Community Plumbing---made possible with Drupal Community Features

Till the end of the last millennium, the internet could not provide us with far reaching applications for having discussions and sharing files. This led Dries--- the coder of Drupal--- still a student of Antwerp University to develop a small news site with a built-in web board, for exchanging messages with a close group of friends. After the group graduated from the college, they put this internal website online so they could stay in touch and Dries chose Drop.org as its domain name. The word was chosen to reflect the community aspects of the application, as drop in Dutch language means village or small community.
In the turn of new millennium, the internet technology advanced by leap and bound and suddenly everybody seemed to start talking about such advanced web technologies, such as moderation, syndication, rating, and distributed authentication.
The Drop.Org became a live experimentation ground of newly emerging web technologies and the software behind Drop.org incorporated them all to emerge as the rich feature packed tool to support community driven website. Finally, in 2001, the software was released with the name of Drupal as a Modular and extensible software to power strong online communities.
There are two major community features that make Drupal the first choice for setting up social networking communities, corporate intranet sites, e-commerce sites or e-learning classrooms.
Cache support The caching mechanism is mainly used to reducing the server s load. The drupal sites use this mechanism to shake off the percentage of loads from the busy servers. As a result the page generation times increases.
You will understand the necessity of this mechanism from this fact: on very busy sites, hundreds or thousands of pages are viewed per minute. Now every time a page request is sent, dozens of queries are made to the database to pull out the required information. This is a huge task; it may start to slow down the server to the point of crawling. Thus Drupal s Cache feature helps the busy sites a lot in reducing the pressure in data recovery and by speeding up the process of page generation.
Comments on content Addition of comment feature is the first step to creating a community driven website for supporting community dialogue.
The Drupal websites allow an administrator to assign comment permissions to user groups. In Drupal websites, each comment board has a control panel so that users can customize the way that comments are displayed. This control includes the chronological ordering of posts and the number of posts to be displayed on each page.
Drupal treats comments more or less like other user submissions and allows the use of filters, smileys and HTML in the comments.
It also provides for new comments alert system. It allows the administrator to turn over comment moderation to the community.
Other community features include: Blogger API support, Content syndication, News aggregator and Permalink.
The Blogger API feature allows the Drupal sites to be updated by different non-web browser based tools for richer editing environment.
Content syndication allows the Drupal sites to export site s content in RDF/RSS format across the web for a greater viewrship.
The powerful built-in News Aggregator helps in reading and blogging news from other sites.
All Drupal contents carry a permanent link or "permalink" feature allowing people to link it freely without fear of broken links.
This easy to install and simple to use software have been the first choice of many of traffic catchers in the web---it is now your turn to adopt it for your website and make your presence felt in the cyber world.
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How the Heck Do CDs Actually Work?

Most of us use CDs and DVDs almost every day, yet few people have any idea at all how they work. To make matters worse even less is known about the difference between a CD-ROM and CD-R. Understanding how different types of media work, what they cost and the advantages of each can be very valuable when deciding how to proceed with your next project. Asking for only what you re familiar with may be comfortable, but isn t necessarily the best use of the technology or your budget.
First we will explain the difference between a CD-ROM and a CD-R. CD-ROMs are manufactured through the process of injection molding to form data with a plastic polycarbonate and is referred to as replication. CD Replication is more economical to use on larger run jobs above 500 pieces. CD-Rs are made by using a laser to burn marks in a special dye on a recordable disc and is referred to as duplication. The laser changes the form of the dye, encoding the information into it. CD Duplication is typically used on smaller job below 500 pieces.
Now we will get into how both forms of media actually work. What must first be known is that all CDs store information on them in a digital format, meaning data is read off the media as ones and zeros. On a CD-ROM there are millions of lands and pits representing the data that span in a spiral path starting from the center going out. Because the spiral starts in the center, CDs can be made into smaller versions like business cards and mini rounds. It is best to imagine this as a road with hills and valleys. The valleys are the pits and the hills are the lands. When the CD laser passes over a land (hill), the red light reflects back to a sensor and is interpreted as a one. If the laser passes over a pit (valley), the laser reflects away from the sensor representing a zero. The incredibly small dimensions of the lands and pits make the spiral track on a CD extremely long. If you could lift the data track off a CD and stretch it out into a straight line, it would be 0.5 microns wide and almost 3.5 miles (5 km) long.
CD-Rs do not have lands and pits like a ROM, but have a reflective metal layer that is on top of a special dye. When there is no information on the disc, this dye allows light to shine through and reflect back off the metal. But when heated, this dye layer becomes dark and does not allow a reflection. So when a CD is burned it is actually burning this dye layer in the form of ones and zeros, putting the data on the disc. When the disc is playing and the red laser is able to shine through reflect back, it is interpreted as a one. If the red laser is unable to reflect back due to a darkened area, it is interpreted as a zero. So even though a CD-R does not have lands and pits it still performs like a regular disc because of the special dye layer.
DVD-ROMs and DVD-Rs function similarly to their CD cousins, but DVDs get more complicated in that they can have multiple layers as well as data on both sides of the disc.
For more information on how CDs and DVDs work go to:
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/cd.htm http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/dvd.htm

Article by: Adam Platzer Spinergy CD Replication, CD Duplication, DVD Replication, DVD Duplication, CD Screen Printing Phone: 800-333-1428 http://www.spinergymedia.com adam.platzer@spinergymedia.com



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10 Tips For Using Adobe Photoshop

Like a brush is to a painter an essential skill in the field of graphic design is Photoshop. The software offers increased productivity as well as flexibility. The features include aspects like file browser, vanishing point tool, smart sharpen filter, noise reduction filter, smart objects, as well as camera workflow enhancements. Photoshop offers professional photo editing features, digital imaging, as well as non destructive editing.
There are so many hidden features and insights to software, that it is often impossible to know them all.
1. There is a hidden option using which you can simulate bold and italic formatting styles for fonts that do not have these options. Click the button on the type tool option to bring up the character palette. Then select text and click the arrow in the upper right hand corner of the palette menu where faux bold and italics are present. However you will not be able to warp type when formatting has been applied. 2. One can quickly flip through blend modes while trying out effects by using the keys shift+ to change to next mode and shift- to go to the previous mode. When a painting tool is active this shortcut will change the blend mode of the painting tool. However, if anything is highlighted then the shortcut will not work. You will have press esc and then use the shortcut keys again.
3. The photomerge feature can be used to seamlessly combine multiple images to create a panorama. This feature can be accessed from the Automate menu. You can even refine the composition using tools like rotate, zoom, pan, and set vanishing point.
4. When re-sampling images one can use either Bicubic Smoother or Bicubic Sharper. You can use Bicubic smoother for up sampling and Bicubic sharper for down sampling. You can actually specify which interpolation method is to be used by going to general preferences and setting a default.
5. There are two features for printing. You can use contact sheet II or picture package. Use contact sheet when you want all images in the same size and you want to print the name below the image. Use printer package when you want different image sizes on the same page, or multiple copies of the same image, or a text overlay.
6. If you want to remove a glare on the eyeglasses of an image you should use a part of the lens that does not have a glare and use it to layer the lens with a glare. Use tools like rotate and skew and soft-tip eraser to soften the edges. Ensure the glare does not show through from below. Or, do some careful work using the clone tool.
7. The online services enable you to connect to online photo printing and sharing sites.
8. The Web Photo gallery can generate hyperlink pages that can be uploaded to a server.
9. The Picture Package option will help you prepare photos in layout with multiple size prints on one page.
10. You will never forget how you achieved a certain result because the History Log will detail every step taken by you as well as time-tracking, and a legal record. There are three choices wherein, you can create a sessions only record where, it will record only when Photoshop is opened or closed; or a concise record which will record each action including the text that appears in the history palette; or the complete editing history including the text that appears in the actions palette.
Adobe Photoshop is a dream tool for every designer and one can over time master every subtlety of the tool and crop, rotate, resize, create shapes, add layers, change text, and play with colors. It is a hands on software where the more you use it the more you will learn.
About the Author: Paul Wilson is a freelance writer for http://www.1888SoftwareDownloads.com , the premier website to find Free Software Downloads including free anti-virus software, free spyware detection software, free toolbars, free chat software and more. He also freelances for Free Online Games site http://www.1888FreeOnlineGames.com



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In Reality, spyware is always a threat.

I received a spam email the other day and the subject said "Tired of reality shows? Make your own!" Of course I deleted it and proceeded to go about my online chores, but later that email got me thinking, what if there was a Online Safety reality show? Hear me thru ok?
There would be contestants.... Say on a sunny south sea island beach, and each contestant has to accomplish a variety of tasks to win. You would get to vote one or more contestants off the show if they were too good or maybe a ringer. The same for the really dumb ones,after all, it would have to be exciting to keep the viewers interested.
So the basic task would be to succeed in staying safe online while surfing the web, and completeing various online challenges. For example, they would have to insure the computer given them was secure.... Ya know, updated with the latest from Microsoft, etc. Then they would have to get online and insure their provider was also credible and choose which browser they want to use too.
Oh, don t forget their anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall programs, gotta make sure those work.
Now they are ready for the competition. They would have to send and receive, and reply to emails. Hopefully they would know how to set up their email program to protect against attachments and pictures infecting them, and if not they would have to learn. Not only that, but in addition they would have to know weather or not to reply to a email, because in today s game it could be a phish or worse, a scam to get them to enter their personal info at a fake bank site.
Ok, on to the rest of the challenges, like buying a product and insuring the website used is safe. If the checkout does not have that lil lock icon at the bottom right, they could be in for trouble. Continuing on, they have to visit a variety of websites to gain knowledge about a given subject, hopefully they wont pick up a drive by download , resulting in a keylogger or a bot being installed on the computer used to compete.
Another task would be to register at a forum or blog and participate. Some programs that run forums and blogs are susceptible to hacks, hopefully they wont lose their personal info they gave when they registered to nefarious users set to sabotage their computers.
Then it gets tough. They have to download and install a program, something like a weather update service or maybe one that tracks favorite sports scores. A lot of these are loaded with spyware, adware or even malware.
At this point, some will have failed. They will have forgotten to update their antivirus or said yes to a popup that allowed some evil program to glean their passwords or such. The show will be down to a few who were knowledgeable enough beforehand or will have learned sufficiently while on the show to stay in the running.
After the last commercial, its only a half hour show ya know, it all climaxes with them visiting their bank to pay bills and access their account balance. If they can safely do this and not have given up their holy grail of information, the bank account info, they will be the winner.
The prize? Vegas of course. After all, not insuring your online security is gambling, and the house always wins. By the way, who do you think they would pick to be the host of the show? Me of course, I wrote the article! My lovely wife would be the Vanna White style woman wearing my "Spywarebiz" t-shirt, and telling the contestants what they have won.
About the Author:
Doug Woodall has a website at http://www.spywarebiz.com There he provides free information and recommended products to combat Spyware, Viruses and other Online Nasties.



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