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Newsletter for EducationOnlineForComputers.com
Computer Software Education, Training & Tutorial Resources


*** ISSUE #52 - August, 2008 ***


    EducationOnlineForComputers.com


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In This Issue:

1)... Editor's Greeting

2)... Best New Free Microsoft Office Training & Tutorial Sites

3)... The Best New Free Training Sites for Flash, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, FrontPage, & other Adobe / Macromedia Applications

4)... Best New Free Web Development Training Sites

5)... Best New Free Windows, Linux, Hardware & Computer Training

6)... Software, Office and Computer Sites Worth Mentioning

7)... Question of the Month about Software Training

8)... Please Support Our Computer Training Mission

 

1) Editor's Greeting:

Hello everyone, and welcome to our new subscribers!

Here is our August 2008 issue (#52) of our Free monthly Newsletter for EducationOnlineForComputers.com, giving you the most current Free online Microsoft Office and Web Development Software Training and Tutorial Resources that we have recently discovered and researched. This newsletter is free to anyone subscribing (instructions at bottom, no username/password is needed). To access our member site, however, you do need a user name and password - registering as a member of EducationOnlineForComputers.com costs only $14 for two months, for more information please see Become a Member of EducationOnlineForComputers.com.

My desire is that these free resources will help you with your computer education and training and will help you advance your career. Our main mission is the training of those less fortunate who are seeking to become computer literate, from a user's perspective.

By means of this email newsletter, you have knowledge of and access to these sites before our web site visitors do. The best of these resources will be added to our Member Training pages and the remainder to our Free Training pages.


*** Current Issue ***

In this issue we are featuring a total of 37 Computer Software Application training, learning and tutorial web sites, with a total of 95 tutorial courses linked. It features many Free Microsoft Office, Flash, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and Web Development training tutorials for your learning profit and enjoyment. 

Please take a look at and bookmark our Blogs, these will be updated daily and weekly with New Free Training and Tutorial Resources, as I discover and evaluate them:


EducationOnlineForComputers.com Blogs:

       - Free Microsoft Office Training

       - Free Web Development Training

       - Free Adobe & Macromedia Training


Intelligentedu.com Blogs:

       - Free Technical Computer Training

       - Free Computer Books & Ebooks


To get your Free MS Office and Web Development Software Training updates via RSS, please copy (right click and copy shortcut or link location) and paste these urls into your RSS reader:

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Free_Web_Development_Training_Tutorial_Resources_rss2.xml


If you are looking for free technical or programming training, please visit our sister site:
http://www.intelligentedu.com.

Also, please check out our new free computer training search site at www.edcomp.com.

I wish you the best with your computer studies and learning.

Warm Regards,
Scott Turton Newsletter and Web Site Editor
scott_turton@EducationOnlineForComputers.com
http://www.EducationOnlineForComputers.com

 

"Learn New Skills and Increase Your Earning Power
 - With Free Online Computer Training!"

*** Become a Member of EducationOnlineForComputers.com *** 

Our Members' Site contains the web's best Microsoft Office and other software training resources and tutorials. This content is individually linked and presented in a way to expedite and facilitate your computer learning experience. We have done all the web research and presentation work for you so you can concentrate solely on your computer training. For short FAQ Answers, please see the end of this newsletter.

The total price to join as a member is only $14 total for 2 months, $24 for 4 months, $32 for 6 months, or $56 for a whole year. The funds generated will assist us to help all those seeking computer education and application end-user training. Here's the link to see what's available on our member's site and to sign up.

 

EdComp.com:
http://www.edcomp.com/

This is our new free computer and IT education and training search engine housing over 140,000 free training internet resources! Just type in a topic you're looking for and get tons of great web resources instantly. These search results are much better than the big search engines, like google. You can also check out our predefined search results page giving you tons of free training resources: http://www.edcomp.com/predefined.htm.

 

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2) The Best New Free Microsoft Office Training & Tutorial Sites:

This section of our newsletter contains the best new Free Microsoft Office training and tutorial sites that we have found and researched in the last few weeks. 

 

TrainingByEmail

Visit TrainingByEmail to receive Free Training for Word, Excel, Outlook, C#, ASP.Net, and SQL via your email every week! We will send out a new training in the topic of your choosing every week. You can then save this, print it out, or delete it all at your convenience. And you can't beat the price, FREE!

 


12 Word and Mail-Merge Video Tutorials

Here are 12 Word Video Tutorials from mistupid.com. Five of these Word tutorials will show you how to do a mail-merge, the others demonstrate Word features such as  Table of Contents, Fill-in Forms, AutoCorrect, Print Preview editing, and repeating Table Headings.


7 Word Video Tutorials


5 Word Mail Merge Tutorials
These mail-merge video tutorials teach you how to setup a spreadsheet of names and addresses in Excel and then use this as input for generating form letters and labels in Word for each name/row in the spreadsheet.

 


Word Tips and Tricks Tutorial

This is a 28-page Microsoft Word 2003 Tips and Tricks tutorial, from the Institute of Advanced Studies, that will help you become a more efficient day-to-day Word user. It covers Word features such as templates, headers and footers, page numbering, marks, rulers, document map, watermarks, keyboard shortcuts, international characters, mail merge, printing, print preview, statistics, and recent files. This Word tutorial is 277kb in size and is in pdf format.


Contents of this Word Tips and Tricks document:
 
Introduction
Getting Help

Creating Documents from Templates
  Working with document templates
  Creating a calendar

Formatting and Viewing Tips and Tricks
  Comparing two documents side-by-side
  Embedding fonts so others can view your documents
  Inserting Headers and Footers
  Inserting Page Numbers
  Inserting Organizational Charts and Diagrams
  Inserting Wavy Underlines, Double Underlines, and More
  Preventing page breaks inside paragraphs
  Removing Hyperlink Formatting from URLs
  Showing or hiding formatting marks feature
  Showing or hiding the rulers
  Using the Document Map
  Viewing a Microsoft Word 2003 document
  Viewing and comparing document formatting
  Working on and viewing two separate document sections
  Working with Watermarks

Working with Word 2003’s Keyboard Shortcuts
  Displaying shortcut keys for any given toolbar button
  Printing a list of all Word 2003 keyboard shortcuts
  Entering international characters in Word 2003
  Using a specific language keyboard layout with Word 2003

Working with Mail Merge
  Preparing for a mail merge
  Navigating through the Mail Merge task pane
  Using a Microsoft Excel file for Mail Merge
  Tweaking the mail merge data formats

Printing Tips and Tricks
  Automatically Print Document Properties
  Printing a draft copy of your documents
  Print Previewing multiple pages at once
  Specifying pages to print from a document

Miscellaneous Word Tools and Trick
  Define a word online using Microsoft Word 2003
  Display readability statistics for a document
  Displaying the total number of words in a Microsoft Word 2003 document
  Remember more recently opened files

 


16 Excel Video Tutorials

Here are 16 Excel Video Tutorials from mistupid.com. These Excel tutorials demonstrate important Excel functionality such as Subtotals, Formulas, Charting, Goal Seeker, Date Formating, Printing, AutoFill, AutoCalculate, AutoFormat, and Freezing Panes.


16 Excel Tutorials in video format

 


12 Step-by-Step Excel Tutorials

Here are 12 Excel Tutorials from mstipsandtricks.com that show and teach you how to use Excel with these features and tasks: Formatting Cells and Sheets, Styles, Formulas, Importing Data, Graphics, Charting, Macros, Pivot Tables, and creating spreadsheets in Excel 2007. These Excel tutorials use screen shots and numbered steps to help you master the topics covered.


 - How to Configure Excel's Options
 - Formatting Cells and Sheets
 - Styles in Microsoft Excel
 - Working with Excel Formulas
 - Advanced Excel Formulas
 - Consolidate Data using Excel
 - Working with Data in Excel
 - Working with Graphics in Microsoft Excel
 - Create Charts in Excel
 - Excel Macros Tutorial
 - Pivot Tables using Excel
 - Creating Excel 2007 Files

 


Two PowerPoint Training Documents

Here are two free PowerPoint Training Documents hosted by the Institute of Advanced Studies, both in pdf format. The first is a training course of 32 slides and the second is quick reference guide.


This PowerPoint 2003 Training Course shows you how to use PowerPoint to create slides and presentations. The first of three lessons provides information on slides, text and notes; the second one deals with design and layout; and the third lesson advises you on how to proof print, and prep for the show. This PowerPoint tutorial is 32 pages in length and 233kb in size.


This PowerPoint 2003 Quick Reference Guide lists the tasks and steps you need to do for working with slides, text, notes, printing, layout, design, previewing, and packaging your slide presentations in PowerPoint 2003. This reference guide will help you in accelerating your PowerPoint skills. It is 3 pages in length and 47kb in size.

 


Using Outlook 2003 Tutorial

Outlook helps you manage your electronic mail (email), appointments, contacts, and tasks, as well as track activities, open and view documents, and share information. Here is Using Outlook 2003 Tutorial, a 17-page Outlook tutorial from the Institute of Advanced Studies. The Outlook topics covered are listed below. This tutorial focuses on the email and contact features of Outlook 2003. Its size is 289kb and is in pdf format.


Topics covered by this Outlook Tutorial:

 - Introduction
 - Getting Help

 - Exploring Outlook 2003
      Launching Microsoft Outlook 2003
      Toolbar
      Outlook Today
      Folder List
      Information Viewer

 - Working with Email
      New E-Mail Message Arrival
         Reading E-Mail Messages
         Printing E-Mail Messages
         Reading File Attachments
      Organizing your E-Mail Messages
         Click this View
         To See Messages
      Initiating E-Mail Messages
         Creating a New Message
         Attaching a File
         Addressing a New E-Mail Message
   Sending the E-Mail Message
      Responding to E-Mail Messages
         Forwarding a Message
         Replying to the author of a message
         Replying to the author and recipients of a message
      Saving and Deleting E-Mail Messages
         Saving e-mail messages to a folder
         Deleting e-mail messages
      Managing Sent and Unsent E-Mail Messages
         Drafts

 - Managing Contacts
      Contacts Views
         Click this view
         To see contacts
      Creating Contacts
         Creating a New Contact
         Creating a New Distribution List

 


12 Illustrated Access Tutorials


Here are 12 excellent Access Tutorials hosted by mstipsandtricks.com. Microsoft Access is a relational database management application that is used for both business and home tasks for keeping track and reporting data such as mailing lists, phone and contact lists, product and sales data, and other sets of information for which Access can be helpful in managing. These Access tutorials will teach and show what you can do with MS Access using screen shots and numbered steps. Access features and topics covered include Databases, Customization, Table, Forms, Queries, Reports, Database Tools, External Data Retrieval and Export, Sorting and Grouping, and new features of Access 2007.


 - Create Databases
 - Access Table Creation
 - Entering, Manipulating Data and Table Relationships in Microsoft Access
 - Working with Data: Inserting, Deleting, Updating, Sorting and Grouping
 - Queries in Microsoft Access
 - Create Queries
 - Database Tools
 - Getting External Data - Import and Export
 - Access Forms Tutorial
 - Access Report Tutorial
 - New Features of Microsoft Access 2007
 - Programming with Access 2007

 


Guides for Word 2007, Excel 2007, and PowerPoint 2007

Here are reference guides or cheat sheets for Word 2007, Excel 2007, and PowerPoint 2007 from tmcc.edu. These are aimed at users of Office 2003, to guide and show them the new Office 2007 interface and how it differs from the previous versions of these applications. These three learning documents are in pdf format.

Word 2007 Cheat Sheet 
This 10-page Word 2007 reference guide (314kb) takes you through the following topics:


Excel 2007 Cheat Sheet 
The Excel 2007 interface represents a big change in the look and feel of this spreadsheet application. Whether you’re opening a file or cheating charts or even design - you'll find things have changed. This 13-page reference guide (476kb) will help you learn how to use Excel's functionality using the new interface.

PowerPoint 2007 Cheat Sheet 
This PowerPoint 2007 reference guide (16 pages, 918kb) reviews the commands and tasks you need to perform for creating slide presentations using the new user interface. It consists of the following three sections:

 

   


 

3) The Best New Free Training Sites for Flash, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, FrontPage, and other Adobe and Macromedia Applications


4 Free Online Flash Books

Here are four Free Online Flash Books to help you master this web development application. Adobe Flash is rapidly becoming the Web's most widely used platform for creating rich media with animation and motion graphics, but mastering Flash isn't easy. These books will help you increase your Flash skills in many areas and features of Flash, including color effects, drawing and masking, animation, 3D, text, audio, video, user interface, printing, XML, and Actionscript. ActionScript is Flash's programming language that allows you to produce compelling multimedia web sites and more.


Flash Book
 - Visual Effects
 - Color Effects
 - Drawing and Masking
 - Animation
 - 3D and Physics
 - Text
 - Sound
 - User Interface Elements
 - Performance and Optimization
 - ActionScript
 - Browser Integration

Flash and XML: A Developer's Guide
 - Flash Basics
 - Flash ActionScript
 - More ActionScript
 - XML
 - HTTP
 - Recursive
 - Database
 - SQL
 - Serving
 - Two-Way
 - Cookies
 - Flash to
 - Multiplexed
 - End Note

Flash 8: Projects for Learning Animation and Interactivity
 - Getting Started, Right Out of the Box
 - Creating Quickly: Customizing Your Workspace
 - Your First Animation
 - Buttons and Interactivity
 - Working with Graphics
 - Movie Clips and Interactivity
 - More Animation Techniques
 - Using Sound
 - Using Video
 - Compositing and Bitmap Effects
 - Working with Text
 - Loading Assets on the Fly
 - e-Learning with Flash
 - Flash for CD-ROM and Handhelds
 - Think Outside the Box

Flash ActionScript: Training from the Source
 - Lesson1: Introduction to ActionScript 2.0
 - Lesson2: Functions
 - Lesson3: Conditional Logic
 - Lesson4: Arrays and Loops
 - Lesson5: Built-in Classes
 - Lesson6: Custom Classes
 - Lesson7: Events, Listeners, and Callbacks
 - Lesson8: Dynamically Creating Assets
 - Lesson9: Bitmap Features
 - Lesson10: UI Components
 - Lesson11: Advanced Object-Oriented Design
 - Lesson12: Data Validation
 - Lesson13: External Data Connections
 - Lesson14: XML and Flash
 - Lesson15: External Interface
 - Lesson16: Sound and Video
 - Lesson17: Printing and Context Menus
 - Lesson18: Maximum-Strength SWF Files

 


Flash Tutorials in Many Categories

For many Flash Tutorials in lots of areas, check out FlashPerfection.com. These tutorials will teach you how to use Flash, from the basics on up to producing Flash websites complete with multi-media presentations and animations. The categories of these Flash tutorials are linked below, and you can also use this search form to find the Flash topics you are looking for. This site also lets you upload your Flash tutorials, tips, and tricks so you can share them with others.

Search Flash Tutorials at Flash Perfection:



Flash Tutorial Categories at Flash Perfection:

 - 3D Flash Tutorials
 - Flash Actionscripting Tutorials
 - Flash Animation Tutorials
 - Flash Audio Tutorials
 - Flash Backend Tutorials
 - Flash Dynamic Content Tutorials
 - Flash Games Tutorials
 - Flash Basics Tutorials
 - Flash Interactivity Tutorials
 - Flash Math Physics Tutorials
 - Flash Optimization Tutorials
 - Flash Projector Tutorials
 - Flash Special Effects Tutorials
 - Flash Text Effects Tutorials
 - Flash Tips & Techniques
 - Flash Utilities
 - Flash Video
 - Flash Articles
 - Flash Web Design
 - SWiSH Tutorials
 - FlashDesigner Tutorials
 - Expression Blend Tutorials
 - 3rd Party Flash Tutorials

 


78 Photoshop Tutorials from Photoshopstar

Here are 78 Photoshop Tutorials hosted by Photoshopstar.com. These Photoshop tutorials are for both beginners and more advanced users, and will help increase your knowledge and skills with many Photoshop tools and features, including web layout and designing with Photoshop, and many image, photo, and text effects. Each tutorial provides screen shots and numbered step-by step instructions.


Photoshop Tutorials at Photoshopstar:

 - Swanky Subscribe Badges
 - Making of an Abstract Art Piece
 - Eery-Eye Photo Manipulation
 - Design a Stylish Fashion-Themed Advert
 - Simple & Cool Urban-Style Logo
 - Neat Scotch Tape Effect
 - Design a Sleek Gold Ribbon
 - Indiana Jones Movie Logo / Text Effect
 - Add Stock Texture to Improve Artwork
 - Design your own Presidential Candidate Badge
 - *Bling Bling* Simple Gold Text Effect
 - Recreate the ‘Bee Movie’ Text Effect
 - Photo Restoration: Correcting a Red Over-Saturated Photo
 - Glossy-Style Carbon Fibre Navigation Set
 - Designing a Professional Clan/Gaming Web Template
 - Designing a Simple but Professional Website Design
 - 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed Seal/Badge
 - Butter Scotch (logo) Text Effect
 - Professional Glossy “Download” Button
 - Hot & Fiery Photo Effect
 - Simple & Colorful Circus Logo
 - Design a Gem Logo Icon
 - Really Cheesy Text Effect
 - Design an Industrial Gaming Header
 - Sleek Alien-Entity Text Effect
 - Make Simple Golden Text Effect
 - Grungy Web Layout Part 2
 - Grungy Web Layout Part 1
 - Christmas-Themed Web Layout
 - Designing a Golden Sheriff’s Badge
 - Hi-Tech Text
 - Making Grunge Brushes
 - Filter Effect - Intense Solar Flare
 - Creating Your Own Smilies
 - Make Cute Cartoon Text
 - Making a Clan Template Part 3
 - Making Easy Colour Palettes
 - Making a Clan Template Part 2
 - Making a Clan Template Part 1
 - Make an ‘IceCream Retro Effect’
 - Designing a Band Website Template
 - Create a HOT Branding Iron
 - Redesign The Yahoo! Smiley
 - Design an Creative Web Template
 - Design Web 2.0 Star Badges
 - Design a Glossy Dollar Sign Logo
 - Add a Summer Photo Effect to Photos
 - Personal Portfolio Template
 - Create an Industrial-Style Text Effect
 - Design a Professional Advertisement Banner
 - Professional Glossy Buttons
 - Sleek Arcade Text
 - Simple Cartoon/Comic-Style Text Effect
 - Cartoon Header & Navigation
 - Interface Leaves
 - Creative Template Tutorial: Design the Header
 - Design a Tech Preload Interface
 - Abstract Photo Manipulation
 - Design a Game Website Banner
 - Design a Pizza ‘Place’ Logo
 - Dark Navigation Bar with Buttons
 - Add a Dark Gritty Photo Effect
 - Design a Glossy Star Logo
 - Creative Template Tutorial: Make the Navigation
 - Learn how to Design a Cartoon Ribbon
 - Design a War-Game Style Navigation
 - Create Glossy Navigation Buttons
 - Design a Glossy Web Banner
 - Design an Advanced Orb
 - Simple Green Search Button
 - Design a Glossy Clan Navigation Bar
 - Make a Cartoony Cloud Splash Page
 - Create an Ancient Banner Effect
 - Design Web 2.0 Star Badges
 - Design Sleek Stylish Text with Ease
 - Design a Sleek Glossy Navigation Bar
 - Unique “Pixel Stretch” Navigation
 - Blurry Glass Effect

 


3 Photoshop Tutorials

Here are two Photoshop Tutorials from the Institute of Advanced Study. One will help you with working with Digital Images usages and other one will show you hows to scan an image into Photoshop. Also included in this post is another Photoshope scanning how to document from Emory University.


Working with Digital Images using Adobe Photoshop CS2
This Photoshop CS2 tutorial teaches you the basic features and tools of Photoshop. No prior experience with Photoshop is necessary. The tutorial is in 24 pages and 567kb in size (pdf format).

 - Topics:
     Basic interface and the toolbars in the program.
     Making and saving a new document
     How to use layers and history
     How to use the basic tools such as zoom, pan, brush, select, crop etc.
     How to create text
     How to fix a red eye
 - General Terminology
 - Creating A New Document
 - Getting To Know The Work
 - The Toolbox
 - Viewing The Image
 - Cropping a Photo
 - Adjusting Levels And Brightness
 - Resizing an Image
 - Rotating an Image
 - Fixing Red
 - Using The Color Picker
 - Typing Text
 - Layers and The Layer
 - History Palette

Scanning an Image into Photoshop
This document reviews how to scan an image into Photoshop. It takes you through seven steps to accomplish this task. After the image is scanned, Photoshop will open the scanned image in a new window. This scanning tutorial is of 2 pages in length and 124 KB in size (pdf format).

 Scanning Documents with Adobe Photoshop
This is an 8-step Photoshop scanning tutorial provided by Emory University. For images used in PowerPoint, web pages, and e-mail, you want to set a resolution of 72 ppi (pixels per inch). Images scanned for printing require higher resolutions and are generally very large files (not good for e-mail, etc.). 150 ppi would be good for a high quality black and white print. 300 ppi would be a high quality color print. Note that when you change the resolution of an image, it will often appear smaller on the screen. Click on the View pull-down menu and select 'Actual Pixels' to see the true size of your image. (2 pages, 946kb, pdf format).

 


25-page Adobe Illustrator Tutorial 

Here is an excellent Illustrator Tutorial, Adobe Illustrator CS2 Essentials, from the Institute of Advanced Studies. This tutorial will teach you about both designing and illustrating multimedia artwork using Illustrator CS2, which is a graphics editing application used for printing, multimedia, and online graphics. This Illustrator tutorial gives you the steps and tasks needed for using Illustrator's many tools to produce quality and professional looking graphics. Its 15 sections are listed below, 25 pages in length and 9.45mb in size (pdf format).


Contents of Illustrator Essentials Tutorial:

 - Getting Started
 - The Illustrator Workspace
 - The Toolbox
 - Tool Descriptions
 - Placing Files
 - Making Selections
 - Creating Basic Shapes
 - Inserting and Formating Text
 - Arranging
 - Grouping
 - Locking
 - Applying Styles and Effects
 - Working with Symbols
 - Saving and Exporting
 - Getting Help

 


Dreamweaver CS3 Getting Started Tutorial

Here is a great Dreamweaver CS3 Tutorial to get up to speed fast using Dreamweaver CS3, called Getting Started with Dreamweaver CS3. It takes you through several interactive screen simulations that will help you learn the fundamental features for creating and updating a new website. The specific features demonstrated are listed below. This tutorial introduces you to understanding a Dreamweaver website for a simulated product named Aquo Drink. Using Adobe Dreamweaver CS3, you can not only create HTML documents, but also enter and manage code for XHTML, CFML, ASP, ASPX, JSP, PHP, XML, XSL, JavaScript, and CSS. Dreamweaver also supports source code files for many programming languages.

Dreamweaver Tasks taught by this tutorial:
 - Setting up a site
 - Creating a new document
 - Setting page properties
 - Inserting tables
 - Working with tables
 - Inserting an image placeholder
 - Inserting text
 - Inserting images
 - Inserting and playing Flash files
 - Creating links
 - Previewing the page in your browser
 - Inserting Flash video files
 - Publishing your site

 


6-page Dreamweaver Tutorial

Here is a 6-page Illustrated Dreamweaver Tutorial that will help you starting creating web pages with this application. I takes you through six fundamental web page topics showing how to get started, setting page properties, working with text, creating hyperlinks, adding images, and adding and managing tables. These 8-steps are in Adobe Photoshop tutorial, which is of six pages in pdf format and is 443kb in size.

 - Getting Started
 - Setting Page Properties
 - Enhancing Text
 - Creating a Link
 - Adding Images
 - Adding and Managing Tables

 

   



4) The Best New Free Web Development Training Sites



Web Design in Theory and Practice

Design in Theory and Practice is a series of five chapters or tutorials that will teach you all  about visual communication design for the web. These web design tutorials discuss topics such as the fundamentals of design, typography and motion, and then also address more advanced theoretical web design and communication concepts. The author presents and explains examples from a variety of sources including classical art and architecture, business, media and movies, the environment and, of course, the web. These web designing tutorials give you a solid web designing foundation, along with techniques and how tos for enhancing your web pages and sites.


Contents of Design in Theory and Practice:

 - The Principles of Design

 - The Elements of Design

 - Designing for the Web

 - Principles and Elements of Design

 - Color: An Investigation

 


How to Design a High Quality Website

Philosophe.com is a great resource for learning how to create a high quality web site. It teaches you quality assurance for web sites, including the important area of usability. Good web sites have four things in common: well designed, coded, filled with content, and thoroughly tested. This site shows you how to perform testing and QA on your web site, presenting it in a thoughtful and philosophic way. Though the material discussed and reviewed is aimed at larger sites, everything is also applicable to smaller sites such as individual home pages. You will learn the following about web site testing:


Site Design Issues Relating to Quality Audience Issues Testing Web Sites Quality Control for Web Sites Quality Assurance for Web Sites Ecommerce Issues Search Issues Email and Messaging Issues Additional Quality Assurance Information

 


CSS Tutorial from University of Texas

Here is an excellent Cascading Style Sheets Tutorial (CSS Tutorial), from the University of Texas. A style sheet provides a set of rules that how a web page should display. Style rules specify a property for an HTML tag or set of tags for items such as font styles and sizes, paragraph positioning, and line spacing. Style sheets maintain the separation between structural and presentation information. This CSS Tutorial gives you a good introduction and instructions for coding web pages and sites using cascading style sheets, along with several CSS samples.


Contents of this CSS Tutorial:

 - Introduction
 - Incorporating Style Sheets Into Your Document
 - Example Rules
 - CSS Properties
 - Inheritance
 - Style Sheets and Forms
 - Positioning
 - Backgrounds
 - Sample 1
 - Sample 2
 - Conclusion
 - References




 

 

 



5) The Best New Free Windows, Linux, Hardware and General Computer Training Sites


Windows XP Lessons and Tips from Villanova University


Contents of this Windows XP Training Document:
(155kb, 23 pages, pdf format)

Lesson 1 - Logging Into Windows
  Logging Into Your Computer From The Office
  Logging Into Your Laptop Computer From Home

Lesson 2- Customizing The Desktop
  Adding Shortcuts To The Desktop
  Displaying System Icons On The Desktop
  Changing Your Desktop And Display Settings

Lesson 3 - Using New Taskbar Features
  Customizing The Taskbar
  Using Grouped Taskbar Buttons

Lesson 4 - Exploring Changes To My Computer
  Opening My Computer
  Working With Folder Views
  Changing Folder Options

Lesson 5 - Using File And Folder Features
  Using Common File Tasks
  Using Common Folder Tasks

Lesson 6 - Using The Search Companion
  Searching For Files And Folders

Lesson 7 - Using The Help And Support Center
  Exploring The Help And Support Center
  Searching For Help Topics
  Changing Search Options
  Using Favorites And History Lists
  Changing Help Options

Lesson 8 - Shutting Down/Locking Your Workstation
  Shutting Down, Locking The Workstation, And Stand By

 


Windows XP File Management from Villanova University

This 4-page, pdf document, shows you how to perform common Windows XP File and Folder Tasks, which include renaming, moving, copying, publishing, e-mailing, printing, and deleting the file (96kb).

 


Windows XP Support Articles and FAQs from the Windows Support Center


Optimizing Your Computer
Windows Shutdown Issues
Installations & Upgrades
Other Helpful Articles
Security

 


Windows Vista Support

This site will help you to understand and manage issues related to Microsoft Windows latest operating system, Windows Vista.


Vista Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) - provides the more popular tips/tweaks for Vista.

Life Savers - some applications that will help increase the pleasure of computing with Vista.

Vista How To Guides
  1. Adding An Email Account To Windows Mail
  2. Accessing Newsgroups With Windows Mail
  3. Creating A Virtual Machine With VMware Workstation Software
  4. Windows Complete PC Backup
Reviews - reviews of Vista software and technology related books.

 

 


6) Software, Office and Computer Sites and Downloads Worth Mentioning

The following programs are totally Free, no popups, no adware, no spyware, and no shareware.


Total Organizer

Total Organizer is a Personal Information Manager that allows you to manage your appointments, tasks, To-Do list items and contacts. It organizes your data into a tree-like structure with virtual folders for each category. You can assign multiple categories to any item and filter your view by category, subcategories, or view all items on the agenda. Each task can optionally be associated with an alarm reminder and a priority status, as well as keyword for quick searching. Total Organizer provides daily and weekly agenda views, as well as separate views for notes, To-Do items and contacts.

 


SecureIt Pro

Use SecureIt Pro to lock your computer when you re not there. The program comes with a ton of features: Disabling the main Windows key functions, like Ctrl+Alt+Del, Alt+Tab, the Windows key, and the Ctrl+Esc key combination. SecureIt Pro can also disable the Windows boot keys, detect for cold boots, allow other people to leave messages, log incorrect password attempts, or even hide itself every few seconds. The program also includes password reminder options, that can assist you if you ever forget your password, as well as several advanced configuration options as well as a locking screen saver.

 


FileBolter

FileBolter is a file search with some unique features. Similar to the standard Windows `Find` feature, it allows you to define filters for the files that you are looking for; the filtering options include directory conditions, file masks, file date and file context. In addition, to these standard search options, it also offers a plugin that lets you find specific images (landscape, portrait, custom sizes and more), as well as a graphical context search designer, that lets you built advanced context searches with a combination of boolean operators(little complicated to use). You can save the list of found files, search within the results and create custom bolters (developers) and more.

 


CombiMovie

CombiMovie is small and simple program which can combine two or more mpg/mpeg files into a single continuous mpg movie. It uses the copy method and therefore works very fast, almost as fast as copying the files it self. CombiMovie is easy to use, just select the files to be joined and start the joining process. It offers a built in preview window that allows you to preview the parts before joining (or after).

 


JPGVideo

JPGVideo can create a video (AVI) file from a series of JPG files. These JPG files are usually from a web camera that has been set to take pictures every few seconds. However, any JPG files could be converted into a video file, the only restriction is that they d all have to be the same size.

 


The HTML Font Colorizer

The HTML Font Colorizer calculates the color codes (like #18E700) for creating a line of text that gradually shifts from one color to another. It then creates the proper FONT parameter tags for you to include on your Web pages. You work from the standard Windows palette and can see the results almost as fast as you can type. Once you have the desired design, the Colorizer copies it to the Clipboard, ready for insertion into your total page design.

 


IE Restrictions
 
IE Restrictions allows you to disable certain modifications to Internet Explorer. Many of them are commonly abused by invasive web sites, that for example change your home page settings, modify the toolbar, open pages in full-screen mode and more. Others are more of an administrative nature, allowing you to disable the registry editor, page source viewing and other settings.

 

 


7) Question of the Month about Software Training:

Each month Scott Turton will answer a current or important question that we have received about computer and software training.


August 2008 Question of the Month: 

What are the steps or instructions I need to follow to remove spyware and malware from my computer?


Answer:

Removing and uninstalling spyware from you hard drive is a very important task that you must periodically perform if you run Windows as your operating system. You should be familiar with how to do this and the steps it takes to accomplish it. These steps should be a part of any basic computer and software training course. Doing it right and to completion is also important, so you don't have any residual malware remaining. I have reviewed several computer help and support sites that provide this important information and found that  D-A-L.com has the best set of instructions for doing this. This site's tagline is "Friendy, Free Computer Help", so you can get more personal assistance there if you need it. Here is their excellent instruction page on removing bad software and files from your computer, titled Cleaning Out Malware. This tutorial article takes you through (and discusses in detail) these six steps for performing a complete clean-up of your hard drive:
  1. Delete Temporary Files
  2. Scan for Spyware
  3. Scan for Trojans
  4. Scan for Viruses and Worms
  5. Scan for Rootkits
  6. Installing a Firewall
Also described and linked are all of the  free download links for their recommended clean-up tools, which I recommend also.


I hope this helps you.

Scott Turton
Site Editor
EducationOnlineForComputers.com




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