PROBLEM | SOLUTION | SUGGESTIONS |
| Using A Scanner | I had trouble at first logging on to the computers at Porteus because they suddenly changed the passwords for the computers and I had to get a new one in order to use the computers. | Do this ASAP, like once you get your packet of papers needed to be scanned, if you don't have an account with the labs in Porteus, GET ONE! |
| Scanning in Tables/Graphs/Charts | My second packet was full of tables and charts and graphs. I had no idea how to scan them in, and save the format. I ended up doing my own tables, changing the way Dr. James had on his reports, which is much better to do. | My suggestion to you is, to use your own judgement here. You have two options when scanning in tables. The first is to scan it in as a gif or jpg format. However, if you do it in that form, you cannot make any changes whatsoever. Sounds great right? Trust me, it's not THAT great when you find errors in the text that was scanned in, and getting frustrated cause you have no way of changing it. So do what I ended up doing for all of these tables and graphs you see throughout here, and MAKE YOUR OWN TABLES AND GRAPHS. |
| Choosing Background Colors | This semester I had more opportunities to work on a color computer. I have a black and white Macintosh laptop. So when I used the colored ones, I played around with various backgrounds and fonts. Some were too hard to read, and too hard on the eyes. But I fixed them, so now they should all be pleasing to the mind and eyes as you read the interesting topics in this section. | Don't go with a very bright background and have dark letters. Although it'll be much easy to read, the background will make people not actually "READ" the material tha tyou worked so hard on scanning in, editing and posting it on the web. And also don't make too dark backgrounds (i.e black) with a bright font (i.e yellow), especially if there's a lot of text to read. That'll just kill the reader, and Dr. James. We want this to be pleasing to everyone to enjoy. So sure you can spruce up your work, dazzle it up, but all in good taste, not too much, so DON'T OVER DO IT! |
| Computers Crashing | Need I say more? Well this unfortunately happened to me several times at the labs and on my own computer, but if you play it safe, your work wouldn't be harmed whatsoever. | The safest way to go, is to save every time you just complete something. I would save after every table was made, every report finished editing. Save it on both your hard drive (or a hard drive) as well as on a disk. You might want to save it on two diskettes cause sometimes (very rarely) a disk might go bad, and you might not be able to retrieve your work. Then you'll have to start from scratch. Sounds like loads of fun right? Trust me, you don't want THAT to happen. So SAVE YOUR WORK CONSTANTLY! |