The Diet Diva : Website Redesign

Tara Gidus, a.k.a. "The Diet Diva", is a nationally recognized expert on nutrition, fitness, and health promotion. She is the Orlando Magic's team dietitian and regularly appears on the nationally-syndicated TV show "The Daily Buzz". On top of that, she's also a National Media Spokesperson for the American Dietitic Association!

So, yeah, she knows her stuff. And lots of people count on her for expert advice and the latest information on how to live a healthier lifestyle.

But Tara couldn't count on her old website to get the job done. It was poorly coded, non-expandable and adhered to outdated HTML 4.0 standards.

Steam Studios redesigned her website, from front end to back, from the top down. Not only is the new site more reflective of Tara's "Diet Diva" style, it's easier to navigate and much more user-friendly. We also built a Content Management System that allows Tara to quickly add to her blog and make site updates whenever she needs to.

The site is fun, functional and empowering. Through a patented mix of XHTML, CSS and various other Web 2.0 standards, Tara can revise and update her website - whenever she wants! - so that she can share her nutritional expertise with the entire world.

Click Here to check out the Diet Diva website!

Salem? But we barely know 'em.

Steve McCain will be visiting Salem, Massachusetts from October 30th through November 2nd. Samson Cranford will be holding down the fort while Steve goes witch-hunting, bobs for apples and gets into assorted Halloween hijinks (which may or may not involve "rolling" Nathaniel Hawthorne's house).

In other news... Samson Cranford celebrated his birthday in true Orlando fashion: By pigging out at Disney World! Well, by partaking in the Epcot Food & Wine Festival last weekend, to be exact. Happy belated birthday, pal!

Simple Pantone Selection

Chances are you've never been handed a low-resolution jpeg image and been asked to find a particular color's Pantone. Because, if you have, you're probably a designer. Or you're us.

So, to our fellow designers, (and we know you're out there) here is a super-duper timesaver. When some Marketing Rep asks you to match a Pantone from a jpeg or gif or any other file format that couldn't possibly have accurate Pantone colorization, don't fly off the handle and try to educate him/her. Don't bust out your swatch books and color wheels. Resist the urge to explain "color theory", RGB vs. CMYK vs. Spot Colors, etc.

Just do the following...

1. Open the file in Photoshop
2. Using the Eyedropper tool, click on the color in question.
3. When the "Color Picker" window opens, click on "Color Libraries"
4. Select the appropriate style of Pantone (coated, uncoated, matte, etc.)

Photoshop will do a "best guess" to match the Pantone regardless of what color mode you're in. And 9 times out of 10 it's a near-perfect match. That one time out of 10 when the match is off? Just eyeball it and look for similar colors in the tonal range. You'll usually find the perfect color approximation.

And that's it. Now get on with your day. Happy designing!

The Empire Movie Quiz

In honor of Steve's one-year anniversay (on Oct. 29th) of his appearance on Who Wants to be a Millionaire's "Million Dollar Movie Week", we thought we'd leave you with a fun time-waster. A really fun time-waster! (Apologies in advance to your employers.)

Guess the movie from a portion of its movie poster, courtesy of "Empire" magazine! Steve would tell you how he did on the quiz, but he doesn't want to make you feel like you can't hang with him on movie trivia. Which you can't.