Saturday, April 30, 2016

Triangle with Three Right Angles

They said - "Impossible!"


Forget high school geometry. A triangle can have more than on ninety degree angle.




Here's how it was done:

IllusionsEtc.Blogspot.com

"Caution!!!! Some of the optical illusions on this blog may cause dizziness or possibly epileptic seizures. The latter happens when the brain can't handle the conflicting information from your two eyes. If you start feeling unwell when using this website, immediately cover one eye with your hand and then leave the page. Do not close your eyes because that can make the attack worse."
Site map



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Friday, April 29, 2016

Reduce Entry Mistakes

Disable AutoExpand


When you type an entry in a combobox control Access will typically attempt to complete the entry based on the control's lookup list.

This is controlled by the AutoExpand property, which is set to Yes (-1) by default.

Although such behavior is helpful, it can cause problems if your value list contains several items that are close in spelling, since it's easy for users to accidentally let Access choose the wrong item.

You can avoid errors by setting the control's AutoExpand property to No (0) in Design view or using VBA to set the property equal to 0.

Once you've made the change users are forced to type the entire entry or select an item using the combobox control's dropdown list.

(Works the same in Access 2007+)





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Thursday, April 28, 2016

Large Text Files

Split between worksheets


While this problem is alleviated in Excel 2007+ with its 1,048,576 rows by 16,348 columns, The old XL versions are still here.

Text files with a large number of records are better handled in a program like Access. Having said that, there can be times that these lists must be imported into Excel. If the file has over 65,536 records, the data will not fit on a single worksheet.

Here's a Microsoft Knowledge Base article with the macro code needed to bring oversized text data into Excel and split it into multiple worksheets:

Sub LargeFileImport() 'Dimension Variables Dim ResultStr As String Dim FileName As String Dim FileNum As Integer Dim Counter As Double 'Ask User for File's Name FileName = InputBox("Please enter the Text File's name, e.g. test.txt") 'Check for no entry If FileName = "" Then End 'Get Next Available File Handle Number FileNum = FreeFile() 'Open Text File For Input Open FileName For Input As #FileNum 'Turn Screen Updating Off Application.ScreenUpdating = False 'Create A New WorkBook With One Worksheet In It Workbooks.Add template:=xlWorksheet 'Set The Counter to 1 Counter = 1 'Loop Until the End Of File Is Reached Do While Seek(FileNum) <= LOF(FileNum) 'Display Importing Row Number On Status Bar Application.StatusBar = "Importing Row " & _ Counter & " of text file " & FileName 'Store One Line Of Text From File To Variable Line Input #FileNum, ResultStr 'Store Variable Data Into Active Cell If Left(ResultStr, 1) = "=" Then ActiveCell.Value = "'" & ResultStr Else ActiveCell.Value = ResultStr End If 'For Excel versions before Excel 97, change 65536 to 16384 If ActiveCell.Row = 65536 Then
'If On The Last Row Then Add A New Sheet
ActiveWorkbook.Sheets.Add
Else
'If Not The Last Row Then Go One Cell Down
ActiveCell.Offset(1, 0).Select
End If
'Increment the Counter By 1
Counter = Counter + 1
'Start Again At Top Of 'Do While' Statement
Loop
'Close The Open Text File
Close
'Remove Message From Status Bar
Application.StatusBar = False

End Sub


Importing Text Files Larger Than 16,384/65,536 Rows

Notice the code about 17 lines from the bottom of the macro.

'For xl97 and later change 16384 to 65536.

Also, after import, the data must be parsed. Use Data>Text to columns.

If you have not worked with macros before, Dave McRitchie has a tutorial:

Getting Started with Macros and User Defined Functions



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Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Change the View

Adjust how it looks


Sometimes the performance of Windows XP can be tweaked by adjustinga few settings.

  1. Right Click the My Computer Icon (This PC)

  2. Choose Properties

  3. Go to Advanced>Performance>Settings>Advanced
Pick one of these options:
Let Windows choose what's best for my computer
Restore settings to Windows choice.
Adjust for best appearance
Turn on all visual effects
Adjust for best performance
Turn off all visual effects
Or uncheck these settings:
  • Fade or slide menus into view
  • Fade or slide ToolTips into view
  • Fade out menu items after clicking
  • Show Shadows under menus
  • Slide open combo boxes
  • Slide taskbar buttons
  • Use a background image for each folder type
  • Use common tasks in folders




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Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Paper Power

What do steam and paper have in common?





I find origami and paper sculpture intriguing.

Ed Bertschy provides a template that can be downloaded and printed on good paper to be used in the construction of a paper steam engine.

This paper steam engine is based on a Riches and Watts nominal 2 1/2 horsepower vertical A-frame double acting simple slide-valve steam engine circa 1870-75. The original engine was used to drive a water pump to irrigate the fields of Norfolk. If this model had a scale, it would be roughly 1:19. I had to double the size of the eccentric and strap in order to make it buildable. Everything else is close to scale, but changed in design and appearance because, well, paper isn't iron.

Everything will work on this engine, the flywheel turns, there really is a slide valve in the valve chest, the piston works, the cranks and the connecting rods, eccentric and strap all work if built carefully. The final model stands about 12 inches high. I hope you have as much fun building it as I had designing it.



Paper Steam Engine



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Monday, April 25, 2016

Delete Days

Erase the future


If the need should arise to clean out your calendar and start fresh, here's how.
You don't have to erase all appointments. You can choose which groups deserve oblivion.

For Microsoft Office Outlook
  1. Start Outlook, and then click your Calendar folder.

  2. On the View menu, point to Arrange By, click Current View, and then click By Category.

  3. On the View menu, point to Expand/Collapse Groups, and then click Collapse All.

  4. In the Table pane, right-click each category, and then click Delete. This deletes every item that belongs to each category.
After you delete all of the items in all of the categories, the Calendar folder is empty.
How to delete all Outlook Calendar items
Outlook 2007+ works the same way:





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Sunday, April 24, 2016

Protected Spell Checker

Correct the protected


Unfortunately, Word's protection feature disables a huge number of important functions, even if you only protect a single section of a document.

Besides the spellchecker, many other items on the View, Insert, Format, Tools and Table menus are disabled, as well as most items on the Drawing, Database, Visual Basic and Picture toolbars.

This MS Word MVP FAQ Site article lays out the steps needed to

Enable the spellchecker in a protected document.

One of the important elements is "NoReset=True". The act of removing and then re-protecting a document will reset the data without this line.



In Office 2007+ Protection is found on the Review tab:





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Saturday, April 23, 2016

Test Your Web Site

How does your site score?


Here are a collection of tools that can be used to analyze your web site for validity.

Sorry, it doesn't check for source information reliability.
Readability Test
The readability test analyses a Web page to determine how readable it is.
CSS Analyzer
The CSS analyzer tests for basic accessibility errors such as color contrast and units of measurement.
Luminosity Contrast Ratio Analyzer (Beta)
Tests whether foreground and background colour combinations are sufficient using a new algorithm developed by Trace R&D Center.
Color Contrast Analyzer
The color contrast analyzer tests whether the contrast between the background and the foreground is sufficient.
Image Analyzer
The image analyzer tests Web pages to ensure that images have been specified properly.
Link Analyzer
The link analyzer lists all links on a page with an icon to indicate whether or not the link resolved successfully.
Juicystudio.com:
Quality Assurance



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Friday, April 22, 2016

Stop Spock Salute

No more three fingers


If you are tired of crunching down three keys to logon your machine, here is the way to get rid of Ctrl+Alt+Delete.

It does involve a registry hack so be careful and back up the entries before doing this.

  1. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

  2. Value Name: DisableCAD

  3. Data Type: REG_DWORD (DWORD Value)

  4. Value Data: (0 = Require Ctrl+Alt+Delete, 1 = Disable)
For more tricks try
Winguides.com:
Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete Before Logon

Also:
How to Enable or Disable Ctrl+Alt+Delete XP to Win 7



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Thursday, April 21, 2016

And the Audience Slept On

Are you the only one awake?


When you prepared your talk you were sure that everyone would be excited to hear it.

"I sat in the back of the classroom, observing and taking careful notes as usual. The class had started at one o'clock. The student sitting in front of me took copious notes until 1:20. Then he just nodded off. The student sat motionless, with eyes shut for about a minute and a half, pen still poised. Then he awoke, and continued his rapid note-taking as if he hadn't missed a beat."


Perhaps you need more than PPT slides and a hoary joke.

"Adult learners can keep tuned in to a lecture for no more than 15 to 20 minutes at a time, and this at the beginning of the class. . .
As the lecture proceeded attention spans became shorter and often fell to three or four minutes towards the end of a standard lecture."

Both of these studies note the severe lapse of attention 15 to 20 minutes into a lecture. Given that students have an attention span of around 15 to 20 minutes and that university classes are scheduled for around 50 or 75 minutes, instructors must do something to control their students' attention. We recommend building a "change-up" into your class to restart the attention clock.


Joan Middendorf and Alan Kalish
Teaching Resources Center
Indiana University


The National Teaching & Learning Forum:
The "Change-Up" in Lectures



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Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Fiscal Year in Access

Make up your own year


You can show a custom Fiscal Year starting June, 1 and ending May 31.


BeginFiscalYr = DateSerial(Year(Date), 6, 1)


EndFiscalYr = DateSerial(Year(Date) + 1, 6, 1) - 1


Also:
Calculating a future or past date in Access



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Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Multiple Mail Drag

Quick trick


To send an e-mail message to a number of people in your Contacts file, hold down the CTRL key and select the individual recipients.

Drag the selection to the Inbox icon on the Outlook bar.

A new blank pre-addressed e-mail form will open for you.

If you wish to schedule an appointment, drag the selection to the Calendar icon.

The definitive site for more information about Outlook is:

Slipstick.com



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Monday, April 18, 2016

May I comment on Your Balloon?

Markup stuff


How to turn off balloons for comments and track changes in Word.

This article describes how to turn off the balloons that appear for comments and track changes in the right side margin of your Microsoft Word 2002 or Microsoft Office Word 2003 document.

To turn off or hide the balloons for comments and track changes in the right side margin of a Microsoft Word document, follow these steps:
  1. On the Tools menu, click Options.
  2. On the Track Changes tab, do one of the following: In Word 2003, change the Use Balloons (Print and Web Layout) box to Never.
    • In Word 2002, click to clear the Use Balloons in Print and Web Layout check box.
  3. Click OK to close the Options dialog box.
Note This process only hides the balloons for comments and track changes. These steps do not remove any changes.

Frequently Asked Questions About Comments
Using Tracking and Reviewing Features in Microsoft Word



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Sunday, April 17, 2016

Saturday, April 16, 2016

Automated Newsletter

ASP and HTML


Pre-RSS, the predominate method of communication for members of a like minded group was through an emailed newsletter.

Word actually works fine with mail merge to email, but if you want to combine the data gathering and the distribution in a neat package, take a look at this tutorial.
Step 1 : Create a simple HTML Form where users can insert their email addresses and an ASP page which will receive the Form email address from the HTML page and insert it into the database.

Step 2 : Create a simple Access database to store user's email addresses.

Step 3 : A simple admin ASP page from where you can send email messages to all the users whose email addresses are present in the database.

Step 4 : An ASP page from where the users can delete their email addresses from the database if they later choose to.

Scripts20.com:
An ASP Tutorial to create your own Newsletter



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Friday, April 15, 2016

Free Fonts, Free Drinks

Typographic connections


Fonts can be addictive. There can always be an imagined need for one more curly Q.

Here is a collection of possible links.

Luc Devroye joined the School of Computer Science at McGill University in 1977 as a young "snotnose."
" Please do not visit this disappointing web site. Most of the links are dead: they die faster than I can renew them, and there is nothing I can do about it short of giving up my daytime job and divorcing my family, and I love both of them too much for that.

Many link descriptions are boozy and fuzzy. Some opinions are simply pathetic, but I do not want to leave this world without making a fool of myself. To make up for the awful service, I am inviting any type lover visiting Montreal to my house for drinks."
Type Design, Typography, Typefaces and Fonts



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Thursday, April 14, 2016

I need more guides

Line it up straight


A slide looks best when the objects line up correctly. While it can be done by trial and error, it is easier to use the Grid and Guides feature.

Go to View>Grid and Guides.



Choose to put a check to select Display grid on screen and/or Display drawing guides on screen.

If you like using guides, you can produce additional guides by holding the CTRL key while dragging on an existing guide.

Extraneous guides can be dragged off the screen.

In 2007+ in the Drawing group on the Home tab:





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Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Your Grand-cestors Swore

Your Grandmothers told them to stop


What is there about a well placed curse that spices a novel or a conversation?
Perhaps it's genetic or evolutionary.
"The Jacobean dramatist Ben Jonson peppered his plays with fackings and "peremptorie Asses," and Shakespeare could hardly quill a stanza without inserting profanities of the day like "zounds" or "sblood" - offensive contractions of "God's wounds" and "God's blood" - or some wondrous sexual pun.

Even the quintessential Good Book abounds in naughty passages like the men in II Kings 18:27 who, as the comparatively tame King James translation puts it, "eat their own dung, and drink their own piss."

Almost before we spoke

Refered to by:
LanguageHat.com
The Antiquity Of Cursing



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Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Auto Form

Just add Data


Highlight a Table in the Objects Table view.

Go to the main menu bar and click on Insert.

Towards the bottom of the menu, you'll find an entry for
"AutoForm"

Click on it and Access will create a data entry form based on the selected table.

When you close the AutoForm, you will be asked if you want to save changes.
Click Yes.

(In 2007+ go to Create>Form)

The default name will be the name of the table. If you are using Hungarian notation, change the name from

"tblCustomers" to "frmCustomers"

and click OK.


Also see:
Hungarian Notation



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Monday, April 11, 2016

Save Clean Document

Protect your layout


Sometimes a Word document does not open as well laid out as you intended.

The page numbers may be off (the numbers may be repeated).

Formatting marks may be displayed (not a big thing, but not neat).

This can happen if:

  • You open the document from a Microsoft Outlook e-mail attachment.
  • The Allow starting in Reading Layout option is turned on in Word.
  • The table of contents in the document is three or more pages long.
  • The document was saved in the page layout view.
Microsoft offers these suggestions to prepare your baby for its best look. When you send a Word document as an e-mail attachment, make sure that you save the document in normal view before you send the document. Turn off reading layout view
  1. Start Word.
  2. On the Tools menu, click Options.
  3. Click the General tab, click to clear the Allow starting in Reading Layout check box, and then click OK.
Turn off all formatting marks
  1. Start Word.
  2. On the Tools menu, click Options.
  3. Click the View tab, click to deselect the All check box under Formatting marks, and then click OK.
Manually update all the page numbers
  1. Open the Word document.
  2. Select the table of contents in the document, and then press F9 to update all the page numbers.
Support.Microsoft.com
The page numbers in the TOC are incorrectly displayed



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Sunday, April 10, 2016

Access-Excel-XML-HTML

Transfer data


XML makes data transferable between applications.
Here is a tutorial with downloadable files.
Some simple guidance of how to transfer data from Excel or Access into HTML web pages using XML data files. VBA programs can be used to export data tables from Excel or Access into simple XML files. There are several examples of using different methods to display the XML and XSL files on web pages in order to quickly share your data with others.


An introduction to Excel and XML data files

 
Also:
Some nice photos and calendar layout:
Monthly calendar with photos



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Saturday, April 09, 2016

Print Problems

Some clues


"You've finished your report, presentation, or cost analysis using a Microsoft Office program. The information is rich with data and detail. Now comes the final step: printing it and showing the world your hard work on paper. This is the point at which printing can give you a headache. Right when you want to wrap up your work, project, or school assignment, questions start popping into your mind"

Troubleshoot your printing problems in Office



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Friday, April 08, 2016

Simple Shows

In brevity is success


Blogger/entrepreneur Guy Kawasaki is in league with the minimalist branch of the PowerPoint society.

Tired of sitting through mind and body numbing presentations by people more interested in technique than content, he is evangelizing the 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint.

"A PowerPoint presentation should have ten slides, last no more than twenty minutes, and contain no font smaller than thirty points."

If "thirty points," is too dogmatic, the I offer you an algorithm: find out the age of the oldest person in your audience and divide it by two. That's your optimal font size.

10/20/30 Rule



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Thursday, April 07, 2016

Plain Numbers

I'd Like to Make It Clear


Plain Figures is a method of transforming statistical and financial data into figures, tables and graphs that people readily understand.

Have you ever:
  • squinted your eyes trying to see the numbers in a PowerPoint presentation?

  • scratched your head at a charity leaflet with an indecipherable pie chart titled 'Where your donation goes' ... and set it aside?

  • missed discussion at a meeting because you were busy trying to figure out the figures?

  • put aside a graph or table, thinking "I'm not good with numbers."?

Then you know how important the clear display of numerical information can be. Common problems People have trouble using numerical information for many reasons. Most commonly, authors don't know:
  • what to include: when unsure what numbers are important, people frequently display them all, overpowering the reader with irrelevance.

  • which format to use: the choice between text and table, table and chart, bar and pie.

  • how to use the technology effectively: computer software generates graphs easily, but the results hide your point behind incomprehensible chartjunk.

  • how to explain the information: selecting the right words for titles, columns and captions.

Plain Figures is a partnership between Sally Bigwood, located in Wakefield, Yorkshire, UK, and Melissa Spore, who divides her time between Toronto and Saskatoon, Canada. Sally and Melissa are sisters and both have dual citizenship in the United States.
 PlainFigures.com



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Wednesday, April 06, 2016

A Hoard of Tips

Good for all levels of user


Allen Browne's tips for Access users

Here is a list of the sections on this site; something for everyone.
  • Casual Users - basic tips and explanations;
  • Serious Users - ideas for forms, combos, reports, and code;
  • Flaws in Access - unfixed bugs that will bite you;
  • Traps to avoid - problems that may not be obvious;
  • Specific Applications - a couple of examples where people get stuck;
  • Tips for xBase developers - for people who used the old dBase;
  • Functions you can use - code to copy;
  • Upgrading - issues when changing versions;
  • Other sites - links to other sites with free Access tips.




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Tuesday, April 05, 2016

Delegate Delete Deliveries

Choose the folder


When you delete items from a Mailbox folder of another user where you have deletion privileges, the deleted items go into your Deleted Items folder rather than that of the mailbox owner.

Here are the steps to change that procedure:


Exit and Logoff Outlook

  1. Click Start, and then click Run
  2. Type regedit, and then click OK
  3. Locate the registry key that is appropriate for your version of Outlook
    For Outlook 2003:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Options\General
    (Use 12.0 for 2007 etc.)
  4. Right-click the DelegateWastebasketStyle value, and then click Modify

    If the key is not present, use the following steps to create it:
    1. Right-click the General folder
    2. Point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
    3. Type DelegateWastebasketStyle, and then press ENTER

    4. Change the value data in the Edit DWORD Value dialog box to one of the following values:
      8 = Stores deleted items in your folder
      4 = Stores deleted items in the mailbox owner's folder

      NOTE: Make sure that the delegate user has at least Author level rights for the Deleted Items folder of the owner's mailbox.
  5. Quit the Registry Editor
  6. Restart Outlook
Support.microsoft.com:
Items deleted from a shared mailbox go to the wrong folder in Outlook



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Monday, April 04, 2016

Echo Document Data

Enter once — use again


Enter data in one place in a document and have it repeated elsewhere.

There comes the time when you need to enter a clients name at the beginning of a document and you know that it will be repeated again many other places.

Greg Maxey has collected a number of ways to make the task easier.


Repeating Data



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Sunday, April 03, 2016

Re-Color Transparent

Change clip art


Re-color

Select a piece of clip art in WMF (Windows Meta File) format .

The Picture toolbar should appear.
(If the bar does not pop up, go to View>Toolbars and click on "Picture".)

Move the mouse pointer over the toolbar icons until you find "Recolor Picture". Click on the icon.

(In 2007+, it is located under Format in the Adjust group on the left."Recolor>Set Transparent Color")

You can now change any of the fill or line colors in the image.

Transparent

If the graphic is in BMP (Bitmap) format, there is an icon on the Picture toolbar to "Set Transparent Color".

Click the icon then click on the color in the image that you would like to make transparent.

Also:

Indezine:
Recolor Clip Art in PowerPoint
by Geetesh Bajaj


Semi-Transparent Images
By Glen Millar PPTWorkbech.com
You can produce various levels of semi-transparent images for applications right within PowerPoint, save them, and keep them for reuse.

AwesomeBackgrounds.com:
Tutorial about the transparency options in PowerPoint



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Saturday, April 02, 2016

What if the Truth Teller Fibs?

Who ya gonna believe?


Snopes.com is a great source for answers about urban myths, legends and computer hoaxes.

These articles appear on the Snopes site:

TRUE: The Mississippi state legislature removed fractions and decimal points from the mathematics curriculum of public secondary schools.

FALSE: The restaurant chain formerly known as "Kentucky Fried Chicken" changed its name to KFC to eliminate the word "fried" from its title.

TRUE: At the moment the Titanic hit an iceberg in the north Atlantic, the silent version of the film The Poseidon Adventure was being screened aboard ship.


After you stop shaking your head, look at the bottom left corner of the page and click on "More information about this page."
False Authority Syndrome



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Friday, April 01, 2016

Get Hooked Up

Link to apps in Outlook


The Outlook bar is handy to jump from Mail to Contacts to Calendars, but you can do more with it.

If you can locate the EXE of a program, it can be dragged to the Outlook bar to create a shortcut.

Here is a collection of more things that can be done with hyperlinks.

Slipstick.com:
Using Microsoft Outlook Links



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