Web Office Replacements

This is from Small Dog's email newsletter. - June 2006



Google tossed a small grenade in the battle with Microsoft this week,
too, with the beta release of Google Spreadsheets. I signed up for
the beta program:

http://www.google.com/googlespreadsheets/try_out.html

There must still be some openings in the testing program because I
was immediately accepted. Google Spreadsheets is, in my view, a very
significant development. Google has created a very powerful (yet not
Excel) and functional spreadsheet program that is cross platform,
internet-based, and free. One of the neatest features of Google
Spreadsheets is that it is easy to share spreadsheets. In fact, you
can work on the spreadsheet simultaneously with a coworker located
anywhere. Google also provides a chat window to trade instant
messages while you are working on that business plan.

Polishing up my crystal ball, I see online productivity applications
becoming more and more popular. As the spread of broadband capacity
reaches just about everywhere, it will no longer be necessary to
actually own this software capability, but rather you will simply
access it on the net. I found no lag in working on the spreadsheet
and it was just as if I was working on Excel at my desk. You store
your files online so they are accessible anywhere and you can export
them as Excel-compatible .xls files or .csv files.

If you cannot get into the beta program at Google, check out another
online spreadsheet:

http://zohosheet.com/

Zoho sheet has most of the features of Google Spreadsheets and adds a
few of its own tricks, too.

One warning: Neither of these applications will work with Safari
right now. You need to be running Internet Exploder or FireFox 1.5
(recommended).

I was able to open any of my Excel sheets from my hard drive. New
sheets that I created using these applications all opened easily in
Excel. I began to wonder what other applications were available.

One of the questions we get asked a lot with the new Intel-based Macs
is "Where is the word processing program?" While Text Edit is
available and there are some test-drive applications included, we
even had one gentleman angrily return his iMac because it did not
have a word processor. Now I have a better answer. You don't need no
freaking word processor! Just connect to the internet and type away.
Just like the spreadsheet programs, there are some word processors
out there, too.

Writely has recently been acquired by Google and will make a new
appearance soon as a Google word processor, but you can check this
one out at:

http://www.writely.com

They will also give you an opportunity to enter your email address to
be notified when Google opens up the software to new registrations.
The software is compatible with Microsoft Word and has the same
sharing and collaboration features as the spreadsheet applications.

Zoho also has a word processor. I was able to give that one a better
test because their beta program is still open and easily accessed at:

http://www.zohowriter.com

I gave Zoho writer a good workout and it is a very capable and fast
word processor. I may start using it to see how versatile it can be.

Should Microsoft be quaking in its boots? I doubt it, but if you look
forward you may find that Microsoft Office, Word, and Excel will move
from being indispensable to being irrelevant. With Apple nipping at
its heels with a clearly superior operating system and now with
hardware that can run any operating system and with Google attacking
its flanks with online collaborative productivity applications,
Microsoft needs to innovate or they too may become irrelevant.

Excel Concept List

What is a spreadsheet, GUI overview
Select Cell
Entering Data - Text, fixing errors, autocorrect
Entering data - numbers
Calc Sum
Fill - fill handle
Formatting: Font type, size, style color, mergin cells
Name box to select cell (EX36)
Add chart
AutoCalculate
-----
Formulas: order of ops, point mode vs fill mode vs manually
Functions: average, min, max, count
Verifying formulas
Formatting: BG colors, borders, number formats, conditional formatting, widths/heights
Spell check
Print formulas version

-------

Rotate text
fill series
Copy formulas - copy/paste vs drag-n-drop
Insert/delete
Format symbols
Freeze titles
Functions: IF
Formatting: numbers, titles, shadows
Charts: Pie
Multiple worksheets
What-if & Goal seeking (EX204 ff.)

DB data

I'm creating a database we are going to setup in class, and then manipulate beyond what the text does. It will also from the basis for the final DB project.

So please fill out the "survey".

Word Processing Projects

Just a thought....

So if the instructions in the book say to print them out and write something on the printout, shouldn't you?

See you Thursday!


;)

Word Processing Concept List in text

If you see something that you really have no idea what it is or how to use, make sure you read the book and figure it out on your own by Tuesday Feb 14.

---

Entering text - typing, blank lines, formatting marks, wordwrap, on-the-fly spell & grammar check

Formatting - selecting and formatting paragraphs and characters, selecting multiple paragraphs, changing font/size/styles, alignment, undo/redo

Clip art - insert, resize

Printing

Changes - insert, delete

MLA style

Margins, line spacing, header

Indents - regular, hanging

Autocorrect, footnotes, styles, word count, page breaks

Works Cited page - manual page breaks, hanging indent, auto-insert arrows and symbols, hyperlink, sort paragraphs

Proofing - goto, moving text, smart tags, find/replace, find/replace synonym, spell & grammar check

Resume Wizard - tables, styles, autoformat

Letterhead - text color, tab stops, insert/resize graphic, paragraph border, clearing formatting

Business Letter - tab stops with ruler, insert current date, autotext entry, non-breaking space, table creation/filling, bullet list

Powerpoint: Color and Design issues to consider

If you are color illiterate like me, you need all the help you can get when choosing colors - and it IS important which colors you use in a presentation. Design of the slides are also important, as we will see in class. Below are links to some information, how-tos, and discussion on using Powerpoint.


START WITH THESE
Good overall design advice - http://ecglink.com/library/ps/powerpoint.html
Something else to read before you get started - http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2005/12/the_102030_rule.html


COLOR

1. The Color Wheel - http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA010120721033.aspx
2. Effect of colors in a presentation - www.medianet-ny.com/BigScreen.pdf
3. Choosing colors for your presentation slides -http://www.communicateusingtechnology.com/articles/choosing_colors_for_slides.htm


4. The effect of Color - http://www.indezine.com/products/powerpoint/books/htdepowerpoint.html

DESIGN ISSUES

1. Precision Layout tools - http://www.presentations.com/presentations/creation/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1871209
2. Don't use bullet points! - http://sooper.org/misc/ppt/

3. Best quote: PowerPoint has affected business, substituting real thought with animations and bullet points.

GRAPHICS STUFF

1. Special Effects with Pictures - http://www.presentationpictures.com/powerpoint-wow.htm
2. More graphics tricks - http://www.infocomm.org/index.cfm?oID=4C6EE11F-30FA-4FA0-83F6CA611123E124
3. Misc Tips - especially check out the one about compressing graphics - http://www.microsoft.com/office/previous/xp/tips/powerpoint.asp

Excellent general presenting resource
....especially the columns where a powerpoint design specialist takes a company's presentation and redoes it - think Extreme Makeover for powerpoint. - www.presentations.com
Presentation Zen is also an excellent resource - http://www.presentationzen.com/


....and finally, reasons why you should care about what you learn in English class:

Suddenly, business executives, for example, are handling their own correspondence. There is no secretary or administrative assistant reviewing the content, context, spelling, grammar and punctuation. And the results are positively embarrassing. It numbs the mind to realize how many senior executives can't spell or don't have a clue what it means to have the verb and the subject in agreement. ("What the hell! Let 'em negotiate!")

Interestingly enough, I detect a couple of trends here. Clearly, more and more of our business and personal communications will move via e-mail or its next generation equivalent. But, if you read the work of today's high school students, you have to fear for the language. They can barely communicate with themselves, much less anyone above the age of 20.

Now, the upside to all of this is that someone like me who writes for a living is never going to be out of work. The downside is that, sooner or later, the writers are all going to go to that great writers' block in the sky. And then where will the rest of you be?

from Academic Leadership - http://www.academicleadership.org/volume1/issue4/articles/skipboyer.html

Additional quotes from this article:

PowerPoint® is right up there on my list of the World's Most Dangerous Electrically Powered Tools, a notch or so below the power saw and just above desktop publishing.

Any tool, when used properly, can benefit the user. Power saws and drills just beat their manual counterparts all to hell, although I think the jury is still out on power toothbrushes. It's when tools are used improperly, usually by well-intentioned amateurs, that they can wreak havoc.

Electronic communications, publishing and graphics programs put the most sophisticated communications tools in the history of the species in our hands. As a professional communicator who clearly remembers hot type and carbon paper, it's a joy to have them. However (and this is the scary part), those same tools are also in the hands of your church secretary and the entertainment chairman of the local Rotary club.

If you doubt the dangers here, take a good look at your next church bulletin or club newsletter. Three different column widths, eight different type fonts, six different type sizes and nine unrelated bits of artwork. And that's just on page one.

One of the distinctive marks of a professional is restraint. Just because you have 200 fonts available doesn't mean you have to use all of them. A professional communicator understands that PowerPoint® graphics are called "speech support" for a reason. Use them with restraint.

Powerpoint Projects

By next Tuesday (1/31):
Read the two Powerpoint chapters - look for things you don't know how to do, and figure them out. The book walks you through step by step. See the blog entry below with the chapter synopses for a concept list.

Done in class:(Due on Thursday 2/2 by end of class)
PPT 134, #2

1. Add some hyperlinks – previous/next slide, camping website, KOA logo
2. Hand in 2 slides per sheet of paper, printed in the lab. Make sure you have a title slide with your name and section number on it!
   

PPT 136, #3

1. Done using outline as per the textbook - except find your own clip art that is appropriate for the subject..
2. Print out 2 slides per sheet - but make sure you have a title slide with your name and section number on it.
   
3. THEN make changes for better design (fewer slides, build effect, better graphics)
4. Hand in 2 slides per page, plus a digital copy. Filename YOURNAME_SECTION#_PPT136.ppt

Outside of class:

Get the handout, either from me or from Blackhawk (when it gets it's brain unscrambled, probably inside the folder ppt or powerpoint).

Presentations will be given on February 7 and 9. NO LATE ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED.