Date and Time

26 January 2012, 20:00 – 21:30 GMT. To see the start time in your location click here

Presenter

Elaine Giles

Whether you use Excel, Numbers or something else, spreadsheet expert Mike Thomas will show you how to balance your budget and keep everything on track. So please join us and see just how seductive spreadsheeting can be.

Date and Time

12 January 2012, 20:00 – 21:30 GMT. To see the start time in your location click here

Presenter

Mike Thomas

Dreamweaver CS5 is the latest iteration of Adobe’s flagship web design tool. Our demonstration is focusing on the new features added to this version aimed at making web site development faster.

So whether you are an existing Dreamweaver user or completely new to it there’ll be plenty to amaze you.

Date and Time

19 August 2010, 20:00 – 21:30 BST

Presenter

Elaine Giles

Review

The regulars were joined by a few new faces for this Adobe Dreamweaver CS5 demo. In fact it was 2-for-the-price-of-1 because, by popular request, Elaine had promised to do a short Photoshop demo – but more of that later.

Our events are more than a demo so as is customary, we “opened the doors” at 7:30 (for an 8:00 start) for attendees to come in and chat – well, when I say chat, it’s a combination of voice chat from Elaine and I (though if you’ve got a mic and headset you’re welcome to let us hear your dulcet tones) and text chat.

The subject quickly turned to web design (well it was a Dreamweaver event) and what apps we use/have used. I think everything was mentioned from Notepad and FrontPage to Espresso and of course Dreamweaver. One or two people actually admitted that they didn’t even design websites, but had come along for the chat – no problem with that – all welcome!

Elaine took us through the new functionality in Dreamweaver CS5 including how to design for multiple platforms (including the iPhone and iPad), as well as some cool CSS wizardry. The highlights of the evening were how to edit a WordPress theme using Dreamweaver and using The HTML5 Dreamweaver Extension to display HTML5 video inside Dreamweaver itself. HTML5 video is designed to allow you to play video in a web page without needing Flash, however, to see it playing live inside the Dreamweaver development environment was just awesome!

Once we’d recovered from the delights of Dreamweaver, we had another treat in store. My Photoshop knowledge and experience is VERY limited but I never cease to be amazed at what Elaine can do with it!

Elaine’s demo was all about how to select elements of a photo and place them on different backgrounds. The example she used was to “cut out” (digitally of course) a woman from one photo and paste her into another photo, ensuring that everything (including the hair) matched and there was no trace of the original background. Not an easy thing to achieve but of course, the final result was perfect as you can see.

But it wasn’t just about placing elements within images as you can see from Elaine’s second example where she seamlessly removed the gentleman riding his bike.

Thanks to those who attended – we hope you all had a great night and hope you can join us next time.

Review by Mike Thomas

MCP, MCSA, MCSE, MCSD are to name a few of the Microsoft certifications. Over the last two years Microsoft has added numerous new certifications. Many people are confused over which certification is best for them, and the pathway to gain that certification. Are you an applications or web trainer who would like to go technical, but don’t know where to start? Not all Microsoft certifications require a year of study. Recently Microsoft has filled the gap in the market between high level Application users who want to know more technical information and those who want full technical knowledge. Come and hear about the certifications available and maybe move your career in a new direction.

Date and Time

26 April 2004, 19:30 – 21:30 BST

Presenter

Jane Howell

Looking for an ISP and Broadband provider can be quite a chore. You talk to people and tell them you have AOL and they pull a face. You hear about free ISPs and you don’t know whether they are any good or not. Don’t despair! Here is some help!

Date and Time

24 May 2004, 19:30 – 21:30 BST

Presenter

Mike Thomas

VBA is Microsoft’s macro language for Microsoft Office and other desktop products.

VBA enables customers to buy off-the-shelf software and customize it to meet their specific business processes, rather than build solutions from scratch. This helps them save time and money, reduce risks, leverage their programming skills, and deliver precisely what users need.

Valerie will be demonstrating several practical implementations of VBA in Access.

Date and Time

26 July 2004, 19:30 – 21:30 BST

Presenter

Valerie Jones

So you’ve got your digital camera and probably taken a few (hundred!) photos. What next? Using both Photoshop and PaintShop Pro Elaine will be covering:

• How to rescue problem photographs
• Applying special effects
• Watermarking your images
• Optimizing photos for e-mailing and web use
• Creating an online gallery

Date and Time

11 August 2004, 19:30 – 21:30 BST

Presenter

Elaine Giles

Insight into the tendering process with practical guidance as to the do’s and don’ts to be successful in your bids.

Date and Time

28 January 2003, 19:30 – 21:30 GMT

Presenter

Alan Mannion

Ask most people about Flash and the first thing that comes to mind is the pervasive web site welcome animations accompanied by the ubiquitous Skip Intro option. However, there is much more to Macromedia Flash – come along and discover a whole range of features!

Date and Time

24 February 2003, 19:30 – 21:30 GMT

Presenter

Elaine Giles

FTP is used to upload your website to a webserver. But there’s more to it than that. Did you know that there are several different ways to do this – and some of them are free! Learn about the different options and find out about some handy shortcuts too.

Once your website is uploaded, you’ll want it to be listed in search engines. Although you cannot guarantee a top 10 listing, you can maximise your chances using some relatively inexpensive methods.

Date and Time

23 August 2004, 19:30 – 21:30 BST

Presenter

Mike Thomas