TipsTree dot com

Todays post is a little late (D’oh!), but better late than never. If you have a blogspot site read on for some helpful tips:

• “Do you ever sit down with the intention of blogging but can’t think of anything to write about then try out google trends. This program shows the latest hot topics to write about, which is great if you have a general blog, if you have a more specific blog it can still be useful if your in a popular niche.” - F8soldier
• “The default Blogger themes aren’t the greatest or most attractive. That’s why you should spice up your blog with some of these. There are quite a few themes available so check ‘em out. ” - Andy
• “Did you know you can post text and photos to your blog from your cell/mobile phone? It’s real easy too. Here is the page with more info: http://www.blogger.com/mobile-start.g Could be very handy for people with phones that have a qwerty keypad, don’t fancy doing it with my ordinary keypad though.” - Gray

Next Tuesday

The English Premier League season is in full swing now and so it’s perfect time to highlight the top football/soccer tips. Leave any tip you have on the football page and I’ll post the best on the homepage on Tuesday. Until then, adios.

We have tips, tricks, links and easter eggs this week with our Top Flash Tips:

• “Before I started this site I used to program in Flash making little games. My greatest resource was the Flashkit forum, I’m a bit out of the loop now but the community was pretty large, experienced and helpful.” - Andy
• “When I make my games I don’t make the final design for the artwork straight away, I leave that until the end. Make sure all the coding works first and use little scribbles as “test dummies”.” - Mattman
• “To avoid frustration while coding space out your lines of code instead keeping it all packed together, that way you can easily spot mistakes and debugg without throwing your monitor at the wall ” - Zdog
• “I’m sure most people have heard about this hidden easter egg in Flash but to those who don’t….
  There are six hidden games within Flash 8. To find them firstly open Flash 8 and click Help > About Macromedia Flash (Professional). Now click the little dot above the “i” in the word “Macromedia”. It’s pretty difficult to click it so just keep trying if it doesn’t work first time. You should now see a selection of six playable games to choose from. ” - Andy

Next Friday

I’ve posted the top Wordpress tips on the site now I’m after your best Blogger tips. Blogger is a very popular blogging platform because it’s simple and free. Submit your tips on the Blogger page and I’ll post my favourites on the homepage on Friday night.

Google create some very helpful tools, and one of my favourites (apart from their search engine) is Google Analytics. This week I asked you, the readers to submit your Google Analytics tips and here they are:

• “One of the easiest ways to install Google Analytics on a WordPress blog is to use the Semiologic Google Analytics Plugin. You can find a post about how to install Google Analytics in by blog linked above.” - FredPeters 
• “My favorite feature of Google Analytics is the possibility to compare two different time frames. I use this to show progress to my advertisers - 30% increase in search engines traffic, 25% increase in page views, etc.
  I am also trying to set up useful goal conversion reports, but nothing really cool so far. Looking forward to hearing some nice tips on that here.” - Cigar Reviews
• “Google have uploaded a boatload of very informative videos on youtube, great for beginners and experts alike. You really should be a pro after viewing these.” - Andy
• “I’m no expert on Google Analytics but what I used to do was analyze my data quite thoroughly. I’d then understand where my traffic was coming from and then try to replicate it again. It’s also useful to see which keywords are bringing in the visitors from search engines so you can target specific keywords to bring more people to the site. One other useful feature is to see what page your visitors exited, and for how long they stayed before leaving. Tweak your content to offer them an incentive to stay longer or read more pages/posts.” - JoeBlogs

Big thanks to FredPeters, Cigar Reviews and JoeBlogs for contributing to TipsTree dot com 

Next Tuesday

So next Tuesdays post we’re going to delve into the world of Adobe Flash. As I have previously worked with this software (but haven’t done so in a long time) I’m interested in seeing what tips and tricks you have on it. I don’t care whether it’s code, design, or anything as long as it’s helpful/fun/interesting/useful…… Leave your tips here and I’ll post the best on Tuesday evening (British time usually around 7:00pm).

Leading on nicely from Tuesdays post we have some top job interview tips, remember them as it may just land you your next job:

• “When greeting an interviewer be sure to make good eye contact and give a good firm handshake, this shows confidence so make sure you do it.” - Andy
• “First impressions is everything, they even watch you walk out of your car and can make up their minds even before you speak. So make sure you’re smartly dressed and walk in confident.” - Hokuri
• “Always have an interview preparation and have a little research done on the job you are seeking for and on the company you are applying in. Better be ready with an answer for everything than not knowing what to say. http://www.cvtips.com/job_interview_preparation.html” - lilo
• “Preparation (as with many things) is key. A few things you can do beforehand that might help in your interview:  1. Do your research. Find out as much information about the company as you can, try reading their website or calling them directly.  2. Think of some of the questions they might ask you and be prepared to answer them well.  3. Prepare your own questions for them so it isn’t all one way traffic.” - Jayman1

Next Tuesday

TipsTree dot com wants your Google Analytics tips. To webmasters and bloggers who use the software please share your knowledge and and give us your best tips here. As ever next Tuesday I’ll post the best tips on the home page. If you’re asking yourself why should I submit a tip then read the FAQ and you’ll find out all the magical and wonderful benefits you’ll receive.      

Update: You can expect the next post on Friday (instead of tonight). Sorry about that, I just have a few odds and ends to sort out so I won’t have the time to write a post.

Having problems writing your CV? Don’t worry, TipsTree is here for you. Here are some tips to help you out:

• “Well, first and foremost, you should be aware of all the areas which compose a CV. And starting with this, there are tips on how to write each of them. So here are my CV writing tips: http://www.cvtips.com/first_cv_tips.html” - lilo 
• “When writing your CV look back on it from your potential employers point of view and think would you hire you. ” - Ozzie
• “Lying on your CV is a risky strategy, and whilst it may be tempting to it’s best not. Better to be proud about who you are and what you’ve done. Don’t ever sell yourself short, but at the same time don’t go overboard and lie or it might just come back to bit you in the… ” -Andy
• “Sometimes it’s easier to learn by example, so check out CVtips.com which has got some CV examples which you can take a look at and get an idea of the layout, requirements etc. of a CV.” - Andy

Next Friday

So your CV has landed you a job interview. Now comes the hard part, you need to impress your potential future boss in an interview. We’ve got you sorted as the next Fridays post will be top job interview tips. Hopefully we can give you a few pointers and tips to help you out.

If you have a good tip to share with us, please do as you may get it featured on the home page! I’ll pick the best tips from the Job Interview page and post them on Friday evening (GMT time).  

As I said in Tuesdays post, today’s post is all about the Xbox 360. Here are the top tips (mostly written by me! ):

• “Unfortunately the xbox360 is not backwards compatible with all xbox games. Here is the backwards compatibility list for the US. Here is the backwards compatibility list for EU.” - Andy
• “DON’T under any circumstances switch your 360 from horizontal to vertical and vice versa while you have a disc inside, apparently it says not to do this in the documentation and so MS don’t like you doing it, your discs will prob come out all scratched and unplayable if you do it.” - Beetle_juice
• “If you fancy changing your Gamertag to something different then all you have to do is:
  Go to your profile on the Xbox 360 dashboard, and go to “Edit Gamer Profile”, now choose “Gamertag”. From here you can change your Gamertag.
  However, doing so will cost 800 Microsoft Points.” - Andy
• “Unlike the original Xbox, most Xbox 360 games support custom soundtrack (i.e play the game to the music you’ve ripped onto the console). To have your own custom soundtrack insert an Audio CD in the optical drive. From the dashboard access the “Music” menu. Select Music > Audio CD > Copy. Choose the tracks you want to be copied onto the console. Choose “Copy” and Hey-presto, the tracks will be stored onto the consoles hard disk. Now in your game menu load up your songs and you’re good to go. ” - Andy

Next Tuesday 

Writing a CV can be a frustrating and confusing experience, but TipsTree dot com is here to help. I’m looking for some tips on how to write a good CV, post them here and I’ll pick the best to be featured on the front page on Tuesday evening (GMT time).  Wether you’re playing Halo 3 or whatever have a great weekend!

Howdy everyone, we got some tip top Firefox tips for you today, check ‘em out:

• “Here are a few useful shortcuts to speed up your browsing:·Spacebar (page down)
  ·Shift-Spacebar (page up)
  ·Ctrl+F (find)
  ·Alt-N (find next)
  ·Ctrl+D (bookmark page)
  ·Ctrl+T (new tab)
  ·Ctrl+K (go to search box)
  ·Ctrl+L (go to address bar)
  ·Ctrl+= (increase text size)
  ·Ctrl+- (decrease text size)
  ·Ctrl-W (close tab)
  ·F5 (reload)
  ·Alt-Home (go to home page)” - Andy
• “For those of us with blogs, I highly recommend installing the Scribe Fire Firefox Extension. Here is a description of the extension, “ScribeFire (previously Performancing for Firefox) is a full-featured blog editor that integrates with your browser and lets you easily post to your blog.” ” - FredPeters
• “All right, I am going to give away my secret.
  If you are a web designer and working with CSS, install Firebug. You won’t believe how much time this great extension had saved me.” - Cigar Reviews
• “Did you know that when you start the Firefox browser you can open multiple tabs? To do this, go to Tools>Otions and make sure you’re on the ‘main’ tab. On the text field for homepage input the addresses separated by a “|” (without the quotation marks).” - Budz
• “This is a tip to speed up Firefox which makes loading pages faster. What you’re going to do is enable pipelining which means that instead of making one request at a time, Firefox will make several requests to a web page. follow the simple instructions below to do it:1. Type “about:config” into the address bar and hit return. Scroll down and look for the following:
  network.http.pipelining network.http.proxy.pipelining network.http.pipelining.maxrequests

  2. Alter the following to:
  Set “network.http.pipelining” to “true”
  Set “network.http.proxy.pipelining” to “true”
  Set “network.http.pipelining.maxrequests” to something like 30. This means it will make 30 requests at once.

  3. Right-click anywhere and select New-> Integer. Name it “nglayout.initialpaint.delay” and set its value to “0″. This is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it recieves.” - iSpy

These great tips were taken from the Firefox page. A big thanks to FredPeters, Cigar Reviews, Budz and iSpy for contributing to TipsTree dot com 

I’m looking for the best Xbox 360 tips, head to this page and submit your tip. It could be on any aspect of the 360, the hardware, software, xbox live, live arcade etc. I’ll pick the best on Friday evening and post them on the home page.

Good day readers, it’s Friday and we have the top tips on quitting smoking for you, as taken from this page. If you’re trying to kick the habit read on:

• “Get a girlfriend who doesn’t smoke.
  She’ll make you quick with her endless complaints =)” - Cigar Reviews
• “Wash your hair and your clothes; Clean and air out your flat/house; the smell will be refreshing and help motivate you to keep it smelling fresh.” - Preston
• “Each time you feel the need to light up try some of these (not all at once of course!):
  -Take a nice big, deep breath
  -Suck on a boiled sweet
  -Chew an piece of nicotine gum
  -Pour yourself a glass of water” - YSponge
• “You can’t smoke if you have no cigarettes. Get rid of all cigarettes, lighters and ashtrays from around your home to avoid the temptation.” - Diane
• “Research has shown that even a short walk can help with your nicotine cravings, being active can go a long way. One suggestion is to take up a sport, football, golf, tennis or even something like yoga which also helps reduce levels of stress.” - Mylo

Great tips from Cigar Reviews, Preston, YSponge, Diane and Mylo. A big thank you from TipsTree dot com 

The next featured topic will be Firefox, everyones’ favourite browser. Submit your tips and tricks on the Firefox page; I’ll pick the top ones on Tuesday night and write a post featuring the best.   

The title says it all, see below for the top iPod tips:

• “I never knew this until recently but you can put the ipod shuffle in hold. If you press and hold the play/pause button for like 5seconds you’ll see the little orange light blink three times. To take it out of hold do the same until the green light blink.” - Toik
• “Just remember that using the scroll wheel, backlight, equalisers and playing at high volume all have a draining effect on the battery of your iPod. To prolong your battery life simply reduce the usage of each of these effects. Either turn the backlight off, use smart playlists or adjust the volume limit and this will allow you to maximize your battery life.” - Andy
• “Cnet have put together a nice video feature detailing how to get music off your ipod, a very useful technique. Here is the link. ” - Andy
• “Here’s a handy piece of knowledge, pulling your headphone mini-plug jack out of an ipod nano automatically pauses whatever is playing. You’re able to pick right up where you left off when the headphones are then reconnected.” - Joel

A big thanks to myself, Toik and Joel for some handy tips submitted to TipsTree dot com

Next Friday we’ll feature the best tips on how to quit smoking.  Head over to the quit smoking section and leave your tip in the comments field, if it’s a good one it’ll appear on the home page! Go do it now.

Firstly I’d like to apologise about not being very active on this site these past couple of days, I’ve just moved out of home and am now living it up in the city of Manchester so you can understand things have been a little hectic. My internet connection has only just been sorted today so I’m finally online again and back to business. Today’s top tips are about Working Out, check them out:

• “When doing bench presses never make your arms straight when pushing up and never fully bend when going down. Also point elbows out a little, not pointing directly behind you. ” - Mattman
• “If you want to push yourself that little bit further while jogging, imagine an invisible magnet pulling you towards the person in front of you.” - Blu
• “If you’re a bit strapped for time then do exercises that use multiple muscles. A squat for example uses the front and back of your legs as well as your buttocks.” - Andy
• “Always take time to cool down after rigorous exercise, never stop abruptly. After a long jog or run take time walk around and cool down. Make sure you have atleast 10 minutes to cool down.” - Grey
• “When weight training it’s best to do small sets often a day rather than one big workout in a day. Spread the training out through the day.” - Ray

Great tips from Mattman, Blu, Andy (me), Grey and Ray. A big thanks to everyone who submitted a tip to TipsTree dot com  Remember some (if not all of these) when you’re exercising to get the most out of your work out.

When I’m pumping iron (which isn’t very often!) I’ve almost always got my headphones in playing some music. This links nicely to the next topic to be featured on the home page, the iPod. If you have a shuffle, video, mini, nano, classic or an iPod Touch then you should head on over to our iPod section and post any tip you have on the subject. Matt will pick the best tips and post them up on the home page here on Friday. 

UPDATE:Due to unforseen circumstances (don’t you just hate them) the “Top iPod Tips” will be posted on the site on Tuesday instead so you have another two days to get in on the action. See you then!