Wednesday 29 February 2012

Free Times Table Challenge tool 2 - Division

I recently made available a free Excel-based Times Table Challenge tool for those of us with kids to help them learn their tables.

Today, I'm posting a sequel. This one works alongside the original but focuses on division rather than multiplication.

Click to zoom
As before, there's a button to generate a new random exercise instantly, and the 'Answers' tab so you can print off the marking guide each time too if you are a bad busy parent.


Download the Division Challenge.

Tuesday 28 February 2012

Free Monthly Filofax diary templates for A5 and Personal sizes


So today Steve and I are releasing the Month on one page and Month per View (2 page) files for both A5 and Personal size. These are layouts each covering the whole of 2012, but this time for both the Filofax Personal and A5.

The A5 ones are created as A4 documents with each A4 sheet yielding 2 double-sided pages.Print the sets double-sided. If you have a duplex printer, set it to flip on the short edge. If you don't then you'll have to print odd-numbered pages and then refeed to print the even-numbered pages on the reverse. You might have to experiment to find out how to refeed the paper. Then guillotine right down the middle and punch.

The Personal pages are also set to print to A4. On one side of each sheet you'll find crop marks. Use a craft knife and a steel ruler to release the Personal pages and punch them. The templates are set up with mirrored gutters to accommodate the holes.

You can print these on any paper you like, which will please fountain pen users particularly.

As an alternative to printing your Personal pages on A4 we've also included versions you can print straight onto Filofax Personal-size paper if your printer can cope with that.

So, here are your downloads.

1. A5 Month on One Page

Click to enlarge


Download Word File or PDF File


2. A5 Month View

Click to enlarge
  Download Word File or PDF File


3. Personal Month on One Page

Click to enlarge


Download Word File (A4), Word File (Personal Size), PDF File (A4), PDFFile (Personal Size)


4. Personal Month per View

Click to enlarge

Download Word File (A4), Word File (Personal Size), PDF File (A4), PDFFile (Personal Size)

Of course, we will  also make the source files available shortly so that fellow bearers of the Geek gene can tinker.

Sunday 26 February 2012

Applications where paper beats software, and where software beats paper.

A few years ago, I wrote a short article for Moleskinerie, noting the backlash against  the trend to do everything on electronic platforms. At the time, I was making a move back to paper, too. I hadn't made my way back to Filofax by then, but it wouldn't be long. Here's what I had to say then:

Here are six applications we all undertake every day that work better with the traditional paper and pen solutions than with electronic tools. 

1. The task list. Web Worker Daily has an inspirational post on this subject. I have found that the paper task list is simply a more effective way to organise my work. I use a form of Bill Westerman’s great GSD system. My GSD book is portable, works anywhere, has never crashed and doesn’t need a help file.
2. The daily schedule. I use a Moleskine pocket diary, in which I use a pencil to note my various appointments, meetings and plans. I can quickly skip to any date and make changes easily whenever I like. When people in the corporate world invite me to meetings in Outlook, I write them in my paper diary when I accept the invitation. Other than that, the only syncing I need to do is to pick up my diary and put it in my pocket when I go out.
3. Meeting notes. For a while, I used Microsoft OneNote but despite the wonderful flexibility of the application, the truth is it still isn’t anywhere near as flexible as writing my own notes in a book or on paper. When I use paper, I can draw pictures, and highlight relationships between ideas without even thinking about it. Yes, OneNote can do that too, but while I’m thinking about the key and mouse actions to make that happen, I’m not concentrating on what’s happening in the meeting.
4. Mind maps. There are lots of PC mind mapping applications. I quite like MindManager. But after you’ve created a few mind maps on a computer, you start to notice they all look the same. They’re nice and shiny and professional looking, of course, but they aren’t memorable in the way a hand-drawn one is. When you draw a bad picture of a factory on your paper mind map, it’s more memorable that the perfect clipart one on screen. When your map ends up asymmetrical because you overestimated how far a topic would take you, it’s more memorable. The imperfections of the paper design create memory hooks that the perfect computer versions just don’t.
5. Your journal. I’ve written about the value I get from keeping a daily record of my life before, and I just can’t imagine doing this in any way other than in a book with a fountain pen. I write more slowly than I can type, and this allows me to record rather more fully-formed ideas that those my keyboard produces. The journal can accompany me anywhere and I can access it quickly in situations in which I’d hesitate to open a laptop. It’s lighter, too.
6. Personal letters and greeting cards. Compare the experience of receiving a hand-written note or card in the mail with that of receiving an e-mail or an e-card. Someone took the trouble not just to click a few keys, but to write you a personal message, put it in an envelope which they then addressed, stamped and posted. Is that not a more valuable affirmation of your relationship than a few on-screen dancing bunnies?
Although I didn't write about this at the time, there is another side to this coin. In the interests of balance, here are my six applications where software beats paper:


1. Contacts. The smartphone era has spelled for me the death of paper address books. My contacts are available to me anywhere, easy to keep updated and easy to use - to cut and paste into a document, for instance, or just to make a call - without any danger of dialling a wrong number. In fact, when was the last time you got a wrong number call? The phenomenon has all but disappeared. I keep a couple of blank address pages in my Filofax just to capture new details. Then I can key them into Outlook when I'm home rather than use the fiddly iPhone data entry system.

2. Financial planning. Excel, Money, Quickbooks or one of half a dozen other applications give everyone the freedom to rise above simple arithmetic and do instead the kind of financial planning that actually matters. Budgeting and keeping track of everything on paper is hard enough in itself, of course, but the type of planning the software does for you would take hours to do manually. Manual ledgers are now historical documents.


3. Reading. This might be a controversial one. I certainly never believed that I would prefer reading on the Kindle to reading a real book. I believed I would miss the tactile dimension, the smell of the paper, the turn of real pages. I believed all of that quite strongly, right up until I first read on a Kindle and found that despite all my fears it was a better experience than reading a real book. I can read every book with the font size and spacing that works best for me. I no longer have to carry a spare book around; an entire library sits in my pocket. And pretty much any book I don't have I can get and be reading inside a minute, wherever I am.

4. Maps. With a paper map, you have to do all the work. There's no 'where am I?' function, no way to zoom in and if you want to venture off the page, you need to be near somewhere you can buy another map. Electronic maps, whether online or device-resident are an enormous leap forward. When they are linked to GPS functionality, they are in a whole different league. And who can be doing with all that unfolding and refolding?

5. Transport timetables. Train and bus companies used to produce (and perhaps still do) enormous books detailing the running times of their vast fleets of vehicles. For most people, 99% of this book was superfluous, but for each person it was a different 99%. And of course, the information was static; it couldn't tell you about an unplanned change in service, about delays, and certainly not about what platform you needed to go to in order to catch the train leaving in five minutes' time. Now there's an app for that and life is so much simpler.

6. Phone directories. I'm talking here about the massive white- and yellow-paged slabs of paper that the phone companies still leave on my doorstep periodically. These list the address and phone number everyone in my close geographical area that hasn't opted out. In the Yellow Pages, business numbers are listed and companies can pay for advertisements and more prominent listings. Again, 99% of these are useless to me, but I don't know ahead of time which is the 1% I'll actually need. And even then, if I need to contact someone outside my area the books let me down. Online search can find the information more quickly, wherever I am (let's face it, those books aren't portable.) I can search the whole world, not just a 10-mile-wide area, and I can access the details of people who have opted out of phone company listing and thus don't appear in the directory.

Saturday 25 February 2012

Download source files for the new Personal-size diary layouts

As we did with the new A5 layouts, Steve and I are making available source files for our Personal-size ones, too.

We're releasing them so that those of you who want to can tinker and tweak to get the unique layout that is perfect for you. These are the source files Steve and I built to produce the 2012 sets. The same ones will also produce sets for any year you care to choose. In each of the data source files, you just need to change one date - the starting date - and the file will calculate all the other dates for you. I've highlighted the cell with the date you need to change in each of the files like this:

Look for the red-outlined cell - that's the only date you should change

If you want fewer dates, delete full rows at the bottom end. If you want more, drag the formulae down into more rows. If you mess up, you can always download the file again and start over.

As long as you have some basic Word and Excel skills, you should be able to give this a go. You'll need to be able to set up a basic mail merge file link, and there are plenty of web tutorials that show you the way - Google using the search terms: Word Excel Mail Merge 20xx (where 'xx' is 02, 03, 07 or 10, depending on your version.)

If that all seems like a lot of work, you can still just download the pre-prepared 2012 sets.

Here are the source files.


1. Personal TM Week Per View


Click to enlarge

Download Word file and Excel file


2. Two Days Per Page unlined, lined or lined with icons

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge


Click to enlarge

Download Word file (unlined), Word file (lined), Word file (lined with icons) and Excel file (same one works for all three versions).

Have fun, and please share in the comments any interesting modifications you make.

Next on our list are Month Per Page and Month Per View layouts, both for A5 and Personal sizes. And, by popular request, we'll be releasing some Pocket-size layouts soon, too.

Wednesday 22 February 2012

Cornell notes templates for the Filofax A4 and A5

The Cornell note-taking system is a widely-used note taking system devised in the 1950s by Walter Pauk, an education professor at Cornell University. Pauk advocated its use in his best-selling "How to Study in College".

My templates bring the system to the Filofax:



To quote Wikipedia:
The Cornell method provides a systematic format for condensing and organizing notes. The student divides the paper into two columns: the note-taking column (usually on the right) is twice the size of the questions/key word column (on the left). The student should leave five to seven lines, or about two inches, at the bottom of the page.
Notes from a lecture or teaching are written in the note-taking column; notes usually consist of the main ideas of the text or lecture, and long ideas are paraphrased. Long sentences are avoided; symbols or abbreviations are used instead. To assist with future reviews, relevant questions (which should be recorded as soon as possible so that the lecture and questions will be fresh in the student's mind) or key words are written in the key word column. These notes can be taken from any source of information, such as, fiction and nonfiction books, DVDs, lectures, text books, etc.
After about 24 hours of taking the notes, the student taking the notes must revise and write questions and then the student writes a brief summary in the bottom five to seven lines of the page. This helps to increase understanding of the topic. When studying for either a test or quiz, the student has a concise but detailed and relevant record of previous classes. However, despite some of the truth in many people finding added benefits in taking Cornell Notes, many prefer using brief bullets or statements.
When reviewing the material, the student can cover up the note-taking (right) column to answer the questions/keywords in the key word or cue (left) column. The student is encouraged to reflect on the material and review the notes regularly.
If you want to try using the Cornell method in your A4 or A5 filofax, you can download one of the templates. Choose the A4 word file, the A4 PDF file, the A5 word file or the A5 PDF file.

Each of the templates has mirror gutters to allow for the holes, so print the A4 template double-sided and the A5 template onto A4 paper in booklet mode, then guillotine each piece down to two A5 pages. Punch and file the pages.

Free Personal size 2012 diary sets to download and print for your Filofax

As promised, today we're making available the Personal size 2012 diary sets. These are layouts each covering the whole of 2012, but this time for the Filofax Personal. They are created as A4 documents with each A4 sheet yielding 2 double-sided pages.

Print the sets double-sided. If you have a duplex printer, set it to flip on the short edge. If you don't then you'll have to print odd-numbered pages and then refeed to print the even-numbered pages on the reverse. You might have to experiment to find out how to refeed the paper.

On one side of each sheet you'll find crop marks. Use a craft knife and a steel ruler to release the Personal pages and punch them. The templates are set up with mirrored gutters to accommodate the holes.

You can print these on any paper you like, which will please fountain pen users particularly.

So, here are your downloads.

1. Personal TM Week Per View
Based on the first of our new A5 layouts, we've made certain compromises to get this onto Personal size pages. There is no room for the mini-calendars, nor for the communications and coming up sections. But we're really pleased with the result.

Click to enlarge
Download Word version or PDF version


2. Two Days Per Page unlined
This one is a very straightforward implementation of our 2DPP A5 layout.

Click to enlarge

Download Word version or PDF version


3. Two Days Per Page lined
Again, we've just adapted our 2DPP A5 layout. It's the same as no 2, but with lines.

Click to enlarge

Download Word version or PDF version


4. Two Days Per Page with icons
This one is a bit of fun, and results from a special request. Based on the lined version, each day has a vertical strip of icons. As well as a set of weather icons (sun, cloud, rain, wind, snow) which you can use to record the prevailing weather each day, there's also a little face for you to draw in a mouth line representing your mood - a smile, a frown, a wide 'O' of surprise, perhaps even a little teardrop.

Click to enlarge

Download Word version or PDF version

We're not done yet with Personal layouts. Steve is working on a week per page layout and we also want to produce versions that can be printed straight onto Filofax Personal paper, plus undated versions. Of course, I'll also make the source files available so that fellow bearers of the Geek gene can tinker.

Sunday 19 February 2012

Download a free Time Tables Challenge tool

My three boys have all been through a primary school (one is still there) that expects kids to learn their multiplication tables at home.

One day the school sent home a nice printed page that had all the sums set out in a grid. Each table had its own column and the sums in each column were in what looked like a random order. It looked a bit like this:

Click to zoom
My son sat down with it and carefully filled in as many boxes as he could. We checked it (he got some of them wrong, but not many) and continued to get him to fill in the sheets whenever one came home in his bag.

He got better and better, of course, but there was a problem. I noticed that the sheets were always the same; the sums always appeared in the same order. When presented with the sums in a different order, he wasn't as quick or as accurate.

I learned from the school that whenever they wanted a new sheet a teacher had to sit at the PC and make one manually. Consequently, it rarely happened and they kept just photocopying the old one. As an Excel developer, I realised this was something that could very easily be automated.

One evening, I created the form as an Excel worksheet and made two innovations. The first was this button (and some VBA behind it):

Hit that, and the whole sheet changes. All the sums appear in a new, random order in each column. All you need to do now is hit the print button and you have a new, randomly generated exercise sheet ready for your child to fill in.

My second innovation makes me slightly ashamed. You see, as a parent, I was the one who ended up checking all the answers, and it turns out that I lack the combination of accuracy and attention span required to do a good job every time. So I designed a little cheat for myself:

Click to zoom
You'll probably need to zoom in to see that properly, but I added a second worsheet, called 'Answers'. When you generate a new sheet, behind the scenes Excel creates a matching cheat sheet marking aid for busy parents:

Click to zoom
Print that one off alongside the exercise questions page, and your checking becomes a doddle.

Anyway, I know some of the folks who ready this blog are parents, too, and thought some of you might be able to make use of this tool. So here it is. If you're a teacher who wants to use this in their school, please go ahead. If you want to adapt it or fiddle with the VBA, feel free; it's not protected in any way.

Download the Times Table Challenge.

Friday 17 February 2012

Download source files for the new A5 diary layouts

Hopefully you've found one of the new diary layouts that you like. But perhaps it's not quite exactly what you want. Perhaps you'd like the lines to be pink rather than grey, the dates to appear in Comic Sans font. Or perhaps you'd like to produce a diary now for 2013, 2014 or 2525. Maybe you want to print a diary for a particular period rather than a calendar year all in one go. If that describes you, you're in luck.

Today, I'm making available the source files that Steve and I used to create the 2012 diary sets. Equipped with these, you can tinker around and design exactly the diary page you want, then get your PC to calculate and print it for any date range you choose. In each of the data source files, you just need to change one date - the starting date - and the file will calculate all the other dates for you. I've highlighted the cell with the date you need to change in each of the files like this:

Look for the red-outlined cell - that's the only date you should change


If you want fewer dates, delete full rows at the bottom end. If you want more, drag the formulae down into more rows. If you mess up, you can always download the file again and start over.

As long as you have some basic Word and Excel skills, you should be able to give this a go (I know that some of you already have, using the source files I provided in November for the Day on Two Pages and Day on A Page layouts.) You'll need to be able to set up a basic mail merge file link, and there are plenty of web tutorials that show you the way - Google using the search terms: Word Excel Mail Merge 20xx (where 'xx' is 02, 03, 07 or 10, depending on your version.)

Depending on what version of Word you're using, Word may put section breaks between every record, which will throw out the mirrored gutter formatting in the layout. If it does, the solution is quite simple; do a find and replace on section breaks (^b) to remove them all. You'll also need to add a single page break to the front of the merged document so that each 2-page spread has gutters in the middle for the holes.

Now, if you just read all that and understood at least some of it, get downloading and have a go. However, if it might as well have been Venusian, then you might be better off just downloading the pre-prepared 2012 sets.

Here are the source files.

1. Enhanced TM Week Per View


Download Word file and Excel file

2. Vertical Week Per View


Download Word file and Excel file

3/4. Two Days Per Page unlined or lined

 


Download Word file (unlined), Word file (lined) and Excel file (same one works for both versions).

Have fun, and please share in the comments any interesting modifications you make.

Thursday 16 February 2012

Free A5 2012 diary sets to download and print for your Filofax

Here they are, then. When Steve and I began talking about developing these we imagined there would be a fair bit of work involved, and there was. I don't think we realised how much fun it would be, nor quite how many people would get excited about getting hold of them.

Today we're making available the 2012 diary sets. These are layouts each covering the whole of 2012. They are created as A4 documents. To use them as A5 inserts, print the document in booklet mode on A4 paper, then use a guillotine to divide each sheet into two and punch the required holes, which the templates are set up with mirrored gutters to accommodate. Or, if you have A5 paper, then either the printer or the PC will scale it to size for you.

Of course, you can print these on any paper you like; coloured, patterned and fountain pen-friendly are all options, as is plain white A4 printer paper.

So, here are your downloads.

1. Enhanced TM Week Per View


Download Word version or PDF version

2. Vertical Week Per View


Download Word version or PDF version

3. Two Days Per Page unlined

 
Download Word version or PDF version

4. Two Days Per Page lined


Download Word version or PDF version

Also still available are the Two Page Per Day and One Page Per Day sets.

Are these templates nearly but not quite right for you? If so, watch out for when we post the source files for you to download and adapt as you wish. We'll make them available here and at Philofaxy.

Monday 13 February 2012

Personal size diary layouts are coming

I've been looking at extending the work on A5 templates to the Filofax Personal size. That is a little harder to do, but I'm making good progress. Here's a picture from a Two Days Per Page layout that will make at least one person happy.

Once these templates are ready to go, you'll be the first to know.

Sunday 12 February 2012

New A5 Filofax diary layouts

Thanks for your ideas and suggestions. Steve and I have been working on a range of layouts which we're nearly ready to publish. Initially, there will be four layouts available.

The first one is a week per view layout we're calling the 'Enhanced TM Week Per View'.

Click to enlarge
Among its features are a number of things people have been asking for, like equal space for the weekend days and a 'Coming Up' section of items to carry forward to subsequent weeks.

Next we have our 'Vertical Week Per View'.

Click to enlarge
This one again affords Saturdays and Sundays the same space as weekdays and includes a field for weekly review notes as well as 'Coming Up'. You might use this to collect information and insights for your Monthly Planner.

Finally, we have a Two Days Per Page layout with both lined and unlined day spaces.

Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
In these layouts, a week crosses four pages. We've given all seven days equal billing and left an untitled eighth day space - for 'coming up' notes or tasks or anything else you might want to note on a weekly basis. Filofax do not currently make a 2PPD A5 diary.

Initially, we'll be making the four layouts available for download as full 2012 diaries. You'll be able to get them here or at Philofaxy. We'll also look to make source files available soon so those of you who like to can tinker and adapt. Some of the things you can do when you have the source files are:
  • Make and print a diary for any year - past, present or future
  • Adjust the space given to different days or other template elements
  • Add your name or other details to each page
  • Make a diary for part of a year, or for any period you want
  • Change the language of month and day name
I'll look to do some tutorials if there is demand.

Sets for 2012 should be available in the coming week. We're also hoping to make undated versions of the templates available around then.

Tuesday 7 February 2012

Unstuff your Filofax with an undated monthly calendar

Who else has a Filofax that is straining at the seams? If you're like me, part of the problem is the almost completely blank diary pages from 6 months hence. I started thinking about this and realised that I only really needed to have a detailed view of the next two months or so. But I was reluctant to just carry those because now and then I have to note down more distant events.

My solution was to produce an undated monthly calendar page. I printed, punched and filled in a set for the rest of the year and slimmed down my binder quite considerably. Here is an example sheet:


There is a column next to the dates. You can either write in letters for the days (M, T, W...) or you can do what I've done and shade the weekends.

Now I can capture appointments and events several months out without overstuffing the binder. As the month comes nearer, I can transcribe these details onto the main diary sheets for that month and insert them.

You can download this double-sided page in either editable Word format or PDF format. Either way, print double-sided and trim using the printed crop marks.

Sunday 5 February 2012

New A4/A5 diary templates are on the way

I have been collaborating with Steve at Philofaxy on some new printable diary page sets.

It all started when it seemed that Filofax might be discontinuing their A5 Time Management week on two pages set after this year. That seems now to have been a false alarm, but in the meantime Steve and I set to making a close facsimile of it that people could print themselves. Steve made the Word template and I adapted it to work with an Excel data source.

That was our test run, and given that this is a template that will continue to be sold by Filofax, we won't be making it available. But we do want to develop some week on two pages and week on a page templates that anyone can download, print and use.

So it's over to you. Let me know in the comments what sort of features you'd like in the templates. Do you want appointment times or not? Lined or unlined? Do you want space for tasks?

Wednesday 1 February 2012

Filofax storyboard pages to print

The storyboard layout has become very popular among creative types, allowing them to show a screen mockup and make notes on the same page. My version for the Filofax Personal features a 4:3 ratio box and lined notespace below.



If you'd like to use the storyboard page, you can download either an editable Word file or an Adobe PDF file.

Click to see a bigger version
Both files contain two A4 pages (the first is pictured above), which you should print onto a single sheet of paper. If you have a duplex printer set it to flip on the short edge. If your printer will only print on one side, you'll have to experiment with manually refeeding between prints.

The front of the sheet has crop marks to allow you to position your ruler perfectly when cutting out the pages with a craft knife. The front of the page is set with a left-hand gutter, the back with a right-hand one. This allows for the holes, of course.

These pages will be useful to people who design software or work in any visual media. They might also be useful to the rest of us for planning PowerPoint presentations, or simply for visual journalling.

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