Things I love

Firefox add-on measures pixels

Measure the size of a web page icon, photo or grahpic with this easy firefox add-on: MeasureIt. After installing the Add-on, a small tape measure icon will appear in the bottom left hand corner. You can then highlight a section of a web page and find out the pixel size.

Photo By: Darren Hester

Text your business cards

Want an easy way to share your information with potential friends and contacts? Try Contxts.

When you meet people, simply tell them to text your user name to 50500. They receive a text message you’ve designed with all of your contact info, which can easily be saved straight into their phone. As a security feature, you have the ability to approve each request. You can also include your twitter name or screen name.

It’s paperless and easy. Right now the service is in alpha, so you can try it for free. If you’re interested in connecting with me, text HannahESmith to 50500.

Photo By: ydhsu

Should your company Tweet?

I just found this great post from BL Ochman’s Whatsnextblog “Top 10 Reasons Your

Company Should Not Tweet.” Most of the reasons are absolutely right, but I have a few exceptions.

#1. Every Tweet has to be approved by legal.

Actually: You can approve most tweets in advance. However, you do need to be able to respond quickly to @messages and DMs. People are usually willing to wait for an accurate response. If you don’t know the answer you can say: “I need to refer that question to customer service. Could you DM me your email address so they can follow up?”

#2. You plan to use Twitter like a giant RSS feed

Actually: As long as your tweets are something people will want to read everyday, this can work. One example: @amazonmp3, which posts a daily mp3 deal. I love this because it’s easier than checking on their site every day. The key is making sure your tweets are interesting and formatted correctly. Some companies post the first 140 characters of the blog as the tweet, which rarely makes sense. When posting, rewrite a custom description in 140 characters or less. Also, only tweet the most interesting deals.

I completely agree with the rest of the reasons. Be sure to check out the post for the full list. One of the best is #3: You think using Twitter is a social media strategy, which is absolutely right. Check out this post for an explanation.

PDF Tips

Here are a few basic tips involving handling pdfs, including how to
reduce PDF file sizes and convert a PDF to a word document.

Tutorial: Reducing PDF File Size without Adobe Acrobat

One of the most common tasks I run into is reducing the size of pdf files. If you do not have access to Adobe Acrobat, one easy option is to use Preview, which is included on the majority of macs. However, using the standard setting for reducing a pdf’s size often results in a blurry document. The key is adjusting your quartz filters.

You can adjust these filters through Color Sync Utility. This should be in your applications folder in the utilities folder.

Here are the directions for setting your quartz filters:

1. In the lower left, click on the “+” button. This creates a new filter.
2. Give the filter a name, and press return.
3. To the right of the filter’s name, choose the down arrow. A menu will pop up.
4. From the pop-up menu, choose “Add Image Effects Component”, and from that menu choose “Image Compression”.
5. Adjust the image compression Mode to JPEG.
6. Adjust the image compression quality however you prefer. The key is to find a balance between quality and size. I recommend expirimenting with it until you find the right mix.

   

7. Open your document in Preview and select Save As.

   

8. Select your custom filter and hit save. I recommend renaming the document so that you can compare the original and your new smaller file.

   

Antother Tip: Covert a PDF to Word Document

One of the best free tools is www.pdftoword.com. Simply upload your pdf file and they will email you a word document version. It is free and web-based. I have found it can take up to a few hours to recieve your document, so make sure you’re not in a huge hurry.

Addition: Chris Dahl from pdftoword let me know they are going to  update the service this week, which should reduce the time it takes to send the files.