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Welcome to this week's edition of the Computer Kindergarten Newsletter.
Today is Sunday, September 14, 2003
In this Issue:
Special Feature: Minimize, Restore, Maximize
Special Feature: Sizing Windows
Special Feature: Moving Windows
Featured Computer Term: QWERTY
This Week's Topic: The Difference Between Save and Save As
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IMPORTANT:
We've changed our website address. It is now: http://www.stsico.com
Link for AOL Members: Home
We hope that this shorter address is more convenient to use. Please update
your Favorites and Bookmarks.
Need more information on Bookmarks and Favorites? Visit our website:http://stsico.com/html/bookmarks.html
Link for AOL Members: bookmarks
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Using Links
A Link is a reference to a website. In this newsletter you will see links to
many worthwhile, informative and fun websites. Here are the instructions on
how to use links:
A link will be used one of two ways, depending on your email program.
If you see the link in blue, underlined text, all you have to do is click on
it and a window with the Website in it will automatically appear on your
screen.
If you see the link in plain text, you can copy and paste it into the address
bar on your browser. Highlight the link with your mouse, click Edit up on
the menu bar, and then click Copy from the menu that you just opened up. Open
your browser (click the Start Button, point to Programs, click on Internet
Explorer); click on the address bar. Click Edit up on the menu bar, and then
click Paste from the menu that you just opened up. Press the Enter key on the
keyboard and this will take you to the Website.
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Special Feature: Minimize, Restore, Maximize
Note the three buttons to the far right of the title bar. These are the basic window controls which you will find on every program window. The button on the left with the picture of a flat line is the minimize button. A single left-click on this button will shrink the window down into the program’s button on the Taskbar. Left-clicking once on that Taskbar button will restore the window to its previous size - this is called Restore Up. The X button on the right will close the window and its associated program entirely. The button in the center with the single large square will maximize the window, causing it to fill your entire screen.
Once a window is maximized, the picture on the middle button changes to two overlapping squares. A single left-click on this button now will shrink the window back down to its previous size - this is called Restore Down.
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Please tell your neighbors, friends and family about our classes and our
email newsletter.
If you would like us to send this newsletter to a friend, please send your
name and their email address to info@computerkindergarten.com with the words
Subscribe to Newsletter in the subject line of the email.
If you think a friend or family member would like to attend our classes,
we'll send them a printed list of upcoming classes. Send a stamped,
self-addressed envelope to: STSI - Class Schedule, 50 Lee Avenue, Babylon NY 11702.
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Special Feature: Sizing Windows
You can enlarge or shrink a window to any specific size you want by holding your cursor directly over one of the window’s edges or corners until the pointer changes into a Resize cursor - a two-way arrow similar to the example at the right. Holding down the left mouse button and dragging the resize cursor in or out will expand or contract the window.
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Special Feature: Moving Windows
A window that is Restored Down can be moved to a different location on the screen. Point to the title bar of the window (that’s the blue bar across the top that has the program’s name), hold down the left mouse button, and drag the window toward the desired location. You’ll note, as you’re dragging the window, that you’ll see a thick outline of the window. When the outline is in the new location, release the mouse button.
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Featured Computer Term: QWERTY
A question often asked is why the keyboard is so hard to type on, and why we call the standard keyboard layout a QWERTY layout.
When the typewriter was invented, there was obviously no standard layout. Many were tried, including some that were very easy to use. However, the inventors soon found that typists could type too fast, causing the typewriter to jam. So, what they did was purposely redesign the key layouts to slow down the typists. And this layout became the standard. As typewriters improved and became jam-proof, the key layout was not changed accordingly.
Now we’re stuck with an ancient key layout called QWERTY. Why? Look at the left side of the keyboard, specifically at the letter Q. Read across to the right, and you’ll see the letters Q W E R T and Y. This was used to differentiate this layout from others.
A newer layout was designed years ago, call the DVORAK layout (named for its inventor) but it never caught on.
Is there a computer term or phrase that you'd like to see an explanation of?
Email it to info@computerkindergarten.com and we'll put the term and its
definition in an upcoming newsletter.
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Today's Topic: The Difference Between Save and Save As
When you create a brand new document and click on File on the menu and then Save, you will be presented with the Save As dialog box because Word wants to know two things:
1. Where do you want to save it?
2. What do you want to name it?
In a typical Save, you'll usually just answer the second question; that’s the file name. If you want to save the file to, say, a floppy disk, you’ll change the answer to the first question. Click the Save button and you’re done.
After you have saved your file once, clicking on that same series of commands no longer gives you these choices. Why? Because Word assumes you do not want to change the choices you made. Word assumes you simply want to update the original copy by overwriting it with this new version of the same file. If you click File, Save again, your program will not even show you the Save dialog box after the first save.
Here’s where Save As comes in. If, in fact, you DO want to either put a copy in a new location, or create a new copy with a new name, you must go to the File menu and choose Save As. That will then display the Save dialog box, which you need to change the file name or location information.
Windows will not allow you to have two files with the exact same name in the same folder, so when you save a file to a location where that file already exists, Windows will replace the existing file with your new one. So, if you do not want to overwrite the existing file, but instead want to create another copy with a different name or in a different location or as a different file type, you must go to the File menu and choose Save As.
When you choose File then Save As, you can use the dropdown box at the top of the Save As dialog box, which says Save In, to select the location where you want to put your new copy. You can also change the name of your new copy in the File name box and save it either in a new location or in the same location as the original (because this new copy now has a different name).
In conclusion, the main thing to remember is that Save will overwrite your existing file with this new copy, whereas Save As will give you the options discussed above.
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