Letter from Lynda
Photo by Bruce Heavin
| This month, we have new courses in every category: from a series that can help you improve your job-hunting skills, to a CINEMA 4D series, to designing custom interfaces with WordPress, and more. Also, be sure to check out our full-length documentary film, Jerry & Maggie: This is not photography, about two artists whose haunting, realistic dreamscapes have inspired both criticism and admiration. |
Customizing WordPress Designing custom interfaces for the WordPress open-source content management system (CMS) can be a chore for even seasoned web designers. In WordPress Essential Training, Morten Rand-Hendriksen explains the basics of using and customizing WordPress, including hosting, troubleshooting, managing video and image assets, choosing plugins, configuring themes, and more. In WordPress: Building Responsive Themes, he delves into building WordPress sites that automatically adapt and resize to any device or screen size.
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Boosting job search skills Exploring Photoshop CS6 and Elements 11 In Up and Running with Photoshop Elements 11 , photographer and teacher Jan Kabili introduces the photo organizing, editing, and sharing features of the latest version of Elements. Adobe Photoshop senior product manager Bryan O’Neil Hughes’ Photoshop Insider Training: Enhancing Photos focuses on the Crop, Dodge, Burn, and Sponge tools, the Curves panel, sharpening and blur features, and much more. Don’t miss Photoshop CS6 One-on-One: Advanced, the latest installment of Deke McClelland’s comprehensive series, and watch the new Bert Monroy: Dreamscapes course to see how to use Photoshop to modify artwork and turn the ordinary into extraordinary.
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Explaining the essentials of CINEMA 4D We’ve created a series that lays the foundation for the 3D modeling, rendering, and animation program CINEMA 4D . Veteran lynda.com author Rob Garrott offers nine courses, each covering a key area of this complex program, and each able to be completed within two hours. For shorter weekly lessons on CINEMA 4D, as well as After Effects, check out Rob’s series Design in Motion.
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Editing music and vocals iPad Music Production: GarageBand is the second installment in our iPad Music Production series by Garrick Chow. In this course, Garrick shows how to record and edit music on the iPad with both real instruments and the virtual instruments in GarageBand for iPad. And building off Melodyne Studio Essential Training, Skye Lewin explains more advanced vocal editing and tuning concepts, including editing and altering vocal rhythms and tuning both lead and backing vocals, in the new Melodyne Advanced Techniques.
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Inspiring documentary: Jerry & Maggie Our new documentary Jerry & Maggie: This is not photography features husband-and-wife artists who push the boundaries of photography. Jerry Uelsmann experiments in a darkroom; Maggie Taylor composes on a computer screen. Step inside their Florida compound for a peek at their complementary work, contrasting processes, and inspiration-seeking expeditions through an alligator-dwelling swamp. Check out the trailer and watch the film.
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Until next time, happy learning!
—Lynda |
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Keep an eye on the site for these and many other new courses coming soon: - Aperture 3 Essential Training
- Audio Recording Techniques
- Blackboard 9.x Essential Training for Instructors
- Building and Monetizing Game Apps for Android
- Camtasia Studio 8 Essential Training
- CINEMA 4D Essentials 7: MoGraph Modeling and Animation
- CINEMA 4D Essentials 8: Character Rigging and Xpresso
- CINEMA 4D Essentials 9: Particles and Dynamics
- Core Data for iOS and OS X
- CorelDRAW Essential Training
- Create a Sliding Tabbed Panel with jQuery
- Create a Sliding Tabbed Panel with jQuery and Dreamweaver
- Create Your First Online Store with Magento Go
- Designing a Magazine Cover
- Developing a Style Guide
- Digital Publishing Fundamentals
- Documentary Editing with Final Cut
Pro X - Dreamweaver and WordPress: Core Concept
- InDesign for Web Design
- Managing Documents with SharePoint 2010
- Motion Control 3D: Bringing Your Photos to Life in Three Dimensions
- Muse Essential Training
- Responsive Design Fundamentals
- Responsive Design Workflows
- SEO: Link-Building in Depth
- Shooting with the Nikon D800
- Sketchup Rendering using Twilight
- Twitter for Business
- Up and Running with Acrobat XI
- Up and Running with Bootstrap
- Up and Running with HTML
- Up and Running with SpeedGrade
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Testimonial of the monthYou’ve become a verb!
I thought you might like to know that your website has become a verb. I had a client tell me today that they were lynda.comming their way through learning new software and I had no idea what they meant, so I looked it up and found your site. Congrats on your verbness. You’ve joined the ranks of googling, photoshopping and skyping!
—Jill W. Read more great feedback. | Tip of the month | 
The posture on the left signals fear to your audience—and to your own body. The one on the right signals confidence. | Coping with anxiety from Effective Public Speaking with Laura Bergells
Until you gain more experience, you can work on improving your body posture. Some on-stage body postures can actually make you feel more afraid, while others can help you control your nerves. One of the worst and the most typical body postures for frightened speakers is arms hanging, hands clasped, and head bowed. This posture signals fear, not just to your audience but also to your own body; it actually makes your nerves worse.
Instead, if you’re feeling very nervous and you’re new to public speaking, try doing the exact opposite: Place your hands behind your back and look up. This pose instantly makes your physical presence seem bigger and bolder. It not only signals more confidence, but also lets you take in more oxygen for better control over your speaking.
If you’re ever so nervous before a presentation that you feel nauseous, try blowing on your thumb as if it is a birthday candle and you’re trying to put it out. This quick breathing exercise works because it tends to calm your diaphragm while narrowing your focus.
Want more public speaking tips? Watch Laura Bergells’s full course, Effective Public Speaking. |
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