Saturday, July 31, 2010

Design and Build a Bookshelf

Build Yourself a Bookshelf
Release : 23 July 2010
Field : Home Handyman
Focus : Construction Tips and Techniques


The sense of satisfaction gained from building your own bookshelf can be made all the more by getting a few things right from the start.

Here are 10 Hot Tips to make the job straightforward and hassle free.

1. Draw a plan
You don't need to be Da Vinci or Michelangelo to make a simple drawing for what you are about to build.  A pencil sketch is a vital first step to realising what you actually want; it helps you visualise the finished product.

2. Put measurements on your plan
Start with the main dimension.  How tall is it?  How wide will it be?  Once you work out how big the 'box' is, then you can work out the details.

The most important dimensions are those that affect others.  For example, once you decide the width of the bookshelf that will determine how long each shelf is.  The exact height of the shelves can be changed when you are building but the lengths will be what you design them to be.


3. Write the Cut List
This all-important step can make or break your project.  If you are getting the hardware store to cut the timber for you then you need to make sure your numbers add up!

Remember the Rule: Measure Twice, Cut Once.

What you need to think about with your Cut List is how the pieces will fit together.  In a simple design the ends of the cuts are all square, not 45 degrees.  That means that some pieces will be shorter by twice the thickness of the timber you are using.  

Why?  Well if your shelf is 1000mm long and you are using 16mm melamine then the shelves will need to be 1000 -- (16 x 2) = 968mm because 968 + 32 = 1000, right.


Also, think about how your finished piece will look.  If the sides go all the way to the top then you will only have screws in the sides, which is usually good.  However, what does the top look like?  Are you using laminate and can cover the top edge with a nice strip?  Will it sand smooth and paint nicely so you don't notice?

4. Bringing it Home
It may sound obvious but take care when transporting your timber from the store.  All too often I have seen a tremendous amount of work go into building a lovely piece of furniture only to realise at the painting stage that one of the shelves has a great big dent in it.  At this stage it is not so easy to fix so avoid the problem in the first place.  Carry with Care!

5. Laying it Out
With all the pieces you need cut to the right size, lay them out on the floor so you can double check everything looks right and will go together smoothly.

6. Pre-drilling Pilot Holes
Most timber bigger than 12mm can be screwed without pre-drilling. However, the finish is usually nicer and there is less risk of damage if you use a pilot hole.  

For chipboard or melamine I would always pre-drill a pilot hole through the side pieces.  As long as you align the centre of the shelf with the screw, the shelves themselves do not usually need a pilot hole.

To give a really pro finish, countersink the holes by hand using an oversized drill bit.

Method: If you are using 6 gauge, 45mm particleboard screws in 16mm board, for example, then drill a 3mm pilot hole and use an 8mm drill bit to countersink for the head of the screws.


Still a novice carpenter?  There are some great books available to show you the basics of carpentry and D.I.Y. Handyman work.

7. Putting it Together
The old fashioned way to get a screw in a piece of wood was to use a screwdriver!  Like using any hand tool this is a bit of a practiced art.  

I strongly recommend you beg, borrow or steel a cordless screwdriver or as a second option a cordless drill.  Driving a screw at a steady pace into a piece of wood will give the best hold.  That said, the example shown below was pre-drilled but hand screwed.  (The cordless drill showed up a couple of days later!)

On a cordless drill, set the torque setting to one of the lowest settings to start with.  

On my Bosch cordless with settings that range from 1 to 14, I would start on a setting of 3.  Ideally the torque setting should drive the screw all the way in and when the head of the screw is almost all the way home.  

It depends on the wood, the size of the screw and the size of the pilot hole but I often found that torque setting of 7 or 8 would give the best result. The last quarter turn can be done by hand (yes, using a screwdriver!) to avoid over-tightening.

8. Preparing the Finish
If you have chosen dressed timber to start with that makes this step a breeze.  A simple light sand by hand using a cork block or similar sanding block is all that is required before painting.

Wipe the whole cabinet with a damp cloth before applying any finish.

9. Coatings and Colour
When you plan to paint your bookshelf with a solid colour it is usually best to use an undercoat first.  This helps the paint stick.  Even if the paint job looks good to start with, it will only be a matter of months before the chips and other signs of wear and tear will become obvious.

Good preparation is vital to a lasting finish.

Making your own bookshelf gives you complete freedom over all the important choices; how big it is, how deep the shelves are and, some might thing most importantly, what colour it is.  Don't be afraid to try a bold colour first.  You can always paint over it with an earthy tone later if the shade of fluorescent orange you chose goes out of fashion!

101. Enjoyment
Sitting in a room with a piece of furniture you have made yourself can be a source of immense pride and satisfaction.  When it works out well you will have fans relaying the message down the line about how fantastic you are, 'doesn't it look good' and 'isn't she so clever' that it is enough to make most of us smile at least inwardly.

If it doesn't work then you can feed it to the fire and start again! 

Alternatively, there is usually a need in the student population for cheap, if not perfect, furniture.  At the very least you will recover your expenses to fund your next project.


Looking for the blueprint to your woodworking success? Here's just the ticket:


Ok so it's an ad for a bunch of plans you can buy... Really good plans, superb presentation (loads better than my scanned post-it notes!!) that take the guess work out of building quality wood work projects, the first time.

No fire sales, no seconds for the student population, just quality guides for just about everything but most importantly a guide for just the project you were looking for! Simple. Check it out... Click Here!





Thursday, July 29, 2010

Get the best of XP working in Windows 7

Get the best of Windows XP
Working in Windows 7
Release : 29 July 2010
Field : Organisational Behaviour
Focus : Optimised Business Systems Process

Introduction
Many new improvements in the Windows 7 operating system are a refreshing and welcome improvement over previous incarnations.  However, some of the best features, particularly from Windows XP, are sadly absent.


This article highlights a couple of key features that not only make the transition to Windows 7 as painless as possible but also restore familiar features many users have become accustomed to.


What happened to {Alt}{Enter}?
It seems almost unthinkable that this simple keyboard command would have been crippled in a simple operating system upgrade however that's the fact!

The new Windows Explorer supports {Alt}{Enter} for files.  This is equivalent to right clicking a file and selecting properties from the context menu.  The same shortcut used to also work for folders.  While you can still RightClick a folder and select properties, no longer works!

Many users rely on this keyboard command as a quick way to access file and folder properties.  There are two distinct ways to overcome the limitation imposed by Win7.  The first is a key macro utility that execute a series of commands when a special key combination is pressed and the second is a third party dedicated utility.

Solutions
Key Macro Utility
A popular key macro utility, AutoHotKey, is a popular solution.  However if you are not currently using AutoHotKey then it may be more trouble than it's worth.  AutoHotKey is an OpenSource project and may be found here.

3rd Party Utilities
A simple search for "ALT Enter" will return a list of results consisting of forum questions or a smattering of utilities and methods to 'fix' Windows.

In keeping with the mentality that Windows XP provided an excellent interface Classic Shell may be just the solution you are looking for.  The nice thing about this utility is that virtually every feature it offers can be disabled!

Why would you do that?
Well, Classic Shell allows you to include many features found in XP and Vista that are notably missing from Win 7.  After trying several utilities I found this to be the best and least buggy program with a virtually non-existent footprint.

You can find a link to the program here.


There are two components to this utility: Classic Shell and Classic Explorer.  The Shell affects the way the windows interface behaves and the Explorer specifically affects the way the file manager appears and functions.

Customising both these programs can tailor your windows experience to suit your personal preferences.

Navigate Up?

A feature popular with many users is the "Up" arrow, that simply navigates to one level higher in the folder tree.  The included "Back" button behaves in a similar manner to an internet browser, moving one step 'back' along the breadcrumb trail.  With the changes to the navigation paradigm with Windows 7 perhaps you will appreciate this tweak.

The other major feature of Classic Shell is transforming the Explorer display into the old XP Explorer!  Fantastic.  

In a twist of irony, Windows 7 designers decided a new file manager, replete with less intuitive icons would help users!  In a whitepaper released by Microsoft they expound the virtues of a clear interface.  They have worked hard to remove the so-called 'visual noise' created by underlining keyboard command letters yet mangled the far superior XP manager.

(Digression: Pressing Alt + F activates the file menu; the F letter in File is underlined.  Microsoft claimed this visual noise distracted novice users and so justified removing the default underline convention.  A redacted version of the whitepaper can be found here. )

I personally find the little black arrows next to folders less clear than the old system and I must say I persisted for some time to adapt.  Classic Shell includes the ability to view the file manager in XP Simple Mode, the view most users are used to.  Classic Shell also includes Vista variations.

Whipping the Loose Ends
Windows 7 delivers a better operating environment than XP.  Gone are the days of endless disk thrashing and other  kernel issues associated with XP.  A few readily available tweaks makes this OS the best yet and in terms of significance is at least as important as Win98 and WinXP were.

Get Windows 7, play a little, tweak your legacy functionality back to life and expect it to serve you well for some time to come.


Comments and Questions Welcome.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Organise Files Using Libraries in Windows 7

Organise Files
Using Library Folders in Windows 7
Release : 23 July 2010
Field : Organisational Behaviour
Focus : Optimised Business Systems Process

Introduction
With the widespread acceptance of Windows 7 a new system has emerged for organising files stored in different folders and network locations.  Libraries are Microsoft's attempt to simplify the task of finding related files, stored in different places, by providing a central index called a library.

My Libraries
Here are my current library folders:
The Documents, Music, Pictures and Videos libraries are included as default folders with Windows 7.  So far I have added two libraries to play around with this feature of Windows; eBooks and my business folder F# Productions.

New Libraries
Adding new libraries is quite straightforward and behaves exactly the same as creating a new folder.  The simplest way is to open Windows Explorer, the inbuilt file manager for Windows and navigate to the root Libraries folder.  Right clicking the Library folder, or the window space in the file pane, and selecting New will present the option New Library.

If you are an advocate of efficient computing and prefer keyboard commands (a.k.a. keyboard shortcuts or keyboard accelerators) then the standard  {ALT} {F} for File, {W} for neW and {L} for Library will do the job.

Give your new library a name!  You are now ready to add folder locations to your library.  For this demonstration I will walk through creating an eBooks libary.

Adding locations to libraries
The first location to add is really easy because Windows offers a nice prompt:
At this point you can simply press the button to include a folder.  A standard Explorer window will open so you can navigate to and select a folder:
Note: The first folder you include in a library becomes the default save location for that library.  


While libraries are referred to as virtual folders if you drag-and-drop then Windows needs to know where to put the actual file.  That location is this, the first, included folder.

Now, the real power of libraries will not become apparent until you add more locations.  So you need to know how to add more folders.

Adding More Locations to a Library
The simplest and most intuitive method, not surprisingly, is to add a folder when you are looking at it.

This is where the
context menu really shines.  The RightClick menu on any folder in Windows Explorer now incorporates a menu item to add the folder to a library:

Simply point and click to select the library you want to add the folder to.  Done!

The two other ways to add a folder to a library are both available only when you are browsing in the library folder itself.  The old school method is to access the Properties of the library folder.  The WindowsWay is to click the "location" hyperlink shown under the library name at the top of the files pane.

RightClick Library Properties
In the Windows Explorer you can RightClick on any Library and select the last context menu item, Properties.  Note this does not work if you click on any of the folders contained within a library.  Make sure you RightClick on the name of the Library file you wish to add to.
The option to Include a Folder is obvious so while we are here you might like to set the type of this library.  What you optimise for will affect the way items are indexed in the library.  Music files are indexed differently to documents, for example.

The eBooks folder here is intended to contain PDF files so we optimise for Documents.
The WindowsWay
Returning to our original purpose, the remaining method to add a location to a folder is to click the hyperlink shown under the library name in the folder pane:

Clicking this hyperlink will open a new dialog window:
Clicking the Add button opens a new Explorer window where you can browse to a desired folder.  

Note that when you browse to the desired folder, in this case a folder called "Training and Development" on the E:\ drive that only folders are displayed.  A warning shows in the file pane No files match your search where files would normally be displayed.  

This is the WindowsWay of hiding information and it is not an error.  As previously mentioned you can add individual files to a library however the intention here is to add a location.  For this reason files are hidden during this process.

In the bottom right hand corner of the dialog  press the Include Folder button.  Done!

Arrange by: Warning?
If you add resources on removable media or network locations you may encounter some disturbing results!  Changing the Arrange by: option in the top right hand of the file pane to anything other than Folder for remote locations will not work!

If you select arrange by Name or Tag for example there may be no results!  To check your files are safe and intact, select arrange by Folder to satisfy yourself what you added to the library is still there.  Simply, these locations are non-indexed and have no information for the selected view type.


A Quick Wrap
Just remember that adding folders to a library is intended to help you find your files in one location.  Your files are still stored wherever you put them in the first place.  

A library is basically a collection of shortcuts and often referred to as a virtual folder.  You can drag-and-drop a file onto a library (I personally don't recommend it) and those files will move to the default save location.  


Also, just because a library is called eBooks does not mean it can only contain eBooks.  If you include pictures or music they will show up regardless.

With a little preparation and practice using Libraries should help you find what you're looking for faster.  While far from perfect they can truly improve your workflow and help you get more done in less time.


Reference Links
Microsoft | Working with Libraries
MyDigitalLife | How to Create A New Library In Windows 7
Microsoft | Create a new Library
MSDN | Inside Windows 7 | Introducing Libraries
WindowsStreamBlog | Understanding Windows 7 Libraries



A Useful Tool
To make the job of managing libraries easier, an Australian software developer who goes by the net-name of Mr Bungle put together a small app that utilises a built in command line utility for Windows 7.  It allows you to easily manage libraries, include networked folders and change settings like the default save location.  It is a free app.

You can read about it and download it free from the review site or his own web site:
AddictiveTips | Windows 7 Library Tool | Review site
Win 7 Library Tool | Mr Bungle's Page


Comments and Questions Welcome

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Sort My Pictures

Sorting Picture Files
Using an Effective Filing System
Release : 13 July 2010
Field : Organisational Behaviour
Focus : Optimised Business Systems Process

Introduction
With the advent of digital cameras gone are the days of expensive film processing, for all but avid photography fans anyway.

Cheap harddrive storage means that our collections of photos has expanded beyond what could have been imagined only a few years ago.  Take a look at the average computer these days and it is not uncommon to find literally thousands of photo jpeg files lumped in the digital equivalent of a photo shoebox.

Sorting photos can be a time consuming process however it affords a unique opportunity to develop several organisational skills that are highly employable.

My Pictures
The default standard place to store your pictures on a MS Windows computer is the My Pictures folder.

Most digital cameras also come with software to download photos from a memory card or directly from the camera.  Tuning a couple of settings before downloading your pictures can make a big difference to sifting through them months or years later.

Software Settings
There are so many packages available for the plethora of digital cameras on the market that it is impractical to write a guide for all of them.  Besides, once you know the type of settings you are looking for the help files and online guides will show you how to do it with your camera/software combination.

The Download Location
Before hitting the Transfer Images button or Download Pictures button you want to make sure that your pictures will end up where you want them.

Copying files to the My Pictures folder is a good start however if you are taking photos for a work project or school assignment it may be better to specify a dedicated folder for that purpose.  This folder can be under the My Pictures folder or somewhere more useful.

Another common location is an external harddrive.  Copying files directly to your external storage device not only saves a significant amount of time but also helps to keep your main harddrive clean:
  • Copying large amounts of files to and from your main harddrive can cause it to become fragmented and this can have an adverse effect on system performance.

The File Names
The simplest way that picture download software can help organise your photos is to rename the pictures as they are downloaded.

Typical options include setting a filename prefix, like "IMG_" followed by a numbering system.  Sometimes the number system is a simple 001, 002, 003, etc. that reflects the order the photos were taken in.

Other number systems include writing the photo shoot date into the filename as well.

The Folder Structure
As your pictures are downloaded from your camera or memory card many packages can create a set of folders to store them in.

Typical options include:
Year > Month > Day > IMG_001, IMG_002, etc.
  • separate folders for the Year, Month and Day the photos were taken.
YearMonthDay > IMG_001, IMG_002, etc.

Again, setting these options before you download your pictures will make sorting them much faster.

Because of the way I use my camera, I normally use the YearMonthDay folder format.  This lumps all the photos I took on any given day into a single folder.  I generally find this works well because most of the photos taken on a single day will be from a single event, like 'a day at the beach'.

Renaming Files in Batches
A nifty utility provided by most camera manufacturers is a software tool to rename a bunch of photos with a similar name.  For example, when you are looking at the photos taken, say, on the 15th of March 2007, you may have taken a set of photos of a house you were looking at buying and spent the afternoon at the beach with the kids.  

By selecting all the photos of you and your family at the beach you could rename those photos with the prefix "Beach with Kids" and the software will automatically add the numbers 0001, 0002, or whatever format you have chosen.

Deleting Rubbish Photos
Frankly there is something about deleting photos that we have a general aversion to.  If you were the photographer it can be hard to delete that photo when you find it in your collection.

For comparison it is quite a common for a  professional photographer to find only 3 photos in  24 photos that he can use.  The rest get binned!

So what do you do?  Become ruthless!

There are some photos that even though the lighting is bad, a couple of heads are chopped off and the main subject is blurred because they were moving, that we want to keep.

Party photos are often like this.

The awful photo we have is nonetheless a reminder of that point in time where the party was in full swing, glasses were overflowing and everyone was having a good time.  There was no time to get everyone to pause a moment to compose a perfect shot.

You have to learn to be tough.  Get mean!  Don't hold back.

Learn to hit the delete button without so much as a second thought.  When you spot a photo that really isn't up to scratch delete it.

Point blank.  Gone.  Deleted.  Done!

The catch all - assuming you have a Recycle Bin that is alive and well - is that if you get too trigger happy you can always restore it for another day, where potentially it will be culled again!

As a rough guide, 20 - 30% of all photos taken on a digital camera can and should be deleted; that's about 1 in 4.

Sorting Files
With an ever increasing number of picture files on your computer it is not always practical to individually sort every photo.  A simple system that tidies your photo collection in the least amount of time is required.

Through years of refinement I have found the following method to be the most efficient use of time:
  • Download new pictures to a folder called:


    "Pictures Fresh Download"
This folder appears after "My Pictures" when sorted alphabetically so it is easy to find and clearly indicates the folder contents.
  • Select a folder with pictures to sort in it.
    e.g. 2010_03_18
If all the photos in the folder all belong together 
  • rename the folder
    e.g. "Bells Beach Surf Festival"
  • Then drag the entire folder to a container folder called:


    "My Pictures Sorted"
If the photos belong to different categories:
  • Create a new sub-folder for each category
  • Give the new folders suitable names
    e.g. "Festival in Berlin 2010"
    e.g. "House 4 Sale in Berlin"
  • Drag and drop files onto the appropriate folder
    -  selecting multiple files to drag and drop is best
  • When done, move the folders to the "My Pictures Sorted" folder

Storage Space
One last tip for storing your photos.

Many cheap point and shoot digital cameras now have very high resolutions like 7 MegaPixels and above.  This can be fabulous for large reprints of great snapshots but often all you require is a picture that looks good on your computer monitor or television screen.

For example my compact Canon PowerShot takes a 12MP image.  The files are 4000x3000 pixels which is HUGE! 

After a party, day at the beach or strolling through the local botanic gardens I may end up with a couple of hundred photos.  Each of these photos chews up about 3 1/2 megabytes on my harddrrive when stored as a compact jpeg file.

That's the equivalent of about a CD full of pictures from one day's shooting.

Out of the 200 photos I probably have 30 or 40 that are fairly decent and in reality about ten or twelve that I might one day want to reprint on real photo paper as a good enlargement.

After clicking through the pictures using the Windows Image Preview tool and ruthlessly deleting anything that isn't crystal clear I have a set of files I want to keep.

In keeping with an efficient filing system I use one more main folder to keep my best shots:
"Pictures Hi Res Categorised".

In this folder I copy only the best, highest quality photos and individually sort them into categories.  Here is a snap-shot of the categories I currently have:


Files that I may want to one day print as normal 6x4" photos don't need to be 10 or 12 megapixel images.  Without a lot of technical information the rule of thumb is 200dpi or dots per inch to get a good print.  So how many pixels is that?  

Well, about 180 pixels per inch is about right.  You actually need about 120 pixels per inch for a good print but a bit higher than this is best to retain superfine detail.  

This means you can get a good quality print on a 6x4 inch photo (15x10cm) with as little as 720x480 pixels!  

A Word of Warning!
Shrinking your happy snaps to such a small image is NOT recommended.  A good guide to follow is:

Happy Snap Image Size: 1080 x 720
This represents 180ppi or pixels per inch for a 6" x 4".

Better Quality vs Larger Storage?
To print a 7" x 5" on photo paper you need a bit higher resolution.  To make my life easier I simply scale all the photos I want to keep as happy snaps or slide-show pics in a size that I can safely enlarge to a standard 7x5 format on photo paper:

Optimal Storage Image Size: 1280 x 1024

Another thing, when you resize, simply keep the proportions of the original image and change the longest side to be 1280 pixels.

To make the job of resizing photos a cinch, after much searching, trial and error I found this fabulous free utility by FastStone.

FastStone Photo Resizer
Here's the link: FastStone Resizer

It is fast, lightweight and simple to use.  Best of all it can process all of your photos in a single go.  If you use the program you are encouraged to make a donation but that is entirely a personal decision.

Returning to our filing system discussion I use one more folder dedicated to the shrinking of photos:

"Pictures Fresh Download Processed"

FastStone Resizer can mirror the folder structure from the location your photos are in, for example 'Pictures Fresh Download' and copy the shrunk files to 'Pictures Fresh Download Processed' in using the same folder layout.

When you process your new pictures in this manner it never takes long to catch up on the back log of your photographic adventures.

That's all for today.  

Happy sorting and may your pictures never get jumbled again!


Comments and Questions Welcome