Custom "vanity" Facebook URL

Here is another nice Facebook tip for creating nicer URL for your Facebook profile.

Simply go to
http://facebook.com/username
and set a new name for yourself.  This will give you a shorter url so in my case http://www.facebook.com/mmohler3 rather than something with loads of random letters and numbers.


This is even more relevant when you have a Facebook page for a business or something you want to advertise.  In this case the process is the same.  Follow the same link and give your page a more relevant name making it much easier to advertise and link people to your page. 
* It is important to note that at this time you need at least 25 people to like your page before you can give it a custom URL. 

Adding Blog to Facebook page

I wanted to create a Facebook page for my wife's business that would automatically import and update from an existing Blogger account she uses.

It took a little while to get it straight, but it turns out to be very easy.  Of course Facebook changes things so frequently that this method may not work an a years time, but it should get you on the right track.

First of all you need to create or have an existing Facebook page and Blogger Blog.
Click edit page from the page's profile
On the left side, choose apps and then under notes click "Go to App"
then on the left side of the screen you should see "edit import settings"
Then all you have to do is enter in the following URL, substituting 'blogname' with your blogs name.

http://blogname.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss


for more info, and a video I found this link to be the most helpful
http://davesaunders.net/2009/01/how-to-find-the-rss-feed-for-your-blogger-blog/

Flash animation hints

It has been a while since I tried doing some animation in Flash.  I had forgotten the technique I had used in the past.  As a result I spent two and half hours fumbling around with movie clip symbols and layers and classic tweens.  The problem with intermediate to advanced Flash animation is that there are so many ways you can do things, it is hard to figure out the best.

When you search online you mostly get tutorials that teach you how to move something across the stage or spin around, change color, and silly stuff like that.  But what do you do when you want to make a character or something more complex?

I finally found this link
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/articles/design_character_pt1.html
Which, is pretty long, but has some great and simple information in it that will get your off to the right start.


Important tips include:
-add you individual pieces as graphic symbols into your library .
-use motion tweens (CS4 and above) to move things around.
-name all of your symbols and layers descriptively.
-don't be afraid to use lots of layers and it is ok to group symbols within symbols.

You will have to figure out the rest yourself, but the link is very helpful and those tips will get you on the right path.

Webcomic Plug

I have been working on rebooting my webcomic the last few weeks.

It is about robots and space and stuff.

www.bigfoldy.com

Flash: Cleaning Garbage + Debugger

I found a good Actionscript / Flash Blog that has a good collection of handy tips and info.

Here is a link to a post that might be handy in the future about garbage collecting to free up memory and improve performance in flash.
This might have been helpful for my major project last school year which suffered a bit from slowing down.  At the time I used .unloadAndStop() to shut down my loaders, which helped a bit but not as much as I would have like.

It also mentions a debugger that I had a quick play with:  MonsterDebugger 

Decompile .SWF

I have not done it yet, but for handy reference here is a video and link.
.SWF decompilers are handy for actionscript learners to see how things work or, ya know, whatever.

video from gotoandlearn.com
http://www.gotoandlearn.com/play.php?id=70

suggested decompiler (30 day free trial) This link is for the Mac version, but of course other versions are available.
http://www.sothink.com/product/flash-decompiler-for-mac/

PHP contact form

I finally got around to adding a php contact form to my portfolio.
I got the code from safari.com  and it looks like they got it from the PHP cookbook.

It is a nice secure bit of code that should be able to tell if anyone is messes with it.
The link has instructions, but it takes very little knowledge of PHP to get it working.
Pretty much plug it in and mess with some CSS if you need to.