More Twitter Users Wanted

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Maria Langer

Need active Twitter users for upcoming Twitter course.

I’m getting ready to revise my Twitter course for Lynda.com and, as usual, am looking for about 20 active Twitter user accounts to follow while recording the course. These accounts will be included in the timelines displayed onscreen.

If you don’t mind your Twitter account appearing in the course — or perhaps you’d really like it to appear in the course — take a moment and drop me an e-mail message. I’ll send you the release form we need signed and returned to be a part of this project.

Keep in mind that volunteering to show your tweets does not guarantee they will be shown. Because of the nature of the course material, we need to avoid displaying Tweets that are “R-rated” (or worse), including Tweets with foul language, tweets with offensive humor, or Tweets that include inappropriate images or themes. In addition, we’re really not too interested in including Twitter accounts that are spammy, so if all of your tweets are written to promote your own products or services, we probably won’t want to include your account. I hope you understand.

If you’ve volunteered before and would like to do it again, just let me know. I should still have your paperwork on file.

Learn More on Lynda.com

Want to Learn More about Using Twitter? Learn online at Lynda.com. My Twitter course includes more than three hours of video training material that’ll help you get more out of Twitter. Check it out. If you’re not a Lynda.com subscriber, be sure to visit to try some of the free videos. I think you’ll be hooked.

Print Edition of “iBooks Author: Publishing Your First Ebook” Approved for Production

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Maria Langer

Comment

Should be available for order from major online booksellers within a week.

Just a quick note to let folks know that we’ve just approved the print proof for iBooks Author: Publishing Your First Ebook. This 242-page book looks great, especially in the new larger size we’ve set up for the Maria’s Guide series.

Our printer works directly with Ingram to get books listed in bookseller catalogs quickly. I expect the print edition of the book to begin appearing on Amazon.com and BN.com within a week or so. I’m hoping both organizations order the book in sufficient quantities to ensure speedy delivery to customers.

If you can’t wait for print, ebook editions are already available from both resellers. You can learn more about the book and follow links to purchase your copy on the book’s support web page.

How to Create a Front Matter Chapter for your iBooks Author Ebook

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Maria Langer

A nicer way to handle it.

One of the things that bugs me about the way iBooks Author handles front matter pages such as the Copyright, Dedication, and Foreword pages is that they kind of hang out there by themselves at the front of the book, without any sort of “wrapper” that can give them identity.

This became quite apparent in the sample book readers create while following along in iBooks Author: Publishing Your First Ebook. In the final book, in Landscape view — which is how the book is most likely to be read — each front matter page has its own table of contents page with an ugly gray background that’s just … well, ugly.

In playing around with iBooks Author, I soon realized that the only difference between these pages and the rest on the book is that they were not part of any chapter. It followed that if they were part of a chapter, they’d be handled differently. So I created a new chapter at the beginning of the book, added the three pages to it, and was very happy with the results.

Here’s a quick overview of how you can do the same.

In the Book pane, select the very first page of your book. This is likely to be the Copyright page.
Use the Add Pages menu on the toolbar to add a Chapter page. It should appear in the Book pane right beneath the page that was selected.
In the Book pane, drag the new Chapter page above the first page of the book.
With the new Chapter page selected, display the Layout inspector’s Numbering panel and choose None from the Section Numbers pop-up menu. This removes the Chapter number from the new Chapter and restores the Chapter 1 number to the original Chapter 1.
In the Book pane, drag each of the front matter pages beneath the new Chapter page so they’re indented beneath it. You’ll need to drag each page up a little and to the right. A green line indicates placement as you drag. The indentation indicates that each of these pages is now part of the chapter they’re indented beneath.
In the Book pane, select the new Chapter page. Then make changes as desired to set it up as a first page of your book’s Front Matter. In my example, I removed the chapter number placeholder text, changed the chapter name to Front Matter, removed the intro placeholder text, and replaced the placeholder image to match my book’s cover. (You can find instructions for doing all of these things in my book.)

That’s about all there is to it. When you preview the book, you’ll find a nice table of contents page that gathers all of your front matter pages together.

Front Matter

Learn More!

Want to learn more about using iBooks Author to create ebooks? Check out iBooks Author: Publishing Your First Ebook, available now in iBooks, Kindle, and NOOK formats.

And keep checking in here at Maria’s Guides for more articles like this one.

Need Help Choosing an iBooks Author Template for Your Book?

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Maria Langer

Comment

Article on Mac Tips should help!

My guest post on Mac Tips provides some insight to help you choose the right template for your iBooks Author project. You can find it here.

Random Number Generator for Excel, Revisited

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Maria Langer

Another, simpler way to do it.

Nearly five years ago, I wrote a short article about creating a simple spreadsheet to generate random numbers in Excel. Lately, it’s been the most popular post on this site.

Trouble is, it’s a bit outdated. There’s actually an easier way to do the same thing: with the RANDBETWEEN function.

The RANDBETWEEN(bottom,top) function “calculates” a random number between the bottom number and the top number. Just provide those two numbers and Excel does the rest.

The benefit of this function is that you don’t need to go through a complex calculation to tell Excel you want a whole number within a range. RANDBETWEEN returns whole numbers automatically. It can also output the top and bottom values in the range. And it might actually be more random than my original solution because you’re not dependent on rounding rules to get the final number.

Screenshot So which would you prefer? The old way, with a formula like this:

=ROUND(RAND()*B6-B5)+B5,0)

or the new way, with a formula like this:

=RANDBETWEEN(B5,B6)

I know which one I prefer.

Download the revised sample worksheet here.

“iBooks Author: Publishing Your First Ebook” Now Available

Posted on February 4, 2012 by Maria Langer

An illustrated guide to creating and publishing multi-touch books with iBooks Author.

iBooks Author: Publishing Your First Ebook helps you learn how to take advantage of iBooks Author’s amazing feature set to create your own ebooks without a lot of trial and error experimentation. Using an illustrated, step-by-step approach, it guides you through the creation of a sample ebook with features you’re sure to want in your own ebook publications.

Download a Sample Chapter
Buy Kindle Edition
Buy iBooks Edition
Buy NOOK Edition
Buy iBooks Multi-Touch Edition (coming soon)
Buy Print Edition (coming soon)

When iBooks Author was announced and released last month, I knew it was a software package I’d really like. I was right. Just a few days spent with the app and I had all kinds of great ideas for publishing my books. But I also realized that with the surprising depth of this first generation application, new users might need help using it. Since how-to books are my specialty, I didn’t wast any time writing a new Maria’s Guides book about it.

About the Book

I wrote the book as a hands-on guide to creating a sample ebook with iBooks author. Filled with step-by-step instructions and 274 screenshots (!), the book walks you through the process of creating, composing, laying out, and publishing an ebook using iBooks Author. I cover every important feature in the software, from adding and formatting text and images to creating interactive elements with iBooks Author’s Widget feature. I finish up with instructions on how to export and publish your book as a PDF or iBook on the iBookstore.

Inside, you’ll find the following chapters:

Table of Contents Before We Begin: Introduction Chapter 1: Getting Started
Chapter 2: Starting Your Book
Chapter 3: Adding & Formatting Text
Chapter 4: Adding & Formatting Images
Chapter 5: Working with Objects
Chapter 6: Adding Shapes, Tables, & Charts
Chapter 7: Including Interactive Elements
Chapter 8: Publishing Your Book
Final Word: That’s All for Now

The printed version of the book runs 242 pages, including front matter, table of contents, and index.

The instructions throughout the book step you through the process of creating a sample ebook with iBooks Author. All the files you need are available for download from the book’s support Web page on this site. When you’re finished, you’ll have a pretty sharp looking ebook to show off you skills.

Buy the Book

The book is available now on Amazon.com and the Apple iBookstore in Kindle and Epub formats respectively. A multi-touch iBooks version should be available in about a week. The print edition will be available in about 2 weeks as a direct purchase from Flying M Productions or from booksellers such as Amazon.com and BN.com.

Additional Material, Feedback, and Support

You can find additional material about using iBooks Author and creating ebooks on this site. Just follow the publishing topic link.

You can also post questions and read questions and answers on the book’s support page. That’s also where you can find the sample files used throughout the book.

Tip for Writers on Mac OS: A Stickies Style Guide

Posted on January 29, 2012 by Maria Langer

Maintain consistency in your writing with an easy-access style guide.

As I continue work on my 81st book (!), I thought I’d share a tip with other writers working on Macs. This one has to do with creating and maintaining a style guide for your work in progress.

Stickies Icon Today, on my blog, An Eclectic Mind, I wrote quite a bit about what a style guide is and why it’s important. I also revealed my personal technique for maintaining a style guide for work in progress — I use Stickies — and explain why it’s a good solution for me.

In this piece I want to briefly discuss how to set up and use Stickies as a style guide. Keep in mind throughout this piece, however, that you can use Stickies to give you easy access to just about any information you might need to be reminded about as you work.

In the Applications folder in in Launchpad (Mac OS X Lion and later only), open the Stickies icon.
If you’ve never opened stickies before, you’ll see some default notes with information on using Stickies. You can read these for more information. Then close them and do not save changes. You want to minimize the number of open windows on your Desktop, don’t you?
Choose File > New Note to create a new sticky note window.
Resize it so it’s long and narrow, just wide enough to fit the words you’ll add to it.
Reposition it so it’s on the far right (or left, if you prefer) side of your screen.
As you work on your project, add difficult-to-remember words and phrases to it. Be sure to spell/capitalize the words/phrases exactly as you should be writing them. It’s also a good idea to list them in alphabetical order.
If there’s a word or phrase you should never use, add it to the list but use the Fonts panel to format it with strikethrough formatting.
When you are done writing for the day, quit Stickies. Do not close the note before quitting.
When you start work the next day, open Stickies again. The note should reappear just as you left it, all ready to be consulted and updated as needed.

If you’re using Mac OS X Lion and you don’t quit Stickies, it’ll automatically reopen when you restart your computer. If you’re using an earlier version of Mac OS, you can set up Stickies as a Login item so it automatically opens when you start or log into your computer.

Again, you can use this tip for any kind of information you need to consult as you work at your computer. The one thing I wouldn’t put in Stickies is any kind of information that needs to be kept private. I recommend an application such as 1Password for that kind of data so it can be secured.

How do you use Stickies? Share your tips in the comments for this post.

Learn More!

Lion Book Cover Want to know more about Mac OS X Lion and Stickies? Check out my Mac OS X Lion: Visual QuickStart Guide. This 648-page, fully illustrated guide to Lion is available for a great price in print and Kindle versions from Amazon.com.

Maria’s Guide Title for iBooks Author Now in Production

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Maria Langer

Look for it within the next week or so.

iBooks Author Icon No sooner had we put the finishing touches on Sorting Excel Data than Apple delivered a brand new topic for the Maria’s Guides book series: iBooks Author.

iBooks Author is a Mac OS application that enables you to develop media-rich ebooks for iBooks on iPad. Although it has a limited audience, it makes up for those limitations with sheer publishing power. This free application makes it possible to create books that not only include fixed page layouts, but images, galleries, movies, review tests, and interactive graphics. Best of all, it features a relatively easy-to-use, intuitive interface.

We’re excited about iBooks Author, mostly because of all the great new ways we’ll be able to enhance Maria’s Guide books for iBooks readers. We’re also excited about producing a book about a brand new topic: iBooks Author: Publishing Your First Book should be available before the end of the month. We hope you’ll look for it here—and on the iBookstore, of course.

Sorting Excel Data: The Basics & Beyond

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Maria Langer

Comment

A definitive guide to sorting data managed in Microsoft Excel.

This guide takes the mystery and confusion out of Excel’s sorting features. It starts by covering the basics of simple, one-column sorts. It then builds on that information to explain multi-column sorting, setting up and using custom sort orders, sorting based on cell colors or icons, performing case-sensitive sorts, and sorting by rows instead of columns. Step-by-step, fully illustrated instructions make it clear what you need to do. Sample files make it easy to repeat exercises so you can see the same results.

Although this book concentrates on Microsoft Excel 2010 for Windows and Microsoft Excel 2011 for Mac OS, it also provides useful tips and instructions for previous versions of Excel.

Buy Kindle Edition
Buy iBooks Edition
Buy NOOK Edition

I’m really pleased to announce that the second book in the Maria’s Guides series — Sorting Excel Data: The Basics & Beyond — is now out and available in three ebook formats, with a print edition on the way.

About the Book

It all started as a question asked by a friend in Facebook. An experienced computer professional, she didn’t know how to perform a four-column sort in Microsoft Excel. I thought back to my computer applications training days and remembered how my students struggled with Excel’s sorting features. I decided it would make a good topic for a Maria’s Guide book.

While researching and writing the book, I realized just how much Excel’s sorting feature has changed since I wrote my last Excel book several years ago. While it was obviously important for me to cover the most recent Windows and Mac OS versions of Excel, I also wanted to explain complex sorting to folks who haven’t yet upgraded. I think the book does a great job of completely covering how to sort data managed in Excel.

Inside, you’ll find the following chapters:

Table of Contents Before We Begin: Introduction Chapter 1: Sorting Basics Chapter 2: Quick Sorts Chapter 3: Multiple-Column Sorts Chapter 4: Sorting by Color & Icon Chapter 5: Using Custom Sort Orders Chapter 6: Exploring Sort Options Chapter 7: Sorting with Filters & Tables Conclusion: That’s Everything

The printed version of the book runs 114 pages, including front matter, table of contents, and index.

The book uses several example worksheets, all of which are contained in a single workbook file. Readers are encouraged to download the sample file and follow along. This ensures understanding, since readers get the same results that appear in the book.

Buy the Book

The book is currently available as an ebook from three sources (so far):

The print edition is currently going through the proofing process. Once approved, it will be available on Amazon.com and BN.com, as well as by special order through your favorite bookstore.

Additional Material, Feedback, and Support

You can find additional material about Excel on this site. Just follow the Excel topic link.

You can also post questions and read questions and answers on the book’s support page. That’s also where you can find the sample workbook file used throughout the book.

How to Limit Visibility of Facebook Timeline Items

Posted on December 27, 2011 by Maria Langer

Now that it’s easy to go back in time to see what you posted on Facebook, are you sure you want everything visible?

Facebook’s new Timeline feature puts every update, photo, event, and detail in your life that you’ve shared on Facebook into a reverse chronologically displayed listing. Here’s what mine looks like today:

At the top of your profile page is a “cover photo” and your profile picture. Beneath that is information about you, your work, and your relationships. After a box containing a few of your friends, you’ll find every single item you’ve ever posted to Facebook.

To make it easier for someone to zero in on a particular date in your past, they can drag a slider on the right side of the page. So if you’ve been posting on Facebook for a few years, people can go back in time to see the Halloween party photo when you dressed up like a hooker or your rant about your old boss or the details about the honeymoon cruise with your ex-husband. Intermingled with this stuff is details about your new jobs, vacations, check ins, and other life events you thought (at the time, anyway) were important enough to share with “friends” — or the public at large — on Facebook.

With your Facebook history so easily accessible — possibly to the general public (which is Facebook’s default setting for updates) — people can get a real idea of what you’re all about now and in the past. If you care at all about what people think of you, you probably want to examine your Timeline and make sure it shows only what you want to show — and only to the people you want to see it.

If you think you’re revealing a bit more than you want to in your Facebook Timeline, there are a few things you can do:

To limit access to a specific post, click the Edit (pencil) icon at the top of it and choose one of the options that appears. Not all options appear for all items, but you can usually hide an item from your timeline or delete it. It’s interesting to note that if you’ve posted many items on Facebook that you regret — think drunk party photos or emotional rants — you’ll have to find and delete them one-by-one. (Have fun with that.)
To limit access to all of your past posts, go into Facebook Privacy settings and click the “Manage Past Post Visibility” link. Then click the Limit Old Posts button in the dialog that appears to make old posts accessible to Friends only. Doing this prevents random individuals from seeing old posts. Keep in mind that this is not reversible.
To limit visibility to items as you post them to Facebook, use the pop-up menu at the bottom of the Update box to choose the visibility option you want. Public makes it visible to everyone. Remember, you can also limit visibility based on lists that you create and maintain on your own.
To set the default visibility setting for new items you post on Facebook — so you don’t need to remember to choose an option for each post — go into Facebook Privacy settings and select one of the Default Privacy options. If you choose Custom, you can specify which list can see the posts and specify people and lists who can’t see the posts. You can override this option for each item as you post it.

Keep in mind that the best way to keep details of your life private is to not share them at all — especially on Facebook.

How to Embed a Tweet in a Blog Post or Website

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Maria Langer

Comment

Finding and using a new feature on Twitter.com.

Twitter’s getting a facelift. In fact, as I write this, I’m one of a limited number of early adopters who have sped the arrival of the new version by installing and using the iPhone (in my case) or Android app.

The new Twitter is a dramatic change in the interface — one I plan to review in a video for Lynda.com soon. In the meantime, I’m picking out a few new features to explore in detail here in Maria’s Guides.

Exploring the new tweet embedding feature on Twitter.com by embedding this tweet on mariasguides.com.

— Maria Langer (@mlanger) December 16, 2011

In this post, I’ll explore the new ability to embed a tweet — like the one shown here — within a blog post or web page.

On Twitter.com, point to the tweet you want to embed and then click the Open link that appears to open it. (You could also simply double-click the tweet.)
Click the Details link to display the tweet in its own window.
Click the Embed this Tweet link.
The Embed this Tweet pop-up window appears. It has three tabs:
- HTML enables you to embed the tweet in a blog post or website using HTML. You select the alignment option you want by clicking a button and then copy and paste the code at the top of the tab. In this example, I’ve clicked Right because I want the tweet right aligned (as you see above).
- Shortcode enables you to embed the tweet in a blog post on a blogging platform that supports short codes, such as WordPress. Again, set the alignment option you want by clicking a button and then copy and past the code at the top of the tab.
- Link displays a direct link to the tweet that you can copy and paste anywhere you like: email message, Facebook, Google+, comment form, or HTML editor to create your own link manually.
In this example, I simply pasted the code in the HTML tab into the beginning of this blog post, which I wrote in HTML (I’m a bit old-fashioned that way). If you use WordPress and prefer Rich Text mode, you can do the same thing with the shortcode.

That’s all there is to it.

What’s handy about this is that not only does it display the tweet in its entirety with the tweeter’s profile picture and name, but it has live links to follow that person on Twitter, Reply, Retweet, and Favorite. Cool, no?

Let me teach you more about Twitter!

You can watch seven videos from my Twitter Essential Training course for free. Click here to get started.

Save 35% on My Lion Book!

Posted on December 1, 2011 by Maria Langer

Comment

Discount applies to either printed book or ebook (or bundle) and includes free shipping!

Mac OS X Lion VQS Book Cover Just a quick note to let readers know that Peachpit Press is offering my Lion book at a 35% off discount with free shipping from now until December 31, 2011.

To take advantage of this offer, visit the book’s page on Peachpit’s site, add the book (or ebook or bundle) to your shopping cart and check out. Be sure to enter discount code LIONVQS during the checkout process.

Makes a great gift for folks new to Mac OS or Lion!

Seven Tips for Interacting with Companies on Twitter

Posted on November 29, 2011 by Maria Langer

Comment

Your attitude and approach will set the stage for a good relationship with the companies you deal with.

One of the videos in my Twitter Essential Training course on Lynda.com includes a discussion on how you can get customer support from companies that maintain Twitter accounts. In it, I include several real-life examples of how I got quicker results from companies through their Twitter accounts than through normal customer service channels. Since recording that course, I’ve had at least a dozen other similar experiences.

If you want to use Twitter to get support for products and services you buy, you need to have the right attitude and approach. With that in mind, here are seven tips for interacting with companies on Twitter:

Tip: You can use Twitter’s search feature, which is covered in Chapter 7 of the current version of my course, to find Twitter accounts for companies or specific products. Hashtags are covered in the course, too.

When tweeting about a product or company, include its Twitter account name or hashtag in the tweet. This makes it easy for the company to easily find your mention.
Refrain from using foul language when sharing negative comments about a product or company. Many people are turned off by bad language. Your comment will have more impact — and a greater potential for retweeting — if it’s stated in work-safe terms.
When complaining about a product or company, be specific. Saying “Company ABC sucks” isn’t nearly as helpful to the company’s support team or fellow Twitter users as “Company ABC takes too long to process orders” or “Company ABC’s website is difficult to navigate.”
If you have a question about a product or service, use an @mention to direct it to the company’s Twitter account. Ask the question in a single tweet, being as specific as possible. For example, “@CompanyABC Does #ProductA have a warranty?” or “@CompanyABC The manual for #ProductB doesn’t explain how to use it with my iPad.” If the company is properly monitoring its Twitter account, you may get an answer within minutes.
Don’t hesitate to praise a product or company you like. Last night, for example, I had an extra-good shopping experience and tweeted: “Just wanted to say that we got EXCELLENT service at the PHX Camelback @BedBathBeyond store. Advised on a sheet purchase by an expert!” If everything you tweet is a complaint, you’ll look like a whiner that’s never happy. Support staff could hesitate to help you if they feel you can’t ever be pleased.
If a company you complained about satisfactorily fixed a problem you had, tweet a follow-up to let your Twitter followers know they made things right. Many companies really do try hard; don’t they deserve praise when they resolve a problem?
Don’t lie about an experience. Good or bad — people may rely on what you say to make purchase decisions. Do you really want to mislead your Twitter followers?

Of course, if you’re in charge of monitoring a company’s Twitter account, its up to you to respond quickly and promptly to any Tweets that mention your Twitter account or products. I cover that in my Lynda.com course, too.

Let me teach you more about Twitter!

You can watch seven videos from my Twitter Essential Training course for free. Click here to get started.

Comment Moderation: Fighting Spam and Trolls

Posted on November 16, 2011 by Maria Langer

A few tips from a long-time blogger.

As any blogger with even a slightly popular blog can tell you, good comment moderation is an absolute requirement to maintain a good, readable blog.

The way I see it, comment moderation serves two purposes:

It prevents your blog from being an advertising platform for people who don’t contribute real content. I’m not just talking about obvious spam here, either.
It prevents your blog from being a platform for offensive or abusive people who don’t contribute real content. And yes, I am talking about trolls here.

Let’s take a closer look at each of these two points.

Comments by Spammers

There are two kinds of comment spam.

One type — the most prevalent — is mostly automated spam posted by software commonly referred to as spambots. Once your blog gets on the radar (so to speak), automated spam can be quite significant. This blog, for example, attracts more than 500 automated spam comments a day.

This kind of spam is pretty easy to recognize. One type, for example, includes multiple links for things like online gambling, prescription medication, or pornography. The other type puts its link in the comment form’s URL field and then fills the comment field with text that may or may not make sense but has nothing to do with the content of the original post. Here’s an example from my post titled “Five Tips for Composing a More Effective Social Networking Bio“:

I precisely had to thank you so much all over again. I am not sure the things that I could possibly have accomplished in the absence of the entire tricks contributed by you on my problem. It truly was a very frightening case for me personally, nevertheless viewing your specialized manner you handled the issue forced me to leap over delight. I’m just happy for the assistance and believe you are aware of a great job that you’re getting into training other individuals via a site. More than likely you haven’t encountered any of us.

Huh? I get hundreds of comments like this every day.

It should be noted that a lot of this spam appears on posts that may be quite old. This particular one appeared on a post that was 2-1/2 years old. This is one reason why bloggers use plugins to automatically turn off the commenting feature on older posts.

Fortunately, spam prevention tools can detect and catch 99% of this kind of spam. I use Akismet on my WordPress site and it does a great job of catching and corralling this garbage so it never has a chance to appear on my blog. If you’re not using a spam prevention tool and are manually going through this crap, what are you waiting for? Don’t you have better things to do with your time?

The other kind of spam is more insidious. It’s posted by a real person and it looks like a legitimate comment. But its sole purpose is to promote a product, service, or Web site — not to engage you or other blog readers in a conversation about the original post’s topic.

In many cases, the spammer doesn’t put any real effort into his comment. It might contain a sentence or two that’s vaguely related to the post. The spam delivery is in the commenter’s name and URL. Rather than being something like “John” or “Mary Smith,” it’ll be something like “John’s Carpet Service” or “Discount Vitamin Shack.” The URL will be the URL for the site John or Mary want to promote. In most cases, the email address will be something that’s likely fake or never checked for incoming mail — usually a Gmail or Yahoo! account — but sometimes a legitimate-looking email account is included.

To me, this is a gray area — is it a legitimate comment or spam? Considering the content and purpose of the comment should guide you. Your site’s comment policy should help; I’ll get to that in a moment.

Trolls

A far worse problem these days is what many people refer to as trolls. Trolls are people who post offensive or controversial commentary on blogs or discussion forums. Their goal is apparently to make themselves look smart or superior at the expensive of you or other commenters. By posting comments, they’re “trolling” for an argument — much like a fisherman might go trolling to catch fish.

This is where good comment moderation is vital to your blog.

You see, if you allow offensive commentary — including personal attacks on yourself or blog commenters — you do two things:

You discourage legitimate commenters from sharing their thoughts. After all, they could be the victim of the next troll attack.
You encourage more trolling activity by current and future trolls. After all, you let one offensive comment out there, you’re likely to allow others. They see your blog as a good place to troll for new victims.

Is that something you really want?

I have seen too many blogs and forums completely devastated by the comments posted by trolls and the offensive and defensive comments posted in response. Back in the early days of the Internet and newsgroups, we used to refer to this as “flame wars.” There’s nothing useful or productive about the comments by trolls or the resulting flame wars. Why allow them on your blog?

The Freedom of Speech Argument

The biggest defense against firm moderation that would prevent trolling activities is that it’s “censorship” and that you’re violating the commenter’s “freedom of speech.” They often use the phrase “First Amendment Rights.”

Let’s look briefly at the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. [emphasis added]

Where exactly does it say that I have to put up with offensive commentary on my blog? All it says is that the government can’t make a law abridging the freedom of speech. I’m not the government, I’m not making a law.

So I don’t think “free speech” is a valid argument. After all, should anyone have the right to say anything they want — no matter how offensive — on your blog?

If people want to spout hate and offensive commentary, they can do it on their own blog.

Creating a Comment Policy

One way to fight back against spammers and trolls is to create and uphold a site comment policy. This policy should clearly state what is and/or isn’t allowed in the comments on your blog. Linking to this policy in an obvious place — or even placing a short version of it right above or below the comment form — will make it clear that you don’t tolerate spam or bad behavior.

Want some examples of good comment policies? Here are a few to give you ideas:

An Eclectic Mind. This is the comment policy for my personal blog. It’s a bit wordy — what do you expect from me? — but it does cover all the bases. You might also be interested in another post on my blog, “I Love Blog Comments Here.”
Stonekettle Station. Jim Wright doesn’t put up with crap either. That’s the short version of his comment policy. The long version, which address trolls and free speech, can be found here.
Whatever. John Scalzi’s comment policy. Simple and to-the-point.
Lorelle on WordPress. Lorelle knows more about WordPress blogging than I ever will. Here’s her site’s comment policy. You might also be interested in another post on her blog, “Comments on Comments.”

This topic was also addressed back in 2007 by Lorelle VanFossen in The Blog Herald.

Do you have a site comment policy you want to share with readers here? Post it in the comments for this post.

Maintaining Order

Creating a policy isn’t enough. You also have to maintain it. That means objectively reviewing every comment on your site and deleting the ones that violate the policy.

Yes, deleting them.

My advice is not to edit them, or allow them but reply with a warning, or do anything else. If a comment violates your policy, just delete it.

Don’t even send the commenter an email message telling them that you’ve deleted their message and why. If a commenter lacks the courtesy to be civil and follow your established rules on your blog, does he deserve any courtesy from you?

More important than that is the entire concept of “feeding the trolls.” When you respond in any way to a troll, you encourage more trolling activity. You see, these people just can’t let it go. They see any response as having a victim on the hook and they keep up their trolling behavior.

Ignore them and they will go away. Really.

You need to keep this in mind no matter where you see trolls. If you can’t delete their offensive crap, just ignore it. (Or, if it’s offensive enough, contact the site owner directly and tell him/her what you think and how it makes you feel about their blog/site/forum. A responsible site owner will take care of the problem.)

And if the whole concept of trolls is new to you, I urge you to read the entire “Troll (Internet)” entry on Wikipedia. It’s excellent and it clearly shows how bad these people can be for an Internet community like a blog.

Steps to Take

To sum up, I want to review the steps you might want to take to moderate and control the comments on your blog.

Install and use spam prevention tools. Akismet is the best one (in my opinion) for a WordPress blog. It’s free.
Write and post a site comment policy. Use the ones linked to above to give you ideas.
Set up your blog to require moderation of all comments. On a WordPress blog, you do this in Discussion Settings.
Regularly check for and approve (or delete) new comments. I’ve created a bookmark in my browser to quickly go to the comment moderation panel for each of my sites. I check for comments every morning and sometimes during the day so few comments are ever held in moderation for long.
Resist the urge to respond to trolls on your blog. Don’t respond in comments or in email. You will regret it.
Ignore the comments posted by trolls on other sites and in online forums. Don’t feed the trolls.

Please use the comments for this post to share your thoughts, experiences, and questions about this topic.

Lion and Rosetta

Posted on November 14, 2011 by Maria Langer

One solution if you need to run Rosetta software.

I’m one of the poor idiots who didn’t switch from Quicken 2007 — the most recent full-featured Mac version — to something else before Lion was released. And now I’m one of the many people who can’t access my accounting records from my computer running Mac OS X Lion.

I did, however, find a workaround. That’s what this article is all about.

Unfortunately, I can’t explain how to run Rosetta software under Lion. To my knowledge, that’s not possible — and please do correct me if I’m wrong! Instead, this article explain show to keep running that Rosetta-dependent software under Snow Leopard (or Leopard) while your computer runs Lion.

Curious? Read on.

What You Need

To take advantage of this workaround you need four things:

A computer capable of running Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard or Leopard. That’s basically any recent Mac released before Lion was released in July.
A Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard or Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard installation disc. The disc (or thumb drive) that came with your computer should do the trick — in fact, it’s your best starting point.
A USB 2 or FireWire external hard disk. If your computer has two internal hard disks, you could actually use one of those. You could also partition your internal hard disk and use one of the partitions. But I prefer an external disk. It doesn’t need to have a very high capacity, but it should be blank because you may have to format it. You can buy a suitable portable disk — which makes it possible to use it on any computer capable of running Snow Leopard (or Leopard) — for well under $100 at Costco or Best Buy or on Amazon.com. The kind that draw power from their USB or FireWire connection are best for this use.
The installation disks for the Rosetta software you need to run. In my case, it’s just Quicken 2007.

At this point, if you’re not a complete newbie — which I assume is the case because you need to run ancient software — you should have an idea of where I’m going with this.

The Plan

The plan is to install Mac OS X 10.6 (or 10.5) on that external hard disk. You can then boot from that disk and install the ancient software you need to run. Once that’s done, you can boot from that disk any time you need to run that ancient software.

Now stop your whining! I can hear you all the way from here.

The sad truth is, there is no other alternative. If your problem is Quicken — as mine is — lots of Web sites are telling you to switch to the Windows version of Quicken and run it under Parallels or Windows running on Boot Camp. But do you really want to run Windows? I don’t. And do you really need to use that software all the time? I don’t. And isn’t this just temporary until you find replacement software that’ll run on Lion? For me, yes!

So this is the solution that’ll work without costing a fortune. Chances are, you already have an old external hard disk lying around somewhere. I sure do.

About My Emergency Boot Disk

True story. I was about 95% done with my Mac OS X Lion book when the internal hard disk on my iMac died. Fortunately, I had backups of all my files, so I didn’t lose any data. But I was stuck living in my RV in the middle of farmland, 100 miles away from the nearest Mac consultant capable of replacing an internal hard disk on an iMac.

What did I do? I went to Costco and bought a portable USB 2 drive. I then installed Mac OS X and the applications I needed to finish the book on that disk, along with my backed up documents. Although I expected Mac OS to run very sluggishly from that external hard disk, I was pleasantly surprised at how peppy it was. Not as good as running it from the internal disk, but certainly bearable.

And the reason I want to use an external hard disk? So that when I do find a replacement for Quicken (which I hope is soon), I don’t have to worry about getting all traces of an older OS off my second internal hard disk or a partition on my internal hard disk. And I can always use the external hard disk as an emergency boot disk if I need one for any computer capable of running that version of Mac OS. Or I can reformat it and use it for something else.

Installing Mac OS

First, try to install Snow Leopard (or Leopard) on the external hard disk without reformatting. If you prefer to reformat first, skip ahead to the section titled “If You Have to Reformat” and come back here when you’re done. I’m assuming you don’t want to reformat the hard disk because it contains data you need to use.

Connect the external hard disk to your Mac. Depending on how you configured Finder preferences, its icon may appear on the Desktop or in a Finder window’s sidebar.
Insert the Snow Leopard (or Leopard) installation disc or thumb drive. Remember, you must install a version of Mac OS that your computer can run. That’s why its always a good idea to install from the installation disc or thumb drive that came with your computer. In this illustration, icons for my external hard disk (Mobile Backup) and MacBook Air installation thumb drive appear on the Desktop.
If necessary, open the installation disc/thumb drive icon. Then double-click the Install Mac OS X icon in the Mac OS X Install window. In this illustration, I’ve opened the icon for my MacBook Air’s thumb drive to install Snow Leopard. This launches the Installer.
Follow the prompts to restart your computer. It will boot from the installation disc/thumbdrive. (That’s why its important to use an installer that your computer can run.) It may take a while to start up.
Follow the prompts to choose your language, start the installation process, and agree to the license terms.
In the window that asks which hard disk to install on, be sure to select the external hard disk. Your internal hard disk should not be selectable because it already has a later version of Mac OS X. If your external hard disk cannot be selected either, it likely needs to be formatted; if this happens, Quit the installer, restart from your internal hard disk, and skip ahead to the section titled “If You Have to Reformat.”
After selecting your external hard disk, click the Customize button.
In the window that appears, turn off the check boxes for Additional Fonts, Language Translations, and X11 (unless you need any of them). Turning these items off makes the installation smaller and may speed up running Mac OS X from an external hard disk. Be sure to turn on the check box beside Rosetta. Then click OK.
Back in the main installer window, confirm again that the correct hard disk is selected. Then click Install.
Wait while Mac OS X is installed on the external hard disk. It could take a while. Go get a cup of coffee or take your dog for a walk. When the installation is complete, your computer will automatically restart.
Follow the onscreen prompts to complete the Mac OS setup on the external hard disk. I recommend not transferring your information from another source. (I’m one of those people who like a clean install of everything.) Eventually, you’ll be dumped into the Finder so you can start using your computer with the new OS on the external drive.
Optional: Run Software Update to update Mac OS and its components to the most recent version.

You can eject the Mac OS installer disc/thumbdrive.

If You Have to Reformat

If you have to reformat your external hard disk — or if you want to, just to start with a clean slate — you can use Disk Utility to get the job done. Just remember that following these instructions will completely erase the hard disk, so don’t do this if the disk contains files you need.

With the external hard disk connected, follow these instructions:

If necessary, start your computer from its internal hard disk and Lion installation.
Open Disk Utility in the Utilities folder in your Applications folder.
On the left side of the window, select the name of the hard disk you inserted.
On the right side of the window, click the Erase button near the top of the window.
Make sure Mac OS Extended (Journaled) is selected form the Format pop-up menu.
If desired, enter a new name in the Name field.
Click the Erase button near the bottom of the window.
In the dialog that appears, click Erase.
Wait while the disk is erased. It shouldn’t take very long.
Quit Disk Utility.

Once this is done, you can follow the instructions in the section titled “Installing Mac OS” above.

Installing Your Rosetta-Dependent Software

Once Snow Leopard (or Leopard) is installed on the external hard disk, you can install your ancient, Rosetta-dependent software on it.

If necessary, restart the computer from the external hard disk. One way to do this is to hold down the Option key while the computer is starting up and then choose the disk you want from the options that appear onscreen.
Insert the original installation disc for the software you want to install.
Open the installer.
Follow the prompts to install the software.

Note that you might be prompted to install Rosetta. While I realize that if you followed the instructions in the section titled “Installing Mac OS” above Rosetta should already be installed, for some reason, it wasn’t installed for me. No big deal. Your computer can use its connection to the Internet to download and install Rosetta on demand.

When the installation is complete, you can open the software. You’ll find it in the Applications folder on the startup disk — your external hard disk.

Running that Old Software

From that point forward, any time you need to run that old Rosetta-dependent software, you’ll need to restart your computer and make sure it starts from the external hard disk. Yes, this is a pain in the butt. But hopefully, you won’t need to do this often — or forever.

You should be able to keep the data for the application on your internal hard disk — for example, my Quicken data files reside in my Documents folder in my usual Home folder. Quicken, when launched from my external hard disk, can still access them. In fact, I normally launch Quicken by opening one of its data files.

If you expect to need to use the application and its documents on multiple computers, save the files to the external hard disk’s Home folder. The data becomes just as portable as the hard disk. Just don’t forget to back it up periodically if the disk is not backed up with your other data.

When you’re not accessing that other software, you can unmount and disconnect the external hard disk. Just remember to restart your computer from its internal hard disk before you try to pull the plug.

That’s about all there is to it. What do you think? Will this solution work for you? Please share your comments. Just try to refrain from bashing Apple for dropping Rosetta or Intuit for not updating Quicken for Lion. Those two horses have been beaten to death so there’s no need to beat them here.

Dragon Dictate 2.5: Visual QuickStart Guide

Posted on November 13, 2011 by Maria Langer

Comment

Now available!

Dragon Dictate 2.5: Visual QuickStart Guide walks readers through how to train Dragon Dictate, allowing it to recognize the way readers speak. Readers will learn how to add specialized words and names and how to control Mac applications using their voice. The book then moves on to editing text documents, allowing readers to select, delete, capitalize and work with text. The book also covers having Dragon read text back to the user, allowing the user to proofread and edit dictated documents. Finally, the book covers more advanced topics, such as creating new voice commands for controlling Mac applications and controlling the mouse via voice commands.

Buy from Peachpit Press
Buy from Amazon.com
Buy from Barnes & Noble
Buy from Apple’s iTunes Bookstore

My latest Peachpit Press book, Dragon Dictate 2.5: Visual QuickStart Guide, is now widely available from all major online booksellers and in bookstores that sell computer books. You can buy it in traditional print format or as an ebook in Kindle, iBooks, NOOK, and PDF formats.

About the Book

I first became interested in Dragon Dictate when I began using the Dragon Dictation app on my iPad. I was extremely impressed by the software’s ability to understand what I was saying — without any voice recognition training. Later, I was on hand at Macworld Expo in San Francisco for a demo of the Mac OS software package, Dragon Dictate, on the show floor. I was blown away. It was exactly the kind of software I’d been dreaming about — software that could type what I said as I said it.

I bought a copy right then and there.

I started talking to Peachpit Press about a Dragon Dictate book this past spring. We contacted for it, but soon put it on the back burner so I could finish my Mac OS X book revision for Lion. When that was finished, I began working on the Dictate book. I finished it in October.

Dragon Dictate 2.5: Visual QuickStart Guide follows the usual illustrated step-by-step format that makes Visual QuickStart Guide books so popular with readers. But in addition to that, it also provides numerous tables of commands that work with Dragon Dictate. It’s these handy guides that I think are the most valuable resource in the book. I can imagine readers using a highlighter to highlight the commands they use most — that’s what I’ll be doing with my copy!

Buy the Book

Right now, the book is available from many booksellers. If it’s not readily available in your favorite bookstore, try one of these sources:

It retails for $19.99, but I’ve seen prices as low as $14.99 (Amazon.com). The ebook is widely available for just 9.99.

Additional Material, Feedback, and Support

You can find additional material about Dragon Dictate on this site. Just follow the Dragon Dictate topic link.

You can also post questions and read questions and answers on the book’s support page.

MacVoices TV Interview about Making Movies Book

Posted on November 9, 2011 by Maria Langer

Comment

Interview by Chuck Joiner now online.

Screen Grab I’m extremely pleased to announce that my interview with Chuck Joiner on Mac Voices TV went live today. I hope you’ll check out MacVoicesTV #1182: Maria Langer Helps You Make Movies.

This was the first time I’d appeared on MacVoices TV; usually, I’m on the audio-only version, MacVoices. In the background, you’ll see the covered up stored furniture of my new office in Phoenix. You’ll also get a chance to see my horrible haircut six full weeks after I was scalped. (Hint: There’s still not enough to do anything with it except spike it.)

Chuck is a great host who always asks good questions. As usual, it was a real pleasure to be on his show. I hope you’ll take the time to explore the other MacVoices episodes on Chuck’s site. I’m sure you’ll find plenty of interest there.

You can find a complete list of my recent interview appearances on my personal website.

2Do

Posted on November 2, 2011 by Maria Langer

Better than Apple’s Reminder app.

I’m one of those people who can’t remember anything unless it’s written down somewhere. (Indeed, I often consult my books to remember how to do something I actually wrote about!) So it should come as no surprise that I lean heavily on my Mac and iOS devices for a to do list or reminders.

Until recently, Apple did not provide any app that synchronized reminder items between iCal on a Mac and the iOS calendar apps. Not content to wait until they added such functionality, I tried two different reminder applications. The one I settled on — and still use daily today — is called 2Do by Guided Ways Technologies Ltd.

2Do App Icon Right from the get-go, 2Do enabled me to synchronize reminder items between iCal and the 2Do app on my iPad and iPhone. It did this through MobileMe, which was very convenient. (2Do now supports iCloud, too.) I could create reminder items on any device, synchronize, and see the items on every device. I could also change or mark an item as complete on one device, synchronize, and have the item change or be marked complete on all devices.

2Do on iPad
In this example, I’m viewing 2Do’s reminder items in my “Air” calendar on my iPad. The grouping is customizable.

What I like a lot about 2Do is that it offers a wide range of fields that you can use to enter information about a reminder item. So not only can I add an item title, description, calendar, and other iCal-supported information, but I can also add fields for a start date, location, recurrence, tags, audio note, and pictures. I can customize the item entry form to include only the fields I use most in the order in which I want them to appear; I can access other fields with a tap. With the location features, you don’t need Siri on an iPhone 4S to take advantage of location-based reminders.

2Do supports three kinds of reminder items: ToDo, Checklist, and Project. A ToDo is a standard reminder. A Checklist is a reminder that includes individual checkable items. A Project is a reminder that includes individual ToDo items. Although I mostly use simple ToDos, Checklists and Projects are especially handy for grouping related tasks that you might need to focus on without creating a separate calendar for them.

2Do’s interface is completely customizable to display specific calendars in the order you want to see them in. You can view reminder items by calendar, tags, or location. If you specify a start date for an item in the future, it will not clutter up your current reminder list.

Reminders App
My “Air” calendar’s reminder list in the Reminder app on my iPhone.

2Do plays nice with Apple’s new Reminders app. When you sync 2Do to iCloud, that data is automatically pushed to Reminders. Likewise, when you make a change in Reminders, that’s automatically pushed to iCloud so it’s updated when you sync 2Do. While it’s true that syncing is not automatic — at least not right now — it is quick and does not require WiFi (as other iOS reminder apps do).

Although folks with very basic reminder needs may find Apple’s Reminders app good enough to meet their needs, I think the power and flexibility of 2Do makes it worth the nominal purchase price. Its additional features and fields help keep me organized, whether I’m planning my next 1200-mile helicopter trip or just trying to remember what to pick up at the grocery store.

Making Movies: A Guide for Serious Amateurs

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Maria Langer

A step-by-step approach to making quality video productions.

Tired of turning video footage into ho-hum productions that make people yawn? Or, worse yet, just putting raw video out there and hoping for the best? If so, this guide is for you. It clearly explains how to research, plan, shoot, assemble, edit, and fine-tune video productions for just about any purpose. Richly illustrated with stills from an example movie, it’ll get you on the right track to making movies that’ll inform, entertain, and impress your audience.

Buy from Amazon’s Kindle Bookstore

I’m really pleased to announce that the first book in the Maria’s Guides series — Making Movies: A Guide for Serious Amateurs — is now available.

About the Book

I originally wrote the first draft of Making Movies as a personal guide to help me remember how I created my first “watchable” movie, Cherries: From Tree to Truck. Later, I rounded it out into a series of articles for InformIT. To create this book, I added and revised content and formatted it for print and ebook publication.

This book differs from most of my computer how-to books in that it concentrates on theory rather than specific how-to tasks. For example, it doesn’t explain how to edit moves in iMovie or Final Cut Pro. Instead, it tells you about the kinds of clips you should acquire and why. It also goes into a great deal of detail about the part of movie-making that’s most overlooked by inexperienced movie-makers: the planning process. The idea was to write a book that could benefit all first-time movie makers — not just the ones using a specific camera or editing software package.

Inside, you’ll find chapters for the following “steps”:

Introduction
Step 1: Explore the Topic
Step 2: Plan the Shoot
Step 3: Shoot the Video
Step 4: Create the Rough Cut
Step 5: Fine-Tune and Complete
Step 6: Publish and Share
Conclusion

The printed version of the book runs 66 pages, including cover, front matter, and index.

The book uses two examples throughout the text: the existing cherry harvest video I created and a hypothetical home movie of a kid’s soccer game. There are screen images and other figures to help illustrate important points.

I think the book is a great guide to help new movie makers learn the lingo and get a feel for making good movies. Its step-by-step approach can help keep readers focused on the tasks that need to be done to ensure success.

Buy the Book

The book is available in four formats from three sources (so far):

EPUB and Kindle Ebook

I wrote the book primarily for distribution as an ebook. As such, it’s available in EPUB and Kindle formats from two popular sources at a very reasonable $3.99:

Print and PDF Ebook

The book is also available in print and in a PDF-style ebook format from MagCloud.

MagCloud is a print-on-demand publisher that calculates printed cost by the page, so the longer a book is, the more it costs. The printed version, which is in full color, is available for $12.95 plus shipping. Be advised that it may take up to two weeks for the book to arrive.

MagCloud also offers a ebook version of the book. Unlike the EPUB and Kindle versions, the MagCloud version is based on a PDF, so it’s formatted exactly like the book. The cost of this ebook version is $3.95 and it downloads immediately upon purchase.

Note that when you buy the print version, you get a free copy of the ebook version.

Additional Material, Feedback, and Support

You can find additional material about making movies on this site. Just follow the Movie Making topic link.

You can also post questions and read questions and answers on the book’s support page.

Broken Link Contest

Posted on October 28, 2011 by Maria Langer

Help me clean up this mess — and maybe win a prize.

I’ve been building content on this site since 2003. In eight years, I’ve collected a lot of junk.

Broken Link Image As I revise this site, I’m going through every single post, deleting the ones I don’t think are relevant anymore, and fixing up the ones that remain. Along the way, I hope to hunt down and destroy all broken links.

But I’m only one person and can only check so many links in a day. So I’m asking for your help. And I’m willing to reward the folks who help me most with a free copy of any one of my books still in print.

Here’s how you can enter to win:

Browse the site as you normally would.
When you find a broken link*, open the comment for this post. (I put a link to it in the sidebar so it’s easy to find.)

Check all the preceding comments to make sure your broken link isn’t already listed. I can’t give points for duplicate entries!

If the broken link isn’t already listed, use the Comments form at the bottom of the page to enter the following information:
- Your name and email address. (This might not be necessary if you’ve already commented here.) Please use your real email address; I will use it to contact you if you’re a winner. I will not share your address with anyone else or spam you. I promise.
- The URL of the page where you found the broken link. It must begin with http://www.mariaguides.com/ — I’m not interested in rewarding folks for finding broken links on other sites.
- The URL of the broken link. The easiest way to get this information is to either Control-Click (Mac OS) or Right-Click (Mac OS or Windows) on the broken link and use the Copy Link Location command in the contextual menu that appears. You can then paste it into the comment form.
Submit the comment.
Repeat as necessary. The more broken links you report, the better your chances of winning.

When I approve the comments — all comments are moderated here — I’ll check your findings. If you’ve correctly identified a broken link, you’ll score a point and I’ll note that in a reply to your comment.

At November month-end, I’ll award prizes to the top broken link finders.

Does this sound like a plan? I hope so. l could really use the help.

—
* A “broken link” is a link on a Web page that, when clicked, displays a “Page Not Found” error or something similar. In other words, it doesn’t display what it should for whatever reason.