http://brainstormsandraves.com/archives/category/reviews/ Reviews at Brainstorms and Raves related to Web design, Web development, standards, software, graphics, websites, books, music, and more. The Reviews category also includes posts about reviews elsewhere. en-us Reviews Copyright 2000-2012 Shirley Kaiser, SKDesigns. All rights reserved. Shirley Kaiser 2007-05-16T18:35:38-08:00 720 daily 2 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://backend.userland.com/rss http://brainstormsandraves.com/xml/brainstorms88.gif http://brainstormsandraves.com/archives/category/reviews/ 88 31 Reviews at Brainstorms and Raves related to Web design, Web development, standards, software, graphics, websites, books, music, and more. The Reviews category also includes posts about reviews elsewhere. Wondering whether or not to upgrade to the new Adobe Photoshop CS3? Wondering which version of Photoshop CS3 (Photoshop CS3, Photoshop CS3 Extended) might be best for your particular needs? Considering whether or not to buy Photoshop CS3 for the first time? Curious about what the experts are writing about the new Photoshop CS3? Below are some well done reviews by top-notch experts who go into detail about the new features, improvements, and the pros and cons of Adobe's new Photoshop CS3. (1078 words, 49 links, 19 images) http://brainstormsandraves.com/archives/2007/05/16/photoshopcs3/ http://brainstormsandraves.com/archives/2007/05/16/photoshopcs3/ Shirley Kaiser 2007-05-16T18:35:38 Many of you have probably seen references to "Web 2.0" around the 'Net. Tim O'Reilly has taken on writing about what this term means in his recent article, What Is Web 2.0, Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software. It's not just a boring article defining the term or written so that only programmers would understand it, though. Tim's new article overviews how the Internet arrived where it is today, comparing the past with comparables today in a way that even a non-programmer like myself can understand. Today's post provides an overview of this fascinating new article. (389 words, 3 links) http://brainstormsandraves.com/archives/2005/11/07/web20/ http://brainstormsandraves.com/archives/2005/11/07/web20/ Shirley Kaiser 2005-11-07T14:23:42 Whether or not you know its name, you've undoubtedly seen P22's Cezanne font, a faithful rendition of the French artist's handwriting, used in various media, from TV to CD covers to websites and more. Tuesday P22 announced a new and improved version of this popular font as P22 Cezanne Pro, created by James Grieshaber, longtime collaborator with P22 Type Foundry. Read the complete post for an example of this beautiful font, my review, and P22's press release. (738 words, 10 links, 2 images) http://brainstormsandraves.com/archives/2005/05/26/cezanne/ http://brainstormsandraves.com/archives/2005/05/26/cezanne/ Shirley Kaiser 2005-05-26T14:11:26 There's so much to explore and inspire you just by playing around within Photoshop. Here are a couple of recent Photoshop CS tutorials and books that I discovered as I looked around for new and improved features with Photoshop's Dynamic Brushes. (399 words, 8 links, 3 images) http://brainstormsandraves.com/archives/2004/08/23/photoshop/ http://brainstormsandraves.com/archives/2004/08/23/photoshop/ Shirley Kaiser 2004-08-23T12:29:13 Have you ever taken a photo that ends up too dark or the highlight is too strong while the shadows are too dark? Haven't we all?! The new Shadow/Highlight tool that made its debut in Photoshop CS is truly amazing and incredibly helpful with adjusting shadows and highlights. Today I explored this new tool further with a variety of my photos and was astonished with its powerful capabilities. Used in combination with other helpful tools in Photoshop CS, you can more easily transform your photos to be better balanced and even spectacular. Below are a few helpful resources to help you gain some insight into using this new Photoshop tool, with a few thoughts tossed in along the way. (470 words, 8 links, 1 image) http://brainstormsandraves.com/archives/2004/08/09/photoshop/ http://brainstormsandraves.com/archives/2004/08/09/photoshop/ Shirley Kaiser 2004-08-09T17:32:32 What if you're fairly new to Adobe Photoshop and want a helpful book to give you a good introduction to its many features? What if you've used Photoshop for awhile but you'd like a book to help you explore more? What if you're an advanced Photoshop user who'd like a helpful Photoshop reference that can provide quick answers and covers all of Photoshop's features? Adobe Photoshop CS in 10 Simple Steps or Less, by Micah Laaker and Christopher Schmitt, is an outstanding new book that I wholeheartedly recommend. (732 words, 8 links, 2 images) http://brainstormsandraves.com/archives/2004/07/03/photoshop/ http://brainstormsandraves.com/archives/2004/07/03/photoshop/ Shirley Kaiser 2004-07-03T17:08:25 User-friendly and feature-packed FeedDemon RSS Reader made its awaited debut a few months ago. As an early alpha tester of FeedDemon, I've especially enjoyed seeing how hiqh-quality software evolves from its early behind-the-scenes stages to where it is today. In Bradsoft's typical much praised user-oriented approach, Nick Bradbury has relentlessly continued to ask for and listen to users' comments and feedback. Currently behind the scenes for testers is FeedDemon 1.10 RC4, where users will continue to find helpful improvements, not just bug fixes. (437 words, 24 links, 2 images) http://brainstormsandraves.com/archives/2004/05/23/feeddemon/ http://brainstormsandraves.com/archives/2004/05/23/feeddemon/ Shirley Kaiser 2004-05-23T17:24:25 If you purchase Photoshop CS, like me you may open the program and initially wonder why you upgraded since the user interface, at least on first glance, is quite similar to the Photoshop 7 interface aside from the new splash screen and logo. There are, however, quite a few major improvements, and I've become increasingly more impressed as I've used it the past few weeks. Below you'll find some highlights with links to reviews, comments, and more information. (453 words, 17 links, 1 image) http://brainstormsandraves.com/archives/2004/01/19/photoshop/ http://brainstormsandraves.com/archives/2004/01/19/photoshop/ Shirley Kaiser 2004-01-19T21:14:30 This week's Friday Feast takes a look at an insightful new interview of Jeffrey Zeldman, A List Apart's new site design that everyone's talking about, and user-friendly approaches to website information architecture. (1086 words, 25 links, 2 images) http://brainstormsandraves.com/archives/2003/10/24/feast_63_information_architecture/ http://brainstormsandraves.com/archives/2003/10/24/feast_63_information_architecture/ Shirley Kaiser 2003-10-24T18:16:39 FeedDemon RSS Reader is getting close to its official release, Friday announcing FeedDemon 1.0 Release Candidate 1 (RC1). The FeedDemon 1.0 RC1 Release Notes document the latest of Nick Bradbury's diligent hard work, fine tuning, and listening to user requests during the past several months of beta testing. (233 words, 8 links) http://brainstormsandraves.com/archives/2003/10/18/feeddemon/ http://brainstormsandraves.com/archives/2003/10/18/feeddemon/ Shirley Kaiser 2003-10-18T17:45:08