I work for a marketing company that has a lot of back-end php developers and lets face it, these guys & girls are serious. Thats all they do, code all day. Me being a web designer, I only focus on front-end coding like css / html but also work in Photoshop, so I’m not always coding. But as I walk around the office they all had some pretty sweet looking code with neon colors and what not. I was like a kid in a candy store, I needed it!

I got back to my desk and started Googling, and let me tell you, it was tough finding an easy solution. I knew that I could go into my preferences and change each specific type of code color myself, but I knew that would take forever and I needed it right then. Eventually, I came across a site that provided an XML file that I could replace in my default Dreamweaver files, restart and it was good to go. Luckily it was the color scheme I wanted. I’ll share the file with you guys as well as the steps to install it. Enjoy!

The following steps are for installing on a Mac although I would assume the installation on a PC would be similar. Please be sure to backup your old file, we are not responsible for anything that happens to your application.

1. Quit Dreamweaver and download the file here.
2. Navigate to Application Support > Dreamweaver CS4 > en_US > Configuration > CodeColoring
3. Inisde of this file is a Colors.xml file, rename this to Colors-old.xml so you have a backup
4. Paste the downloaded Colors.xml into this folder
5. Open Dreamweaver and go to Preferences > Code Coloring and set your background to #242424

It’s been quite some time since I’ve posted on this blog. You would assume I have been lazy but actually, it is just the opposite. Here are a couple of things that have been going on since I last posted.

1. I have been hard at work as a Web Designer in my local city working on sites that generate leads for large brands!
2. I started a small business selling skins for iPhones, iPods and Laptops. It’s currently about 2 weeks old. Check it out!
3. I am now a featured Author on the blog for Francesco Mugnai, a great design blog!
4. I have gotten married, 3 months in now, to a beautiful woman!
5. Who knows whats next….but I do plan on getting back into the swing of things here.

So, I say welcome back, um…hmm, that is until I get back from Cancun on Sunday! Here are a couple more photos to keep you occupied until I return.

Even though I have never jumped on board and designed my own pair, the design your own shoe fad has been around for a while. I think I originally remember Converse doing it with the Chuck Taylor a while back. I have been a fan of it for sure, especially since it allows you to create a shoe around your personality or style.

I came across the Nike Air Troupe Design Battle while browsing the FWA site. It is definitely a fun site to play around with. A lot of smooth scrolling and colorful shoes flying around, a nice hip hop beat playing in the background, attractive break dancers, grabs the attention of any MTV – Americas Best Dance Crew fan (fist pumps for the JabbaWockeeZ and Kaba Modern). Basically the site allows you to design a shoe and then have it judged by other viewers of the site. The judging process consist of ten 3-second rounds where 2 shoes are presented and you choose which one you like the best. Once you have chosen a shoe another shoe is shown and you decide if you like the one you just chose or if you like the new one. It’s pretty fun because it is fast paced and the shoes bump to the music.

The overall design is clean and simple with a slight touch of grunge in some instances. The colors are reminiscent or the 80’s with bright yellows, teals, pinks, etc. popping off the black background. All the shoes are very large and colorful as well which will definitely draw the shoe lover out of everyone.

Lets face it, everyone is all about straightforward content these days. We like it short and sweet and right to the point. Well Nike has not strayed far from the path with this site. Everything is short and simple and can keep the attention of a two year old for sure, even when it comes to the break dance bios.

Overall, I think it is a great micro site to promote the Nike Air Troupes. It also promotes individuality which I am a huge advocate of. Thanks for stopping by, I am off to play around with the site some more and maybe design my own pair!