Announcements

"You gotta be kidding me"

"Wow, what a great deal"

"PrintShop for $8.97! - You guys are great"

Those are just a few of the comments we received over the phone and in our comment boxes yesterday. As expected, PrintShop 15 Select is flying out the door (probably has something to do with that $8.97 price). A big "Thank You" to all who took advantage of this offer.

If you missed out, you'll be glad to know we still have some of these left. We initially had a good quantity in stock, but we've already blown through 2/3rds of them. If you want in, I suggest you get to the site right now!

Look at all you can create:

And, of course, you can make your own creations from scratch.

This program is really easy to use (most projects can be completed with just a few mouse clicks) and it's always winning awards. It's the #1 selling print program on the planet and I highly recommend it.

What about clipart? This gives you access to over 100,000 images and 7000 templates. - but that's not all. It also includes an integrated address book, reminders to send cards, tons of ready to use projects, an awesome mail manager (for printing labels, cards, etc), a fantastic photo organizer, a spell checker, and lots more. And wait till you see the handy photo editor - it removes red-eye and makes touch ups a snap.

Again, this is only $8.97 with FREE US shipping! It's crazy to pass this one by! Here's the link for more info:

http://www.worldstart.com/store/printshop-select-15.htm

BTW - Be sure to get to the site early if you want a shot at this one! They're going fast and once they're gone, I can't get anymore (so no cryin').

Computers 101

Q:
Do I have to shut down all my software before I shut my computer down?

A:
Not really (although Office XP programs get persnickity about this). Windows will shut things down for you, which can be a real time saver if you have a dozen open programs. However, note that if you have stuff pending (like unsaved documents) Windows will ask if you want to save this stuff before it shuts down.

Also note that if you have an open folder, you'll find that it tends to get re-opened when Windows starts the next time.

~ Steve

Have a question for the newsletter? Submit it at the link below:
http://www.worldstart.com/submitquestion.htm

Tip of the Day

Image File Guide

I get questions about image formats all the time, so if you don't know your JPEG's from your GIF's, this is for you. First, a little background on file compression.

There are basically two ways of saving images, lossy or lossless (no, I didn't make those up). If an image is saved in a lossy image format, it means the format being used discards some of the "unimportant" image information. However, the resulting image file is smaller. Lossless retains ALL the image information.

OK, now that you know that, here's a overview of the most common image formats.

JPEG - By far one of the most common image formats. It's primarily used for photographs. It is a lossy type of format, but most people can't really see the difference. You can adjust the amount of compression when saving a JPEG image, so you do have some control over the final output quality. JPEG's are extremely popular since they compress into a small file size and retain excellent image quality.

Keep in mind that the more you compress a JPEG, the more "pixely" it will tend to look. For the best results, save your JPEG's at the "medium" or "high" setting (your imaging software should bring up this option when you go to save as a JPEG). I really can't see any image degradation in most pictures saved at the medium setting.

GIF - Another popular format, especially on the web. It's a lossless format that's ideal for graphics. GIF's can be either static or animated. If you've ever seen a graphic on a web page that was animated, you've seen one of these animated GIF's

Most of the time GIF's are used for non-photographic type images (buttons, borders, stuff like that).

BMP- This is the standard Windows image format. It's lossless and works well for pictures or graphics. It's an uncompressed file format, so it takes up lots of disk space. It's also the standard format for Windows wallpaper.

ART- If you are an AOL victim, I mean "netizen", this is the reason your web graphics look bad and only your AOL friends can open the pictures you send them. By default AOL compresses image files and sends them to you as .art files. They claim that this makes pages load faster, but really it is just a way to conserve bandwidth.

There is a way to shut off this "feature" that we covered last February. Just head over to the archives and grab the newsletter from 2-20-2003
http://www.worldstart.com/archives/computer-tips/

TIFF- My favorite. It's a lossless format that can use file compression (called LZW compression). It won't result in as small a file as a JPEG (which is why it's not used on the web), but you do retain all image quality. When compressed, the file is usually about half the size of the original file.

I normally save photos I'm archiving in this format. I can then convert them to other formats for screen savers, wallpaper, or web images.

~ Steve

Have an original tip for the newsletter? Submit it below:
http://www.worldstart.com/writers-guidelines/index.htm

Amanda's Cool Site of the Day

Disturbing Auctions

You can't actually buy anything from this site, but is dedicated to the research and study of the most bizarre items found for sale on internet auction sites. Many strange and unusual things worth browsing for a giggle or two.

What kind of strange things can you anticipate seeing on this site? A forg purse, Dean Martin hand puppet, Wedding Trolls, Furry Novelties, and dolls made out of beer cans, just to name a few of the off the wall, left of center items on this site.

You can browse through Art, Clothing and Accessories, Literature, and many other odd categories. Check it out!

http://www.disturbingauctions.com/index.pl

Do you have a cool, non-commercial site that you want to share?
Send it to Amanda at amanda@worldstart.com