Bit Literacy - Mark Hurst [73]
32 If the file might be uploaded to the Web, it’s especially important to avoid the space character. On the Web, any space in a file name turns into “%20”. For example, if a file was named “mh 0925 notes.htm” and posted online, Web browsers would show the file name as “mh%200925%20notes.htm”. Better to use hyphens.
33 Mac users need to know these extensions: .doc for Word files, .ppt for PowerPoint files, .xls for Excel files, .txt for plaintext files, .pdf for PDF files, and .htm or .html for Web-friendly HTML files. I don’t understand why a twenty-first century operating system should need file extensions, invented for computers in the 1960s, but so it is.
34 Windows and Linux users may find it better to use an underscore instead of a space character.]
35 Address book tools can be problematic. The file formats tend to be proprietary, the user interfaces are poor, and the data is hard to share with people who aren’t using the same software. An ASCII “contacts” file solves all of these problems. If you need to manage or share hundreds of contacts or more, FileMaker—easy database software available at www.filemaker.com—is a good choice.]
36 Backup is covered more in the “other essentials” chapter, but an easy way to back up a single file is to e-mail it to a free e-mail account at Yahoo Mail or Gmail. Put the name of the file and today’s date in the Subject line, attach the file to the message, and send it. For example, the Subject line could be “movies i’ve watched 02-25-07”, and the file itself, “movies i’ve watched”, would be attached to the otherwise blank e-mail.
37 According to Wikipedia, the original quote from William of Ockham is “entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity.” That’s practically the definition of bit-literate file management.
38 As described in the “more essentials” chapter, a tool like Default Folder (for the Mac) or FileBox eXtender (for Windows) can make folder navigation much easier. Used with a program like QuicKeys to assign a keystroke to the Save As command, and a bit lever to type the date in the file name, it can be faster to file e-mails in the file system than in the e-mail program.
39 Two invaluable tools in transferring files: software, like ZipIt, that creates a compressed “zip” archive of multiple files; and a USB flash drive to physically carry the bits into another device. Ask a techie friend to show you these tools, if you’re not sure.
40 It’s even faster to type in all lower-case letters, since it avoids having to reach for the Shift key. I often type in all lower-case unless it’s an official or formal context, when I’ll buckle down and use the Shift key—much like dressing up for an important meeting.
41 Wikipedia credits Christopher Sholes, a Milwaukee newspaper editor, for designing Qwerty in the 1860s, patenting it in 1868, and selling it to Remington in 1873.
42 Wikipedia credits Dr. August Dvorak, a University of Washington professor, and William Dealey with inventing Dvorak in the 1930s. Some studies dispute the increase in speed from using Dvorak, but I’ve lived it.
43 Image from the Wikipedia page for the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvorak_Simplified_Keyboard
44 This will change someday when brain-computer interfaces, now in their infancy, improve and become more widely available.
45 Years ago, a Unix computer from Sun Microsystems offered the only other good alternative I’ve ever seen: the control key switched places with the Caps Lock, adjacent to the left pinky’s home position. Given the importance of the control key, and the unimportance of Caps Lock – itself a throwback to the days of mechanical typewriters – why don’t Windows PC manufacturers try this out?
46 In Mac OSX, System Preferences contains a Keyboard Shortcuts section that allows users to define keystrokes for many commands. QuicKeys software offers the same capability for both Macs and Windows PCs.
47 Their existence on the keyboard at all, in fact, is a throwback to the