I’ve recently kept a blank Word document open so I can C&P into it to spell check. I should probably do that for grammar as well.
Sometimes I keep a separate window open to Google in the background.
The other day I had to link to three separate sites, so I just opened a new window for each and just C&P’d th eurls. I guess I could have just dumped them into Word, but I’m a pretty lazy poster and had not thought of that untill now.
What things do you do to make posting easier? Any shortcuts for coding or quoting?
[sub]Mods, if this needs to go to ATMB, might as well lock it. I never go there. Maybe I should.[/sub]
Easiest thing I’ve found is to not use IE anymore but shift to Firefox so I’m not mucking about with keeping windows open as you seem to be, dnooman – just tabs within a window.
The Google Toolar makes spellchecking integrated into Firefox (and IE I believe) so that you don’t even have to cut and paste. It just checks the form for you.
If you want to get the most and and most appropriate responses to a thread, give some thought to the title and make it long and descriptive so people basically know what to expect without even opening it.
Instead of just saying “Relativity question”, you would get better and probably more responses if you incorporate more of the whole question into the title. Long titles tend to stand out more as well making it easier for people to spot them in the jumble.
I use Firefox for multiple tabs - all that IE pissing about with different windows gets old very quickly once you’ve used a tabbed browser - and I compose 90% of my posts in Notepad. Then preview, then post. Only adds about 30 seconds to each post I make. Don’t need a spellchecker as I’m a part-time proofreader. C’mon Gaudere’s Law, I defy you!
I routinely have at several windows open, the SDMB, mail, Google™, and any others that i have been exploring.
(Because I am genuinely curious), what is the difference? Why is a list of tabs across the top of a page easier to coordinate than a list of buttons across the bottom of the screen?
I wondered why everyone raved about tabs as well, and then I got acquainted with them with Opera. It just seems quicker and smoother (so much so that when something opens up a new window, now, instead of a tab, I get cranky.) Probably because to click a tab is just changing the view within the window you have open – whereas changing windows involving restoring the one you want to see. I’ve got Thunderbird inbox open now and Firefox (two windows) – clicking between them seems to be just a tad slower than clicking tabs. The tabs seem to take up less effort for the computer if it’s doing something else, like an anti-virus check, too. I can surf the 'Net easier while that’s happening now.
When one replies in Guided Mode (BB code)- or “Reply to thread” and you wish to include a link to an outside source or URL. I find it quick and disposable to have my outside hyperlinks open and easily copied {Ctrl+N}. I cthen copy the address (URL), highlight my desired, contextual, linking text; click on the insert hyperlink icon (the world above a chain icon), Ok the text, paste the URL, and OK the link. Easy as pie. Very simple, but saves time and headache. To some, this is still a mystifying and difficult arrangement and function… not many, but some.
For one, my understanding is that each IE window is a separate process, which means you can’t have too many open before things slow down. Whereas in Firefox I generally have five or so windows, often with about ten different tabs in each - and yes, as indicated above switching between tabs is simply quicker than switching between windows. Plus, I have an extension installed that makes scrolling through tabs extremely easy - just hold down the right mouse button and scroll the mousewheel. Opening new tabs is very quick, too - I have it configured not to switch to new tabs, so I can quickly middle-click ten or fifteen links in a row in seconds, while opening new windows with IE seems to take much longer.
I don’t know exactly, though - you really do have to try it to understand. I used Mozilla back when it didn’t support tabs, and I never understood why anyone would want the tabbed version. But once they rolled tabs into the basic version, I was absolutely hooked. I simply hate using non-tabbed browsers now.
