Maria’s Guides

• How to Track Multiple Amazon Associates Campaigns
  A great little article explaining how to track multiple campaigns on Amazon.com. By Gene Kavner on AffiliateBrand.com.
  (tags: howto Amazon affiliate blogging webdesign web)
• Steve Jobs’ Best Year Ever
  A summary of Steve Jobs’ achievements at Apple in 2006. By Leander Kahney in Wired News.
  (tags: apple business Jobs Macintosh ipod)

An Apple Support Technical Note.

As Mac OS X is revised, the number of Mac OS X users also using Mac OS 9 on their computers (in the Classic Environment) is ever dwindling. As a result, my coverage of Mac OS 9 issues in my Mac OS X Visual QuickStart Guides is shrinking with each revision.

Of particular note are my somewhat vague instructions for installing Mac OS 9 on a Mac OS X computer. My editor decided (and I concurred) that the number of readers who would actually need this material was not significant enough to warrant full coverage. And since the book is getting fatter and fatter (not unlike its author these days — ouch!), trimming has become an important part of the revision process.

Fortunately, Apple has a great technical note that covers the process: “Mac OS X 10.2, 10.3: How to perform Mac OS 9 clean installation with Restore CDs.” In it, you’ll find step-by-step instructions, as well as links to related articles.

I also want to mention here that Apple’s support Web site is an excellent source of help for Mac tasks and problems. The only problem I have with it is the fact that the search feature is so poor that it often comes up with many, many articles that simply don’t address my problem. This might be my problem — my personal inability to effectively use the search features. Who knows? In any case, it’s worth a try the next time you’re stumped while sitting in front of your Mac.

Sample Files from the Book.

The following sample files were created for use with Creating Spreadsheets and Charts with Microsoft Office Excel 2007: Visual QuickProject Guide. This book covers Excel 2007 for Windows only.

Each of these files represents the project workbook file at the end of a chapter. So if you wanted to follow the steps for Chapter 6 but didn’t want to do Chapters 1-5, you could download the Chapter 5 file and use that as a starting point.

• Chapter 2: Create a Workbook File
• Chapter 3: Build the Budget Worksheet
• Chapter 4: Duplicate the Worksheet
• Chapter 5: Consolidate the Results
• Chapter 6: Format the Worksheets
• Chapter 7: Add a Chart
• Chapter 8: Share Your Work