Digital Simple » Monday: Simplicity

Keep It Signature Simple

Sherman — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 21:03:00 +0000

Do you have an email signature that has your phone number, email address, website, etc?

Is yours an image or text? If it’s not text you could be missing a connection.

I read an email from someone the other day and I needed to call them back – I was using my phone so if they’d typed their number into the email or had a text-based signature I could have tapped the number and made the connection. As it was, I couldn’t even load the image with their number and had to call back later than they’d have hoped.

The image signature looks nice, but if you want your email signature to reach more people. try making it text.

Cheers
= Sherman

∴ digitalsimple.info | dsim.us/Facebook | dsim.us/Twitter | 612.234.2354

Distraction free weather

Sherman — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 04:49:58 +0000

I love Weather Underground; I think they get it right a lot of the time -more than most. What I don’t like is how cluttered their site is. They remidied that recently with a weather site devoted entirely to My weather.

Click here to get started. It’s a Simple way to see what’s going on.

It’s not too late

Sherman — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 05:53:37 +0000

If you’re holiday week is filling up fast but you still need to get some shopping down, hope online… but hurry.

Traffic Information

Sherman — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:13:17 +0000

With the weather turning wintry commutes are going to be longer. Get a little information before you head out by visiting Google Maps. They have traffic data available for most of the major cities in the US.

Drive Safe!

What time is it?

Sherman — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:38:12 +0000

I don’t have any clocks that need to be “set”; my computer and phone adjust to daylight savings automatically. Here at work we have a few Old Timey timepieces that require human intervention though and I want to get the time right.

When it’s time to set the time use time.gov for the official U.S. time. It’s a simple way to know what time it really is

I need a new…

Sherman — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 01:25:34 +0000

t happens all the time: Someone walks up to my desk and asks me to look something up, type something, email something, when I’m right in the middle of something else.

Rather than close what I’m doing I hit Command+n (+n) and get a new browser window, an empty document, a blank email.

I can do the same thing on my PC; use Control+n (CTRL+n). It works in most applications

In a web browser (Firefox or Internet Explorer) it opens a new one
In Microsoft Outlook or Mac Mail it opens a new email, calendar item or task (depending on what’s on your screen)
In Microsoft Word, Excel or Powerpoint it creates a new document, spreadsheet or presentation

Command / Control n is a simple way to start something else without interrupting your work.

Clean Desk

Sherman — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:23:12 +0000

I use my computer desktop the way I use my desk-desktop; Holding whatever I need for my current work. Folders, images, documents, PDF files, whatever.

I can get to everything I need faster
It helps me remember what I’m doing.

It’s a great system when it works, but I have to remember to clean my “desk” when a project is done or end up with this

This would be intimidating any day of the week, but Monday morning it’d be enough to make me “go home sick”.

Monday morning I put what I need for my day; Friday afternoon I clean it off. It’s a Simple way to get through the week AND leave the work behind on the weekend!

Happy Monday

Tell people you’re out sick

Sherman — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:44:45 +0000

I’ve been sick with a cold for about five days now. It took me out of work late last week so I’ve got a lot of catch-up to do. I apologize for not writing while I was away.

I would have had less work if I’d have told people I was out: I let me boss know, but I got a bunch of email and phone calls asking where I was and why I wasn’t responding. So on top of all the work I had to apologize. There’s a simple solution.

If I go on vacation I change my voice message and email responder to say I’m out. I need to do the same when I’m sick.

People understand being out sick and appreciate me not bringing my cold in for them to share. If they know I’m out they help pick up the slack; I do the same for them. Telling people I’m out is a simple way of cutting down on the work when I return.

BCC Me ASAP

Sherman — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 23:36:32 +0000

Do you ever get those emails from family or friends; the ones they send to you and 60 others in their address book?

I’m sure you have; I get five a day.

My problem is that everyone now has my address in their email system; maybe not as a contact but it’s still there. Gmail, Outlook and most other email programs save the addresses from every email just in case; viruses know this.

If one of the 60 computers of the folks who receive that email has a virus – a fair assumption – my email address ends up on a Spam list.

There’s a simple solution that will allow you to send those motivational slideshows safely; Blind Carbon Copy (BCC). Every email system allows you to send the message to yourself and include the other 60 folks in a “BCC” field. This will allow them to get the email without giving away everyone’s address.

A simple way to save me (and the other 59 folks) from even more spam.

What was the score again

Sherman — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:42:46 +0000

Monday mornings are for getting organized and getting caught up; maybe something you saw over the weekend and thought “I should check that out…”; like the new Minnesota Gopher Stadium – I wanted to see pictures.

One way to search in your web broswer is to go to the “Address Bar” – that place with the web page address – and type what you want to see.

Your web browser has a default search service that will do the rest, and take you to what your looking for

If your query has too many possible results you’ll get a normal search screen; if it’s “obvious” you’ll get taken straight to a page. In this case I got what I wanted and saved a few clicks!

Happy Monday / Way To Go Gophers!!!

Score courtesy of si.com