Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 – lorem ipsum text

If you are putting some slides together and need some 'placeholder' text to represent something that is going to be written later, where the text is to go you can just type:

=lorem()

and PowerPoint 2010 will automatically insert three paragraphs (or bullets) of lorem ipsum text (the 'gibberish Latin' that typesetters used to use to demonstrate different typefaces.

If you only want 1 or 2 paragraphs/bullets put the number 1 or 2 inside the brackets.

Microsoft Excel 2007 – Double Underline

You already know that you can underline text by simply selecting what you want underlined and then clicking on the Underline tool on the ribbon.

But what if you want a double underline?  Click the down-arrow at the right of the Underline tool and select Double Underline.

Quick and easy!

8 Great Questions to Answer Before Starting A Web Site Project

All I can say is "Amen brother!" to this excellent article from Scott Paley at Abstract Edge. A small business person needs to prepare and think through the end results for their web site. So often we spend twice as much time on the design as we do the content! Big, huge, gigantic mistake. Read this article!

PowerPoint 2007 - Understanding Different Views

Normal View - is also commonly known as Slide View. It is the main working window in the presentation. The slide is shown full size on the screen.

Outline View - shows all the text of all slides, in a list on the left of the PowerPoint screen. No graphics are shown in this view. Outline View is useful for editing purposes and can be exported out as a Word document to use as a summary handout.

Slide Sorter View - is a window in PowerPoint that displays thumbnail versions of all your slides, arranged in horizontal rows. This view is useful to make global changes to several slides at one time. Rearranging or deleting slides is easy to do in Slide Sorter view.

Notes Pages - shows a smaller version of a slide with an area below for notes. Each slide is created on its own notes page. The speaker can print these pages out to use as a reference while making his presentation. The notes do not show on the screen during the presentation.

Fix Common PC Problems

Having trouble with your computer? You've come to the right place. Even if you don't know a computer language (or want to), you can solve several common PC problems on your own.

In this article, we offer many ways to do what you need to do in Windows 7 and Windows Vista. Often, there may not be a Help topic for Windows XP, but the process is often the same as in Windows 7 or Windows Vista. The only difference is usually where to find the link in Control Panel. Most often, it’s just a matter of slightly different wording in the heading or the text describing the task. Don’t worry. If you search in Control Panel, you’ll usually find the link you need.

Click here to continue reading this article from Microsoft at Home.  

Microsoft Word 2007 – Line Spacing Back to Normal, Please!

Does the new line spacing in Word 2007 drive you crazy? Did you know that you can change it in your default menu?

1. Click on the Pop Out arrow in the Paragraph subsection
2. Select Line Spacing: Single
3. Put a check in the “Don’t add space between paragraphs button”
4. Set Before and After to 0 pt
5. Click Default
6. Click Yes

Privacy Policies On Your Web Site Encourage Information Sharing

If you're asking your visitors, especially individual consumers, for their personal information, you will have more success getting that information when your web site has a clear privacy policy. Generate Privacy Policy.com is a free online service to help you write a policy and customize it to your business.

One of My Pet Peeves

The sloppiness of text messages, Facebook posts, email messages, ... even web pages makes me crazy. Not that I haven't made spelling errors of my own. But I do try to proofread. I have others proofread important documents. I at least try to spell correctly which is more than I can say for many. This article from BBC News looks at the actual cost of spelling errors on web sites.

"Spelling is important to the credibility of a website, [Charles Duncombe] says. When there are underlying concerns about fraud and safety, then getting the basics right is essential."

"[Charles Duncombe] says he measured the revenue per visitor to the tightsplease.co.uk website and found that the revenue was twice as high after an error was corrected"

Funny spelling story I'll tell on myself.
One of my favorite tools is AutoCorrect. It's a feature in Microsoft Office that corrects frequently mis-spelled words. It allows you to input your own spelling challenges or special terms. It is a great time saver. Instead of typing Your Computer Lady 100 times a day, I can type YCL and Office will type out the whole phrase for me. In Word, it will even format the phrase in the right font and color that I like to use for all things YCL.

I was doing a project talking about "scope of work." I input an AutoCorrect entry to turn "sow" into "scope of work."  Days later I was making a birthday card for my favorite brother-in-law. I selected a quote just for him. "There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy. By being happy we sow anonymous benefits upon the world." (Robert Louis Stevenson)  In my rush to make the card and get it in to mail I didn't notice that AutoCorrect had sabotaged me. The quote became "...By being happy we scope of work anonymous benefits upon the world."  Wish I could have seen Jim's face when he read that birthday card!

For some really hilarious AutoCorrect stories, visit Damn You AutoCorrect to see screen shots of text message disasters. This site is rated PG-13 for language.

12 Most Fabulous Wasy to be Social Without Leaving Your Desk

12 social sites worth visiting.  Read the article.

Microsoft Excel 2007 - Insert Row or Column Short Cut

A very common task that is done in Excel is to insert rows or columns.  Here is a quick short cut

Press:  "Shift"+"Control"+ "+"

A dialogue box appears to ask if you want to insert a column or a row.

Try it next time you need to add a column or row.

How to Build Your Email List

Review this short list of the best ways to build a really powerful email list.  It isn't hard but you want to use every opportunity you get.  http://img.constantcontact.com/docs/pdf/List-BuildingTipsheet-SP.pdf

How To Sell Ad Space on Your Web Site

When you build up the traffic on your web site, it's time to consider selling ads to related companies. Here's a good article explaining the basics.

Historic Twitter Event with President Obama

Article about the Twitter townhall held this week at the White House. Interesting!
http://techcrunch.com/2011/07/06/all-the-presidents-tweets/

Microsoft Word 2007 - Insert Another File

Everyone knows how to cut and paste, but did you know you could insert another Word document into your existing Word document?

To insert another Word document, start by placing the cursor where the second file should be inserted

1.  Click on "Insert" tab of the ribbon.
2.  Click "Object".
3   Click "Text from File."
4.  Locate the existing Word document you wish to insert and
     click “Insert”.

Give it a try!

Microsoft Office - Zoom in for a Better View

One feature that is really useful is the zoom slider at the bottom right-hand corner of Word and other Microsoft Office 2007 applications. Now, zooming out to see how text looks on paper before printing or zooming in to enlarge the font is easy.

For more precision, you can also click on the buttons beside the slider: Print Layout, Full Screen Reading, Web Layout, Outline and Draft.

Microsoft Excel - Paste Formatting with One Keystroke

If you have several disconnected cells to share a format, such as bold text, it can be a hassle to select each cell one at a time, open its cell-format dialog box, and make the changes you want.

The quick solution is to format one of the cells, and then select all of the others by pressing Ctrl, and clicking them one by one. Once they're all highlighted, press F4 to apply the formatting to all of them at once.

Quick and easy!