Month: April 2005

Mac Hint: Using Multiple Home Folders on Different Disks

April 29, 2005 /

Everytime you log into your account while an external disk is attached, you can get all your preferences and documents from there. Logging into your account with no external disk present, you will work with your home folder on your internal disk.

The benefit? MacOSXHints says:

What's the use? My PowerBook has to be repaired, so I backed up all my data to another drive. While I am waiting for my PowerBook to return, I can work on either my sister's or my girlfriend's Mac, depending on whose Mac is free. Instead of copying my complete home folder to two different computers, I just use the external disk and can switch computers whenever I need to.

Read more: Enable multiple home folders on different disks

Podcasting to Promote Book Sales

April 19, 2005 /

Author Mark Jeffrey is using a free, fully-produced MP3 audiobook performance online to promote book sales. The Pocket and the Pendant is read by the author and accompanied by soundtrack music by composer Bjorn Lynne (www.lynnemusic.com).

Mark Jeffrey, together with scifi/fantasy website DragonPage.com, has so far released five chapters of his book, with nine more to go. The free podcast is available from DragonPage.com, PodcastAlley.com, and the book’s website at PocketandPendant.com.

Podcasting is a new technology, similar to blogging three years ago. Here is an overview of podcasting: www.dragonpage.com/podcast.html.

Says Jeffrey:

There really aren’t a lot of free MP3 audiobooks out there, which really surprises me. It’s a great way to promote paperback and hardback novels, as well as give your existing audience a new way to experience the book.

Asked if he thought he was cannibalizing sales, Jeffrey said:

Absolutely not. We’re already seeing thousands of downloads each week, and new listeners are emailing me that they are purchasing paperback copies on Amazon as a direct result of listening to the podcasts.

DragonPage.com is currently featuring three free podcast audiobooks, or ‘podiobooks’: "Morevi" by Tee Morris, "Earthcore" by Scott Sigler and "The Pocket and the Pendant" by Mark Jeffrey. New episodes for each – usually a chapter or two – are released each week. Subscribers use popular ‘podcatchers’ such as iPodder or other applications to get the new audio content delivered to them automatically.

Jeffrey says:

Podcasting is an amazing thing. It’s like TiVo for audio.

Tips On Note-Taking

April 18, 2005 /

I love Hyatt's notes on Recovering the Lost Art of Note-Taking. I like the symbols he says to use:

Use symbols so you can quickly scan your notes later. I indent my notes from the left edge of the paper about half an inch. This allows me to put my symbols in the left margin. I use four:

1. If an item is particularly important or insightful, I put a star next to it.

2. If an item requires further research or resolution, I put a question mark next to it.

3. If an item requires follow-up, I put a ballot box (open square) next to it. When the item is completed, I check it off.

4. If I have assigned a follow-up item to someone, I put an open circle next to it (similar to the ballot box but a circle rather than a square). In the notes, I indicate who is responsible. When the item is completed, I check it off.

List-O-Matic Tools

April 15, 2005 /

Some great web developer tools:

http://www.accessify.com/tools-and-wizards/default.asp

List-O-Matic - Generate navigation bars based on list items (<li>) that are styled with CSS. It's as easy as falling off a chair, only less painful.

Accessible Form Builder - A new version of the form builder tool, this time with more advanced features, including the option of selecting what type of input you need.

Pop-up Window Generator - Following the tutorial 'The Perfect Pop-Up', comes the Pop-up Window Generator - a tool to quickly let you generate a link that is both accessible and XHTML compliant.

Form element generator - Lets you easily build individual form elements that are accessible (requires JavaScript to work)

Accessible Form Builder - A hybrid of the Form Element Generator and the Accessible Table Builder. This tool lets you enter a number of fields for text input, then creates a table (or CSS-based layout) to lay them out in, and puts in the necessary mark-up for accessibility. Forms have never been quicker!

Writer’s Guide to Reading Blogs

April 14, 2005 /

How to Get Into Blogs, 101 is a great starter article for those who are not familiar with blogs and blogging. If you're not using Bloglines or another reader to read RSS blog feeds, you should read this very basic, step-by-step blog reading guide. Reading from a news aggregator is a quick and efficient way to read blog posts, will alert you instantly when new articles appear, and will give you a competitive edge as a writer.

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