Tech Tips for the Basic Computer User
November 5, 2008
There is a lovely and simple list of Tech Tips for the Basic Computer User on the New York Times "Pogue's Posts" blog, something to fold into those basic computer classes you teach to both staff and the public (and, err, your parents when you go home on holiday). The tips aren't just about computers either, but range into peripherals like digital cameras, Google features, and even cellphones. A few samples:
- You can open the Start menu by tapping the key with the Windows logo on it.
- You don’t have to type “http://www” into your Web browser. Just type the remainder: “nytimes.com” or “dilbert.com,” for example. (In the Safari browser, you can even leave off the “.com” part.)
- You can tap the Space bar to scroll down on a Web page one screenful. Add the Shift key to scroll back up.
Even better, the readers have shared their basic tips in the comments section so it's a treasure trove of lovely things to teach people.
November 6th, 2008 at 7:51 am
re: the leaving off the http://www tip, this is not always the case. Yes these days you can get away with leaving off the http:// but leaving off www doesn’t always work. It will work more often than not but some web servers will treat a URL with a www and without a www differently. (Then there’s the folks that always add a www even when they’re not told to do so. The old del.icio.us URL for example.) Best bet, type the URL as you were given it. Really, how much time are you saving by typing a few less characters anyway?
November 6th, 2008 at 8:18 am
One thing I added there and will repeat there is one that I don’t see a lot of people using, but they should
.
Use detailed view on folders. Then click on the “date modified” column to get most recent on top. This is my default view nowdays rather than icons. Typically I keep a lot of documents in a folder, but only edit the most recent. This view makes it much easier.
(It’s interesting to notice too the lower in the file hierarchy the more likey I am to like this and the higher up the greater the chance I’ll have things set to sort by name. As far as I can tell it mirrors the fact I work on several different projects, but frequently I’m only concerned with the most recent document in any of them.)