OVER 2 YOU, 136 (01/07/03)

FETE ACCOMPLIS

I organise the field plan for our village fete with approx 150 stalls, fairground rides, main ring etc. Is there a program available, preferably freeware or shareware, that would enable me to compile a database of stallholders with information (address, phone number etc), and which I could link to a layout of the field so that I can allocate pitches to each stallholder, without either duplication or omissions. Maybe it is possible using Excel or Access, but I have not been able to work it out.

James Freemam, via email

The Address Book at www.dbtogo.co.uk has a layout feature. This can be used to arrange stalls on a plan, or stands at a conference
David Hodge

I believe Smart Draw 6 can help you with layouts as they have a package for architects doing office layouts. You can get a trial copy free off the Internet from: http://www.smartdraw.com/adpage2.asp?id=14644

Clive Fairclough, Pathhead

My company produces plans for exhibitions, fetes etc., your correspondent can contact me for more information or visit my website at: www.eventfloorplans.co.uk

Jason Canning

PC SPEAK

Can anyone recommend a method of making a PC 'speak' as each key is pressed?  This would be invaluable for fast-but-inaccurate 'touchers' like me and many others I guess. 

William Hooke, via email  

My suggestion is for Voiced Keyboard, which you can download for free from: http://www.yayahoohoo.com/, the program itself is quite small but you will probably also have to download the Microsoft Speech Engine utility as well, links for this are on the web site.

P. Arnold, Epping

I am visually impaired and have had some success with a little program called The Talking Keyboard, which uses a rather nice female voice to announce each key press. It costs only $13 for the full version, which you can pay for by credit card, but you can download a very functional demonstration program from:

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/

homepages/ezsoft/talkkey.htm

Geoff Keynes, via email

GOLF NEWS

I prepare a newsletter for my local golf club using Microsoft Publisher and we have attempted to despatch copies to 200 plus members, who are on e-mail. Because of the wide range of recipients' computer systems, from Windows 95 to Windows XP and more, to date this has had to go out on a text-only basis with the resultant loss of our Castle logo and the clipart pictures I insert. Can anyone recommend a method that each and every recipient will be able read?

Paul Middleton, via email

The simplest solution is to covert the newsletters to Portable Document Format (pdf) for distribution. Each member then need only install the small and free Acrobat PDF Reader from Adobe Software and everybody will be able to enjoy the newsletter in its full, colourful and graphic glory without spending any money on special software. PDF files are used to present printed material electronically. When viewed and printed, PDF files contain all the fonts, graphical information, layout and formatting of an original printed document.

PDF documents and the Adobe Acrobat Reader are commonly used worldwide to overcome precisely the problem you describe. The Adobe Acrobat Reader is downloadable free from www.adobe.com/products/acrobat. In addition to the original Acrobat PDF generating software from Adobe, there are less costly shareware and even freeware PDF tools readily available from many sources on the Internet. PDF generators typically install as printer drivers in Windows.  Thus any document that can be printed can be output in PDF format simply by setting the PDFWriter as the printer and printing the document. If you do not wish to purchase or install PDF creation software, Adobe offers an online service that will do it for you.
Richard Howes, Vancouver, British Columbia

Version 8 of Serif Page Plus has the ability to save your newsletter file in PDF format. This can also be compressed somewhat in the process to minimise the size of file for transmission by e-mail.

Geoffrey Astin

Freeware and shareware pdf creation programs will do the job the two I suggest are pdf995 (www.pdf995.com) and Win2PDF, which can be downloaded from
www.daneprairie.com/download/download.htm
Sarah Mulley

I had the same problem with a sample flyer that I had prepared in Publisher. I had e-mailed as an attachment to someone for their approval only to be phoned to say that she couldn't open it. I got round the problem by copying and pasting the whole page into Word. You should be able to do that with your newsletter page by page. Most recipients will be able to open the Word file, especially if you save it in the oldest version of Word appearing in the "Save as type" list in the "Save As" dialogue box.

Maureen Geddes

HTML is a document format that can be accessed by anyone with a web browser. That being the case, in MS Publisher, save the newsletter in HTML format. If that is not possible use a web page authoring tool to generate your newsletter. I can recommend "First Page 2000" it is well served by a good help file and Free! Having saved the file, open Outlook Express and from the Message menu select "New message Using". From the next menu choose "Select Stationary". In the dialogue box that opens navigate to your file with its .HTM extension, and click "OK". That file will now appear in the lower portion of a standard "New Message" window. Add addresses as usual.  Don't forget to choose "Rich Text (HTML)" from the Format menu. There may be a limit to the size of document, which can be sent this way, but experimentation will soon show it. 

Geoff Kime

CAN YOU HELP?

I use Windows XP and in Excel spreadsheets I have to use three different currencies on a daily basis. Is there a way of changing the order in which the currencies appear in the drop down box when formatting cells?  I am tired of scrolling through them all.

Anne Parkinson, via email

At the last count I had at least a dozen gadgets powered by re-chargeable batteries, some with mains adaptors the others use AA and C type rechargeable batteries. I’m beginning to loose track of it all; does anyone know of a ‘universal’ charger that can cope with all of the different voltages, battery types and connections?

Peter Fellows, via email

I was interested to read suggestions for table seating in Over2you on 17th June. I have a related query, which I have often thought that computers ought to be able to solve.  Is there any software that can make up table plans for consecutive meals with the same people attending each meal but ensuring that they never sit next to the same person or their spouse at any meal? The perfect solution would also an extra subtlety like X should sit next to Y at the first meal because they have something that they should have the opportunity to discuss but X has to leave before dinner.  It should also cope with Z not being able to arrive until after lunch.
The Earl of Derby, Knowsley, Merseyside