Computer and Web Articles

QUESTION: I’m not really sure how to get the most out of my LinkedIn account. Any suggestions?
- Lynn, Breckenridge

ANSWER: Well, it depends on what, exactly, you’re trying to achieve by having a LinkedIn account in the first place. Though I’m not aware of your goals, I can still point you in the direction of a great slideshow. (Tip: It’s easier to download it and view it on your computer than it is to try and zoom in and read its content in the little slideshow viewer on the website; you’ll need to create a free account to do this, though.)

Here’s the link: http://tinyurl.com/yh7jobv.

1. www.GoI70.com - Skiers, sightseers, residents and mountain travelers of all kinds now have a new way of planning and optimizing their next trip along I-70. GoI70.com is a new site and mobile phone application dedicated to the I-70 traveler. The site allows you to view current highway speeds, get tips for the best times to travel, and search for a variety of other I-70 related topics, such as trailheads, shopping, parking, lodging, and restaurants located along the I-70 corridor.
2. www.google.com/patents - Did you know that Google lets you conduct online searches of over seven million patents? Take a look for yourself. I was able to locate my great grandfather’s patent from 1893 using the search. Pretty sweet.
3. http://tinyurl.com/yfyt6jd - Let me guess. You spend time, money, or both trying to obtain more incoming links to better your website’s search engine rankings. If so, you might like this article, entitled “Eleven Effective, Efficient Ways to Use Limited Time to Build Links.” The examples offered may not relate directly to the services or products offered by your business, but you’ll likely grab at least a couple new ideas from this list.
4. http://tinyurl.com/yaoo36a - This article, “The ABC’s of Online Networking” contains a list that includes sites, people, engines, applications, and tips on how to best research, establish and network yourself and your business online.
5. http://tinyurl.com/yaremkk - “The Known Universe” - A six and a half minute video that zooms out from Tibet all the way to the limits of the observable universe. Neat.

I found myself struggling to read content on three websites this week.

Not fun. Very frustrating.

The sidebar of one website contained baby blue text on a grass green background, the second website displayed dark gray text on top of a medium gray, and the third website had red text on a royal blue background.

The fact that I, with my pretty darn good eyesight, had to strain to read content in these websites had me wondering what all the people out there with poor eyesight are doing when they arrive at similar visual challenges.

How long does it take people with less-than-perfect eyesight to give up and click away? How many businesses are losing money because their sites’ visitors cannot read their content due to a simple lack of color contrast?

Take a look at your website. Is the text easy to read? Don’t take the basic concept of contrast lightly; all the energy and money you’ve spent advertising, working on your website, and bettering your search engine rankings could be going right down the drain if you’re forcing people to struggle and strain just to read your site’s text.

QUESTION:
Thanks for the previous Windows XP tip to kill indexing and Messenger. Can I do the same in Vista too?
– Pat Tormey, Silverthorne, Colorado

ANSWER:
Yes, you sure can. Here are the steps you need to take for each task.

————————————-

Turning Off Indexing in Vista:

1. Click Start, then Control Panel
2. Click System and Maintenance, then Administrative Tools, then double click Services
3. Locate the service named Windows Search, then right-click it and select Properties from the menu that pops open.
4. Click Stop
5. Now, in the Startup Type drop-down box, choose Disabled
6. Click OK

Turning Off Messenger in Vista:

1. Click Start, then Control Panel, then Uninstall a Program (under Programs)
2. Click MSN Messenger
3. Click Uninstall from the list of options in the new window
4. Click Yes, then wait until the process is done
5. Restart your computer

1. http://tinyurl.com/ybuhadq - For your learning enjoyment, here we have … the history of the Internet. Conveniently for you, though, the article wraps up the Internet’s history in a nutshell; no need to read through dozens of books to get the big picture.
2. www.cheddargetter.com – A lovely, fresh new system for those selling online subscriptions and obtaining automated recurring payments from customers. Track and bill your customers with ease; “simply plug in your merchant account credentials and CheddarGetter will begin charging your customers immediately.”
3. http://tinyurl.com/yfb26bo - Five easy-to-understand reasons why your company’s website is failing you.
4. http://tinyurl.com/3ddjjj - Mac users only: Excellent character key reference.
5. http://tinyurl.com/539ux - A great list of time-saving Internet Explorer shortcuts.

Does your website contain forms for visitors to fill out?  A general contact form? An online store checkout form? A special product inquiry form? If your site contains even just one form, take a moment to ask yourself the following questions; make sure your forms are working for you—not against you.

1. Are you asking site visitors to provide you with irrelevant information? Honestly; why are you requiring people give you their home and business phone numbers when all they’d like to do is ask you a quick question?
2. Are you trying to collect more information than necessary? Do whatever you can to minimize the amount of time it takes for a site visitor to contact you via your online forms.  Just because I want to make contact with your company does *not* mean I want to give up my lunch break by having to fill out a mile-long form.
3. Do you take care of your visitors after they submit their information? I’ve used forms where, after hitting Submit, the page flashes and I suddenly find myself looking at a completely empty version of the form I just filled out. No note saying “your information has been submitted”. No text saying “Thank you for filling out our form.” Nothing letting me know when I should expect a response. Do I fill out the form again? Did my inquiry go through? A simple, clear confirmation message can prevent confusion and frustration related to your online forms.
4. Do you have “Clear” or “Reset” button at the bottom of your form near your Submit button? If you do, get rid of it. Now. People do not take time out of their day to visit your website, carefully fill out your online form, get to the bottom–and then delete all the information they just typed out. Clear and Reset buttons only increase the likelihood that you’ll frustrate your site’s visitors; these buttons do nothing but make it easier for your visitors to accidentally delete all the information they just entered.

I use these two shortcuts just about every single day of my life. They help me move about the web quickly and efficiently, and I thought you might like to use them, too.

Shortcut #1: To the Next Site in the Blink of an Eye
Ctrl + L. Holding down the Ctrl key and then tapping the L key jumps my cursor up into and highlights the text in the address bar.  This allows me to immediately start typing the address of the next site I want to visit. No need to click in the address bar, no need to highlight the current URL with my cursor, no need to hit the Delete or Backspace keys to clear that text out. I just hit Ctrl + L, type the address of the next site I want to visit, hit Enter, and I’m at the next site in the blink of an eye.

Shortcut #2: Start Your Search with Lightning Speed
Ctrl + K. Like many web users, I have a Google search box in my browser’s toolbar so that I can conduct Google searches from whatever page I’m looking at; I don’t need to go to www.google.com every time I’d like to search the web. As I search many, many times a day, I find it wonderfully convenient to hold down the Ctrl key and then tap the K key to get my cursor sitting in the search box – no mouse necessary!

1. http://tinyurl.com/y8dsvo3 - I’m on a boat… I’m on a boat… No I’m not. This is the most biggest, most gigantic-ist, most craziest, most … um, well … you get the picture. Some will find the idea of a vacation on this boat thrilling. Others will surely find it sickening. What are your thoughts?
2. http://tinyurl.com/lylxob - Five beliefs that limit productivity – and how to overcome them.
3. http://tinyurl.com/y9dtemq - Learn how to hide your Facebook friend list.
4. www.photojojocom.com – “An insanely great newsletter on photography” with the very best photo tips, DIY projects, gear and more.
5. www.californiacoastline.org – Anyone else out there from California? You might like this site. Ken Adelman took over 10,000 aerial photos of the entire California coastline from a helicopter and put them all up in sequential order on this website for your viewing pleasure. I was able to find my friends’ home on the cliffs near Pacifica as well as some neat views of my high-school hangout spots.

Your friend is sitting across the table from you, chatting away about the amazing new dish she made using kohlrabi last week. You smile and nod your head knowingly while you think, “Now wait a second, I know I’ve heard of kohlrabi before, but what in the world does it look like??”

Upon returning home you sit down at your computer, fire up Google, type “kohlrabi” into the search box, and hit the “Google Search” button. You click the first result and are taken to a webpage that has a description and one photo of the root vegetable.

You hit your back button. You click search result #2 and see another photo of the vegetable, then click the back button again to return to your search results once more. You’re starting to remember what the veggie looks like, but can’t remember if it comes in different colors or what it looks like when baked or fried. So you keep laboriously clicking through the results on the page, hoping one of the sites listed will have a variety of photos for you to look at.

Okay, stop. There’s a much better way to look for a variety of kohlrabi photos.

Let’s start over. Go back to www.Google.com. Now, in the upper left-hand corner, click the “Images” link. Done? Good work. Now back to business as usual – go ahead and type “kohlrabi” into the search box, then hit the “Search Images” button that’s appeared.

Boom. There you have it. Thousands upon thousands of photos of kohlrabi, lined up nice and neat for your viewing pleasure.

And so: whenever you want to look at images and photos of something in particular, using Google Images instead of Google’s standard search is the way to go. Have fun!