THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 27, 1995 TAG: 9503250249
SECTION: BUSINESS WEEKLY PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: DOUBLECLICK
SOURCE: [Richard Grimes and Roger Grimes]
LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
Doubleclick authors Richard and Roger Grimes of Norfolk happen to be twin brothers and computer authorities. Their discourse on life in the computer lane appears every other week in Hampton Roads Business Weekly.
Roger: I've had five or six people ask me if Richard is really as wild in person as he seems to be in the column. You people don't know the half of it.
Only good editing saves you from the truly weird stuff Richard thinks about. On the other hand, if you want to see a bad editing job, you should see Richard's new, shorter haircut. I can't decide whether he looks more like Eddie Munster or the biker from the Village People.
Richard: I thought I saw a Village People album tucked in with your Yanni tapes. At least people are getting used to my haircut. For the first few days, my co-workers would come by my desk just to stare at my head.
Roger: You think they'd expect this kind of haircut from a guy who wears steel-toed construction boots and a tie to work.
Richard: That's an exaggeration, Roger. I never wear ties to work. The steel-toed boots do come in handy, though, because I spend mucho time kicking my desk in frustration whenever I have to deal with computer files submitted from outside the newspaper.
Usually, it comes down to one of two problems. Either someone faxes in data that they created on a computer, which means that I have to retype all the information, or. . .
Roger: . . . or they send a disk without telling you what file format it's saved in. Most software programs save their files in a specific format. If someone used WordPerfect to create a word processing file and you happen to use Ami Pro, you could spend time trying out every file conversion routine in Ami Pro until you luck on the correct file type.
It's better than re-keying the information, but it's still wasted time.
Richard: Exactly. If you learn a few simple rules about file handling, though, you'll win friends and impress at least one corporate lackey - me.
The Grimes' First Law of Computing reads as follows: Digital Is Better, Typing Is Torture.
If you create a document, spreadsheet or database and you intend to give that file to someone - say, an easily confused newspaper writer - by all means, send a printout. But send a disk, too. On that disk, clearly print the name of the file and what program was used to create it.
Roger: You can make it even easier for the person receiving your information if you save your file in a format that they can use. In most newer programs there is a SAVE AS function which allows you to specify the format you save your file in. For instance, in the WordPerfect word processor, you can actually save your file as a Microsoft Word file.
Richard: If you know the person you are sending information to uses Ami Pro, then save your work as an Ami Pro file.
Your thoughtfulness will fill this person's heart with feelings normally associated with watching Sleepless in Seattle.
Realize, of course, that if the person is of the same gender or married, this could lead to problems.
If you don't know what program they're using, don't worry. Most types of programs have a ``common'' file format that most programs of its kind will recognize.
Roger: For instance, word processors like WordPerfect and Microsoft Word can both use ASCII, the closest thing word processors have to a common file type.
If you save a word processing file as an ASCII file, you can almost be guaranteed that any other word processor will be able to read it. ASCII is a really basic file type, though, and will not translate anything but the text - forget your fancy fonts or graphics.
Richard: It works the same way for spreadsheets. If you use the SAVE AS command in the Quatro Pro spreadsheet program, you'll see that it can save or open in a bunch of different file formats.
If you don't know what kind of spreadsheet the other person is using, then save it as a Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet file. Lotus 1-2-3 ruled the spreadsheet world in the early days of spreadsheets, so most spreadsheets know how to handle its files.
Roger: Databases have a common denominator, too. In the early days, DBase reigned over the database world. Consequently, most database programs know how to open DBase files.
It's important to remember that nothing substitutes for WordPerfect like WordPerfect. If you plan to share work with another computer, try to use the same program.
If that's not possible, then try to save your file using the file format the other person is using. If you don't know what program the other person is using, then use one of the ``common'' file formats we've outlined.
Cool Cartoon Alert: Computer nerds should wake up early Saturday mornings to watch WVEC's computer generated cartoon, Reboot. Not only will you hear truly funny spreadsheet jokes, you'll get revenge on your kids for making you watch the Lion King a million times. MEMO: The Village People fan can be reached at groger(AT)infi.net
Eddie Munster can be reached at rgrimes(AT)infi.net
by CNB