Quest: a search or pursuit made in order to find or obtain something

I like the idea of internet searching as a quest....because that is often what it turns into. Here's what I mean...

I am currently teaching PowerPoint Presentation skills to Primary school children. While thinking about a suitable topic for a presentation, I decided to work with animated films. This was only partly because children like them: I think they are fantastic....and my favourite is Coraline.

To create a presentation, I wanted to find out more about the film, the story and, in particular, to find good images. So, I started googling. The first source of basic information came as no surprise: Coraline on Wikipedia. This is often a good way to set off on an internet quest. In this case, it included a plot outline and a cast of characters, which would be very useful for deciding what images I'd like to find.





The second result of my search was the wonderful The Internet Movie Database - an excellent starting point whenever you want to find out about films. Scrolling down the webpage, I was able to read about the film and, very excitingly, discover a link to one of the most entrancing and imaginative websites I've yet to find - Coraline - the official website.

Once you enter the site, the best way to navigate it is to click on MAP and then explore. Wherever you see a link, you will find information about the making of the film, or get the opportunity to be creative. For example, if you click on Coraline's bedside table in her Bedroom, you will see a video about the creation of the costumes for the characters. Go into The garden and you can create your own flower. And so on.....

There is really too much to tell you about here, but you can learn more about the author (Neil Gaimon), the actors, the director (Henry Selick).....it is a really fascinating site. Is it obvious that I really got hooked on this particular quest?

Finally, to find the images I wanted for my presentation, I went back to searching the internet. This time, I set my google search to Images instead of Web, from where I was able to create an album of internet images in Pictures.

As you can imagine, making a PowerPoint presentation has never been so much fun!

Mid-term Break...all booked online

Not to gloat, but we are taking a break next week and heading to Spain.

We booked the entire trip online and saved ourselves a huge amount of money. It all started with Ryanair (not my favourite airline, I admit, but they are cheap and they fly from Edinburgh!). We checked all the destinations available at this time of the year and found that we could fly to Alicante direct.

Although the Costa Blanca has negative connotations for many, we decided to see what there was inland. One of our favourite travel websites is Responsible Travel. It proved to be a good starting point as they feature environmentally sound holiday options all over the world. In fact, the accommodation in the Alicante area turned out to be unsuitable, but it helped to define the area we wanted to go to....and we started Googling.

Our luck was in and we struck gold with La Murta....and now we are off to spend a week in the mountains some kilometres inland from the coast.

Not only did we find well-priced and unusual self-catering accommodation, but through La Murta's informative website were also able to hire a car very reasonably too.

So, we're all set. Now all we have to do is find time to do our packing.....

My favourite keyboard shortcuts

Years ago, Jonathan (the other half of The Potten Computer School...and my husband) asked me why I never used keyboard shortcuts. I, like many people, was totally dependent on the mouse whenever I was doing word processing, surfing the Internet or, indeed, doing anything on the computer. 

Now that I use the computer so much, and am teaching it as well, I really appreciate the fact that I can save time (and my wrists) by alternating between using the mouse and the keyboard.

So, I got to thinking about which of the keyboard shortcuts I found most useful and here are my top 10, in reverse order. 

10.   Home key - go to the beginning of a line

9.     End key - go to the end of a line

8.     Ctrl + Home - go to the beginning of a text

7.     Ctrl + End - go to the end of a text

6.     Ctrl + P - print a document

5.     Ctrl + C - copy

4.     Ctrl + X - cut

3.     Ctrl + V - paste

2.     TAB key - move from box to box in an online form or a table

1.     ENTER - confirm an action instead of clicking

I realised as I was typing this, that were many more than 10 that I use on a regular basis. However, I'll leave you with these for starters. Once you start to use them, you'll wonder how you ever survived without them.

Not everyone has the same ideas about the Top 10 keyboard tips, so here are Another ten tips...some are the same, some are not.

Once you start to get a bit more curious about how to use your keyboard effectively, you will probably be ready for the next link....The Keyboard.

You may never use your mouse again!

Photos...taking, editing, entering competitions

This post is dedicated to those of us who love taking pictures but often find that what we thought would be the best photo ever, doesn't quite make the grade.

One of our most popular courses at the school is photo-editing. We start off with PICASA, helpfully provided free by Google. For more advanced editing skills, we then move onto Photoshop Elements. And there is no doubt that with good editing, you can certainly make the most of an otherwise average photo.

However, it doesn't hurt to think a bit more about what you're doing when you are taking the original shot, or shots. So, here's some advice from the professionals...

Established in 1888, they should know what they're talking about....and yes, Kodak are still going strong.

Here are their Top 10 Tips for taking great pictures. I love the way they show you the 'before' and 'after' pics. Very clear, very user-friendly and the advice makes sense.

Once you get onto their website, there are also some great photos to get your inspiration from.

Another website that might interest you, and this one even offers online courses, is BetterPhoto.com. They have Another Top 10 tips, with some variations on the Kodak ones. This website has an interesting gallery and advice on cameras as well.

These are just a couple of websites. As you can imagine, there are plenty more if you spend the time googling or Asking Jeeves, or however it is that you like to surf.

However, once you've applied all the tips and learned a bit of editing, you might wonder what to do next. Well, you might decide to enter a competition. In that case, have a look at Photography Competitions. That should keep you busy for a while...

If you have children who are interested in photography, I would recommend having a look at Woodland Nature Detectives. They have some downloadable tips and, even better, their current photography competition for under-14s is still open. The deadline is September 30th.

So, that's it for now. Happy clicking.....

Fashion for all Ages

Hi there

Here at The Potten Computer School, our motto is All Ages, All Levels. So, with the All Ages part firmly in mind, I've been looking at some fashion blogs this week. 

Even if you're not 'into' fashion, these are worth looking at because they give a real insight into how style, design and fashion can make people happy. Here are some of my favourite ones.

Starting at the top....this one's called Advanced Style with the byline Proof from the wise and silver-haired set that personal style advances with age. It certainly shows how stylish and interesting the older crowd are, with some excellent videos too.

Another of my favourites is The Sartorialist. For me this is about the photos as much as the fashion. Scott Schuman takes stunningly cool photos of fashion as it is worn in the streets, predominantly though not exclusively, of New York. Gorgeous.

In a slightly more Ugly-Betty-esque way, What Katy Wore is a homage to colour, clothes and doing fashion in your own way. You might need sunglasses to view the brighter ensembles, but she has certainly risen to the challenge of wearing-a-different-outfit-every-day-for-a-year with relish.

And finally, in case you thought that only adults blogged about fashion, meet 13-year-old Tavi Gevinson from Chicago:

from The Observer, Sunday 20 September 2009

Her mature and insightful blog The Style Rookie has made her into a celebrity in the fashion world....

So, as I said, fashion really is for all ages.

Who were they?

Just a quick addendum to the last post.

I have been in touch with Helen McCabe to ask if she would mind me including her father's photo in the Blog. Not only did she agree to it, but added that she'd love to know who the other two men in the photo were.

So, here's the photo of Henry Thomson of Edinburgh, taken during the Second World War.....and that's all we know. Who his friends were or where the photo was taken remain a mystery.

Wonder if there's anyone out there who recognizes a face from the past.....

Old photographs make you think....

Most houses have them....boxes of old photos. Often they are creased and faded and yet they hold clues to our past and the story of our family. As part of our photography courses, I ask students to bring in old photographs to scan into their Pictures.

Using PICASA, we edit out the scratches and creases, improve the colour and crop out distracting ragged edges. All of a sudden, images throw up little secrets and details that you hadn't noticed before. These spark the kind of conversations I love....insights into a lost world.

One of the most interesting of these finds was a photo of Helen's father. He had been a sailor in the navy and, along with two of his friends, he had a studio photo taken in full uniform. When the photo was first scanned into the computer, it was badly creased across his face. With patience we removed not only the crease but also the scratches and a tear in the corner.

And as we were looking at the photo in so much detail, something we had overlooked suddenly became very apparent. All the men looked pretty relaxed...and all had cigarettes in their hand...in a photographic studio. A very different era.

So, rather than just being a computer lesson, the hour we spent working on the photo became one of nostalgia and reminiscence. How true it is that every picture tells a story...

For some useful tips on bringing old photos back to life, have a look at Scanning old photos.