Maria’s Guides

Don’t make the font size larger — zoom it!

Yesterday, I reread a blog entry I wrote earlier this year about my failing eyesight (”The Eyes Had It“). My far vision has always been bad, but now I’m beginning to lose my close vision, too. Miraz, my co-author on the WordPress book, commented that she’s going through the same thing and now uses a larger font size when working with Word.

As a writer, I spend a good portion of my workday in front of word processing or page layout software. I have a 21″ Sony monitor at my office — you know, one of those enormous super VGA CRTs that weighs about 80 lbs. I have the screen resolution set so I see a lot on my screen. But that means that most of what I see is small.

I found that if I received a document from someone with a normal font size — say 12 points — I just wasn’t able to view it comfortably at 100% magnification. So I needed a workaround.

There were two options:

• Change the screen resolution to a lower setting. On a Mac, you do this with the Displays preferences pane. On Windows, I think it’s also called Displays and its a control panel. I’m not sure what that big monitor at the office is set to, but my 12″ PowerBook is set all the way up to 1024 x 786. If I dropped that down to 800 x 600, everything on screen would look larger and I’d probably have a better time seeing it. But I’d also get less on my screen. And some Web sites — like Flying M Air, for example — actually require a high resolution setting of at least 1024 x 786. So that isn’t the optimum solution.
• Zoom the contents of windows. Most applications have a zoom feature. For example, in Microsoft Word 2003 for Windows and 2004 for Mac OS, there’s a Zoom drop-down list right on the Standard toolbar. Choose an option from the menu or enter a new value in the text box there and press Return or Enter. I usually use 120%, unless the author of the document formatted it at some crazy font size like 9 points. Then I pop it up to 150%. I even had a document I worked on at 200% because between the small font size and the font design itself, I just couldn’t read it comfortably at any other magnification. Other programs, such as Excel, Adobe Reader (and Apple Preview, for that matter), Photoshop, and just about any other graphics or page layout program you can think of, have zoom features. I even have keystrokes remembered in some apps to toggle magnifications as necessary.

It’s odd because on one book I worked on, I’d submit Word files I’d been reading at 120% magnification and get them back from the copyeditor at 92% magnification. I’d have to pop them back up to read them. The benefit of using the magnification feature rather than simply changing font size is that layout isn’t affected. Document magnification settings can be set at anything and it’ll always have the same word wrap (except in Word’s Online Layout View perhaps) and it’ll always print the same. If you change the font size, however, you also change the word wrap and layout.

Of course, if you have trouble reading a printed version of the document, font size is just about the only solution.

But I’m not quite there. Yet.

Technorati Tags: excel, vision, Word, writing

I retire the old, underutilized system and replace it with a simpler, spam-protected solution.

One of the biggest challenges I have as an author is providing clarifications and corrections of my work to readers on request.

In the beginning, I used to just answer questions submitted via e-mail. But when I started getting dozens of questions a week — half of which covered the same handful of topics over and over — I knew I needed a better solution.

So I built a FileMaker Pro powered database of questions and answers that I called the FAQ system. That worked fine for several years, with only two problems: people who neglected to read the previous questions and answers before repeating a question and readers of one particular Windows book (which will go unnamed here) who were absolutely obnoxious in their requests for help. (I subsequently cut that books questions and answers right of my database and stopped providing support.)

Years passed. I switched to a WordPress-based site. I didn’t have any desire to update the old FileMaker Pro database to match the new site’s interface. I needed a new solution. I switched to an XD-Forum forum-based FAQ system. It worked very much like the FileMaker Pro database, but with one big difference — site visitors refused to use it.

Oh, don’t get me wrong — I did get a few questions I could answer. But the majority of people decided to e-mail me instead. Since I don’t provide support by e-mail anymore, their questions remained unanswered.

Two weeks ago, my support forums were attacked by spammers and I had no software to protect it against future attacks. I needed a new solution.

So today I instituted a comment-based Q & A support system. In the support pages for each of my books, there’s a Q & A link. Following that link takes the visitor to a page that provides introductory information and a list of the questions and answers submitted so far. At the end of the questions and answers is a form they can use to ask a new question. The form utilizes the site’s comment feature, so all entries are filtered by Spam Karma, the excellent spam protection software by dr Dave. Very little spam should get through, and, if it does, getting rid of it is as easy as clicking a link. Registration is not required — although an e-mail address is — and visitors can elect to “subscribe” to comments so they get their answer, as well as related questions and answers, delivered right to their e-mail box. E-mail addresses do not appear online and I don’t use the ones I get for anything. In fact, I don’t even know how to retrieve them from the bowels of WordPress. So you don’t have to worry about spam coming from me.

So if you see any articles on this site referring to an FAQ system, they now refer to the Q & A system.

Let’s hope this works.

The first part of a series with instructions for making the move.

As reported elsewhere, I recently moved my WordPress blogs from my own server to GoDaddy.com. I was looking primarily for reliability — my G4 was simply dropping the ball (or the connection) too often to rely on. The solution, move all my sites, shut down the server. And GoDaddy had a hosting plan that worked perfectly for my needs without costing an arm and a leg.

Now if you have beefs about GoDaddy, feel free to use the Comments link to voice them. All I ask is that you be factual and keep your comments limited to your own personal experiences. I know that some folks absolutely hate GoDaddy.com, but since I’ve never had any problem with them, I can’t complain. But I don’t want to see this site turned into a GoDaddy bashing forum.

Also, these instructions apply to GoDaddy.com. I don’t think they’ll work with any other ISP. This is the ISP I use, so this is the ISP I know and can illustrate with screenshots. If you have instructions for doing this with another ISP, by all means, use the Comments link to share a URL.

And although these instructions and screenshots were created on a Mac, they work on Windows, too.

This is a two-part article — it’s just too darn long to write and release this information in one piece. I highly recommend that you read both article in this series before you attempt to follow them. It would not be a good thing if you completed the instructions in the first article and then didn’t have the next article to finish the job.

And one more thing…these instructions are for intermediate to advanced WordPress users. You might find it helpful to fully understand the server-installation information in our book, WordPress 2: Visual QuickStart Guide before trying an advanced task such as a WordPress blog move.

Ready? Here are the first bunch of steps.

Register a Domain Name

The first step to setting this up is to register a domain name. I highly recommend doing it at GoDaddy.com. It’s cheap and easy. Best of all, you won’t have to deal with DNS because with everything registered at GoDaddy.com, their servers take care of everything for you.

I won’t explain how to buy a domain name. Just go to GoDaddy.com, use the search box on the Home page (see screenshot below) to search for the domain name you want, and follow the instructions on the site to buy it.

Keep in mind that you’ll have to “run the gauntlet” — that’s my phrase for the offers GoDaddy.com will throw at you when you buy anything. My advice is not to buy any of it. You’ll get e-mail, FTP, and all kinds of goodies with your hosting account. And do you really need example.net, example.info, or example.tv? One domain name is enough. Don’t let those offers and promises of savings suck you in.

If You Already Have a Domain Name Registered Elsewhere…

I recommend moving it to GoDaddy.com. It’ll really simplify the DNS thing.

Of course, if you’re an experienced system administrator and know DNS like you know your best friend and have access to a DNS server that you can modify and like your domain name registrar, there’s no reason to move.

And please don’t expect me to explain DNS. I only know enough to make me dangerous.

Open a GoDaddy.com Hosting Account

Go to GoDaddy.com’s Hosting Plans page (see screenshot below) to learn what’s available. For 99.9% of bloggers, an Economy Plan account will be just fine. If you’re also podcasting large audio or video files, you might want to spring for a Deluxe Plan account to give you extra bandwidth. My recommendation: start small, monitor disk space and bandwidth usage, and upgrade if necessary. You don’t lose anything when you upgrade, so it won’t require any kind of reconfiguration.

I use the Deluxe Plan because I host multiple domain names with one account. If you like to have a custom domain name for your blog (like myblog.example.com) you can use the Economy Hosting plan’s subdomain feature to map right to your blog folder.

But now I’m getting ahead of myself.

Again, I won’t explain how to open a hosting account. Just follow the instructions on GoDaddy.com.

VERY IMPORTANT: You must set up a Linux hosting account, not a Windows hosting account. This makes it possible to usse PHP which WordPress needs to run.

You may get an offer for a discount on hosting when you register a domain name. That’s the offer you should accept, although it’ll only save you a few bucks.

You may get a free hosting account when you register a domain name. I have somehow accumulated 28 credits for free hosting accounts. I used one once and it put advertising at the top of every page on my site. If you’re on a tight budget and don’t care about the ads, try this. But don’t ask me to explain how to get one of these free hosting credits; they just appeared in my GoDaddy account. (And no, they can’t be transferred to friendly readers of my blog.)

Link Your Hosting Account to your Domain Name

If your domain name is already linked to an existing blog on your own server, following this step will disable your blog until setup is complete. So you might want to read through all of these instructions (including the remaining part of this series) and get ready to complete them quickly before continuing.

How you do this depends on how you’ve set up your hosting account with GoDaddy.com.

If you’re using a free hosting credit…

1. Log Into your GoDaddy.com account.
2. Choose My Hosting Account from the Hosting & Servers menu on the green navigation bar.
   
3. Click the Use Credit link in the yellow box near the top of the page.
   
4. In the Setup Free Hosting box that appears on the right side of the page, use the drop-down list to choose the domain name you want to link to the hosting account. Select the Free Linux Hosting radio button, and click Continue.
   
5. New Account should appear in the Hosting Account list. Click the Setup Account link beside it.
   
6. If an End Use License Agreement appears, read it (or at least pretend to) and click Accept.
7. Enter a User ID and Password (twice) in the Hosting Server Login Information area. This information is different from your GoDaddy.com Account login information. It’s the info you’ll need to access your site via FTP, so be sure to make a note of it for future use. Then click Continue.
   
8. Click Submit in the confirmation window that appears.
9. Close the Hosting Manager window.

If you have a economy hosting account and don’t plan on using subdomains…

1. Log Into your GoDaddy.com account.
2. Choose My Hosting Account from the Hosting & Servers menu on the green navigation bar.
   
3. New Account should appear in the Hosting Account list. Click the Setup Account link beside it.
   
4. If an End Use License Agreement appears, read it (or at least pretend to) and click Accept.
5. In the Hosting Server Information area, choose or enter a domain name to link to the hosting account. (If you enter a domain that is not registered at GoDaddy.com, you’ll have to modify that domain’s DNS information to point to your GoDaddy server; I tell you more about that in Part 2 of this series.) Then enter a User ID and Password (twice) in the Hosting Server Login Information area. This information is different from your GoDaddy.com Account login information. It’s the info you’ll need to access your site via FTP, so be sure to make a note of it for future use. Then click Continue.
   
6. Click Submit in the confirmation window that appears.
7. Close the Hosting Manager window.

If you have an Economy Hosting account (free or paid) and want to use subdomains…

1. Follow the instructions in the appropriate section above.
2. Wait until you get an e-mail message from GoDaddy.com telling you that your hosting account is ready to use. This can take up to 24 hours, but is usually less than an hour.
3. Log Into your GoDaddy.com account.
4. Choose My Hosting Account from the Hosting & Servers menu on the green navigation bar.
   
5. In the Hosting Account list, click the Open link beside the account you want to use for your blog.
   
6. In the Hosting Manager window, click the Domain Management icon (or link) under Settings.
7. In the Sub Domain area of the Domain Management page, click the Add Sub Domain link.
   
8. Enter a name for the subdomain in the Sub Domain box. This is the part of the URL before your domain name. For example, if your subdomain URL should be myblog.example.com, enter myblog in the Sub Domain box. Then choose or enter a relative path to the folder in which the blog’s files will be stored. For example, if your hosting account had a folder named wordpress and that’s where you planned to put your blog files, you’d choose , click in the Path box to select the text there, and type in /wordpress. Then click Save.
   
9. The subdomain you added appears in the Sub Domain list with a status of Pending Setup. Setup is usually complete within an hour.
   

Keep in mind that the above instructions assume you have Hosting 2.0 configuration installed. If you’re set up with Hosting 1.0, click the link in the Hosting Manager window to upgrade. It’s free and does not require any reconfiguration. It will, however take a bit of time to convert — possibly an hour or so. You can do this with Hosting 1.0, but I’m not prepared to write detailed instructions for it, so you’ll have to go it alone.

If you have a Deluxe Hosting account and want to use a different domain name…

1. Make sure the domain name you want to use is registered on GoDaddy.com as discussed earlier in this article.
2. Follow the instruction in the section above titled “If you have a economy hosting account and don’t plan on using subdomains…” to set up the hosting account with your primary domain name. (You may have already done this if you use that domain for a Web site or something else.)
3. Log Into your GoDaddy.com account.
4. Choose My Hosting Account from the Hosting & Servers menu on the green navigation bar.
   
5. In the Hosting Account list, click the Open link beside the account you want to use for hosting your blog.
   
6. In the Hosting Manager window, click the Domain Management icon (or link) under Settings.
7. In the Assign Domain to Hosting Site area of the Domain Management page, use the drop-down list to choose the domain name you want to host on the account. Then, in the Domain Hosting Path drop-down list, choose or enter a relative path to the folder in which the blog’s files will be stored. For example, if your hosting account had a folder named wordpress and that’s where you planned to put your blog files, you’d choose , click in the Domain Hosting Path box to select the text there, and type in /wordpress. Then click Add Domain.
   
8. The domain you added appears in the list with a status of Pending Setup. Setup is usually complete within an hour.

Keep in mind that the above instructions assume you have Hosting 2.0 configuration installed. If you’re set up with Hosting 1.0, click the link in the Hosting Manager window to upgrade. It’s free and does not require any reconfiguration. It will, however take a bit of time to convert — possibly an hour or so. You can do this with Hosting 1.0, but I’m not prepared to write detailed instructions for it, so you’ll have to go it alone.

Problems? Questions?

Use GoDaddy.com’s online or telephone support if you have a question specific to your setup with them. I recommend using support in this order: (1) Web-based help, (2) telephone support, (3) e-mail support. E-mail support sucks (I can’t be any clearer than that), telephone support is good but is not toll-free (wait times are usually less than 5 minutes), and online support is very good but incomplete, so your question may not be addressed.

In the next and final installment of this series, I’ll explain how to make the move.

The video is out and selling briskly.

Last month, I flew to Vancouver to record a training video for macProVideo. I was there a week and I needed all five workdays to get the approximately four hours of video they needed for their newest product, Microsoft Word 101.

macProVideo’s product is interesting. It combines a full view of a computer screen with narration to explain what the viewer is seeing. My job was to come up with an outline that broke each topic into 2 to 5 minute lessons. I’d then record each lesson by performing the tasks while I verbally described what I was doing and why. It reminded me of the days when I led hands-on computer training sessions. But I had to get it exactly right for the recording, which means I often had to do the same recording several times. In my computer classes, if I made a mistake, I could talk my way through it or just ignore it; I didn’t want people to replay my boo-boos over and over on their computers.

When I was finished and went home, the editing folks at macProVideo took over. They edited out long pauses and other undesirable bits and pieces. They fine-tuned the sound. And they used their special software to turn the dozens of individual lessons into a finished product that ran smoothly from start to finish or could be accessed at any point. The result: a highly professional training video featuring…well, me.

A couple of things set macProVideo’s product apart from the others. First and foremost, this is not a low-resolution video. It was shot with the screen set to 1024×768 and that’s the size each video appears on the viewer’s screen. To make it easier to see the mouse, the mouse has a translucent red circle around it. You won’t need to lean into your screen or don reading glasses to see what’s going on.

The audio is good, too. macProVideo uses state-of-the-art recording equipment and software. We started each day’s recording session with an audio test. There aren’t any popping P’s, like there are in some of my podcasts.

The video was released two days ago and is selling quite well. It’s available for download or DVD purchase from the macProVideo Web site. One buyer (who has submitted a favorable review) has already requested an Excel video. So there might just be another trip to Vancouver in my future.

And if you’re a Windows user reading this, don’t feel left out. Although the video is for the Mac version of Word, it’ll run on a Windows computer, too. And since Word 2003 for Windows and Word 2004 for Mac are so similar, about 90% of the material (at least) applies to both platforms. So you can learn something from it, too.

Technorati Tags: howto, Macintosh, Microsoft, macProVideo, training, video, Word

Information from Microsoft Office Updater.

This update fixes vulnerabilities in Office 2004 that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer’s memory with malicious code.

Learn more at Microsoft’s Web Site.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Office, update

Information from Microsoft AutoUpdate

This update fixes vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer’s memory with malicious code. This update also fixes issues in Microsoft Entourage 2004 for Mac and includes all of the improvements released in all previous Office 2004 updates.

Click here for more information.