Wicked Cool

Is it OK to use program photos on the library's website?

Photos from your programs can bring lively human faces to your website, but the short answer to whether it is legal to use them is usually "It depends" or "Check with your library's attorney."  Get more familiar with some of the legal issues surrounding library program photos with Bryan Carson's article "Laws for Using Photos You Take at Your Library."  (Thanks to Barbara Huntington for the link!)

Other material from SCLS related to getting and using photos from your programs:

• Photographic Considerations When Planning Events (PDF)
• Taking Better Photographs (PDF)
• Photographic Permissions

What's Hiding in the Right-Click Menu? "Send To"

Most programs have productivity-enhancing commands hiding in the right-click menu.  This week we'll look at the "Send To" command in Windows.  Send To allows you to move a file between directories without having to copy it and then navigate to the folder where you want to paste it.  

How to use the Send To command:  In Windows Explorer or My Computer, right-click a file, and then point to Send To. On the shortcut menu that appears, click the destination where you want to send your file. The file is sent to the destination that you select.

In Windows XP, the default Send To locations are:

• Compressed (zipped) Folder
• Desktop (create shortcut)
• Mail Recipient
• My Documents
• 3 1/2 Floppy (A:)
• CD Drive

How to personalize it:  If there is another folder where you frequently need to put files, you can also follow these instructions to add it to the Send To menu.  It's a time-saver especially when you need to move files to a deeply-nested folder.

Some examples of what it's good for:

• Copying pictures from a CD/USB drive to My Computer
• Moving downloaded files from the Desktop to a more permanent place
• Backing up files to a CD/DVD
  

Thanks to Kerri for the tip!

Contribute Tip: Give Every Web Page a Meaningful Title

The problem:  Every web page should have a title that describes the page accurately and concisely, but it's not immediately obvious how to set it in Contribute for existing pages on your website.

Why it matters:  Using a proper title will help to make your web pages more professional-looking, more accessible, and more recognizable in search engine results pages.  Web page titles show up in two fairly prominent places:

• At the top of the window when you view the page in a browser:
  
  
  
• And as the link title whenever the page appears in Google's search engine results:
  

The solution:  Check your web pages in a web browser first—does each one have an appropriate title?  Does it use correct spelling, punctuation, and capitalization?  (Remember, people can see this!)

If you're not happy with what you find, here's how to change it using Contribute:

1. Open the web page in Contribute and click "Edit Page."
2. Click the "Page Properties" button.  (A dialog window will pop up.)
   
   
3. Type the updated title in the "Title" box and click "OK":
   
   
   
4. Publish your page.

Writing an effective web page title:

• Be as obvious and straightforward as possible.
• Use language that closely matches the title that shows up in the body of the web page.
• Include the most important keywords near the beginning.
• Use proper spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.  (Remember, all-caps is harder to read and "sounds like yelling" online.)
• It is ok to include the name of your library/organization at the end.
• Specifying "Home" or "Homepage" in the homepage's title is optional.

Zoom In! How to Increase Text Size in Your Browser

Tired of squinting at websites with too-small text?  Use one of these easy techniques to make the text BIGGER (or smaller, when you want the normal size again) on most websites:

View > Text Size > Increase (or Larger)

• Works in both Firefox and Internet Explorer, though they use slightly different terminology

Ctrl and Mouse Scroll-Wheel

If you have a scroll-wheel mouse, hold down the Ctrl key and spin the mouse-wheel.

• Works in both Firefox and Internet Explorer
• Also works in Adobe Reader and the Adobe Reader browser plug-in
• Different browsers may vary in which direction you have to scroll for larger or smaller text
• Internet Explorer 7 zooms in on the entire page for this, not just the text (even images get bigger)

Ctrl and +, Ctrl and -, Ctrl and 0

Hold down the Ctrl key and hit the + key at the same time.  More than once makes it bigger.  Use Ctrl and - for smaller text, or Ctrl and 0 to return to normal size.

• Works in Firefox and Internet Explorer 7
• Internet Explorer 7 again zooms in on the entire page for this, not just the text
• Does not work at all in Internet Explorer 6

These options can make browsing the web a better experience by helping to avoid eyestrain.  Tell your patrons, your coworkers, your family, your friends!

Thanks to Greg and Brian at Automation for the tip!