Sunday, January 30, 2005

Color Matching
Speaking of color, Word’s color palette is missing the eyedropper that is found in FrontPage. If you want to match the color of text to a color on a graphic or image you are inserting, you have to select the More Colors option on the color palette and try your best to get a color that is close to the one in the graphic.

Pixie can make that task much easier. When you mouse over the color you wish to match, Pixie displays the RGB color values. Armed with this information, you can easily select the Custom tab in the color palette and key in the values for an exact match. Pixie can be downloaded at http://www.nattyware.com/
Complementary Colors
When using color, it is important to use colors that go together. I found a Web site that really helps out in this area. It is called ColorMatch 5k and can be found at http://colormatch.dk

Here is what the Web site has to say about the program: This utility will help you select a matching 6-color palette for your website. Define a single color that you like. Matching colors will be calculated. Click a color in the palette to promote it to the primary color.

There is nothing to download and install. Just select the primary color using there sliders right in your browser, the utility displays 5 complementary colors for you to use in your next Web page or flyer or presentation or whatever...

Saturday, January 29, 2005

Another Keyboard Shortcut
Keyboarders will like this IE6 feature. You no longer have to reach for the mouse to key an address into the address bar. Simply press Alt+D and type away (or Ctrl+V to paste that URL you just copied from somewhere else). No, you do not have to click GO with the mouse either. Just press Enter on the keyboard.

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Byte Cost
I cannot get over how much it costs for storage today. Hard drives of 80gb or more are going for less than $100. Floppy disks are out as a means to get data from one computer to another. They used to be the media of choice for the sneaker net fanatics.

Now they use a USB drive (aka thumb drive, flash disk, among other names). I have a few of them and use them all the time. They are great for backups of critical files; I keep at least one in my pocket at all times. You can get a 512mb one for less than $50.

The other day I found an external 80gb USB 2.0 hard drive at Staples for $89. I am dating myself, but I remember paying over $500 for a 40mb hard drive and that was not too many years ago! The cost per byte for storage is at an all time low.

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Phishing Update
I just read an interesting article regarding the HOSTS file that resides on all our WindowsXP machines. And Phishers are finding ways to add postings to that file. Short story is that the file is used when you attempt to goto a site on the Web. When you type a URL in the address bar, the browser goes to this file first. If it finds an entry, you are directed to the IP address listed, otherwise you are sent to a DNS server to find the correct IP addrss. This can cause your browser to be redirected to the wrong IP address!

Read the entire article at http://www.winxpnews.com/?id=160

Monday, January 24, 2005

I would have preferred to teach today rather than shovel. That was a lot of snow! Nothing like a blizzard to bring in the Spring semester. Wednesday will be the starting day for each of my classes. If you are registered, you are already set up in WebCT for your course. Goto my Web site at www.ric.edu/revans and click the WebCT icon to get started. CU Wednesday. Oh, if you are signed up for 251-03 on Monday nights, we will start next Monday. You can check out WebCT as well.

Friday, January 21, 2005

For those in my Web Development class, and anyone else with an interest, this is a good paper on design received from Site Pro News this morning. Check it out. Site Pro News present a number of good papers on a regular basis. Sign up for thier ezine to get the latest in your mailbox.

SiteProNews: Design Your Site for Traffic in 2005

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Wow, last semester went by awful quick! I never added to this Bolg even once... shame on me. I promise to be better this year. Spring 2005 starts next Monday, January 24th.

ALL my courses will be using WebCT v4.1 which is online as a pilot program. If you are using WebCT in another course, you might be using the older v3.8 as well, but not in any of my courses.

To signon to the pilot version:

http://webcttest.ric.edu:8900

OR goto my Web site at http://www.ric.edu/revans and click on the WebCT link right next to th Blog link...