HTML: Disabling Text Selection

Being able to disable the selection of text can be very helpful, for numerous reasons. You can disable the selection of most of the text on a page, only allowing the parts that are important. Or, you can completely disable selection, which can help prevent plagiarism of your original work.

So how do you work this magic?

You can do it pretty easily with HTML and CSS. However, it's not as easy as just entering a tag or command. Text selection enabling or disabling commands differ depending on the browser being used by the viewer. In order to make sure that you block selection from all browsers, you need to include vendor prefixes with each line of code. (A vendor prefix is a short piece of code that is required by certain commands depending on the browser.)

I borrowed the following code and vendor prefixes from http://basicuse.net.

.no-selection {  
-webkit-touch-callout: none;   
-webkit-user-select: none;  
-khtml-user-select: none;
-moz-user-select: none;   
-ms-user-select: none;   
user-select: none; }

So, in order to disable text selection, all you have to do is paste that code in between the <style> tags at the beginning of your webpage. Then, just apply the "no-selection" class to anything you don't want selected.

This sentence, for example, cannot be selected or copy-and-pasted.

Website... Review? Share? Basic Use

I wanted to share this interesting website with you guys. Although I haven't seen enough of it to give an actual review, it looks very cool.

Here, there are a bunch of cool things you can do with simply HTML5 and CSS3.

Website Reviews: Khan Academy

Khan Academy is a website that offers many free online lessons. Lessons are interactive, and usually feature someone talking while an animation or video plays.

The format of Khan Academy is simple and easy-to-use. The website can be translated into a variety of languages.

Subjects taught include math, science, economics and finance, arts and humanities, computer programming and science, test preparation, and some third-party related content.

Personally, I have not tried learning with all of the subjects. I have done a ton of computer programming, in fact I've completed nearly all of their computer programming courses, and I must say that, for me, anyway, it is very easy to understand. If you don't get it, you can always go back and watch the interactive video again. You can't do that with a real life lecture.

Their math courses are less impressive, but still helpful.

I only did one lesson in their science courses. They are interesting, but heavily biased towards the theory of evolution being true -- not too appealing if you have a Creationist viewpoint.

Khan Academy is a helpful resource, especially in the area of computer programming and computer science. However, in some cases, it's a lot like trying to learn in the public schools -- all of the content is taught the same way to everyone. Happily, with Khan Academy, you can opt out of taking any courses.

Website Design: Rule of Thirds

In photography, there's this thing called the Rule of Thirds.

Wikipedia defines the Rule of Thirds as:

The rule of thirds is a principle of the Golden ratio with broad application as a "rule of thumb" or guideline which applies to the process of composing visual images such as designs, films, paintings, and photographs.^[1] The guideline proposes according to the principle of the Golden section search that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally spaced horizontal lines and two equally spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections.^[2] Proponents of the technique claim that aligning a subject with these points creates more tension, energy and interest in the composition than simply centering the subject.

This rule also applies to web design!

For example, if you're designing a web layout, you could place the focal point (the thing on the layout that you want the visitor's eye to be immediately drawn to) on one of the intersections of the Rule of Thirds for maximum effect. Similarly, instead of centering a background image, you could place the center of the image on one of the Rule of Thirds lines or intersections.

Incorporating the Rule of Thirds into your web designs will make your designs more visually interesting, as opposed to simply centering everything.

HTML: Deprecated HTML5 Tags

A deprecated tag is a tag that is no longer in standard HTML use. Although deprecated tags may still be recognized by certain browsers, newer browsers will probably not accept such tags and will display them incorrectly, so it's better to avoid using them if you can.

These tags are deprecated in HTML5 only, as far as I know. You may want to do your own research if you are looking for XHTML or HTML4 tags.

All of these tags' functions are better handled with CSS:

• <acronym>
• <applet>
• <b> (Replaced by <strong>)
• <basefont>
• <big>
• <center>
• <dir>
• <font>
• <frame>
• <frameset>
• <i> (Replaced by <em>)
• <isindex>
• <noframes>
• <tt>

As stated earlier, some of these tags, such as <b> or <i>, will still be recognized in modern browsers. Others, like <frameset> <noframes> and <frame> are totally deprecated and, as far as I know, do not work in any modern browsers.

Regardless of the state of the tag, totally deprecated or still being phased out, it's best to avoid using inferior tags and use their modern counterparts instead, which are often CSS attributes.

Software Review: Microsoft Expression Web 4

I've been reading up on web design and programming lately. One of the books that my mom checked out of the library for me (thanks, Mom) was a fairly old book (written in 2007, to be precise) that talked about creating web pages.

The book was written for complete beginners with no coding experience, so instead of teaching the reader how to code with HTML, the book recommended one of two popular WYSIWYG ("What You See Is What You Get", a type of webpage creating software) editors, Adobe Dreamweaver or Microsoft Expression Web.

I'd already looked into Adobe Dreamweaver, and, well... let's just say that its price was way too expensive for my limited teenage budget. I expected that Microsoft Expression Web would be similarly priced, but I decided to check it out anyway.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that Microsoft stopped producing updates for the Expression software in 2010, and they now release Expression Web 4 to anyone -- for free!

So I went and downloaded the software, and spent some time playing around with it.

Sadly, it's not very good.

On one hand, it will save you a lot of hand-coding time by creating the elements for you. On the other hand, it's really difficult to use.

Trying to move around the elements on the screen is difficult. At first, they refuse to move, then they zip to the other side of the page. Dropping an element in the wrong place will cause it to disappear. Worse, the CSS seems to be faulty. Fixed elements move around in the preview webpage.

I'll give it this, the interface is simple enough, and it has the capacity to create a lot of different elements. But, what with the glitches and problems, I can see why it was discontinued.

It's possible that I just didn't spend enough time trying to learn this software, and I might mess around with it some more. But unless I find out otherwise, I'll have to give this software a mediocre rating.

If you wish to download the software anyway, you can download it for free here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36179

Disclaimer: I am not being paid to write this review.

3D Modeling: An Introduction

3D Modeling is the process of modeling three-dimensional models for use in animation. (It can also include, but usually doesn't include, the process of rendering, which is posing and taking a picture or video of 3D models.)

There are three ways to "make" a 3D model of your own, but only one of them involves actually making it. Just so that I cover all the bases, I'll talk briefly about the other two ways, but most of my posts about 3D modeling will focus on actual modeling.

(Please note that my area of expertise is in MikuMikuDance models. Although I'm sure it's possible to recolor and/or piece-together other kinds of models, I have no experience in the subject.)

A Honey the Cat recolor...

1. Recolor an existing model. Not recommended. This often produces less-than-satisfactory results (unless your character is a recolor of a character in the first place, which is also not recommended.) Also, unless you have the permission of the modeler to recolor his or her model, then recoloring their model is generally considered the same as stealing, especially if you don't credit the modeler. The only good thing about recoloring models is that it's easy. It can be a good way to learn about changing the colors and reflections of models, and is suitable for beginners, but it is not a good long-term solution for modeling. 
1. I used to recolor models myself, when I was just a beginner. To the right, you can see one of my first recolors, a recolor of the Honey the Cat model (by dec0rum on deviantART) into my Sonic FC, Wildcat. It looks terrible to me now, lol.
2. Piece together a model from parts. Recommended for those who don't have the skills/budget to create models from scratch. The way it works is that you download parts made for modeling from the internet, or rip them off of existing characters, then piece together and color the parts to match your character. If you're good at this, you can make really nice models using the piece-together method. The only downsides are that, since you're using other people's material, you need to get permission from all the people who made those parts before you post anything involving your model online. You also cannot ethically sell models using such parts without the permission of the part-makers.



Elizabeth the Hedgehog is (C) PrincessElizabeth013

1. I also used the piece-together method to make models for a long time. Here is a model I made for a (now infamous) deviantART user, using the piece-together method. (In order to make selling this model ethical, I only used parts from a user who gave permission for people to do anything with them. I made the rest of the parts myself.)

 The final way, and (in my opinion) the best way to make a model, is to model it from scratch in a modeling program.

I use Metasequoia to model with, but some other modeling programs to check out are:

1. Blender (and it's free!)
2. Maya 3D

If you are more interested in MMD modeling with the first or second methods, I recommend looking around for tutorials. http://learnmmd.com/ has some tutorials for recoloring models, and http://mmd-mall.deviantart.com/ is a good place to find free, high-quality MMD parts.

If you want to make other types of models, I'm afraid I can't help you there, at least not right now. However, I'm sure there are good tutorials out there, take a look around the internet!

But, if you want to create MMD models from scratch, like me, stick around! I'll be writing more blog posts in the future that talk about how to create a model in Metasequoia, then rig it in PMDE so it can be used for animation and posing.

(Author's Note: It should be noted that Metasequoia can export models into a variety of formats, so it may be possible to create models in Meta for use in Blender, Maya 3D, or other software. However, I don't know which programs will or won't accept those formats, and rigging such formats is beyond my abilities.)

Website Design: Creating A Visitor Profile

When you're making a website, you generally aren't advertising towards every person on the planet. My blog, for example, is geared towards younger people who like technology. (Making content designed for such people isn't really a problem for me, since I happen to be a younger person who likes technology. xD)

So, when you're making a website, you don't want a mish-mash of every design and content concept out there in the hopes of attracting some of every group of people. You should identify what type of people you're looking to attract, then shape your website accordingly.

That's where a visitor profile comes in. A visitor profile is a profile that describes the ideal visitor to your site -- the kind of person you're aiming to attract and the kind of person that you think would benefit most from your website.

Since I don't know about your website, I can't tell you how you should make your visitor profile. Certainly, the profile of each website will vary a lot. Some may be more specific than others. (e.g. a site selling backpacks for preschool girls vs. a site about all kinds of internet stuff)

However, I can give you some things to think about when creating a visitor profile.

• The age of the visitor. It can be a range or an actual age.
• The gender of the visitor.
• The country or place that the visitor lives in. Language is an important factor.
• Their interests, likes and dislikes.
• Their personality.

Good luck with your visitor profiles! And remember, I love comments!

HTML: Basic Formatting Tags

HTML (or HyperText Markup Language) is the language used to build most websites. Here, I will teach you how to use some of the most basic tags of HTML to spice up webpages.

Tags are the building blocks of HTML. They are written in this format: <[tag]> (e.g. <img>). Most tags have an opening and closing tag, and the content is written in between the tags. The closing tags are the same as the opening tags, except with a slash first. (e.g. <body> [insert content here] </body>)

Here are some of the most basic HTML tags. You can use some of these tags in comments on websites, emails, etc. Look around to see if your website has a list of supported HTML tags. Some of these tags can be used to produce the same results. If one of the tags doesn't work on a specific website, try the other one.

The <strong> tag, which stands for strong.

<strong> This is an example of bold text. </strong> = This is an example of bold text.

The <em> tag, which stands for emphasis.

<em> This is an example of emphasized text. </em> = This is an example of emphasized text.

The <u> tag, which stands for underline.

<u> This is an example of underlined text. </u> =  This is an example of underlined text.

The <s> tag, which stands for strikethrough.

<s> This is an example of strike-through text. </s> = This is an example of strike-through text.

There are, of course, many more HTML tags than this, but since I'm only writing about the most basic formatting tags right now, I won't go into those right now.

When you actually write webpages, you will want to use CSS if you plan to add a format to the entire document (bold text, for example). Using the <em> or <strong> tags to do that would be an abuse of the HTML tags.

Still, if you wanted to highlight just one passage, using the HTML formatting tags would be the way to go. These tags also work on some websites where CSS styling isn't supported, but HTML is, deviantART, for example.

Website Review: deviantART

From the deviantART FAQ: deviantART is an online art community for artists and art lovers to interact in a variety of ways, ranging from the submission of art to conversations on a number of topics. In its purest form, deviantART is a means for expressing yourself in a variety of ways.

deviantART, commonly abbreviated to dA, is an online art community (as stated above). It is the largest art community on the internet (that I've seen, but I'm pretty sure it's the largest).

So, what's good about deviantART?

1. It's a place to upload and submit art and writing. deviantART is set up to handle millions of submissions, and it probably has that many, too. There are hundreds of categories you can submit your art to, so that people who like a specific type of art can find it. deviantART also has recognition programs such as Daily Deviations where they pick out certain artworks and showcase them on the front page.
2. You can connect with your friends. dA is home to thousands of users. You can find your friends on there and even make new ones!
3. You can take commissions and earn money. dA has its own currency; "Points". You get these points either by buying them with real money, or by being given them by someone else. People often take advantage of this and will draw pictures (or other art) in exchange for Points. dA even has a widget set up so that you can draw pictures for real money that can be cashed to a credit card.
4. dA has its own drawing program, dA muro. While it's not as good as some programs such as Paint Tool SAI, it has some cool brushes and things and can be used for some unique stuff.

As for the downsides:

1. Not everyone on the side is nice. Jerks and spammers abound on dA. Although dA has a blocking system, and they faithfully ban spammers, you will run into nasty illogical people who just like yelling.
2. It's not all free. Although you can happily own a free account, some of the nicer features require a Premium Membership, which costs roughly $5 per month (or less if you buy the membership for a longer period). It's not required to have a Membership (I don't) but if you want all the features, it will cost you. (One perk is that you can use Points to pay for a Membership, therefore you can theoretically buy a Premium Membership with your commission earnings.)
3. There are tons of little bugs. Not literal bugs, computer program bugs. Every week there are small glitches you run into, and they can get irritating after a while. dA does its best to fix those bugs, but there are always more that you'll run into.
4. deviantART allows almost all art submissions, including nasty ones. This means that nudity and violence are totally okay on deviantART, and of course, there are those who have galleries full of adult content. One silver lining is that dA has a "Mature Content" system, in which people must put a Mature Content tag on any adult pictures. When others view the art page, they see the tag and can choose whether or not to see the picture.

In conclusion, deviantART is a nice art site. It has its issues, and I wish they wouldn't allow certain submissions, but otherwise, it's a pretty good site.

Disclaimer: This article is not a paid endorsement. I will receive no money or other gain from writing this review.

Reblog: Pixar makes its 3D rendering tool free

http://educationaltechnologyguy.blogspot.com/2015/03/pixar-makes-its-3d-rendering-tool.html

Sounds interesting. I might download this rendering tool sometime.

Some major changes.

I have made major changes to this blog.

If any of you are receiving this by email, you will need to go to my new URL now: wildgirln.blogspot.com

Thanks, and have a great day.

Time for a redesign.

My blog will be going through a significant overhaul, stay tuned.