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RSS – Really Simple Syndication

RSS has been around for quite a few years already, but we have not brought it up as an official tip. We purposefully held off because we wanted the technology to mature and for the technology to truly become usable. We also delayed the idea a little until we perfected how we were going to offer this exciting web technology on our site.

This week, we just want to introduce you to the topic and then next week give you the step-by-step on how to best utilize RSS. RSS, originally developed by Netscape, stands for Rich Site Summary. Somewhere along the line, the acronym became more commonly known as Really Simple Syndication.

RSS allows web site owners to ‘share’ their content (articles, tips, pictures, audio, video, etc) with other sites or users. Instead of having to physically go to our site, for example, to see what is new on a given day, you could use RSS to check on the headlines from our site. The headlines would link you back to the site where you could read the entire article. Customizable portal pages like Yahoo, Google and MSN offer will let you add any RSS content to the page as well. Think of RSS as being able to truly customize and instantly receive the exact information and entertainment that fits you. No more schlepping through other people’s content, you can create your own!

For those of you who crave more in depth information and history of RSS, please refer to these two sites:

Wikipedia -RSS
History of RSS

Next week, we will teach you how to look for, compile and utilize RSS content or what are known as ‘feeds’.

RSS – Really Simple Syndication

Admittedly, I’m always a little late to some technologies. Sometimes because of a time factor and other times because it takes me awhile to figure out a use for the technology. One technology that has been around a few years that I’m just starting to take advantage of is RSS.

RSS allows any web user to ‘subscribe’ (for free) to an automated feed from a web site. At first, I thought, "hmm, why not just visit the sites you are interested in instead of having the headlines (and summaries) delivered to me in an RSS program or email." Now, I can see that getting customized headlines delivered to me immeadiately is an extension of personalized portal pages like MSN and My Yahoo. In fact, one HUGE reason that Adam and I worked so hard in the fall to redesign and orgainze our site was to be able to offer a clean way of offering RSS on our site.

Automating Word

Almost seven years ago, I created some form templates for a customer of mine who is a salesman. He wanted to automate some forms that he filled out frequently so that he could minimize his time filling out forms and increase his time selling products. He gave me the forms that he currently filled out by hand, and I re-created them in Microsoft Word using Tables and the form features available in Word.

The final form was then saved as a Word Template (so it could be used over and over without affecting the original). All he had to do was double-click on a shortcut that pulled up a blank form for him to fill out and then print, email, and or save. The form even contained calculated fields to total his line items and the entire order. Did you know Word could do that?

I visited my client again today and we tweaked those seven year old documents to match his current needs. I really enjoy helping clients come up with ways to improve their efficiency using tools already on their computer.

If you are interested in how to create fillable forms with Microsoft Word, I found these online tutorials to be a good start:

The power of databases

Lately, I have been helping a business customer set up a database to help manage a portion of their business. Databases are highly underutilized in the small to medium sized business. Databases differ greatly to spreadsheets and potentially offer many more benefits to using spreadsheets.

Properly designed and built, a database can save many hours of data entry and reduce entry errors to almost zero. Databases also provide the opportunity to instantly extract subsets of information from the data…this is done through a process called queries. Reporting functions also excel (no pun intended) with databases and can be customized to meet any need.

Create Calendars Easily and for Free

If you have been frustrated at trying to create an attractive and simple monthly calendar, then you have come to the right place. 

Days Ease is a free program from the folks at PC Magazine. It allows you to create and print customized monthly and yearly calendars…easily! You can add your own text to the days, customize titles, fonts, colors and more. Follow these steps to start using Days Ease today:

  1. Click on this link to initiate the download of the program 
  2. When the ‘save as’ box pops up, click in the Look in box and click Desktop
  3. Click Save
  4. Wait for the download to finish (approximately 4-6 minutes with a 28.8 connection) and close your open programs
  5. Find the ‘daysease’ icon on your desktop and double-click on it
  6. Click OK
  7. Click Unzip
  8. Click OK
  9. Click Close
  10. Double-click on My Computer
  11. Double-click on your "C" drive
  12. Double-click on the "daysease" folder
  13. Drag the Days Ease icon to your desktop
  14. Close any open windows and then double-click on the Days Ease icon to start printing calendars!

 

Quick Tweaks to Make Windows Snap

When I make a house or office call during the week to work on a computer, I almost always run through a few quick tweaks to make Windows perform just a little bit better. No matter how new a computer may be, it can’t be too fast. Try these tweaks on your computer to see if you can eek out a little more performance.
Disable Visual Effects

Starting with Windows 98 Second Edition, Microsoft added visual effects to menus and windows that do nothing but make us wait a little longer to perform our computing tasks. To cut down on these visual effects, do the following:

1. RIGHT Click on a blank part of the desktop

Adding a Mail notification sound to your email

OK, I?m going to pick on AOL a little this week. Who believes that ?You?ve got mail!? is not only horrible grammar, but also pretty corny!

If you are an AOL user and want to change that sound or are an independent Internet user who uses Netscape, or Outlook Express, Eudora, etc for their mail, this tip will help you add your own customized sound to your email.

The first thing you need is a sound file. You can get this one of three ways:

1. Use the stock sounds that come with Windows
2. Download a sound from the Internet (see Links of Interest below)
3. Or my favorite, record your own sound (or record your children, grandchildren, friend, dog, etc )

When Should You Use the RIGHT Mouse Button?

Many people ask me when is the appropriate time to click the RIGHT mouse button. My short answer is to try it everywhere. The RIGHT mouse button (or secondary mouse button) provides quick access to many common functions via a pop up menu. And those functions change depending on what program you are using and where you are in that program.

For example, in almost any application, if you click the RIGHT mouse button, you will have access to cut, copy, and paste. If you are in email, or the Internet or a word processing program any you need to copy some text to another area, first highlight it then RIGHT click on it to quickly get to the Copy function.

Customize Office Toolbars

Starting with Microsoft Office 2000 and the XP version afterward, software engineers in Redmond decided that showing an entire menu in Word, Excel or any of the Office programs would confuse software users.

Instead of showing the entire menu when clicking on File, Edit, Format, etc, from the menus, we are presented with an abbreviated menu showing only two or three options. In order to view the entire menu, we can either wait a few seconds (who has that kind of time) or click on the double arrows at bottom of the menu.

Thankfully, you can reverse this process, if you wish. You can restore order to the Office menu system and view all the menus with a single click. Follow these steps for either Office 2000 or Office XP products (including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Front Page, Access, Outlook (not Express), and Publisher):