If you’ve been doing freelance work for a while, you know that sending and other invoice-related things can cause a headache.

Where did I save my old invoice? What was the rate I offered that client? When did I send it? Yep…questions like that.

Today I found a site that theoritically will make our lives easier, at least in the invoice-related area. Check it out: blinksale

I just found out that in flash 8, there is an actual class for tweens from kirupa.com .

These objects create tweens just like the way tweens work on the GUI.

The example from the tutorial page  (Using the Tween Class ) looks pretty impressive, especially with the various types of easing.

This would be the next on my “to learn” list.

I was trying to find code to give answer to actionscript question on flashkit board when I came across this page: Detecting Direction of Mouse Movement on kirupa.com.

At first, I dismissed this as one of the things that I already know, but after reading the thread where the solution came from, I noticed the watch() function. That was the first time I heard of this function.

It’s actually a neat function to make flash, yup you guess it, watch a variable. If that variable changes, it will call a function provided as one of its arguments (the other one is the variable to watch).

Wouldn’t it be nice to define the style of both the html and flash versions of your site in one document so that if you need to make any change you can do it once and it gets applied to both?

Now you can (sort of)! Try it yourself! Here’s a good tutorial that will guide you through the steps : Using CSS to Style Text in Flash 8: A Tutorial from Flashdevils.com

Earlier today, I was browsing for flash tutorial online and came across the Sofia Open Content Initiative, a free online resource for design education.

Faculty members from many higher education institutions contribute content to this site. Their goal is to make educational resources available freely for students, educator and self-learners.

A great initiative.

that’s what I’ve lost.

I’ve been playing safe too much that I lost the thrill and excitement of design. I’ve become too “professional”.

I keep it clean, nice and tame.

That’s exactly what my design has become. No more bite. No more spice that could potentially offend the client.

I need to bring back that element of risk to my design.

Let’s!

While doing research on possible collaboration/teaching tools, I came across LetsPowwow, a free online conference tool that allows other users to view your desktop.

If work as advertised, this tool would be perfect online design class.

If you are interested in “attending” one of my class using this tool, please let me know. Most likely I’ll be doing a basic class like creating a tween in flash.

Here’s the link to LetsPowwow site.

When producing flash banners, make sure you consider the following:

1. Loop? If yes, how many times
2. Maximum file size
3. Tracking code (normally requires invisible button)
4. Maximum movie length (e.g. 15 seconds)
5. Flash Player version (you might want to publish as Flash 7 instead of the latest player Flash 8 )