Intermediate

I frequently refer to the date and time in the menubar. I was looking for the option to put the date next to time, so that I can avoid clicking the date to bring up the drop-down menu which shows the date. There is no easy straightforward way, but I found a small trick that enables me to customize the field fully without much interference to the system. See the example of my menubar above.

Brad reminded me about an enchancement on the brushed aluminium technique we discussed earlier. He added diamond plates on the brushed metal base for a more masculine and rough look.

Jennifer from the Photoshop blog recommends a great set of brushes for the upcoming Christmas jobs you will surely be getting.

Wether you are running a serious e-commerce site for living or you're a junkie for your blog you will find the new free service from Google a delight to use.

With no doubt Gradient tool is very powerful. If you have a lot of free time to play inside Photoshop and to figure it out how this tool works in Difference mode then I am hoping this tutorial will help you create some of interesting effects that could be applied on your projects.

Tip 3 of the InDesign workout

Having rulers follow your text is a paragraph option in InDesign and can be found in the Paragraph options.

Put your cursor in a paragraph, select the paragraph option in your option bar and on the righthand side click on the black triangle, there you'll find 'Paragraph Rules'.

You have two options: Rule Above and Rule Below. To activate click in the check box, you can use either or both.

If you want to span a picture into several shapes. How do you do it?

Start with a couple of vector shapes. I used some squares, make a pattern at your wish. Select all your vector shapes and go to Object > Compound paths > Make

Now your vector shapes will handle as one shape.

With the Compound path selected go to File > Place and navigate to the picture you want. The picture (or logo) is now divided into each vector object.

Are you tired of the default Google search bar in Safari?

Inquisitor 2.0 is a great cure for the tiresome Google search. Inquisitor allows live search results from within Safari's search bar.

It's like spotlight for the web built in Safari.. Pretty neat tool!

To download it you have to donate what ever value you want to donate, but perhaps you find it worth it..

Download it here: http://www.inquisitorx.com/safari/

If you are a regular user of custom shapes in Photoshop, here are a few tips on using them when combined with layer styles. The benefits of using custom shapes for smaller work are the ability to scale losslessly and to experiment with colour and effects by way of saved layer styles.