Homing
in
Q: What sorts of thing can I do to
save time when using the Internet?
A: Once you start browsing the World Wide Web regularly, you'll find
yourself repeating certain tasks. For example, I often go to my favourite search engine, www.
altavista.co.uk to start searching for information. To speed up the process, I have
now made this my Home Page so that it opens straight away whenever I connect to the
Internet.
It is easy to make any page your Home Page. Once you have opened the page in the
browser window, select View - Internet Options - General (Internet Explorer) or Edit
- Preferences (Netscape) and click Use Current Page under the
Home Page option.
If you know the address (URL) of your preferred page, you don't even have to connect to
the Internet - simply open the browser menu, replace the existing Home Page address with
the new one and click OK.
Why use a database
Q: My new computer has a database
application on it. Can you explain why I might want to use it?
A: Most of us use databases regularly without thinking about it,
because they are just a method for storing information about people or things in a
systematic way. When you leaf through a seed catalogue, or look through an estate agent's
details, you are using a database. (A card index filing system is the classic example.)
At home, computerised databases can be very useful for storing details of family and
friends - not just names and addresses but birthdays, allergies, anniversaries, heights,
and even what you gave them last year for Christmas. You can sort your records very easily
and also search a large database quickly e.g. to find whose birthday is coming up next
month.
If you run a club or society, databases are ideal for keeping track of the membership,
payments and contact addresses, and if you are a collector e.g. of books or antiques you
can keep details on your computer of everything in your collection.
To filter or to query?
Q: I have started to use a database but find
searching quite confusing. What's the difference between filtering and querying? They both
seem to do the same thing.
A: The two methods for searching databases are really quite different. Here are
some of the basic differences:
a) Filters are temporary and can't be saved.
b) Filters don't allow you to limit the fields you display, or change their order.
c) Filters are carried out on open tables, but these need to be closed when designing
queries.
d) Only queries can be used to search more than one table at a time. |
 |
Not quite so capital
Q: I sometimes make a
mistake and leave the Caps Lock on, so that my text is all in capitals. Is there a quick
way to put this right?
A: There's a handy shortcut in Word that allows you to
change text from capitals to lower case and even title case (initial capitals only).
Select the text you want to change, hold down the Shift key and keep pressing the F3
function key at the top of your keyboard. You can now step through the alternatives until
you reach the one you want. Then, simply click the mouse to take off the highlight. For
other options, you'll need to open the Change Case dialog box from the Format menu.
Post it
Q: I've been asked to produce a poster
for our village fete. I know I could do it in Word, but is there a better package?
A: I really enjoy using PowerPoint for posters. Although this
software is designed primarily for showing a series of slides, it is very easy to use for
a single page display. Select a blank slide layout and, if you want the page upright, go
to File - Page Set up - Portrait.
Now you can insert WordArt to add text in bendy shapes and unusual shadow effects;
pictures from the clipart gallery or saved e.g. from the Web; and text boxes or shapes
that can be dragged round the page and bordered and filled with different colours or
patterns.
Extra features not found in Word include a paragraph spacing button to close up or
widen rows of text, and Font Size buttons to decrease or increase the size of your letters
in steps as you watch the effect on screen.
Amazing effects
Q: I'm giving a talk in a few
weeks' time and have decided to use PowerPoint. Is there one special effect you can
recommend that I use?
A: One thing I think is great fun is to use the animation effects
which let you build up a slide with 'moving' pictures accompanied by various noises.
Find your first picture - e.g. from Clipart - and size and position it where you want
it to finish up on the slide. Then click Slide Show - Custom Animation. Under
Effects - Entry animation and sound select the way it will appear (e.g. Fly from
the Right), and the accompanying sound (e.g. Ricochet). Preview the effect and, if it
looks OK, return to your slide and add the next picture. You can even position a picture
in the grey area off the slide so that it flies across the screen and disappears
from view.
Not exactly sophisticated, but it should raise a smile!
|
and under the books section select Computers and Internet.
