PixelMill Blog

Free Webinar! - SharePoint for Web Site Builders

A live one-hour session where you will receive valuable insights for using Windows SharePoint Services as a differentiator for current and prospective clients. Use the power of SharePoint and SharePoint Designer to create successful solutions for you and your clients.

This Webinar will cover:

• Introduction to Windows SharePoint Services


• Options for using SharePoint as a Web Site Management tool


• Connecting Live, Dynamic Content from SharePoint to your Web site


• Formatting SharePoint Data Views and Web Parts using SharePoint Designer


• Using a Hosted SharePoint solution to your benefit

Date: November 15, 2007
Time: 10:00am - 11:00am Pacific Time

Toll Free conference call access for U.S. and Canada callers. International toll number available.

Adding Content to your Expression Web or SharePoint Designer site.

When moving content from one website to another or adding content from any other source (Word, Outlook, etc.)use notepad so you don't add any extra unwanted code or formatting to your site.

Watch this short video showing how to properly move your content over to your new site.

PixelMill Debuts Transition Assistance Training Initiative for Web Site Builders

(Davis, Calif.) - September 13, 2007 - Recognized as a leader in the development of education tutorials, recorded videos, and Webinars designed for site builders, PixelMill today announced the September 18, 2007 debut of PixelMill EDU™, an innovative and proprietary online training series designed to aid the do-it-yourself Web builder in transitioning to new Web editors, coding standards, and Web technologies.

PixelMill initially launched PixelMill EDU to address critical pain points that hamper site developers' transition into new site-building platforms: learning to transition from building tables-based Web sites to table-less Web sites and from building sites in FrontPage to building sites in Expression Web. PixelMill EDU provides an "extension course", university-style solution that addresses the Web's lack of video-based and instructor-based training and site builders' reliance on written tutorials online, which are often clunky, difficult to understand, and fail to address real-world challenges.

"Over the last year, much of the Microsoft FrontPage community has struggled with the transition to Expression Web," said PixelMill CEO Jason Reckers. "We have all had to change to newer versions of software in the past. That's not the issue here. This time, the challenge is two-fold. Not only is there a need to transition to a new piece of software with a new user interface, but there's also a growing need to adapt to Web standards that push for more CSS with fewer tables and ultimately no tables."

PixelMill EDU begins with two six-week series, each featuring six one-hour sessions. Its first propriety EDU series, which launches September 18th, is "FrontPage to Expression," which is designed to give strong exposure to the new Expression Web software and interface along with tips for transitioning from FrontPage. PixelMill EDU's second series, which starts September 20th, is "Tables to Table-less CSS," designed for Web builders using Dreamweaver, Expression Web, or any other Web editor to transition from building tables-based Web site layouts to working with CSS to edit and build table-less Web site layouts.
Set in a classroom-like environment, PixelMill EDU offers the multi-week, fee-based ($149 per series) online seminars ('Webinars') in a no-nonsense, accessible style, providing ample time for participants to interact with attendees and the instructors. In addition to each class being delivered live, each is recorded for participants to revisit on demand.

Instructors provide guidance to attendees in a how-to format with content focused on applied needs versus a tour around a specific application. PixelMill EDU's head instructor is Corrie Haffly, a mathematics U.C. Davis graduate and author of The Photoshop Anthology: 101 Web Design Tips, Tricks & Techniques. Published by SitePoint.com, Haffly's book covers how to design attractive Web graphics, touch up photos for Web use, create Web site mockups, and master buttons, backgrounds, and more. Additionally, PixelMill's Haffly brought PixelMill's and John Galt's Templates brands to the top of the Web site template market, handled customer support, and wrote volumes of tutorials. Haffly's past work is featured at SitePoint.com and PixelMill.com.

Future PixelMill EDU online educational programs slated for 2007 will address SharePoint and SharePoint Designer and multimedia integration (video, audio/music, Flash, etc.). Another seminar series under development will aid site builders in developing a Web presence where creative designs meet current quality code and licensed images standards, accessibility requirements, and combine e-commerce and modular solutions that enhance Web and presentation projects.

PixelMill, established in 1998, serves as the Web's central source of solutions for Web site builders. PixelMill's extensive digital library features high quality templates and tools - guaranteed royalty free and free of copyright concerns - including more than 2,000 Web, Microsoft® Expression® Web, SharePoint Designer, Adobe® Dreamweaver®, FrontPage®, and HTML templates, 1,800 PowerPoint® templates, 9,000 stock images, and 4,500 royalty free music tracks.

Media Contact: Chris Doyle, 916.847.0261 cdoyle@pixelmill.com

View PDF >>

Useful tips for finding and modifying your PixelMill template…

Having trouble finding a template for your existing or new website?

The first thing I tell PixelMill customers, when trying to choose a template, is to start by selecting your layout. Find the layout that will suit your needs the best, regardless of images and color. If you think a design will work perfect for you but it has the wrong image or coloring don’t worry the template can be changed with CSS or with custom services.

So how do I tell if I can make the changes myself or if I need to request PixelMill Custom Services? To determine if you can make the changes or you need to request Custom Services, take a look at the getting started page and see if it’s using CSS for color or is it using graphics. If it is using CSS for the colors you can make these changes with ease. If it is using graphics for some of the layout and coloring, you will need a graphics editor (possibly a specific one) to make the color changes.

Let’s look at a PixelMill Edition template to show how easy it is to recolor a template.

Here is a screenshot of the template we want to recolor. We want to change the red in the template to dark green to match our team colors.

When I click on the red section I see that the div is using the ID #body2. That is where I will need to change my red background to my green color. Expression Web makes it easy to select your color without having to know what your hex color is – however if you have a specific color you want to use to match your logo color or your exact team color you should have your hex color code handy. Here is a link about hex color codes.

I open my style sheet and look for the #body2 that my div tag is using. I already have my hex color code selected from my Color Schemer program. That color is #669933. To change my background color, I go to line 143 and change the background from #990000 to the #669933.

Here I have changed the color on my div id #body2 from red to green. Now every page on my website that used that #body2 tag has the new color applied.

Next I want to change my banner across the top from red to green. This is using an image for the coloring so I will open an image editor to modify the image. This is a PNG file that is in the source folder, so I can open with any image editor. For this example I am using Fireworks.

Here is the image opened in Fireworks. You can see on the right this image is made up of 2 layers. I am going to work with. The second layer is my red box that I want to change to green.

I select that layer, and then I change the color in the color selection box on my graphics editor.

When that is done I export my image back out to my images folder and now my background image has been changed on all of the pages on my website.

A design note…

You should have some knowledge of your graphics program to make this color change. If you are not comfortable with your graphics program or have not been properly introduced to one, check out one of Corrie’s webinars on photoshop.

This article shows a quick color change that our PixelMill customers can do to modify their PixelMill template. If you don’t feel you have the comfort level to make these changes don’t worry we can walk you through these changes (and more) with our one-on-one training and education ($25 per half hour of training/education) or signup to attend our webinars. If you think you need a bit more custom or work on your site, then please contact us and we will be happy to discuss your Custom Services request.