OVER 2 YOU, 049 (13/09/01)

HOME HELP

My family want to build our own house.  We have plenty of ideas, but no means of expressing them except for scribbly drawings.  We do not want to use an architect as we feel we do not need assistance in design. We do however need drawings and measurements.  We intend to use a quantity surveyor/buildings surveyor to comply with building regulations and apply for permission.  Is there any software available for DIY house (and garden) design?

Paul Reynolds, via email

I recently used Home Plan Pro from Home Plan Software (www.homeplanpro.com) to redesign a room layout where space was at a premium and accurate measurements essential. The software seems quite capable of coping with the design and plans for an entire house. Measurements can be in metric or imperial, and there is a large range of ready drawn objects (furniture, fitments and fittings, electrical, plumbing, etc) that can be incorporated in the plan.

Philip Appleton, via email

Leaving aside professional level CAD software, I suggest Abracadata's 'Design Your Own Home Suite' which includes programs for 3D Walkaround and Landscape (Mac OS, $119.99 online):
http://www.abracadata.com/cgi-bin/

site.cgi?db=site&Part+No=0105-40&view

_records=View+Records
Jeff Ross, Stockport, UK.

I have a lot of experience with self-builds and it sounds as if you are still at the whim stage of the desire to build your own home.  The best advice I can give is "Get an architect!". Not only can they help you with the 'look' of your new house (if you want them too, that is), they are also indispensable when it comes to true structural design (what keeps it up in the air), building regulations, planning regulations, supplier negotiations and so on, and that's all before you get a quantity surveyor involved.

Have you thought about financing the building of your home? Many lenders now require an architect's certificate before any lending can take place. As a lender dealing exclusively with self-builds in the early 90's, it was heartbreaking to see so many go wrong.  Those that survived had three things in common:

1) A desire for a home rather than an investment (so avoiding self-inflated ideals and the inevitable cold turkey that follows)

2) Drive and determination (it really isn't nice building your house in February anywhere in the UK but you will need to be there)

3) You guessed it… an architect!

There are also a number of organisations and periodical publications (try W H Smiths) that can be very useful and will almost certainly point you in the right direction. Good luck and please invite me to the house-warming party.
Simon Musselle,

MOUSELESS TEXT READER

Can anyone suggest the cheapest scanner and software that will get text from magazines and newspapers, put it into a Word document and then read it out without any proof reading? It is vital that all this be done without any use of the mouse, as our clients are blind. Obviously, it is also impossible to use the mouse even to select text. RNIB computer volunteers have been trying to crack this for months. We have ReadBack, Readplease and we have used Omnipage and Textbridge as well as various macros, but always, we get to the dreaded point where the mouse has to be used.
Brian Rhodes, via email

My wife has been using a couple of products for a few years, which may be of interest. The reader is a product formerly called 'Open Book Unbound' by Arkenstone. Here is a web address for the OCR product which you may find helpful, I think there may even be some demonstration software:
http://www.arkenstone.org/rubybasic.htm

This interfaces with a screen reader she uses one called JAWS (Job Access With Speech). JAWS works very well with Word, for more information go to: http://www.hj.com/JAWS/JAWS.html.
 
I know the current releases of the software are different from my wife's version, but hers does not use the mouse at all, in fact it can be controlled from only the number pad - it does not need a whole keyboard.

Malcolm Skinner, via email

PC PROOFREADER

I am a proofreader for articles and books and there are specific marks used in the margins of proofs to indicate where changes are recommended. Does anyone know of a program whereby the original proofread text can be scanned and, having been transferred on to the hard disc, can then be edited with the approved marks?
D.S. Lawrie, via email

I am not certain what all of the characters are, but I think I recognise some of them in WordPerfect 9's "Typographic symbols" specialist character set.
Peter Sims, Chester 

WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE 

Does anyone know of a program or website that would allow me to translate several documents into Urdu, Cantonese, Irish and Ulster Scots, for publication on my organisational website?

Gary Shaw, via email

Try www.proz.com where professional translators into and from many languages will translate words or phrases free on the site or documents as paid jobs. Even if machine translation programs for the languages mentioned exist, they are unlikely to produce a satisfactory result.

Jack Doughty,

KRONE KALCULATOR

I read D. Duffield's letter in F!F!F! (September 6, 2001), about working out how much prices in the past are worth in 'Today's money' and I have a similar enquiry. I am trying to find out the present day value of NOK 5,000 (that's Norwegian Krone, by the way) back in 1947. Any ideas?
R. Bennett, via email

Quite by chance I stumbled across a web site devoted to statistics about Norway: http://www.ssb.no/english/. This has a section for calculating price growth. According to the 'calculator' 5,000 Krone in 1947 equals 76126.76kr in August 2001 (the last month for which statistics are available). The universal currency converter at: http://www.xe.com/ucc/ works this out as £6,016.098.

S. Cleaver, via email

FANTASY FOOTBALL

I run a Fantasy Football league at work using the rules and points from the Daily Telegraph, I have all the teams on an Excel spreadsheet. As you can imagine there are several entries with the same players. How can I make it that when I enter the scores on a Wednesday I only need to type the first score for a duplicated player and the rest of the duplicates will automatically be awarded the same points.  In essence what is the formula to copy a cell value to other random cells?  Bear in mind that this formula cannot be fixed as the player involved may be substituted during the season.

Colin Temple, via email

I have been entering The Daily Telegraph fantasy football now for a number of years and over that time I have developed my own Excel spreadsheet to calculate my team's weekly score. Without being big headed I think I have got a superb method, it's quite handy too as I have entered over 30 teams. If Colin would like to get in touch I will be more than happy to help him out.

Pete Austin, (Hoping to win the big one),

CLAP TRAP

In the USA there is a device called 'The Clapper' which enables you to turn lights on and off just by clapping your hands. I would like one but there is no UK version that I can find. The American version is the wrong voltage and I can't even get a US firm on the Net to sell me one for 'experimental' purposes. I found a UK site which sells kits to make your own voice activated relay which they say could be attached to a lamp but the instructions are beyond my limited technical capacity. Any suggestions?
John Dean, Headington, Oxford

Aldi currently have sound-activated British bayonet fitting light-sockets for sale for around a fiver. If his local Aldi is out of them, their HQ is at Atherstone near Coventry and its web address is: www.aldi-stores.co.uk/

John Ticehurst,

MEDICAL INNOVATION

I have recently spent many months designing a medical product, which I now am in a position to turn into a computerised system. I wonder whether there are sites that explain how to gain copyright, and where one can meet a business partner/expert with sufficient expertise to take this project on.
David Hall, via email

Further to the query by David Hall. www.intellectual-property.gov.uk is an ideal portal designed for innovators like him and www.patent.gov.uk will also explain copyright, design, trademarks and patent protection.
Peter Mucci

NUDE SOFTWARE

Can anyone help me find a program, which would help me produce sketches of the nude human figure? It could be a sort of artists crib book or perhaps similar to one of those articulated wooden models of the human figure you see in artist's materials shops.
Murray Wren, via email

Have a look at 'Poser'. The software allows total manipulation of the body so that the figure can be put into any position desired. Specific body parts and features can be modified in size and position so that each figure is realistic and individual and can be studied specifically. The controls are simple to use with your mouse and a range of animals are also available with the software too. For more information go to www.curiouslabs.com where it is possible to download a trial version and buy the software.
Wil Corker,

FLOWER FINDER

Does anyone know of a website or CD-ROM, where I can search for plants and flowers using certain key words, such as shade, wet, flowering, perennial. Preferably I'd like to get a list returned of plants that fit my search criteria along with a photo and short description.

Paul Wright, via email

I think Paul Wright will find the following two websites useful:
www.bbc.co.uk/gardening, and www.crocus.co.uk. Another helpful one is:-
www.greenfingers.com

Garstang,

Rather than buy a CD-ROM, Paul Wright would do well to use, at no cost, the newsgroup news:uk.rec.gardening, where the friendly and knowledgeable inhabitants will answer all his questions and share cuttings and seeds. The group's excellent FAQ is at: http://www.tmac.clara.co.uk/urgring/urgfaqs.htm and the group can be accessed via Google, and its archives searched there, if necessary:
hhttp://groups.google.com/

groups?group=uk.rec.gardening

Andy Mabbett,

CAN YOU HELP?

I have started a business selling crystal table and giftware.  I am looking to produce a brochure of all my designs. I need to find a software package for Windows that will transform my ideas into print and eventually web pages.  The designs would be reduced and then scanned.  I would want to add text, colour and other graphics.  What software packages are available that are sophisticated but not too hard to learn? 

William Buckley, via email

Can you tell me how they determine the number of viewers looking at a particular television programme, and how can they tell how many switched off when the programme changes? These figures are regularly given in the press but I cannot see how they are arrived at.

Robin Morris, via email

I am trying to find a program, which will enable anagrams to be made of short phrases and words, the more letters that can be processed the better. Can anyone help?
I.M.Tasker, Budleigh Salterton, Devon

I use Excel quite frequently but recently have found errors in the addition. For example putting in an invoice total (net), multiplying this by .175 for VAT, then adding the resultant columns I find that some additions printed to two decimal places are out by one-penny. How can this be avoided?

T. Oaken, via email

As the owner of a hire centre and an Excel user, I have a frequent need to convert from metric to imperial measures and vice versa. Is there a convenient Excel resource that can do this?

Ian Jennens, via email