More Than 100 PowerPoint Tutorials & a Free Template » The Rapid eLearning Blog

Tom Kuhlman has brought together more than 100 PowerPoint Tutorials on his Rapid eLearning Blog. Great stuff.

What kind of dash do I use?

 There are three kinds of dashes in modern computer word processing: the hyphen, the en-dash, and the em-dash. Here's a brief catalog of when and how to use each: 

The hyphen ( - ) is the small­est of these marks. It is also the only one with its own key: next to the 0. It has three uses.

1. It serves to break a word across two lines by syllables.(To maximize the readability of your text, it is recommended that you auto-hyphenate, particularly if you are using full justification. To auto-hyphenate in Microsoft Word 2007, click on the Page Setup Tab, and then the Hyphenation button.)
2. Some mul­ti­part words are spelled with a hyphen (topsy-turvy, cost-effective, bric-a-brac). But a pre­fix is not typ­i­cally fol­lowed with a hyphen (non­profit, not non-profit).
3. A hyphen is used in phrasal adjec­tives (commercial-speech restric­tion, estate-planning attor­ney, law-school grades) to ensure clar­ity.

Dashes come in two sizes — the en dash and the em dash. Just as the letter "m" is about twice as wide as the letter "n," the "em" dash ( — ) is about twice as wide as the en dash ( – ). Like the hyphen, they each have different purposes, and should not be used interchangeably.
.
The en dash has two uses.

1. It indi­cates a range of val­ues, e.g., 1800–1912, 383 So. 2d at 452–455, Exh. A–E. Note: If you begin with "from," don't use an en dash, but use "to" instead, e.g., "from 1800 to 1912."
2. It denotes a con­trast between pairs of words, and is often used in place of "versus,"  e.g., conservative–liberal split, Fischer–Spassky match.
3. It is also used for joint authorship, e.g., Prosser–Keaton textbook.

Be care­ful when cit­ing a source like Local Rule 7-3. That gets a hyphen, not an en dash, because it’s the mul­ti­part name of a sin­gle rule, not a range of rules.

There are several ways to create an en dash:  

• With num lock on, type ALT + 0150 on the number keypad.
• In Microsoft Word, you can also type any word, then type "space, hyphen, space (" - "), then type another word (or any character) and then press space. The hyphen will elongate into an en dash.

The em dash is used for the following:

• To mark an interruption of a thought. E.g., "The last time I saw him—or so I thought—he was in England."
• It can replace the colon, e.g., "The company was awarded the largest contract ever for a prison—a 2048-bed facility."

There are several ways to create an em dash:

• Hold down the alt key and type 0151 on the number pad (make sure num lock is on)
• In Microsoft Word , you can also type two hyphens (minus signs) directly after a word, type another word (or any character) and then press space. The hyphen will elongate into an em dash.

How Facebook Can Make or Break Your Case

How Facebook Can Make or Break Your Case is a nice article outlining how to use Facebook in litigation.

FLORIDA JURORS: NO TWEETING ALLOWED!

On October 21, the Florida Supreme Court approved various changes to the Standard Civil Jury Instructions. All of the changes bear on the use of technology—such as twitter—by jurors. The entire opinion, with all of the amendments appended, can be obtained here.  

IMPORTANT: THESE NEW AMENDMENTS ARE NOT YET REFLECTED IN THE COMPLETE SET OF INSTRUCTIONS, WHICH CAN BE FOUND HERE.

In addition to changes to existing instructions, the amendments include a brand new unnumbered instruction, to be read at the conclusion of the instructions to be read to prospective jurors. That new instruction reads as follows:

QUALIFICATIONS INSTRUCTION

Many of you have cell phones, computers, and other electronic devices. Even though you have not yet been selected as a juror, there are some strict rules that you must follow about using your cell phones, electronic devices and computers. You must not use any device to search the Internet or to find out anything related to any cases in the courthouse. Between now and when you have been discharged from jury duty by the judge, you must not provide or receive any information about your jury service to anyone, including friends, co-workers, and family members. You may tell those who need to know where you are that you have been called for jury duty. If you are picked for a jury, you may tell people that you have been picked for a jury and how long the case may take. However, you must not give anyone any information about the case itself or the people involved in the case. You must also warn people not to try to say anything to you or write to you about your jury service or the case. This includes face-to-face, phone or computer communications. In this age of electronic communication, I want to stress that you must not use electronic devices or computers to talk about this case, including tweeting, texting, blogging, e-mailing, posting information on a website or chat room, or any other means at all. Do not send or accept any messages, including e-mail and text messages, about your jury service. You must not disclose your thoughts about your jury service or ask for advice on how to decide any case. After you are called to the courtroom, the judge will give you specific instructions about these matters. A judge will tell you when you are released from this instruction. All of us are depending on you to follow these rules, so that there will be a fair and lawful resolution of every case.

NOTE ON USE

This instruction should be given in addition to and at the conclusion of the instructions normally given to the prospective jurors. The portion of this instruction dealing with communication with others and outside research may need to be modified to include other specified means of communication or research as technology develops.

Video: RSS in Plain English

IMHO, it is impossible to survive in today's world of ever-increasing information without a rss aggregator, or a reader, as they are commonly called.
What's a reader? This video from Commoncraft says it better than anyone, even though it's over three years old.

Making Photos the Right Size and Proportion in Powerpoint

Here's a great tutorial on full-sizing photos in PowerPoint without stretching or other distortions.

How to Scan Photos

Found this great collection of guidelines for scanning photos.

Strikethrough hotkey

A number of attorneys in my office work with amending legislation, which means they need to use the strikethrough font a LOT! One of them asked me, "Isn't there an easy way to do this using a shortcut or something?" As it turns out, there is--and here's how (courtesy WordTips):

1. Press Ctrl+D or choose Font from the Format menu. (If you are using Word 2007, press Ctrl+D or click the Home tab of the ribbon, then click the small control at the bottom-right of the Font group.) Word displays the Font tab of the Font dialog box. (Click here to see a related figure.)
2. Hold down Alt+Ctrl and, at the same time, press the plus sign on the numeric keypad. The mouse pointer turns into a clover symbol.
3. Click on the Strikethrough check box in the Font dialog box. (As you move the mouse pointer to get ready to click, the mouse pointer may change back to an arrow instead of a clover; this is OK.) When you click, Word displays the Customize Keyboard dialog box with the insertion point blinking in the Press new Shortcut Key box. (Click here to see a related figure.)
4. Type whatever shortcut key you want to use for the strikethrough format. Just hold down whatever combination of the Alt, Ctrl, and Shift keys you want, and then press the desired key to go with that combination. If the combination is already taken, that information shows just below the Customize Keyboard dialog box, and you can then change to a different shortcut key. (A good combination to consider is Alt+Shift+S or Ctrl+Alt+S, neither of which are used in a default installation of Word.)
5. Click the Assign button. The shortcut key is now assigned to apply strikethrough formatting.
6. Click Close to dismiss the Customize Keyboard dialog box.
7. Click Cancel to dismiss the Font dialog box.

Good Summary Series on Legal Holds

Law.com just published an overview of a solid legal hold based on Seven Steps for Legal Holds of ESI and Other Documents by John Isaza and John Jablonski. Read it and save it.

Knocking a photo down to size

Here's a great online tool to downsize a photo!

Pancake Your PDF!

No, we're not talking about a defensive lineman smashing a quarterback into the ground! Actually, the term is "flatten" a pdf, but pancake is so much more vivid, don't you think? Flattening a PDF prevents modification of items that you add, like, say, a signature. Here's a great article on why it's important, and how it's done.

How to REALLY redact a pdf

Here's an excellent article explaining how to redact a pdf the right way.

Fourth Amendment in the Clouds

There's no clearer intersection of law and technology than the Fourth Amendment and data stored on the Internet, a/k/a "the cloud." Here's an article in the Minnesota Law Review that's does a very nice job of laying out the issues.