This blog was down for most of the day, but seems to be fully functional again. It’s hosted on DreamHost, and the System Status forum there was full of complaints, as you’d expect.
Apparently the servers were down for a few hours last week too, and people in the forum were complaining about lost sales in the holiday season. Other posters pointed out that if you depend on a server for your income, you should invest in a top quality service. Don’t depend on a shared server, using a service plan designed for personal use or small businesses.
My main site, Contextures, and Contextures Blog, have been hosted by longhead.com since 2001. Longhead is owned by Jake Marx, a former Excel MVP. There have been a couple of blips along the way, but the customer service is great, and the few problems have been sorted out very quickly.
I hope your web site is on a dependable server, and the web host gives you great customer service.
B. Have you always liked that type of online instruction, or did your preference change at some point in the Excel learning curve?
Written Instructions
When I started the Contextures website, my Excel tutorials had simple written instructions, with key points illustrated with screen shots. Sometimes I’d add a circle or arrow to the screen shot, or a line and label, to make things clearer.
For example, here’s a tutorial for Excel conditional formatting examples. It has lots of words, and a few pictures. You can skim through the page to find a specific topic, or work your way from top to bottom, trying the examples.
There’s also a link to a sample file that readers can download, to follow the tutorials.
Short Video Tutorials
A few years ago I dabbled briefly with Camtasia Studio, and created a short pivot table tutorial. It explained how to change pivot table data fields from vertical to horizontal (warning – the sound comes on immediately). Apparently I was speaking into a tin can while recording it, but it is short, and to the point.
In early 2008, I started recording Excel video tutorials again, using a newer version of Camtasia Studio. The quality was a bit better, and I posted them on my Contextures YouTube channel, and embedded them in my website.
The feedback has been very positive, and the videos have been viewed thousands of times.
Interactive Learning
Recently, I heard about ViewletCam software that lets you create interactive videos. The output can be SWF (Flash) files, so you could put them on the website directly, since they’re much smaller than video files.
I haven’t tried this software, but it might be a good middle ground, where words aren’t enough and a video is too much.
Maybe people remember things better if they try them onscreen, instead of reading or watching.
Webinar
Have you attended any Excel webinars? I’ve signed up for a few non-Excel webinars, of varying quality, but nothing Excel related. In a webinar, you could see an Excel technique demonstrated, and ask any questions that you had.
What Do You Prefer?
So, going back to my original questions, I’d love to hear what you think. It’s not a scientific survey, just gathering opinions, so please vote, and comment on both questions, or just one, or make up your own question and answer that. 😉
A) Do any of these online Excel training tools appeal to you?
B) If so, have you always preferred that type of online Excel training?
My friend, Heather Mak, asked if I’d like to be interviewed for her new online magazine, Five Takeaways. What key things should people know about Excel? What are its Five Takeaways?
The magazine’s first article was about American Chinese food, and the second article focused on a giant island of garbage that’s floating in the Pacific Ocean.
So, they’ve covered take-out and throw out. How does Excel fit into that pattern? I guess you can use Excel to figure things out.
Heather sent me a few questions to help me start thinking.
How exactly did you get into Excel? (were you there from day one?)
What exactly does a Microsoft MVP do?
Is there a typical description that you could give of a Microsoft MVP? It seems like an interesting niche!
What are some novel uses of Excel that you’ve seen?
Why do you think Excel is so great?
What are some commonly encountered problems that people most often ask your help for?
What would you say are the most basic/important formulas/functions of Excel that people should know?
I’ll give this some thought over the weekend, and see what I can come up with.
Thirty years ago today, there was a huge explosion in Mississauga, when a train derailed, right in the middle of the city. I lived in Downsview, about 20 miles east, and felt the house shake, just before midnight, as though there had been a small earthquake.
The trains were carrying dangerous materials, including chlorine, so most of the city’s residents were evacuated – over 200,000 people. Amazingly, no one was seriously injured, or killed, and the evacuation went smoothly. The mayor somehow sprained her ankle, but kept going. She’s still the mayor, and going strong, at age 88.
Here’s a news video that shows some of the fire:
In 1982, I moved to Mississauga, and things have been peaceful since then. Then, in August 2008, a Downsview propane company exploded, less than a mile from the house I’d lived in during the Mississauga explosion. I guess I should plan to move in another 27 years or so!
In the meantime, perhaps some disaster planning would be prudent. If I had to evacuate, could I run this business from another location?
I’ve been travelling to a client’s office this week, finishing up an Excel project. Hope to have the work done soon, before the snow and H1N1 pandemic hit. It’s better to be working from home under those conditions!
A short commute and reduced risk of infection are just two of the advantages of working from home. It’s also quieter, with fewer interruptions, and easier to focus.
When I started working from home, in 1985, my son was in kindergarten, so things definitely weren’t as quiet. And there were plenty of interruptions!
I didn’t do any internet based business back then, so completed client work had to be sent by courier, or hand delivered. Files weren’t too big, but still would have taken a long time to transfer on that dial up modem, even if clients were set up to receive them.
Clients sent drafts and edits to me by fax, and they were hard to decipher, some of the time. A phone call usually sorted things out, and sometimes a visit to the client was needed.
I never use the fax machine now, and rarely speak to clients on the phone. The modem is like a rocket ship, compared to the turtle that I started with, and most of my work is done by email.
Things sure have changed for my home based business, and I’ve never regretted my decision to work from home.
In April, Google announced that all sites that used AdSense advertising had to post a privacy policy. So, I looked at a few other sites, and cobbled something together, and posted it on my Contextures website.
Recently, the FTC decided that bloggers had to disclose their affiliations, and use realistic testimonials in their advertising.
No one seems sure who’s affected by the new regulations, or how they’ll be implemented. Since I’m not based in the USA, the FTC doesn’t regulate me, but Google might insist that their publishers follow the guidelines.
Anyway, I decided to add a disclosure policy to my website and blogs, in a proactive move.
Funny. Only a day after I mentioned TweetDeck, and its Group feature, Twitter launched its new Lists feature.
Now I can create lists, such as Excel and Microsoft, and include the people who I follow into one or more of those lists.
Even better than TweetDeck groups, you can make your Twitter lists public or private.
If another user adds you to one of their public lists, you’ll see that in your Lists screen. It’s an easy way to see a few more people with similar interests, without following hundreds more people.
Some Twitter users follow thousands of people, and join in hundreds of conversations every day.
I follow just over 100 people (actually 123 – I like that number). Some of them are chatty, and others rarely post.
Even with that small number of people to follow, it’s hard to keep track of things. You can only see about 20 tweets on the front page when you log in, and that’s about all that I have the energy to read. So if something’s moved off the front page before I log in, it’s unlikely that I’ll ever see it.
A while ago I downloaded TweetDeck, and have been using it to read and post things in Twitter. You can create groups, so it’s easy to follow the people you’re most interested in, and skim through the other posts.
I highly recommend it. And no, this isn’t a snapshot of my TweetDeck. It’s from the download site.
