Lynda.com – WordPress 3: Developing Secure Sites | 307 MB
Duration: 2h 37m | Video: AVC (.mov) 960×540 15fps 200Kbps | Audio: AAC 48KHz 96Kbps 1ch
Genre: eLearning | Language: English
In WordPress 3: Developing Secure Sites, author Jeff Starr illustrates various techniques for securing self-hosted WordPress sites, including site configuration, code modification, and the use of free plug-ins. Beginning with the basics of site security, the course explains how to harden a WordPress site by configuring authentication keys, setting proper file permissions, and removing version numbers. The course shows how to implement a firewall, prevent automated spam, and control proxy access, and concludes with a series of advanced tips and site security best practices. Exercise files accompany the course.
Topics include:
* Backing up and restoring your site
* Setting up strong passwords
* Choosing trusted plugins and themes
* Protecting the configuration file and the admin directory
* Securing the login page
* Fighting comment spam
* Blocking access and detecting hacks
* Finding and reporting vulnerabilities
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Lynda.com – Stefan G. Bucher, Designer, Illustrator, & Writer | 791 MB
Duration: 56m | Video: AVC (.mov) 960×540 15fps 1800Kbps | Audio: AAC 48KHz 128Kbps 2ch
Genre: eLearning | Language: English
Meet a truly monster graphic designer, Stefan G. Bucher. Stefan’s projects range from his Daily Monsters, to the Daily Letter on the PBS television show, The Electric Company, to CD designs for Sting and Whitney Houston, products for the Echo Park Time Travel Mart (featuring canned mammoth chunks), to writing and illustrating his latest book, You Deserve A Medal: Honors on the Path to True Love. Stefan is a prolific artist who is seemingly obsessed with finding impressive new ways to put ink on paper. Follow his journey from his first illustrations for The Donaldist (a magazine dedicated to the exploration of Donald Duck comics), through Art Center College, Portland agency Wieden+Kennedy, Madonna’s Maverick Records, and finally his own company, 344 Design.
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Lynda.com – Analyzing Your Web Site to Improve SEO |248 MB
Duration: 1h 26m | Video: AVC (.mov) 960×540 15fps 300Kbps | Audio: AAC 48KHz 100Kbps 1ch
Genre: eLearning | Language: English
In this course, SEO expert Peter Kent walks step-by-step through the process of reviewing the content and markup of an existing web site to improve its ranking in search engine results. This course offers a consultant’s take on how to analyze each component—from keywords to content to code—and determine what improvements are necessary to become more visible to search engines like Yahoo, Bing, and Google.
Topics include:
* Understanding why indexing is important
* Using the Google AdWords Keyword Tool
* Dealing with frames, iframes, and popups
* Creating SEO-friendly URLs
* Using meta tags
* Clearing source code clutter
* Building links within the site
* Reviewing page content
* Building and submitting HTML and XML sitemaps
* Getting linked to from other sites
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Lynda.com – After Effects Apprentice 08: Nesting and Precomposition | 1.74 GB
Duration: 2h 05m | Video: AVC (.mov) 960×600 30fps 400Kbps | Audio: AAC 44.1KHz 128Kbps 2ch
Genre: eLearning | Language: English
In this course, Chris and Trish Meyer share two of the core secrets required to become an efficient After Effects user: understanding the render order (the internal order of operations After Effects uses when calculating masks, effects, transformation, track mattes, and layer styles) and the use of multiple compositions where a composition may be nested into one or more other comps. This makes it easier to group layers, efficiently re-use a common element to quickly accommodate client changes, pan around large composites of multiple layers, and solve render order issues. Exercise files are included with the course.
The After Effects Apprentice video lessons were created by Trish and Chris Meyer and are designed to be used on their own or as a companion to their acclaimed book, After Effects Apprentice.
Topics include:
* Grouping layers by nesting and pre-composing
* Identifying and solving render order issues
* Navigating composition hierarchies
* Editing a precomp while viewing the result in another composition
* Preserving the frame rate of a nested composition
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Lynda.com – Google SketchUp 8 Essential Training | 1.29 GB
Duration: 6h 27m | Video: AVC (.mov) 960×540 15fps 400Kbps | Audio: AAC 48KHz 128Kbps 2ch
Genre: eLearning | Language: English
In Google SketchUp 8 Essential Training, author George Maestri explains how to model and render 3D objects and scenes using Google SketchUp 8. The course covers the fundamentals of the application, from navigating the user interface, manipulating objects, and building basic shapes to importing objects from Google Earth, animating a scene, and modeling organic terrain using the Sandbox tools. The course also explores SketchUp Pro features, which are available as an upgrade. These include tools for creating dynamic components and adding interactivity, as well as sophisticated importing and exporting options for working with outside applications. Exercise files accompany the course.
Topics include:
* Setting preferences
* Building scenes
* Pushing and pulling faces into 3D
* Creating 3D text
* Measuring and labeling models
* Creating, editing, and adjusting materials
* Projecting maps onto curved objects
* Modeling with floor plans
* Rendering a scene
* Geolocating models with Google Maps
* Modeling in Photo Match
* Hiding objects dynamically
* Creating solids
* Exporting objects for rendering
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Lynda.com – Excel 2010: Financial Functions in Depth | 145 MB
Duration: 2h 20m | Video: AVC (.mov) 960×540 15fps 100Kbps | Audio: AAC 48KHz 96Kbps 1ch
Genre: eLearning | Language: English
In Excel 2010: Financial Functions in Depth author Curt Frye shows how to perform a wide range of financial calculations quickly and easily using the many financial functions found in Excel 2010. The course details dozens of functions for evaluating cash flows; calculating depreciation; determining rates of return, bond coupon dates, and security durations; and more. Exercise files accompany the course.
Topics include:
* Analyzing loans, payments, and interest
* Discovering the interest rate of an annuity
* Determining depreciation using the straight line, declining balance, double-declining balance, and other methods
* Calculating the future value of an investment with variable returns
* Finding the discount rate of a security
* Converting between fractional prices and decimal prices
* Determining the yield of securities that pay interest periodically
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Lynda.com – Foundations of Photography: Black and White | 1.86 GB
Duration: 3h 04m | Video: AVC (.mov) 960×540 30fps 700Kbps | Audio: AAC 48KHz 160Kbps 2ch
Genre: eLearning | Language: English
In Foundations of Photography: Black and White, Ben Long shows photographers how to develop a black and white vocabulary and explains the considerations to take into account when shooting for this medium. The course follows Ben as he goes on location and explains what makes good black and white subject matter and how to visualize the scene in terms of tonal values and contrast rather than color. Along the way, he demonstrates some exposure strategies for getting the best images. Back at the computer, Ben demonstrates techniques for converting the resulting photos into black and white using Photoshop and other imaging tools, and offers tips on printing and output. Exercise files are included with this course.
Topics include:
* Why shoot in black and white
* How to recognize good black-and-white subject matter
* Preparing the camera
* Shooting a tone-based subject
* Exposing for black and white
* Understanding grayscale
* Converting from color to black and white using Photoshop CS4 or CS5
* Converting to black and white in Camera Raw
* Vignetting
* Toning and split-toning
* Comparing high key versus low key images
* Preparing a black and white image for print
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Lynda.com – WordPress 3: Building Child Themes | 455 MB
Duration: 3h 18m | Video: AVC (.mov) 960×540 15fps 200Kbps | Audio: AAC 48KHz 96Kbps 1ch
Genre: eLearning | Language: English
WordPress 3: Building Child Themes shows how to create a new theme based on a prebuilt parent theme in WordPress, and change the functionality, presentation, or styling of a site. In this course, Morten Rand-Hendriksen covers importing parent themes, adding custom menus, restyling the header image, customizing the sidebar and index pages, implementing the Post Thumbnail feature, and incorporating JavaScript. The course also shows how to establish a quick and efficient theme restyling workflow, taking a design from mockup to fully functional site. Workflow techniques including modifying basic CSS by using a code editor such as Eclipse, the developer tools in the Chrome browser, and WordPress. Exercise files are included with the course.
Topics include:
* Picking a parent theme
* Creating and activating a basic WordPress child theme
* Using the developer tools
* Creating a functions file and changing the header image size
* Using conditional statements for customized effects
* Adding custom menus to the child theme and/or a template
* Changing the default footer content
* Adding featured images to posts
* Changing the display of meta content (date, author, category, etc.)
* Excluding categories from the front page with custom queries
* Adding additional options to the user profile
* Including functions from external files
* Identifying and fixing common mistakes
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Lynda.com – jQuery Projects: Making Your Marquee Auto Play | 112 MB
Duration: 32m | Video: AVC (.mov) 960×600 15fps 400Kbps | Audio: AAC 48KHz 96Kbps 1ch
Genre: eLearning | Language: English
This course, which builds on the foundations of Dw + jQuery Projects: Creating an Interactive Homepage Marquee, enhances the marquee with an auto-play feature that automatically advances through the slide images when the page is loaded. Working in a coding environment, Chris Converse shows how to add auto play using a combination of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, plus the implementation of hover states in jQuery. This course also covers adding play/pause functionality, as well as an interaction timeout, which will restart the marquee after a specified period of idle time. Exercise files are included with the course.
Topics include:
* Previewing a project across browsers and devices
* Updating CSS and HTML in Aptana Studio
* Adding debugging code
* Declaring variables in JavaScript
* Using setInterval
* Stopping auto play during user interaction
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Lynda.com – Effective HTML Email and Newsletters | 382 MB
Duration: 2h 25m | Video: AVC (.MOV) 960×540 15fps 300Kbps | Audio: AAC 48KHz 96Kbps 1ch
Genre: eLearning | Language: English
Effective HTML Email and Newsletters provides in-depth, hands-on training on all aspects of email marketing, from crafting emails and setting up effective marketing campaigns to managing spam filters and evaluating delivery services. Author Tim Slavin introduces the fundamentals of email marketing, including the differences between HTML email and web pages, how to code emails that display properly on receipt, and ways to stay current with HTML email standards and capabilities. The course includes several project-oriented tutorials on creating multi-column newsletter layouts and multi-product offer emails, and also explains how to automate email creation, test emails prior to delivery, outsource campaigns, and address common coding problems. Exercise files accompany the course.
Topics include:
* Understanding MIME types
* Reducing spam potential in an email or email list
* Creating content for email campaigns
* Understanding the design constraints of HTML emails
* Building email address lists
* Understanding the ideal coding process
* Designing a plain text email from an HTML email
* Deciding how and when to test an email
* Sending email with canned templates
* Troubleshooting layout, spacing, and image issues
* Adding video to email
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