You’ll find our favorite tips to get the most out of your hardware and software.
When a new version of CorelDRAW is released, one of the questions I often receive is related to the clipart included. Along with that question, I'm also asked if there is a new catalog available for ROMCat. CorelDRAW X7 is the first version that does not include...
Three years ago I did a detailed write-up about A Catalog Full of CorelDRAW Mistakes. If you haven't read it recently, I encourage you to read it again as I provided a number of errors you should avoid when creating files. Seriously, go read it as it could save you...
I was working on a magazine article a few days ago that included a step to save a bitmap file. What I didn't explicitly state was the file format to use when saving. I must think differently than most people as JPG is not my first choice as I instead find reasons...
I was working on a project where I wanted to add a distress pattern. I knew immediately that I could find a great pattern in our Textures Unleashed collections and it was just a matter of finding the perfect one. I ended up using one called Ink Vein Marble from...
There are features hidden deep within most software and sometimes the features surface and get shared with users. One such feature is the ability to perform math functions in the CorelDRAW Property Bar. I wrote about this in 1999 in Creating Cool Graphs Without a...
I was asked by someone recently to look over their Web site and let them know if I found any spelling or grammar errors. No matter the quality of your writing and spelling, we all make these type of mistakes. I'm sure loyal readers find such mistakes in nearly...
A few days ago I told you the horror story of A Failed Hard Drive and Importance of Backup. Today I want to follow up with the results of the restoration effort and to talk about the pros and cons of online backup options.I had actually underestimated the time it...
Within the last few days, Facebook became the last of the major social media platforms to implement hashtags. Now that they are darned near everything, I wanted to discussed them. I'll go over how to use them and why they can be useful. There are also other times...
I've had a project come to me recently that involves video production. Admittedly most of the video work I've done in the past has involved recording of the computer screen. Either that or I was simply the person featured in the video and someone else would create...
I got an e-mail from someone who described themselves as a "Photoshop hobbyist" who used the software to create "grandchildren's birthday cards." This person was quite upset about Adobe moving the Creative Suite applications, including Adobe Photoshop, to the cloud...
If you use Facebook, you've probably seen others including graphic emoticons in their comments or in a chat message. Do you know the keystrokes for these emoticons? I've put together a graphic showing all of them below, along with the keystrokes to get each of...
It is a scenario that has played itself out constantly as time passed, refusal to embrace new technology. Two current companies that are a shell of their former selves are RIM (Blackberry), Polaroid and Kodak because they ignored the market forces moving in a...
I wanted to make some changes to the look of the blog and one part of my goal was to add a little more flavor to the background of the sidebar. I was happy with the light blue color so I needed to integrate that color into a seamless texture to use as the...
Today is a huge day for graphic designers. Many of them worked hard to design greeting cards that will be given to loved ones on Valentine's Day. In honor of the day, I wanted to show you a cool tip for creating hearts of all shapes and sizes in CorelDRAW. We'll...
A couple of days ago I wrote 32-Bit CorelDRAW X6 Best Choice for Most Users. After it was posted, I have had a number of users ask me where to find it or they have told me it didn't exist on their DVD. Today I want to explain the confusing naming on the DVD that is...
It seems like everyone is taking more pictures nowadays thanks to having a camera in our phones. So before you take a picture, do you really look at the scene you are shooting? We've all heard about photos with a tree growing out of someone's head. Yet you may...
Have you tried Twitter? I'm guessing there are probably three prevalent answers to that question. First would be that you don't understand why you would even want an account. Second would be that you created an account, sent a couple of tweets and you just didn't...
I've been training users of CorelDRAW for over 20 years and I can't even guess how many I've met who were struggling to get tasks completed. Beginners expect to magically be able to create amazing art on the very first day. Users who claim to be power users often...
Today I'm reminded about Aesop's Fable about the tortoise and the hare. Sometimes our haste to get things done faster can cause a process to take longer. I still vividly remember one of the first projects I did in CorelDRAW. The year was 1992 and the project was a...
Back in March I created an updated Web design for a client. It solved quite a few issues they were having with the site and did represent a slight change in the overall look. At that time, I was told by an intermediary that the new design wasn't acceptable and yet...
Last week we talked about using typographic quotes instead of a measurement. This week I want to continue the discussion and make sure you are using the correct dashes. In most fonts you will find three distinct dashes and I've shown examples of each at right. In...
Yesterday I was working with a filmmaker on some of the videos for CorelDRAW X6 Unleashed. It was a foreign environment for me as I rarely work on a Mac and had never worked in Final Cut Pro. We were adding some text to the video and it called for quotation marks....
When working on a design, it can be very difficult to properly communicate the desired color. Let's just use the generic "red" as an example. Does that really tell you what color to use? Is that Candy Apple Red? Fire Brigade Red? Reddish Orange? Strawberry Red?...
Earlier this week I asked you, my readers, to suggest possible future themes that I should cover in the blog. One of the suggestions received was "business card basics" and it came at a very good time as I have been in the midst of redesigning my own business card....
