Handy bITs ... I.T. Tips and Tricks for Clever, Thrifty, Lazy You

How to Read Boring Computer Text like a Virtual Paperback Novel

Allan Naguit — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 08:11:23 GMT

How to Read Boring Computer Text like a Virtual Paperback Novel

Many people would balk at the idea of reading books or other lengthy works of text on-screen. Yet, especially for office-types, a lot of people spend most of their entire day doing exactly that: read text on-screen.

If you'd rather be reading on real paper but have to read off your computer, try yBook - the Paperback Emulator. (Or maybe, this could be your way of saving a few trees.)

yBook is a freeware application that lets you read your Text, HTML, RTF, PDB and PRC documents as virtual paperbacks. To help with the illusion, you can set the background to look like paper (you have several choices of paper texture). Just like a book, you can split the view of your document so you have a left-hand and right-hand page.

A simple click on either page will let you flick to the previous or the next page. Hitting the Space bar also works to flip the page, as do the arrow keys (left/right and up/down). The key options are good if you want your hand to rest lazily by your keyboard, ready to casually tap a key to turn the page.

Figure 1: Change settings: choosing the "paper".

But why not just read from your word processor?

Because of this...

yBook adjusts itself so you won't have to pan or scroll to read your text.

You can change the type of font, the size of the font, resize the yBook window and you still won't have to pan or scroll. yBook will re-index its pages and do whatever magic it does so your virtual paperback will still read like a paperback. You'll still get your left page and right page (or single page if that's what you set it to) with the number of words per page increased or decreased to fit. No scrolling. No panning. Just a lazy keyboard tap or mouse-click to flip pages.

Figure 2: Reading a small yBook... no pan or scroll buttons required!

Bookmarks are automatically set. yBook remembers where you are when you close it down, ready for your next visit. I've noticed that it keeps a history of documents you've loaded and it sets a bookmark for you for each one. Very handy.

There are other options worth noting: Search, Read from Clipboard, Print, Export, Change Borders, Change Colours, Search, Internationalised Menus.

Figure 3: Changing the font. Got bad eyes? Increase the font size. Make those letters pop.

There's even an option to access the Project Gutenberg website which provides 20,000-odd ebooks for dowload for free.

yBook.

Features:

* Runs on any Windows PC (Win95 or later)
* Display your book on side-by-side or single pages.
* Resize the pages, adjust the margins, set text and paper colour.
* Text, html and RTF reader
* PDB and PRC reader
* Search for words or phrases
* Automatic bookmarks
* Text sizes from tiny to HUGE
* No zooming, panning or scrolling
* Direct download of all Gutenberg titles, with index.
* Internationalised menus - Spanish, German, etc
* Completely free to use: No registration, no adware, no spyware

Get yBook here (3MB).

(Note for Linux users: I've even gotten yBook to run in Linux via WINE.)

The author of yBook says on his website that he wrote yBook for his own use and decided to also give it away for free. Thank goodness for his generosity. Not only is yBook making it easier for me to read gobs of text off my computer monitor, I'm even starting to read ebooks on-screen for pleasure. It sure beats watching YouTube for looking busy at your desk while loafing.

Better yet, you can cut down on your printing. Save time. Save money. Save trees.

About the author. Allan Naguit is a part of Funai Pty Ltd, an outfit that provides friendly, professional I.T. Handyman Services for small businesses and home offices based in the Sydney Metropolitan Area (Australia). "Just like a handyman, but for computers and IT."

Fun, Practical and Personalised Post-its

Allan Naguit — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 07:33:47 GMT

Fun, Practical and Personalised Post-its

We all know you can write on post-its. Did you know you can print on them too?

The Inspiration for this Article: The OVERnote

First, a big thank you to the creator of The OVERnote!

What is the OVERnote? It's a design you print directly onto a Post-it to make taking notes a bit more organised, fun and scribbly.

Figure 1. The OVERnote

If you want your post-its to look like the OVERnote (above), the link to the OVERnote article is here.

I really liked the idea of the OVERnote. The idea of printing directly onto post-its... that really tickled the crazy little DIY'er in me. So I decided to see what else I could do with it.

But first, I needed to find out if it worked on my printers.

Printing

In the original OVERnote article the author admitted to playing "fast and loose" on a cheap Laser printer and suggested that printing these things carried some risk. Keeping that in mind I tried printing first on an old inkjet printer (my trusty Canon BJC-1000SP). No problem! I then tried it on an HP multi-function printer and finally on a Laser printer. Worked without a hitch.

I'll also say "proceed at your own risk" to cover my behind, but I've printed lots of these things now (mostly on the Canon) and none of the printers have complained yet.

Printing Templates

The original OVERnote documents were in PDF format. I created these easily-editable templates in Word (.DOC) format and OpenDocument format (ODF) to make it easier for you to make your own Post-it covers.

There are two templates:

1. The Printing Guide. This is the first page you want to print out. It has six boxes marked on the page so you know where to position your six blank Post-its. It's editable in case you want to use Post-its that are not the standard 3x3 inch squares. Download the Printing Guide here: ODF (9 KB) or DOC (13 KB).

Figure 2. The Printing Guide

2. The Cover Template. This is the document you modify to place your own post-it designs. The page has six 3x3 inch squares based on the standard Post-it size. The numbers in the column in the middle (0 to 3) serve two purposes. The first is to mark out (roughly) the inches down the page, 3 inches per box. The second is so the table's cells representing the post-it boxes remain at the proper size even when the cells themselves are empty (and ready for you to fill with your own designs). Download the Cover Template here: ODF (9 KB) or DOC (13 KB).

Figure 3. The Cover Template (pre-filled with my sample designs)

Template Tweaking Hints

Turn on the ruler guide in your word processor. Use it when editing to keep an eye on the post-it boxes of your Printing Guide and Cover Template to make sure they stay at 3" x 3" (assuming you're using standard post-its).

Add and Resize images to fit. After inserting images into my post-it boxes, I found I could use the resize drag bars around the image box to enlarge or reduce my images to bring my boxes back to 3" as required. Note: You'll probably use Photoshop or MS Paint to come up with your images - whatever you're comfortable with is fine. I used the GIMP to create and manipulate my images. It's free and is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. Anyway, we're not printing on photo paper so some roughness in your images is acceptable.

Note: I created these documents using OpenOffice.org. OpenOffice.org allows saving to Word format as well as in the new standard, OpenDocument format (aka ODF). I haven't tested the Word version from within MS Word so your results may vary. If you're on MS Word, there's an ODF Add-in you can try here.

How to Print Your Personalised Post-its

Step 1. Print the Printing Guide. It has six boxes where you can position six standard post-its (3" x 3").
Step 2. Load your Printing Guide with blank post-its.
Step 3. Feed the loaded Printing Guide into your printer.
Step 4. Print the Cover Template you've personalised with your designs. If you like, you can try my sample cover template as in Figure 3, available here: ODF (24 KB) or DOC (27 KB). This step will print the Cover Template's designs onto your six blank post-its.
Step 5. Peel off your post-its and use as desired!

Figure 4. Loading the Printing Guide with blank post-its

Figure 5. Printing out a set of personalised post-its using the Cover Sample: Before...

Figure 6. Printing out a set of personalised post-its: After!

Ideas

Here are some of my ideas for your post-it designs.

Bookmarks

A blank post-it works perfectly well as a bookmark. Not much point in printing out the word "Bookmark" on a post-it, is there? But how about a bookmark that lets you know the date and time you last set it? Maybe even one that lets you know the current page number at a glance? And, of course, your name just in case you lose the book.

Leave a Message

To take messages and write notes, the original OVERnote is perfectly servicable, especially if you're a scribbler like the OVERnote's creator. If you want something different, how about this? Print your face on your post-its. Make your messages personalised. Advertise yourself. Don't let them forget the favour you did them. What goes around may come around.

Chapter tabs

Just like those plastic dividers, but even cheaper! Plus, you can print the chapter names out, write them in yourself, or just have the chapter numbers on these babies.

Targets

A bit of Office Fun. Included in the sample cover template is one for a human silhouette. Use it for a bit of deskbound target practice. Keep score! The beauty of these targets is, they can make a satisfying snap when you hit them. They can take a lickin' and keep on tickin'. You might want to go visit OfficeGuns.com or splash out and get yourself some hardcore rubberband action from Rubberbandguns.com and BackyardArtillery.com.

Inbox Organiser

For your physical inbox. Separate the reams of paper with post-its sporting the titles: Must Do, Optional, Maybe, Recycle. Make up your own titles depending on whether you're a follower of GTD, some other productivity regime, or your home-brew version.

Status

The Doctor Is IN. The Doctor is OUT. Don't bother me just now, I'm REALLY BUSY. A variation of the Come in/Go Away! mat. Happy, Angry, Sad... A blank Smilie Face. A Series of enlarged Emoticons. Stick these on your monitor, on the door to your office, on your forehead. People will get the message. Crystal clear communication is a wonderful thing.

Practicality

Okay, so maybe not all of these things are all that practical (or practicable). Still, it's a way of indulging in a bit of procrastinating fun and looking busy while you're doing it.

License

The original work on the OVERnote is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 License and so are my adaptations in this article.

Take these templates and run with them. I'm sure you can add to and improve on these ideas. If you do, please share!

Figure 7. No more wondering who took the trouble to take a message for them!

About the author. Allan Naguit is a part of Funai Pty Ltd, an outfit that provides friendly, professional I.T. Handyman Services for small businesses and home offices based in the Sydney Metropolitan Area (Australia). "Just like a handyman, but for computers and IT."

Tired of Typing? Here's How You Can Type Less or Even Avoid Typing at All

Allan Naguit — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 01:26:23 GMT

Tired of Typing? Here's How You Can Type Less or Even Avoid Typing at All

First, How to Type Less...

(Photo of keyboard thanks to Stock.XCHNG)

I used to work at a place where the Customer Relationship Management System was a bunch of index cards in a series of boxes. Part of each customer service representative's job was to write down a quick summary of each interaction with every registered customer. As the number of customers grew (and their history with the company lengthened) space on those cards became more and more of an issue. In an effort to counter this problem, the staff members developed their own set of abbreviations. In fact, kids of today on Messenger, internet chat or using SMS would almost feel at home with the code.

For example,

LMTCO meant Left Message to Call Office
SWW meant Spoke With Wife
RR meant Rang Residence

So, an entry on an index card might've read:

RR SWW LMTCO4H

It was surely quicker (and used less precious space) than writing out,

"Rang residence. Spoke with wife. Left message to call office for husband."

Then their system got computerised.

All of a sudden, they had as much room as they wanted to type in long and detailed histories of every phone call, letter and face-to-face interaction with every customer.

So what did they write in there?

RR SWW LMTCO4H

Why? It was quicker, easier on the fingers, and all the veterans knew what everyone else was talking about. But problems arose when new staff came in. Not to mention the angst suffered by the IT staff (like me) who sometimes had to decipher their code in order to provide the support the Customer Reps needed. ("What's this data record... 'SWW'... someone want a SandWich, White bread?")

If only they had Texter.

Texter

Texter is a little Windows application that you can 'train' to translate shorthand code like LMTCO into the full version. MS Office has something similar, but Texter apparently works on any application (so you can use it outside of MS Office and Outlook, like within your web browser, your Instant Messenger or whatever). And it's under the GPL so it's free.

Texter is from the clever people at lifehacker.com. Specifically, it was developed by Adam Nash, LifeHacker Senior Editor. He describes Texter like this:

"Windows only: Text substitution app Texter saves you countless keystrokes by replacing abbreviations with commonly used phrases you define."

Figure 1: Adding a new Hotstring.

How to Train and Use Texter

As you can see from Figure 1, you enter your "Hotstring" abbreviations on the left, enter the translation (replacement text) in the big box, and decide what your trigger is: Enter, Tab or Space.

Once Texter is running, whenever you type your hotstring and follow that with your trigger (enter, tab or space), Texter will replace your hotstring with the replacement text. Simple!

The best way to get an idea of how it works is by watching a video. Adam Nash put together a video and put it on YouTube.

Video 1: Texter Demo

Nash mentions that Texter has been tested and works under Windows XP. I've also tested it on a Windows 2000 machine and it didn't throw any errors. Try it and see if it works for you. Visit the Texter page on lifehacker for more information. The section on Advanced Use (with video demo) is worth it, especially for the more techo among you.

Website: Texter on lifehacker.com
Download: TexterInstaller.exe.

... and now, How to Avoid Even Typing At All

Dasher is an application that lets you use your mouse to select letters to write out your text. But it's a lot more clever than just using your mouse to point at an on-screen keyboard. Dasher works with your mouse to make letters zoom across the screen; letters that fly through a certain spot on the screen get selected. It uses a 'probabilistic predictive model to give priority to more likely character combinations'. That means, if you select an "h" followed by an "e", Dasher will help you write out the word "hello" as well as other likely choices.

Figure 2: Dasher running under Linux.

Dasher has a lot of science behind it. As the Wikipedia article on Dasher states,

"Dasher can be described as a back-to-front version of arithmetic coding, a data-compression algorithm" and "Dasher takes advantage of Fitts' law -- the fact that larger areas can be selected more quickly than smaller areas."

The best way to get your head around how it works is to watch a demo. You can even try an online version of Dasher on its website if your web browser is Java-enabled, no download required. Here's a demo of me introducing myself in Dasher.

Video 2: Introducing myself in Dasher.

(Click here for the direct link to Youtube.)

Regarding the video above, I just installed Dasher and ran it. No practice, no reading of instructions, no going through the 'training text' and it's obvious. You'll notice me fumble a bit as I work out how to get it going (just click), and fumble again as I try to capitalise my initial.... but hey, it works! Not once did my fingers (leave my hands or) touch the keyboard. I can only get better (and quicker).

Dasher is free (like Texter, it's licensed under the GPL). It's available for Linux, Microsoft Windows and Pocket PC as well as other platforms.

More notes from Wikipedia: Dasher was invented by David J.C. MacKay and developed by David Ward and other members of MacKay's Cambridge research group. The Dasher project is supported by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation.

Website: Dasher
Download: Dasher download page.

I'm not Lazy, I Just Want to be Efficient

There you have it. How to type less or not type at all. Actually, what led me to look at these options was because my poor hands are starting to get those little sparks of pain hinting at what might, if I'm not careful, eventually lead to RSI. Yikes! Strangely enough, typing is not really the problem. It's using the mouse and that cursed, way-too-useful scroll-wheel! Ouch! Maybe for the next article I'll write about how to avoid using a mouse entirely. Hmmm!

About the author. Allan Naguit is a part of Funai Pty Ltd, an outfit that provides friendly, professional I.T. Handyman Services for small businesses and home offices based in the Sydney Metropolitan Area (Australia). "Just like a handyman, but for computers and IT."

Do You Tend to Forget Upcoming Events? Try This: Use Email.

Allan Naguit — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 04:20:31 GMT

Do You Tend to Forget Upcoming Events? Try This: Use Email.

Ever forgotten birthdays? Anniversaries? Meetings? Payments? Sure, we all have. And we all have our own systems for keeping ourselves organised. Here's another thing you can do to help round out your system for keeping your busy life on track.

Email Reminders

Getting reminders for events via email can give the reminders a special kick. You're obliged to plow through your inbox for those must-read/must-do items, especially at work.

Unfortunately, too much spam in your inbox can desensitise you to the contents of your inbox. Here are some tips for fighting spam.

If you want:

to cut down on getting more spam, you can read "How to Decoy SPAM Away from your Email address" (Link).
to control spam you're already getting, I recommend switching to Thunderbird because it has an effective and built-in spam filter.(Link)
to control the spam-with-pictures, you can read this article, "How to Reduce (Image) Spam" (Link).

If you're on Outlook, here's a tutorial on how to tweak Outlook (and Outlook Express) to manage spam for free: link. Otherwise, there are plenty of solutions you can find through Google.)

Internet-based Email Reminder Services

I was surprised to find so many email reminder services online. Obviously, they're scratching an itch that people have.

Here's a list of service providers I tried. They're all free, at least at the basic service level. They ALL worked. And NONE of them appeared to increase my spam, at least in the week that I spent trying these services. (Granted, a week wasn't very long for testing, but at least the decoy email accounts I created to test these services stayed clean for that week).

free-minder.com
candor.com/reminder
remindtime.com
onlinereminders.net
happybirthday.com
memotome.com

I wrote down some quick impressions as I tried each of the above. Decide for yourself which ones are the best fit for you.

free-minder.com - designed to remind

I liked how you can create event types (e.g., Band Session) or pick from the provided list (e.g., Wedding Anniversary). You can send reminders to any email address (the reminders will look like they came from you, with explanatory notes from freeminder). The reminders can be sent in advance by 1, 3, 7 or 14 days, or right on the actual day of the event (and you can select several of these options). Recurrence options are: Once only, weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual. Freeminder accepts donations.

Candor webtech - Free Email Reminder Service

Simple, basic, easy. Background colour's a bit psychedelic, but it's ok. Reminder frequency is similar to freeminder at 1, 3, 7, 14 days before or on the actual day. Recurrence options are Remind Once or Remind Yearly. Reminders are sent at 00h30 GMT. Again, basic, but more streamlined because of that. Good for setting reminders quickly.

RemindTime.com - Reminders for Life

The email reminders are free (there's a Donate link). However, this service sports an impressive range of Paid Reminders (Mobile Text, Phone, Fax, Page, Letter, even a personal Visit) for which you'd need to buy some credit. Reminders can be sent at a specific time ( in GMT, 24-hour format). I set a reminder to fire off a minute from when I set it. Amazingly, I received the reminder a minute later, as expected! Judging by that, you could just about use this service as an alarm clock! (Note: It would depend on how often your email program polls for new messages... if it's set for every 15 minutes, you might end up over a quarter of an hour late to your next meeting!). Lots of options for repeats (once, daily, every 1-4 weeks, every 2-6 months, or annual) and reminder time settings (on the date and time specified, 0.5-12 hours before, 1-6 days before, 1-4 weeks before, 1-to 6 months before).

onlinereminders.net - Personal and Professional Management

This service allows you to set up a calendar and fill it with your "personal and professional events" (actually, your reminders). Then they email you with reminders based on your calendar. As for timings, they state, "Emails are sent out on a weekly basis showing your reminders for the coming week plus each reminder is sent out the day before and the day of the event to ensure you never forget." Nowhere near as precise as, say, RemindTime but not everyone needs that. I didn't notice a way of specifying your own repeat reminder settings. This service does provide an area for setting of goals.

HappyBirthday.com

Basically, this service is for birthdays only (as one might expect given the name). They let you set up and store people's birthdays. They even have a Birthday Requester to make that job easier (sends a standard email to ask your contacts for their birthday). Cell phone text reminders are offered but my carrier's not supported so I didn't get to test this. One thing that I noticed was the reminder emails included some advertising (4 links, in my test) but nothing too obtrusive. You can send e-cards with this.

MemotoMe

MemotoMe is the only service I tried that actually takes into account your time zone (which is specified during account setup, including the setting of Daylight Savings Time according to US or Euro Union rules). This allows for straightforward and precise time-setting for reminders. In my test, I set up a reminder to arrive at 16:30, with two warning reminders before the event to be sent 1 minute apart. I got all three reminders, right on time. The time settings are a lot more flexible in this service, which I liked. There is a Platinum Edition (paid) for extra features (like SMS reminders, pager).

Special Mentions:

Google Calendar

If you already have a Google email account (you can sign up for Gmail here if you don't) then you can use Google Calendar to send yourself email reminders. If your phone carrier is supported (link), Google Calendar can even send you reminders/notifications via SMS (go to Settings, then in the Calendar Settings, Notifications, tick the appropriate box(es): Email, SMS, Pop-up). However, it looks like the reminder settings are calendar-wide. That is, if you choose to get an SMS reminder for every event, you will get one for everything in that calendar. The way around it is to set up several calendars (some examples: a "Birthdays and Anniversaries" calendar, a "TV Show" calendar, etc.).

My phone carrier is supported so I set up an event in my Google calendar and set up SMS reminders in the settings. Right on time, Google sent me a text message that said, "18:00. Time to exercise!" That was great. I even managed to actually do some exercise 45 minutes later (after I managed to ignore the whisperings by Denial and Procrastination).

Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft Outlook can send reminders via scheduled emails (see this link).

But I looked at internet-based services to send me reminders because:
- I didn't want to rely on my PC being on to send me reminders
- I want to get reminders even when I'm out and about (out of the office, on the road, interstate or even overseas)

Wrapping Up

Again, all these Email Reminder services worked. And, as far as I could tell (in my one week of testing) there was no increase in spam as a result of signing up. Try them all and see which ones you like best. As for me, of the (non-Google) services, I'll probably use MemotoMe the most. I liked the flexibility when it came to setting the times. And I really liked how I was able to set my time zone up front; no mental gymnastics required to get the time of my reminders right! That's what sold me. Now, Google Calendar... free SMS reminders... correct time zone... that's very hard to beat, although it doesn't have the concept of multiple warning reminders prior to the event the way MemotoMe has (and the others as well). I see myself using both Google Calendar and MemotoMe.

Ding Dong. Oh look. Time to exercise. Again. Oh well.

What do you think? If you try any of these services, let me know how you go.

About the author. Allan Naguit is a part of Funai Pty Ltd, an outfit that provides friendly, professional I.T. Handyman Services for small businesses and home offices based in the Sydney Metropolitan Area (Australia). "Just like a handyman, but for computers and IT."

You Don't Have to Be a Geek to Get Your Videos on YouTube

Allan Naguit — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 00:38:30 GMT

You Don't Have to Be a Geek to Get Your Videos on YouTube

You may have heard of YouTube, the online video service that Google bought late 2006 for 1.6 billion dollars. What's YouTube all about? It's a video-sharing website. Most people go there just to watch videos for free. And there are plenty to see. Watch the entertaining and funny Evolution of Dance. Laugh along with an adorably happy baby. Watch a documentary on Steven Spielberg. You can even watch a report on Britney Spears shaving her head bald.

Why Publish Your Videos?

Why do people send in their videos for others to watch? Some people do it for fun. Some simply wish to express themselves to the widest possible audience. Some do it to share videos with friends and family to keep in touch, compare, compete and entertain.

Others do it for commercial reasons. Companies big and small engage in viral-marketing tactics in attempts to bring in those advertising dollars. Lisa Donovan, known as Lisa Nova on YouTube, said it was her popularity on YouTube that allowed her to get noticed and eventually hired by the people behind the American cable TV show, MADtv (story here).

Whatever your reason, you can do it too. I mean, get your videos Out There.

Here's a little primer on how easy it is to upload your videos to YouTube.

But First, The Video

The hardest part can be actually producing your video. Scripting, planning, filming, editing, etc. can be very time consuming and hard work... that is, if you want to publish something with a bit of polish. But there's nothing stopping you from publishing that rough, ready and raw birthday video you took using your little digital camera.

If you're looking to publish videos with a bit of structure, here's an interesting video tutorial on How To Film Videos for the Internet you can watch on (where else?) YouTube. It's from Tim Carter of AsktheBuilder.com. The video is just over 10 minutes long. It's funny, basic and informative. As a rank beginner, I definitely appreciated the tips. Here's the link.

YouTube also has its own page full of helpful links. "When you're looking to take your videos to the next level, we've got great advice from the pros to help you on your way. Dig around in the toolbox to find what you need!": Video Toolbox

Getting on YouTube

Ok. When (or if) your video is ready to be published/uploaded to YouTube, here's what you have to do:

1. Set up a YouTube account
2. Upload your Video
3. Publish Your Video

1. Set up a YouTube account

Click on the "Sign up" link, enter the appropriate details, and you're on your way.

Figure 1: Signing up with YouTube for a free account.

2. Upload Your Video

Browse your local hard drive to find your video. Choose how you wish to share (broadcast) your video, Public or Private. Click the "Upload Video" button when you're ready. YouTube has imposed limits of 100MB for the maximum file size and a running-time length of 10 minutes. People whose videos are over the limits get around them by slicing their videos into smaller chunks and uploading them in parts.

Figure 2: Uploading your video to YouTube.

3. Publish Your Video

Once your video is in YouTube it's time to let people know about it. In the screenshot below you can see that YouTube supplies a link to the video which can be emailed (or IM'd) to the intended audience. There is also the option to embed the video into a website or blog (you cut and paste the code into your site).

Figure 3: Video Upload success. Time to share your video.

Rolling Credits...

I'm not quite ready to share the video I uploaded to come up with the screenshots above. That's why I chose "Private" under Broadcast (see figure 2) above. Sorry. Family and (close) friends only. It's just too embarrassing.

Anyway...

See? Getting your videos on YouTube is easy. No geek required!

About the author. Allan Naguit is a part of Funai Pty Ltd, an outfit that provides friendly and professional I.T. Handyman Services for small businesses and home offices based in the Sydney Metropolitan Area (Australia). "Just like a handyman, but for computers and IT."

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Want to Create Your Own Posters for Free? Here's How

Allan Naguit — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 05:37:35 GMT

Want a view like this?

Sure, you could buy a poster to dress up your wall. But how about making a poster from your own (probably large) collection of favourite images?

Here's a website that lets you create your own poster: BlockPosters.com.

It's free! (Well, creating the poster document is free. The printing of it isn't.)

Creating Your Poster

Creating your own poster through Block Posters is a three-step process.

1. Choose an image to upload to the website (Note: there's a 1 MB limit).

Figure 1: Step 1. Choose an image

2. Decide how big you want your poster to be (how many pages of A4 or Letter (US) you want to spread out your image, and whether it's going to be in Landscape or Portrait format)

Figure 2: Step 2. Choose the size

3. Your poster is then created as a PDF file. Download and print!

Figure 3: Step 3. Download your PDF poster (and print!)

How Else Can I Use This?

So you can make posters. Let's brainstorm a few more uses out of this neat service. How about using these posters for the following:

your booth at your next convention or fair.
the next birthday party could have the celebrant's giant photo stuck on the wall.
costumes for next Halloween for the kids
create your own, special wrapping paper
home-made place mats/table cloth
coordinated T-shirts for your next team event (print out onto iron-on transfer paper for this)

The sky's the limit!

There's a gallery in the Block Posters website (link) showing what other people have done with their posters. Someone covered nearly an entire wall with a nice photo of Stonehenge with lots of blue sky in the background. Talk about bringing the outside, in. Sure beats staring at a blank wall.

I haven't been adventurous enough to print out such a big poster (yet). For now, I feel like having a water view - like this six-page panoramic shot of Sydney Harbour. (If you like it too, you can get that and more panoramic shots of Sydney from this Flickr page here.)

Have fun.

About the author. Allan Naguit is a part of Funai Pty Ltd, an outfit that provides friendly and professional I.T. Handyman Services for small businesses and home offices based in the Sydney Metropolitan Area (Australia). "Just like a handyman, but for computers and IT."

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