Category: TTT

Welcome to the 2008-09 TTT (Tuesday’s Technology Tip)! This tip is designed to give a quick “how-to” to hopefully make your computing life easier.

Nancy Wilhelm, our district trainer, has created many helpful documents about using Office and other programs. Here is her tip on the reading pane in Outlook 2003:

Reading Pane The Reading Pane shows more of the message on the screen. It can be positioned on the right or bottom of the screen. This reduces scrolling and minimizes the need to open and manage many separate windows for different email messages.

To use the Reading Pane: From the View menu, choose Reading Pane. Click Right or Bottom, and note that you can also turn off the reading pane here.

To see this tip (with graphics) and others, see the Public Documents folder in wits titled Tip and Tricks (click below to go there now)

https://wits.williamsvillek12.org/data/PublicDocuments

Tuesday’s Technology Tip…
(little bits of information to hopefully make your computing life easier)

Computer technology is full of terms and acronyms that you may not be familiar with. One website that serves as a dictionary of technology-related terms is Netlingo (www.netlingo.com). The site keeps up with chat room terms and acronyms also – so next time you walk by your child who is instant messaging with friends, you can lookup what POS means…

Tuesday’s Technology Tip…
(little bits of information to hopefully make your computing life easier)

With everyone cleaning out their server folders, questions have come up again about file extensions. All computer files use a 3-letter suffix to help the computer figure out what type of file it is. When saving, the file extension should be created automatically for you. It is a good habit to make sure your files have the extension on them, especially when saving and opening between Windows and Macintosh. Some of the more common file types are:

.doc Word DOCument
.xls EXceL Spreadsheet
.cwk AppleWorKs (the “c” is from when it was called ClarisWorKs)
.ppt PowerPoinT
.isf InSpiration File
.exe EXEcutable file – these are program files that run in Windows
.jpg Joint Photographic Group – these are picture files (from digital cameras, etc.)
.gif Graphical Interchange Format – these are graphic files
.pst PerSonal folders file (this may be in your server folder – do not delete it – it is a file that stores emails so they do not count against your limit)

If you run into a situation where a file does not open like you expected (or with the correct program), check out the file extension to see if it clues you in to the issue.

Tuesday’s Technology Tip
(Little bits of information to hopefully make your computing life easier)

On Dells, there are certain characters that should not be used in folder or file names. If you have a file that seems not to work, check to see if it contains one of these characters:
\ / : * ? ” |

Tuesday’s Technology Tip
(Little bits of information to hopefully make your computing life easier)

Google is by far the most popular search engine, but certainly not the only one. Each search engine has its own “formula” for finding results. Google provide results based on how many sites link to the result sites. Teoma (www.teoma.com) provides results based on how many sites link to the result sites within the subject being searched, and also offers tips for refining a search and resources from experts.

This is easier to see by doing – try a search for Martin Luther King in both Google and Teoma to compare. Also see the following link for a comparison of 3 “big” search engines – Google, Yahoo!, and Teoma. http://www.infopeople.org/search/guide.html

Tuesday’s Technology Tip
(Little bits of information to hopefully make your computing life easier)

Backing up files for permanent storage is best done with CDs. All new Dells purchased this year, along with all eMacs in the lab (plus some other Macs in the building) have CD burners.

On Dells, use Roxio Easy CD Creator to burn CDs. To find Roxio, click on Start | Programs | Applications | Roxio Easy CD Creator

On Macs, you can burn CDs directly from the desktop.

Tuesday’s Technology Tip
(Little bits of information to hopefully make your computing life easier)

There are many different word processors available for computers. The most common one is Microsoft Word, which is on all District computers. AppleWorks is another program that includes a word processor (as well as a spreadsheet, database and more). AppleWorks is on all Heim computers. In addition to these, both Dells and Macs have a basic word processor installed. On the Dells, it is called WordPad, and is found in the Start Menu – click Start | Programs | Accessories. On the Macs, it is called TextEdit, and is found in the Applications folder – click Go | Applications.

Tuesday’s Technology Tip
(Little bits of information to hopefully make your computing life easier)

There is a new feature for teachers in WITS called Terms/Flashcards, found in the teacher notes area. You can put vocabulary terms in for your students to practice in a flashcard format. You can also share your vocabulary words so other teachers can access them. For more details, click on the What’s New link on the homepage of WITS.

Tuesday’s Technology Tip
(Little bits of information to hopefully make your computing life easier)

The web browser Firefox is installed on all building computers. Since the WITS programmers use Firefox when they work, you may find some things in WITS behave better. To find Firefox on the Dells, open the HeimM Staff Shortcuts folder on the desktop (the shortcut is titled Mozilla Firefox). On the Macs, the shortcut is in the Dock.