Backgrounds For Sprites

Sprite Labs Announces Availability of Paint FX

Sprite labs is proud to announce Photo FX, the first app to let users selectively apply photo enhancements, filters, visual effects and colors to specific parts of a photo, simply by painting them with the fingers, giving users complete control of where they want those effects and enhancements in a photo and where they dont. It is also unique in allowing a combination of multiple effects in different areas of the same photo.

There are several apps in the App store which provide a wide array of photographic effects and filters, but all of them constrain the users in applying the enhancement to the full photo. Most of the photos require a fix or an enhancement to a specific part of the photo only, while needing a totally different enhancement in another part. For example, a dark area in a scene may require brightness improvement while another area with high exposure may need a contrast and a reduction in brightness. Similarly applying a visual effect selectively on a subject instead of the full photo can bring attention to the subject. Users can even go up a notch and combine and layer different effects on the same photo creating unlimited possibilities for for creating stunning masterpieces in minutes with the simple, intuitive and natural touch interface.

“We partnered with acclaimed usability and user interface experts and spent several months in getting each button just right, each pixel perfectly placed, and help and hints provided at each step, so that users can start having fun without scratching their heads and spend their time on creativity instead. We are really looking forward to see what users come up with, with the creative control that Paint FX provides,” says Nikita Sawant, creative director at Sprite Labs.

With this one app, users can do so many things and many more:

Apply precise HDR effects by controlling Brightness, Contrast, and Saturation with pinpoint accuracy. Perfect for Tiltshift (Miniaturization) effects by adding Blur exactly where you want it. Completely erase backgrounds for a brilliant studio-style portrait photo. Have fun, by giving yourself a tan or changing the color of your hair and clothes. Artistic filters like Sketch, Hue, Cartoonize, and Threshold easily turn your photos into professional looking pieces.

Write Smarter HTML & CSS | Emir Plicanic

Every time I start working on a new project, I make it my goal to write the leanest and meanest code possible.

Often, it’s enough to ask simple questions such as:

How can I execute this with less markup or fewer CSS selectors? Can I use sprites for all images? Is there a better way to do something than what I’ve done before? Would CSS3 work better in this case? How will any back-end code or CMS implementation affect my code?

But what’s better then a list of questions? A list of tips or solutions.

So here it is. Feel free to comment and add to it as you see fit.

HTML/CSS Tips

1. Limit the use of  ID’s for layout sections such as #wrapper

3. Use sprites whenever possible to reduce number of HTTP requests. Here is an example of a sprite image:

Sprites can be tricky to create and implement, so here are some techniques that served me well in past:

a. Create one compound selector for each sprite image. This makes your CSS file smaller and easier to maintain.

body, b. Create separate sprites for repeat-x, repeat-y and static backgrounds.

For repeating sprite backgrounds, the individual images should have same height (repeat-x) or width (repeat-y). Here is an example of a vertically repeated sprite background:

Vertically Repeating Background CSS

/* defines background image */ Examine the CSS below:

.arrow-group { Conclusion

Sometimes, no matter how hard I try to keep my HTML clean, it still somehow manages to go wild and become a hard to tame beast. Often, it’s because some jQuery/JavaScript code requires additional hooks, or the project timeline is such that I have limited time to think through the execution in great detail.

In any case, I hope you find these tips helpful. Feel free to leave comments or add other tips.