Pragmatic Compendium

what?

That would be the Microsoft Excel cell formula to generate a random number between 1 and 100. You know, like when you have a drawing and need to pick a random number for a winner? Like I do here at Pragmatic Compendium every week? (it doesn’t have to be between 1 and 100. the number “100″ can be replaced by any number)

I’ve posted detailed instructions and a screen shot for this little time saver over at the Pragmatic Computing blog, so if you are tired of drawing little pieces of paper out of a hat every time you want to “select a winner,” head on over and check it out!

Of course, don’t forget to enter this week’s clean sweep(stakes) giveaway while you’re here!

Find more great time and money savers at Works for Me Wednesdays at Rocks in My Dryer!

When you read text on your computer monitor, do the fonts seem . . . grainy? Do the edges of the letters appear ragged? Especially italicized text?

On my Pragmatic Computing blog, I posted a “Pragmatic Tip” explaining how to make fonts appear clear and sharp. I LOVE the way text looks on my computer monitor now!

In honor of Works for Me Wednesday hosted by Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer, I thought I’d invite you over to the Pragmatic Computing post to check it out!

Changing this one little Windows setting can make a big difference. It works for me!

Vista users:  Clear Type is the default setting for Vista, but I’ve updated the Pragmatic Computing post to include instructions to change it, just in case someone is interested.

Ever leave a comment on a blog and REALLY want to remove it later? Maybe you have an embarrassing typo, maybe you shared just a little too much and have “commenter’s remorse” or maybe you accidentally posted a comment on the wrong blog post. I’m sure there are other reasons.

The good news? You may have some options!

If:
You have a blogger account* AND
You are logged in AND
You leave a comment on another blogger blog

Then:
Go to the blog where you left the (unwanted) comment.
Find the page where your comment appears.
Next to the comment, you should see a trash can icon. Click it.
On the confirmation page, click “Delete Comment” and you’re done!

See an example here.

*Did you catch what I wrote? A blogger ACCOUNT. I didn’t say a blogger BLOG. At least, not an active, public one. You don’t have to switch your blog platform. You don’t even have to create a “real” blog. You can create a blogger account, create a “bare bones” blog, make it private and ba da bing. You have a blogger account. Then, when you comment, use OpenID to link to your active blog, whatever its platform - BUT make sure you are logged into blogger when you comment.

Because, if you aren’t logged in to blogger when you comment, you won’t see a trash can next to your post later.  Here’s the thing. If you have a blogger account, but use OpenID to sign your comment, you won’t be able to delete your comment UNLESS you were logged into blogger when you posted the comment.

ohhhhh. (in the link above, blogger explains a few other reasons you may not see a trash can next to your comment)

I did that this morning. And then I had to email the blog owner to beg her to delete my comment for me! (no. I’m not telling who it was. you’ll go read my comment before she deletes it. I’ll give her public credit for inspiring this post AFTER she gets a chance to remove it.) UPDATE: Thanks, Amy for deleting my stupid comment.

You can also manually add a “delete” button on your blogger blog by inserting some code into your template. I found these instructions which provides the code allowing the comment author to delete it. I get the impression this would be for commenters who don’t have a blogger account. I haven’t tried it yet, but I probably will (Pragmatic Communion and Pragmatic Computing are hosted by blogger).

Unfortunately, if you have a WordPress blog, you don’t have that option. Here’s a WordPress FAQ (frequently asked question) and their answer:

Can I edit comments I wrote on another blog?

It is unfortunately not possible to edit or delete any comments you have left on another WordPress.com blog.

The best thing to do would be to attempt to contact the blog owner.

bummer.

Anyone know how is this handled by Typepad? What about other blogging software platforms?