cases, and the most up-market option includes the superb XPRO head which, again, is available in 3-way or ball versions. The legs don’t swing up for stowage but the folded length is a modest 54cm nonetheless. Despite having four sections per leg, the maximum operating height of 159cm isn’t overly generous and the maximum load rating of 6kg for the legs is rather less than that of the favoured XPRO ball head. The pivot facility is amazingly quick and easy to use, enabling the centre column to act as a horizontal boom. Ultimately, it’s a solid tripod that’s very nicely engineered and a pleasure to use. A variety of ‘Advanced’, ‘GT’ and ‘2N1’ editions of the Befree tripod have come to the market recently but the classic simplicity of this original version is still hard to beat. With 4-section swing-up legs, it folds down to a mere 41cm and weighs just 1.5kg, making it ideal for the long haul of travel photography. The maximum operating height of 144cm and load rating of 4kg are both rather modest but should prove sufficient for most photographers. The tripod and head are both fairly rigid and robust, considering their lightweight build, and the clip-style clamps work smoothly and efficiently. If you’re after a basic tripod that won’t weigh you down, this Manfrotto makes a good travel companion. The most obvious use for this Joby smartphone support is as a selfie stick. As such, it has a comfortable handle and a central column that extends in three telescopic sections. Up at the top end, there’s a clamp that can securely hold an iPhone or other smartphone, and there’s also a ‘cold shoe’ for attaching an accessory like an LED lamp or microphone. For triggering your smartphone camera, a Bluetooth wireless remote is included in the kit, and it is compatible with both iOS and Android. Unlike many smartphone supports, the handle of this one has three sections around its circumference, which hinge out to form legs, so the Joby can act as a self-standing tripod. Without a doubt, the Joby is the best tripod for smartphones. Read more: The 10 best point-and-shoot cameras in 2018 How to brief a photographer The best full-frame cameras in 2018 View the full article

Adobe Digital Edition has four critical bugs enabling arbitrary code execution. View the full article

You may have noticed a new phenomenon taking place on Instagram. Where once everything used the same font, suddenly users are switching things up. Want to follow suit? In this post we'll show you how to change the font in your Instagram bio. Having the right Instagram bio is crucial in attracting new followers, and ensuring your profile can be found by the right people. You should make sure your bio includes any relevant links to other accounts you run or are associated with, as well as relevant keywords or hashtags so that people can find you. Emoji can also help add some colour and break things up. How to network - 19 pro tips Another thing that adds a bit of flavour to your bio is having a different font than the Instagram standard. And the good news is that changing it is both easy and free. Read on to find out how to change the font in your Instagram bio... 01. Choose your font The options in Instagram Fonts range from the understated to the emoji-studded There are various tools that generate fonts that can be used on Instagram. Try Instagram Fonts or LingoJam, for starters. Type in the text that you want to change, and these tools come up with a list of fonts that can be used in Instagram. Some of them are pretty simple, while others go overboard with emoji and symbols. Bear in mind that you probably don't want the whole of your bio to be in a different font, or it may become hard to read. Once you've found the font you want to use, copy it. 02. Paste in Instagram Mucho has opted for a different font in its description Open Instagram, and go to Edit Profile, then paste in your new font. Click Submit and you are done. That's it! If you'd prefer a wider selection of fonts, check out apps such as Fonts – for Instagram (for iOS). You could also try Cool Symbol – which has a lot of different options, but a confusing interface. To see other Instagram hacks, including how to add spaces to your bio, see our post: 6 Instagram hacks to transform your feed. Read more: How to get a million followers on Instagram 5 ways to go viral on Instagram A designer's guide to Instagram Stories View the full article

If you're not careful, work and stress can lead to depression, anxiety and illness. Sometimes we can get so caught up trying to build the perfect website layout or a wonderful user experience that we forget to take a step back and consider the impact all those extra hours in the office might have on our wellbeing. Three years ago, I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, and stress may well have been one of the contributing factors. After being in and out of hospital while trying to establish my career, I have learnt some painful lessons on how to manage stress. Here's my advice for protecting your health and wellbeing at work. 01. Open up First of all, the best thing to do is start talking. If you’re comfortable doing so, open up to your family, friends and colleagues. These are the people you spend most of your time with, so it’ll be helpful for both of you to understand what you’re going through. My partner and I talked about my illness regularly and it helped us get through it together. It may feel difficult to talk about (even with people you're close to), but remember you're not alone – in many cases there will be many, many others suffering from the same thing you are. 02. Prioritise sleep Exhaustion is one of the main issues affecting professionals in the creative industries. While the occasional midnight flurry of coding isn’t going to kill you, don’t make it a habit. Always think: What’s the worst that’s going to happen while I have a few hours of sleep? Your health is more important than an extra line of code. Sign up to the net magazine newsletter 03. Rethink your downtime Ensure you take some time to unwind. And by that, I don't mean just on your phone or in front of the TV (we’re all guilty of spending a bit too much time doing these things). Getting a good night’s sleep not only helps keep you healthy and well rested, it can also help you deal with stress. Simple tasks like keeping on top of bills, mowing the grass or fixing that leaking tap can also improve your wellbeing. 04. Focus on one thing at a time Don’t feel like you have to tackle everything in one go; prioritise items that will make a difference to your life and your career. It’s better to do half of your tasks and do them well than to half-complete everything. Personally, I have been focusing on finding medication to keep my disease under control. Now I’m on something that works, I can turn my attention to my career. 05. Remember you’re not invincible Discuss your illness with the person or team that deals with your welfare at work. If you need time off for your mental or physical health, then take it. There’s no shame in illness. Returning to work after an illness could mean that you encourage positive policy changes within your company. It also places you in a position to help establish new support networks and create a safe place for health-related discussions. 06. Take a break Often in our industry, going the extra mile all the time is seen as important. It isn’t. Most of the time, putting in more hours causes more problems than it solves. Instead of working flat out, learn a new skill, take a stroll around your local park during your lunch break or help someone else. This will improve your creativity, productivity and help you get your tasks done more efficiently. 07. Calm down your commute Whether it's because of ridiculous traffic or delayed public transport, getting to work can often be quite stressful. But it doesn’t have to be. Often there’s no avoiding a commute, so make the time yours by listening to a playlist of your favourite songs, a podcast that inspires you, or reading a book you love. Use the time to prepare yourself for the day ahead or unwind as you travel home. 08. Monitor your stress levels Take a note of the situations that cause stress and how you react to them. Some people recommend keeping a stress diary, but not everybody has the time or commitment to do that. The main thing is to just be aware of what makes you stressed and how to turn the negative into something more manageable. Self-awareness is key. 09. Don't let illnesses define you One of the toughest things for me was understanding that my illness is for life. When I was first told about it, I didn’t understand what the consequences were and how much of an impact it would have. Now I have taken a new view on my colitis: it won’t change me. I decided that my colitis won’t prevent me from achieving my goals and it won’t limit my ambitions. The only restrictions my illness gives me are the ones I put upon myself. 10. Don't neglect your wellbeing If you focus on your health first, your career will follow. If you don’t feel well, your work isn’t going to be on top form either. Putting in ridiculous hours or working every weekend isn’t critical to success. The key is to prioritise your illness and focus on things that will positively impact you and your career. This article was originally published in net, the world's best-selling magazine for web designers and developers. Buy issue 310 or subscribe. Read more: How to cope with burnout 5 mindfulness apps to save you from creative burnout Keep your hands in shape with this infographic View the full article

From supply chain to orchestration tools, here are the new trends that DevOps should pay attention to in this year's BSIMM report. View the full article

So you want to start a podcast... but you don't know where to begin. That's where The Podcasting 101 Bundle comes in. This bundle gives you valuable expert insight into everything from breathing and recording, to storytelling and video production. You'll even get training in how to be an online TV presenter, and you'll learn all about audio and video production for freelancers. Starting a podcast doesn't have to be hard – the whole process is made quite easy with The Podcasting 101 Bundle. And you can get all this knowledge for just $29. Related articles: The 15 best graphic design podcasts 15 great web design podcasts 10 amazing podcasts for digital artists View the full article

You're reading How to Import a Custom HTML Email Template to HubSpot [YouTube Tutorial], originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Welcome to a new video tutorial where we’ll learn about how to upload a customized email template newsletter to HubSpot. In this tutorial, we’ll use Postcards to build a customized email template and HubSpot to send a customized email to … View the full article

Here at Creative Bloq, we know how important it is for creatives to nurture their happiness and wellbeing. This is a feeling very much shared by creative director Radim Malinic, evidence of which can be found in his new book, Book of Ideas Vol.2, which offers holistic guidance on better understanding yourself as a creative, and the best ways to approach your life and work in a mindful, smart way. 30 books every graphic designer should read With this in mind, we've teamed up with Malinic to offer every Creative Bloq reader this exclusive free excerpt of Book of Ideas Vol.2, which includes snippets from all three chapters – Work, Creativity and Mind – providing helpful insights and tips on how to improve your working process, build your career path and the benefits of working in silence and breaking stale everyday habits. The Book of Ideas, Vol 2. provides handy hints on how to keep your mind in check To download your copy of Book of Ideas, Vol.2, simply fill out the form below and we'll deliver it directly to your inbox. Want more? You can purchase the Book of Ideas, Volumes 1 and 2, and other products, from Radim Malinic here. View the full article

Instagram is packed with inspiring imagery for creatives. Whether you're looking for mood board-style references to shape the look and feel of your campaign imagery, or need to find a new illustration style to suit a brief, there's a feed for you. But what if your research needs are more specific – rather than colour palettes, composition, or approaches to art direction, you're looking for great examples of logos to kick-start your creative process? You're in luck. Read on for eight inspiring Insta feeds that'll help keep that logo design inspiration flowing... 01. @logoarchive Dubbed "a study of form language in logo design," LogoArchive is a carefully curated selection of logos by BP&O founder Rich Baird, who refers to it as "a recovery, research and restoration project". With no company names, symbols are presented in isolation, at an identical scale and in stark black-and-white, making for a fascinating comparison of abstract forms and how they communicate information. And with around 130,000 followers, Baird must be doing something right. 02. @logofavs Curated by freelance logo designer and Logo Lounge jury member Jeroen van Eerden, LogoFavs presents a broad, colourful range of logo designs – shown in situ, in progress, and in clean, crisp isolation – for the inspiration and reference of his 15,000 followers. Use #logofavs to get on van Eerden's radar. 03. @logolearn While LogoFavs includes some sketches and WIP, logolearn makes them its bread and butter, and to great effect – the feed has over 250,000 followers. Pulling back the curtain on the logo design process, it includes grids, roughs, before-and-after comparisons and much more. Use #logolearn to get involved. 04. @logodesignlovers Similar to LogoArchive's stark, monochrome approach but in reverse, Logo Design Lovers presents only black logos on white – including the occasional greyscale WIP sketch for some variety. This gives the feed a clean, crisp, curated feel. Tag @logodesignlovers to get your work showcased to its 17,000 followers. 05. @logo.inspire Compared to its black-and-white counterparts, there's a patchwork of colour on display on the logo.inspire feed, which seems to favour character-driven logos and simple vector shapes and gradients. Use #logoinspire for the chance to be showcased to its 26,000 followers. 06. @logoinspirations With roughly 750,000 followers, Logo Inspirations is the most popular logo inspiration feed on this list. With a simple mission statement – "Promoting designers and the best logo identities" – it draws together a vibrant, diverse and colourful selection from around the world. It's regularly updated too, and has almost 9,000 posts. Get involved with #logoinspirations 07. @logodose Joining LogoArchive with the striking white-on-black approach, Logodose offers a "daily dose of logo inspiration" to keep you going – and has been running long enough to clock up just over 400 posts so far. Polished final logos are showcased alongside grids to show the thinking behind their construction, and many posts include a slideshow of different elements, including some in-situ examples. Its follower count currently sits close to 30,000. 08. @logomovement While several of the feeds on this list achieve a consistent, curated look and feel by paring back to black-and-white, Logo Movement has an even smarter strategy. The grid is considered as a whole, with new posts in threes – dark backgrounds on the left, light in the middle, bright colours on the right. With almost 60,000 followers, it's the third most popular logo inspiration feed on our list – and well worth a visit for more than just its clever Instagram feed layout. Tag @logomovement to be considered for inclusion. Related articles: 5 ways to go viral on Instagram 5 great Instagram Stories templates for designers 6 ways to go viral on Twitter View the full article

You're reading How to Import a Custom HTML Email Template from Postcards to Zoho CRM [YouTube Tutorial], originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! View the full article

A zero-day vulnerability tied to the Window’s Win32k component is under active attack, warns Microsoft. View the full article

New Intel Coffee Lake CPUs offer hardware-based protections against some -but not all- Spectre and Meltdown variants. View the full article

A lot has changed at Pixar Animation Studios. Technology and the deep-diving research that precedes it has allowed the studio to produce some of the most ground-breaking visual energy ever seen. However, Pixar wasn't always the animation giant it is now. Back in 2004, a lot of the software the studio used was written by a very small team of artists. But it didn't take them long to make their mark, and 14 years later Pixar has gone from being a little start-up animation team to a huge part of the Walt Disney Corporation. Breaking digital barriers Since its first production, Pixar Animation Studios has continually created animated movies that have broken down barriers of digital possibilities. From the simulation of Sulley's fur in Monsters Inc. and beautiful water in Finding Nemo, to the creation of mouth-watering food in Ratatouille and new hair simulation software used on Brave's fiery red-haired character Merida. The best 3D modelling software 2018 Each film in Pixar’s animated timeline has set new standards and pushed the levels of technological development for future movies. So just how do they create such beautiful, seamless animations? What are the secrets to Pixar's success? Here we take a look at some of the techniques, technology and tools that have helped shape some of the company's best-loved 3D movies. 01. Global Illumination The Pixar team harnessed the power of global illumination for the second instalment of the world of monsters Point-based global illumination was perfected and brought into the game for Monsters University. Lush skin, highly textured surfaces and spectacular lighting effects join the arsenal of takeaways for the second instalment set in the world of monsters. A group of algorithms calculate the way light bounces from surface to surface within an environment. It produces beautifully soft, natural-looking effects – but only if you’re prepared to wait for the effect to be added once the animation has been done. Animators can now produce the frames of their work while the lighters can give them all the gorgeous lumens they require. Real-time global illumination and USD is now being used in Pixar productions, and we can’t wait for Toy Story 4, coming in 2019. 02. Universal Scene Description (USD) Universal Scene Description (USD) is an open-source project Pixar created as an emerging standard in the industry. This standard allows them to have immense complexity inside the scene itself. It also allows a large number of artists to be working on the same scene, asset or character simultaneously. The lighters can be working on the same character in the same shot, as the animators also work on this character. “USD is gaining traction, even outside our industry, because it allows us to have a massive scale of complexity and the ability to work within that complexity, in multiple departments at the same time,” says Steve May, a senior member of the Pixar Technology Team. Apple recently announced at the WWDC that USD is the new PDF for augmented reality. 03. RenderMan RenderMan enabled the team working on Finding Dory (2016) to fully embrace path-tracing for more complex lighting effects “We’ve also gone through a transformation and push with RenderMan,” adds May. Pixar has created a new architecture for this long-established gold standard for how rendering is done in visual effects and animation. The algorithms have improved and computational power has increased to such a point that it can now support path-tracing. “In the production of Finding Dory, the RenderMan software was at a stage to make it possible for the Pixar crew to fully embrace path-tracing, enabling much more complex lighting effects, with a lot less work from the artists. It grasps much more complex geometry more efficiently.” So, Pixar has made this big push to move RenderMan to path-tracing. What does that mean exactly? May informs us that it is all about having RenderMan run interactively, and making it so that there is no delay between the time the artist makes the creative decision, and when the results appear. 04. Presto Pixar’s proprietary animation system was first used on Brave, and has been used on every Pixar project since. “Presto is head and shoulders the best animation system in the world,” testifies May. “It’s really been showing how well it holds up in complex scenes within films such as Incredibles 2 and Coco.” Read more: What is motion capture? Speed sculpt a creature in ZBrush Create a lifelike digital human View the full article

It's been a tough year for the face of Toys R Us, Geoffrey the Giraffe. Last September, when the famous toy retailer filed for bankruptcy, it looked like the long necked mascot's days were numbered. However, in a controversial move, it looks like Geoffrey is back to work as part of the branding and logo design for Geoffrey's Toy Box. Not familiar with Geoffrey's Toy Box? If the company looks and sounds like an exhumed Toys R Us, that's because it is. According to a statement issued yesterday, the company has been bought out by a group of investors led by Geoffrey, LLC. The acquisition includes intellectual property and data associated with Toy R Us, including the childhood favourite of many, Geoffrey the Giraffe. In the world of the brand created by Per Barry though, Geoffrey's reappearance has been sold as his return from a vacation. In a tweet from Toys R Us he's even strolling back with a packed suitcase, downplaying any suggestion of his recent crisis. As for the logo of Geoffrey's Toy Box, Geoffrey's bursting out of a toy chest with the anxious expression of a giraffe on borrowed time. Not everyone is happy to see Geoffrey the Giraffe return This upbeat, 'everything's fine' attitude has provoked a backlash from former Toys R Us employees, plenty of whom are still waiting for severance pay. Many have seen it as a PR stunt to cash-in on the nostalgia associated with Geoffrey the Giraffe, one that adds insult to injury for employees loyal to the Toys R Us brand. With the run up to the holidays already underway, the launch of Geoffrey's Toy Box is certainly a canny business move, which could see investors leverage the brand and help pay off Toys R Us' remaining debts. For ex-workers though, the use of the brand will feel like nothing more than exploitation. Related articles: Carlsberg: probably the best rebrand in the world? Mailchimp rebrand does away with script wordmark Weight Watchers rebrand scores low with designers View the full article

There have been numerous cross-platform mobile frameworks over the years, with steady improvements to developer experience and performance throughout. Google's Flutter is a new addition to the pack, and is particularly interesting because rather than using a JavaScript 'bridge' as many frameworks (such as React Native) do, it compiles to true native code. You can find out a bit about how it works in the introductory video below, or read on for a step-by-step guide to getting started with Flutter. For more advice, take a look at our collection of tutorials explaining how to build an app. In this tutorial, we'll look at how to set up Flutter and explore the basics of building apps using the framework, using macOS for our development. We'll assume that you've programmed before and know how to use the Bash shell, but might not have developed for mobile. 01. Get set up You'll need to download and install a few things before you can make use of Flutter: Xcode for iOS support Android Studio for Android support Android SDK (download via Android Studio once you create a new project) Once you have all of these, run Xcode and Android Studio, install the additional components they offer and create a new project to make sure they run. Now you're ready to get started with Flutter. Download the Flutter SDK. Extract it to wherever you'd like it to be installed. We need to update our path so macOS can find Flutter wherever you invoke it. Open (or create) $HOME/.bash_profile: Now add the flutter/bin directory to your $PATH: Run a shell command to refresh the bash profile: Now we can start using the Flutter CLI. The first thing to do is make sure you have the latest version: 02. Fix any problems Once that's done, Flutter offers a handy diagnostic tool, which will check whether everything that you need is installed and set up correctly. It is really useful: Take note of what the doctor tells you and respond to any issues that arise. You might have to run the doctor a couple of times to gain additional feedback and act on it. Once the tool is happy with Flutter, Android Toolchain, iOS Toolchain and Android Studio, you are good to go. Don't worry about connected devices for now. Xcode can require some extra steps at the shell to get it fully set up: And Android Studio often needs the licence agreement accepting: 03. Find an IDE and start a new project Now Flutter is set up, you'll want an IDE to work in. There are plugins available for Android Studio and IntelliJ. We're going to go with VS Code, which also has its own Flutter plugin. Start up VS Code and click View > Command Palette. Type 'install' and select the Extensions: Install Extension action. Search for 'flutter' and install the Flutter plugin. Once done, restart VS Code. We're now ready to begin developing. Start a new project through the Command Palette by selecting the Flutter: New Project option. Name your project, select where to save it and VS Code will invoke Flutter to generate the new project. 04. Set up virtual devices To test our project, we'll want a device simulator to allow us on the desktop. In the bottom right-hand corner of VS Code (in the blue bar), you'll see something saying No Devices. If you've developed for mobile before, when you click this, you'll see your simulators available in the Command Palette. If you have no simulators, run the following in the terminal to open the iOS simulator for the first time: You should then see an iOS simulator available when you restart VS Code. Android is more complex. Load Android Studio and within an Android project, click Tools > Android > AVD Manager. Select Create Virtual Device. Select the device to emulate – for example a Google Pixel 2. Click Next and you can also choose a system image (i.e. OS version) to download. On the next page under Emulated Performance, select Hardware – GLES 2.0 to enable hardware graphics acceleration on the emulator. Finish the process. Once you've created the virtual device in Android Studio, restart VS Code and you'll see your Android emulator appear alongside the iOS simulator in VS Code's device list. Now, if you click No Devices, you can select an iOS or Android device and a virtual phone will fire up on your desktop. Try it out with an iPhone X simulator. 04. Test the starter app Now the simulator is running, you can test out the starter app. Hit F5 or click Debug > Start Debugging. The app will load on the simulator and you can try interacting with it. Be patient if it doesn't happen immediately, as it can take some time to build. Before we can do the same on Android, we need to install gradle dependencies for our project (a small nuance of Flutter right now). Navigate to the project root directory and run: Then you can open an Android emulator and run the project in Debug mode as you did for iOS. A great feature of Flutter is that it supports 'hot reloading' – that is, you can modify your source and see the changes reflected in the simulator right away. In main.dart, let's make a couple of changes to the MyApp class while the iPhone X simulator runs: You should see the changes take effect as soon as you save. 06. Explore Flutter's widget system What we haven't yet talked about is the Dart programming language that Flutter uses. Dart is an object-oriented language with C-style syntax, developed by Google and all Flutter development uses it. If you've already got some experience of web or mobile development, then it shouldn't be totally alien to you. Everything in Flutter is based on widgets, which are the building blocks of an app. If you've used React before, Flutter's approach is very similar and widgets are analogous to components. Essentially your entire app can be decomposed into a hierarchy of widgets. This is easily seen within the MyApp class. MyApp is a StatelessWidget (this means it's immutable). The build() method we are overriding tells Flutter how the widget should be rendered. This is similar to React's render() function. The method returns a MaterialApp widget, which represents an app that uses Google's Material Design. This in turn has several properties, which are themselves widgets: ThemeData defines the visual style to be used and MyHomePage is a custom widget defined further down the main.dart file that contains the body of the app. 07. Edit your content Unlike the stateless MyApp, MyHomePage is a stateful widget. This means its behaviour is defined by the _MyHomePageState class, enabling it to store information and change accordingly, such as when you press the button on the app. You can see it's currently using many built-in widgets Flutter provides to handle common things like layout, buttons and text display. Let's make some changes to that class to modify what our app presents. We've disposed of the existing content and replaced it with a brown Container widget but we also need to create a custom widget, RecipeWidget, that will be put in the container. 08. Load some assets Next, let's load some assets with the app so we can add them to the ListView widget within RecipeWidget. Static assets for an app are specified in pubspec.yaml under the 'flutter' section: We'll also create a simple data structure in main.dart, pairing images with strings to act as a thumbnail and summary for recipes. 09. Finish up Finally, let's update RecipeWidget to build a list of widgets displaying the recipes. We use Image.asset to load the static assets we included in pubspec.yaml. Hopefully you're starting to get a feel for how Flutter uses widgets to construct apps. Try using the simulator to rotate the device. The Flutter layout automatically accommodates the changes. For comparison, try the app on the Android emulator. This article was originally published in net, the world's best-selling magazine for web designers and developers. Buy issue 310 or subscribe. Read more: Get your head around React with these five factors 11 creative free iPhone apps for designers How to design app icons View the full article

Coding is undoubtedly one of today's most valuable skills. And, even if you're not set on being a hardcore app developer or programmer, having a working knowledge of today's coding staples can help you stand out on the job hunt or net some decent income on the side. The Complete Learn to Code Masterclass Bundle features nine beginner-friendly courses on today's top languages, like C++, JavaScript, and Python, and it's on sale for $39 today. Spanning more than 70 hours of professional instruction, this collection is designed to take you from beginner to expert with several coding staples. You'll explore development tools, like HTML, CSS, PHP, and Bootstrap. Plus, you'll even get concrete experience as you follow along an e-commerce project and build a fully optimised webpage from scratch. While the Complete Learn to Code Masterclass Bundle usually retails for $1,370, you can get it on sale today for only $39, saving 97 per cent off the usual price. Related articles: The best online web design courses The web designer's guide to Flexbox An essential guide to web design etiquette View the full article

You're reading Sans Forgetica – Makes Sure You Don’t Forget, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! It seems like sci-fi, but it is a true story. Apparently, Australian researchers developed an amazing solution for all students around the globe. They have created a font which will improve students capacity to remember certain information. RMIT University from … View the full article

Have you heard of Emily Noyes Vanderpoel? For many people the name doesn't ring a bell, but the American artist, collector and scholar is an important figure in the history of colour theory. And while her prominent book on the subject, Color Problems: A Practical Manual for the Lay Student of Color, has languished in antiquity for years, a new Kickstarter looks set to put Vanderpoel's name back on the map. Published in 1901, Color Problems provides a tantalising look at the core principles of colour theory and analysis as they were understood at the time. With the benefit of hindsight it can also be argued that with her book, Vanderpole broaches the design movements such as minimalism decades before her more famous successors. Within its pages, Color Problems analyses the proportions of colours found on objects in Vanderpoel's collection. These studies include meticulous and inventive grids of colour that predate similar work by the likes of Josef Albers. As historian and science blogger John Ptak puts it, Vanderpoel "sought not so much to analyse the components of colour itself, but rather to quantify the overall interpretative effect of colour on the imagination." Thanks to this Kickstarter, the work of Emily Noyes Vanderpoel will reach the audience it deserves Yes despite the importance of her studies, Color Problems has been neglected by history, relegated to being traded around niche book markets for prohibitive sums – in the past people could expect to fork out upwards of $500 for a copy. All this is about to change thanks to a Kickstarter by The Circadian Press with Sacred Bones which will restore the manual to its former glory. Having gone to great lengths to reproduce the book as closely as possible with digital printing methods, this project will come as a relief to academics who have had to put up with PDF copies that were bafflingly printed in black and white. The new edition comes complete with an introduction by design scholar and Vanderpole researcher Alan P. Bruton. Having smashed its Kickstarter pledge by hundreds of thousands of dollars, you can preorder it now for delivery this month on the campaign page. And while the generous amount of funds raised means an extended print run, we'd recommend ordering as soon as possible to prevent this amazing book slipping through your fingers again. Related articles: A short lesson on colour theory 5 tips for understanding colour theory The 10 commandments of colour theory View the full article

It’s rapidly approaching that time of year again where people start to get dressed up, go wandering around clutching goodie bags and looking for treats, then have a massive party. Of course, I’m talking about Adobe MAX 2018, probably the biggest event in the creative calendar, where the latest and greatest versions of the Creative Cloud apps are revealed. The best Adobe deals in 2018 The mists that shroud Adobe's secrets are thick, so in order for us to predict what might be revealed at MAX 2018 we have to first look at past events. Two years ago in San Diego, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen unveiled Sensei, Adobe's AI (artificial intelligence) machine-learning and deep-learning technology framework, and promised that AI would amplify our creativity by accelerating content creation and removing or smoothing out the tedious tasks. Since then, AI-assisted features have popped up in a number of places – some obvious ('Select Subject' in Photoshop) and others that are a little more 'under the hood', but still make tasks easier (Essential Sound in Premiere). You don’t need to be clairvoyant to see that the development of Sensei is to continue in the next and subsequent releases, and this is a really good thing when we’re under pressure to create more, in less time. Wait! The shroud has cleared for a moment and we've caught a fleeting glimpse of some new powers you shall soon be gifted. Here are our predictions for the changes to your favourite Adobe tools that will be revealed at MAX 2018... 01. Supercharged Photoshop You will meet a tall, dark stranger that seems familiar but is also somehow different. They may well be standing in a field next to a pony or in a swimming pool somewhere, but they are trying to tell you of new Content-Aware Fill capabilities in Photoshop. Often we have heard shouts of 'Content Aware FAIL' (harsh) but those cries may well be silenced as the future holds a new menu item, dedicated workspace, masks and controls to tame the savage beast of pixel-patchery. 02. Tooled-up Illustrator Through the turbulent ether we see Illustrator, but it looks somehow changed – it’s the toolbar! A mystical power will be granted to users, who will be able to add and remove tools at will to suit their workflows. Also another revelation – or perhaps revolution would be a better word – will take place for those wanting to make gradients. We predict that new methods will surface that will open up new design possibilities. Such marvels to behold (and at any size, because they’re vectors). 03. AI-assisted InDesign Content-Aware Fit? Surely a typo from a marketing minion copy-pasting feature lists? But, no – for we have witnessed it with our own eyes. That AI-assisted voodoo we spoke of earlier will soon be able to detect the subject of images, position them appropriately in frames, and will become available as a fitting option in the Control Strip. There’s more – how about importing marked-up PDFs and tracking feedback without having to leave InDesign? This will surely save time and frustration when working with colleagues and clients. 04. Slick-looking Adobe XD The one-stop-design-prototyping-and-collaboration-shop looks set to get a new-look welcome screen. It will be slick and most importantly, visual. But the most jaw-dropping announcements will probably relate to the host of new plugins we predict will become available. I sense something at the back of the room... do you know of something called Google Sheets? You do? The message is hazy, but it seems to be to do with mapping XD elements to sheet content. Does that mean something to you? I bet it will. 05. Responsive After Effects Responsive design? Have once again the ethereal wires of prophecy become twisted and entangled? Such terms are usually confined to the web industry, but today's multiscreen world demands more from us and we, in turn demand more from our applications. Soon, After Effects will deliver much-needed responsive design features. There's more coming besides, including depth-effects and new puppet tools, as well as new ways to work with data files. 06. Magical Character Animator The tea leaves don’t lie. At first we thought they were showing us Project Puppetron again, a project that was revealed in the MAX Sneaks last year. But there’s something in the water that suggests more magic is coming to this incredible app. We see an image of Van Gogh telling us something about magnets and squashy physics. We're not sure what was in that tea? Read more: 95 top Photoshop tutorials The best 4K monitors for designers 2018 The best monitor calibrators for designers 2018 View the full article

I created my original painting around this time last year, having been inspired by the vast fantasy landscapes by artists like Dongbiao Lu and Ruxing Gao. It was my first stylised environment artwork. A year later I was interested to see how I could improve the piece. There was something very successful about it that was most likely a happy accident at the time, but had continued to evade my understanding until now. How to draw: the best drawing tutorials Looking back at it, I started to notice errors in the art techniques used, including the lighting, design work, composition and shape design. My challenge was to try and preserve what had worked then, while fixing the composition to make a better painting. 01. Create a stronger foundation Reworking the image involves emulating a fish-eye lens The lighting in the original scene is inconsistent, which makes it difficult to understand how the objects occupy the space they’re in. This is particularly noticeable on the mountains and so I start to paint over these first. I choose a light source – the sun coming from the top left – and some rough camera settings. To encapsulate the expanse of the environment, I attempt to emulate a fish-eye lens effect by having the base of the mountains converge at the bottom and then adding a slight curve to their trajectory upwards. 02. Tackle the big shapes Elements such as clouds can have a dramatic effect on a painting The clouds follow a curve that helps convey their scale and position. I keep the shape design consistent with the mountain range because it creates an interesting repetition between the ground and sky. I then redesign the monastery as a stylised dragon’s head, which fits the whimsical fantasy mood I’m trying to achieve. Simplifying clouds into large, rounded forms is great for selling their scale, but it starts to make them appear like solid, hard-surfaced objects. To bring back the softer feel I break up the hard edges with smooth gradients and smaller brush strokes, some of them overlapping to indicate translucency. This finer detailing was also present in the original and explains a lot of why it remains a decent image, despite some technical flaws. 03. Adjust the focus I want to keep the focus on the environment, so I paint the characters with an almost graphical approach. The folds in their clothing are represented with flat-coloured shapes rather than detailed, high-contrast shadows. This made them feel more like a continuation of the dragon’s patterning rather than entirely separate objects. 04. Redesign elements Ensuring your design elements all fit together is crucial The dragon was the most interesting design in my original painting. I tried to update this design, but found it didn’t fit the Asian theme influencing the rest of the image. It also took up a lot of the space, making the environment feel cramped. So I switched it out for a traditional Chinese dragon, but kept some of its Western features. To merge the sharp triangles in the rooftops with the rounded shapes present in the environment, I give their outer edge a slight curve and emphasise the size of the decorative ornaments at the roof tips. This removes the hard, architectural feel and enables the buildings to sit in the organic forms of the mountain more comfortably. 05. Add elements to create balance The finished painting contains two dragons Adding the second dragon completes the composition by creating a pleasing triangle of interest with the larger dragon and the buildings. It also reinforces the direction in which the dragons are heading, helping to convey the distance between the three objects. This article originally appeared in ImagineFX 163. Buy issue 163 or subscribe here. Read more: How to draw a dragon: 16 pro tips How to draw manga characters The best online art classes in 2018 View the full article

You're reading A Comprehensive Guide for the Gutenberg WordPress Editor, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Gutenberg is the new editor in WordPress, which is going to provide ease and a new and easy editing experience for WordPress websites. In this post, you’ll learn a few hands-on tricks to create media-rich posts and pages especially if … View the full article

Start creating your best-ever life drawing figures with the latest issue of ImagineFX magazine, which is on sale in the UK today. Inside issue 167, artist Patrick J Jones explores the pitfalls to avoid when drawing figures from reference material in the first part of an epic in-depth series of tutorials. So if working from photos leaves your drawings looking flat and lifeless, this cover feature could be the solution you've been hunting for. Buy issue 167 of ImagineFX here Another good way to improve your art is to study the experts. That's just what Gavin O'Donnell explores in his Procreate workshop as he looks at the work of the Old Masters. Meanwhile, keyframe artist Ricardo Guimaraes takes to Photoshop to reveal how to create strong colour contrasts in your character designs. As well as these artistic insights, there's all the news, reviews and training you've come to expect from ImagineFX - you won't want to miss it! Never miss an issue: Subscribe to ImagineFX here Explore what's on offer by taking a peek at the lead features, below. Learn new skills with online art schools You can take these classes from the comfort of your home Gone are the days where art students had to stump up huge tuition fees to learn from the experts. Thanks to online courses, artists can pick up new skills without weighing themselves down with debt. We take a look at 15 of the best online art school you can attend from the comfort of your own home. Visit the world of Shaun Tan Discover how Shaun Tan uses picture books to tell uniquely strange stories Oscar-winning storyteller Shaun Tan shares his creative journey as we talk to him about his latest book. From humble beginnings in Western Australia, to working with the likes of Pixar, Tan's glittering career has gone on to inspire readers around the world, although he hasn't let it go to his head: "I'm kind of an artistic downer!" How to draw the female form with reference photos This new series covers all the figure drawing essentials Artist Patrick J Jones kicks off his eight-part life drawing series with an instalment dedicated to drawing the female form from reference photos. Exploring the common pitfalls to avoid when drawing from reference imagery, Patrick's tutorials will also look at how to develop your own style. Create a 3D game-ready character Learn how to turn a 2D concept into a fully realised creature Last month, Warhammer concept artist Rinehart Appiah showed us how to concept a deadly war beast, and this issue Baj Singh is here to explain how to turn 2D creations into 3D characters. Give your paintings a sense of scale Veteran concept artist Wayne Haag shares his environment art insights Those familiar with Wayne Haag's work will have been blown away by the sense of scale he packs into his art. In this tutorial, the sci-fi environment artist shares the fundamentals that will help you to communicate a sense of size in your own work. Related articles: How to begin a figure drawing Get better at figure drawing 10 steps to improve your figure drawing View the full article

You're reading 3 Reasons to Use a Page Builder Tool – WP Page Builder, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Google+! Have you ever needed to build a website quickly? Or needed a design element that you just couldn’t make work on your own? How did you solve these problems? For WordPress users a page builder tool can be a lifesaver … View the full article