It’s been several years (decades?) since I studied Latin, so I can’t translate any of this, but when designers need a block of text they often use Lorem Ipsum.
This focuses attention on the design, rather than the text.
You could use this when setting up a web layout or Word template, to show a client how the end product might look with different fonts and styles.
There’s a handy website where you can specify exactly how much text you need, and it will generate it for you, in paragraphs or bulleted lists. Then, copy and paste the results to your document.
When testing layouts in Word, I usually use the RAND function to generate random text (type =RAND() and press Enter).
It creates English text instead of Latin, but is quick and easy to use.
Outlook has an Out of Office Assistant that will notify people that you’re not in the office, but unfortunately it’s only available if you’re using Exchange Server. What about me? I don’t have Exchange Server, and like to leave my office occasionally.
If I’ll be out of the office for more than a day or two, I notify most of my clients, but sometimes forget to tell a few people. If they email me, I don’t want them to think I’m ignoring them. Fortunately, if you don’t have Exchange Server, you can create your own AutoReply.
I keep forgetting how to do this, so next time I travel I can follow these AutoReply instructions for Outlook 2003 on the Microsoft website. First you’ll create a message template, then set up a rule in Outlook, to determine who gets the message, and when.
When you leave the office, turn on the rule. Outlook should be left open, and set to automatically receive and send messages. It will only send one notice per Sender during any session of Outlook, so if the same person sends you another message they won’t get another AutoReply .
When you insert a comment in Microsoft Excel, your user name is shown in bold at the top of the comment.
Perhaps your name has changed, or you’ve inherited a computer that has someone else’s name in it.
How can you change the name that appears when you add new Excel comments on a worksheet?
User Name in Excel Comment
Change the User Information
NOTE: The User Name is common to all the Office applications, so if you change it in one program, all the others will be automatically updates.
I like to change the user information in Word or PowerPoint, because those programs store the user’s initials as well as the user name.
Excel just stores the user name, but you can change the name there, if you prefer.
Open Microsoft Word
Click on the Tools menu, then click Options.
Click the User Information tab.
Change the User Name and Initials
Click the OK button, to close the dialog box.
Note: The revised information will be used in all of the Microsoft Office applications on your computer
Change the User Name and Initials
Updating Old Comments In Excel
In Excel a comment shows the user name by default, at the top of the comment.
After the comment is created you can edit the comment, to change or delete that name.
Comment Name in Status Bar
The status bar also shows the user name when you point to a cell that contains a comment.
If you edit a comment or change a user name, the name in the status bar does NOT change.
The status bar continues to show the user name from the time that the comment was inserted.
Excel Macro to Replace Name
To change the name in the status bar, you can run an Excel VBA macro, like the ChangeCommentName macro shown below.
NOTE: In the ChangeCommentName code, replace the text strings “New Name” and “Old Name” with the new and old user names on your computer.
strNew = "New Name"
strOld = "Old Name"
ChangeCommentName Macro Code
Store the following code in a regular code module in your Excel workbook. Run the macro when you need to change comment names.
Sub ChangeCommentName()
'replaces old names in comments
'deletes and reinserts comments
' so new name appears in status bar
'www.contextures.com/xlcomments03.html
Dim ws As Worksheet
Dim cmt As Comment
Dim strOld As String
Dim strNew As String
Dim strComment As String
strNew = "New Name"
strOld = "Old Name"
Application.UserName = strNew
For Each ws In ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets
For Each cmt In ws.Comments
strComment = Replace(cmt.text, strOld, strNew)
cmt.Delete
cmt.Parent.AddComment text:=strComment
Next cmt
Next ws
End Sub
Get the Excel Comment Workbook
To get the Excel sample file with several macros for working with Excel comments, go to the Excel Comment Macros page on my Contextures site.
Okay, maybe it’s more aggravating than traumatic, but a few times each day I accidentally hit the Caps Lock key when I meant to hit Shift or Tab. Then, if I’m not paying attention, I type a few words (or paragraphs) before I notice, and have to retype everything.
Fortunately, I finally found a way to prevent accidental Caps Locks, using ToggleKeys, one of the Accessibility features in Windows.
To turn on the ToggleKeys feature:
Open the Control Panel, and double-click on the Accessibility Options icon.
On the Keyboard tab, add a check mark to Use ToggleKeys, then click OK.
Now, when you hit Caps Lock, Num Lock or Scroll Lock, you’ll hear a beep. Hit the key again to turn it off, then hit the key you really wanted.
More Noise
There’s also a Feedback with Noise option in the Tools>Options dialog box for Excel and other Office applications. To activate this you can download an Office Sounds add-in for Office 2003 and Office XP.
After the add-in is installed, you’ll hear zooms and clicks as you work. It might help you stay awake and alert, or might just irritate you.
When you’re creating an application, such as a client’s database, or complex workbook, do you start with a prototype, or do you dive right in?
At the Unstructured Ventures blog there’s an article entitled How To Fail, which lists 25 business guidelines, and alternative idea for each guideline. Number 7 discusses prototypes, mockups and samples.
“7. Build prototypes, mockups and samples.
Instead: Start building in a format and medium as close to the finished product as possible, and iterate, iterate, iterate.”
I’ve read numerous books and articles that list the merits of prototypes and mockups, but I’ve never created one. I always start working in the actual application, where I can test as I go. I’ve got notes from my client meetings, or their list of specifications, and maybe a rough sketch of where I’m headed, but that’s it.
This approach works well for me, especially in a database, where I can build a little, then test it with sample data, before building the next piece.
What’s Your Approach?
Do you create prototypes? Always? Sometimes? Never?
What benefits do you get from your approach?
Recently I’ve been skimming through Defensive Design for the Web, by 37signals and have found a few good tips for creating web forms, help and error messages.
It’s not the best book that I’ve seen on web design, but it’s easy to read, and illustrates its common sense guidelines with good and bad examples from popular sites.
At the end of the book there’s a design test that you can use on your own web site, to see how it rates.
When Things Go Horribly Wrong
As a customer, my worst web site experience was with the Westin Hotel, while booking accommodations for a conference. I selected my arrival and departure dates, then clicked a button to view room information, so I could decide which type I wanted.
I closed the room info window, completed the booking, and got my confirmation, which I quickly read, then filed.
About a week before the conference, I checked the confirmation, and realized that it was for only one night, instead of the four that I needed. A few frantic phone calls later, I had the four nights booked, although one night was a a different hotel, a few doors down from the Westin.
What went wrong? I went back to the site and tested. While booking, when I opened that room info window, it wiped out my departure date! Now that’s bad design. One of the book’s 40 guidelines suggests saving customer data in incomplete forms.
Other Applications
Some of the book’s ideas could also be applied to forms in Excel and Access. For example:
Highlight either required or optional fields.
If customers can’t choose it, don’t show it.
Make it fast, not cute.
Eliminate unnecessary navigation during multistep processes.
Like you, I spend long hours at the computer, including many late nights. Almost all the applications that I use have a white background, and staring at the bright screen all day can be pretty hard on my eyes.
I’ve tried changing the Windows display settings, to choose a different background colour, but haven’t found anything satisfactory. Light greys and blues are easier on my eyes, but don’t provide enough contrast, so I strain to read what’s on the screen.
Today I discovered that I might have the brightness level too high on my monitors. My setting was about 80, but the calibration information at the Photographer USA and Display Calibration sites suggest a lower setting. I’ve lowered my brightness settings to about 55, and things seem better already.
How bright is your monitor? Can you lower the setting to save your eyes?
Do you procrastinate? I’m pretty good at it, and that’s why I ordered a copy of Dave Navarro’s text/audio program, Never Procrastinate Again. Maybe I won’t live up to the title of this article, but at least I’m moving forward!
There are mp3 files with the recorded program, and a pdf file with the printed transcript. It’s only 47 pages, and I’m already about halfway through it. That’s good, because I won’t get stuck a few chapters in, and set it aside to read “later”. There are also a couple of worksheets to help you get started.
It’s a very practical approach to dealing with procrastination, and makes it seem possible to overcome. I liked this quote:
“You don’t have to beat procrastination. You just have stop avoiding this one next thing – and that’s manageable.”
Don’t Procrastinate!
Take a couple of minutes and visit the Rock Your Day blog. Dave has an entertaining writing style and lots of good tips. Here’s a link to one of his articles on procrastination.
The pre-release ($27) ends tonight (October 14th), and tomorrow the price goes up to $37. That’s a good reason to avoid procrastination! If you’re interested, sign up for the advanced discount list today, and you’ll get an email with details on how you can order it.
Excel formula to calculate 4th Thursday in November
Video: Find Nth Weekday
[Update} I made this video in 2022, and the formula uses the WORKDAY.INTL function, which is available in Excel 2010 or later
This video shows how to find the Nth weekday in a specific month and year, by using the WORKDAY.INTL function in an Excel formula.This function is available in Excel 2010 or later.
To calculate the date in earlier versions of Excel, use one of the WEEKDAY formulas on the Find Nth Weekday in Month page, on my Contextures site.
It’s been a long week. Do you still have the ability to count?
If your machine has Java installed, and it’s active in your browser, you can watch this brief video. Your task is to count the number of times that the basketballs change hands.
