Free Creation of Favicons

Written by Rebecka Anderson October 23rd, 2009 No Comments

faviconJust to be clear, a favicon is that little icon that shows up in the browser address bar. If you are wondering how to create one look no further! I’ve got a couple of options available for you.

How it Works
You need to create a 16×16 pixel image in the .ico image format. Once you’ve created the image it needs to be titled “favicon.ico”. The image then needs to be placed at the root level of your website, and in order for it to work, you need to add a line of code inside the tag on the pages in which you wish the favicon to appear.

Creating a .ico Image
Depending upon your software and its version, the ico export option may already be built-in. If its not, you can download a plugin (software specific) or you can take a look at some free web-based services that will automatically create an .ico for you based upon an image you upload to their site.

Create a .ico Image Using Free Web-Based Services

Dynamic Drive
http://tools.dynamicdrive.com/favicon/ has a great service. Simply choose the file on your computer, click create icon, and then download the final product.

Favicon.cc
Favicon http://www.favicon.cc/ allows you to create your favicon from scratch on their site, or you can import your own image. A nice feature of this site/service is that it allows you to make color corrections prior to exporting–multiple colors may look great at 100×100 pixels but at 16×16 (the size of a favicon) it may not look so hot.

*Favicon from Pics
http://www.html-kit.com/favicon/ This service offers more than just your standard favicon. Once you convert your image you are presented with option of customizing colors, creating an animated favicon, as well as an option to create the iPhone/iPod icons. Its all very easy to do, though you will need to add some extra lines of code to your pages if you plan on using a animated favicon or the icons for the iPhone/iPod.

Making it Work
Now that you have your favicon, you need to upload it to your web server (place it at the root level of your website). Once I uploaded my favicon to the web server, it showed up without the addition of any code to my pages. However, in the interest of consistency and insurance, its a good idea to include the line of code (see example below) in your pages if the appearance of a favicon is important to you.

Example
*if you’ve chosen to use an animated favicon or have created a favicon for the iPhone/iPod you will need to add some additional lines of code. http://www.html-kit.com/favicon/ Will generate the code for you once it creates your favicons.

TIP

  • Before uploading your image to any of the services listed above do what you can using your own image editor to reduce the number of colors and busyness of your image. Remember the favicon is displayed at 16 x16 so its better to have 1 or 2 colors.
  • Before uploading your image be sure to trip off any additional white space of the edges so that your image is shown as large as it can.
  • If you want to use your favicon on the iPhone or iPod make sure the image you are uploading to the service is at least 60X60 pixels. Use http://www.html-kit.com/favicon/
  • If possible, upload an image with a transparent background. Doing so will allow your image to show up on the grey browser tabs without a white box outlining it.
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It’s Time to Check Your Email Daily

Written by Rebecka Anderson October 12th, 2009 2 Comments

emailEmail isn’t dead yet, so no excuses! It’s time to check your email. Whether you work for a professional organization, or yourself, you need to be checking your email daily. It’s 2009 and it’s time to embrace this technology that was used regularly in the 90’s and still is used today. It’s fine if you are relying upon the telephone as your favorite social networking tool, or even snail mail for social interactions, but for all matters related to work, you need to make sure you are also checking your email on a daily basis.

One of the great things about email is that it can be read at one’s leisure, regardless of the time of day. While this is true, you should know that a reply should be sent within 24 hours, even if it’s just to say “I’ll get back to you.” Failure to check your messages regularly or to respond sends a message  (without a single keystroke) of  “I have poor customer service and communication skills.”

For those of you that “don’t have time” to check your email I have bad news for you. You need to make the time. If you can’t, don’t bother distributing your email address. Emails aren’t sent with the intent of them being read or replied to 3 weeks later.

Problems with email access at your place of work? I’m sorry to say that you need to check your email at home, your phone, or a public computer. Certainly a separation of home from work life is important so maybe just take a note of who emailed you and then call them back the next business day if you aren’t willing to do email at home. But again, if you aren’t willing to make some type of a compromise, don’t distribute your email address.

For those of you who have experienced the challenges of unread email by those you employ because that’s “just not how they operate” I can only offer this suggestion: specify in future contracts that email should be checked and responded to regularly. Sure it’s possible that someone may not have access to email every day of their life, but you should at minimum expect employees to check their email a couple of times a week.

If you are looking for more detailed information to share with those you employ or even for yourself, check out Business E-mail Etiquette

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How to Plan a Webinar

Written by Rebecka Anderson October 8th, 2009 No Comments

This webinar on “How to Plan a Webinar” provided participants with the base information and tools necessary to immediately begin planning a webinar. This was an interactive event in which participants were invited to participate (via chat) throughout the presentation.

NOTE ABOUT THIS RECORDING
The recorded version is 30 minutes….pauses between questions and chat periods have been excluded. When presented this event lasted 60 minutes, and was followed by a 30 minute question and answer period. Slides 1-5 lead up to the actual delivery of content. While slides 1-5 may not pertain to you as a view the recorded version of the webinar, they do serve as an example of how to prep your attendees as a new user of whatever tool you select to use as your webinar platform.

Created and presented by Rebecka Anderson.

*Thanks to Karen Hyder of the eLearning Guild for many of these tips.

PowerPoint & Supporting Documents

PowerPoint (the screencast shown above has the ppt and audio synched)
The Planning and Implementation of a Webinar .ppt only
The Planning and Implementation of a Webinar .mp3 only

Session Chat Questions and Answers
Session: October 2, 2009
Session: October 8, 2009
Session: January 20, 2010
Session: Feburary 18, 2010
Session: Feburary 25, 2010
Session: March 3, 2010

Example Timelines
Timeline Sample 1 .xls

Script (storyboard) Templates
Rebecka’s Template 1 .doc
Rebecka’s Template 2 .doc
Hyder’s Template 2 .xls source: Karen Hyder, eLearning Guild

Other Planning Documents
Rebecka’s Planning Worksheet Example/Template .xls
Speaker Tracking .xls source: Karen Hyder, eLearning Guild

Web Conferencing/Synchronous Event Resources
25 Tips to Planning a Successful Live Online Meeting
144 Tips on Synchronous eLearning Strategy + Research
Handbook on Synchronous eLearning

Web Conferencing Services
DimDim FREE for 20 People!
WebEx
Elluminate
GoToMeeting
Adobe Connect

Pre-Record
SlideShare free for sharing & synching a PowerPoint w/audio

Images
istockphoto inexpensive site for obtaining royalty free images

View Photos with Titles and Descriptions

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Create Site Specific Browsers: FREE with Fluid

Written by Rebecka Anderson September 15th, 2009 1 Comment

Fluid: Create a Site Specific Browser

Good things come in small packages and that holds true for one of my new favorite apps, Fluid. Fluid allows you to turn your favorite website into its own site specific browser window. I know what you’re thinking, “what’s the big deal, I open websites in new windows/tabs all the time?” Here’s the big deal.

The more windows you have open in one browser, the slower it moves. Moreover, its a HUGE bummer when one website causes your browser to crash because that means all of your windows/tabs have closed. Fluid allows you to treat your favorite websites as individual browsers. So, if one website crashes, your site specific Fluid windows remain open. As you can imagine, this is especially great if you happen to be utilizing a site like Zoho Docs or Google Docs.

Generally speaking, I didn’t experience crashes with Safari or Firefox all that often, so my initial movement to viewing gmail through to Fluid was met with indifference, but it was something I wanted to check out. Upon making the change, I immediately noticed a difference in speed. Gmail loaded noticeably faster and took far less time when dealing with my requests of switching between labels and checking new messages, etc. Speed aside, what I’ve also come to appreciate is the feeling that now my web-based email feels like a desktop application because it has it own icon for the dock, and I don’t need to keep logging back in every time I happen to close Safari.

Fluid is absolutely perfect for all those amazing web 2.0 applications that really pull the resources of a browser, so if you are huge into working “in the clouds,” you will find it very beneficial to create a browser for each of those 2.0 websites you are utilizing. Personally, I feel that creating a browser for each of your favorite websites is slight overkill (unless you are referring to those 2.0 sites), but really its a matter of preference.

Fluid is a very small application (3.4MB) that only runs on a Mac (it’s FREE). Simply download the file from http://fluidapp.com and copy it into your applications folder. From there launch the application. You’ll be prompted with a window in which all you need to do is enter some information about favorite website. Namely, the address of the site and the name you want to refer to it as. Once you’ve done that, click create, and viola! you’ve created your own site specific browser! Now, if you want, you can drag the icon from your applications folder to your dock to make a shortcut to create that desktop application feel.

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25 Planning Tips to Planning a Live Online Meeting

Written by Rebecka Anderson September 2nd, 2009 1 Comment
Rebecka Likes Dimdim-Free!

Rebecka Likes This

What does it take to host a web conference/webinar? I’ve been asked this several times over the past year, and its not likely this question will fade away as travel budgets continue to be cut. That said, it time to get things down in black and white.

 

25 Tips to Planning A Successful Live Online Meeting

  1. Designate an event producer. The event producer is responsible for coordinating all aspects of the event. The event producer may also be the person presenting, but not always… sometimes its necessary to utilize a subject matter expert. The event producer will have varying levels of involvement with the items listed below, but at a minimum, the event producer should be coordinating the development of the webinar. The event producer should:
    • be comfortable with technology
    • be able to provide a basic level of tech support with regard to the user of the tool
    • be able to provide feedback to peers/supervisors
    • hold excellent organizational skills (hold people to deadlines, ensure tasks were accomplished)
  1. Determine if the live format is right for you. If you are planning a presentation that does not include participation from your attendees you should seriously reconsider your decision to proceed with your plans. Instead create a PowerPoint with audio and post it to your website so that your audience can access the information when its convenient for them. Use email or a discussion forum for Q & A.
  1. Block out 6-8 weeks (first time). Why? You need time for:  marketing, registration, contracting of presenters, service/tool selection, presenter collaboration (meetings), storyboard preparation, script writing, development of your “PowerPoint, testing/training of the service/tool, practice sessions, unforeseen time delays etc.
  1. Now that you’ve blocked out 6-8 weeks, create a master timeline (to do list) to ensure all tasks/deadlines are being hit, and make sure everyone involved the planning process has a copy.
  1. Assign duties/roles. Its time to figure out who will be doing what. The list below includes  key areas of work and who MAY be involved from your organization. Mix, match and combine roles as needed.
    • Content preparation and delivery (presenter)
    • PowerPoint Creation (presenter, producer, admin support, tech)
    • Customization and thorough understanding of the how the service/software works (tech)
    • Event host—the person who starts the meeting (producer/tech)
    • Presenter support (producer/tech)
    • Moderator—start the meeting, read/organize chat questions, closing (moderator, event host, producer)
    • Marketing (producer, admin support, tech)
    • Registration (producer, admin support, tech)
    • Proofreaders (producer, admin support)
    • Tech support (tech, company providing support)
  1. Hold regular meetings. I suggest a weekly 1 hour meeting/checkin. It may be that you don’t use the entire time, but I suggest you at least checkin on everyone’s progress with their work. If you don’t use the time adjourn early.
  1. Select the service you will be using. A great free tool is Dim Dim. It’s free for up to 20 people. Other reputable companies include WebEx, Elluminate, GoToMeeting, Adobe Connect.
  1. Once you’ve selected your service, you need to begin training yourself and presenters in its use. The best way I’ve found to do this by having your planning meetings online (even if you are in the same office). It’s not enough to just show the presenters how it works. They need to be familiar and comfortable with it in advance of the event.
  1. When preparing the content, choose visuals that enhance your presentation. A nice resource is http://www.istockphoto.com
  1. Keep the presentation to 60 minutes (if you exceed 60 minutes you will begin to lose attendees).
  1. Have some type of user interaction every 5 minutes (chat, poll, whiteboard, voice). The type is dependent upon your content and the tool you select.
  1. Designate a time keeper. This person’s role is to keep the presenter informed of the time during the event. I suggest blocking out the content into 4 pieces and that the time keeper display a flash card (or use the chat tool) to the presenter so the presenter can adjust their pacing as needed at any of those 4 points. The timekeeper should be included in the practice sessions.
  1. During the event, and all practice sessions, make sure the event host has a view of a Mac and a Windows computer, in addition to the computer the meeting was started on. This ensures understanding of what is, or isn’t happening on your attendee’s screens.
  1. Plan to have 3 practice sessions using the computer/phones that will be used during the event.*I can tell you right now people will complain as soon as they find out this is a requirement (and yes this should be a requirement), but in the end I guarantee they will thank you.
    • Use the first session to go over the storyboard and rehearse who will do what. You don’t need to have a detailed script, but you should actually move through an outline of the presentation. Practice transitions of introductions, transitions to speaker(s), and transition to the conclusion.
    • Ideally your second session would be in final form, or nearly final. Practice as if this were real, but stop as needed and make adjustments to your script, PowerPoint, or timing notes.
    • Your 3rd practice is really about fine tuning your script/timing, and most importantly helping everyone to feel confident about the upcoming event. This is your dress rehearsal. Behave as if this were the real deal.
    • During your 2nd /3rd practices secure volunteer participants and ask them to behave as if they are an actual participant of the meeting, which means they should respond to presenter questions etc.
    • Failure to practice will ensure a less than stellar performance.
  1. Do not use VoIP. It will eat-up bandwidth and potentially slow the rendering of images for your attendees. Use your own teleconference service or the built-in teleconference service. Use the built-in service if you plan to record the event.
  1. The host and presenters should be using land lines. NO CELL PHONES.
  1. Do not use the video feature (web cams). They too eat-up bandwidth and for the most part do not add any value to the presentation. Additionally, do not show videos from your computer. The video/audio are almost never in synch with your users view.
  1. The event host and presenters need to have a wired broadband connection….NOT WIRELESS.
  1. Have a plan B. At the most basic level, make sure your attendees receive the materials that will be displayed in the presentation in advance so they can print them and then refer to them in the event they become disconnected from the internet. As part of your plan B I also suggest recording the event so that you can refer those that had technical difficulties during the presentation to the recording.
  1. If you will be showing a PowerPoint presentation, number the slides. This will prove invaluable if go to Plan B. In the event of a tech glitch you can refer to slide numbers.
  1. On each slide, include a photo of the person who is speaking at that time. This is especially helpful to participants if you have multiple presenters, moderators etc.
  1. Provide your event attendees with the technical information they will need at least two weeks prior to the event so they have time to configure their computer. Some attendees may need time to schedule an appointment with the IT department to install the plugin because they don’t have administrative access to their computer.
  1. Make sure your attendees and presenters understand how to mute/un-mute their phones. If possible, use the teleconference service mute controls.
  1. If possible, have more than one presenter. In short the variety keeps people more alert and more tuned in.
  1. Spend time at the beginning of the presentation explaining what attendees can expect. Provide them with a brief orientation to the meeting environment and include contact information for tech support.
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Why YOU Should Be Using Gmail

Written by Rebecka Anderson August 21st, 2009 No Comments

gmailIf you have multiple email accounts and/or you are checking your email from different computers, you should seriously consider switching to using Gmail as your email client instead of relying upon something like Outlook or your email’s webmail offering.

Benefits of Using Gmail

  1. Gmail is FREE and allows you to funnel in all of your email accounts into one location with one login (store over 7 GB….Gmail always displays your current percentage of use).
  2. You can send emails out using one login while using your current email addresses. You are not limited to yourname@gmail.com. When you send a message for work, your work email address will show. Send a personal email to a friend and have your personal email account appear. Additionally, you find all those smtp error messages will disappear!
  3. Gmail is web-based, which means you visit a website to access your email. Because its web-based, you can access your email from any computer with an internet connection.
  4. Because Gmail is web-based you are always synched. For example, if you delete 10 messages while using Gmail from home, the messages will be placed in the “trash”. The next time you access your Gmail (lets just say your accessing it from work) you will find the 10 deleted messages are still located in your trash.
  5. Gmail automatically organizes messages as conversations so you don’t need to search multiple emails to follow an email conversation. They are grouped together for you.
  6. Gmail is integrated with Google docs, so when you receive an attachment you can choose to move the document there on the fly. Conversely, you will mostly likely eventually find yourself needing to collaborate on a Google doc with someone else, and to do so you need to have an account with Google.
  7. View attachments without software. Gmail provides you with an option to view attachments as HTML, which means you view the document in your browser instead of downloading it, and then opening something like Microsoft Office. This a great feature for those times when you are using a computer that doesn’t have software (perhaps an internet cafe) as well as a quick way to view the attachment (as with your current email program, you can download the document to your computer). This is one of my favorite features.
  8. Gmail relies upon labels to organize messages. You are most likely familiar with organizing your email through the use of folders. Folders are great as it keeps things nice and tidy, but unless you manually copy a message, you can’t have an email assigned to more than one folder. Gmail allows you to assign multiple labels to a message to help you organize and manage your email. Additionally, Incoming messages can automatically be assigned a label.
  9. Gmail is integrated with Google Chat. If you have someone in your Google Address Book, who also has a Google account, you can engage in a real-time chat if they are logged into your account at the same time you are.
  10. Gmail is integrated with Google Calendar. When you receive a message regarding an event you can easily add it to your Google Calendar (that is if you are a Google Calendar user).
  11. Google is riding the “Wave” of the next generation in computing…literally. Already a pioneer in “cloud computer” Google is developing “Google Wave” which is their take on improving communication and collaboration. I think its fair to anticipate that a Gmail account will be required.

Summary
Google isn’t going away, and a Gmail email account is the foundation to the use of its tools. That said, if you have to create a Gmail account why not take full advantage of what it offers, and more importantly let Gmail make your email life less complicated through the use of one login. Its free, its easy to use, it allows you maintain your identity, and provides quick access to other Google tools.

If you don’t already have a Gmail account, move your other email accounts into to Gmail. If don’t have Gmail, Sign Up!

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50 FREE Cross-Platform Applications & Services

Written by Rebecka Anderson August 14th, 2009 1 Comment

The 50 FREE  Tech Resources listed below are truly free and are cross platform (many are web-based). There is no cost to download, nor do they have an expiration date/trial period. This list includes everything you would need to operate your organization or your business, aside from your computer and internet access. It even includes free web design, hosting, and domain name.

This not a comprehensive list of free cross platform tools. This list is made up of tools that I have used and tested (among many others not listed here). When it comes to “making the cut” I selected tools based upon 1. its ease of use 2. its ability to accomplish the task at hand 3. up-time. A tool that can perform miracles is great, but if no one knows how to use it, or if its constantly broke, its useless. Please also keep in mind that this is my list as of today’s publish date.

 

Productivity Suites
These suites include word processing, presentation, and spreadsheets, and more.

Free Cross Platform Tech ResourcesOpen Office (download)
Google Docs
Zoho

 

Synchronous Collaboration (Real-Time)

Dim Dim (free for 20 people)
Elluminate (free for 3 people)

 

Document Collaboration

Google Docs
Writeboard
Wiki Spaces
Adobe Buzzword

 

Survey/Polls

Survey Monkey (max 10 questions & max 100 respondents per survey)
Survey Gizmo (max 250 respondents per month)
Doodle

 

Database

Zoho Creator (max 2 users, 3 databases, 1000 records)

 

Phone

Google Voice (you have to request an invite)
Skype (download)

 

Email

Gmail
Yahoo

 

Free Cross Platform Tech Resources

Discussion Forums

Forumotion

PunBB (download & requires web server installation)

phpBB (download & requires web server installation)

 

Chat

Zoho Chat
Skype

 

Calendar

Google Calendar

 

Event Registration

Evite

 

Project Management

iTeamwork
ToodleDo

 

File Sharing

Media Fire (unlimited amount of files, each can’t exceed 100MB)
4Shared (store up to 5GB, each can’t exceed 100MB)

 

Video Converter

Handbrake
Squared 5
Media Convert (download or service)

 

Video Editor
Platform specific but both come pre-installed.

  • iMovie (mac)
  • Windows Video Maker (windows)

Video Player

QuickTime (cross-platform BUT to view .wma & .wmv on Mac use with free Flip4Mac)
Flip4Mac
VLC

Free Cross Platform Tech Resources

 

Audio Editor

Audacity

 

Image Editor

pixlr
Picnik
picasa

 

eLearning

MyiCourse

Udutu
 (free course authoring/export)

Moodle (requires installation on a server)

 

Basic Website Creation

Weebly (includes hosting  & free domain name)
Yola (includes hosting & several widgets)

 

Advanced Website Creation

KompoZer (HTML/CSS Editor & includes FTP)
Joomla (content management systems and templates)
Drupal (content management systems and templates)
Open Source Web Design (free web design templates)

 

Blog

WordPress (service or web server install with your own domain)

 

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Stop Website Spam with reCAPTCHA! FREE Tool

Written by Rebecka Anderson July 18th, 2009 No Comments

Picture 6

These days its not uncommon to see a web form that requires you to enter a series of malformed letters, or to answer a math question in an effort to prove that your submission as been made by you—A HUMAN (as opposed to a computer). This process of validating human vs. computer is commonly known as CAPTCHA, which is an acronym for “Completely Automated Public Turing Test To Tell Computers and Humans Apart,” and its used to block spam submissions made through a website.

One of the websites I manage was recently the target of spammers. I tried implementing several CAPTCHA options, but the easiest one to use is called “reCAPTCHA”. Its a great FREE tech tool (service) that was easy to implement and it took minutes to setup. Once setup, the spam stopped. Success!

reCAPTCHA is especially great because it does not require you to add an “action” or “onsubmit” to your html form so you don’t need to mess with your already working code (chances are you’re already using those form elements). Implementation of other CAPTCHA scripts would have required that, and would therefore require some rewriting of php—not really my game.
Another great feature about reCAPTCHA is that its accessible. Users can choose to either type in what they see, or hear. If your website requires adherence to Section 508 of the Disabilities Act, then this may a good solution for you.

Using reCAPTCHA is easy:

  • Simply visit http://recaptcha.net/whyrecaptcha.html and sign-up for a free account.
  • Upon submitting the form you will be prompted for the domain name of the website in which you will be implementing reCAPTCHA. Once you have submitted your domain name you will then receive a public key and private key. Keep this information handy as you will need to use it when adding reCAPTCHA to your web page.
  • Next visit http://recaptcha.net/plugins/php/ as it includes instructions and the link to the file you will need to include on your web server, as well as the script to add to your web form (assuming you are using php). You don’t need to know php to implement this, but you do need to have your web pages hosted on a php enabled web server.

IF YOU’RE NOT USING PHP, there are other reCAPTCHA options available to you.

reCAPTCHA php script inside html

The  image above shows how the reCAPTCHA php script sits on the page in relation to the existing html. As you can see in this example, the script sits by itself, and in this case, I have made it the last item in form.

I opted to implement a php solution on my page, but reCAPTCHA offers other solutions that may be of use to you if running php is not an option. Additionally, they offer several plugins for some common content management systems.

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One Click! Open Multiple Websites in Safari Simultaneously

Written by Rebecka Anderson June 17th, 2009 1 Comment

Safari

Safari users you may find this tip to be particularly useful if you need to access the same websites regularly. For example, lets assume you need to check your WebEX office daily, your web-based email account, and Twitter. You could bookmark them, or you could even create a quick webpage and list your links. But wouldn’t it be nice to click one button and have all of your desired websites open at the same time in multiple tabs? Here’s how you can make this happen.

Step 1
Open Safari, and make sure you have already bookmarked websites you want to automatically open.

Step 2
Click on Bookmarks>Show All Bookmarks

Step 3
Click on “Bookmarks Bar” which is found under “Collections” (left column at the top)

Step 4
The right column (bottom row) is a pane called “Bookmark”. Click your mouse into that pane and create a folder called “Opener” (you can name it anything you want so long as you understand its contents). You can create a new folder by clicking the plus sign at the bottom of the pane.

Step 5
Next drag any bookmarks you want to have automatically opened into the folder you just created.

Step 6
Click the check box under Auto-Click next to your opener folder.

Step 7
Drag the opener folder to the top of the list in the bookmark window so that it will appear first on your bookmarks bar.

The bookmark bar should now display the new folder name. Click it and all of your favorite websites will open simultaneously in multiple tabs so that you can easily move between tabs/websites without needing to navigate to a bookmark.

Create Opener Folder

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FREE Cross Platform DVD Ripper

Written by Rebecka Anderson June 10th, 2009 No Comments

Logo

Sometimes its hard to believe they are FREE, but there are some amazing FREE TECH RESOURCES out there. Today’s focus is on video. I’m often asked how and what software should be used to rip (copy) a DVD to a computer. My recommendation is Handbrake. Handbrake is FREE and available for Macs, Windows, and for the true geek users of the world, Linux.

Handbrake is easy to install, and is very easy to use. Upon launching the application you are immediately presented with a window to select your video source. Simply select the DVD you wish to rip (you don’t need to select any of the files/folders on the DVD) and then click open. Handbrake will then scan the DVD and provide a list of chapters. Either choose to copy the full DVD (select the full playtime of the dvd), or choose to copy a specific chapter by using the drop-down menus. Upon clicking start your video output will be saved to your desktop (macs). If you want to change the output, location use the browse button.

Handbrake Window

Handbrake offers a great time and space saving feature through its availability of presets. If want to rip a DVD for future playback on your iPhone or older iPod simply select the appropriate preset and your clip will automatically be encoded and resized for playback. I highly recommend using the presets if you are sure of your playback method. If you’re not sure what your final output will be, or if you intend for video playback to occur on multiple devices, you will want to stay with the default setting of normal. Later you can import/export the movie into whatever format later using iMovie or Windows Movie Maker (both are pre-installed on their respective platforms). Note: Handbrake is NOT the tool to use if you are seeking to create a duplicate DVD.

So its really that easy. Select your DVD, select your chapters, select a preset, and then click start! Its FREE, its quick, and its easy. If you want to get down and dirty with Handbrake you might want to checkout their Documentation & Wiki as well as become a part of their Community.

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