Vista, Word 2007 tutorials

The ribbon: understanding it is vital to using Word 2007... See below for explanation

Some of the people I work with are finding it tough to get used to working with Word 2007. If you are similarly challenged, here are some tutorials you might find useful...

If even finding Word is challenging enough, it might be worth starting here, with the basics of Vista 2007.

Two things to start with
There are two important things you need to do to get started. One is to get the hang of using the ribbon.

You use the ribbon to navigate your different tools -- it replaces the drop-down menus you were used to. You need to click the tabs to access the different groups of tools: in the image (above) we're currently in the home tab (red arrow); you need to click the other tabs (black arrows) to access other tools.

The second important thing is to realise that some of the things you want (like "save as") are hidden behind that button, "A" in the image below. Click that, and you do get a drop-down menu ("B"). That's got to be the FAQ I answer most often...

The button: Ah-hah! So that's where it's hidden!

If you'd rather have a text-based tutorial than video, here's one on getting started with Word 2007.

Look on Google and you'll find lots more tutorials...

Somewhere else worth going -- rather than Google -- when you are trying to get your head round technology is YouTube, where you'll find some great tutorials. Here's a very simple one on using the Word 2007 ribbon...

And TeacherTube is another place I'd go... Lots of Word 2007 video tutorials there too.

Go get yourself used to it
Word 2007 is not really that complicated, or so very different -- once you get used to it.

I'd suggest that getting the hang of Word 2007 is a bit like driving a new car, or using a new digital camera: you've got to make just a little bit of effort yourself to get used to it. Get your head round "the ribbon", and you're away...

Finding technology tutorials
How did I find all of these things? See the first comment (below) for some search tips.

How to digitalise your cassettes

There's hope for my Dylan bootlegs yet... Not to mention an impressive collection of First Certificate tapes!

Another one that came to me from Lifehacker: how to digitalise your cassettes.

Do you work in the kind of school with the listening materials still on cassettes, in those ever so slightly greasy cassette boxes...?

Guess I could still recover my Dylan bootlegs...!

How to download movies from YouTube (etc)

This one came to me from Lifehacker, one of my favourite RSS feeds. You want to download a movie from YouTube (etc) in order to be able to play it back later...

(Before you do that for class, I'd -- as always -- ask, is that a good investment of your time...? Are your learners going to learn more, as a result...?)

Lifehacker explains how, and what you need (a Firefox extension, basically...)

How to...

Here's a website you might get a fun lesson out of, wikihow.com.

Spotted recently:

• How to escape from a bear
• How to date a hopelessly romantic person when you are not hopelessly romantic yourself
  
• How to hold a successful garage sale
  
• How to overcome the fear of marriage
  

As with anything you might find on the Internet, ask yourself whether you are not going to break any cultural tabus, etc, there.

Garage (aka car boot) sales are something you might have to explain -- they are totally unheard of in Spain, for example.

What could you do with it?

• Introduce the topic in some way... "I've got this friend who's utterly unromantic, who's dating this girl who is very romantic and he was asking me for some advice (knowing what a romantic person I am... ,-)"
• Get the students to brainstorm a list of ideas
• Pyramid the discussion (move from pairs to fours, from fours to eights, etc)
• Get them to go to the site and read the article
• Etc
  

The "etc" is particularly important, I would suggest. What are your learners going to do with the information they find -- I'd say that's a vital question. Posting their ideas, and commenting on them, on a class blog is one thing they could do with it...

Don't search
Wikihow is one of the things I have on my Google personalised home page. In that way, I don't go looking for things on wikihow -- they come to me.

Muddiest points, 10 August

A number of the "muddiest points" from the session(s) on August 10 I've answered previously, so I will direct you to answers that you'll find here on this blog:

• How do you set up a "news aggregator" -- and what is RSS?
• Using "paste special" to copy text off of the Internet into a Word document
• How to change the default start page of your browser
• Which is better, text or images?
• What's podcasting?
• Coping with geekspeak
  

In a separate post, I've answered the question "Why bother with technology?"

And finally, someone wanted to know how to find things on Google. I would argue that they didn't mean Google, they meant finding things on the Internet...

Muddiest points, 16 June

There were various "muddiest points" in today's session regarding blogs and blogging...

Again, for some of these there were already answers on this blog, so I'll point you there for some of them:

How do you set up a blog?
There are lots of providers of blogging services, with Blogger.com being one of the best known. Here's how to set a blog up with Blogger; here's how to set a blog up at Zoomblog, which is what this blog used to use; and here's a comparison of the two.

Note that if you're not that confident with technology, Blogger may prove just slightly easier for you.

If you want a really simple, really basic blog, then an alternative would be Yahoo 360º, for which you'd need a Yahoo account.

How blogging can be useful in English teaching
I'll point you to a previous post to answer the question what can you do with a blog?

More about blogs and blogging
To learn more about the subject, you have further links in the sidebar.

And one last "muddiest point" for today...
Why is blogging so cool and innovative?

Muddiest points, 6 April

Not surprisingly, as we had no Internet connection, and I couldn't show you what a blog is, "blogs" was the muddiest point for the session this morning. Always have a "Plan B", as I suggested!

Specifically, someone said "the way in which blogs can be useful in English teaching". In a previous post, I suggested some of the things that you can do with a blog...

Do feel free to use the "comments" link that you will find below each of the posts on this blog, by the way!

In previous posts I've also explained how to set a blog up, both on Blogger.com and on Zoomblog.

Two others -- which a 90-minute session really doesn't give us time to look at properly -- were RSS and podcasting.

And finally, difficulties with the terminology, something lots of people find hard -- but which shouldn't put you off using technology!

Muddiest points, 17 March

The following were the "muddiest points" from our session on March 17th.

• "What's the purpose of this blog?" someone asked, a great question, which I've answered in a separate post. (One of the things I like about the muddiest point technique is that it makes the teacher think!)
• "How do you actually create a blog?" is a question the session doesn't allow time for, but which I've answered previously. You have separate tutorials for Blogger and for Zoomblog (two of the big providers of blogging services), and a comparison of the two, to help you determine which might be better
• "Why is Firefox better than Internet Explorer?"
  
• "Webquests" someone else said -- for which you now have a series of useful links

New to technology?
Several people made comments along the lines of "I've almost no experience in information technology and I don't understand anything yet" and "it's all new to me and I need practice". You now have some suggestions on how to cope with that...

Windows Explorer

Windows Explorer is used for exploring what you have on your computer -- and also for organising what's on it, by creating folders and subfolders.

It's not the same as Internet Explorer, which is used for exploring what's on the Internet.

How you get to Windows Explorer


There are various ways you can launch Windows Explorer, all of which you can see in the image, above:

• Using "My Computer", which in effect launches Windows Explorer for you
• Via the "Windows Explorer" icon
• By right-clicking on the "start" button (bottom left of the image), and then choosing "Explore" from the pop-up menu
• By clicking "start", choosing "Run" and typing "explorer" into the box
  

What can you do with Windows Explorer
There are lots of useful things you can do with Windows Explorer, some of them essential to then being able to find things easily on your PC.

• create a new folder (via File >> New >> Folder, shown in the image, right)
  
• create sub folders (right-click within an existing folder, choose New >> Folder, and name appropriately)
  
• rename a folder (right-click it, and choose "rename" (or select the folder and hit the F2 shortcut key))
• examine what is in the folders, with the "view thumbnails" function the best way to see what images you have in them
• reorganise files into other folders (select whatever you want, holding down Control or Control+Shift to select multiple files, and simply drag to whichever folder you want them in)
  

If what you have created doesn't seem to appear, hit the F5 key to refresh the view.

Organising and naming your files and folders logically becomes vital when you have a lot of things on your computer.

Go to "start" >> "search" if you still can't find it!

>> More on Windows Explorer

View thumbnails

The "view thumbnails" function is useful if you want to see what images you have got in a particular folder. In the image above we are seeing the files as a "list" -- and we can't actually see the images.

If you have saved things to your PC from a digital camera, for example, you've probably got names like "DSN5987" -- not terribly helpful, especially when you have several hundred of them!

Assuming you are using Windows, if it's Windows 2000, go to "View" and pick "Thumbnails".


If you have Windows XP, you have both "thumbnails" and "filmstrip" (as shown in the image, above). The latter gives you a much larger version of the image (great for determining which of those several hundred pix you just took on your camera should be trashed!).

If it's a Spanish PC, you want "vistas en miniatura" from the "ver" menu.

"Paste special" to copy content from the Internet

If you are copying text from the Internet -- say, a news story for use in class (see Links, right, for sources) -- you will often find that when you paste the text into Word you get unwanted formatting, largely in the form of tables.

Copying from a webpage will do that -- pick up the tables that have been used to lay out the page.

Avoiding that, and getting just the text that you want, is very simple -- and will be much quicker than trying to eliminate all those table cells.


Copy the text, go to your Word document, and -- from the menu, not the icon -- choose "Paste special" (see image, above).


Then choose "unformatted text" (see second image, above). And it's as simple as that...

To try it, go to Yahoo News, for example, copy a story, and then try both methods: paste with the icon, and then -- in a new document -- use "paste special".

See the difference...?

Keyboard shortcuts

Keyboard short cuts -- such as using the "Control" key +S to save the document you are currently working on -- are not something that you actually need to use.

If you aren"t using them already, you must be accessing the same tools either by the menus or by the icons. From the menu, File >> Save, for example, will have the same effect as Control+S, and clicking the diskette "Save" icon will do the same.

What are the keyboard short cuts?


If you pull down a dropdown menu you will be able to see what your keyboard short cuts are -- as you can see in the image above.

Start to use them and Control +A, +C, +F, +S, +V, +Z, +X (etc) will soon become second nature to you. Go ahead: explore the menus in Word and Internet Explorer and Firefox and you'll soon discover what each of those is for.
Why use the short cuts?
Two reasons. One is that they"ll save you time -- they're faster.

And, more importantly, if you learn to use them, you've learnt something new about using your computer -- and learning how to use a computer more proficiently makes you more confident about using it.

It's a bit like learning a language. When you acquire more words, better skills, you can do more; when you can do more, you feel more confident, and you then communicate more successfully. It's a snowball effect.

Try the shortcuts…!

Change the default start page on your browser

When you open Internet Explorer (IE) -- or Firefox, or whatever browser you are using -- by default it will open at a particular page. What page it opens on is something you can change.

I always have my browser open at Yahoo UK, partly because that takes me to my e-mail but partly also because the news headlines often contain interesting stories (often bizarre, fun stories) that I then copy and save for use in class. "Goat crowned king of Ireland", "Mobile phones for dogs" -- the headlines make you (and your learners) want to read, and that must be a good thing.

How do you change your default start page?

Assuming that you are using IE, actually go to the page you want; then pick Tools >> Internet Options (see image, above); and then click "Use current". Then next time you open IE, you will return to your page automatically.

If you are using Firefox, do the same thing: go to the page; pick Tools >> Options; and you will find "Use current pages" under the "General" tab.

Have things come to you
Doing that, watching for those interesting stories out of the corner of your eye, is one way to have things come to you, rather than going looking for them. "Don't search!" would always be my advice on using the Internet.

For learners, I always recommend that they have their browser open either at Yahoo UK or at the BBC World Service -- and then spend 5 minutes (every time they log on!) picking one item that looks interesting to them and reading it. 5 minutes extra reading practise a day -- great for your English!

As you can just make out in the second image, above, the BBC World Service has the added advantage of a 5 minute audio news (and sport, and business) bulletin. 5 minutes extra listening practice too!

How do you set up a blog (with Blogger.com)?

Setting up your Blogger account is very easy, but I've provided the screenshots below to guide you through the process.


Step 1: Take a quick tour
First of all you have to go to www.blogger.com and create a new account. Remember when you set up your Hotmail or Yahoo account? Well, this is pretty much the same.

To give you an idea of what blogging involves, you might "take a quick tour" first. Choose that link (shown above).

To set up your account, click where it says "Create your account now" (also shown above).


Step 2: Set up your account
The first screen you get is shown above. Your "user name" and "password" you could make the same as what you are using on Yahoo, or wherever -- which makes it easy to remember them.

Your "display name" is what it says when you post to a blog (what appears on the webpage). Under what you write it will automatically say "posted by" and whatever name you have chosen. I suggest you use your own preferred first name, with a capital letter. My "display name" is Tom, for example.

Accept the "terms" and then click "continue"...


Set 3: Give your blog a name
The next screen looks like the one above. For a first blog, I suggest that you choose one of your hobbies and use that as the "blog title" (you can always change it later, or create a completely new blog) -- "Mountain biking in Spain", for example.

You'll see another example below -- "Jumping up and down on the bed", my favourite sport when I was a kid!

The "blog address" is the address you will have to go to to see your blog. Don't put any spaces in it -- "mountainbikingspain", for example.


Step 4: Choose a template
You then have to choose a "template" (screen shown above). The template controls what your blog looks like. You don't get many choices, and you can change your mind afterwards (and will in fact then get more choices).

I suggest you choose whichever you think is least horrible!

Click "continue", and then you'll get this:


Step 5: Sit back and watch
"Your blog has been created" (above). It really is that simple!

Step 6: Create your first post
Now you can start "posting" to your newly created blog. The interface is shown above, with lots of those buttons probably already being familiar to you:

You will need to write something in order to be able to actually view the blog, and have to click "publish post" (not shown above) first. You also get a "save as draft" button, which allows you to save what you've written and post it later.


Your "Dashboard"
One final thing... Top right, you'll see a link "Back to Dashboard" (circled above).

Your dashboard shows you all of your blogs -- you can have lots of them -- and you can access and edit them from the dashboard.

My "dashboard" (I would click -- for example -- "Young Learners" to edit my Young Learners blog, circled):


There's more to learn about blogs, of course -- but the best way to do that is to try a blog out for yourself...

>> Go to blogger.com in order to set an account (and blog) up for yourself

How do you set up a blog (with Zoomblog.com)?

I originally chose Zoomblog.com rather than Blogger.com for this blog to some extent because Zoomblog offers a particular tool that Blogger.com doesn't have (yet), namely categories.

Without categories, you can only really navigate a blog chronologically. With categories, you can also navigate via author-defined subjects (blogs and blogging, the introduction session itself, muddiest points were three that I set up).

As on blogger.com, a Zoomblog account is remarkably easy to set up...

Step 1: Choose "Start a blog now"
Go to Zoomblog.com, ignore anything you don't understand, and hit that button!

Step 2: Choose your "level of expertise" -- easy, intermediate or expert

Basically, "easy" means you don't get all the options -- I'd recommend you go for "expert" (even if you are not!): you can always change if you find all the different options confusing.

Step 3: Fill in the form...
I suggest that you stay with a password that you already use, say, on your Yahoo or Hotmail account, as it will then be easier to remember.

At this point you'll have to wait for Zoomblog to send you a confirmation link -- which will go to the email address you fill in above.


Step 4: Start your blog
Think of a subject that interests you -- fishing or crochet or bike mechanics, it doesn't matter want -- that goes in the blog title (the first field, above).

The important field is the "blog name/address" -- that's where you will go to actually view the blog once it's online. No spaces in it.

The other field that is important is "who can read this blog". Pick something other than the default "everyone" if you are concerned about privacy.

Personally, I'd suggest making it private at first (you can change later), at least until there's something there worth reading.


Step 5: "Format and style"
You then have to choose what is called a "template", which determines what all of your pages will look like. Click one of the buttons to make your selection.

Step 6: Create your blog
Hit the "create blog" button at the foot of the page to do so -- it's really that simple.

Step 7: Your first post
If you chose "Expert" your editor looks as shown above. Click "publish" to create your first post.

If all those options look confusing, and you want to change your settings, clicking "Level" allows you to go back to "Easy" (shown below), or Intermediate.

For the sake of comparison, here you can see the Zoomblog version of this blog (no longer maintained).

In October 2006, I switched back to Blogger.com in order to be able to publish on our own server (ihes.com).