Every MS word document is based on a certain template. The template determines how headlines look, the size, color, font of text, page layout and margins and so on.

By customizing the default template you can save a whole lot of time spent on formatting and also you can insert your brand characteristics so that they will automatically appear in each document you write. The best thing is that it is really easy to do, so let’s get started.

This is an excerpt of a guest post I wrote. To read the full post visit Edit MS Word default template to save time and get better branding on Online Tech Tips.

Since RSS was introduced, the number of sites people are able to read increased substantially. Try these six methods to find more sites to subscribe to and fill in the reading gap.

1. Stick to good things

Let’s say someone you followed on twitter, or a coworker from work sent a link to a useful article in PDF format. PDF documents on the web are disconnected from the site they are published on. That is, there is no navigation menu to put you in context. When you get this kind of document, remove the end of that document’s URL and visit the site that published it. Usually, you will find more interesting things in there.

For example – I got to a document called “Best Practices for Political Advertising Online” while I was reading a post through my RSS reader. That was its original URL:

http://www.ipdi.org/UploadedFiles/BannerAdReport4.pdf

I removed all the right part and stayed with http://www.ipdi.org , where I found more great publications.

Continue reading “6 Ways to Find More Sites worth Subscribing to” »

in this post you will learn how to save time and get the most out of your RSS subscription list in Google reader. the method presented here include 4 steps and is easy to implement right away. it is based on finding the sources that fit you best and unsubscribing to those that do not.  just to get some  perspective, take a look at my Google Reader stats. I stay on top of 1,043 subscriptions using that method.

My google reader stats

1. Star worth-reading items

the first thing you should do is to star items you like.

Do it whenever you find something that you would define as worth reading; thing you would like to see more of (Star an item by clicking the star next to it in the reading list or by pressing ‘S’ in the keyboard). Continue reading “4 Steps to Optimize Your RSS Subscription List in Google Reader” »

If you’re lost into the clutter of web 2.0 buzz words and definitions, CCH’s recently published survey report might come in handy. The objective of the report is “to gauge the effects that Web 2.0 and user-generated content are having on the way professionals access, absorb, and disseminate information”. It offers short and clear definitions for “Web 2.0″, “Blog”, “Wiki”, “RSS”, “Social Bookmarking”, and “Social Network”. What’s more, it presents paragraph-long scenarios for using each of them in professional settings (starting page 9), which can be useful if you’re looking to make a case for these kind of tools in your organization.

Continue reading “Report: What is Web 2.0 and how do Professionals Use it?” »

Every day we send and receive tens of emails (some of us less, some of us a lot more…). Have you ever thought of reusing some of them? I’m talking about the ones you spend more than a couple of minutes writing, those elaborated answers that take time to think of and write. Instead of sending and forgetting about them, here are some suggestions of how to leverage the time and effort you spend writing emails by transforming them into a whole new deliverables.

Additional uses for emails

Source for F&Q

Let’s say you’re a product manager. You frequently get question regarding the product (from external and internal customers). Collect these emails and display them on you company’s website in an F&Q format. It will improve the service your customers get (since they will spend less time searching for answers) and will also save you the need to answer repeatedly the same questions.

Continue reading “Reuse Your Emails to Get Whole New Deliverables” »

Iain Barker explains why you should consider more alternatives when solving a problem (in his case, user interface design) rather than trying to optimize the first reasonable solution found. As illustrated in the image below, jumping too quickly into the iterative phase (the phase where you refine a given solution) might prevent you from seeing a better solution.

As to answering the question “how many alternatives are enough?” The somewhat obvious answer given is that it depends on the specific constrains that are imposed upon you, such as time and budget.

Continue reading “Finding the Right Solution – Explore As Many Different Ideas as Possible Within Given Constraints” »