TIP - Snipping Tool

The Snipping Tool is a screen-capture tool that allows taking screenshots (called 'snips') of an open window, rectangular areas, a free-form area or the entire screen. Snips can then be annotated using a mouse or a tablet, saved as an image file (PNG, GIF, or JPEG file) or an HTML page, or e-mailed.

If you are using Windows Vista Home Premium or higher - OR - Windows XP Tablet PC Edition with the Experience Pack, then read on. If you are using any other flavour of Windows, you're out of luck! Of course, the Snipping Tool will be included in Windows 7, but I suspect that the 'lesser' versions, like the 'Basic' offering, will also be crippled!

My preference for taking 'snips' or 'screen captures' has always been TechSmith's SnagIt, but that piece of magical software is a $49.95 package. And my intention has always been to point you to free software, and it doesn't come much 'freer' than a programme you already have on your computer, albeit well hidden!

Here's how to find it: choose Start >> All Programs >> Accessories >> Snipping Tool. If you don't see it there, it may not be activated. Go to Control Panel and open Program and Features (you may have to click Programs first). In the task pane on the left, click Turn Windows features on or off. If necessary, click Continue when prompted by UAC. Scroll through the list of features, check the box next to Tablet PC Optional Components, and click OK. Turning on these features gives you not only the Snipping Tool, but also the Tablet PC Input Panel, Windows Journal, and other stylus-related features. All totally useless if you don't have a Tablet!

If you've found it, and/or activated it, and placed a shortcut icon on the desktop or wherever you feel comfortable placing it, then click on the icon (I've stopped saying 'double-click' as many users, like myself, prefer the 'single-click' method) and this is what you'll get:

The simple start screen.

 

Pretty straightforward as you can see. Choose the type of snip you wish to make and off you go. The monitor screen will go all blurred ...

 

The screen goes all blurred.

 

... and this is what you get when you've completed the snip:

 

The completed snip ready to be processed ...

 

And just to be perverse, here is a 'screencap' of the 'Snipping Tool' taking a snip of the 'SnagIt' window. I did it to show that it is as easy to take a snip of a window, as it is to take snips of a 'Free-form Area', 'User-defined Rectangle' or of a 'Full Screen':

 

A captured window ...

 

Go play ...

 

TIP - WLW Exposed

I have spent some time exploring the many attributes of 'Windows Live Writer' and it continues to surprise me with its versatility.

Your needs will probably NOT be as demanding as mine (I'm a 'geek' who likes to push the envelope), but even for the simplest of tasks, like putting up a new post, this little gem is going to make your life so EASY that when you start to use it you'll wonder how you managed without the darn thing!

This is truly a WYSIWYG editor of unparalleled excellence, because you actually type into the space allocated to you by your blog template. So, what you see in the window is exactly what you get when the post is published. You can format your paragraphs with the alignment of your choice, 'left', 'right', 'centred' or 'justified' (as this post is). It spell-checks as you type, underlining your spelling mistakes just like a word processor does, so there is no longer any excuse for those hilarious 'typos'. You can even select to  'bold', 'italicise', 'underline', 'strikeout' or 'change the colour of the font' on the fly.

What's not to like about that?

And none of this requires you to get your hands dirty with HTML and CSS. The programme does it all for you, although, in its typical Microsoft way the code produced isn't necessarily 'standards compliant'. But I don't suppose you care about that little nicety if you are an 'average' blogger. You should, but I won't hold it against you!

If you haven't already tried it out you're probably wondering what all the hype is about. So I suppose a couple of graphics are in order. I haven't planned any of this, so I shall post and edit, look at how things are being displayed, change formatting to 'present' the post as I'd like it to be presented, then click on the button that says 'Publish', and it is done …

 

I use 'SnagIt' almost exclusively for my screen captures and this programme comes with a plug-in that allows me to use SnagIt directly from this window. That's a 'wooo-hooo' for me!

 

Of course, the graphics 'sizing', 'placement' and 'effects' are far superior to anything I've seen in any other WYSIWYG editor. And the three little tabs at the bottom of the window, 'Edit', 'Preview' and 'Source' do exactly what they are intended to. 'Edit' is the pane I've shown in the screen captures above. 'Preview' is a preview of your post as it would appear on your site, including banners and sidebars. 'Source' shows you the HTML source code, something I am very grateful for as it gives me a chance to insert the little 'extras' that aren't included. I still have to investigate whether little bits of JavaScript and other HTML formatting can be added to the programme, but if it can't I am not going to get bent out of shape about it.

 

The graphic above is there to emphasise the 'power' of the various features of the programme. When you set up the 'Options' tell the programme to not allow you to publish until it reminds you to add a label or two. You still have the choice of publishing a post without a label, so it will only remind you, not refuse to publish. You can also defer publication date, just like you would do in Blogger, but the option is there for you if you wish to use it.

When I discover more, I'll let you know.

Enjoy, really enjoy, your blogging …

 

 

No Stopping Me Now …

There really is no stopping me now! This 'Windows Live Writer' programme is so easy to use that I can't think that I shall go back to editing things in either the WYSIWYG (Compose) window, or in the HTML window, or in a text editor - ever again!

This programme even has an HTML window (I'm actually typing in it at the moment) that allows you to insert snippets of code that aren't carried as standard. The 'capital' letter I use to start each new post, for example!

 

My Patch ...

 

With a single click you can insert a map, as I have done above. It is the area of Lisbon, Portugal in which I live. Precisely at the apex of the L-shaped building, bottom left, that you can't see in the thumbnail (sorry about that). The bit of 'green' is the space I use to walk the dog and let him exercise a little a couple of times a day. On reflection, it really is a crime to keep a hyper-active Boxer locked up in a 7th floor flat!

 

Adding images is a GAS. The proggy actually manages to add all sorts of little effects that it would take you a month of Sundays to reproduce with CSS or HTML. The above took one click to produce rounded corners.

Now, how cool is that?

I shall post more about the functionality of 'Windows Live Writer' as I discover the various things it has to offer. In the meantime, why don't you take it for a test drive? The learning curve is so shallow that you'll wonder why this has been such a well-kept secret for so long!

Have a blast …

 

TIP - Windows Live Writer

This is  a test post to see whether Windows Live Writer actually works, or whether I should go back to the drawing board …

 

That pic insert is a WOW! Reflection ‘n’ all.

If this ‘post’ is actually uploaded as I’ve composed it, I shall probably revert to using this software for all my posts.

The software is FREE, but it is a Microsoft offering. You need to be a participant in ‘Windows Live’, and you will need to have the .NET Framework installed.

Pick it up here. What are you waiting for?

You really should consider using it …

 

TIP - Follow me Follow

I was trawling the 'blogosphere' wondering what I could stumble across that would interest the visitors to this site when I came across this little beauty!

There is a simple instuction in HTML that advises search engines NOT to follow certain links from your site, for example the Admin page, or other pages that are critical to the security of your site, and it is simply the 'nofollow' attribute. By default Blogger sets the 'nofollow' attribute for ALL links, and that includes user generated content like 'comments', 'linkbacks' and 'trackbacks'. Removing this tag will provide 'link juice' for your visitors although there is a small danger that you might find an increase in SPAM. This last should not trouble you too much if you take the precaution of setting up your 'Comments' section to use the built-in CAPTCHA capability.

As always, when you are fiddling with the HTML of your template, please take the precaution of backing up the existing template in case things go awry.

BACKUP! BACKUP! BACKUP!

• Go to >> Layout >> Edit HTML
• Check the Expand Widget Templates
• Search and find 'nofollow' in the edit window.
• Delete rel='nofollow' in to-to!
• Repeat the last two steps. There are at least two of these entries, sometimes 3.
• Save your template. You won't see any obvious changes; the advantage gained is in your search engine ranking and the ability you've just given your visitors and commenters to link to your Blog and to a specific post!
• You're done!

 

Instructions for removing the 'nofollow' tag..

 

Enjoy your increased exposure ...

 

TIP - Sidebar Image Borders

Cath this time (am I glad that there are questions, or what?), asking how I managed to put borders around her sidebar graphics as the default, rather than inserting the code individually for each picture.

It isn't actually difficult. The reason you don't see many sites with borders around sidebar graphics is more a case of users accepting the default settings and being satisfied with the display that the template brings with it.

Others, like Lee & Cath, want that 'little extra' and are prepared to get their hands grubby fiddling around in the HTML and CSS coding of the template.

If you fall into the second category, here goes ...

• In your text editor, type in the following code.
• Please make sure it is a TEXT EDITOR and NOT a WORD PROCESSING package like 'Word'.

/* --------- Terry's sidebar code --------- */ #sidebar img { border: 1px dotted #FFFFFF; padding: 2px; text-align: -moz-center; #text-align: center; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto } /* --------- end of Terry's sidebar code --------- */

• Go to >> Layout >> Edit HTML
• Find          body {          in the edit window.
• Copy the text you've just typed in your text editor and paste it just above that line. You can even copy/paste directly from the box if you're feeling really lazy!
• I've commented out (/* ----- text ----- */) the description of the code you've just inserted so that it can be found easily if you wish to edit or remove it later.

Change the border parameters to how you want it to display on your site. 1px thickness can be increased; 'dotted' can be changed to 'dashed' or 'solid'; color (#FFFFFF, white in this example) can be changed to match your colour display.

One important consideration. Some templates refer to the sidebar as a CSS 'class' (class='sidebar'), and others as a CSS 'ID' (id='sidebar'). You need to discover which one your template uses and adjust the above code accordingly.

For templates that use the term 'id', simply use the code I've provided above; it has the symbol [ # ]. For templates that use the term 'class' replace the [ # ] symbol with a period, or dot, or full stop (or whatever you call it). That's it, folks!

Off you go!

 

TIP - Label Cloud

Lee posted a comment in the last post asking if I had/could/would post a tip on how to achieve the 'Label Cloud' I use here, and one which I built for her.

Well, I haven't, I could, but I won't!

No, that is not a rude response. I am not going to post a tip on how to get that particular 'Label Cloud' and appear to take credit for it. Simply because I 'stole' it, and simply because phydeaux3 does a much better job.

If you visit his site through the link above you will see that he has a comprehensive tutorial on what you have to do to get the 'Label Cloud' to display on your site. Please do visit him and you will also realise that there are some really smart, and helpful Bloggers around. All you have to do is 'search'!

If you get into difficulties and you aren't able to contact the original author, please feel free to ask here and I will make every effort to help you out. Can't say fairer than that!

Enjoy!

 

Taking A Break ...

I've been taking a bit of a break. Many things have been happening in real-life that have colluded to keep me away from the old keyboard.

But I shall be back with a few more 'Tips-n-Tricks' soon.

If you are dropping in to check on whether there has been anything new, please accept my apologies.

Take care, and drop in again soon!

 

I've been 'Shrinked' ...

Shrinky tagged me. Bummer! Since I've never been able to resist an ambidextrous, double-jointed, VERY flexible blonde (her words, not mine), it looks like I'll have to play along.

 

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The Rules:

1. Link to the person that tagged you (that's me!).

2. Post the rules on your blog.

3. Write six random things about you in your blog post.

4. Tag six people in your post.

5. Let each person know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

6. Let the tagger know your entry is up.

 

1. I am not much of a swimmer, ability moderate-to-weak, and I try to avoid swimming in the sea if I can possibly help it. Not an earth-shattering disclosure until I explain that I've nearly drowned twice. Once in a lake, at the tender age of eleven, whilst misbehaving (showing off!) on a picnic with other kids my age. The other occassion was in the sea, off 'Twin Sisters' islands 10 minutes by boat out of Singapore harbour. The first time I was rescued by the bus driver, who just happened to wake up from a doze in the parked bus, only to realise some snotty kid was having a bit of trouble staying afloat. On the second occasion, a lovely bevy of Aussie Sheila's, each endowed with magnificent buoyancy aids, jumped in and hauled me to safety whilst all the men stood on the boat, clasping chilled cans of Tiger beer close to their 'bronzy-bronzy' chests, looking on with interest. Go figure!

 

The young Fletch and his sister - 1947, I think.

 

2. My mother 'schooled' me, pre-kindergarten, to count from 1 to 100. I memorised my 'numbers' after many beatings, sobbing and snot dripping from my nose, but I was number-perfect by the time I shuffled my short pants to the school. Only to be relegated, by the nice-smelling teacher, to the B-stream on day one. Which earned another thrashing when I got home! Why? Because the teacher asked those who knew their 'numerals' to raise their hands. I didn't, because I'd never heard the word before in my life!

 

3. Same kindergarten, another embarrasing episode. Class was asked to talk about a parent. I told them the story of how my Dad lost his hair. Exactly the same way my Dad told it to me. His story rambled on a bit, but the gist of it was that during one of the night 'sleep-out' sessions during a particularly hot summer (everybody 'slept out' - it was an accepted practise) a cow wandered into the compound and chewed off his hair. After suffering the hoots of derision from the re-telling of that story I don't think I ever believed anything my father said to me after that!

 

4. I am averse to killing any living creature. Not even bugs, flies and spiders! Unless they make the mistake of ganging up on me - and then it's 'watch out'! The reason? Another youthful experience. My uncle Richard, who doted on me because they were a childless couple, lent me his BB air rifle to "go learn manly things." My friend and I came back, proud hunters, and showed off my bag of two sparrows to uncle Richard, and bragged about how I had killed them with single clean shots to the head. "Are you going to eat them?", he asked. He didn't need to amplify on his comment, because even at that young age, ten or eleven, the lesson sank home!

 

5. I was a keen sportsman at school. Held (probably still hold) the school record for high jump with a clearance of 6ft 1-3/4ins using the 'Scissors' technique. The 'Straddle' and the 'Fosbury Flop' hadn't been discovered at that time and lifting one's vertical body over a 6ft bar, leading leg over first swiftly followed by the trailing leg, was really quite an achievement.

 

6. A result of the disclosure in #5 is that I didn't achieve much at school academically. And even the few low-grade passes I did manage to squeeze out of the 'Cambridge Overseas Certificate' examination weren't recognised in the UK when I tried to submit them as proof of my educational qualifications. There is a corollary to this sad state of affairs; I've NEVER failed an examination as an adult. So there!

 

---

 

The Next Victims:

1. Jenera

2. Bob T Bear (esq)

3. CrazyCath

4. Cecilia

5. Jeni

6. Lee

 

Over to you ...

 

TIP - Tools Of The Trade

I have touched on the subject of the tools you should try to use in a previous post, but I wanted to introduce another 'clever' little script and decided that it was worth resurrecting the advice so that I could '... kill two birds ...', in a manner of speaking!

 

A screenshot of EditPad Pro in use.

The thumbnail on the right is a screenshot of my favourite text editor. If you mouseover the image you will see the effect I am introducing you to in this post. Like 'Thickbox' and 'Lightbox', this is JavaSript, and it provides one way of displaying your graphics without costing you much in the way of overhead. The actual image is a large(ish) 912px by 710px display, and I have set the parameters for this display to show the image at its full scale, because I have textual matter in the image that I want my visitor to read. In practise, especially if you only want a photograph to be displayed at a larger size than the thumbnail, the larger image can be set to any reasonable size that can be accommodated within an average viewers browser window; probably 800px by 600px would be sufficient to showcase any image you post. The script also has a hidden function that allows the viewer to go to the full-sized raw image when clicked. This is good for Blogger, where clicking on an image usually takes the viewer to the raw image in another window.

 

EditPad Pro displaying 'syntax coloring'
for an HTML document.

Similar screenshot, but this time with the HTML document tab selected. Here you can clearly see the colour coding or 'syntax coloring' of the HTML document (stop squinting at the back - mouseover the image!) which makes it a breeze to check all the different lines of code. It also helps if you activate the line numbering feature. Most of these features are available in the 'Lite' version which is FREE for personal use. You really should visit the EditPad Lite homepage (it will open in a new window!) to check out the many features.

I was an avid user of EditPad Lite for years, then one day I realised I used it so frequently that perhaps the Pro version was something I ought to be investigating. Not one to part with my money easily, I checked (and double-checked) the features page and realised that there were some Pro features that would make my life a whole lot easier. So, out came the credit card. And being an impulsive sort of guy, I also bought AceText at the same time. I will introduce you to the author, Jan Goyvaerts, in my next post. Suffice it to say that he writes small utilities that do exactly what they say they will do, and you get lifetime updates and support. What's not to like about that?

BTW, I composed this whole post in EditPad, copied it and pasted it into the 'Edit HTML' window, NOT the 'Compose' (or WYSIWYG) window of the post. I previewed it, tweaked anything that didn't appear to display as it should, and then hit 'PUBLISH POST'. Done!

So much for the 'clever' thingy I promised to introduce you to. Now you have an idea how it works. The 'mouseover' effect enlarges a thumbnail without the visitor having to leave the page. And, if they really want to see the raw image, all they have to do is click the enlarged image to be taken to it.

Cool, huh? But you'll have to wait for the next post to read the full 'skinny' on the 'how to' ...