Welcome to dekeOnline

Submitted by deke on 22 July 2008 - 4:03am.

Hi, this is note from me, Deke. Forgive the potentially rough appearance of this newsletter (which is going out as an email to all registered users). But we didn't want to get all slick with our messaging.

I know you have lots of busy stuff going on today. (And from here, it looks like you're doing a great job juggling the, you know, the things that you juggle with the stuff in the air and the things. So kudos for that.) But I wanted to take just a moment of your time to thank you for joining dekeOnline. I am sincerely glad that you've opted into our madcap imaging + graphics + design tea party.

So, yoiks, quite to my surprise, the site has gone through the roof. Over the Bastille Day weekend (July 13th and 14th), Alexa.com claims we entered the ethereal realm of the Top 50,000 sites. (Where's Kasey Kaisim to read it?) Google Analytics shows us trouncing the typical site our size (me blue, them gray, below). And when I say "trounce," I mean it in a kind, Care Bear, loving way.

Meanwhile, as I write this, there are exactly 1650 of us. In just--wait, let me check my calendar--just 4 weeks. That's 1650 divided by 4 of us every week! If you do the math, you'll see, that's more than the 30-people-every-epoch that I originally predicted.

Okay, so enough whatever that's called when you get all self-celebratory. (No, not bragging, I'm thinking of something more nuanced. Like happyfying.) Here's what I really wrote to tell you:

--I have a crush on you. (Wait, that was only supposed to go out to the extra-special members.)

--We have a new episode of dekePod out. It's called "Stealth 'Shop, the Virgin Histogram," and it's all about editing an image so that no one--not even someone with a fine-toothed algorithm--can tell you were there.

So, okay, that's an interesting picture of me. I think we've located John McCain's long lost love child.

Underlying message: Forget politics (sorry I brought 'em up). Watch my video. Feel my undying affection and gratitude for your support. And lemme know what you think!

Oh, and subscribe to dekePod on iTunes, won't you? As an added incentive, we switched out the iTunes version of the Metadata video so it's playable on an iPod.

TIFN. There are lots of new articles in the dekeBlog and dekeStuff sections. And Colleen (my expert editor) and I are hard at work on more. Best of all, it's all unsustainably free. I'm not sure I can keep doing this, but for now, I am.

Have an awesome day!

--Deke

 

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Comments

CS3 1-on-1: Book vs DVDvideo

Submitted by david.grier on 26 August 2008 - 3:10pm.
David Grier: I have your Lynda.com DVD & love it. Going over & over some bits to plant stuff deep in my biological memory. Also loaded and use (of course!) DekeKeys k-board shortcuts from that DVD. Now have also just got your DekePress/O'Reilly book of the same name. The included disc also has a DekeKeys file. Question: Are they the same? In using the book/disc, could I skip loading the second DekeKeys because "You already have it. stupid!!" ???? BTW: Having major fun playing with the new 4.5 Raw version.. DekefanDavid

Penis podcasts are for the boys?

Submitted by Petra on 11 August 2008 - 10:39pm.
That is SO gay! No, the only audience for boy parts is not just more boys. Trust me on this. :-p

Thomas Raises the "F" Word

Submitted by MACinTUTOR on 25 July 2008 - 8:27am.
F = "Fireworks" in case it's not obvious. Question and a Plea: Have you ever considered doing a book on Fireworks? How about “Fireworks One on One”? Here’s my pitch: Its a major Adobe graphics app for both PRINT and web and you are the graphics guru. Knowing your stuff and having taught Fireworks for several years, I believe you and Fireworks would be a match made in heaven... or perhaps hell depending on your religious proclivities or lack thereof :•)- This software is unfortunately often billed as a “web prototyping program” which is rather very sad and tragic as it can actually do so very much more (raster, vector, Javascript, CSS, XHTML, where do I stop? etc.) for both print and web. And.... there hasn't been a decent book on Fireworks in years! cheers, Thomas Benner MACinTUTOR | MASTER ADOBE http://www.masteradobe.com macintutor@mac.com

Fireworks, huh?

Submitted by deke on 26 July 2008 - 2:08am.
Thomas, I agree with you that Fireworks is an amazing product. As for a "Fireworks One-on-One": Yes, I would love to do such a thing. No, it won't happen in the next 12 months because I'm simply out of bandwidth. It's the classic case of balancing my ambitions (infinite) against my ability to follow through on those ambitions (puny). In the near term, I'm doing my best to cover Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. This time in 2009, there might be a window to rope in something else. Believe me, if by this time next year, I am not reduced to a single molecule--because all the others were incinerated in a fiery plume--then I will regard my very existence as an unqualified success.

Well-deserved Success & Lab Mode Appreciation

Submitted by MACinTUTOR on 24 July 2008 - 1:24am.
Dear Obiwan, Congratulations on the well-deserved success of your web site and podcast Deke. Glad you are active on your site and podcast.... it is called “marketing”! In my never-so-humble opinion, your teaching material has been sadly under-marketed and unknown by many the past few years. I am thrilled to see that tide has started to turn as people discover your site (hmmmm... Hi or low tide?). regards, Thomas p.s. I played the new podcast (penis discussion and all) to begin our class session on Photoshop tonight. It was a big hit with the ladies. How different from your "so serious" videos at the start of each lesson (we did masking tonight - dinos in space, buffaloes on vacation and flame girl). Thanks for discussing the interesting and useful Lab mode in this podcast and please keep up all the provocative and silly attitude stuff. Thomas Benner MACinTUTOR | MASTER ADOBE http://www.masteradobe.com macintutor@mac.com

It's funny you mention the M word

Submitted by deke on 24 July 2008 - 6:07am.
M = Marketing, in case that wasn't obvious. Funny because it's been a hot topic of lively discussion. Is dekePod marketing, or is it its own thing? FWLIW, I'm advocating for the "own thing" thing. It's free because I want to make it more than I want you to buy it. The fact that it references my commercial pieces at the end is purely . . . well, yes, that's probably marketing. Thomas, I like your news that the ladies liked the robot penis piece. This was another source of LARGE (sometimes dangling) internal debate. We've been operating on the assumption that this very special episode of dekePod is a boy piece. Which makes us boys think, wait a sec: If this video was about enormous robot breasts, it'd *still* be a boy piece. How unfair is that? The boys love the girl parts, but the only audience for the boy parts is . . . more boys? Okay, sure, that's a demographic. But those of us who like the other gender might appreciate some other-gender love in return. I'm just sayin'. I mean, I'm right, right?