Late-Breaking News:
This will be my last issue as editor. I will occasionally publish the two columns I've been contributing on my blog (www.computerrepairshop.blogspot.com) or on my website (www.computerrepairshop.biz). I assume all the rest of the current content will still be here when the next editor takes over, but that will be up to him or her.
'Bye. ...and Thanks!
Observations:
This newsletter hasn't changed a bit. If it looks different to you, check with your doctor: you're not getting better, you're just getting older.
Meanwhile, let me point out the 'rules of thumb' I use when assembling these pages. First and foremost, the membership of TBCS is preponderously comprised of seniors, a large number of whom have reduced visual accuity. So, I assume a large percentage of my readers use a lower resolution setting on their monitors; all pages are written and tested to run on a screen set to 800x600.
For those of you with larger screens and/or higher resolution settings, congratulations, and please bear with us — us 'olders' need bigger pictures and larger text. Make the window larger if you want to, it won't hurt anything; but I need the pages to be useable at the larger resolution, so that's my goal each month.
Along those same lines, all the popup pictures you see here will be no larger than 756x567, to allow for the popup window borders. Some of the pictures I receive from outside sources are much larger; I shrink each of them to fit my arbitrary standard, then save a copy and shrink it to no greater than 150x150 for use as a thumbnail image. I also save both sizes of each image as both a GIF and a JPG; unless the smaller of the two formats loses considerable picture quality, I delete the larger and include the smaller in the composite Web page.
Which brings up another point: we tend to think everyone has high-speed Internet nowadays, but this newsletter is also read by folks in small towns around the country (and around the world, apparently), folks who still get their web access via dialup connections. So, I try to keep the pages small — that's why they only include thumbnails, not the large images I receive from the contributors; the larger images are all available as popups, and the dialup users know to expect a delay when they click on a thumbnail.
I test-view every page I write or edit in the four major browsers before publishing to the Web. While the pages view properly in all four browsers, it seems to me they look best when viewed in Google Chrome or Apple's Safari.
Because my pages are 'table-based', if the browser window is too small, the pages might not look as good to you as they did to me when I wrote them; if the pages look especially crappy, try making the browser window larger (by dragging one or more edges) or maximizing it by clicking the 'maximize' icon next to the X in the upper right-hand corner.
Here's a rule of thumb for you, the user/viewer/surfer: ANY time you see a horizontal scroll bar at the bottom of your browser window — on this or any other website — your page is set too narrow; drag it wider, or maximize it. If there's still a horizontal scroll bar, either your resolution is set too low, or the website auther wrote the page too wide.
Final note on this subject: if you're viewing this newsletter in Internet Explorer, WHY? It's dangerous. It's the largest of all the browsers, and its use of ActiveX controls makes it the most vulnerable to exploitation by hackers and other online miscreants. You need to immediately download and install either Google Chrome or Apple's Safari; check out this month's "Hints Tips & Rants" (one of the buttons upper left, I forget which one).
General Meeting:
The March meeting didn't happen, something to do with too many people at a SIG, the new meeting room had only one door, and the Fire Marshall found out about it. Hopefully, there will be an additional door installed in time for the next meeting. The monthly meetings are free and open to the public, so please come join us April 20th at the TBCS Resource Center. Chuck Vroman's monthly Novice SIG starts at 5:30, and the general meeting gets called to order at 6:45.
It Never Hurts To Ask:
Please send your columns, articles, Product Reviews, ideas, praise, or criticism to Bits@ComputerRepairShop.biz.
If clicking the link doesn't open your default mail client, Copy and Paste the address into your online email... or you could click this link computerrepairshop.biz/tinc?key=rLJ1IUO9 instead, or Copy and Paste it into your browser address bar — you can type a short message into this online feedback form, but you can't attach a submission.
Thanks,
