Want to learn how to make awesome, impressive websites? Don’t want to do that by learning the nitty-gritty coding that goes into the backend of web publishing? Yeah, I don’t blame you. Luckily, there are a bunch of programs out there dedicated to helping you build a professional website without you needing to know how to write a single line of code.

One of the best of these programs is Adobe Dreamweaver CS3, made by the same people who created such industry-standard programs as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Acrobat. It’ll allow you to create web pages visually, with an interface that’s part word processor and have image editor. You’ll be able to quickly and easily get a multi-page site together, and even have Dreamweaver upload it to your webspace for you, taking care of everything from creation to publishing all in one program. Who has time to learn code these days, anyways?

 

If you’re getting serious about making your own videos, you probably realized that iMovie, the video editing program that comes with new Macs, isn’t the greatest. Sure, it’s a nice, basic program for people to start dabbling in video editing, but it’s as far from professional as you can get. If you want to start cutting more sophisticated videos, you’ll need a more sophisticated program.

Apple’s Final Cut Express HD 3.5 is the next logical step for you. It’s got the same setup as the full, professional-grade version of Final Cut without costing an insane amount. It’ll allow you to cut video together, add effects and titles, and keep a larger project with lots of clips and audio tracks organized efficiently. It can also handle HD, so if you have a high-def camera and want to cut together video in HD, you’re all set. It’s the perfect way to take your video editing more seriously without making a career out of it.

 

Apple’s highly anticipated OS X v.10.5 Leopard is just about to launch. So what makes this so exciting? Well, to start, it includes over 300 new innovations designed to help accomplish any task. Old standbys like iChat and Mail have been updated and improved, while new features will blow you away.

Here are some of the exciting additions to Leopard:

Finder takes the functionality of iTunes cover search and applies it to your files. You’ll be able to see your files not just as icons, but as they really look! Spaces lets you group your application windows and banish clutter completely. Bootcamp gives your Mac the ability to run Windows. Just pop in your copy of Windows, fire up Bootcamp and you’re good to go. Quick Look allows you to view the contents of a file without even opening it. Flip through multipage documents. Watch full-screen video. See entire Keynote presentations. All with a single click. Time Machine keeps an up-to-date copy of everything on your Mac — digital photos, music, movies, TV shows, and documents. Now, if you ever have the need, you can easily go back in time to recover anything.

So what are you waiting for? Pre-order your copy of OSX 10.5 Leopard here. Have more than one Mac? You can also pre-order the Leopard Family Pack here, which will allow up to five users in the same network.

 

While Adobe Photoshop might be the de facto standard piece of photo editing software on the market, it’s aimed at professionals and is therefore really, really expensive. If you want to have a sophisticated way to edit your photos but aren’t planning to become a professional graphic designer anytime soon, you don’t need to drop hundreds of dollars on a piece of software loaded up with features you’ll never use. Nope, you can just get Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2, a great digital darkroom that’s a fraction of the price of Photoshop.

It’ll allow you to do basic things such as cropping and resizing, but also more sophisticated touching-up with color correction tools, layers, and all sorts of other pro-level tricks that you don’t have access to in Microsoft Paint. It’s the perfect mid-level application for people who take their digital photos seriously, but not seriously enough to base their careers around it.

 

The internet can be a very scary place. It’s full of worms, viruses, spyware, adware, malware, adware, trojans, phishers, backdoors, and who knows what else. It’s difficult to keep track of it all, and even harder to stay totally protected. In fact, it’s basically impossible to stay protected without a solid program checking your back.

Programs don’t get much more solid than Trend Micro PC-Cillin Antivirus 2007. It’ll check the sites you surf, the programs and files you download, and the emails you receive for baddies that are looking to mess up your computer. It automatically checks your computer as well as checking itself for updates, making being protected completely hassle-free. You’ll finally be able to surf without worry or stress, knowing that your computer is locked down tighter than Dick Cheney’s bunker. Nothing bad will be getting in, so go ahead and do your thing. Doesn’t that feel better?

 

So, you think you’re some sort of serious designer, do you? You think you’re so talented and you’re so resourceful. But are you a real professional? Do you have all the tools necessary to do serious design for the web? Or for print for that matter? I doubt you do. Adobe knows you don’t. Why are you trying to disappoint Adobe?

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Basically every image that you see on the web was either created or at least passed through one program: Adobe Photoshop. It’s the main tool for every graphic and web designer out there, the total industry standard. If image editing is something you’re interested in, it should be your first and last stop.

What makes Photoshop the only choice for image manipulation? Well, in addition to the basic stuff like cropping, resizing, and color adjustment, Photoshop gives you the tools to do virtually anything you want with an image. There’s so much to it it can be daunting to novice users; people who have used Photoshop for years still don’t know about every one of its features. However, with an excellent manual and a (relatively) user friendly interface and a little bit of effort, you’ll be doing things you never thought possible in no time. And because Photoshop is basically the only image editor that matters, there are boatloads of books out there to walk you through and get you comfortable with every feature, from the most simple to the most complex.

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