How to get a full background pic - New Blogger

New blogger  - Full background image

How to get a full page background image (the new customiser has a bug)

 - Thanks to Herman Fourie  for sharing - this is another look at it step by step.

Instructions for (A work around but does the job) Step 1 

Store the background image (1800 X 1600) for in google drive and open in  a new window

 

Step 2 

Copy the identifier code from omni bar

 Step 3 Paste the identifier code after the id = in the bright yellow highlighted part of the html code below and copy the whole section of code <Variable name="body.background" description="Body Background" type="background" color="$(body.background.color)" default="$(color) none repeat scroll top left" value="#ffffff url(http://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&amp;id=1gOHtNo6Tc3bdc_evCCbSuaz6XiYS6xOc) repeat fixed top center"/> <Variable name="body.background.size" description="Body Background size" type="string" default="auto" value="100% auto"/>

Now update the Blogger theme

Step 4 

Step 5 

Put your cursor in the HTML and ctrl f will bring up Search: 

Search for body background in the HTML code 

Step 6

Paste your code to replace of the  body background 

   <Variable name="body.background" description="Body Background" type="background"

       ………………. "/>

Note leave the other body.background. variables 

Step 7 

Preview the code - and save it (if it works;-) )

 

You can now backup the theme and it should restore with the full image in any new blog. 

 

Resources

Tips from the Blogger team: If you want a full-screen background, we recommend using an image that's 1800 pixels wide and 1600 pixels high, so that the background image can fill the entire screen even for the readers with large monitors.

https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2014/01/share-direct-links-to-files-in-google-drive-and-skip-the-web-viewer/

Posting tinkercad to your blog

Below is a sample of a tinker cad model embedded in a blog and a how to do it

A great way to show that the learners have been able to work in three dimensions and a way to share what they have 3d printed or intend to print. Have a play with the model picture

Alongside this they could share picture of the finished result prototype from along the way.
Often with the prototype share they might be able to seek direct feedback from blog partners too.

I have made a quick video howto below
In the meantime - check out the wonderful 3d print school from Taranaki for examples of 3 d printing from young people.

Delete multiple page - Classic Google Sites

So for a long time I have been frustrated by having to delete pages in google sites I work with. Tidying up was a tedious process where each page needed to be entered an then deleted. There was no opportunity to select multiple pages and delete going through the manage site menu. Long story short - Move the pages under one page and then delete that page to get rid of them all. Video below.

That's a whole lot of devices to charge

I've been lucky to be visiting schools that are all working with device dense environments. Almost everyone is looking for a place to store and charge them. In this post I am trying to think through the stories that people have told about their solutions and what has made a difference.


My favorite upcycle storage design



Where this most often has gone wrong is in the smaller details. The self organising bit is important particularly in enclosed spaces.

One tip I have found really effective is colour coding and numbering. We added a colour plastic cover for our samsung chromebooks which mad it easy to identify which was missing and for learners to know they were returning the device to the right place. This is particularly useful if returning a device to a different place.

Colour Coding

Cable Management
This is probably the hardest thing to get right. A missing charger will mean that a chromebook or tablet can't be used.

Restore contacts - Gmail Help

I kindly offered to send a friend a group of contacts in Google. I unfortunately sent her my whole contact list of 1291 rather than a group of 18.

Restore contacts

If you make changes to your contacts that you want to undo, you can restore your full contacts list to an earlier saved version. This allows you to undo changes like:

• Recovering contacts that have been accidentally deleted
• Restoring contacts after an unsuccessful sync
• Undoing a recent import
• Undoing a recent merge

To restore your contacts to a previous version, just follow these steps:

1. Click Contacts.
2. From the More actions drop-down menu, choose Restore contacts.
3. Choose the time you'd like to revert your contacts list to (e.g. 10 minutes ago, one hour ago, one week ago, etc). We suggest that you also make a note of the time that you restore your contacts, in case you'd like to return to where you started.
4. Click Restore. You'll see a confirmation at the top of the screen when the rollback is complete.

To undo a restoration:

• When the operation completes, a notification bar will appear that gives you the opportunity to immediately undo the restore. This notification bar will disappear if you leave Contacts or make edits to your contacts.
• If the notification bar is no longer there, you can always re-run the Restore Contacts tool to take you back to where you started. Just set the tool to take you to the time just before you started the whole process.

The 24 hour rule for Chat contacts:
When you delete a contact in Contacts, it will also get deleted from your Chat list. After the contact is deleted, Chat still remembers the invitation status for that contact for another 24 hours. So if you restore a deleted contact within 24 hours, it will be fully restored in Chat. But if you restore a deleted contact after 24 hours, you'll need to re-invite that person to your Chat list.

Restore contacts - Gmail Help

Set Gmail as Your Browser's Default Email Client with a Simple Hack

Set Gmail as Your Browser's Default Email Client with a Simple Hack

Took me a couple of goes but this from Lifehacker is easy. One important note, do this from a gmail window, and then when you click the link, that has to be in the same browser (or shut all windows and reopen) as you just applied the "try this" link.

Tweets–They’ve got to mean something

Twitter is different way of writing: Recently I received a mention from a man I have a great deal of respect for. It said …

As result of this I have been reviewing why Sam would say this.

I Click, Publish, Send, Upload, Tweet and Chat.  My thoughts, ideas, images, voices, opinions are public and read by my PLN and searchers. I try to stay involved in this stream of information because I value it. I put tweets and posts into this stream to express what I am thinking to those who I would like to hear me. When I am reading observing or learning from this stream; putting back makes me feel like a true participant. I have always thought myself an OK writer but never a good editor.

@Samjarman made me realise I shouldn't just say anything, in any form I like; when others are going to read it. The implications for me are important enough to make this post necessary.

What had Sam seen in my tweets?

 

“So there is someone reading my tweets and they want something to be there”

My thinking is that the following might be important:

• Consider literary discipline to communicate effectively within 140 chars ie tighter not looser.
• Punctuation and intonation are my friends.
• Consider what the audience will need to understand what the tweet means.
• What purpose does the tweet have beyond self expression.

I like the idea of action: “Don’t think Do” Ewan McIntosh, “Ready, Fire, Aim” Michael Fullan and “Planning is Guessing” Jason Fried @jasonfried. These ideas are about the importance of doing.

What I am seeing is that audience and peers create a standard though under which efforts and actions will quickly try to navigate, realign and improve. This is the aim part that Fullan talks about. I hope that  the firing off of Tweets has help me aim via feedback.

On the bright side
I am motivated to get better at this so feel free to follow me @davein2it

Links:
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9132410/Twitter_Tips_How_to_Write_Better_Tweets
http://smallbiztrends.com/2010/01/how-to-write-better-tweets.html

When we make it real…

Being back from Sydney for a while now trying to decode try to work out exactly what happened at Google teacher Academy and what it meant. I really enjoyed being in a larger city and especially one so beautiful and vibrant. A visitors experience will be different to a locals.

Our look at google maps and google earth was inspiring. “Our Earth” is a learning bonanza. Thanks Wendy Gorton. Perhaps as a result of this being in this new environment I found the maps information captivating. On reflection maybe other reasons like my long held belief in the power of visual language play a part. Below in a narrated Google Earth Tour I talk about some ways we learn through map/earth exploration.

GTASYD from Media team on Vimeo.

Here is a video of howto make a Tour in Google Earth

So You're Married Now

Google Apps for Edu is being widely adopted by an education community recognising the capacity of collaboration to improve outcomes for organisations. This is a developing ecosystem with some of the administration tasks we have been used to with active directory taking place in different ways with different tools. This can be complicated when organisations decommission exchange servers in favour of this cloud-based solution. One of the teachers at my school got married and took her husband's name. We wanted to change her name while retaining all of her documents and e-mail. We have been using Google-sync but needed now to change the account name in Google before resynching  to it with an alias address so that she could receive mail from people using her maiden name.

Changing names

The product we used is the Google Apps Manager. There are a couple of steps to installation and then you need to follow the syntax examples to ensure that the naming you want takes place. We did this to rename the teacher with a new married name after which we could connect to her correctly from active directory where we also changed her name. I wasn't aware of the ability to create an e-mail alias using the same utility but it is there. This your only option that I know about should you have decommissioned your exchange server like we have. Good luck and I look forward to hearing your Google apps manager stories.

Start here at the wiki

Google search Tips

I was Looking for a quick reminder about the power of Google search and my friend Barbara Reid sent a link to a Google site where I found this. I’m keeping it handy as i find it takes a few revisits before something like this sinks in. What this has reminded me of is the power of search literacy in helping people be productive in their use of the web. I am one global citizen who backs Google’s removing itself from China on the basis of the information censorship being exerted on Chinese citizens. Click on the Play button and maximise the screen if you want to.

Google Search Tricks on Prezi