Using Paint to take Great Screenshots November 20, 2006
Posted by iawalsh in : How do I ?, Formatting, Writing, Style, Microsoft Office News, Cool Tricks, Tips , add a comment
There are many great products for taking screenshots out there. Snagit is the one I’d recommend most.
However, if you’re on a tight budget, you may have to make do with Paint, which comes pre-installed with Windows.
Paint is a very under-rated product and comes with more features that you’d probably expect. If you learn to use it properly, it will probably save you having to buy a specialist product.
So, what I’m going to do is show you how to take nice, clean screenshots with Paint.
How to take a standard screenshot
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Open the page, image or website that you want to take the screenshot of.
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Press the PrtSc key on your keyboard.
On my laptop, this is above the letter F10. On my desktop, it’s between the keys and the number pad. This takes a screenshot (like a photograph) of the entire desktop.
Later we will look at how to screenshot floating windows, where you have many items floating above each other on the screen at the same time, such as pop-up windows. -
Open Paint. Use Ctrl + V to paste in the screenshot.
Let’s say that you only want the logo and not the entire page. To do this, use the Select tool.
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Select the area you want to extract from the image, i.e. the logo.
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Press Ctrl + C to copy the logo to the Clipboard.
You now have a large image with a hole in it where you’re logo used to be. What we want to do next is remove this image, copy the logo back into Paint, and do some tidying up. -
Press Ctrl + A (to select the work area in Paint) and press Delete. This wipes the screen clean.
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Press Ctrl + V to paste the logo back into Paint.
The next step is to tidy up the image. -
Use the Select tool again and drag a thin box along the edge of the logo.
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Press Delete to remove the area you selected with the box.
You can repeat this step to tidy up the image. -
Use the Select tool to select the image.
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Press Ctrl + C to copy the image and then paste it into Word or whatever program wants to use it.
Using Paint to Convert Images into JPG, TIFF and PNGs November 20, 2006
Posted by iawalsh in : How do I ?, Formatting, Writing, Style, Templates, Troubleshooting, Cool Tricks, Tips , add a comment
You can use Paint to convert many graphic files from one file type to another. You don’t need to buy Adobe Photoshop or other expensive graphic design tools. Paint has many small tricks up sleeve.
You can open these file types in Paint:
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BMP
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JPG
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TIFF
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PNG
You can save the BMPs (also known as bitmaps) as Monochrome, 16 colors, 256 colors, and 24 bits depending on the type of image you want. For example, if you’re creating documents that will be printed in black and white, then saving the images in Monochrome will significantly reduce the file size.
You can convert these files from one type to another. This means that you can convert, for example:
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BMP to JPG
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JPG to TIFF
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TIFF to PNG
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PNG to BMP
And all the different combinations that these offer…
If you’re creating web pages, I’d recommend using JPGs. These provide high-quality images that take up a small amount of space. You can also cut and paste them directly into Word and other Office applications.
How To Write Headings November 20, 2006
Posted by iawalsh in : How do I ?, Formatting, Writing, Style, Templates, Recommended, Microsoft Office News, Cool Tricks, Tips , add a comment
The earliest memory I have of writing is producing a very long and serious essay on Hamlet. I managed to write eight pages. The teacher wanted 2000 words – minimum. So, we all churned out hundreds and hundreds of words. Did anyone read it? Probably not.
Maybe you wrote something like it too. Do you remember what it looked like? Think back. Long, heavy, dense paragraphs, all written in long-hand. Easy to read? My essays (maybe yours were better) never used a single heading. Large slabs of text. Starting with the introduction (Hamlet was the son of…) it galloped headlong towards the end (…which is why he died!).
In academic writing, particularly ‘creative writing’, you can get away with such things. What’s important is that you get your feelings and thoughts down on paper.
Business writing is very different.
Unlike academic writing, in the business world you have a very attentive audience, some of whom have paid money to buy your products! They expect you to tell them how it works, which only seems reasonable.
A lot of my time is spent editing other people’s work. One of the quickest ways to get started, or at least get into the document, is to introduce strong headings. These add shape and confidence to the document. Suddenly it has structure. A framework begins to emerge.
Why Write Headings?
Knowing how to write clear, informative headings will make a great difference to your documents. Headings are like sign-posts. They tell the reader where to go. They call out and say, “This paragraph is about Writing Blogs” while the next says, “this paragraph is about Business Blogging.” Without them the document is reduced to a rant. It goes on and on without direction. You, the reader, can’t find anything. Looking at the document makes you negative. Not a good start!
Usability.gov touches on this point, “Once the information is chunked appropriately, write headings that are descriptive of the information. On the Web, page headings become links out of context on a previous page - like the table of contents of a printed booklet. Therefore, headings should clearly explain to users what page they are about to link to.”
Short informative headings help readers focus. They summarize text into ‘bite-size’ sentences. As the name implies a heading is the ‘head’ of the text you’re about to introduce.
Writing Effective Headings
Try to distill your headings into snappy 3-5 word sentences. Use positive language. Get to the point. Avoid using jargon, puns, archaic words, complex phrases, and other such affectations.
To write an effective heading:
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Examine the section you want to summarize.
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Identify the key topic. Every section (and paragraph) should have one key topic. Don’t mix ideas. You’ll confuse the reader and probably yourself in the process.
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Write a single sentence that describes the section. Keep it very simple.
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Revise the sentences and add an action verb.
For example, note the difference between Printing Duplex Reports, Saving XML Files To Shared Networks, Creating and Archiving Backups instead of Reports, Files, and Backups. While the former is informative and descriptive, the latter is dry and curt.
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Emphasize actions with nouns. Write Printing Digital Forms rather than Printing.
Are Headlines Important?
Research from Eyetrack III shows that readers scan documents rather than read word by word, , especially when reading online. In general, readers start with the first heading (or summary) and then, if interested, scan the other headings on the page. If their interest is piqued, they’ll go back and read more text.
Eyetrack III add that “People typically scan down a list of headlines, and often don’t view entire headlines. If the first words engage them, they seem likely to read on. On average, a headline has less than a second of a site visitor’s attention.”
It’s not just the headlines that they scan, rather it’s the first few words in the headline that matter.
“For headlines — especially longer ones — it would appear that the first couple of words need to be real attention-grabbers if you want to capture eyes.”
Content is judged literally in the blink of an eye.
You can read more at: http://poynterextra.org/eyetrack2004/blurbs.htm
Creating a New Style November 12, 2006
Posted by iawalsh in : How do I ?, Formatting, Writing, Style, Templates, Recommended, Troubleshooting, Microsoft Office News, Tips , add a comment
To create a new style, follow these steps:
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From the Format menu, choose Style and Formatting, and then click New Style.
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In the Name box, enter a name for the style, for example, Paragraph Text.
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In the Style type box, choose Paragraph.
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In the Style Based on box, select No Style. If you base it on another style, then, when that style is changed, you’re new style will also be changed. No Style makes sure it is a ‘standalone’ style that can’t be changed as it has no associations to other styles.
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Click Format and select formatting options such as Font and Paragraph.
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Click OK.
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Click Add to template if you want these styles to be incorporated into the template this document is based on, which is usually Normal.dot.
The new style now appears in your “Styles” list.
Styles November 12, 2006
Posted by iawalsh in : How do I ?, Formatting, Writing, Style, Templates, Recommended, Cool Tricks, Tips , add a comment
Styles are one of the most powerful features in Word. A style is like a mini-template within a document. It groups together characteristics, such as font, paragraph and color, which you can apply to a piece of text.
This means that instead of having to change each piece of text by hand, you can select different items and apply the same style to them all with one click. Styles can be created for text, tables, and lists.
Applying styles
To apply a style to text, follow these steps:
1. Select the text you want to change.
2. From the Style drop-down list (the drop-down menu that usually says “Normal”), choose the style you want to apply, for example, Body Text.
That’s it! Your text is updated with the Body Text style.
Page numbers appears as { PAGE } November 12, 2006
Posted by iawalsh in : Misc, How do I ?, Formatting, Writing, Templates, Troubleshooting, Cool Tricks, Tips , add a comment
If you open Word and find that the table of contents, page numbers, and other such information has changed to { PAGE } and { TIME } etc, then don’t despair. Here’s what to do:
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Choose Options on the Tools menu, then click the View tab.
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Uncheck the Field Codes checkbox.
Why do Documents get larger every time they’re saved? November 12, 2006
Posted by iawalsh in : Misc, How do I ?, Formatting, Writing, Troubleshooting, Tips , add a comment
The Fast Save feature in Word saves both the original version of your document and ALL the changes you’ve made to it.
So even though you may have deleted text and graphics—as long as Fast Save is turned on—the file will get larger and larger as it keeps recording every change you’ve made to the file.
In general, it’s recommended that you turn off this option as it leads down a one-way road…
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From the Tools menu, select Options and then the Save tab.
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Uncheck Allow Fast Saves.
How to Stop Word from Opening Every Document Separately? November 12, 2006
Posted by iawalsh in : Misc, How do I ?, Formatting, Writing, Troubleshooting, Cool Tricks, Tips , add a comment
This feature is hard-wired into Word. So, though you can’t directly stop it, i.e. through the menu options, we have some macros that work around it.
Macro to Update all Fields in a Document
The code is as follows:
Sub UpdateAll()
Dim oStory As Range
Dim oField As Field
On Error Resume Next
For Each oStory In ActiveDocument.StoryRanges
For Each oField In oStory.Fields
oField.Update
Next oField
Next oStory
On Error GoTo 0
End Sub
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Select Tools, Macro, Create New Macro.
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Name the macro.
How To Remove The Web Toolbar? November 10, 2006
Posted by iawalsh in : Misc, How do I ?, Formatting, Writing, Troubleshooting, Tips , add a comment
There are two options here. The first is to turn it off for the document that’s currently open while the second is to completely blast it so it never appears in Word again, unless you restore it for some reason.
- To remove it from the current document:
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Go to Tools, Macros, and select the Visual Basic Editor.
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Enter the following code: Private Sub Document Close ()
On Error Resume Next
Application.CommandBars (”Web”).Enabled = True
On Error Go To 0
End SubPrivate Sub Document Open ()
On Error Resume Next
Application.CommandBars (”Web”).Enabled = False
On Error Go To 0
End Sub
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Run the macro.
Tip: You can also go to View, Toolbars, and deselect Web.
- To remove it completely from Word:
This blasts it from Word, unless you decide to turn it back on later.
Tip: Should you ever want to, you can reactivate the web toolbar, by opening the macro and changing Enabled = False to Enabled = True. This tells Word to ‘enable’ the web toolbar, in other words, turn it on.
Sub DisableWeb()
CommandBars(”Web”).Enabled = False
End Sub
How To Change The Default Font? November 9, 2006
Posted by iawalsh in : How do I ?, Formatting, Writing, Templates, Troubleshooting, Cool Tricks, Tips , add a comment
There are several ways to do this, but this one is the best.Open the Normal.dot template from within Word. It’s very important that you open it within Word, otherwise the template will simply create a new document rather than opening the actual Normal.dot file itself.
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Click Format, Styles and Formatting and choose Body Text.
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Click Modify.
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Click the Font to the font family and size you want. Click OK and OK again.
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Click the Apply button.
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Type in any letter and then delete it. This forces Word to recognize that have changed Normal.dot.
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Save and close.
By using the approach you change the Normal.dot file permanently.