Microsoft Word 2003 - Create Wonderful Borders and Stationery in No Time

Microsoft Word 2003 has this great and foolproof functionality to create borders and shades with which you can whip up your own stationeries and fliers in no time.

For example, let's say you have an import-export business and you'd like to create a stationery that visually signals a world-wide involvement.

1) Create a blank new document (File > New > Blank Document).

2) Select Format > Borders and Shading... from the main menu. (Word menu options that display a dialog box are always followed by an ellipsis -- three dots).

3) In the PREVIEW box on the right, click the left top button, displaying a selected TOP BORDER.

4) From the ART drop-down list at the bottom center, select the WORLD GLOBE clip art.

5) To make each individual shape smaller or larger, use the WIDTH field.

6) To have a FRAME all around your stationery made up of the same clip art, select BOX option from the SETTING list on the left.

7) Under the top border, type in your business name, contact info, and all the other relevant information.

8) To add a background color to your text, use the SHADING tab.

9) Save your document as a Document Template (.dot) and you are done.

Try all the other options in the ART drop-down list. I especially like the STARS and other GEOMETRIC borders further down the list. They make an eye-catching graphic addition to your document that will never fail to grab interest.

Borders and Shading is great to create garage sale flyers and small business brochures too. Try and find out for your self all the endless ways in which this functionality can help you design your own marketing materials.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/240204

Creating images to customize the Ribbon in Word 2007 and Word 2010

For time immemorial, Word had toolbars (also known as command bars) at the top of the screen, with buttons to invoke commands. In Word 2007 that all changed. Microsoft introduced the Ribbon to replace toolbars.

Developers of templates and tools can customize the Ribbon by adding new tabs, groups, buttons, menus etc to the Ribbon. Those new controls can have custom images. This article identifies issues in creating images used to customize the Ribbon in Word 2007 and Word 2010. For lots of images of the Ribbon, see Word 2007 and Word 2010: Ribbon tutorial.

1- Image size

There are two sizes of images used in customizing the Ribbon:

• large: 32 x 32 pixels
• normal: 16 x 16 pixels.

In Word 2010, we can allocate an image to a group, as well as to an individual control. Group images are always displayed at 16 x 16 pixels. Generally, using a 16×16 image on a large control looks terrible. In some cases, a 32×32 image on a normal-sized control will look fine. But sometimes it will look ghastly. So it's important to produce all images for custom controls in two versions: at 32 x 32 pixels and at 16 x 16 pixels.

2 - Image format

It is possible to use .jpg, .jpeg, .gif, .wmf, .bmp, .ico or .png files to customize the ribbon.

Some formats work better than others. For example, if you use an .ico file, and you need to unenable a button to show that it is not relevant in some circumstance, then Word can't show the button as 'greyed out'.

The best format is png, with a transparent background if the image does not cover the entire square of 32×32 pixels or 16×16 pixels. It's a bit trickier for the developer to use a .png file because you have to use GDI+ to load it. But it's worth it for the image quality and transparency that png provides. For tehnical information on image format see RibbonX Image FAQ by Eric Faller at Jensen Harris's blog.

3 - Background transparency

It's fine if the image for a button covers the full square. If the image does not cover the full square, the background needs to be transparent. And that's one reason that a .png file is good for images for the Ribbon.

A black or white background looks terrible.

The alternative to a transparent background would be to match the background of our button image to the colour of the ribbon itself, so it 'blends in'. But that is not possible, for two reasons:

• the background colour of the ribbon in Word 2007 is different from the ribbon in Word 2010 (and if we're developing for 2007, we can reasonably expect the client to upgrade to 2010 one day, and we wouldn't want to have to re-create all the images)
  
• in both Word 2007 and Word 2010, the user can change the overall colour scheme, so a button made to 'match' one colour scheme will look poor if the user chooses a different colour scheme.

So transparent backgrounds are essential.

For more technical information about transparency for ribbon images see Preserving the alpha channel when converting images by Andrew Whitechapel.

4 - Look and feel

Custom images look best if they match the general look and feel of the built-in images.
There are two reasons for this:

1. I want the tools I create to look like they belong, not like a bad house extension. I'm building an add-in, not an add-on! The images on my custom tools should look like they come from the same school as the built-in images.
2. If I'm creating custom controls on the Ribbon, I will first look to see if there is a built-in image I can use. Microsoft has provided hundreds of them, and there is often something appropriate for my needs. If I can't find something built-in, then I'll create a custom image. So I might create a menu with half a dozen buttons, and those buttons may have a mix of built-in images and custom images. Therefore, to look like it all fits together, I find it works best if the custom images have the same look'n'feel as the built-in images.

5 - Colours for ribbon images

 t is very easy to create very ugly customizations for the Ribbon.
The first time I created a substantial custom tab on the Ribbon was for a project I was converting from Word 2003 to Word 2007. Where possible I used my existing command bar (ie toolbar) button images. In some cases I created new ones.
The effect was horrid. Brightly coloured buttons that worked OK in Word 2003 looked garish and out of place in Word 2007.
I think there are two reasons for this:

1. By default, the colour scheme for Word 2007 is blue. And not just one blue, but a significant gradient of blues. Bright colours on top of the blue just didn't work.
2. In Word 2003 and before, a toolbar was one-dimensional: buttons were all the same size, and sat in neat horizontal rows. While we could use combo boxes and text boxes on old-fashioned toolbars, it was rare. The Ribbon is more complex. It's in two dimensions; buttons are not all the same size; and there is a wide variety of controls: buttons, menus, boxes to type in, tick boxes etc. The Ribbon is complex enough. Adding a variety of colours just looked messy.
   

I had to re-think.
By observation, and by using an on-screen colour picker, I discovered that the built-in Ribbon controls use a very small palette of generally muted colours.
My aim is to make my custom controls look like they belong in Word. So I generally try to use images that fit the general look'n'feel of the built-in controls.

Source: http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/word-development/customize-ribbon-word-2007-2010-creating-images.html

Microsoft prepares to 'Kinect' to PCs running Windows 7

The PC may be finally liberated from the mouse and the keyboard.

On Thursday, Microsoft began recruiting developers to build software that will bring motion and voice control to computers that run Windows 7. "The challenge and opportunity really is letting your imagination become free of constraints of the past," said Anoop Gupta, a distinguished scientist at Microsoft Research in Redmond. Until now, he said, "We've thought how do we interact with the keyboard and mouse? Now you can step away."

The company released a software kit for developers to write programs that connect the Kinect motion sensor to a PC. Microsoft hopes this will bring Kinect, built initially for the Xbox 360 video-game system, to hundreds of millions of people who use PCs. With the Kinect for Xbox, people can play video games by moving their bodies, without using a handheld controller. Microsoft has sold more than 10 million units of the $150 Kinect since it was introduced in November. The company claims it is the fastest-selling device in consumer-electronics history.

Microsoft has been touting the Kinect's central feature — a natural user interface — as the next evolutionary step in computing. A natural user interface uses voice and motions to control computers, most of which are now tethered to the mouse and keyboard. Tablets and smartphones pushed it a step further over the past few years by introducing touchscreens that can be controlled with finger pokes and swipes. Even before Microsoft introduced the developers kit, hobbyists have already been experimenting with the Kinect for purposes that have nothing to do with Xbox video games, such as controlling surgical robots.

At its MIX conference in Las Vegas in April, Microsoft said that the motion-sensor technology would be coming to computers that run Windows 7. At that announcement, Microsoft showed several demonstrations on stage, including navigating 3-D maps of the universe from the Worldwide Telescope with hand movements, using a walking navigation service that helps people with impaired sight, and steering a motorized recliner on wheels with gestures. The company plans to release a commercial version of the development kit later, but did not give a date for when it would be available. (The noncommercial version is for experimentation and the commercial version will be targeted at companies that want to sell products that work with Kinect.)

On Wednesday, Microsoft invited 35 developers from around the country to Redmond for Code Camp, a hackathon in which participants spent 24 hours building a new application on Kinect. One group made an application to fly a drone helicopter with voice and motion. Another group built a video conferencing app so the Kinect camera would sense in a meeting who was talking and automatically zoom the camera in on the speaker. Another Code Camp application was the Kinductor, a program to teach someone how to conduct a virtual orchestra. By standing in front of the Kinect, a student conductor could learn how to move one arm to control tempo, the other to control dynamics, and even target on screen a specific section of an orchestra, such as the violins. The music responded accordingly to the conductor's motions. "This will open up development that people have never seen before," said Jeff Garra, a developer from Zaaz in Seattle who helped develop Kinductor in 20 hours this week. "It's not just limited to the PC. You can use it for security, to help with physical therapy and to teach people, for example

News Source - http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2015343377_microsoftkinect17.html

Microsoft Windows File Extensions and Their Association

In windows operating system groups file extensions play an important role. All the files that exist in windows operating systems have certain extensions. Most of them which you remember are .sys, .dll etc. These are all the system files. Windows operating system understands the files by their extensions and uses appropriate programme to open the files for the user. For example when you open Microsoft help, Windows help it has a certain extension and it exists as a file and then operating system uses Microsoft explorer to open the file for you.

There are thousands of file types which exist and so are their extensions. But for windows all these extensions are not same certain programs are needed to be associated to the files. For files which are pictures and have extensions like .jpeg and .bmp windows opens either Windows fax and picture viewer or Microsoft Paint for these files. One of the major problems and end user faces is de-association of file extensions or improper association of file types. Various viruses or spywares might affect your computer by changing the file associations which could lead to system failure. Microsoft support, Microsoft help, Windows support has got lot of end users calling for system failure and that most commonly is caused by file associations changed by spywares.

All the settings for the file associations are managed by registry and if there are changes happening that happen in registry. One should make sure to consult Tech support or Microsoft support or Windows help prior to making any change in registry. Various spyware removal programs while removing spywares on your computer might affect the file associations. The safe way is to first take a back up of either registry or make a system restore point so that you can return back to the state where you have all the file associations intact. Most of the spyware removal programs promise to remove spywares but you should be sure of the right programme for you. Consult HP support, Dell Support, Microsoft support or any third party Tech support prior to installing and configuring these programs.

Norton and other antivirus vendors also provide Tech support for the removal of the spywares and viruses. They also install their self developed products for the removal of spywares and viruses.

Source: http://goo.gl/OtDng

Why To Choose Microsoft Office 2010 ?

The importance of Microsoft Office suite to the corporate is definitely significant. The same is applicable to a common PC user as well. Are you still using MS Office 2003? The world has changed a lot. Switch to Microsoft Office 2010 and enhance your productivity. This office suite not only has got an outstanding look but also renders stunning performance. In this article we will discuss about some of the most common reasons for switching to Microsoft Office 2010. Explore the article learn more about this.

Managing your files, presentations, spreadsheets and charts has never been so easy. With Microsoft Office 2010 you get the improved features of Word, Excel, Access, Outlook, Publisher, FrontPage and PowerPoint. In this version, Outlook is even made more sophisticated. Comprising Social Connector feature for SharePoint, LinkedIn or Facebook it is even more powerful.

Microsoft has first launched the Ribbon in Microsoft Office 2007 and with this latest edition you will get a much improved ribbon. Here you get more tools for editing documents and pictures or images. The Broadcast Slideshow feature makes PowerPoint gets exceedingly creative and technologically advanced. New content auto-highlight, version support and author bar color-coding as well as faster synchronization, real-time changes display, etc. are some of the other notable features.

Do you work more with accounts and financial records? Well, Microsoft Office 2010 makes your job easier with the Microsoft Excel. This advanced application integrates Slicers, PowerPivot and Sparklines. All these allow the user to manage data easily in cells more accurately and precisely. With the enhanced macro support one can accomplish more tasks seamlessly.

Microsoft OneNote makes the job of the virtual hosting clients easy with the collaboration features and remote accessibility features. Added features are Outlook task creation, improved search functions and link integration, and math equations support, etc.

When it comes to the benefits, the list is truly endless. The application also supports ISO/IEC 29500, ISO/IEC 29500:2008, Open Document Format 1.1 as well as ECMA 376, and Office Open XML. If you face difficulties to install this outstanding software application on your computer contact an online computer repair company for Office 2010 installation.

The software has been exclusively designed and apart from installing it on your desktop or laptop, you can also reap its full benefits by installing it on your smartphone. So, from the discussion it is quite evident that Microsoft Office 2010 could boost your output considerably.



Source: http://goo.gl/yjR4P

Microsoft Great Plains Dexterity Customizations

Microsoft Business Solutions is on the way to popularize it's ERP systems implementation. Right now such products as Microsoft CRM and Small Business Manager (cheap version of Microsoft Great Plains, based on the same Great Plains Dexterity runtime and DYNAMICS.DIC dictionary) are targeted to self-implementation by in-house IT group. This is short article, written in question/answer/FAQ style to give IT Director/Controller balanced top level information on Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains implementation. If you have decided on Microsoft Great Plains as main accounting and ERP system you need to know some technical details on Great Plains installation and implementation and what is going on behind the scenes. As of right now the current version is Microsoft Great Plains 8.0. Plus you probably should know about programming language of Microsoft Great Plains - Great Plains Dexterity

If you are developer who is asked: how do we customize Great Plains with its native programming language - Great Plains Dexterity - read this and you will have the clues on where to look further.

The history of the Dexterity. Great Plains Dexterity - is proprietary programming language and technology, designed back to earlier 1990th with the goal to build platform independent graphical accounting package - Great Plains Dynamics. Dexterity itself is written in C (following popular those days hope - that C will provide platform independence). You can install Dexterity from Great Plains 7.5 CD #2. Obviously it requires a lot of learning / training, but it allows your custom piece be seamlessly integrated with Great Plains interface.

1. Native Dexterity Cursors. Dexterity was designed as platform independent programming language and so if you want your code to be operable on all currently supported databases - you use Dexterity ranges and loops to manipulate the records

2. Great Plains Dexterity with SQL Stored Procs Nowadays, most of Great Plains installations are moved to SQL Server - so you can use Dexterity for custom forms drawing only and make the buttons run SQL stored procedures.

3. COM Objects calls. Beginning with version 7.0 Dexterity supports COM objects - you register them as libraries in Dexterity. Refer the manual. This technique allows you to call such nice things as web services across the internet.

4. Dexterity Forms - if you like VBA and are comfortable to do all the business logic in VBA - you can use Dexterity as new forms creator/editor. This is OK - but you have to purchase VBA/Modifier and Customization Site Enabler from MBS.

Source: http://goo.gl/o6m6S