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Welcome to all the new subscribers! (Information on how
to leave this list or change your e-mail address are at
the bottom of the list)
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Communicating Using Technology
Vol. 3 Issue 9 April 27, 2004
Published and Copyright by Dave Paradi
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In this issue:
Note on E-mail subject line
1. Spicing up PowerPoint Charts
2. Print Multiple pages on One Sheet in Word
3. Useful Resource - Guide to Graphics File Formats
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e-mail or information to anyone.
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If you have received this as a forward from a friend, sign up
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http://www.communicateusingtechnology.com/newsletter.htm
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Note: You may have noticed that the subject line of the e-mail
containing the newsletter has changed. I have heard from many
readers that they save these newsletters for future reference, so
I decided to make it easier to find a tip you remember from a
previous issue. The subject line of the e-mail now shows you the
date and a summary of the two main tips in the issue, including
what application the tip refers to. Let me know if this is
helpful to you.
1. Spicing up PowerPoint Charts
An article I saw recently at PC Magazine talked about how to make
Excel charts look more fun by adding graphics (such as a picture
of a hamburger) as the fill color for bar charts. This allows
you for example to show a stack of burgers the height of which
represents the data value. It turns out that the same techniques
work for PowerPoint charts. To use a graphic as the fill for a
bar or column chart, first create the chart using the chart tools
and accept the default fill colors. Then, right click on the
chart and select to edit the chart from the popup menu that
appears by clicking on Chart - Edit. Click on the data series
you wish to change (may need to click on it more than once to
select the data series). Now right click on that data series and
choose to Format Data Series in the popup menu. On the Patterns
tab, click on the Fill Effects button to open the Fill Effects
dialog box and click on the Picture tab. Now you can use the
Browse button to find the graphic image you want to use as the
fill character. Also select the Stack or Stack and Stretch
option in the Format portion of the dialog box to get the
stacking effect. If you have 3-D bars or columns, you can choose
to apply it to all or less than all of the sides of the bar or
column. Then click OK to return to the Format Data Series dialog
box. The Sample picture shown at the bottom of the box is not
the way it will really look, so don't worry that it may look
really squished. Now click Ok and check out the results on your
graph. This tends to work best with images that have a
transparent background as the effect is more dramatic. This can
give new life to a chart you have to present and can give your
presentation that neat new look. If you use charts in your
presentation, consider how this technique may improve your
message by using different graphics for each bar to show the
relative amounts of each data series instead of using a legend.
For example, you could show the relative sales of two products by
using a picture of the product as the fill symbol for each bar
and it is crystal clear to the audience what each bar represents.
If you want to see the article that inspired this tip, you can
click on:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1476585,00.asp
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2. Print Multiple pages on One Sheet in Word
Last week was Environment week in most of North America, and here
is a tip that will cut down on the paper you use when printing
documents in Word. There are utilities you can buy to print
multiple pages on a single sheet of paper, but instead of
spending money on those utilities, first check out the feature
already built into Word (this may not exist in older versions of
Word). When you click on the File menu and click on the Print
menu item (or press the Ctrl+P key combination), you bring up the
Print dialog box. In the lower right section of the box is an
area titled Zoom. Here, you will find a drop down box for Pages
per sheet. The default is of course 1 page per sheet, but if you
drop the selection box down, you see options for 2 to 16 pages
per sheet. I have found that most people can read a document
with 12 point font quite well when printed at 2 pages per sheet.
Once you go to 4 or 6 pages per sheet it gets more difficult to
read. Even printing some of your documents at 2 pages per sheet
will cut down dramatically on the paper you use, the impact on
the environment and saves a bunch of money as well. If you
routinely print documents from Word to save in paper files for
possible reference later on, this technique can save you space on
filing and money on the paper you use.
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Check out "The 20% You REALLY Need to Know About":
PowerPoint 2000 or 2002
Structuring a Presentation
Creating Effective PowerPoint Slides
Using Presentation Equipment
Creating Presentation Handouts
at http://www.communicateusingtechnology.com/tools.htm
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3. Useful Resource - Guide to Graphics File Formats
There seems to be a lot of questions about what graphic file
format should be used for different purposes. PC Magazine had a
great article that explains what each file format is and when you
would want to use it. Their conclusion is consistent with my
suggestion that a JPEG or compressed TIFF file is good for web
sites or presentations (the TIFF allowing transparent backgrounds
and the JPG does not). For higher resolution applications such
as printing, a high quality JPG or TIFF is required. If you have
wondered about some of these file formats you see when dealing
with graphic files, I highly recommend you check out this article
at:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1524991,00.asp
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Tools I use to sell my products:
KickStartCart shopping cart system:
http://www.kickstartcart.com/app/default.asp?pr=31&id=42487
Credit Card Processor 2checkout.com:
http://www.2checkout.com/cgi-bin/aff.2c?affid=90267
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Would you like me to speak to your professional association
or chapter event? I am always looking for opportunities to
share my information with others and would consider speaking
to your group if you are in or near the following areas:
Rochester, NY, Buffalo NY, Detroit, MI, Cleveland, OH,
Pittsburgh, PA or Toronto, ON. Just e-mail me at:
dave@communicateusingtechnology.com for more info.
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Check out the books, e-books and other learning tools at:
http://www.communicateusingtechnology.com/tools.htm
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This newsletter is:
CUT Newsletter Apr 27/04 [PPT Charts, Word MultiPage Printing]
If you want to read back issues of this newsletter, click on
the following link to go to the Archives:
http://tinyurl.com/nhgl
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