Sunday, August 31, 2008

Add A Watermark In PowerPoint 2007

One way you can spice up a presentation is to add a watermark. Watermarks are also a good way of branding presentations. A watermark is simply a very faint image that appears in the background. For example, it may be a company logo or name. You may have seen documents before that have the word confidential behind the text. Yes, this is a watermark!

PowerPoint 2007 makes it simple for you to add a watermark to a presentation.

To add a picture watermark in PowerPoint 2007:

  1. Within your presentation, click the slide that you want to add a watermark to. To add a watermark to all of the slides in a blank presentation, on the View tab, in the Presentations Views group, click Slide Master.
  2. On the Insert tab, within the Illustrations group, do one of the following.
    • To use a picture as a watermark, click Picture, locate the picture that you want, and then click Insert.
    • To use clip art as a watermark, click Clip Art. In the Clip Art task pane, in the Search for box, either type a word or phrase that describes the clip that you want, or type all or part of the file name of the clip, and then click Go.
  3. To send the watermark to the back of the slide, under Picture Tools, on the Format tab, in the Arrange group, click Send to Back

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

something to reduce your eye strain

While computer work tends to not be physically risky, that doesn't mean you should assume it's not impacting your health. Carpal tunnel and Computer Vision Syndrome are no laughing matter, and it's important to take steps to avoid them.

EyeDefender helps by starting breaks at intervals of your choosing (you choose the length of the break as well). To rest your eyes you can choose either your default screensaver, an image, or the visual training mode. The training mode is a bit reminiscent of the relaxation portion of Flash Focus for the Nintendo DS.

If you stick to the schedule you set up, EyeDefender breaks will also help prevent repetetive strain injuries. Like anything designed to help your quest for improved health, you've got to stick with it to see benefits.

For web workers that have a hard time tearing themselves away from their screen, EyeDefender is a handy application with tremendous potential benefits. It's free for non-commercial private use and runs on Windows only.