Interactive Llama

The writer, Stewart O’Nan, once said “The two hardest things about writing are starting and not stopping.” Programming at its essentials is writing. When I’m wearing my web developer hat, it seems that I spend over a quarter of my time browsing around the OS-X Finder. So what better way to start programming then having a file framework. Not only can you start more quickly, but your structure will stay consistent. Think of the last time you edited someone else’s project and that person placed all their files in one folder. Oh, the horror!

Introduction to my file framework

The guiding principle for my file framework is:

Either precisely title all files with hierarchical prefixes or create sub folders to categorize your files.

With video projects and print projects that output to one file, file organization isn’t as essential. With web design, you do not want the files you publish getting mixed up with your source files. Yes, we all have at least once uploaded a 100MB Photoshop file to the online server and wondered why it was taking so long. This file framework focuses on web production and output. (more…)

You have the option to embed images into Adobe Illustrator or to link them. If you embed them, then your file will be large (a 500MB AI file is an everyday occurrence in my work). The other is to link to the image file, but if you hand the file off to another person, the linked images will not be stored with it. One option to is to have a central repository located on a network for images. All new images are placed there. This can sometimes be cumbersome not to have a copy of the image on your local machine–consider image manipulations and having to manage file versions centrally. This script solves the problem of collecting linked images for output. This script collects external image links into a single “Links” folder. You can then give that folder and the subsequent source file (AI) to another person and the external links will work. (more…)