Research Resource Discovery

When it comes to adjusting tonality and color in Photoshop, most people start with Levels. And most people stay there. But the Curves tool is far more powerful than Levels for controlling color, highlights, shadows, brightness, and contrast. The Photoshop Curves panel offers broader, deeper, more precise controls than Levels for adjusting images. In this course, photographer and educator Taz Tally demystifies Curves, showing how to use the tool to adjust tonality, make color corrections, produce creative effects, and more. By the end of the course, you'll be a Curves convert.

Have you used lookup tables or gradient maps with Photoshop lately? Probably not. Most photographers aren't aware of them. But they're powerful tools for performing all manner of color correction and photo styling tasks.

In this course, Rich Harrington demystifies lookup tables (LUTs) and shows how to use them with Photoshop, Lightroom, and other Adobe CC applications. He also shows how to use gradient maps—where tints are based on the luminance values in the image—to add creative color and noise to images, and how to organize, store, and share these assets with other Creative Cloud programs and other photo and video professionals.

Implement namespaces, extend interfaces, create your first Trait, dive into object-oriented programming, and discover versatile scripting methods with this course. Web developer Justin Yost takes you into the advanced parts of the PHP server-side language, including abstract classes, iterators, generators, and password hashing. He provides an overview of each topic, takes you through how to code each item for the first time, and then shows you how to expand further.

Learn how to establish consistency, solve problems, and prevent your applications from crashing by applying the techniques Justin shares in this course. Take your object-oriented programming beyond basic attributes and methods into using constructors, deconstructors, and singletons. Build nested exceptions, use type hints, and explore additional ways you can craft more flexible software using PHP.

Debug your PHP code efficiently with a variety of client and server-side tools. In this concise course for experienced PHP developers, author Jon Peck demonstrates how to leverage PHP's built-in tools, as well as the Xdebug and Firebug extensions, and FirePHP libraries to improve the quality of your code and reduce troubleshooting overhead.

This course covers installation of Xdebug on Apache as well as working with the NetBeans IDE (integrated development environment). Jon then introduces native web browser developer tools for Firefox and Chrome, and demonstrates browser independent web debugging tools. Best practices for debugging and profiling web application failures and performance issues are also covered.

Develop your Python programming skills. Python is a great choice for building all kinds of applications, but to fully take advantage of its power and flexibility, you need to master all its advanced functionality. In this course, you can learn how to leverage next-level Python features such as object-oriented special class methods, use logging to track performance and user activity, see how to port code from Python 2 to 3, and make your code more efficient and easier to read and maintain. Instructor Joe Marini also shows how to manipulate data, build custom classes and functions, create lists, and write more elegant, optimized code.

Develop your Python programming skills. Python is a great choice for building all kinds of applications, but to fully take advantage of its power and flexibility, you need to master all its advanced functionality. In this course, you can learn how to leverage next-level Python features such as object-oriented special class methods, use logging to track performance and user activity, see how to port code from Python 2 to 3, and make your code more efficient and easier to read and maintain. Instructor Joe Marini also shows how to manipulate data, build custom classes and functions, create lists, and write more elegant, optimized code.

The CSS Flexible Box Layout module (aka Flexbox) provides a simple solution to many of the design and layout problems web designers and developers have faced since the advent of CSS. Now that the module is becoming ready for the main stage, it's time to look at what we can do with it.

This course shows how to use flexible boxes to create advanced responsive layouts. Morten Rand-Hendriksen takes the viewer on a tour of Flexbox and provides actionable code snippets that can be implemented safely in almost any website. He puts it all together in a holy grail site complete with card-based layout, mixed content menus, and interactive components that provide visitors with choices about what they see.

SAS is one of the most used data analytics platforms in the world. Enhance your programming skillset by learning how to apply your understanding of R— the language of big data—in the SAS environment at an advanced level. Instructor Jordan Bakerman covers several different advanced techniques for analyzing data via inferential procedures. Learn about linear regression with PROC REG, estimating linear combinations with the general linear model procedure, mixed models and the MIXED procedure, and more.

Note: You can visit the SAS site to obtain a copy of the software, and use the company's online data sets to do the course exercises.

Advanced SAS Programming for R Users explores sophisticated techniques and concepts that can help you apply your understanding of R—the language of big data—in the SAS environment at an advanced level. In this course, Jordan Bakerman walks through several advanced SAS programming concepts. To begin, he covers the basics of the Interactive Matrix Language (IML), and discusses random number generation in IML, common IML modules, and how to pull a SAS dataset into an IML matrix. He then discusses how to call R from SAS, work with R from IML, and more. To get the most from this course, make sure to watch Advanced SAS Programming for R Users, Part 1.

Note: You can visit the SAS site to obtain a copy of the software, and use the company's online data sets to do the course exercises.

Note: Mastering Selenium Testing Tools was created by Packt Publishing. It was originally released on 12/23/15. We are pleased to host this training in our library.

Selenium gives developers the power to control web browsers and use them to automate web application testing. As an open-source toolset, Selenium makes it easier for testers to evaluate web applications without putting in any extra time and effort.

Mastering Selenium Testing Tools is all about demystifying the Selenium suite. Learn to verify web applications, control browsers with code, and scale up the testing environment by distributing the execution of web applications on different browsers running on different operating systems.

Author Ripon Al Wasim starts with the Selenium IDE, a Firefox plugin that performs a simple record-and-playback of interactions with the browser. A tester aiming for professional output can use WebDriver, an advanced scripting tool that allows you to locate the elements you need to interact with using their name: id, xPath, or CSS. Next, learn to express the desired behavior using a well-known framework for behavior-driven development (BDD) called Cucumber for Java, which uses a language called Gherkin. Last but not least, Ripon shows how to run tests on the Selenium Server, and walks through a complete working example of Selenium and Cucumber in action, for acceptance testing of a web application.

Advanced SEO goes beyond keyword research and tagging. It goes to the very heart of your website: its architecture, code, and data. Learn advanced SEO techniques to build an SEO-friendly website from the ground up. Marketing expert Brad Batesole explains how to optimize your architecture to improve site indexing and crawling, understand the impact of canonical URLs and smart URL management strategies, build keywords into images and alt text, and use structured data to help search engines like Google understand your pages better. He introduces tools and resources to help you audit and improve the technical aspects of your site, such as the Screaming Frog SEO Spider, PageSpeed Insights, the Ryte TF*IDF analyzer, and Chrome Developer Tools extensions like Lighthouse. Plus, discover how to optimize site speed and rendering, and explore how the future of the web—technologies like HTTP/2 and progressive web apps—will impact SEO.

SEO search factors—the elements that contribute to how and where your site is displayed on Google's results page—impact how your content makes its way to your audience. In this course, Brad Batesole pulls back the curtain on the modern search engine, explaining how people search and how machine learning makes it all possible. Along the way, Brad points out how to capture Google featured snippets and reveals how results and programmatic site features work. He also delves into methodologies for mining results from Google to unlock new ideas and opportunities, and shows how to track your performance.

There is an increasing need for data scientists and analysts to understand relational data stores. Organizations have long used SQL databases to store transactional data as well as business intelligence related data. If you need to work with SQL databases, this course is designed to help you learn how to perform common data science tasks, including finding, exploration, and extraction within relational databases.

The course begins with a brief overview of SQL. Then the five major topics a data scientist should understand when working with relational databases: basic statistics in SQL, data preparation in SQL, advanced filtering and data aggregation, window functions, and preparing data for use with analytics tools.

Discover how to create, manage, and deliver interactive reports—not just to print, but to dynamically explore enterprise-level data—with Reporting Services in SQL Server. In this course, author Simon Allardice concentrates on using Report Builder to build and format reports from a variety of data sources, but also shows how to perform basic administration tasks such as granting user access and organizing reports in the Report Manager. Plus, learn how to add interactive sorting and filtering functionality to your reports, and create column and pie charts to better express your data.

Note: These tutorials are applicable to both the 2008 and 2012 versions of SQL Server.

Scalable vector graphics (SVGs) adapt smoothly to a wide variety of sizes, and are easy to manipulate with their navigable DOM. In this course, learn how to work with the powerful SVG graphic format, and create complex animations for multiple use cases across the web. Sarah Drasner begins the course by providing an introduction to SVG and outlining the SVG DOM (document object model). Next, she explains how to create SVG graphics with platonic shapes, and work with paths and groups. Sarah also discusses optimizing SVG files, working with responsive SVG animation sprites and the GreenSock animation library, animating text and relative color values, and more.

Note: This course was created by Frontend Masters. It was originally released on 2/19/2016. We're pleased to host this training in our library.

Learn how to write C# applications that perform multiple tasks concurrently-aka multithreaded applications. Programs that use multithreading are more responsive to user input because the user interface stays active as processor-intensive tasks execute on separate threads. Multithreading is also useful when you create scalable applications because you can add threads as the workload increases. In this course, Microsoft MVP Chander Dhall reviews the basics of threading and signaling, and then shows how to use the popular .NET library for parallel execution, TPL; the query syntax PLINQ; and the recommended asynchronous programming pattern, TAP. By the end of the course, he shows how to turn sequential code into a multithreaded application that runs five times faster than before.

The future of typography is now. It's a future where type is conquering motion, space, and interaction to play across all media. Imagine type that is alive and dynamic, that adapts to the environment. This is transmedia typography, type that can be expressed in a variety of visual environments, including screen-based, print-based, and emerging media. This course adapts Brad Bartlett's acclaimed transmedia typography class taught at Art Center College of Design and introduces mediatecture (aka media architecture), a ground-breaking course developed by Nik Hafermaas. Bartlett and Hafermaas explore the new ecosystems that typography now resides in and the tools (such as sensors and projectors) that designers can use to develop their own transmedia typography projects. They also provide an outlook on the rich career opportunities in this exciting new and cutting-edge space.

Learn the foundation of player movement in 2d platformer games. This course offers a breakdown of common player behaviors as well as some advanced techniques to bring your 2D platformer to life. Jesse Freeman shows how to detect input from the keyboard and controller, make the player walk and run, and add in more advanced movement behaviors, such as ducks, double and long jumps, and sliding down walls. Plus, learn how to make your character pick up items and fire projectiles like fireballs.

Unity is the number one game engine, the favorite of game developers working on iOS apps and console games alike. This course picks up the programming side of Unity, continuing where our other Unity courses leave off. Michael House concentrates on scripting, custom GUI controls, prefab customization, multiplayer networking features like chat, and optimizations that will make your game play better on mobile devices and desktops alike. Take a deep dive into Unity's controls and learn how to build more interactive, high-performance 3D games.

NOTE: This course requires Unity 4.5.5. The newer versions of Unity have done away with the GUI system used in this course, so the interfaces included for many of the scenes will not work with 4.6 and higher. You can download Unity 4.5.5 at http://unity3d.com/get-unity/download/archive.

Build beautiful and effective visualizations driven by external data with Microsoft Visio 2016. Visio MVP Scott Helmers offers advanced techniques for working with data in Visio diagrams.

First, learn how to apply data and display fields to shapes and run the many prebuilt reports offered in Visio 2016, as well as customize your own. Then find out how to visualize data with callouts, data bars, and icon sets; change the color of shapes as data values change; link diagrams to external data from Excel and Access; align data with flow charts, timelines, organization charts, and other Visio diagrams; and share your new data-driven diagrams with others—even if they don't have Visio. This course will help you accomplish more than you ever thought was possible with Visio, and communicate more effectively than you ever could with static data alone.

Lynda.com is a PMI Registered Education Provider. This course qualifies for professional development units (PDUs). To view the activity and PDU details for this course, click here.

The PMI Registered Education Provider logo is a registered mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

Hooks are key components of WordPress plugin development. There are two types: filters modify data and actions perform tasks. Gain a fundamental understanding of how these features work, and learn how to use the built-in action and filter hooks in WordPress to build your own plugins. In the first half of the course, instructor Carrie Dils reviews the plugin API and demonstrates the basics of actions and filters. Already familiar with these core concepts? Skip to chapter three, where she covers what you need to make your own hooks. Learn about load order and writing callback functions, and using third-party hooks. Last but not least, Carrie builds a demo plugin that shows practical real-world uses for actions and filters.

Learn the fundamentals of effective advertising and marketing communications. Former NYC ad executive Jane Barratt provides an overview of the current media landscape, and the building blocks and relative costs of a basic advertising plan. She outlines the basic process of getting your message to market and provides tools to help you refine your market focus, define your customer profiles, and establish your overall media strategy. Whether you want to do it yourself, partner with ad agencies, or work in a corporate marketing department, this course will help you understand what the ad footprint of any company, regardless of size, needs to succeed.

Lynda.com is a PMI Registered Education Provider. This course qualifies for professional development units (PDUs). To view the activity and PDU details for this course, click here.

The PMI Registered Education Provider logo is a registered mark of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

In this course, marketing expert Anson Alexander explains how advertising works on Instagram and how Facebook Ads Manager works. Anson goes over the types of content you can use to advertise on Instagram and then shows how to create, upload, and format ads. He demonstrates how to target specific audiences, implement a budget, and run scheduled campaigns. He also covers analytics so you can discover how to adjust your advertising efforts based on performance information you find in analytics reports.

Set up your business to reach your ideal customers by advertising on LinkedIn, the world's largest professional network. The marketing capabilities of LinkedIn include features for posting original content, managing your company's brand presence, performing content marketing, creating ads, and more—all while targeting specific audiences that are the most valuable to your business. This course provides both an introduction to advertising on LinkedIn and a step-by-step walkthrough of how to implement strategies using the tools provided. Budgeting, measurement, and analytics along with targeting tactics are also covered.

It's already home to a sought-after and active target audience. But with the introduction of promoted pins, Pinterest is becoming a digital advertising platform to reckon with. Promoted pins look almost identical to regular pins—and because they are perpetual, they continue to engage long after your campaign has ended. In this course, Anson Alexander provides tips and tricks for creating effective, engaging pins and winning campaigns on Pinterest. Learn, he shows how to create a business account on Pinterest and post your first promoted pin. Then Anson demonstrates how to create campaigns, set goals, and specify your target, schedule, and budget. Using the tools in Pinterest, you can target by interest, demographics, or keywords. Finally Anson reviews the analytics tools in Pinterest for tracking your metrics and conversions—and optimizing future performance.