Free Teeth Whitening! (in Photoshop)

Check out this quick tutorial on how to whiten teeth in Photoshop!
Click the play button below to begin.

Learn more cool tips and techniques in one of our fun Photoshop classes! Click here to register.

Dot dot dot..................Tab Stops and Leaders

Please, do not EVER push the period key on your keyboard more than three consecutive times. This is a Microsoft Word sin and you will regret it for the rest of your life - especially if you ever try and change some of your text.

In this tutorial, I will show you how to do some basic things with tab stops and leaders - without pushing the period key (see below)

Oh, and before we get started, if you like this tutorial and want to learn more, sign up for our free Word Foundations class.

1. Okay, open a new Word document and type something on the first line.
2. Make sure you are on the Home tab, and click on the Paragraph dialog launcher (see below)
3. Click Tabs...
4. In the Tab stop position text box, type in a number like 6.5. Then in the alignment section, click Right.
5. Now here's the magic! Click on one of the Leader options (besides None, of course)
6. Click Set, and then OK.

Now you are all ready to go. Push tab on your keyboard and type something else. Wa la! If you push enter, you should be able to do it again, and again, and again................................

Want to get rid of that tacky background?

Have you ever inserted an image in Word or PowerPoint that had a background that you wanted to get rid of? Well here is one way to do just that!


After you have inserted the image:

1. Select the image
2. Select the Picture Tools Format tab at the top
3. Click on the Recolor button in the top left corner
4. Choose Set Transparent Color
   
5. Click on the background of the image

Voilà! Your unwanted background is now invisible!

Note: In order for this to work, the background must be a solid color, and that color cannot be inside the part of the image you want to keep.

Intensify and Emphasize with the Dodge and Burn Tool

If you have been using Photoshop or taken one of our classes, you know the importance of non-destructive editing. This is best explained in the use of adjustment layers and masking. However, with the dodge and burn tool, non-destructive editing is a little less intuitive.

This quick tutorial will show how to use the dodge and burn tool non-destructively to intensify the clouds and water in the picture below:

Just a few simple steps...

1. Download the picture.
2. Create a new blank layer on top of the background layer.
3. Click Edit --> Fill
4. Where it says Use:, select 50% Gray, and click OK
5. Now, on your layers pallette, change the blending mode to Overlay. Your layers pallette should resemble the screenshot below.

Now, select the Burn tool and paint over the clouds and water. Use the Dodge tool and paint over the sun and clouds right under it. A brush size of about 90 works best.

To see exactly what you've done, turn off the visibility of the background layer. Good work!

Eyedropper Tool to the Max!

Those of you who are familiar with the Format Painter in Microsoft Office programs have probably wished there were a similar tool in other programs. Well in Adobe InDesign, you can use the Eyedropper Tool to quickly copy text formatting and apply it to other text, just like you can with the Format Painter!

Just follow these steps:

1. Format one paragraph the way you want it (I recommend using a paragraph style)
2. Select the Eyedropper Tool from the toolbox on the left
   
   
3. Click on the formatted paragraph. Your Eyedropper Tool should now appear to be filled (it's filled with the formatting characteristics of that paragraph)
4. You can now click on any unformatted paragraph with the Eyedropper Tool, and it will format them! Not only that, but it will even apply the paragraph style to those paragraphs!

Learn more about InDesign shortcuts and paragraph styles in one of our fun classes! Click here to register.

Sort Birthdays by Month, then Day, then by Year

Happy Birthday to me! Yes, as today is my birthday, it is only fitting that I post an IT training tutorial about sorting birthdays in Access.

To prepare for this tutorial, download our University Records database, and open a new query, by clicking on the "Create" tab, and then "Query Design."

• Add the Students table.
• Add these fields to the query: first_name, last_name, and birthday.
• Sort birthday ascending.

Your query should look like this:Here's the problem: When you run this query, it sorts first by year, then by month, then by day. Sorting like that makes sense because obviously December 25, 1953 came before October 31, 1975. However, we want our birthday list sorted by month, then day, and then year. That way we can send out birthday cards to everyone that was born in June, regardless of the year they were born.

Query Expressions
Were going to use some functions to pull out important information from our birthday field.

1. In query design view, clear the sort from the birthday field.
2. In the next column over, name a new field by typing (without quotes): "B-Day Month:"
3. Now type in the function: "Month()"
4. Now, between the parenthesis, we want to specify what value we want the month of, and that would be the birthday. So type: "[birthday]" between the parenthesis.
5. Sort this field ascending, and run your query. (final design view below)

To sort next, by day, add another column on your design view. Guess what the name of this function is...Day()!

• It should look something like this: "B-day Day: Day([birthday])"
• Sort ascending.
• Done

To learn more skills like this, sign up for one of our free Access classes. It will change your life in all the right ways.

Don't Curse the Cursors in Excel!

The first time you open Excel all the different cursors can be a little confusing. Perhaps you have used Excel before but get frustrated because of the unpredictable results you get by clicking in different places.

There is a lot more to it than just a simple click or double click - so buckle up and check out the table below that lists all the different cursors and their many behaviors. Some of behaviors require you to hold down keys on your keyboard (Shift, Ctrl, or Alt).

How can you try it out? Open up Excel and just playing! Or open up one of the files from our class page to try it out. If you get lost or want to learn more, sign up for one of free classes.

Combining First and Last Names in Access

Sometimes when I'm creating a query which will be used in a report, I like to display pieces of information together in one field. A common example of this is displaying first and last names together in one field. The principle itself is pretty straightforward, but sometimes the syntax can be a little confusing. We cover this topic in more depth in our Access Foundations Class (so you should click on the link and sign up) but this should get you on your way.

Whenever one creates a relational database in Access, it's important to separate information as much as possible in order in increase the flexibility of the queries that one can create. As a result, we often end up with a database where we separate elements that we normally combine. For example, when we address envelopes, we need the house number, street name, and zip code to be together. But when we enter those pieces of information in Access, we usually split them up so that we can sort, group and search them as separate elements.

In order to put them back together in a query, go to your

• Type the name of the first field in brackets (ex. [last_name])


• To add another field, type an Ampersand (ex> "&")


• Type the name of the second field in brackets (ex. [last_name]&[first_name])
  

You'll notice that this will just put the two fields together without any spaces, so it might be useful to put a space in between the two fields in quotes:

[last_name]&" "&[first_name]


Or you might even sneak a comma in there so it looks like this:

[last_name]&", "&[first_name]


Which will look like this:

"Urie, Jonathan"

In access, it will look like this:



The "Expr1:" from that picture simply refers to the name of this new field and the finished result looks like this:

Take Screenshots Without Opening OneNote

Sometimes you want a picture of something on your screen. Screen shots allow you to capture your whole screen or just a part of it and save it as a picture.

OneNote has a great tool for taking screen shots or "screen clippings." However, you may not want to have to open OneNote every time you want to take a picture. So, you can actually place OneNote in your taskbar, and access just the screen clipping tool from there.

How to place OneNote in the taskbar:

1. In OneNote, select Tools at the top
2. Select Options...
3. Select Other from the menu on the left
4. Check the check box at the top labeled: Place OneNote icon in the notification area of the taskbar

Now, you should see the OneNote icon in the bottom right area of your screen in the taskbar.

How to use the screen clipping tool:

1. Right-click the OneNote icon in the taskbar
2. Select Create Screen Clipping
   You may have also noticed the shortcut (Window + S)
3. Your screen will turn faded, and you can click and drag your cursor over the area you want a picture of

OneNote will automatically open and place the screen clipping on a page. The picture is also placed on clipboard, so you can now paste that image anywhere, even in documents outside of OneNote.

Learn more about the awesome capabilities of OneNote in our class! Click here to register.

Format Painter

One of the quickest ways to format text or objects in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint is with the Format Painter. For example, if you have several lines of text in a Word document that you want to look the same, it can be a hassle to format each line of text individually. So, after you have formatted the first line of text, you can copy that formatting with the Format Painter and apply that formatting to the other text lines. The Format Painter works the same in Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.

How to use the Format Painter:

1. Format one of the objects, cells, or lines of text
2. Select the object or cell (or highlight the line of text)
3. Select the Format Painter button (located on far left corner of the Home tab)
4. Select the unformatted objects or cells (highlight the unformatted lines of text)

This method allows you to format objects one at a time. If you have multiple objects that need to be formatted, simply double-click on the Format Painter button in step 3 (see steps above). The Format Painter stays on so you can apply formatting to multiple objects, cells, or lines of text. Then, when you are finished, de-select the Format Painter button.

The Format Painter is an awesome tool that will save you time and effort as you make your format your documents, presentations, and spreadsheets.

Learn more tools and shortcuts for Microsoft programs in our fun classes! Click here to register.

Fancy gradient for your webpage

In this tutorial I will show you how to create a gradient in Photoshop and then add it to the background of a web page you are making in Dreamweaver. To learn other awesome skills like this one, sign up for our Dreamweaver of Photoshop Foundations class.

Last names 255 characters long? Yeah, right.

Anytime you create a table in Access that includes text fields, the default field size is 255. Well, most people change this (or should!) every time they create a new field; and 255 is almost always bigger than the field needs to be.

Is there a way to change the default to something other than 255?

Of course! Its actually very simple.

1. With Access 2007 open, click on the Office Button in the top left corner.
2. When the menu opens, click "Access Options" in the bottom right corner of the menu.
3. After you have clicked Access Options, a box will open. On the left is a list of option categories - click Object Designers (and that's what you are!)
4. At the very top of these options you will see a line that says "Default Text Field Size: 255" - change that number to anything less than 255! The screen shot below shows this step.
5. That's it!
   
   

To learn more about the basics of tables and working with Access, click here to sign up for our free Access Foundations course.