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Friday 24 September 2004

Newsletter Issue 85, September 2004


Sam Young Newsletter

Issue 85, September 2004
Hi guys,
Having problems with emailing things to or from clients? Then perhaps I have a solution for you in Transferring Files Via Website below.
We take a look at Making the Most of PowerPoint. A brief primer for all of us who think we remember the basics! 
Don't forget, if you want to be taken off my mailing list, click here to send me a reply e-mail and I will remove your name.

Transferring Files Via Website

Own your own domain name but still not sure if you need a website? Well, there is one really good reason to have a couple of pages up on the net; to transfer large files or to show progress on a project to clients.
I have a number of clients who are still on dial-up and it either takes 82 million years for them to download a large file to their PC from their emailbox - during which they lose the connection and so have to start all over again time after time; or their emailbox is too small so rejects the large emails. Needless to say, the process is frustrating for all of us.
The solution? Have a website and post large files to the web for downloading, or embed large graphics on an htm page. It will take a lot less time to view or download files on the internet.
So how does one go about creating a website?
If you are on a limited budget & have no idea what to do, your the best path is as follows;
  1. Gather examples of your brand signature uses and
  2. Contact a range of website providers. Either use the yellow pages in your area, or contact reputable firms such as www.downingdesign.co.nz, www.naked-shop.com, www.webcomedia.co.nz or email email@nimbusad.co.nz, tony@downingdesign.co.nz, info@7designsecrets.com, glenda@webcomedia.co.nz
  3. Give the designer/webhost your brand signature examples and ask for a quote to develop a simple branded homepage with a couple of linked pages to post customer downloads & files. Ask for costs to create, maintain & the cost and lead times to post ad hoc files & graphics for clients
  4. Create your website & test thoroughly
  5. Then whenever you have a file that is too big to email to a client, email it to your webhost & get them to post it; check it is there then email the client the link to download the file or view the graphic
If you are on a limited budget & have some tech savvy, I think the best way is as follows;
  1. When you upgrade MS Office next, purchase "Office Professional" with FrontPage. FrontPage is the application that allows you to create a website
  2. Create a simple homepage that reflects your brand signature.
  3. Use the components that work on other websites ie links to homepage etc in a frame on the left of the page; short pages that show without lots of scrolling down; not too many graphics. Don't try to be too clever. Check out my earlier web articles at Newsletter_051.htm, Newsletter_052.htm, Newsletter_068.htm
  4. If you have large documents that you regularly have to send people, copy those documents into your webfolder, create a page that links to your home page & put hyperlinks to those documents on this page. Don't forget to create a link on your homepage to this page & vice versa
  5. For more private client postings, there are two ways:
    • Create a "client" page & embed graphics on it. Don't link this page on your homepage as you won't want any casual traffic. You will email the entire URL to your client each time - such as http://www.yourname.co.nz/Client_Page.htm or
    • Save the file that you are sending your client to your webfolder, with NO SPACES in the title, upload and then send your client your web address followed by the file name eg http://www.yourname.co.nz/Berts_Design.pdf
  6. Contact an ISP such as http://hosting.freeparking.co.nz/hosting/lite_hosting.mv & t-up your webhosting. They will walk you through the process of how to upload etc (and it really is quite easy)
  7. Get people to read what information you have posted, and test
  8. Then whenever you have a file that is too big to email to a client, post it to your website, upload; check it is there then email the client the link to download the file or view the graphic
I also am on a dial-up and, despite being with a great provider who doesn't disconnect me, things also take ages to send. Posting things to the website has proven to be very handy!


Making the Most of PowerPoint

PowerPoint is a fabulous tool for presenting material, but all to often people put too much information on their slides; speak the slides verbatim to their audience; have too many slides & go on too long, losing their audience; and over or under use the built-in technology.
So, what then are the key points that you need to remember when you are creating a PowerPoint presentation? Let's take a rundown of the twelve key issues.
  1. Your PowerPoint presentation should look like it comes from your company. It should make the most of your organisation's branding
  2. Plan your presentation. Whizzy-do slides are no replacement for conveying the point of your address to your audience
  3. To gauge presentation length, allow one slide every three to four minutes. Try not to talk for more than 20 minutes at a time (average full concentration span). This means your presentations should have on average between 5 - 7 slides (including title page)
  4. Ensure your slide font is large & legible
  5. Keep your slides to a maximum of six bullet points
  6. Ensure bullet point wording is the soul of brevity so that the audience only reads the essence of each idea, while you - as the speaker - fleshes out that idea. Each point should be an aide memoir, not a dissertation
  7. Check your language, terms and jargon fits your audience
  8. So that the audience can clearly view them, either insert graphs on separate slides or,  if you don't want to have to click forward while you are talking to the particular slide, use the slideshow customise functions to timer animate them
  9. Check your slides are not cluttered & so can be viewed from the back of the proposed presentation venue
  10. Check that your presentation does not go on too long; either past the point you need to convey, or contain too much extraneous information. If it is too long your audience will get bored & lose interest
  11. MAKE SURE YOU DON'T READ FROM THE SLIDE! Use the PowerPoint Notes that you have prepared to talk to the bullets (in normal view you can type in speaking notes which you can then print with the slide at the top & your notes at the bottom of the page). Then if you need to hand out notes with more flesh than your slides to your audience, use your PowerPoint Notes
  12. Be careful with the toys - use them judiciously to illustrate important points. There are a range of animation, sound, entrance & exit effects that you can use - just don't do too many!
PowerPoint is a great tool. Use it wisely & well.


MS Windows Security Hole


Microsoft has another buffer overrun problem affecting all users below Windows XP Service Pack 2 & Office XP SP1. This time it is a JPG image which could be rigged to run malicious code on your PC: you only have to display a jpg on an un-patched machine and the code could run.
While there are no viruses released yet, the security hole has been identified and it will only be a matter of time before there are viruses in the wild. So, for you to protect your PC against this problem you have to ensure that;

  1. Windows is updated and
  2. Microsoft Office is updated and
  3. Any program that displays jpg images is updated.
However, if you are already using Windows XP Service Pack 2 & Office XP SP1, you do not need to worry. Your defences are already plugged. For all the rest of you, you can read Microsoft's full bulletin at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS04-028.mspx.

You can also look at the recent issues of Woody's Office Watch for all the issues and caveats on loading Office 2003 SP1 at http://www.woodyswatch.com/office/archives.asp
 

TLAs for SMEs

Here are this newsletter's TLAs for you;
  • BTW, Txt-talk for "by the way"
Please feel free to email me with any TLAs that you want to get the bottom (meaning!) of.

Short+Hot Keys... and now tips

Over the next few newsletters, we are going to look at all you can do in Outlook. This time we focus on what you can do with function keys and Ctrl, Alt or Shift;
  • "Close the selected Outlook window; if this is the only open window, close Outlook" Alt & F4
  • "Activate Office Assistant while working in a document, repeat until at required subject" Alt & F6, Repeat
  • "Open print preview" Ctrl & F2
  • "Open Print Preview & display the Print Preview properties box" Ctrl & F2 Then Alt & S or Alt & U
  • "Move to the next/previous Outlook window" Ctrl & Shift & F6
  • "Display ScreenTip for the active item" Shift & F1 Outlook "Show the shortcut menu" Shift & F10
  • "Save" Shift & F12
  • "Change the case of selected letters" Shift & F3
  • "Find next or find the previous occurrence of the text in the Find or Replace dialog box with the dialog box closed" Shift & F4
  • "Move to the next or previous window" Shift & F6

Hot Linx

                                Catch you again soon!! E-mail your suggestions to me here