The Scenario You are creating a Flash project that feeds text in from an external XML file. The text is currently in English but there is a requirement that the text be changed to other languages. The Problem You have added foreign characters such as é, ü or ß and they don’t show up in Flash. The Solution Follow these steps below and all should be well: Ensure that your XML document is formatted as UTF-8. If you are using Coda, it’s simple enough. and that is also has the correct XML declaration in the header:  <?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″ ?> Ensure...

This post is a collection of sites and tools that I find useful when designing sites and interfaces. Coda – Probably the best code editor. Mac only i’m affraid. Coda Clips – An online repository of code snippets that can be imported into Coda and used from the clips panel. If you don’t have Coda you can simply copy and paste the code into your code editing tool. flCodr – Another online repository, but this time for actionscript snippets with the added bonus of having a custom panel for Flash to access code. Smashing Magazine - Founded in September 2006, Smashing...

I’ve not written a full post on here for a while – party due to the fact that I have been on holiday and have moved house (still waiting for my internet equipment – come on BT!!). There are a few Flash tutorials/apps that I will be adding over the next few weeks, such as a Facebook style pop up window to display messages in your Flash applications. I will also the flCodr panel with some nice new features so check the site regularly for that!!

The early part of the 21st century brought many new buzzwords and phrases. IT professionals are no longer known simply as the ‘computer guy’ but instead have names such as Software Architect and eLearning Developer. Gone were the days of sticking an ‘e’ on the front of everything to make it sound futuristic. Even sticking the Apple ‘i’ in front of everything was starting to get a big weak. The internet needed to evolve into something more that just a repository of information. It needed to grow almost by itself. It needed to be used for socialising as well as information. Enter social...

The Locator Panel has now been updated to v1.2. The update improves the functionality of the Map, in terms of being controlled by the keyboard and mouse. It also improves feedback when a connection is lost or cannot be found. You can download the panel from here.

I’ve found a new plugin that enables you to view the SizzlaBlog in a format optimized for your iPhone or iTouch. Simply head to the same address (www.blog.sizzla-media.co.uk) to view it. If you would like the theme yourself check out the page over at ContentRobot. There are a few things I need to tweak but everything seems to work ok!!

Now this may seem common sense to a lot of you but when restoring/updating/jailbreaking your iPhone, don’t be as stupid as me and pull out the cable. Stupid thing to do, but I mistook it for my Mighty Mouse cable (they look identical). The phone went dead and all I could get out of it was the Apple logo. I tried all the restore methods but nothing worked. Quick trip to the Apple store and the Genius plugged in a different cable with a strange looking device attached. Whatever it was, it did the trick and i’ve now got my iPhone back and working. Seems that this is what happens to phones...