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Civility in critiquing the ideas of others is no vice. Rudeness in defending your own ideas is no virtue.


Gimp template for Youtube One Channel graphic
Thu 30 May 2013, 01:57 PM
Over the next few weeks, Youtube is going to switch people to their new One Channel design. If you care about the branding of your Youtube channel, I created a Gimp template you can use with layers to show or mask the various parts which will show on different size devices. You can find the template file plus instructions at http://mini-lessons.info/Gimp14, but I have included the video in case you want to understand how it works first.
 
 

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Cross Reference Smartlinks from view to rich text
Fri 24 May 2013, 12:56 PM
My latest mini-lesson is Midas#7 Cross Reference Smartlinks, which shows off a sample database that is both very new and very old. I created an earlier version for Lotusphere 2002, I think, and have modified it and used it in a couple of other places, but never made a public sample for our website. I decided to update it more and release it now, as I have had people ask for the functionality in one way or another recently. I helped one customer build it into an XPages app, so when I get a chance I'll probably modify it again to show how it works with XPages and on the web in a classic web app.
 
If you follow the link above, you can see the code which is used, as well as links to the download and to an evaluation request. But first, watch the video (only 2 and a half minutes). Best to watch in HD full screen.
 

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From Spy to Try to Buy
Mon 13 May 2013, 02:11 PM
Samples sell products. Especially with the Midas Rich Text LSX, people want a sample close to what they will need. If it works, they buy it. I call this "From Try to Buy". There are 24 sample available on the Midas LSX samples page now. The biggest obstacle though, is that people must request a Midas evaluation license, download the software and sample and install just to see if the sample is what they need. If they know the sample is what they need, they'll do it. If not, they might go off to check Facebook and forget about it.
 
So, as I release Midas V4.32 today and V5.00 in the near future, I am moving to a new plan, "From Spy to Try to Buy". I will make a brief video for each sample, showing exactly what it does, and add it to my Mini-Lessons.info site with code and extras. If those fit, it will be worth continuing. Every video should be about 2 minutes long, so you can quickly decide whether a sample is worth pursuing.
 
I had a couple that already existed, such as Instant Reports with Midas LSX and Redact credit card numbers with REGEX using Midas LSX, but I'm taking the opportunity to update each sample since some are quite old. In fact, the first new one I've done is below, and it is an update of the sample published in 2003. The code is still relevant and used by many companies today. The video is in HD, so don't hesitate to watch it full screen.
 
 
The full mini-lesson is available as Lesson Midas#6, or the sample database can be found on the Midas LSX samples page.
 

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Looking for Notes/Domino books for free advertising
Tue 7 May 2013, 07:43 AM
As part of my new Mini-Lessons.info tutorial site, I use the sidebar to list resources (mostly books) that are related to the topic. While I have some of the obvious IBM Notes/Domino books already, I'd like to add any others that people feel are a good fit. Also, if you've written or helped with one, let me know and I'll add that as well.

If you have written or know of a good book in the other categories, GIMP, ePublishing, Web Design (esp. CSS and HTML), please let me know as well, of course. I just figured this might be the one place where people would know about Notes/Domino.

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Mini-Lessons.info - tutorials on Notes/Domino and more
Mon 6 May 2013, 12:53 PM
I wanted to introduce my new site, Mini-Lessons.info, as a place to find brief but useful demos and tutorials on a number of topics. There are a number of mini-lessons on Gimp 2.8 (a free open source alternative to Photoshop), as well as a few on IBM Notes/Domino and on our Genii Software products. I'm not sure whether I have worked out all the issues with leaving comments yet, but there are useful tutorials there. Of course, I am always open to suggestions. I want to do a series on XPages, as well as others on coexistence.
 
But I need to explain first that these are mini-lessons. The goal is to teach a trick or show a feature in three minutes or less (most meet that, and the average is under 2 1/2 minutes). That may not seem like a lot of time, but my purpose is to avoid the long, drawn out demos that leave you waiting and waiting to get to the meat of the matter. If you want 15 minute demos, there are plenty of places, but I hope to keep to the very short lesson format.
 
Also, every mini-lesson will have additional information, links, downloads and more on the Mini-Lessons.info site, but will also be available on Youtube for those who just want to follow the playlists for the various topics. To start you off, here is mini-lesson Notes #3 Hide Your Unmentionables using Domino's Internet Site Rules.
 

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