Setup and Sort Out
When you open up your computer and have to set it up, it can be a minefield. First you have to make sure all the bits are there. Then you have to struggle through a manual written in Martian. …You have to wire it up, install the software, connect it to the printer, get it connected to the web, make the email work, sort out connection to wi-fi, make sure the virus protection is both the right sort and that it works. After you have plugged... [Read More...]
Computer Buddy
You might as well sign up for every free course going – ask at your local library. You will learn a lot, but some of it will be lessons in ‘not quite what you want’ on a machine that is not quite like your own - and the teacher is never there when something goes wrong at home. Wouldn’t it be great if you could call someone up who would just talk you through the problem, solve it and set you on your way? Maybe they could... [Read More...]
Bespoke Learning
Bespoke learning is for people who need to learn how to do a range of things that you might not find on a single course Computer courses tend to be a bit general. You usually take a course in a specific bit of software, split into beginner, intermediate and advanced sub-courses. But what if you just need to know how to e.g set up a letterhead in Word, sort out your auto signature, create an expenses sheets and put a small website together quickly... [Read More...]
How to Do: Graphic Design
After a few pointers and a bit of practice you will be able to produce your own newsletters, personal business cards, flyers, posters, menus, letterheads …in fact just about anything that gets produced as printed material. By graphic design I am really referring to the arrangement of pictures and text into a format for printing. ‘How to Do: Graphic Design’ focuses on the software and button pushing skills needed to produce cards,... [Read More...]
How to Do: Audio Editing
If you want to learn how to edit your recordings this is the place for you! You can learn how to record, edit and even mix together everything from songs, to wildlife sounds, to conversations, to compositions of your own. Audio editing on a computer is where you use software to edit, record, mix, apply effects and convert audio between different formats. You can produce a CD to listen to on your hi-fi, you can make files for use on an MP3 layer or... [Read More...]
How to Do: Video Editing
With a camcorder, a PC or Mac and a bit of know-how you can turn hours of shaky footage into a well produced video with a proper soundtrack and voice-over, fading in and out of sections and with proper credits The affordable price of digital video camcorders and the ever increasing power of the home PC have made high quality digital video editing readily accessible. Indeed, the last few years have seen an explosion in the field of digital video.... [Read More...]
How to Do: Web Design
Perhaps you want to create a website to show off you photo collection or even your videos. Maybe you need to put together a site for a club or society or your own little business. Maybe you just want to know how to make a website. In any case, I really would be a good place to start. Websites can do many things. You can do your banking, buy your books (and anything else), pay your bills, read the paper and find out about almost anything you want.... [Read More...]
How to Do: Microsoft PowerPoint
PowerPoint is a presentation tool. It allows you to build a collection of ’slides’ which you can click through. The slides can contain images, videos and text. You can also make the content ‘animate’ and place transitions between slides (such as fade out and fade in and many others) so that moving from one to another has a little more impact. For professionals… Many people in business use PowerPoint, and most business... [Read More...]
How to Do: Microsoft Excel
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed the first time you look at the Excel screen. The work area looks different than other computer applications and there are innumerable buttons, toolbars, and menus that may or may not do something when you click on them. These days, everyone suddenly seems to know how to use Excel. And there is a reason for that. It is very useful. You can use Excel to simply work out quite complicated things. In the work place,... [Read More...]
How to Do: Microsoft Word
It would be wrong to think of Word as a computer version of a typewriter. Of course it will do that, but it will do much more as well. Microsoft Word is a word processing software package. You can use it to type letters, reports, and other documents. It gives you the ablilty to use your home computer as well as your business computer for desktop publishing. Although I am aiming this at the computer novice, because Microsoft Word has numerous different... [Read More...]