http://learnittips.com Design and Productivity Help Tue, 05 Jan 2010 05:42:59 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en If you want to make a New Year's Resolution that's easy to stick to and will make a direct impact, try teaching yourself some new software skills. Here are ten tools that will have an immediate effect on your day-to-day production, from Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint: 1. Search Folders As described ... http://learnittips.com/2010/01/10-productivity-tools-you-should-learn-to-use-in-2010/ Editor's Note: Just like the ongoing Pen Tool Tutorials, this is the first in a multi-part series on Excel's Pivot Tables. Continue to revisit the blog to read more soon. One of the more prevalent uses of Microsoft Excel is saving large tables of information, and then wringing some quantity of ... http://learnittips.com/2009/10/excel-tutorial-pivot-tables-part-1/ Today, I'd like to do something very simple: give you my personal reading list. These blogs know what they're talking about - do yourself a favor and visit them regularly. Design Shard CSS Tricks Six Revisions A List Apart Function Smashing Magazine Noupe Design Mag Before & After Magazine Good luck! http://learnittips.com/2009/09/one-great-web-tip-find-inspiration/ Your typical PowerPoint presentation to your typical audience typically makes everyone wish they were somewhere else, doing something else. The next time you have to give a presentation, see if you can apply one of these three ideas to make everyone's experience more productive. Idea #1: Don't Give a Presentation Hear me ... http://learnittips.com/2009/09/three-ideas-how-to-improve-your-next-presentation/ I my first post in this series, I tackled the basics of what the pen tool was, and how to use it. In part two, I'd like to discuss Adobe Illustrator's complementary pen tools. To see the tools I'm speaking of, click on the Pen Tool in Illustrator and hold the ... http://learnittips.com/2009/09/the-pen-tool-tutorial-part-2/ Note: This is the first post from Productivity Guru Alex Mozes. Alex is the creator of our Microsoft Office Maximized classes, which help you get right to the most efficient way of doing things. You probably use folders to organize your e-mail, right? You’ve got a folder for all the ... http://learnittips.com/2009/09/search-folders-solving-the-organizer%e2%80%99s-paradox/ When dealing with Outlook, there are a wide range of techniques to cut down on your wasted time and make you feel more effective. Today, we'll explore three rules most people should be using. First, a quick point: when I say rules, I actually mean that we'll be using a ... http://learnittips.com/2009/08/three-great-rules-email-effectiveness-efficiency/ The Pen tool is a very important piece of several different design programs. It is probably most integral, though, to Adobe Illustrator. It's also a complicated tool to master. This is the first in a multi-part series designed to break down the tool and make it more approachable. Pen Tool Basics The ... http://learnittips.com/2009/08/the-pen-tool-tutorial-part-1/ Everyone who changes from Office 2003 to Office 2007 has a learning curve. During the weeks and months after you transition, you'll find yourself wondering: where is that tool I used to use all the time? To help you through those moments, you may want to use Microsoft's Command Reference Guides: Microsoft ... http://learnittips.com/2009/08/learning-office-2007/ As a web designer, one of the biggest issues I have is finding the right typography for my sites. Using Cascading Style Sheets, we can plan out every facet of the type design on our sites, but you have to get a handle on each setting. That's why CSS Typeset ... http://learnittips.com/2009/08/my-favorite-sites-css-typeset/