How to Increase the Display of Your Browser

If you use a laptop or notebook you may have trouble reading text on a web page. You can increase the size of the display by holding the Control key down and rotating the mouse roller (between the left and right mouse buttons) away from you.  Conversely, you can decrease the size of the display by holding the Control key down and rolling the roller towards you.

Creating an Electronic Form Using Word 2010 Content Controls

To create a form in Word 2010, the form fields are on the Developer toolbar in the Controls group. Click the Legacy option’s dropdown to see form fields (Word 2003) and ActiveX controls.

If Word 2010’s Developer tab isn’t visible, do the following to display it:

1. Click the Quick Access Toolbar dropdown.
2. Choose More Commands.
3. In the left pane, click Customize Ribbon.
4. In the list to the right under Main Tabs, check Developer and click OK.

In the Controls group (on the Developer tab), you’ll see a number of other controls - some seem to duplicate the Legacy option’s controls. These new controls are content controls.

You can insert form controls directly into a document, but consider inserting them into a table instead. They’re a little easier to organize that way. For instance, There's a two-column, five-row table in the document shown below. In the left column, there are descriptive labels for the content controls. (Choose Table from the Insert menu/tab.) Here is where to enter the appropriate content controls into the right column. Specifically, enter two text fields, one date field, and two lists.

First, enter a text field for the class ID as follows:

1. Select the first cell in the right column (to the right of the label, Class).
2. Click Plain Text Content Control in the Controls group (on the Developer tab).

You can click Properties (in the Control group) to better define the control. For now, the default options are fine. Enter a second Plain Text Content Control for the instructor’s name. Next, add a Date Picker Content Control as follows:

1. Select the third cell in the right column and click Date Picker Content Control in the Controls group.
2. Click the Properties option in the Controls group, set the format to m/d/yy, and click OK.

At this point, you have three control.

Add a control that lets users choose an item from a list. Specifically, add a list of ratings so the students can score the instructor on preparation and content. Specifically, create a list of five possible scores, from very poor to excellent, as follows:

1. Select the fourth cell in the right column and click Drop Down List Content Control in the Controls group.
2. Click Properties.
3. Click Add.
4. Enter Very poor in the Display Name control.
5. Enter 1 in the Value control.
6. Click OK.
7. Repeat steps 3 through 6 to create the list shown below. When you’re done, click OK.

Repeat the above instructions to add another Drop Down List Content Control for the last cell in the right column. Or, simply copy it.

Once you’ve inserted all the content controls (or form fields), protect the document as follows:

1. Press Ctrl+A to select the entire document (or select only the table if you’re working in a larger document).
2. Choose Group from the Controls menu.
3. Click Restrict Editing in the Protect group.
4. Check 2. Editing restrictions.
5. From the dropdown, choose Filling In Forms.
6. Save the form, close it, and reopen it.

To use the form, press tab to select the first content control. Enter a class ID and press tab. Enter the instructor’s name and press tab. To enter a date, click the dropdown and click a date. Word will enter the date in the format you selected when you set the control’s properties. Press Tab to move to the next control.

The next two controls are list controls. Click the dropdown for each and select one of the list items.

Word content controls and form fields are good way to implement control and consistency when gathering information.

An Easy Way to Color Correct in PhotoShop

Open a photo, and from the Layer menu and select “New Adjustment Layer”, then “Curves.” This insures you don’t damage the original image.

On the bottom of the curves window, you’ll see 3 little eyedropper buttons called “set black point”, “set gray point” and “set white point." The goal is to click each eyedropper in the blackest, grayest, and whitest parts of the image as you remember them.

Click the left “set black point” eyedropper. Find a point on the image as close to pure black as you can and click it.

Click the right “set white point” eyedropper. Find a point on the image as close to pure white as you can and click it.

If you can find something on the image that is gray (like 128,128,128 RGB) use the middle eyedropper. If you can’t find anything gray in the image, look for concrete or try the off-white part of a subject’s eyes. If you can’t find anything gray you’ll have to depend on the “auto color” feature, and that is a gamble.

What you are doing is telling Photoshop to ignore your monitor, ignore the image RGB values, and to balance every color in the image against a known black and white to set the density and a known gray point to fix any color cast.

The curves eyedroppers doesn’t always give the results you want. Sometimes you have to delete the curves layer and start over again. But the results are almost always better than the “auto levels," “auto color," and “variations” options in Photoshop.