Why Apple's IOS8 Operating System Should Excite Users and Developers

Apple's new iOS8 operating system was recently revealed at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco.

While iOS8 may not be a game changer it certainly offers many new features for business use and should excite developers wishing to share and create applications within the new framework.

On the business front, Apple has focused on stronger security. Data protection will be expanded to more applications to enable finer control over such items as mail encryption.

The expanded data protection will include basically all pertinent apps as well as user credentials. These credentials will be protected by a pass code until after a device is unlocked following a reboot.

Apple says it is unleashing a variety of enhanced productivity tools with iOS8. Inbox mail management should be easier as a quick left or right swipe enables a user to mark messages as read or unread or flag them for follow-up.

The new calendar view enables you to see your colleague's availability to schedule a meeting, easing the effort of finding a time convenient for all parties.

Work execution will be easier with iCould Drive. Apple touts you will be able to work on any file anywhere. This will include presentations, PDFs, images and more. This will work right from the iCloud on any device you use, whether it's a MAC or PC.

Need access to corporate documents? Third party document apps can be used to access corporate file servers so you can get to the document you need right from the app you want to edit it in. Apple promises you will be able to transfer files to and from a MAC device even without an Internet connection.

Enhanced connectivity should be a great benefit. Apple says users will be able to start an email on one device and seamlessly continue it on another. iPhone users will be able to answer phone calls on their MAC or iPAD and send SMS messages from any of them.

Those who use photos will enjoy the ability to edit and organize every photo one takes on all your devices though the iCould photo library.

Messaging too will have new features. You can add your own voice into a text message and send a video of what you see as you are seeing it.

Should you wish to workout with colleagues, the health and fitness apps will utilize an easy to read dashboard to share communication with friends, your trainer and even your doctor.

"Spotlight" will serve as a type of answer search engine. It will provide information from Wikipedia and offer trending news and more.

IT departments will have better data and device management tools. iOS8 has more ways to manage information securely without burdening employees with complex rules and work personas. IT staff can now push iBooks, ePub and PDF documents automatically to user devices using mobile device management, MDM, tools. Users should have access to what they need when they need it.

These new tools will give developers deeper access and even more to work with. This will include new keyboard options and still more ways to share content.

Developers will find the ability to create and utilize apps that communicate with other an exciting enticement as Apple pushes the boundaries with this new innovation.

By Marc Arbesman

Scrum Transformation: How Transparency Is Offered

I was having a conversation with a good friend of mine over "transparency" and the effect of Social Media. It amazes me how the new generation so easily communicate their day to day activities and how they feel with no fear. With the help of technology they are a generation of openness.

Yet organizations have not caught on to this. To transition to scrum you need a dedication and commitment to transparency. It is not only one of the five scrum values, it is crucial to the success of any transformation. With openness there is trust. Without trust your project is doomed to chaos and potentially fail. In scrum, transparency is offered through the scrum ceremonies. Let's walk through these.

Sprint Planning:

In sprint planning the team and product owner work together in determining what work will get pulled into the sprint. The team should openly communicate when a story is too large or not ready to pull into the sprint. Design approach is established, tasks are openly defined. The team communicates what they plan to deliver. They also communicate what criteria defines done for them.

Daily Stand Up:

The stand up is yet another opportunity for transparency. It is all about sharing information and identifying dependencies. The team should discuss how and what they plan on doing that day. This is all about communicating the plan of the day and what blockers or impediments the team has crossed. The power of the stand up is often under estimated. Many new teams feel it is unnecessary, not really understanding the value it offers.

Demo (Review):

The demo is held at the end of each sprint and facilitated by the product owner or scrum master. It is all about showing the product owner, stakeholders, and or sponsors the work that was completed. The team shares the work that was committed, the challenges over come and listens for feed back. Sponsors, stakeholders, and or product owners provide open feed back to the team. It is important to understand this ceremony is an exchange, and not an opportunity to thrash the team or hide behind requirements. It should have a cooperative and friendly feel.

Retrospective:

The retrospective is an opportunity for the team to openly discuss what went wrong, and how they can improve. It is a tool to review and improve the dynamics and processes of the team. This is another ceremony not used properly and sometimes not performed. If used correctly it should motivate and help solidify the team.

By Leonor Urena

HTML Code for Virtual Assistants

Let's talk about HTML code. Call it what you want - code, HTML, geekspeak, and so on. Can you read it? No?!? Then learn!

Why should I learn some HTML code?

If you, like so many other small virtual assistant solopreneurs out there, are creating your website on your own.. you should know code. Not at the uber-geek level, but some general code. Knowing how to read code can save you a ton of time when it comes to updating widgets, creating campaigns and tweaking changes here and there.

You also are going to have clients who need a little something changed, fixed, or updated. Be proactive and get formatting errors, mismatched type, and broken links fixed.

If you use WordPress for your site, you can still incorporate HTML.. and sometimes it's simply easier to snag a generated HTML code snippet and paste it into your WordPress post or page. In this type of situation, once you have the generated HTML code, go to WordPress and start your page or post. To the top right of the body field you will see "Visual" and "Text." Text is where you would paste your HTML.

Do I Need Special Software?

No. You can write code in Notepad, which every PC has. There are also a bunch of WYSIWYG ("What You See Is What You Get") online HTML editors out there too. If you need a quick change or tweak, they are handy to bookmark.

Do I need to know anything else?

Keep in mind that code is sort of like a highlighter. You highlight the parts that you want to fancy up but putting HTML before AND after the special bits. The code is trapped inside carrots, otherwise known as these little things: <>

Back in the day, we used to call 'em less-than and greater-than signs.

Tip: Remember you need to open the carrots and close them.

The internet has evolved over the years and because of that, there can be more than one set of HTML codes for the same thing. For example, see the codes for italics below.

OK.. Short List Me!

There are ton of basics out there, so let's get started (and keep in mind that this won't show the actual formatting):

• Paragraph: <p></p>
• Bold: <b></b> This is how to <b>bold</b> text.
• Italics: <i></i> This is how to <i>italicize</i> text.
• You can also use <emphasis></emphasis> in lieu of <i></i>

If you're used to using Microsoft Word's Styles & Formatting, then you are familiar with Header formatting. HTML also uses headers H1-H6:

• <h1>Title goes here</h1>
• <h2>Sub-Title here</h2>
• <h3></h3> and so on..

Just as important as formatting your type is, it's also important to insert links.

• Link to a page: <a href="http://www.yoursite.com">Your Site Name</a>
• If you want the page to open in a new tab/new window, then you would use: <a href="http://www.yoursite.com" target "_blank"></a>
• Link to email: Send an email to me at: <a href="mailto:you@yoursite.com>me@mysite.com</a>

Other HTML Codes

There are a few HTML codes that do not require a close.

• Horizontal line: <hr>
• Line Break: <br />
• Adding an image: <img src="http://www.yoursite.com/image1.png">
• If you're image is too large, you can tell the code how big to make the image: <img src="http://www.yoursite.com/image1.png" width="400" height="350">

Did You Know?

Did you know that you can view the HTML for any website? Depending on your browser, you can see the geekspeak by

• Internet Explorer: Right click on the page and choose "View Source"
• FireFox: Right click on the page and choose "View Page Source"
• Chrome: Right click on the page and choose "Inspect Element"
• Opera: Right click on the page and choose "View Page Source"

At the end of the day, any additional knowledge or experience that you add to your VA toolkit will only add to your value and make you indispensable to your clients.

About Out of the Office Virtual Assistance:
At Out of the Office, we offer ideas and ways to increase your productivity, decrease your workload, and work more efficiently. We nurture a successful business relationship, while continuing to grow as your business partner. We are focused on streamlining your administration, social media planning and execution, and offering creative solutions for your business success. Schedule your free 30 minute consultation by visiting our website.

By Denise Dukette

Technology: A Bad Servant or Good Master?

It is indeed well known that technology has been a good servant in that it has made many contributions. Advances in healthcare, education, crime detection, greater business efficiency, improved communications, life enrichment, saved time, and given us the opportunity to have fun such as that involving the personal computer...

However (and it's a very big however), technology has also been described as a bad master for a number of disturbing reasons. So fasten your safety belts folks it's going to get bumpy; here's an overview of those disturbing reasons.

Surveillance and the police state

Following the revelations of Edward Snowden and the extent to which we are under surveillance, it confirms that like a runaway train heading for dystopia we have gone beyond the point of no return: Phone hacking, Global Positioning Satellites (GPS), smart meters of sorts, CCTV cameras (1 for every 11 people in the UK), online chat media monitoring, face recognition technology, plans for cashless societies, cars where there will be no drivers... every brave new world gadget and gismo unwittingly ensnares us.

-Every communication device is spied on. No whisper undetected...

And it doesn't end there. The human micro-chipping agenda continues developing. Then there are plans to have cars fitted with black boxes and V2 transmitters designed to record and track performance data: Monitoring speed, location, direction, gear box and break usage, driver or passenger ID.

Ford motor cars Vice President Jim Farley confessed in so many words that we are already aware of who breaks the law when and how, all this because of the GPS in your car.

Don't fall for the effrontery that these things are only there for your own safety and if you are a law abiding citizen then there's nothing to worry about...

-This glib Orwellian doublespeak belies the fact that the elite hidden powers that be with their enslavement agenda know that they're going to make some pretty darn unpopular decisions and the surveillance and control is there to deal with the anticipated backlash from those 'troublesome people.' You will not have any privacy in the Imperial government Big Brother state.

Drones

Operated by someone sat at a computer, unmanned drones will soon occupy the skies in numbers. Like something out of the Spielberg sci-fi film "Minority Report" they will have the ability to detect body movements day or night, see through walls, recognize faces, take over or spy on emails, text messages and web surfing habits...

The war machine

Armed military drones have been used to seek out and kill the enemy. What you're not told in mainstream media is that reports have come through from medics that the damage done by these drones can mean something like 30% of the deaths or serious injuries were innocent men, women and children.

Electromagnetic Frequencies (EMF's)

Vested commercial interest has tried its hardest to keep the lid on the fact that low frequency electromagnetic radiation such as that produced from cell phones and Wi-Fi can lead to some serious health problems such as depression and cancer. Evidence for this includes "The 2012 Bio-initiative Report" documenting 1000's of pages where ill health has resulted from overuse...

Killing social behaviour

It has been said that technology is killing social behaviour through real human interaction getting substituted for too many communications by emails, text messages and social media websites. Indeed, the latter does not have the qualities of the former so loneliness and for some withdrawn behaviour sets in...

Distraction

Technology has served to distract the masses. Instead of realizing the woes of the world then getting up and doing something that makes a difference many have got lost in endless distraction like those people for example addicted to computer games. Some have formed an inability to focus through too much technology usage.

The hidden powers that be know this and it's been one of their secret weapons.

Dependency

Perhaps the greatest pandemonium for the world could be if some kind of planetary situation happened that would cause the electronics to go down...

To sound off

What's needed is for more people to wake up and realize that technology is used to enslave us. Those aware need to spread the word en masse. As a result more and more awakened individuals will turn away from bad master technology then through their inner being create thoughts, feelings, emotions, meditation, affirmations and prayers... that will produce a different outcome to the one planned by the hidden powers that be.

A real intention to want to make this happen must not be underestimated. To 'spread the word' and do one's 'inner work' are the crucial ingredients needed to create a different reality that will take us into a new paradigm experience based on love, peace and light.

By Paul A Philips

Benefits of a Premium VZ Server

Companies around the world are turning to premium vz servers to help them manage their website, emails and more. These servers are an ideal solution because they reduce the need for managing a number of dedicated servers, offering an easy to use system which can be accessed with ease from every computer in the office.

The premium vz servers enable you to host a number of different domain names and email addresses in one place, this offers a cost effective solution for any company. It also reduces the amount of technical maintenance needed, reducing your software maintenance costs dramatically.

One of the main advantages to choosing this type of server is that you have less downtime, which is exceptionally important if you're hosting your website. You want your customers to have access to your site twenty four hours a day, if your site is down more than it's up, your customers will start looking elsewhere for the products and services that they require.

For companies that are looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint, then the premium vz server is the ideal solution. Because it doesn't require a host of dedicated servers, it dramatically reduces energy consumption. This not only lowers your monthly energy bill, but also enables you to control your carbon footprint effectively.

Many business owners are a little concerned about using this type of method to store their information, emails and site, but these are safe and secure, they are also easy to update, often with a software package which is designed to make this process easy and secure at all times.

The aim of every company around the world is to grow, so you can get a premium vz server which can accommodate you as you start your new business venture and grow with you, accommodating your requirements and growth along the way. This is such a huge benefit for many companies, as it won't require you change providers, but rather that your provider has taken steps to ensure your server will grow with you.

Another of the major benefits to this option is speed. You want your customers to enjoy fast access to your website, you want to be able to access the server quickly and you want fast speeds at all times. These products can provide this on every computer you use to access the server. They come in different package options, enabling you to determine the size and bandwidth you need for the fastest speeds available.

One of the biggest problems companies face these days is loss of data. You have your website developed, put it online and then something goes wrong and you lose everything. This isn't only frustrating, but can cost you time, energy and money. The premium vz servers are quick and easy to backup, ensuring that should you lose relevant information or accidentally delete something you weren't meant to, you can restore it within minutes without losing anything.

Finally, a very important note and benefit about premium vz servers is that they come with customer support. If you are stuck at any stage, whether you're making changes or trying to access your server, there is always someone on hand that can help you through the process.

Knowing you have customer support behind you at all times can make a huge difference to which company you use when making your purchase. Always ensure they offer outstanding customer support at all times, this way you will always have peace of mind that you have your own on-call technician who can talk you through the process and ensure your server is running perfectly all the time.

By Ihtisham Mohammed

Cloud Computing In a Nutshell

We all heard the term 'Cloud Computing' and we've all probably said Cloud this or Cloud that at some point in time, but what is the 'Cloud' and how can it help me?
Don't you just hate it when there is a new trend and everybody is talking about it like they invented it? They'll usually use complicated verbiage to try and confuse you as much as possible into buying or overpaying for something you might not need at all or at least not at the volume they are trying to sell to you. Well, I can promise you that won't happen here.
So what is Cloud Computing? Cloud Computing is a way of using a collection of servers and storage to do what you would normally need to do but without the need to house and maintain the server(s) yourself. With the use of a 'Cloud', you can now run an entire business without ever maintaining a server or storage unit yourself or with the aid of an on-site IT professional. Some might ask, "What's so good about that?" Well, it increases efficiency, improves cash flow and a lot of other benefits I will review shortly.
Before I dive into the benefits, we need to start with knowing what a 'Cloud' is made of? Now this might get a bit boring, so let's just walk through the basics... and quickly.
First you need a platform. Since Cloud computing is basically a virtualization evolution, it needs to run on a virtualization platform. I won't dive into this because then it will just become a Wikipedia page. In short, you take multiple machines that are connected together and virtually make them into 1 machine using an application/software.
Once we chose the platform, we need to run it on some hardware. Dell, HP and IBM are currently the giants within the Enterprise IT industry that most 'Cloud Computing' uses for hardware. Due to the level at which their hardware is used, you can expect the same from their proprietary software. Most IT professionals who maintain these virtual environments will probably be most familiar with those brands since it's the most common.
The last segment is the network configuration. A Single cloud node will act like a management platform that can manage all the different zones in multiple geographic areas, from a single point.
And that is basically all you need to build a cloud. Now that we've analyzed the ingredients (only the basics so far but if you're interested in the individual components that make up the cloud let me know and I'll go over them in more detail J) let's touch on some of the benefits.
So what are some of the benefits of Cloud computing?
1. Security, mainly disaster recovery services - When you start using cloud computing, you can kiss your entire disaster recovery plan goodbye. If you have a cold site it's one thing but if you have a hot site, man you have probably spent a LOT of money! And I mean A LOT. Cloud computing will take care of most of the issues that interrupt a website and will do it faster as well. An industry average of 2.1 hours. Compared to 8 hours?! Wow.
2. Software Updates - Have you ever measured how long it takes you, as a server administrator, to run updates on all your servers? Well, days and even weeks, in accumulate. Cloud computing suppliers do the server maintenance, freeing this time so you can do something more productive for your business.
3. Flexibility - Are you running out of space? You need more bandwidth? Pick up the phone and start dialing. That's all that it will take for you to get more bandwidth or storage. No need to redesign your network with a new server purchase, deployment, and maintenance plan. Not anymore.
4. Server access - As long as you have one, you can access your data from anywhere!
5. Data Security - You lost your laptop? Someone stole your rack server? Your workstation caught fire? Bummer! But what if there was this crazy option that despite all this bad luck, your data won't be lost and is still accessible via any device that has an internet connection? See #4, now there is.
There are many more benefits, but those are the ones that are the most appealing, in my opinion.
I do believe that Cloud computing is here for the better and not so long from now, everything will be online via cloud. But it's not going to happen tomorrow and not this year. This is still a long and patient process. In the meantime there are suppliers currently providing all the equipment to create your own cloud, consultancy on how to run and maintain it, including deployment, support, mission critical on-site and backups.
Thank you for reading this long article. I hope this has helped you understand a little bit more about what is that trend called 'Cloud Computing', hopefully before you started spending.

By Yuri Aberfeld

How Firms Can Participate In Ensuring a Free and Fair Market

As the world becomes a business hub, firms are making transactions globally. There is a tremendous increase in trade transactions all over the world. The financial exchange market has transformed over the years with the use of technology to ease the way of doing business. Beneath this increased profitability, it is becoming imperative for trade surveillance system to be enhanced to deal with any eventualities. The organization needs to empower and give the capacity to oversight department to monitor the trades through regulations and the abusive use of technology. Some of the ways the organization can increase the effective trade market surveillance in order to curb unfair trade practices using market abuse technology are listed below.

- With tough laws and regulations, the organizations need to ensure that employees conduct pre -trade market surveillance to ensure that transactions are conducted within the law to prevent any breach of policies that may occur in the process. This will boost investor trust leading to business profitability.

- With the post - surveillance, it monitors the transactions already conducted in companies to ensure they were done correctly following the laid down rules and regulation. This creates a market that is controlled and guiding principles are followed to the latter.

- Business is created with the core mandate of making profit, with an effective market security system installed in the organization structure; the company can know the strength and weakness which need to be addressed for effective market observation in the business trading.

- A good detection will enable a host company to notice any rogue under-dealings and manipulations of activities happening during trading activities.

- The business, through the use of advanced technology, can install a system with a standardized threshold which will be triggered whenever a rogue activity is undertaken in the organization.
- Management should frequently and timely analyse trade activities, reports and monitor the trading patterns to be able to know what is being undertaken by the employees of the organization. The behaviour of the workers should be monitored.

- Investigate, analyse and resolve promptly the cancelled trades in good time to keep the reputation of the organization intact.

- Before traders are able to invest their money, the organization should ensure that the investor has the needed amount which reaches the threshold, and it does not surpass the trading limit. This will make sure that the client does not pay less or more during the trade process.

In conclusion, it is important that the organization managers enlighten the workers about the benefits of using market abuse technology to increase trade surveillance and at the same time the firm should motivate employees to be able to reduce cases of abuse of technology during trade activities.

By Pankaj Pk Sharma

Transform Your Work Force in to Salesforce

Customer is the king for every business. A happy customer means returning revenues and profitable business. However, to keep the customer happy the workforce needs to be in harmony. If the employees are not satisfied with what they are doing, then how can you expect them to keep the customers happy?

So, the question arises how can the employee's work stress be minimized that will lead to profitable business? The answer to that lies in creating a bespoke CRM that goes along with its Implementation and Training; an impeccable way to help in streamlining workflow at an office. By getting a bespoke CRM devised for your work, you can eventually restructure the work policies and get the best out of the employees.

How does Salesforce implementation work? Let's take a look -

• Business review - the first step involves getting to know about the various facets of your business. Once that is done, the requirements of business become clear and it becomes easy to structure the CRM

• Bespoke Design - once the business process becomes clear, the next step involves designing a platform that goes well with the business requirements. This involves thorough planning of each and every step, and gathering the data that needs to be inserted in the software designed

• Refining Process - after the creation of initial platform, it becomes imperative to check if there are any flaws in it or not? Or, is there something that can be refined according to the business requirements. This refining is highly significant for the entire process, as it will lead to the creation of final product

• Training - when all the processes mentioned above have been completed, the final step becomes implementation of the CRM, to transform your workforce in to Salesforce, and its training. This involves making the administrators, as well as workers, equipped with sufficient information to handle the CRM and help the new people who join the team in future

Isn't that great?

With the help of a CRM consulting company, you can eventually get it all done, be it salesforce platform designing and implementation or the training part. This can virtually prove to be the most inspiring and beneficial thing for your business. After all, when the employees are satisfied with their work they are definitely going to think well for the organization and put more effort towards its success. This is what every business wants.

So, don't you want to give your business the boost? If yes, then get in touch with a consulting firm today!

By Jessi Shumway

Smart Watches Rise In Demand As 45 Million Expected To Be Shipped By 2017

The high-tech device set to witness a gigantic 350% growth by the end of 2014

Watches today have got a new term added to them-SMART. The evolution of smart watches changed the purpose of using watches vastly; the current users of these watches get everything updated just by clicking the screen on their wrist. Gone are days when watches were mere time showing devices; they are today highly upgraded technology devices which are expected to have a mammoth growth in sales from being the present small sector. The sales of these smart watches are expected to cross a whopping 350% by the end of this year and if the experts are to be trusted, this is just the start.

The smart watch industry recorded a shipment of 20,000 wearable branded devices by the first half of 2013. The same shipment numbers jumped by a brow raising 700% and recorded a shipment of 1.6 million devices including different brands. These devices are getting more famous among its users as the count of tech geeks using these wearable devices is increasing around the globe. The shipments are estimated to close at over 8 million by the end of 2014. The device is predicted to have an additional 15 million sales just within a year as the shipment units are bound to reach a massive 23 million by the close of 2015.

Fitness monitoring is the leading application used in these smart watch devices and though the number of users today is relatively low; it is sure to jump as health awareness and healthcare segment is developing fast thus making the utilization of such advanced technology for constant monitoring necessary. According to the market research, specialists from the segment indicate that the current year 2014 will be the game changer for these smart brands and place their demands to unprecedented rates for the years to come.

As stated before, fitness is the major concentrated segment for this smart watch market as personal self-health monitoring was first made a reality in early 2013. Fit-bit launched the first health tracker and holds a dominating share of 58% of the total market demand since its introduction in the year 2013. The company has its variants such as Flex and Force which had massive introductions in May and October respectively. The smart wearable maker is followed by Jawbone UP which holds a 21% market share and Nike's Fuel-band range of devices with a share of 13%.

As per the shipment records of these hi-tech devices; Samsung rules the industry with its Galaxy Gear product that held a share of 54% by the second half of 2013. The maker pushed this product with a nickname "Smart Band" which as expected turned into a craze among its users. The list is followed by Sony with a 19% share and Pebble which posted 16% sales for the year 2013. Other companies together displayed a notable performance with an 11% sale.

Licia Margarete has a passion for writing and has chosen it as her full time profession; she is a Content Analyst at Bharat Book Bureau; a market information aggregator. This organization provides vital data in the form of research reports, country reports and company profiles from across industries all around the world. Licia is an experience hand at drafting informative content as she is doing it since last 5 years. Lifestyle, Travel, Food and Drinks, Technology, Manufacturing are some of the topics that interest her the most.

By Licia Margarete

Microsoft Word: Changing Your Document View

I love looking at an online map and having the choice of a traditional view or a satellite one. It is easier for me to find my route on a traditional view, but I also have the ability to see what the building I am looking for and the area around it actually looks like.

Have you used different views in Microsoft Word? Just like online maps, Word has more than one option when it comes to viewing a document.

Microsoft Word provides us with five different ways to view our documents. The default one is called 'Print Layout.' This shows how the text will look on each printed page and is invaluable when you are getting ready to print. This is, however, one of the last steps of word processing. The first step is to get all your ideas onto the document. Type all your text before you worry about how it looks on the page.

I recommend using 'Draft' or 'Outline' for the early stages of document creation. You will be able to see more text on your screen and you won't get side tracked by page elements like images, headers, or footers.

To change to one of these views, go to the View ribbon and choose a command in the Document Views group, or go to the right side of the status bar. Your status bar runs along the bottom of your screen. The right side of it may contain information like the page you are on, or how many words your document contains. The right side of it has the View buttons and the Zoom bar. If you hover your mouse above the buttons, a screen tip will appear to tell you the name of each view. You can also add the view buttons to your Quick Access Tool bar or use keyboard shortcuts, such as:

Alt + Ctrl + p - Pint Layout view.

Alt + Ctrl + o - Outline view.

Alt + Ctrl + n - Draft view. The Draft view used to be called the Normal view, hence the use of the letter 'n.'

Open a document and change to the Draft view.

To the left of your document you will see the style area. This does exactly what it suggests; it shows you the paragraph style that has been attached to each paragraph. If you want to change the style, double-click on the name of the current style to open the Style dialog box. From here you can select a different style or modify the existing one.

Applying a style to a paragraph is not really formatting. Once you have typed all your text and are ready to look at how it will present itself on each page, you may want to modify how the styles look. This would be formatting.

TIP: The width of the style area can be changed in the Word options.

1. File tab, Options

2. Advanced, Display group

3. Style area width in Draft and Outline views

4. Adjust the size

5. OK

If you are working with multiple heading levels, you may prefer to work in the Outline view. This also has the style area on the left, but has the added bonus of allowing you to collapse and expand the heading levels, so the text under each heading is hidden.

The Outline view allows you to easily rearrange your document by simply dragging paragraphs and headings to a new location in the document.

Choose the correct view to match your document creation needs.

Use the Print Layout view when you want to see what your document will look like when it is printed. You will see all the page elements like headers, footers and graphics.

Use the Draft View when you are concentrating on the text of a document. It will show you a single page with simple text format only. This not only helps you avoid being sidetracked by graphics and other page elements, it also lets you view more text on one screen.

As with anything new, using a different view may take a little while to get used to. Don't let this deter you. Saving the Print Layout view until you have created your text will help you work smart not hard.

Reen Rose is an empowerment expert who believes in aiding businesses of all sizes, by helping individuals and teams acquire the skills they need to be happy and successful in their work. She is an experienced Microsoft Certified Trainer, Microsoft Office Specialist Master and a Myers Briggs certified practitioner.

By Reen Rose