technology for writers

Adobe InDesign vertical & horizontal guides

2007-10-24T09:02:00.000-07:00

Simultaneously draw out vertical & horizontal ruler guides

Hold down (MAC) Command or (PC) Control at the same time as dragging from the zero guides.

DTP layout training queries to bloggin@homechoice.co.uk or pop a question into the comments section of this page

IT Training

2007-10-18T01:47:00.000-07:00

IT Training for writers

One to one customised computer training

We provide IT Training from Word to PhotoShop, Quark to InDesign, Acrobat to Excel, Illustrator to Freehand and more.

Or a mix and match - perhaps Quark and PhotoShop or InDesign and PhotoShop.

If the software of your choice isn’t featured above drop an email to bloggin@homechoice.co.uk to find out more about our DTP and IT Training.

Word 2007 cover page

2007-10-18T01:35:00.000-07:00

Word 2007 built-in cover page

One of Word 2007’s newest features is ‘Cover Pages'.

With few clicks of the mouse you can apply a preformatted cover page into any Word document.

To do this:

Click on the Insert ribbon

In the Pages tab select ‘Cover Page’

In the Page gallery select a design to insert as the first page of the document(drawing tools ribbon lets you customise the overall page look)

Find out how to design your own cover pages and self publishing materials with Microsoft Word by emailing bloggin@homechoice.co.uk for more information

InDesign display settings

2007-10-17T01:26:00.001-07:00

InDesign high quality display

When images are inserted into InDesign quite often they look jagged and out of focus but after editing and perfecting the image in PShop you know the appearance is wrong.

So why does it look so gross?

Because InDesign has its own default view setting.

To see the image as it really is:

Go to the ‘Object’ menu and scroll down to ‘Display Setting’

From the drop down list select ‘High Quality Display’

In 99.1% of cases this should fix the problem.

For InDesign training individually designed around your needs email bloggin@homechoice.co.uk

InDesign to JPEG

2007-10-05T01:12:00.000-07:00

Exporting an InDesign document to JPEG

The quickest way to convert an InDesign document to a JPEG (or other file format for that matter) is to go to:

File menu> Export

(or press (PC) Control + E (MAC) Command + E)

Name the document

Click on the downward facing arrow next to ‘Save as Type’

Choose ‘JPEG’ as the file extension

Hit the ‘Save’ button and JOB DONE

Looking to write that book - use InDesign for formatting - drop an email to bloggin@homechoice.co.uk for InDesign training information.

Self publishing books

2007-09-30T05:21:00.000-07:00

It seems unless you have a name, a well known name incidentally, your chances of getting published in the traditional way are becoming more difficult.

Solution
Change your name? Impractical and probably sueable in this day and age.

(Did I spell sueable correctly - uh huh - suppose one of my brain cells just up and died)

What is happening?

Primarily the whole of our social infrastructure has changed and radically especially for those shall we say over 21, classed today as OAPs. Getting a foot in any door is proving more and more difficult, including writing!

Much of this is down to technology - what can we do about it?

If you can't beat 'em join 'em. Writing is just the first stage of a long process and it is possible to take advantage of many of the new ways of writing, designing and promoting your book. The internet can be used for that in many ways.

'My kids are experts on the computer' - a well known and unsubstantiated quote. Kids are good on computers in the same way they are with a mobile. They are also very good as screwing it up as well.

The Kabbula states that no good book can be written until its writer is over forty - I think I would agree - communication skills only ripen with age - and that includes written ones.

So how do writers get themselves noticed these days? By doing things themselves. Take the written word and turn it into a visual feast using DTP software then promote it electronically using the web.

Why are you reading this now? Because I've promoted it electronically.

Drop an email to see how taking training provision in DTP and Web applications can help get your book up and running. bloggin@homechoice.co.uk

Adobe InDesign or Microsoft Word training

2007-09-30T05:01:00.000-07:00

Adobe InDesign or Microsoft Word one to one training

Whether you prefer to use InDesign or Word for your writing I can show you how to cosmetically enhance your self publishing ventures.

Why not drop me an email to find out how I can help that book look far better and enhance your DTP skills for all your writing projects in the future.

bloggin@homechoice.co.uk

Writing a book

2007-09-30T04:48:00.000-07:00

Writing a book - Book Design

Following a relaxing and inspiring week long break in Devon the blog resumes with news of special offers to writers.

Self publishing? Give your book a fair chance in a competitive marketplace.

Do you want that book to look professional as well written?

Whatever your writing skills - DTP skills will be needed to give it a dynamic visual skills in todays market.

Make sure it not only looks good but also works.

Attention is needed to

Table of Contents - is it correctly updated?

Formatting styles - are they consistent?

Index - does it actually work? Is everything included?

Images - do they do that book justice?

To get the look of the book just right - spend a day honing your DTP / Design skills with one to one training during October with Greta.

Remember this month all training is on special offer.

Contact me at bloggin@homechoice.co.uk

Design your own book

2007-09-30T04:43:00.000-07:00

Use Adobe InDesign to design that book

Check out the standard Introduction to InDesign overview at http://dtpdesigntraining.wordpress.com/introduction-to-adobe-indesign/

or the Advanced InDesign overview at http://dtpdesigntraining.wordpress.com/advanced-adobe-indesign-course/

Remember we come to you for InDesign training regardless of the day - weekends included for those busy people.

To find out about personalised and targeted Adobe InDesign training special rates on one to one InDesign training during October email bloggin@homechoice.co.uk

dummy text in Microsoft Word

2007-09-12T05:16:00.000-07:00

Using dummy text as a place holder in Microsoft Word

Not sure exactly how that book template is going to look with text in it? Don't bother to copy and paste anything in.

Just

Position the cursor at the point your text is to appear then type in:

= rand() followed by 'Enter'

Old versions of Word will then insert lines of 'The Quick Brown Fox'
Word 2007 inserts more random text

Type in = rand(p,s) plus the variables and you can specify exactly how many paragraphs and sentences in each block of text.

To find out more about how Microsoft Word can be used drop an email bloggin@homechoice.co.uk

Introduction to Adobe InDesign

2007-09-10T03:25:00.000-07:00

Introduction to Adobe InDesign

This course introduces you to Adobe InDesign and its various tools and panels. By the end of the course you will be able to put together a number of different layouts and spreads and understand fully the concepts of DTP.

Writers wishing to use InDesign to write and self publish their book are welcome to contact me bloggin@homechoice.co.uk and discuss their book and writing needs.

http://dtpdesigntraining.wordpress.com/introduction-to-adobe-indesign/

Use Microsoft Word to write a book

2007-09-10T02:50:00.000-07:00

Word and long documents
Word likes memory and is notorious for hogging the slow lane when working with long documents such as books.

Microsoft Word Tips

Make sure to use styles throughout the document - not just for speed either. Styles can be used to automatically generate and update items such as TOC's (Table of Contents).

Turn off background repagination (Tools> Options> General) if working in normal view.

Remember should you switch to Print Layout repagination will turn on automatically.

Microsoft Word hidden text

2007-09-09T10:20:00.000-07:00

Hiding text in Microsoft Word.

Highlight the text you want to conceal then right click on the text to bring up the sub context mouse menu.

Select 'Font' from the list

Click the 'Effects' tab

Select the check box next to 'Hidden'

The words vanish and cannot be printed out but they are still in the document.

Make hidden text reappear.

Go to the 'Tools> Options' command, choose 'View' tab

On Formatting marks select 'Hidden Text'

Adobe PhotoShop and Adobe InDesign tips to start the week off with:

2007-09-09T04:14:00.000-07:00

Scroll down to find a number of Adobe tips for this week.

PhotoShop layers quick tip

2007-09-09T04:09:00.000-07:00

Want to turn the viewable eye off loads of layers in Adobe PhotoShop.

Don't take ages to click through each one individually.

Either

Opt / Click to turn off all layers except the one being worked on
(turn them all back on with the same keystrokes)

Or

Click down on the mouse and just drag down through all the eyes.

Instant invisibility!

PhotoShop training information from bloggin@homechoice.co.uk

facing pages in InDesign

2007-09-09T03:54:00.000-07:00

Remove the first / last orphan pages in InDesign.

This question was posed to me on a recent course on Adobe InDesign.

In short you could use the 'shuffle pages' command in InDesign's pages panel.

I would suggest a far easier option is to go to the File menu and use the InBooklet SE extension. Follow the instructions through to produce the document otherwise drop me a quick email to bloggin@homechoice.co.uk and I'll explain the 'Shuffle' plus 'Section breaks' options in Adobe InDesign.

Microsoft Word 2003 tip

2007-09-09T03:05:00.000-07:00

Return to specific locations or last location on opening a Microsoft Word document......

When opening an edited document Microsoft Word can be a bit awkward because it insists on positioning the cursor at the beginning of the document. Something of a pain if you are working through a hundred plus pages of a novel.

Pressing Shift> F5 on opening the document gives you the opportunity to visit the last four edits used before the document was last closed.

Hitting the same keystrokes after opening the document takes you back to your very last editing point.

To find out about the 'Self publishing that book' course go to http://dtpdesigntraining.wordpress.com/self-publish-that-book/ or for tailored Microsoft Word training for writers contact bloggin@homechoice.co.uk

formatting text in Adobe InDesign

2007-09-09T02:56:00.000-07:00

Nip over to my other blog at http://dtpdesigntraining.wordpress.com/ to see how to make perfect fractions in Adobe Indesign. Whilst there take a quick look at how just tweaking the kerning from Metrics to Optical can give your text a more professional and sleek appearance.
For information about how my training can give your documents that professional look drop me a line at bloggin@homechoice.co.uk

word 2007 word count

2007-09-06T04:30:00.000-07:00

Writers remember you no longer need to go to the Tools menu to view your word count in Word 2007.

Just make sure to turn on the status bar at the bottom of the Word screen and you will be able to view either selected type or keep an ongoing count of text as it is typed.

online word processor

2007-09-06T03:57:00.000-07:00

Writing entails a considerable amount of collaboration between writer and editor. An online word processor may help to lighten some of the load.

Create an account with zoho at http://writer.zoho.com and look into the benefits of online word processing.

Adobe InDesign master pages

2007-08-23T06:07:00.000-07:00

Many writers use Adobe InDesign as their layout tool of choice.

Because writers deal with long documents they tend to base a lot of that layout on Master Pages. However unlike Quark, trying to override changes on individual pages can be clunky handling in InDesign.

Unless you use the following shortcut keys

Alt + Shift + Control + L to override all master page objects on a page
OR
Hold down Control + shift whilst clicking on a page object to override individual objects.

To find out about InDesign training drop an email to bloggin@homechoice.co.uk

learn to self publish

2007-08-23T03:20:00.001-07:00

Self publish that book course - running the last week in September 2007

Self publishing books, or documents for that matter, is no longer the hassle it used to be.

Learn document layout, typography, generating TOC's (Table of Contents) and Indexes in QuarkXpress, InDesign, Microsoft Word, Adobe PageMaker. Additionally learn the basics of image manipulation and graphic design by interacting with graphics software such as Adobe PhotoShop, Adobe Illustrator

Follow the process through to print and / or PDF output in Adobe Acrobat.

For more information take a look at the overview at http://dtpdesigntraining.wordpress.com/self-publish-that-book
or for more information about customisation and / or course content drop an email to bloggin@homechoice.co.uk

Technorati tags

2007-08-23T03:06:00.000-07:00

Quick Tip - give a blog a chance
Find out exactly what people are searching for by looking on www.technorati.com/pop/
This page gives you the days most popular search phrases. Keep an eye on the word trends of the day and tag your own pages accordingly.
bloggin@homechoice.co.uk

Web stats software

2007-08-19T09:06:00.000-07:00

Do you know your web stats?

At http://www.statcounter.com/ you can keep a really tight eye on your own blog or websites activity. To setup this "free and invisible webtracker" simply register at the above address. Following registering set up the 'project' online then copy a small piece of code to your blog or site. From this point log on to the Statcounter' website to view all unique visitors, returning visitors, page reloads etc at your leisure.

contact bloggin@homechoice.co.uk for information about the specialised writing courses I run

Word spacing and alignment

2007-08-14T04:59:00.000-07:00

To quickly customise space and alignment options use the Control key.

Control + 1 single spacing
Control + 2 double spacing
Control + 5 1.1/2 line spacing
Control + E centres paragraph text
Control + L left aligns paragraph text
Control + R right aligns paragraph text

Find out about Word training - drop an email to bloggin@homechoice.co.uk

Word 2007 shrink the ribbon

2007-08-14T03:22:00.000-07:00

The Ribbon takes up a fair bit of space is there a way to make it smaller?
Right click anywhere in the Ribbon.
Select 'Minimise the Ribbon' from the list.
The Ribbon is now minimised giving your addition screen space.

Word 2003 to 2007 shortcut keys

2007-08-13T04:08:00.000-07:00

Pop along to http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC102128591033.aspx to download an Excel workbook containing all the Microsoft Word 2003 / Microsoft Word 2007 shortcut keys.
For course info contact bloggin@homechoice.co.uk

Word 2007 - AutoText

2007-08-13T03:52:00.000-07:00

A frequent question that keeps arising on Word 2007 courses is:
Where is AutoText?

To find out how to activate the AutoText option in Word 2007 go to:

http://gretasp.wordpress.com/word-2007-autotext/

To find out about personalised Office 2007 courses email bloggin@homechoice.co.uk

self publish that book

2007-08-12T04:48:00.001-07:00

Whilst here why not take a quick look at my self publishing course overview at http://dtpdesigntraining.wordpress.com/self-publish-that-book/
All you need to know to setup, format, layout and electronically publish your book.
bloggin@homechoice.co.uk

Hello

2007-08-12T03:11:00.000-07:00

Having written a technology column specifically for writers for a number of years (those subscribing to the number one Writing publication in the UK will know who I am) I decided to try out a blog. Your problems should be solved far quicker than the traditional email route we currently use. Pop in your query either as a comment or else email me bloggin@homechoice.co.uk and I shall try to respond within twenty four hours.