April
2007
Tidbits
- Make MS Word less annoying
- Wrap text as you type (MS Excel)
- Google AutoPager (Greasemonkey script for Firefox)
- Adieu
Make MS Word less annoying
Lifehacker recently posted a good article about how to make Microsoft Word less annoying by streamlining and customizing several things within the software rather than using it as it comes "out of the box." Some of their tips include:
- turning off unnecessary toolbars
- streamlining the toolbars you keep
- turning off hyperlinks
- expanding the recently used documents list
- turning off "smart quotes"
- turning off entire-word selection
- and more.
If you use MS Word a lot, you'll want to take a look at the entire post and try out some of their tips.
Wrap text as you type (MS Excel)
As I've said before, I'm not a big Excel user and pretty much know enough to do basic spreadsheets and that's it. The most common problem I have in Excel is that I want to wrap text within a cell. The only way I knew how to do it was to go to FORMAT > ALIGNMENT > then click the WRAP TEXT box. Pretty tedious method, no?
If you've ever had the same problem here's some good news. There IS an easier way! Simply press ALT + ENTER as you're typing in the cell, and your text will automatically wrap and adjust your cell height to accomdate what you entered. It's a beautiful thing. I did it 10 times because I couldn't believe it was that simple (and I wanted to burn the shortcut into my lately faulty memory). Try it yourself - you won't believe your eyes.
Google AutoPager (Greasemonkey script for Firefox)
This is my absolutely favorite Greasemonkey script right now! Google AutoPager makes magic happen when you're viewing Google search results. Instead of having to click NEXT to view the next set of results after page one, then NEXT again to move through the the next page of search results, etc., this lovely little script automatically loads the next page of results when you scroll to the bottom of the page. It's like viewing all of your Google search results on one page rather than 10 (or whatever), but without having to wait forever for all of the results to download. Woohoo!
If you'd like to try it out, you'll need to follow these steps:
- If you don't have Greasemonkey installed in your Firefox browser, download and install Greasemonkey.
Click on the Install Now link in the green box on the download page. You will be told to close your browser in order for Greasemonkey to be completely installed. - Install Google AutoPager.
The installation is pretty invisible, once you click on the INSTALL button. Close Firefox and re-open it for the installation to complete.
That's it. Now just go to Google, perform a search, and feel the magic!
Adieu
Farewell until next time from the library system where all the computers are fast, all the books are worth reading, and all the librarians are above average!
This issue of Tidbits was written by Beth Carpenter, Library Services Manager for the Outagamie Waupaca Library System. Please send any comments or questions about this issue to Beth.
Supporting public libraries in Outagamie and Waupaca counties