Category: Excel blog

Last week I bought an iPad 2 and have been busy experimenting with it. There are plenty of games, and social apps, which are very entertaining. Now I am trying to find some practical uses for the iPad, so it’s not just a toy.

Today I found a WordPress app that lets me write posts for the blog, so this is my test post. It’s hard to type on the on-screen keyboard, so please ignore any typing errors.

I also bought Numbers for iPad, and will let you know what I think of it, after using it for a while. It’s very different from Excel, so it will take some time to figure out.

If you have an iPad, and know of any useful apps, please let me know in the comments.

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On the Contextures blog, Gregory suggested using the WordPress plugin, CodeColorer, for formatting the Excel VBA code examples.

In Twitter, Dick Kusleika said that he’s using CodeColorer too, and it works well. I decided to test the plug-in here, before installing it on the Contextures blog.

The CodeColorer feature list looks promising, especially these items:

• syntax highlighting of code in comments
• code protect from mangling by WordPress (for example, quotes, double-dashes, etc would look just right as you entered)

Installing the CodeColorer Plugin

The installation was quick and easy, using the WordPress dashboard. After activating the plugin, I went to the its settings page, to see what could be adjusted. What’s the fun in having a new toy, if you don’t try to break it?

There is a preview of the code, at the bottom of the settings panel. I changed the Theme, from the default of Slush and Poppies(!) to Vibrant Ink. The preview only changed after I clicked the Save Options button.

Yikes! That’s not the look I’m going for.

Twitlight (yes, TwiTlight), looked about the same. At the other end of the code formatting scale, Dawn is a bit too subtle.

So, back to Slush and Poppies it is. Is it just me, or would Slush and Puppies be a better name?

The Formatted Code

Here’s the snippet of code that I copied from Excel VBA.

Sub DeleteCustomLists()
' built in lists are not deleted
Dim n As Long

n = Application.CustomListCount
On Error Resume Next
For n = n To 1 Step -1
Application.DeleteCustomList ListNum:=n
Next n
End Sub

And this is how it looked in Excel

Formatted Code in Comments

The CodeColorer plugin is supposed to format the code in the comments too. You can test it here, and please let me know if you have any trouble, or suggestions.

To format your code in the comments, use this syntax:

Thanks!

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Today I read that you can now embed Excel files into your blog, by using Office Live. After I figured out how to log in to my account (it’s been a while), I created an Excel file to test here.

Update: Here are the instructions for embedding Excel files (thanks JP!)

So, here’s my Excel file — a very simple table with a Total column. I’ve turned on interactivity, so everyone should be able to edit the numbers.

If you try to edit the numbers, please let me know if you were successful. Thanks!

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Some of the blogging expert sites suggest that you write guest posts on popular blogs, to get a bit of publicity for your own blog. Today I got an email from someone who offered to supply a guest post for my Excel website.

"I figured you might be interested in including a guest article for contextures.com about the story of an Ann Arbor couple that ‘greened’ up their wedding."

As tempting as that sounds, I’ll pass, thanks.

What Went Wrong?

How can I pass up this irresistible offer? It was self-centred, completely off-topic, and had a "do-gooder" approach that made me suspicious. Here are just a few things the author did wrong:

• didn’t bother to find out who owns the site, and there was no salutation in the email
• obviously has no clue what my site is about — no mention of how the article would fit the site’s theme
• in first 3 sentences, "my" and "I" used 8 times, versus "you" and "your" used once each.
• return email address has event planning theme, but the article pitch was for environmental awareness –"With your support we can educate the public about the dangers of excessive wastes and hopefully help people lower their carbon footprints."

What Could Go Right?

I don’t really have guest posts on my blog, but have written about a few sample workbooks and macros that people have sent to me. If someone really wanted to do a guest post on my Excel blog, a random email wouldn’t be the first time I’d ever heard their name. They’d have added comments to the blog in the past, or emailed me previously, without pitching something.

Someone who wanted to write a guest post would know that my blog is about Excel, and would suggest an article tied to that. For example, instead of ‘greening up’ a wedding, an article about tracking wedding costs in Excel would be relevant. Or, for a green theme, the article could explain how to calculate a cost comparison of energy sources in Excel.

Also, if you had an article to share on my blog, you’d tell me how your article will help my blog’s readers, not you. What interesting Excel tips will you share, or fabulous new template design?

Finally, the author should include a link to his/her website or blog, and be clear about its purpose. Don’t try to guilt me into posting your article, by claiming it will help the earth, if your site is all about selling something. I’m not opposed to business, but I don’t like feeling conned.

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It’s the end of the school year — the perfect time to grade your website. Today I tried the free analysis tool, Website Grader, to see how well Contextures would do.

It’s easy to do — just fill in the website address and your email, then click the Generate Report button. There’s also an option to enter the website address for competitor sites, so you can compare your results with theirs. I picked a couple of other Excel sites, so I could see where Contextures stood in comparison.

A couple of minutes later, the results were shown, and Contextures scored 96.8 — pretty good, with room for improvement.

Website Content

Website Grader was impressed that I had a blog, and posted there recently. It told me how many Google index pages are on my site (156), and said, "Generally, the more pages your site has within the Google cache, the better." So, I’d better add a few more!

The readability score surprised me — College Undergraduate. I try to avoid five-dollar words, and describe things as simply as possible, but if you read my website, you’re obviously pretty smart.

There’s a link to a Blog Grader too, if you want to try that.

Website Optimization

The report warned me that my Page Title was too long — by 1 character, so I’ve fixed that. It also recommended that I get the font tags out of the page. I’m starting an online CSS course next week, so I’ll improve things after that.

Website Promotion

The report even gives you a Twitter Grade, if there’s an account tied to the website. I was surprised to get 91.36, since I only have a few followers, and don’t tweet very often.

Monthly Reports

I signed up for the free monthly report, so I’ll see if the minor changes that I made had any effect. They’re also promoting a paid service, but it starts at $250/month, so I’ll pass on that.

What’s Your Grade?

Have you graded your website? Did you agree with the outcome? Please share your results in the comments.

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