If you often e-mail messages to groups of people, like Tech Services staff or library directors in your county, you might find creating a mailing list in Netscape Communicator's Address Book a useful shortcut. Once created, addressing a message to your mailing list will automagically send it to all the people who are on that list.

In case you need to check anyone's e-mail address first, remember to check the Winnefox E-Mail Address Directory (sortable by library and department) at the Staff Section of the Winnefox Web site.

1. Open Netscape Communicator
2. On the Netscape MenuBar click Communicator
3. Click Address Book


4. When the Address Book opens, click the New List button; this will open the Mailing List window


5. Fill in the List Name & List Nickname fields, and you can also fill in the Description field (but it isn't necessary)


6. There are two methods you can use to add recipients to the list
   1. You can type the e-mail address (Communicator may fill in the @winnefox.org suffix) and press the Enter key to go to the next line
   2. You can also drag and drop addresses from your Address Book
   a. Move the Mailing List window aside so you can view the addresses in your address book.
   b. Click and drag the address(es) you wish to add to the list into the Mailing List window.
7. After you're done, click the OK button to create the Mailing List


8. Now you're ready to address an e-mail message to your new list by simply typing in the Mailing List's name in the To: field of the Message Composition window, just like you would a single e-mail address.

And a year-end note:

To make sure your e-mail messages aren't accidentally being stored on the Winnefox server as well as on your PC, make sure to check that your Netscape Communicator preferences are set correctly (unless you also use Pine regularly to manually delete the e-mail stored on the server):

1. Open Netscape 4.x (I used Netscape 4.51 -- if you use a different version Your Mileage May Vary)
2. On the MenuBar click Edit
3. In the menu that opens click Preferences
4. Double-click the Mail & Groups folder so it expands


5. Click Mail Servers
6. Click the Edit button to the right of the Incoming Mail Servers information
   
   
7. A smaller Mail Server Properties window with two tabs will open; click the tab marked POP
   
   
8. Make sure there is no checkmark in the box next to "Leave messages on server after retrieval"

a. If there is a checkmark, click the checkmark once to remove it (and before the end of the year open Pine and delete the messages you may not have realized were still there)
9. Click the OK button in the smaller window
10. Click the OK button in the larger window.

If you visit a Web page with tiny type and have a hard time reading your screen because the text is too small, in most cases using Netscape 4.x you can enlarge the type to a more readable size.

On the Netscape MenuBar click View and click Increase Font.

You can continue to increase the font to a size that makes the page comfortable to read. And you may find the keyboard shortcut of pressing the Ctrl key and the ] key to be a quicker way to change the text size.

To reverse the font size, either choose View and Decrease Font from the Netscape MenuBar, or use the keyboard combination of the Ctrl key and [ keys.

In addition to changing the text size in Netscape, you can also change the font size in Windows 9x/NT.

The Windows 95/NT display default is usually set to "small fonts". You can change this by

1. Click the Windows Start button
2. Put your mouse pointer over Settings
3. Click Control Panel
4. Click Display
5. In the Display Properties window click the tab marked Settings
6. Select Large Fonts
7. Click the OK button

If you missed attending the Wisconsin Library Association Conference you can still see Web versions of several program presentations. Some are Web sites, and others offer PowerPoint presentations.

In addition there's a list of WLA Conference exhibitors in case you want to re-visit a vendor or two.

If you're running out of time to send holiday greetings by snailmail, try sending some book-themed electronic postcards instead.

And be sure to visit The Annual NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) Tracks Santa Claus Web site to follow Santa's progress as he wends his way to your chimney.

Every year since 1984 PNC Advisors has "provided a tongue-in-cheek tracking of the goods and services purchased by the 'True Love' in the carol 'The 12 Days of Christmas,'" the Christmas Price Index (CPI). The CPI for 2000 is the first time they've also estimated the cost if the items were bought online. According to PNC'S CIO, "the tight labor market in the entertainment sector pushed up the prices for the lords, pipers and drummers this year."

And you can sing along to this carol written just for us: "God rest ye good librarians".

"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
— Groucho Marx

is Chocolate Eclair Dessert (a yummy offering from this week's staff holiday tea.)

This issue of The Ides was written on December 15, 2000
Copyright 2000, Winnefox Library System

The Ides is written by Joy Schwarz.
Please direct any questions, comments or recipes to schwarz@winnefox.org

URL: http://www.winnefox.org/ides/idesdec00.html