Frequently Asked Questions
FAQs
MS Office
Excel - How can I make text in a cell display in multiple lines?
Excel - Is it possible to determine the day of the week for a particular date?
Visio - What is Microsoft Visio?
Visio - I can create diagrams in Word and PowerPoint. Why should I use Visio?
Web Design/Development
I need to create a website. Should I learn Dreamweaver or FrontPage?
What kinds of images can I use on web pages?
Can I create a mailto: link on a web page that fills in subject line of the email?
Graphic Design
Should I use Publisher or InDesign to create a newsletter?
What is the difference between Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign? When should I use each?
I’ve heard of vector and raster graphics. What’s the difference?
Miscellaneous
I have Acrobat on my computer and it seems easy to use. Why would I take a course on Acrobat?
Answers to FAQs
What is the Work Menu?
The Work menu is a great but virtually undocumented feature in MS Word. It has been around since early versions of Word, but few people know about it.
It is like having a "Favorites" menu, just for Word, letting you list documents that you want to keep on a menu. Like the Favorites menu, items in the Work menu are shortcuts to an actual document stored somewhere on your computer or network.
To add the Work menu to your menus / toolbars (W97 +) *
- Tools=>Customize
- Commands (tab)
- Categories: Built-In Menus (left pane)
- Commands: Work (right pane)
- Drag this menu where you want it. The most common choice is to put it next to Help. Click on Close to close the Customize dialog box.
To add a document to your Work menu
While a document is open and active, Work>Add to Work Menu. You can't add a new document to your Work menu until you have saved it.
To delete a document from your Work Menu
Press Ctrl + Alt + - and your mouse pointer will turn into a thick horizontal bar (a big minus sign). Use it to select the document you want to delete and release the mouse. Your document will be gone from the Work menu.
The Work Menu has a limit of nine documents. When you attempt to add a tenth document, it will bump the document currently at the bottom of the Work Menu. Also, remember that even if you delete a document from your disk, its name will still appear on your Work Menu until removed.
Excel - How can I make text in a cell display in multiple lines?
When entering text into the cell, press Alt-Enter to insert a line break. When you do so, Excel will automatically apply text wrapping to the cell.
To reformat existing cells so they sport wrapped text, select the cells and then choose Format, Cells. On the Alignment tab, select "Wrap text," and click OK.
Learn more Excel techniques and tips in our various Excel courses!
Excel - Is it possible to determine the day of the week for a particular date?
Yes, and Excel offers several ways to do so. Assume that cell A1 contains a date value. The formula below uses the WEEKDAY function, which returns an integer between 1 and 7 (1 for Sunday, 2 for Monday, and so on).
=WEEKDAY(A1)
If you'd prefer to see words rather than integers, modify the formula as follows:
=CHOOSE(WEEKDAY(A1), "Sunday", "Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday", "Friday", "Saturday")
Another approach is to change the number format for the date cell. Activate the cell that contains your date, and then choose Format, Cells. In the Format Cells dialog box, click the Number tab. Choose Custom from the Category list, and type a custom number format string into the box labeled Type. The trick here is to use dddd as part of the format string. For example, a format string of dddd mmmm d, yyyy will display the date and the day of the week, like this: Thursday November 23, 2000.
Learn more Excel techniques and tips in our various Excel courses!
What is Microsoft Visio?
Visio is a drawing and diagramming solution that can help people transform business and technical concepts into visual diagrams. Use Visio to formulate, document, and communicate important information and make a professional impact on your audience.
Graphics can be a powerful way to communicate information, but most graphics software packages require users to have artistic skills to render effective images; Visio is intended for people who feel uncomfortable drawing freehand but who need visuals to help relay important information. Create diagrams with Visio 2003 using formatting tools and predefined symbols; add backgrounds, titles, and page borders.
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I can create diagrams in Word and PowerPoint. Why should I use Visio?
While other Microsoft Office programs, such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint®, provide basic diagramming capabilities, Visio is a dedicated diagramming tool that can help you easily create a broad range of diagrams. In contrast to other Office programs, you can use Visio to automatically create diagrams and complete tasks, or to export data to reports and store information within each shape.
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Web Design /Development
I need to create a website. Should I learn Dreamweaver or FrontPage?
Both software packages are excellent web design tools. Most websites can be created using either product (or using other software packages such as Adobe GoLive). Because the end product of web design software is the creation of HTML pages (with other computer languages potentially mixed in), most web design packages work similarly and can often be used interchangeably. With that said, here are some general considerations.
FrontPage is the most popular software for creating websites. Many consider FrontPage easier to learn and use for simple websites. FrontPage automates some advanced web design features (like creating online feedback forms or scrolling text on a page) that beginning users would otherwise struggle with creating.
Dreamweaver is popular among professional web designers. Many consider Dreamweaver better at creating and maintaining larger websites, sophisticated websites, and websites requiring database integration. Dreamweaver is more difficult to learn to use than FrontPage, but can create and manage complex websites more easily.
Generally, to create a simple website for yourself or your organization, FrontPage is a good choice. If you are ready to spend the time to learn a more sophisticated tool, Dreamweaver is the industry standard among professionals.
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Build Your Website with FrontPage
Should I use Publisher or InDesign to create a newsletter?
There is no clear answer to this question as both software packages are good options.
Publisher will be the easiest of the products to begin using, but is considered less "professional." It works much like MS Word, and does a great job with quick and easy publications like newsletters. You can create basic newsletters within a few hours os starting to use Publisher.
Adobe Indesign is probably best for creating high-quality, multi-page newsletters and catalogs. It works similarly to the popular layout program named Quark, and is good at arranging blocks of text across several pages of a publication. InDesign doesn’t contain as many tools for creating graphical elements as Illustrator or Photoshop, but does a good job in arranging elements together to form an overall layout. (The Emory Center for Lifelong Learning uses Indesign to create our course catalog).
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What is the difference between Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign? When should I use each?
Adobe Indesign is probably best for creating high-quality, multi-page documents like newsletters and catalogs. It is very good at arranging blocks of text across several pages of a publication. InDesign doesn’t contain as many tools for creating graphical elements as Illustrator or Photoshop, but does a good job in arranging elements together to form an overall layout. (The Emory Center for Lifelong Learning uses Indesign to create our course catalog).
Adobe Illustrator is probably best for creating graphics or one (or two) page documents that combine text and graphics like advertisements, business cards, brochures, etc. Illustrator is used primarily to create vector graphics such as logos, illustrations, and line art. Vector based drawings are scalable, so they can easily be enlarged or reduced in the future. (The Emory Center for Lifelong Learning uses Illustrator to create the front and back cover of our course catalog).
Adobe Photoshop is probably best for working with digital images that are made of pixels, such as photographs. Photoshop is often used to prepare digital images that are then incorporated into documents being created in Illustrator or InDesign. Photoshop is also good at creating or optimizing images for websites. Photoshop is not good at creating multi-page items or items that need to be significantly enlarged or reduced in the future. (The Emory Center for Lifelong Learning uses Photoshop to prepare the photographs that appear on the cover and inside our course catalog.)
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What kinds of images can I use on web pages?
There are three digital formats commonly used for images on web pages: GIF, JPG, and PNG. It is important to note that any web image can be saved as a GIF, JPG, or PNG. The choice between them is a factor of optimized display and file size. GIF images are commonly used for simple, cartoon-like images with few colors such as buttons, logos, and text images. JPG images are commonly used for complex, photo-like images with many colors, such as photographs or complex diagrams. PNG images account for only a small percentage of web images and can be used to create simple, cartoon-like images or complex, photo-like images. PNG images are usually slightly larger (meaning a slightly longer download time) than the other two formats.
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Learn more about technical differences and how to create GIF, JPG, and PNG images in our Photoshop: Web Graphics course.
Can I create a mailto: link on a web page that fills in subject line of the email?
Not only that, but you can also create a mailto: link that creates a CC: or BCC: recipient and even fills in text in the body of the email. Here is an example of each type of link and of using all of them together:
Mailto with subject line
<a href="mailto:jemory@emory.edu?subject=Website Submission">
Mailto with CC recipient
<a href="mailto:jemory@emory.edu?cc=bjones@emory.edu">
Mailto with BCC recipient
<a href="mailto:jemory@emory.edu?bcc=soxford@emory.edu">
Mailto with default body text
<a href="mailto:jemory@emory.edu?body=Hello there!">
All of the above!
<a href="mailto:jemory@emory.edu?subject=Website Submission&cc=bjones@emory.edu&bcc=soxford@emory.edu&body=Hello there!">
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I understand that there is a way to scramble e-mail links so as to avoid making e-mail addresses on webpages spam targets. How can I do this?
There are several different ways to disguise your email address, but here is one of the most successful. If your email address was jsmith99@emory.edu, and you want to display the name John Smith on the page as a mailto link, you would use this JavaScript code to create the mailto: link. Just replace the – jsmith99- and the -emory.edu- with your own information and paste the code into your page’s HTML.
<script language="JavaScript">
<!--
document.write ('<A HREF="mai');
document.write ('lto:jsmith99');
document.write ('@');
document.write ('emory.edu">jsmith99');
document.write ('@');
document.write ('emory.edu</A>');
// -->
</script>
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Graphic Design
I’ve heard of vector and raster graphics. What’s the difference?
Vector graphics are composed of lines and curves connected by points. A circle is four curves connected by four points. A rectangle is four lines, connected by four points. When you make a vector circle larger or smaller, the curved lines become larger or smaller, but the circle retains perfectly crisp lines. Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia Freehand, and CorelDRAW are three examples of vector programs. Vector programs are also sometimes called drawing programs, while programs like Adobe Photoshop and Procreate's Painter are paint, or raster programs.
Raster graphics are composed of pixels. When you enlarge a digital image made of pixels, the software has to create many more pixels to represent the larger image. Enlarge it too much and the software has a hard time representing the new image, because there are so many more pixels involved. The result is blurriness and distortion. When you work with raster graphics, try to work at the size at which you'll ultimately be using the image, because there are limits to how much they can be sized. With vector graphics, you can enlarge or reduce an object without losing clarity.
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I have Acrobat on my computer and it seems easy to use. Why would I take a course on Acrobat?
The version of Acrobat that most people have on their computer is not what our course covers.
Adobe provides a free version of Acrobat call Acrobat Reader which allows viewing of Acrobat PDF documents. A large percentage of people have this version installed on their computers and it requires almost no special knowledge to use. To create PDF documents, however, you must own a copy of the full version of Adobe Acrobat which is significantly more complex. PDFs can be placed on your website, sent to a professional printing company, or used to protect important information from unauthorized viewing. Features such as password protection, minimizing file size, creating hyperlinks, and generating a professional quality PDF are just some of the features discussed in our Adobe Acrobat course.
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I’m interested in a QuickBooks course, but I’m not sure I have the right version. What versions does your course cover?
Our course is appropriate whether you have a 2003, 2004, or 2005 version of QuickBooks. It is also appropriate whether you have QuickBooks or QuickBooks Pro. There are slight changes between the annual versions of QuickBooks, but the fundamental processes (which are discussed in class) are very similar. QuickBooks Pro provides some advanced features like estimating project costs, invoicing, budgets, and custom forms. Our QuickBooks course focuses on tracking financial information rather than these more specific features. For a full comparison between the versions of QuickBooks, visit Intuit’s website: http://quickbooks.intuit.com/commerce/compare/qbcom/compare_result.jhtml
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I have a digital image that someone else created and I need to create new images that match. I don’t know what fonts they used to create the original image. Is there a way I can find the name of these fonts?
There are several websites that can take an image containing text and compare the text with possible fonts that match. One such website is www.whatthefont.com
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