MACOSX Tip: Detach Widget from Dashboard

Open Terminal and type the following:

defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES

Press Return, then log out and back in.

Go to your dashboard, press fn+F12 ( or what it is you use to go back and forth between your desktop and dashboard mode ), while pressing and holding on the widget.

Flash CS3 Shortcut: Adjust TextField Letter Spacing

I discovered a neat short cut in Flash CS3 this morning. To change the letter spacing in a TextField press COMMAND + RIGHT/LEFT arrow on your keyboard. For the letter spacing to occur faster in a shorter amount of steps, press SHIFT + COMMAND + RIGHT/LEFT.

Django Errors: SMTP AUTH and SMTPAuthenticationError

FYI, if you have issues with Django's send_mail with a gmail account, in your settings.py use the following template.

# EMAIL SETTINGS
EMAIL_HOST = "smtp.gmail.com"
EMAIL_PORT = "587"
EMAIL_HOST_USER = "your_account_user@gmail.com"
EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD = "password"
# Controls whether a secure connection is used.
EMAIL_USE_TLS = True


If you are getting SMTPAuthenticationError with a non gmail account:

# EMAIL SETTINGS
EMAIL_HOST = "mail.whatever-domain.com"
EMAIL_PORT = "25"
EMAIL_HOST_USER = "username"
EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD = "password"
# Controls whether a secure connection is used.
EMAIL_USE_TLS = True

Image Optimization - What you need to know about JPEGs, GIFs, and PNGs

Good article at YUI blog on image optimization.

CSS Advanced Selectors in Flex 4

Adobe has enhanced CSS functionality in their new Flex 4 sdk ( Currently Beta ). Not only do you get type selectors and class selectors, but you also get id selectors. That is great, this is much similar to how CSS is. Flex 4 also now has descendent selectors. Descendent selectors allow you to match children to a particular ancestor. Lastly, psuedo selectors are also available. Psuedo selectors are great for dynamic content.

Check out CSS Advanced Selectors - Functional and Design Specification