Website Wiki

Posted on January 8, 2010 by Debra Dalgleish

I’ve added pages for my sites at the AboutUs.org website wiki.

Because the site is a wiki, you can create an account and edit your own pages, or other pages.

It seems to be well-managed, and I decided it was better to create and edit my own pages, than to leave the default entries that were created.

The account registration only took a couple of seconds, so I’d suggest that you check your site there, and improve the pages, if they exist. If they’re missing, add the pages, with a bit of information about your site.

I don’t know how much traffic you’ll get from the AboutUs.org site, but at least you’ll have another backlink to your site.

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Excel Videos Page

Posted on January 4, 2010 by Debra Dalgleish

I’ve added a new static page to this blog – Excel Videos – using the TubePress plug-in.

It was really easy to install and set up, and you can show YouTube videos for a specific user or playlist, or show popular videos, such as top-rated or most-discussed.

In the TubePress plug-in option settings, on the Advanced tab, you can create a Shortcode Keyword. Then, insert that code, in square brackets, wherever you want the TubePress videos to appear.

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Move Blog to Different Web Host

Posted on December 29, 2009 by Debra Dalgleish

Last weekend I transferred my domain registration for this site to a different web host. That went smoothly and quickly, despite the warning that it could take 5-7 days.

It’s Complicated

With my confidence bolstered by that success, I was ready to tackle the next step – pointing this blog to the new server, and moving all the content.

I prepared by reading everything I could find on the steps required to move a WordPress blog. It seemed complicated, but doable. Hah! Ignorance, as they say, is bliss.

The task that I figured would take a couple of hours took almost a day. Yes, some of that time was spent in gnashing teeth, complaining loudly, and consuming medicinal beverages, but it still took way too long.

Password Confusion

The trickiest bit was detangling all the user names and passwords that I had jotted down, for the old host and the new one. Every corner of each host’s site has a different password, and it’s very confusing.

After hours of hair pulling, I finally found an article that said the wp-config file needs the cPanel password. I’d been trying everything BUT the cPanel password.

With that change, I finally cracked the code, and got this blog back up and running.

Lost Settings

As my research suggested, I had exported my old databases, and imported them to the new database, but that had no noticeable effect on the blog. I lost all the settings, and had to re-do things.

Fortunately, I had also done a WordPress export, so I was able to import all the articles and comments that way.

If you notice anything that’s broken or missing, please let me know. Thanks! In the meantime, I think it’s time for a bit more medicine.

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Posted in Excel blog | 2 Comments

RSS and Blog Backups

Posted on December 26, 2009 by Debra Dalgleish

Today I was backing up my RSS feeds in Google Reader, and was shocked to see that I’m subscribed to 386 feeds. Wow, that’s about double what I would have guessed.

There are only a few blogs that I read every day, and those are in a Google Reader Favourites folder. For most of the rest, I just read the titles, and skim through the articles that sound interesting. Occasionally, I’ll star an article to go back to it later, for a careful read, or to follow the article’s links.

Trim the List

In the feeds list, you can click on a blog name, then click Show Details, to see a chart of recent posts, and which ones you’ve read. If a blog hasn’t posted in a long time, or I never read the articles, I usually unsubscribe.

I wish there was a quick way to review all the Google Reader feeds, to see which feeds I use, and which ones I don’t. It’s a tedious process to go through the list individually, especially since the Show Details doesn’t stay open.

If you know of a better way to manage the list, please let me know.

Now I’ll go and do the backups for my blogs too.

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Excel Quick Tips Videos

Posted on December 22, 2009 by Debra Dalgleish

I use TweetDeck to monitor Twitter, and to post to my Twitter account, most of the time. TweetDeck used to have a link to 12seconds.tv but that link seems to have disappeared in recent versions.

This week I posted a few 12 second videos, showing quick Excel tips, and also posted the videos to my Contextures YouTube channel.

It’s interesting to see what you can record in such a short video. There’s certainly no time for idle chit chat, so you have to get right to the point, and do a quick demo of a useful technique.

Already a couple of the short videos have received 4 or 5 star ratings on YouTube, so I guess someone likes them. I’ll do a few more, after the holidays.

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Interactive Video Experiment

Posted on December 14, 2009 by Debra Dalgleish

Last month, I asked which type of online learning you preferred. As expected, the majority selected written instructions, but the second highest vote was for interactive learning.

I’m still not sure exactly what types of interactive learning people are using. This weekend I experimented with Camtasia Studio, testing its hotspots feature. Users can click on the video, in a specific location, and you can take them to a different spot in the video.

On the Contextures Blog today, I posted a short article on Removing Duplicates in Excel 2007, with a short video.

My goal was to publish an interactive version of the tutorial, but I wasn’t completely satisfied with the result. I need to refine the jumping around process, and probably the audio should be deleted from that section.

Anyway, if you have a strong stomach or good sense of humour, here’s my first attempt at video with interaction. Skip to the 1:40 mark to see the interactive section.

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Posted in Excel training | 4 Comments

Online Collaboration

Posted on December 8, 2009 by Debra Dalgleish

Recently, I tested WiZiQ for an online meeting with a client, and wrote about the experience. In the comments, Pierre suggested edufire and andy recommended showdocument.

I took a quick look at both sites. Edufire looks like it would be great for running training sessions and small classes. ShowDocument lets you upload and work on files, so that could be a good way to work with a client, without having to install anything.

Bob Ryan commented that he plans to use DimDim for his business. I set up an account there, and ran a trial meeting, which worked well, but my screen settings seem slightly different, after using their screen sharing option.

For yesterday’s meeting with my client, I tried Office Live Meeting (OLM). Before the meeting, I set up a practice session, the tested the controls and settings. You can upload files, and share the screen, or a portion of the screen. Also, you can share a specific program, so that’s the option I used most of the time.

OLM was my favourite online meeting tool so far. I could pass the controls to my client, so we could both test the Access database that we were discussing.

I had to use Internet Explorer, instead of Firefox, and there are some components to download and install. But, most people have a computer that’s full of Microsoft products anyway, so that might not be too big a hurdle.

Dick had volunteered to be a guinea pig, if I tested WiZiQ again (thanks, Dick!). I’ll be trying OLM again, to see how some of the fancier tools work, so may he’ll agree to join that test session, if I set something up for later this week.

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Posted in Excel Consulting, Excel training | 10 Comments

More Online Meeting Tests

Posted on December 5, 2009 by Debra Dalgleish

Last week I tried WiZiQ for an online meeting with a client. There were a few snags, that I mentioned in the class evaluation form that popped up when I finished my session.

The next day, someone in the WiZiQ customer support department emailed me, with a few suggestions for improving the audio. He also asked for details on the problems that I had with my uploaded Excel files.

In a followup email, he said that only a one-page portion of an Excel sheet will be visible onscreen. Most of the sheets that I create for clients are considerably bigger than that, so uploaded files won’t be too useful.

I did another test later, with my desktop running a session, and the laptop attending as a guest. That went better than the session with my client (due to better settings, not better guests!), so I’ll try WiZiQ again later.

For a free service, it seems pretty good. It will be a good place to practise this type of interaction, before moving to a paid service.

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Posted in Excel Consulting, Excel training | 4 Comments

FTC Disclosure Icons

Posted on December 4, 2009 by Debra Dalgleish

New FTC Disclosure regulations for bloggers took effect on December 1st. I’ve added disclosure information to my blogs and website, and hope that’s sufficient.

On Louis Gray’s site today, there’s a set of FTC Disclosure icons that you can download, and use on your blog. There’s one for every level of disclosure, from a free book,

ftc_book 

to shared jail time.

ftc_jail

I won’t need too many of them, but they’ll come in handy if Microsoft decides to send me some stock options!

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Online Training For Clients

Posted on December 2, 2009 by Debra Dalgleish

Do you do any online, real-time teaching or learning?

A client wanted to learn a bit more about Excel VBA, so we arranged a phone call for today. He sent me a couple of workbooks to use during the session.

The Free Session

I thought it might help if we could both see the same screen, so I set up my first training session on WiZiQ, where I have a free account. I had attended a training session there in 2008, and it went reasonably well. There’s a whiteboard for interaction, and you can upload files to use during the session. You can also record the session, for attendees to download later.

The session was set up as private, and I sent an invitation to my client. He had to register and log in, but said the process was quick and easy. If I upgraded to an Organization account, attendees would not have to register.

A Few Problems

It took us a couple of minutes to sort out the optional settings for audio and video. I enabled my audio and video, and could allow attendees to share theirs.

The uploaded Excel files didn’t work too well. Instead of sheet names, I could select “Page 1, Page 2, etc.” from a drop down list. Only a portion of the sheet showed, which was a problem. There was no way to see the VBE, as far as I could tell.

We gave up, and used the phone instead, with each of us having the same workbooks open on our desktops. That worked fine, as it has in the past.

Try Again

Later, I went back to WiZiQ, and found a Share Screen setting. I’ll set up a test for myself later, and see if that’s a better option. Then I can round up a guinea pig or two, and try an online session.

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Posted in Excel Consulting, Excel training | 9 Comments