Smart Art Choices

Hexagon Radial is a new take on an old concept. Circular process diagrams are widely used, so we decided to create something familiar but with a different visual twist. The use of hexagons and trapezoids gives you a multi-step process with a central theme or title, but with a visual sharpness provided by the numerous corners and straight lines. We intentionally put a lighter color on the connecting trapezoid so that the focus remains on the text and not on the shapes themselves.

As we've seen the use of images in documents and presentations continue to rise, we wanted to provide a clean way to tie your text to your image without having to use traditional captions. The Picture Frame layout accomplishes this by using an offset frame or border that binds the text to the image. This may present a challenge for you if the frame overlaps important content in the image. If that happens, I recommend using the Crop tool on the Picture Tools tab. With the image selected in your SmartArt graphic, clicking the crop tool allows you to move and resize your image without moving or resizing the shape containing the image.

PowerPoint Pictures and Slides

Ever have this problem? You have a great picture for your PowerPoint slide, but it fits awkwardly on the page, leaving a big gap of white space. This looks really amateurish.


What do you do? Here are three graphic design tips to make this slide look more professional. 

1. Use a background color from the picture. Using Color Cop, sample a color from the picture and use that color to fill the side box. Now this slide looks like it was "designed" rather than thrown together.
   
2. Make the picture smaller. Crop and resize the picture, and then put a wide border around it and tilt it to look like a Polaroid photograph. Add a drop shadow behind it. Use one of the colors from the photograph as your slide background color.
   
   
3. Make the picture bigger. Increase the picture size and crop it so it fills the entire PowerPoint slide. Make sure the text fits the contours of the picture. In this example, the text is ragged on the left so it curves around the eagle's head (left). Justified left creates an invisible border that cuts this picture in half (right).
   
   

Amateurish slides dent your credibility. Spend the extra time with your pictures so they look designed into the slide, and not just slapped awkwardly into place.

Middle mouse button

We usually do not use the middle button of the mouse while browsing other than scrolling down.
But don't ignore it ...because it can be used to close a tab by clicking the middle button on the
tab....

You can also use it to move from one tab to another on the ribbon in Microsoft Office. Hover over the ribbon and scroll with the middle button.

Cool....Isn't???

ZoomIt - A Hidden Secret

If you're responsible for presentations or training, and you're looking for an easy way to emphasize information, ZoomIt's on your side. You can use it to zoom your screen, make annotations by drawing and typing on the screen, and, with Windows Vista and Windows 7, you can use Live Zoom for adjustable zoom levels.

You can use freehand or controlled shape drawing in several colors and erase your markups by pressing the letter 'e'. ZoomIt also supports tablets, so you don't need an expensive touchscreen system to annotate your presentations on the fly.

Sort a list in Word

1.       Select the list that you want to sort

2.       Once the list is selected, click on the Home tab and then select the Sort button.

3.       Select what you would like to sort by. Field 1, will do the first column of data whereas field 2 will do the second column of data. Click Ok and you are all set.

4.       With only field 1 Sorted.

With Field 2 Sorted

Hidden Fields in InfoPath

I want to be able to control if a textbox is displayed or not based on the value that's chosen from a drop down menu. Let’s say, my dropdown has 3 values Success, Partial Success & Failed

I want to hide the textbox – Comments, if the value is Success and display it if any of the other two values are selected.

1.      Open the form in InfoPath Designer. Select the control you want to hide under certain conditions (in this case, your Comments field).

2.      With the control selected, click the Manage Rules button in the Control Tools / Properties ribbon.

3.       When you click that button, the Rules pane will open on the right side of your screen. (Depending on your monitor and resolution, you may have to scroll to the right to see it).

4.      In the Rules pane, click the New button and select Formatting.

5.      This will activate the lower portion of the pane. InfoPath will give it the name of “Rule 1” by default, but you should give it a descriptive name, such as “Hide Comments” or “Hide Comments based on Result.”

6.      Under the Condition heading it will say “None.” Click the word None.

7.      This will open a dialog box called Condition which is where you set your rules. You want to use the fields to build the statement: “When Result is equal to Success”
– Field 1: Result
– Field 2: is equal to
– Field 3: Type text … ; then type in Success
Click OK

8.      The dialog box will close. In the Rules pane, check the box next to “Hide this control.”

9.      Save the form, then use Preview to check that the formatting works the way you want it to before Publishing.

Here’s a bonus tip: Rules and conditional formatting do not work with field labels. In this case, I might delete the text label for Comments, and add some default text in the control properties, such as “Comments” or “Type your comments here” or something similar as a prompt to label the field within the field itself.

Why InfoPath with SharePoint?

Recently, I was able to fill in for a sick instructor and teach a two day InfoPath course that integrated with SharePoint. I was excited, but nervous at the same time, since this would be one of the first times teaching a class like that!

It started out last Thursday and ended on Friday. It went off without any major issues and I was able to teach the class about the benefits of InfoPath. Below are some examples;

-          Cascading Dropdowns - https://www.nothingbutsharepoint.com/sites/eusp/Pages/infopath-cascading-drop-down-screencast.aspx

-          Customizing the look

-          Form Libraries

-          Submit Buttons

Yes, there are some things that users would say, just create a custom list and I would argue that you should create a custom list, but customize the form too! InfoPath is way too powerful to be sitting in your start menu untouched.

Let me know if you have any questions about InfoPath and I will be glad to assist!