Wednesday 25 May 2016

How to insert symbols and fractions in blog posts

When writing family history stories one may need to use a fraction of a year for expressing a person's age or if transcribing from a document one may find a person's height or weight expressed with fractions. A knowledge of keyboard shortcuts helps, and the oft forgotten ALT key with a number pad provides the solution.

For those accustomed to using word processing programs the Insert symbol or Insert special characters gave access to fractions and a variety of other useful symbols. Maths teachers have long used insert equation in MS Word to produce those endless worksheets and exams.

Many of us just need the simple one quarter, one half and three quarters.
1. Access the list of codes from Useful Shortcuts or from Keynote support.
2. Save for ready reference in Evernote or Google Drive, tag as codes, symbols, fractions.
3. Ready to insert? Switch on NUM LOCK, hold down the ALT key and type the code you need.
If your keyboard does not have a numeric keypad you can still access the numbers by finding the FN key with NUM Lock in the same colour on your keyboard. Remember to turn if off after you have used the code you want.

So for ¼ I have NUM LOCK turned on, held down the ALT key and typed 0188, ½ is 0189 and ¾ is 0190. Fractions may be highlighted as with any other text to alter size or bold.

This works in both Blogger and Wordpress blogs. I find this a much easier method to insert fractions rather than having to use HTML coding. If you are typing your blog post on an iPad the easiest way to get fractions is to add them as text short cuts. Tony Mortlock has a post Fractions on the iPad with instructions on how to add them as shortcuts. Do you have another simple method of adding fractions to your blog posts?


This post first appeared on http://librarycurrants.blogspot.com/2016/05/how-to-insert-symbols-and-fractions-in.html

Thursday 12 May 2016

Hippo sized hints

hippohints

Hazel hones our histories.
Hazel’s hints help.

What works as a title? I settled on Hippo Sized Hints for this post.
I’m practising what I’ve learnt today. Three word titles  - preferably with some contrast or a conflict of ideas. This was just one example of the hints and tips received by an enthusiastic audience at Cooroy Library this afternoon.

Hazel Edwards, an Australian author of over 200 books presented an entertaining and informative session on Writing a Non Boring Family HistoryAnecdotes, book promotion, writing hints and techniques were interspersed with practical exercises each limited to 2-3 minutes. These were designed to ensure that family historians should concentrate on avoiding “chronological boredom.”

In small groups of three we took the role of an ancestor and were interviewed by the others to relate that ancestor’s story in the first person. This provided an excellent focus for revealing gaps in known information. Other exercises had us concentrate on including all five senses in describing a place or room of significance.

Whilst I will probably never aspire to actually publish a family history, I came away with some excellent ideas for improving my blog posts. By the way, I can’t ever imagine a hippo providing me with hints but the hippo is a very famous character in “There’s a hippopotamus on our roof eating cake
Writing a Non Boring Family History is available as an ebook from Hazel’s online store.

Tuesday 3 May 2016

Keeping up with Trove newspapers

newspapers
In order to keep abreast of newly digitised newspapers on Trove, I use a feed reader to deliver the latest titles. One can select from a variety of RSS feeds to keep up to date. Two popular feed readers that can be used on both computers and mobile devices are Feedly and Inoreader.

Videos on how to use feed readers

Add your choice from these feeds to your favourite reader to keep up to date.
If you click on these links on a mobile device you will need to choose to open in a feed reader or news app. 

Individual states

Feeds are also available for individual states if you are particularly interested in a local area. Recent new additions to South Australian newspapers that have come to my notice through Feedly since the upgrade to Trove 7 in February include:

Frearson's Monthly Illustrated Adelaide News (SA : 1880 - 1884) added on 2016-04-22
An issue of this paper has been added for the very first time. Digitised issues are currently available for the following dates. More issues will be available soon. From 1880-10-01 to 1880-12-31

Harp and Southern Cross (Adelaide, SA : 1873 - 1875) added on 2016-04-21
An issue of this paper has been added for the very first time. Digitised issues are currently available for the following dates. More issues will be available soon.From 1873-12-05 to 1873-12-26

The Irish Harp and Farmers' Herald (Adelaide, SA : 1869 - 1873) added on 2016-04-20
An issue of this paper has been added for the very first time. Digitised issues are currently available for the following dates. More issues will be available soon.From 1871-01-07 to 1871-12-30

The Illustrated Adelaide News (SA : 1875 - 1880) added on 2016-04-20
An issue of this paper has been added for the very first time. Digitised issues are currently available for the following dates. More issues will be available soon.From 1877-01-01 to 1877-12-31

The Pictorial Australian (Adelaide, SA : 1885 - 1895) added on 2016-04-20
An issue of this paper has been added for the very first time. Digitised issues are currently available for the following dates. More issues will be available soon.From 1891-01-01 to 1891-12-31

Eyre's Peninsula Tribune (Cowell, SA : 1910 - 1950) added on 2016-03-07
An issue of this paper has been added for the very first time. Digitised issues are currently available for the following dates. More issues will be available soon.From 1911-03-10 to 1912-12-20

The Areas' Express (Booyoolee, SA : 1877 - 1948) added on 2016-02-26
An issue of this paper has been added for the very first time. Digitised issues are currently available for the following dates. More issues will be available soon.From 1919-01-10 to 1920-12-31

Thanks to the Trove team at the NLA for providing this valuable service.

Here's a snippet from The Irish Harp and Farmer's Herald of 1871 for #TroveTuesday, enjoy!


This post first appeared on http://librarycurrants.blogspot.com.au/





Sunday 1 May 2016

Apps in April A-Z challenge summary

Here’s a summary of the posts written along with the apps I covered in the A-Z challenge. Hopefully, you may find a useful app from these quick overviews. Thanks to all those who visited and commented along the way.

Here’s my Pinterest board on the A-Z of apps in April.

Follow Carmel's board Apps A-Z on Pinterest.

If you don’t use Pinterest here’s the list alphabetically.
To view a select few of the other many bloggers who participated, here's a magazine of 300+ articles from family historians and genealogists.
View my Flipboard Magazine.

This post first appeared on http://librarycurrants.blogspot.com.au/

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