Monitor Screen setup

**RonL** · May14-09, 11:39 AM

Recently going through threads on PF, the idea came to me, about how to set up a screen that has all the favorite links that with just a click of the mouse I can pull up a program for doing all the things needed, like check for meaning or spelling of a word, a units converter, using LaTEX (I'm at the very start and need help).

The idea would be to have the PF window almost cover the view, then other screens in the background would have small portions visible and when brought to the front will not cover too much of the PF panel.
At the bottom a dictionary, the top would be LaTEX, top left a calculator, and top right a units converter, Hyperphysics and a few others (too many and I forget where they are).

I thought some of our PF people might have methods or ideas, even links to share, that would help anyone be better able to communicate and understand when reading post that have many different levels of knowledge and experience.

Any feed back will be great.

Ron

**chroot** · May14-09, 11:43 AM

It sounds to me like you just want to make a custom homepage in HTML.

- Warren

**RonL** · May14-09, 11:55 AM

Originally Posted by chroot

It sounds to me like you just want to make a custom homepage in HTML.

- Warren

I'm one of those people, that is so happy the screen came up, that I don't do much messing around.
Your not talking to much of a computer nerd here.

P.S. I did find the link to MathIM, just starting to find my way there, the impression I get is that I can copy and paste from there to a post in PF, is that correct?

**Equate** · May14-09, 03:40 PM

Something like This?

**RonL** · May14-09, 04:59 PM

Originally Posted by Equate

Something like This?

There are some things there I'll look at later, but right now I have 6 Internet explorer screens open and I can see a little of each one around my PF screen, as I read a post, and see something I don't understand or a unit I need to convert, by clicking on the visiable portion of that screen it pops out, ready for use.

This may sound inmature by current computer standards, but I feel that I'm a member of a majority group of people that are not getting best use of their PC's.

A question in my mind, does this in any way affect the signal of my wireless, which is already quite weak ?

A second question, is there a way to save all these screens so when I shut down and later log on they will all open like I have them now?

**chroot** · May14-09, 06:34 PM

Originally Posted by RonL

A second question, is there a way to save all these screens so when I shut down and later log on they will all open like I have them now?

I believe you are an ideal candidate for tabbed browsing. (All modern browsers support it, but I linked you the tutorial for IE.) You can have multiple different sites open, each in a different tab. You can also specify a group of tabs as your "homepage." When you launch your browser, each website will be opened automatically in a different tab.

Originally Posted by RonL

A question in my mind, does this in any way affect the signal of my wireless, which is already quite weak ?

Generally, no network activity occurs until you click on something on a page. Some pages communicate periodically with a sever, even without user input, but that kind of traffic is usually quite small, and should not affect your network throughput much.

Your computer as a whole may be a little less responsive when it's running six independent browsers, though.

- Warren

**RonL** · May14-09, 06:45 PM

Originally Posted by chroot

I believe you are an ideal candidate for tabbed browsing. (All modern browsers support it, but I linked you the tutorial for IE.) You can have multiple different sites open, each in a different tab. You can also specify a group of tabs as your "homepage." When you launch your browser, each website will be opened automatically in a different tab.

Generally, no network activity occurs until you click on something on a page. Some pages communicate periodically with a sever, even without user input, but that kind of traffic is usually quite small, and should not affect your network throughput much.

Your computer as a whole may be a little less responsive when it's running six independent browsers, though.

- Warren

BINGO! That looks like it will do what I want.

Now is there a link to a page that takes a complete novice through the first steps of using LaTEX ?

**chroot** · May14-09, 06:50 PM

Originally Posted by RonL

Now is there a link to a page that takes a complete novice through the first steps of using LaTEX ?

Not really, but I'd suggest just clicking on some LaTeX images here, the simpler the better. You'll get a pop-up window that shows you the code used to generate the image.

This announcement thread has a lot of examples.

- Warren

**RonL** · May14-09, 07:52 PM

Originally Posted by chroot

Not really, but I'd suggest just clicking on some LaTeX images here, the simpler the better. You'll get a pop-up window that shows you the code used to generate the image.

This announcement thread has a lot of examples.

- Warren

Thanks, with a little effort maybe I can develop some infraction insurance.

**junglebeast** · May14-09, 09:01 PM

Check out the free program called WordWeb. It's a dictionary that integrates into the OS so that you can press a key combination while hovering over any word and a dictionary definition pops up. The word can be anywhere..on a web page, window title, word document, whatever. And it doesn't have to check the internet for the definition so it's fast.

As for Latex help, I recommend you idle in #latex on freenode.

**RonL** · May14-09, 11:29 PM

Originally Posted by junglebeast

Check out the free program called WordWeb. It's a dictionary that integrates into the OS so that you can press a key combination while hovering over any word and a dictionary definition pops up. The word can be anywhere..on a web page, window title, word document, whatever. And it doesn't have to check the internet for the definition so it's fast.

As for Latex help, I recommend you idle in #latex on freenode.

Thanks, the WordWeb will take care of me for a while, it is better than what I was trying to do. I'll look into the LaTeX tip.

Anyone else, if you have something you like, please pass it on. Any tip might be just the thing someone else is looking for.

Ron