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#1: PDF Primer: Printing and Converting Let's
take a moment and imagine what life would be like without PDF files,
that standard document format that is viewable across all operating
system platforms (e.g. Windows, Macintosh, Linux). The standard
document format makes it easy to exchange documents that keep the
original formatting they were created with--including graphics,
layout and fonts. You can print to PDF from any program on your
computer (e.g. MS Publisher, MS Excel, Kid Pix, etc.) and, instead of
seeing the file come out on your printer, it appears as a file on
your computer. That text and images in that file can be copied and
pasted to other documents by the recipient, or they can be locked
with a password (although you can bypass the security of PDF files
with the right software). Without PDF files, everyone would have to
have the exact same computer system, including fonts and software.
This would present problems, obviously.
Web-based Conversion Programs
If
you're wondering which to go with, consider what your needs are. If
you are using MS Publisher, as well as other software (not including
MS Office), and you need to print to PDF, then definitely consider
using PDF
Creator.
If your needs are much simpler--for example, you want to convert
Powerpoint and MS Word documents to PDF--then install a copy of Open
Office 2.x on your computer or take advantage of DocMorph for single
conversions to PDF, or MyMorph if converting multiple documents.
Again, your best best is to use Open Office when dealing with
MS Office documents. This is especially true for Windows and Linux
users. Macintosh users, of course, can choose print then click on the
PDF button to save the file as a PDF. ...performed over a computer network that allows users to save and categorize a personal collection of bookmarks and share them with others. Users may also take bookmarks saved by others and add them to their own collection, as well as to subscribe to the lists of others.
The
services they offer are essentially the same, however, each has its
own pecularities and eccentricities. You will have to experiment and
find the one that best fits your style. Del.icio.us is the most
popular and widely-used of social bookmarking tools, and others are
springing up. Del.icio.us was also just purchased by Yahoo!, so
changes are expected. Yahoo! also purchased another Read/Write Web
tool that is popular known as Flickr!
Ever had to email a large file--whether it's a multimedia slide show, zipped file, digital photo, or video--to someone only to find that they didn't have enough email storage capacity in their email to receive it? Or, worse, that you lacked the storage to send the file? While you could have emailed that file to yourself using a Yahoo or Gmail account with extra storage space (2-4 gigabytes of space, respectively), you could also have taken advantage of online storage services. Often, while we may have places to store large files online as backups, how do we send those to others? Several such services exist and include the following:
Wish you had a tool to create online tutorials without expensive software? If you're a Windows or Linux user, then you can take advantage of Wink. Wink is a tutorial and presentation creation software, primarily aimed at creating tutorials on how to use software. It allows you to capture screenshots, add explanations boxes, buttons, titles, and more so as to create tutorial. Once you have created a tutorial, you can save it in a variety of formats such as Macromedia Flash, Standalone EXE, PDF, PostScript, HTML or any of the following image formats: BMP/JPG/PNG/TIFF/GIF.
#6: Converting PowerPoint Slide Shows to Web-based
Although Wink is a nice tool to use to create tutorials, what if you already have Powerpoint presentations that you want to place on the Web as slide shows? While we could use Powerpoint's built-in Save As HTML feature, the resulting HTML files and graphics are bloated and painful to manage. How could we easily put our Powerpoint presentation on the Web in one file? A simple solution is to use OpenOffice 2.0. This free, open source Office Suite enables you to open Powerpoint presentations then export them as a Flash movie. Flash compatibility is now standard on Windows, Mac and Linux operating system Internet browsers. In addition to being more compatible (Flash movies easily work on more browsers than the html code generated by Powerpoint's export feature), you also have only ONE file to work with. This means you can easily attach the file to emails you might send, put it on your web server and then point people to the web address. Or, you could place the file on the web so that it can.
#7: Creating and Sharing a Calendar Online
There are a wide variety of tools available for sharing calendars of events online. However, here are three that you need to be aware of that take advantage of Read/Write Web technologies such as RSS. Those include the following:
#8 Free Graphic Editors Some time ago, I had the opportunity to visit several private school campuses. Of course, I was privately surveying their level of technology implementation (LOTI). However, I was surprised that some campuses weren't taking advantage of all the free available software that they could use. At one campus, I was led by a proud administrator to a small room crammed with eMac computers. These were brand new machines and the teacher appeared to be brand new as well. His background was as an artist, and I asked him, "So, what software are you using?" He went on for awhile discussing the theory and background of art...but the tools he described included Word's built-in graphics editor and PowerPoint. I was a bit surprised that he was unaware of the free tools available on the Internet. I shared with him The GIMP as an alternative to Photoshop--on a private school budget, free is preferable to whatever Photoshop or Fireworks costs these days. I shared that The GIMP runs on Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems Later this evening, I received an email about another product--ImageWell --that is a simple graphics editor. Unfortunately, it's only available for Macs running OS X. Tool Link(s):
#9 Protecting Deleted Files
Over the last 6 months, I've had to explain to several folks that simply because you delete files on your computer, it does not mean that they are "safe" and "unrecoverable." In fact, it is a relatively simple manner to undelete files off your computer. This is especially true when undeleting files from hard drives on computers sent out for disposal, especially when little has been done to remove the data. Often, reimaging a hard drive just is not enough. With the real threat of identity theft, it is much too dangerous to not establish a regular pattern of wiping your hard drive's "free space" to get rid of deleted files. In previous columns, I recommended using Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) or Cryptainer LE to encrypt sensitive files. Yet, everything you do leaves traces of information on your computer that others can access. You should consider using programs like those mentioned below to ensure your privacy after using a computer. One such free utility is Eraser 5.7. It allows you to permanently erase files, just like the free PGP software, so that they are unrecoverable, even by "forensic" methods used by government and the FBI (ok, ok...but isn't it nice to know that it's that high a quality program?). While this may seem a bit extreme, even paranoid, remember that at some time, we all deal with confidential information on our computers. Would you want that data accessible to someone should your computer be stolen or accessed inappropriately? Eraser has a free hard drive reformatting utility that can remove asset tracking programs like Absolute Software's CompuTrace. I always have a laugh at the way school districts seek to use software to protect against theft...with this software, a Linux Boot CD, this protection is nullified. It is protection only for those computers that aren't stolen. This is important to know, especially for organizations who might choose to use this expensive software in lieu of other security methods (e.g. cables to secure computer equipment). In addition to protecting your email privacy, you may also want to consider the following free utilities available from JavaCool Software, the same folks that made SpywareBlaster.
And, what's the new software I found recently? Well, it's called Win-Privacy Tools (WinPT). "Windows Privacy Tools (WinPT) is a collection of multilingual applications for easy digital encryption and signing of content. It's GnuPG-based, compatible with OpenPGP compliant software (like PGP) and free for commercial and personal use under the GPL. " (). I also put together a quick tutorial on how to use Eraser to wipe data off your hard drive. It's very simple and can fit on a floppy disk. I hope these are useful to you as you protect your privacy. I also encourage you to read the following: Tool Link(s):
#10 Managing Photo Albums
If you're a Mac user, you probably already use iPhoto to manage your digital photographs and images. And, of course, you can share photos through your .Mac account. Of course, one always should be careful about putting their photos online for fear of how they may be used in ways beyond one's control. However, if you are a Windows user, then you must rely on other free tools available to you. The following software and web-based tools--listed in order of author's preference--boast powerful photo album management and sharing features. Tool Link(s):
#11 – Compressing Multiple Files to EmailSending Email attachments is easy, but can cause a lot of trouble for the recipient. Before you send an Email message, contact the recipient and agree on a compression format. Compression programs work like electronic suitcases. A suitcase allows you to carry your clothes relatively neatly on long trips. This is the same reason we use compression programs. There are several formats: The most popular compression format is ZIP, an established compression format that is available on Linux, Windows, and Macs. The programs that you use to decompress filename.zip files include (but aren't limited to) Aladdin's Stuffit Expander (http://www.stuffit.com/cgi-bin/stuffit_loginpage.cgi?standardwinexp), a free cross-platform decompression program. It uncompresses all popular compressed and encoded formats including ZIP (.zip), MIME Base64 (.mim, .mime, .b64), RAR, UUENCODE (.uu, .uue), GZIP (.gz .z), ARJ (.arj .pak), ARC (.arc), BINHEX (.hqx) and STUFFIT (.sit .sea). This program's ease of use and ability to handle many file-types make it a must-have. For example, double-clicking on a zip file can create a directory and extract all files into it. Note that the program cannot handle multi-part or encrypted files. You can create, as well as decompress, zip files on the Windows XP platform using built-in ZIP compression. Simply right click on the file or folder of files you want to compress and take advantage of the SEND TO COMPRESSED (ZIP) FOLDER. Of course, there are a wealth of compression programs. At no cost, you can get IZArc (http://www.izarc.org/), a versatile, easy to use compression program. In addition to an easy to use Windows Explorer interface, IZArc allows standard operations such as adding, viewing, deleting, renaming files in a compressed archive. You can also use IZArc to install programs from the downloaded archive (a time-saver!), check archives for viruses, and perform multi-disk spanning of files. It is compatible with the popular ZIP format, as well as an alphabet soup of compression formats, including 7-ZIP, ACE,ARC, ARJ, BH, BZ2, CAB, DEB, GZ,HA, JAR, LHA, LZH,PAK, PK3, RAR, RPM, TAR,TGZ, TZ, ZIP and ZOO. You can also create self-extracting, or executable, password-protected archives that don't require a decompression program to expand. This is useful if you want to give a file to a neophyte who may not know how to handle compressed programs yet, as well as enhance security. For Macintosh users, zipping is as simple as a right-mouse click (or Ctrl-Click with a single button mouse). When right-button mouse clicking, click on the file you want to ARCHIVE files to ZIP format.
#12 – Setting Up a Web Server
One classroom teacher at the TCEA State Conference (http://www.tcea.org/) said, "I want to set up my own Web server in my classroom because I can't get space on the District server. Am I able to do that?" The answer is, "Of course!" Then, I reminded the person that they should check into their district's acceptable use policy. At this point, the person just smiled and we moved on to the details. If you enjoy sharing student work or publishing your own work, but lack funding (approximately $10,000 for a Windows server) to buy your own server and place it in the District's server farm, or lack support, then you are probably considering setting up your own Web server using a desktop machine. You wouldn't believe how many other educators are doing the same thing. In a few hours, you can probably find a wealth of free Web server software to use. Most of it is difficult to set up and get going, but after hours of looking, you may run across Xerver (http://www.javascript.nu/xerver/), which also has versions available for Mac and Linux. Xerver is surprisingly easy, safe to use – which means that it does not have any security holes yet discovered – and easy to set up Web server software. It features a setup wizard that guides you through setting up the server, allowing you to specify which folder has your Web pages, whether you want to password protect directories (a nice feature difficult to achieve with some server software), and much more. It also has Web-based administration; that means you can administer or change the setup of your Web server via the Web. Of course, this feature can be disabled once you are done with setup. It also comes with built-in File Transfer Protocol (FTP) features. FTP is essential to a Web server since FTP software is what you use to transfer Web pages you’ve created from your computer to the Web server where they are shared on the Web. While Mac OS X has built-in capabilities, you may want more control. In that case, you should investigate Web Crossing Express (http://webcrossing.com/express/) the free version of a Web/FTP/Email server. It is similar to Xerver in its capabilities and features, except that Web Crossing comes in Windows, Mac and Linux versions! Definitely a program to check out!
#13 - Setting Up an FTP Server
The concept of FTP, or File Transfer Protocol, is quite simple. Files are shared via an FTP server--which can be any computer--and then accessed using an FTP client that allows one to get or put files depending on levels of access. Setting up an FTP server has become a simple process. As a matter of fact, just like Web servers, you can take any computer and make it into a file sharing station using FTP Server software. There are many uses for this, from allowing students to put and get, or upload and download respectively, files from a central location. You can restrict their access to one folder, but then later get all the folders for viewing purposes. I imagine its use in Web design classes and other places where a network drive has not been set up for you or your students. On the Windows side, there are a variety of programs. One such program is FileZilla Server (http://sourceforge.net/projects/filezilla/). Another free, Windows possibility is GuildFTPd (http://www.mrbass.org/leech/). Now, both of these are flexible, free FTP Server programs that you can use. Regardless of which one you choose, you will still need an FTP client. While many still use WS-FTP LE (http://www.ipswitch.com/), which is the free, academic version of the popular FTP client, others may want to take advantage of the more powerful, yet easy to use--and also free-- FileZilla FTP Client (http://sourceforge.net/projects/filezilla/). While you don't have to use FileZilla FTP client to interact with FileZilla Server or GuildFTPd, the client is so easy to use you would do well to consider it. Another popular FTP client is SmartFTP (http://www.smartftp.com/), also free for academic use. On the Macintosh side, you can use Fetch or one of the others available at FTP client (http://www.pure-mac.com/ftp.html). For educational, non-profit use, Fetch is available at no charge provided you register it. Transmit (http://www.panic.com/transmit/), a shareware alternative, has the more traditional split screen window...but as shareware, it is not free. A recommended, completely open source, free alternative FTP client for the Mac is Cyberduck (http://cyberduck.ch/) .Unfortunately, as far as I know, for the Mac platform, no free FTP Server software exists--with the exception of the Built-in FTP features of Mac OS X (http://www.creativemac.com/2002/09_sep/tutorials/ftposx020924.htm). Still, you might consider 3 FTP servers. I'll start with the most expensive:
#14 – Setting up an Email ServerMass Emailing your colleagues for unsolicited, commercial use is considered SPAM (http://www.spamlaws.com/federal/can-spam.shtml). However, knowing how to send mass Emails is also a part of knowing how to use Email effectively. As such, an Email server can be a critical part of sending out Email using what are known as bulk Emailers. Some educational applications include the following:
To send Email out in this way, you generally follow a process such as:
Some free Windows Email servers include:
For the Mac, there’s Mac OS X PostFix Mail Server (http://www.reitter-it-media.de/software/osxpostfix.html#panther) which comes built-in to the operating system but has to be switched on. My preference is ArGoSoft's Freeware Email Server (http://www.argosoft.com/mailserver/) Some free or inexpensive bulk Emailers include FairLogic's WorldCast (http://www.fairlogic.com/worldcast/index.shtml) for Windows, which is free for non-profit use, and MacBulk Mailer (http://www.maxprog.com/MaxBulk.html) for Macintosh, which carries a $49 pricetag. Please note that a more detailed article on this topic is available online at “Staying in Touch: How To With Bulk Emailers” (http://www.mguhlin.net/artifacts/writings/2004/intouch.htm)
#15 - Protecting Myself from Spyware and Adware
"What are all these windows open on my screen?” a campus administrator asked me recently. Unfortunately, windows were appearing on her personal laptop's screen at an alarming rate. She had Adware! Adware sometimes causes advertising banners to appear on your screen in multiple, cascading windows that can appear so quickly that you are unable to use your computer for anything else. Furthermore, when doing a search, advertisements could appear everywhere on your computer. They are pernicious and invasive. And then there are Spybots, which are no fun either. These can be used to collect the keystrokes you make--consider how dangerous this is when typing in sensitive information such as social security numbers or critical passwords--and send them on to others. Although we came to the brink of reformatting--wiping her hard drive of data and starting over--we were finally able to install the right combination of software to prevent spyware/adware software from taking over her computer. The software programs listed below are all free for individual use. I encourage you to take these steps to immediately protect your computer. If you are undergoing a spyware attack, start with Step 2; this will prevent pop-ups from overwhelming you as you try to take care of the problem. They include the following:
#16 - Minimizing SPAMEven though popular, free Email programs--such as Mozilla Thunderbird--may have built-in spam protection, I encourage you to consider using special programs like POPFile (http://popfile.sourceforge.net/) or K9 (http://keir.net/k9.html). Essentially, these programs are more than just spam blockers or fighters. They are an automatic Email classification tool that works with all incoming Email messages. If you can check your Email using a POP3 Email client, like those mentioned in response to question 9, then you can use them. Using Bayesian filters, they allow you much more flexibility than simply classifying Email as spam or ham, good or bad. Instead, you can use it to build a set of powerful filters that work in tandem with your Email program. With one of these two free programs in place, thousands of spam messages--with viruses--are quarantined or sent straight to the program's trashcan each day.
#17 - Downloading an Entire Web SiteJust when you think Internet access is ubiquitous, you find out it's not--and you're set to do an important presentation where you need to show off a Web site. Or, a student has created a Web page that defames a teacher and you need to get a copy of it for "evidence." Whatever your need, a program like Web Whacker (http://www.bluesquirrel.com/) can be useful. While there are costlier versions of "Web whacking" type software, you can obtain two free programs--Site Snagger (http://www.sharewarejunkies.com/8zwd5/site_snagger.htm) for Windows or SiteSucker (http://www.sitesucker.us/home.html) for Macintosh --that are similar and work effectively.
Both are free and easy to use; you simply paste the Web address into the appropriate location on the program, tell it how many levels deep you want to go (experiment with this so that you can better understand it), and then "snag" the site. Should you choose to snag more than two levels, be aware that all pages linked to the original page, and all pages linked to those pages will be saved to your hard drive. After snagging/sucking a Web site down, you can then open the index file for the site with a Web browser and everything will work--with the exception of "external" links that connect to materials not originally on the Web site you snagged. Finally, please be aware that you should make every effort to adhere to copyright fair use guidelines when snagging Web pages off the Internet.
#18 – Making Flyers, Brochures and MoreA
few years ago, I remember obtaining my first copy of Publish It!. It
came on multiple diskettes, and allowed me to create brochures
easily. Unlike with word processing programs of the time, such as
WordPerfect, I was able to easily create textboxes, place images and
then copy-n-paste text and have it flow from one frame to the next.
While word processing programs have improved, some folk still long
for an easy-to-use desktop publishing program. This probably explains
the success of Microsoft Publisher, which comes with many templates
and an extensive graphics library, which the Internet has made
obsolete. You can now find free graphics on Web sites such as Open
Clip Art Library
(http://www.openclipart.org/downloads/index.php), which has 2,896
different images you can use. You can browse these graphics online
(http://www.openclipart.org/cgi-bin/navigate) or get the ZIPped
file. |