ss_blog_claim=2e94f0887f73e6585a7215e268b58384 Dot Blogger: 10/19/08

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Sunday, October 19, 2008

Vista on Screen Keyboard

How many of you remember talking about an on screen keyboard for Windows XP awhile back? Come on, don't be shy, raise those hands! Well, recently, several of you have been asking about that very same thing for Windows Vista. I don't know if a bunch of you just upgraded to Vista or if you just now remembered about the on screen keyboard option, but I can tell you're dying to know more about the Vista version! So, I guess the least I can do is put your inquiring minds at ease. Here we go!

First of all, to get to the on screen keyboard in Vista, go to Start, Control Panel and click on the Ease of Access link. Next, click on the Ease of Access Center link and you will then see all of the accessibility options Vista has to offer, including a Magnifier, On Screen Keyboard, Narrator and High Contrast. For this tip, we're just going to focus on the keyboard, but feel free to browse through those other choices later on! To begin, click on the On Screen Keyboard link and wait for it to pop up. Once it's up on your screen, you can start using it however you wish. You can use it to type an e-mail, to work on a Word document or whatever you may be doing. Just use your mouse to click on the letters and they will show up just like you were using a real keyboard. Awesome!

There are also some additional options you can choose from when using the on screen keyboard in Vista. Under the Keyboard menu, you can choose between an enhanced or standard keyboard (it just changes the way the keyboard looks), a regular or block layout and you can choose how many keys you want your keyboard to have (either 101, 102 or 106). Under the Settings menu, you can opt to have a clicking sound when you're typing, you can decide which typing mode works best for you and you can even change the way the font looks. There's even a Help menu if you need further assistance. The on screen keyboard is just something you can use to give your typing fingers a little rest. I love it and I'm sure you will too. Give it a try on your Vista computer today! Source: Steve at Worldstart.com

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What does the term WiKis mean?

Ah, yes, the famous wikis term. I love this question, so thank you very much for asking. I think I love this question so much because of the answer, which just happens to be something I myself use quite often. It seems as if different types of wikis have been popping up all over the Internet these days, so some of you may have already briefed over this before. Either way, keep reading to learn more about the awesome things that make up wikis!

Just to give you an idea, the most popular wiki is called Wikipedia. (You may have heard of this one before). It's a huge online encyclopedia that always offers definitions, explanations, etc. on any term you look up through the Google search engine. Wikipedia offers up more than a million articles on all sorts of subjects. It's also among the top 100 most popular Web sites in the world.

Now, back to wikis themselves. All the other wikis available today are massive online resources that anyone can access. They are just full of simple, plainly laid out information. The simplicity is their highest selling point, because people just flock to simple things. Don't you? I know I do! I like to keep things as easy as possible in every situation. Along with the simplicity, wikis are easy to find for anyone who uses the Internet regularly.

The next thing that makes wikis so popular is that anyone who goes in and reads the information provided can edit it if they deem it necessary. If you feel there should be some changes made to an article, just click on the Edit link at the bottom and you can type in or delete what you want. You and everyone else who use the wikis act as a community to keep the information factual to anyone who reads it. Everyone works together to keep spammers away and to make sure everything stays reliable. Editors, writers and the administrators of the wikis also work within the community.

Some of you may be hesitant to trust the information from the sites, but that's where the community and the community tools come into play. The wikis provide a set of tools for anyone to use while they visit a site. Some of those include a revision history, a watchlist, a recent changes page, etc.

Some of the other popular wikis are WikiTravel, WikiHow, Wikitionary and SwitchWiki (and don't forget Wikipedia). You can find any of those and more by doing a Google search online. If you haven't already, check out some of the wikis. They are awesome sources of information and you'll be amazed at what you can find!

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