Adding Fonts to Windows

For Julie M. (In response to the Stupid Question of the Day)…

While Microsoft Windows and Office come with a hefty amount of fonts preloaded, there are always those occasions where you can’t find just the right font for your project. There are literally thousands of free fonts out there that you can install- and it’s really not all that difficult.

A Word of Caution: when applications start, they must load the list of fonts upon startup. So if you have thousands of fonts installed, it may start affecting the startup times of applications that use fonts. With that, there are two basic ways to use a font- and I’ll cover both here.

Here are some sites I use to download free fonts…

Turn on file extensions in Windows Vista

File extensions are absolutely critical to knowing what type of file you are looking at. Have you ever had someone send a file to you but didn’t include the file extension? Mac users often ignore adding file extensions because they aren’t necessary on Macintosh systems. So what do you do? Rename the file with the correct extension, if you know it.

When you look at a list of files in a folder, you should be able to see the file extensions (the parts of the file name after the period). Notice, we can’t see the extensions on these files:

To change this, follow these steps:

PDF it!

The pdf format (portable document format) has gained such popularity in recent years that now we can use it as a verb. That puts it in the same class as “Google it!” The PDF format is popular for lots of reasons, mainly that it can be read by the free Adobe Acrobat Reader that’s available for almost any operating system. In addition, the formatting of the document mostly remains intact (though some strange things can happen with font substitutions). And an added bonus- the content is somewhat protected from unwanted changes (unless of course the recipient has a PDF editor such as full version Acrobat, etc.).

In any case, you can make a PDF out of anything you’d normally send to the printer- and you can do it for free!  First, you must get your computer the software it needs to make a PDF with one of these options:

– Office 2007 has the built-in ability to make PDF’s (Office button — Save As — PDF). This is only true if you have downloaded and installed the free PDF add-in. This will add the PDF option for Office applications only. You’d still need additional software for other applications such as browsers, email, etc.

– Mac OS X already has PDF functionality built-in. Sorry PC lovers, Mac got this one right! (Of course if Windows had done this, lawsuits would be in the works!)

-For PC’s, download a free PDF Maker such as CutePDF or PrimoPDF. There are others- and they all work basically the same.

To create a PDF from within any application (that has the ability to print):

1. Go to File — Print (Ctrl+ P) or any other method you’d use to print to a printer.

2. The PDF Maker is a “virtual printer” and will appear in the printer list. Choose the PDF Maker as the printer you want to “print” to.

3. Click on OK to “print.”

4. A Save dialog box will pop-up asking you where you want to save the PDF and what you want to call it.

And that’s it! There’s no need to spend money just for the ability to make a PDF document. The free software is out there and readily available. Now if you need to make fillable forms and use other fancy PDF functions, you’ll need other software.

Shorten that URL!

When sharing URL’s to specific websites, the length of the URL can be overwhelming. This especially happens when linking deep into a particular website such as http://www.nationalgeographic.com/places/photos/places-athens-gallery-1/athens-1-odeon-concert.html.

To print this URL and have someone type it in the browser is inviting a mistake (not to mention that it takes way too long). To remedy this, try using a free online website such as TinyURL to shorten the URL. This site allows you to enter (or paste) a URL into a field then creates a shorter link. It turned the above link into: http://tinyurl.com/yuogfh. 

This can come in pretty handy!

Focus Attention on your Cursor

Many times in training we often tell people to look at the cursor on the screen. Often, the cursor is so small (and white) that it blends in with the application we are training on. To help remedy this, you can make your mouse “come alive” at the press of a key like this:

To accomplish this (on a PC):

1. Go to the control panel (Start –> Control Panel) and select the mouse properties.
2. On the Mouse properties screen, select the Pointer Options tab.
3. On the Pointer Options screen, check the box for “Show location of pointer…”

Be sure to apply your changes, then every time you press and hold the CTRL key, concentric circles will highlight your cursor/pointer.

To do this same thing on a Mac, you will need to download a free utility at http://www.2point5fish.com/. While this won’t highlight the mouse with animated circles, it will highlight the mouse with colored circles or other customized accents. And it’s free!

Enjoy!

Convert Powerpoint Slides to Images for use in Videos, Photo Story, etc.

While giving a Powerpoint presentation is fairly commonplace in today’s world, there may be times when you need to insert your slides into a video, a Photo Story, or some other application that works with images. Most applications do not work with PPT files natively. However, with a couple clicks of the mouse, you can convert your slides into JPG or GIF images to use in almost any program. Here’s how:

1. Open your Powerpoint file and choose File à Save As (versions 2004 and prior) or choose Office ButtonàSave As à Other formats

   

2. In the Save dialog window, choose either JPG (recommended) or GIF format.

 

3. Once you click Save, you’ll be asked if you want to save only the current slide as an image or save all of them.

4. All of the images that you chose to convert will be saved in a folder in the location you selected.

Following these procedures will let you save your slides as images for use in other programs like MovieMaker, Word, Photo Story, web pages, etc.

Turn your Photo Story into a Video Podcast

If you haven’t discovered the treasure Windows Photo Story, you are missing out! Photo Story, a free download from Microsoft (sorry, no Mac version), allows you to quickly create a slideshow with your still images that pans and zooms across your images. You can add titles, narration, and even create a soundtrack from within the program. You can download it here.

Photo Story creates a WMV file by default, which is not suitable for podcasting on most sites. Instead you need to get it into the format required by the site hosting your podcast. In this example, we use PowerMediaPlus.com as our host. Here’s how to pull this off (it’s really not that hard)!

1. Download and install the free iPod video converter.

2. Convert your completed Photo Story (WMV) file with the converter utility. Click Add Files, find the file, then Convert!

3. The converted file will be made into an .mp4 format. You could also select .mov if necessary. Some podcasts hosts will allow you to upload these file types. For our purposes, PowerMediaPlus requires another file type: .m4v.

4. Simply change the file extension so that the file is renamed: movie.mp4 à movie.m4v. (Note: if your file extensions are not showing, you will first need to show your file extensions.)

5. Now you’re ready to upload the file to your podcast hosting site!

Here’s an example Photo Story that I have turned into a video podcast: http://tinyurl.com/2a2e7o

If you are using Firefox, simply click on the link and it will launch iTunes and subscribe you to the podcast. Otherwise, open iTunes, navigate to Advanced à Subscribe to podcast then enter this URL into the dialog box:

If you convert a Photo Story into a video podcast, I’d love to know about it! Leave a comment below.

Image editing: So easy a caveman can do it (for free!)

Picnik

There have been many attempts at creating a great website for online photo editing- but until now, they have all been mediocre at best. Picnik is changing that!

This online editor makes basic image editing a breeze for the average user. Imagine the ability to resize your photos, add cool effects like sepia tones, black & white, vignettes, etc. You can add text, shapes, frames, etc. then save the edited image to your computer, send it via email directly from the website, or upload it to an online photo storage site like Flickr. While many of the features on Picnik require a premium membership ($25/yr), the features included in the free service are plenty for the average user.

It’s not Photoshop (or even GIMP), but it’s free, easy to use, and pretty cool! I look forward to using it more! You can check out the picture I edited by clicking here: Edited Caddo Picture

Unzipping ZIP Files

In my 3-1-07 post, I explained how to create your own ZIP files, but some users have requested specific instructions about what to do with a ZIP file once it’s downloaded or saved to the computer. So let’s recap:

Many files that you download will be in the format of a zip file- a file with a (.zip) file extension. (Note: if your computer’s setting is set to hide the file extensions, you may not see the “.zip”) Think of these like a simple grocery bag. You put your groceries in a bag to get them home, unload the bag then throw the bag away.

Moving Files vs. Copying Files

Inevitably, we all need to move files from one place to another. Some common examples:

• Move a file from one computer to a network location (home folder on a server)
• Get files from a camera’s memory card and bring them over to a computer
• Move a file that you hastily saved on the desktop to a proper place in My Documents
• Transfer a file from one computer to a USB flash drive then to a home computer, etc.

The list could go on and on. The skills needed to perform these common file management tasks are invariably some of the weakest skills of most computer users! It all boils down to File Management. Where did you save the file? What did you call the file? Did you copy the file or move it? All the issues involved in file management goes way beyond the scope of what I want to cover here. This posting is intended to answer one question:

When I move a file from one location, how do I know if it moves the file or if it copies the file?