We've been rolling through one of the decidedly unsexy (albeit often necessary) aspects of being a Web designer: the need to actually use an honest-to-goodness Web server to test out your sites. Mac OS X makes this process pretty easy, but there are some extra steps one can take to make the whole experience a tad more full-featured. Let's go over a few more tips for adding some extra bling to Mac OS X's indigenous Web server.

Macromedia (or, I guess it's Adobe now) Flash is great for browser-based stuff, but let's face facts: it's pretty lousy for offline use. Sure, you can save Flash movies as standalone projectors, but the glaring lack of customization or ability to interface with the host OS has created a mammoth opening for third parties to drive through. Enter Zinc, from UK-based MDM, which (to put it simply but crudely) puts Flash movies on an enormous steroid regimen. How well does it make Flash into a full-blown application development environment? Let's find out.

So you're the owner of one of those shiny new Intel Macs that seems to be getting all the press these days. And since Apple has so thoughtfully released BootCamp, you may be more than a little curious about what's going on over on the Windows side of the fence. As Windows-on-a-Mac can be a strange (and possibly dangerous) new world, here are a few tips to help you navigate the waters.