Posts Tagged: ‘Mac OS X’

BlueGriffon Web Editor – Originally Published July 2020

July 5, 2020 Posted by Tiny

Some Lagniappe for You
by Tiny Ruisch

la·gniappe (lnyp, ln-yp)
n. Chiefly Southern Louisiana & Mississippi
1. A small gift presented by a store owner to a customer with the customer’s purchase.
2. An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. Also called regionally boot.

The club website is one of seven that I am currently maintaining.  To do so, I need some specialized tools.  For years, I was a “real” designer and wrote all my code in Notepad and later in Notepad++.  I may be showing my age, but I remember when I purchased Microsoft FrontPage in the late 1990’s.  I acquired it because DreamWeaver was just to darn expensive.  It turned out to be a good decision because DreamWeaver was later purchased by Adobe, which isn’t one of my favorite companies.

FrontPage taught me that I liked “What You See Is What You Get” (WYSIWYG) editors.  I’ve tried many of them.  For the past year, I’ve been mostly using BlueGriffon.  Their tagline is “The next-gen Web and EPUB Editor based on the rendering engine of Firefox.” Old timers may remember the NVU Editor. BlueGriffon is a descendant of the program.

There is a new document wizard which is handy for starting a new page. You can easily select the page language: HTML 4, XHTML 1, XHTML 1.1, HTML 5 or XHTML 5.  The wizard then lets you enter document information: Title, Author, Description, Keywords, Language, etc.  You can also choose, fonts, link colors, background image and more.

The BlueGriffon interface is fairly basic and closely mimics a word processor toolbar layout.  Icons to the most common options are clearly laid out: adding a table, a single image or a thumbnail.  Switching from WYSIWYG view (where you can arrange objects visually) to the web page source code (where you can manipulate the web page by editing the HTML code) is done by clicking on two buttons at the bottom of the page.  You can also view WYSIWYG and source code in side by side windows.

I am definitely a user of the multiple tabs feature, which makes it easy to quickly switch from one document to another, copy and paste, etc.  My only problem is that inactive tabs are not easily seen without mousing over.  This sometimes makes it difficult to quickly go to the desired tab.

BlueGriffon is cross‑platform with versions for Windows 7, 8,10, Mac OS X and many Linux distros.  There is also a portable version (for Windows only).  Like much modern software, you can purchase a license and get more features.  One of these is a manual.  I’ve found that a web search works just as well.  You can find a complete list of features here.  To download the program, click here.
If you like the program, just tell everyone that you’ve got a SWLAPCUG extra, a bonus perk, a small gift, a present from the club: a little lagniappe.

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FreeFileSync – Originally Published September 2018

September 9, 2018 Posted by Tiny

Some Lagniappe for You
by Tiny Ruisch

la·gniappe (lnyp, ln-yp)
n. Chiefly Southern Louisiana & Mississippi
1. A small gift presented by a store owner to a customer with the customer’s purchase.
2. An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. Also called regionally boot.

If you’re like me, you’ve got a file or two that you keep on more than one computer.  With a plethora cloud storage services, I don’t use this option as much as I used to.  There are some files that I don’t keep anywhere except on my computer(s).  One example is my passwords file.  I’ve used KeePass for many years.  I like to keep my passwords local on all my machines.  Another example is keeping backup files on a separate drive.

There are several methods of transferring files.  You could cut and paste when you make a change.  You could use the OS backup program.  Easiest of all, you could use FreeFileSync, a folder comparison and synchronization software that creates and manages backup copies of all your important files.

FreeFileSync has a fairly standard layout for a file syncing program.  There are two file comparison boxes, which display differences between your source and destination folders.  Sync locations are easily found by clicking the browse button in each comparison box.  Although I have never used it, you can also specify locations to sync by dragging and dropping them.  After you select your two locations, click either the Compare or Synchronize buttons at the top of the screen.

The software supports several different synchronization methods: Two way, Mirror, Update and Custom.  These and many other settings can be specified in the Synchronization Settings screen.

FreeFileSync has lots of other features:
• Copy locked files (via Windows VSS)
• Binary file comparison
• Automate syncs as a batch job
• Error reporting
• Long file path support
• 64-bit support
• Macros, such as %time% and %date%
• Supports SFTP (on Linux) and WebDAV (on Windows)
• and more. For a complete list, click here.

Of course, my favorite feature of the program is the cost of $0.00.  There is also a donation version that allows you to parallel copy and get automatic updates.  The program is open source software available for Windows, Mac OS and Linux.  Be careful when downloading as there is sometimes additional software bundled.  You can download FreeFileSync here.  Give it a try. You might like it.

If you like the program, just tell everyone that you’ve got a SWLAPCUG extra, a bonus perk, a small gift, a present from the club: a little lagniappe.

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Apple’s iOS 10 Claims – Originally Published September 2016

September 4, 2016 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

“San Francisco — June 13, 2016 — Apple today previewed iOS 10, the biggest release ever of the world’s most advanced mobile operating system.”  That is a direct quote copied from the Apple website announcing the release of their new operating system, iOS 10.  According to the company and many of the fans web sites, this is the greatest thing since the invention of Hostess Twinkies.  I’ve been griping about Microsoft and Windows 10 so much that I thought I should point my keyboard in a different direction for a change.  Let’s review the latest claims.

Siri, iMessage, and Maps Open to Developers.  This might be the single biggest change that Apple has ever made.  They have opened up some of their apps to third party developers.  Siri can even reserve an Uber car.  I think this is the biggest change that I have seen Apple do.  Third party development is one of the reasons that so many of their competitors products have outpaced them in usefulness.  Of course, this also means there will be an increase in personal data collection.  It will be interesting to see how Apple handles that.

The Maps app is getting a boost with Map layers, smarter and proactive assistance as well.  The Maps also supports extensions.  It can help you throughout your day by offering the fastest routes by following all the traffic around you and suggesting places nearby.  It can also make reservations.  I guess they are finally recovering from the dumb mistake made in 2012 when iOS 6 dropped Google Maps.  Maybe they will finally catch up in another four or five years.

The iMessage app has been enhanced.  It supports live GIF and video playback right within the app.  You now get quick access to your photos and live camera feed without leaving the app.  The Emojis are now three times bigger and you can replace words with Emojis by just tapping on them.  The Bubble Effects different personalty to your messages.  The app now supports handwritten messages, digital touch and tickers.  With the app open to developers, I’m sure there will be no end to the innovation.

Photos & QuickType Become More Intelligent.  Apple has ramped up the capabilities of the Photos app with a feature it calls advanced computer vision.  The Photos app recognizes what’s in your photos and automatically groups them into categories, creating albums of similar photos.  Additionally, the app has a new feature in the Memories tab that not only uses the artificial intelligence of Photos to bring together images and movies according to events and places, but will automatically create a video montage of select photos and video clips with music, titles, and transitions.  You would think that is something Google would have thought of first.

Home App Controls HomeKit Devices.  The new iOS 10 comes with a new app which lets you control all your HomeKit accessories.  You’ll also be able to create and control scenes and use Siri to interact with them.  Depending on the accessories you have, from your iPhone you can control lamps, bulbs, doors and locks, cameras, air conditioners, fans, outlets, humidifiers, doorbells and many others.  I’m not qualified to comment on this as the only smart equipment in my house is me and I haven’t been electronically modified yet.

Apple has also redesigned or updated the lock screen, Apple Music, Apple News, the quicktype keyboard, the control center and other things.  I believe that the company is in dire need of some more “new and exciting” releases, especially in their hardware.

The MacRumors Buyer’s Guide has nicely summarized things.  The iOS Devices Page recommends “don’t buy” on four of seven items, the Macs Page a “don’t buy” on six of seven items and the Other Devices Page a “don’t buy” on one of three items.  Of the seventeen products, they recommend “buy now” on only one.  Almost all of the “don’t buy” recommendations are due to the fact that there haven’t been updates in several years.

I guess I’ll never understand how Apple can be so revered by consumers and only have around ten percent of market share while Microsoft is usually reviled while retaining about ninety percent of the market.  Sometimes they kind of remind me of our political parties.

Thanks for reading.

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Scribus Desktop Publishing – Originally Published April 2016

April 24, 2016 Posted by Tiny

Some Lagniappe for You
By Tiny Ruisch

la·gniappe (län’yəp, län-yäp)
n. Chiefly Southern Louisiana & Mississippi
1. A small gift presented by a store owner to a customer with the customer’s purchase.
2. An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. Also called regionally boot.

Do you send out an annual Christmas letter to all of your relatives?  Do you like to make personalized greeting cards and party invitations?  Are you writing the next great novel?  Would you like to make your own personal calendar?  Would you like to edit the Computer Club Newsletter?

If the answer to any of those questions is yes, you probably need some good desktop publishing software.  There are many programs you could buy: Microsoft Publisher, PrintMaster, The Print Shop and PagePlus, to name a few of the well known ones.  These programs will set you back anywhere from forty to two hundred dollars or more.

Or, if you’re thrifty like me, you could download and use an open source program that does everything the paid programs do and more.  I’ve been using Scribus Open Source Desktop Publishing to edit and publish the club newsletter for four months now.   I’ve come to think of the program as a word processor on steroids.

With Scribus you can create single or multi-page documents which can be single or doubles sided.  You can also create three or four fold documents for making brochures.  After your document is created, you simply have to insert text or image frames.  All the frames can be re‑sized, dragged and dropped or copy and pasted, etc.  You can also enter your data directly on the page, but it is much easier to create a frame.

Although I haven’t used all of the features, you can also insert render tables, frames, tables, shapes, etc.  There is also an insert barcode option.  I might research that feature in the future.  Wouldn’t it be cool to be reading a newsletter article and scan a barcode to get more information?

A search of the internet will yield several sites where you can find templates for everything from creating a comic book or magazine to printing your own newspaper.  You can also create and save your own templates.  I’ve done that for the newsletter.  Every month, the first page is nearly the same.  I just load the template, change the dates, volume number, meeting information and insert the President’s message.  Then it is just a matter of inserting articles, pictures, web site charts, etc.  My template is twelve pages, but it is a simple mouse click on the menu to add or delete pages as needed.

There are a few other things about Scribus you should know.  If you want to use the print preview, you have to install the interpreter Ghostscript.  Ghostscript is a non-harmful open source program, but it is more software on your computer.

Scribus has a medium difficulty learning curve.  Most items are intuitive and work much like any word processor.  Others are not.  For instance, to insert a hyperlink, you have to highlight the text and then select “Insert PDF Text Field”.  Then the inserted field has to be edited and the hyperlink inserted.  It was a pain at first, but after about the twentieth time, it became second nature.  For everything I have had difficulty with, it has been easy to find help and solutions in either the Scribus Wiki or an internet search.

Scribus is open source with versions for Windows, Mac and Linux.  There is also a portable version for Windows 32 Bit.  You can download the software at Get Scribus.  If you have a need for desktop publishing software, give it a try.  The cost is zero dollars, plus tax.

If you like the program, just tell everyone that you’ve got a SWLAPCUG extra, a bonus perk, a small gift, a present from the club: a little lagniappe.

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TunnelBear VPN – Originally Published March 2014

August 28, 2014 Posted by Tiny

Some Lagniappe for You
By Tiny Ruisch

la·gniappe (lnyp, ln-yp)
n. Chiefly Southern Louisiana & Mississippi
1. A small gift presented by a store owner to a customer with the customer’s purchase.
2. An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. Also called regionally boot.

Do you ever download from the internet on unsecured wireless networks?  If you answered “no” to that question, I can say that you are most likely not telling the truth.  The first thing almost everyone does when they come to our monthly meeting is log in to the local WI‑FI.  It is probably safer than the local McDonald’s, Starbucks, or library.  Personally, I’m not willing to bet my personal data on that.

That’s why I use a Virtual Private Network (VPN).  Put simply, a VPN is a group of computers networked together over a public network, namely the internet.  A VPN client is the software that allows you to enter an encrypted network and access the internet.  Anyone intercepting your data will not be able to decipher and read it.

If you search for “free VPN”, “best VPN”, etc. you will find literally thousands of VPN clients.  Of course they will all tell you why they are the best.  I like TunnelBear. I’m not going to tell you it is the best, but I’ll try to convince you that it is pretty good.  The first thing I like about TunnelBear is that it is a Canadian company.  This means that they aren’t subject to a National Security Agency court order.  It’s really not that big a thing, but I know the NSA spies so why make it any easier for them.  TunnelBear has servers in seven different countries.  They create a secure, encrypted connection between your internet device and the host country you are connecting to.

TunnelBear is easy to download and setup.  There is no need for the user to learn about network protocols, IP addresses, encryption levels, etc.  After downloading and installing the program, an account must be created.  The only user information required is name, e-mail address and password.  No need for your phone number, address or Mother’s middle name.

Like all other VPN companies, TunnelBear offers both a free and paid service.  Their free service gives you 500 MB of free data every month.  This should be plenty for the occasional user.  A bonus 1 GB can be obtained by promoting them on Twitter.

TunnelBear is easy to setup and use.  Give it a try and see if you like it.  You can download TunnelBear here.

If you like the program, just tell everyone that you’ve got a SWLAPCUG extra, a bonus perk; a little lagniappe.

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Naming the New iPAD – Originally Published April 2012

July 31, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

All of the hype is finally over.  The new iPad was released.  No, not the iPad 3, but the “new iPad”.  I’d guess that the naming was some kind of marketing strategy.  The new iPad isn’t really a whole lot better than the the iPad 2.  You’ve got to get the users thinking “new”.  Get them to upgrade the “old”.

Two things surprised me about the iPad 2012.  Oops, I meant the“new iPad”.  Kim Kommando wasn’t overly impressed with the machine.  She even suggested to one of her on air callers that they not upgrade.  I was even more surprised when Leo Laporte said he just couldn’t wait to get the new iPad. He was mostly interested in the retina display.

All of the ballyhoo got me to thinking.  Why did Apple ever start naming so many products “i” something?  Was the strategy that iNSANE prices could be iMPLEMENTED for iDIOTS to get rid of their iNCOME?

Who knows?  I can only imagine that Apple considered other letters.  That makes me wonder if I can figure out why they weren’t used:

aProduct – the Apple Pad would alienate orange, banana and other fruit lovers.
bProduct – Boy are we ever making a lot of money.
cProduct – Computer could have been used if the company name hadn’t been changed.
dProduct – Duh, it just works.
eProduct – Extra pricey.
fProduct – the Flash-less pad.
gProduct – Geeks won’t buy it because they can’t tweak.
hProduct – Holy Apple Grail.
iProduct – I can’t think of anything for this letter..
jProduct – Jailbreak Jobs machines if you dare.
kProduct – Kim pad.  She wasn’t impressed.
lProduct – Local Integrated Software Architecture wouldn’t make a good acronym..
mProduct – Mostly Hype will sell lots of Macintosh stuff.
nProduct – Nobody ever watches You Tube anyway.
oProduct – Only Apple Software will run.
pProduct – Priced high means more money.
qProduct – Quality is a seven letter word.
rProduct – Ronald Wayne should never have sold his third..
sProduct – Steve and Steve: Jobs and Wozniac.
t-Product – Technology? Lets trick Microsoft into helping us.
uProduct – an Unusual User letter would never work.
vProduct – Victory would get mixed up at sea.
wproduct – Wayne is gone and Wozniak is too hard to spell.
xProduct – more than one X would be needed to sell.
yProduct – You in a name would never catch on.
zProduct – Ziggy just sounds too cartoonist.

Oh well.  It was a fun fantasy, but now I’m wondering why HP calls their computer a Pavilion.  Why is the Dell a Dimension?  Why did COMPAQ choose Presario?  I have no idea what a Vaio, Portege or Tecra is.  I sure hope that I don’t start pondering cell phone names.

Thanks for reading.

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Open Office – Originally Published March 2012

July 14, 2014 Posted by Tiny

Some Lagniappe for You
By Tiny Ruisch

la·gniappe (lnyp, ln-yp)The pr
n. Chiefly Southern Louisiana & Mississippi
1. A small gift presented by a store owner to a customer with the customer’s purchase.
2. An extra or unexpected gift or benefit. Also called regionally boot.

As I write this article, you can purchase Microsoft Office from Amazon for $202.99  If you have a student ID, it is only $123.49.  There is another method for saving yourself some cash.

OpenOffice can be downloaded and used entirely free of any license fees.  OpenOffice is released under the Lesser General Public License.  This means you may use it for any purpose – domestic, commercial, educational, public administration.  You may install it on as many computers as you like.  You may make copies and give them away to family, friends, students, employees – anyone you like.  (If you check their website, you’ll find out that I didn’t write this fancy paragraph all by myself).

OpenOffice has five modules.  Writer is a full feature text document editor that many technical writers say is better than Word.  Calc is a spreadsheet program that can completely replace Excel.  Impress is the OpenOffice alternative to Power Point.  Base is a data base module.  Draw is a graphics package.

I’ve got to tell the truth. I regularly use only Writer and Calc.  I’ve got all of the other modules installed in case I have to open a Microsoft Office file.  All of the components of OpenOffice can load and save Office files.

If you do a Google search to compare OpenOffice and Microsoft Office, you will find that many of the sites rate OpenOffice the best choice for personal use and Microsoft Office as best for business use.  This is because with Microsoft, you get technical support if needed.

OpenOffice support is done via an extensive online help the forums on the website.  You can also download a user guide.  There is an online forum for asking and answering questions.  Additionally, several users have created tutorials that demonstrate the ease of using OpenOffice.  If you want to spend some cash, there have been several books written on how to use the software.

For more information, check the OpenOffice website.  You can download OpenOffice here.  Try it.  I think you’ll be convinced.  Like all of the programs featured in my Lagniappe articles, the price of the program is zero.  If you like it, just tell everyone that you’ve got a SWLAPCUG extra, a bonus perk, a small gift, a present from the club: a little lagniappe.

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Blurb Books – Originally Published September 2009

June 22, 2014 Posted by Tiny

A Pain in the Whatchamacallit
By Tiny Ruisch

Toni Morrison said, “If there’s a book you really want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”
So many people have asked me about the picture book I published for my Grandson’s birthday that I thought I would use this months “free advice” column to tell everyone about it.  The idea was easy.  I searched through the thousands of pictures I took of his baseball tournament games, put in some commentary, a few baseball quotes and had the idea for a perfect gift.  Now all I had to do was get it printed and bound.  I wanted something a little classier than a scrapbook.

As with many other items, if you do a Google search for book publishers, you’ll find millions of them.  How do you decide which one won’t rip you off?  My method was to search various forums and find out what other photographers recommended.  Most of the recommendations were for Lulu, Blurb, Viovio, Shutterfly and Snapfish.  I decided to give Blurb a try and I wasn’t disappointed.

To start your book, you have to download Blurb’s Booksmart software.  You begin by deciding what the physical size of your book will be.  There are six different book sizes from the smallest (5×8 inches) to the largest (12×12 inches).  After selecting the dimensions of your book its time to add the content.  BookSmart provides templates for Title pages, Table of Contents, Introduction, Chapter titles, Index and Content pages.  If you don’t like any of them, you can design your own layout.

BookSmart provides an excellent selection of text editing tools.  You can control horizontal and vertical justification, fonts, text color, photo borders, and many other text and photo attributes.  Photos are added via drag and drop into frames on each page.  Text frames are easily added or resized.  Editing text and photographs is easy.  Photo editing is limited to zooming and cropping, flipping, and adding borders.  If you need to edit the way the photo itself appears, you’ll need to use your regular photo editor.  Another neat feature is Group Book.  You can invite other people to collaborate on your book by uploading pictures and content for you to consider adding to the book.

Blurb has an awesome help system.  Help and support, information about pricing and shipping, helpful tips and book ideas and much, much more are located in easy to find locations, with no complicated paths to follow to get there.  There are ten FAQ sections which are all searchable by keyword.  There are also five forums where customers can share their tips and ask questions.  There is also an E-mail support section.  Blurb also has several tutorials, videos and demos that will show you how to use the software.

How much will it cost to print your book?  It depends on what type of book cover you choose and how big your masterpiece is.  The cheapest book you can print is a 5×8 soft cover, 40 page, no color book for $4.95.  You could go all out and get a 400 page 12×12 hardcover book for only $186.95.  Blurbs prices to seem to be competitive with the other sites I looked at.  Shipping is extra.

After you publish your book, Blurb keeps it on their servers as long as people are buying copies of it.  There is also a public bookstore where creators can buy and sell their books.  You can set your own book price and pass the link on to people that you hope will purchase their own copy.  A word of caution.  If you decide to publish a book, I recommend you triple check the spelling and each pages layout.  Then I would suggest you have one or two other people proof read it for you.  Blurb doesn’t check the manuscript.  Once you upload the book for printing, you can’t make any changes.

The book quality is excellent.  The books are printed on a high gloss paper and the binding is superb.  I’ve borrowed the Grandson’s book a lot of times and have shown it to many people.  I have yet to receive any negative feedback.  I’ve only mentioned some of the main features.  There is a lot more you can do. The software is available for both PC and MAC.  If you’re planning on publishing a book, I can highly recommend BookSmart available from Blurb.

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