Byte of the Week

Last weekend I downloaded – and started using Internet Explorer 7.0. I have to say, so far so good. One of the big additions to 7.0 is the easy access to RSS feeds. (Now the RSS feeds are just a click away, which means (for web publishers out there) that I think RSS will soon be worth including on your site if you update frequently.)

Things I liked:

The latest Explorer also includes “tabs” in a browser window so that you can have several web sites open in one browser, accessible through the tabs. As I recall Firefox has this too. The added feature I like is that you can view all of your tabs at once (in thumbnail view) by clicking a button.

New Explorer assumes you want a search button on the browser with easy access to a search engine(s) of your choice, again I like this but since I previously used Google Toolbar this wasn’t a huge difference.

New Explorer includes a virus check (always nice!) and a phish detector. (Phishing is akin to being an online imposter. Someone creates and email or a web site to look like it is hosted by someone else – such as your bank – on the hopes that you will provide confidential information.) The Phish detector alerts you to suspicious sites.

Things I didn’t like:

Maybe it’s my imagination but my computer seems to run a little slower now that I’m running 7.0. I’ve always had more than one window open at a time – and generally several Explorer windows, but – right or wrong – it seems as if the tabs are draining my Internet access.

Again this may be my imagination – but after I downloaded 7.0, the login information I need to upload half of my web sites (which is on Dreamweaver, a completely different, non-Microsoft software) disappeared.

So there’s my two cents worth. You’ll have to let me know what you think if you have tried it.

1. According to a recent Cub survey (Cub is a grocery store chain in Minnesota), what is the favorite Thanksgiving side dish?
Stuffing (at 36%)
Potatoes 28%
Pie 29%
Green bean casserole

2. According to AllRecipes.com, which side dishes would people be happiest to live without?
Green bean casserole 28.2%
Gelatin (Jell-O) salad 51.4%
Sweet potato casserole 26.1%
Cranberry sauce 22.2%

3. According to TripAdvisor, will more people be traveling home for Thanksgiving by plane, train, or automobile?
56 trip via car,
41 percent via plane
Train wasn’t actually listed

4. How long can you keep leftover turkey in the fridge?
1 month
1 week
3 days
What leftovers?

5. How many cranberries are used in one gallon of cranberry juice?
880
2,200
4,400

6. How many people comprise the average Thanksgiving Day celebration?
8
9
10
11
On average, survey respondents celebrate Thanksgiving with 9.1 people. However, in the North Central and South Central regions of the country, celebration sizes increase to 10.3 and 10.2 people respectively.

7. Who is the least likely member of the family to cook the turkey? (No names please, we’re looking for family role.)

I want to thank everyone on the byte list for reading the bytes and sending occasional nice notes. Here are the answers:
1. stuffing at 36%; 2. Jello salad at 51% followed by green bean casserole at 28%; 3. 56% by car and 4`% by plane; 4. 3 days; 5, 4,400; 6. 9; 7. Grandpa (although my kids guessed mom.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Here is a word on Word. Last week I used Microsoft Word to create a custom brochure. Someone else created a nice logo and image for the brochure and I used the header and footer fields to keep them in place on the page and now the final client can type in the text they want. It was surprisingly easy to do.

Get the Page Set Up

1. Open a new document
2. Select PAGE SETUP (under menu item FILE)
3. Under the MARGINS tab choose the dimensions and layout you want
4. Under the LAYOUT tab select “Different first page” in the headers/footers section

Place the Images

1. View the HEADERS AND FOOTERS (under menu item VIEW)
2. Paste images (in header and/or footer area)
3. Double click on the image and select the LAYOUT tab
4. Select wrapping style (Square worked best for me)
5. Select a Horizontal Alignment and the ADVANCED TAB
6. Under the advanced tab you can select the actual placement of the picture either by selecting comparative or numeric placement. (You can get the image to the edge of the page by selecting to place it compared to the edge.)
7. Because you have selected “different first page” in page setup, you can create 2 different page (or side of a brochure)

Add text

1. You can create multiple CLOUMNS under Format to add text it various panels
2. Or insert a TEXT BOX into each panel for text

Skip the columns section above and you could create letterhead or flyer templates this way as well. (Or check out the Microsoft templates http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/default.aspx for a brochure template.)

The following is a suggestion from Denise in Minneapolis – top tips for sending email (or email newsletters).

1) Do not send one email message to more than 10 people at a time. Many email filters will throw that into the junk bin because it is going to too many people and often that is a sign that it’s junk. If you need an informal list, you might check out Bravenet (http://www.bravenet.com/webtools/elist/). They offer free lists; their pro version is pretty good too. If you’re going to pay for a list, I’d consider Constant Contact (http://www.constantcontact.com).  

2) If you send one message to multiple people, be sure to put their addresses in BCC (blind carbon copy) field. That way you don’t share the addresses with everyone and it makes it easier to forward the message. (With Outlook you can get to the BCC field by double clicking on the TO box of an open message.

3) Be wise with subject lines. Clever can be fun if it’s still meaningful but we’re all busy. We all judge an email by the subject – so make it easier for the recipient and your messages will get read more often.

4) Include contact info on your email. The easiest way to do this is by adding a SIG (or signature) file. Get info on setting up a sign file here (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/_/help/email-signatures.htm).

5) Keep it short. Again, we’re all busy; a concise note is a gift to the reader.

6) If you’re replying to a message, be sure to leave enough of the original message in tact so as to give context. Some of us get more than 100 messages a day and a little context is always helpful.