FlashEff2 is a Flash CS3/CS4 AS3.0 component (by JumpEyeComponents, the same makers that brought you BannerSnack) that allows Flash users (from beginner to expert) to create awesome Flash stuff very fast. I was one of the first people to give the beta version of this extension a spin and I must say: This is taking the Flash experience to a whole new level.

In the past, you needed some ActionScript programming before you could actually make something really fancy with the framework. Now, FlashEff2 makes this a whole lot easier for everyone! Simply apply an effect on any MovieClip or dynamic textfield on the stage and you're ready to go. For those who aren't experienced at all with Flash, JumpEyeComponents gives you a very detailed FAQ when downloading the extension.

I wouldn't be writing this just as a teaser for all of you. JumpEyeComponents gave me the opportunity to give away FREE FlashEff2 Premium Plug Beta Invites to every single one of you! This way, you'll be able to give the extension a spin for yourself and create some very sleek Flash movies: The easy way. Just like I said: Really everyone can use this extension, it's as simple as that.

It looked like as if was yesterday that Marcofolio.net turned one, but today, this website is already two years old. It seems as if the blog-o-sphere celebrates a couple of birthday parties, since Blog.Spoongraphics, Tutorial9 and FudgeGraphics recently celebrated their birthday too!

I'm pretty satisfied with what happend the past year. I managed to give the website a whole new look and I think the quality of articles got improved. I wrote a couple of great jQuery tutorials and created the new, inspirational section.

I hope you enjoy your stay on this website as much as I do writing it. Stay tuned for more high quality articles, freebies, jQuery tutorials, inspirational articles, Joomla! extensions, CSS proof of concepts and much, much more!

Chris Spooner is a very talented freelance graphic and website designer based in Sheffield (UK). He has a very impressive portfolio, but most people will know him as the founder from his blog: Blog.SpoonGraphics. He launched another blog a while ago called Line25. His second blog is already growing every day with high quality articles.

Last week, I had a chance of chatting with this friendly guy. You can read the full chat conversation here, sharing some personal and useful stuff with the rest of us.

At first, I wanted to call this post "Spooning with Chris Spooner", but that would really turn some heads. I called it "discussing blueprints", referring to his new blog (that has a sweet blueprint layout).

Now, lets sit down, take a drink and chat with this creative man behind the scenes of SpoonGraphics and Line25 (he's a monster lover too).

Janko Javonovic is an (digital) artist, UI designer, husband, father and founder of Janko At Warp Speed. The tagline of JAWS (Helps you build good looking and functional web sites) is exactly what the site is about. I found his website last year through StumbleUpon, when Janko had "just" 600 RSS subscribers. From that point on, his blog kept on growing and growing and many people like Jankos creative thoughts and ideas that he's sharing.

Last week, I was "chatting on warp speed" with Janko, sharing thoughts about webdesign, UI design, webdevelopment and his personal life. You can read this conversation right here.

I'll be placing an tutorial online later this week on how you can create these cute "text-balloons" yourself with CSS. Now, lets sit down and warpspeed chat with this creative man behind the scenes of Janko at Warp Speed.

Remember my goals for 2009? One of the goals was: Finally changing / update my template. Today, I'm proud to release this template, giving Marcofolio.net a totally new and unique look.

I already had my template designed November 2008, but never had the time to convert it to HTML/CSS. I was really lucky to be the winner of a PSD to XHTML contest on CrazyLeaf. The guys from Feathercode did a real good job at converting my PSD to a nice XHTML page.

Since I'm using Joomla!, I still needed to transfer this XHTML to a Joomla! template. It took me a while, but it's finally here: the new template for Marcofolio.net is placed in the wild!

Changes from the previous theme:

1. Header/Footer (Didn't you notice?)
2. Typeface
3. Now added a live Twitter feed
4. Made use of some fun jQuery
5. Advertising spots are now through BuySellAds - Just $40 each!

Just check out the new Marcofolio.net that got a new, colourful, grungy, abstract new look.