Welcome to Geekgirl's. I've tried to make the site easy to navigate, but over the years it has grown into quite a network of articles. I realised it's time to offer a little guidance to those who may get lost in the backwaters of the site.

This page provides answers for frequently asked questions and anticipates other questions you may have about the site. If you're searching for a particular article, try going straight to the Site Index. Otherwise, here's what you'll find covered on this page:

What's the site about?

Geekgirl's is a collection of plain-English tutorials, guides and resources designed for anyone who uses a Windows-based personal computer. Despite the site's name, everything you find here is suitable to visitors of either gender and any level of technical understanding (or lack thereof).

For the past 21 years I've been writing for computer magazines, newspapers and other publications around the world, trying to make technology as accessible as possible to as many people as possible. I've collected some of those articles here and added others to create a site with the sole purpose of providing computing information in a digestible form.

You'll find articles covering all sorts of topics: Windows 98, Me and XP; the Internet and the Web; word processing; databases; spreadsheets; computer security. Most of the articles are pitched at beginning to intermediate users, although there are plenty of advanced topics covered as well.

How do I find my way about?

Everything on the site is accessible via the Home Page. To find out what's new on the site, check out the geekgirl.news section. There's also a Site Search powered by Google, that should help you track down any article.

Beneath the main menu on the Home Page you'll find links to background information about me, site supporter's information, this help page, and an e-mail link so you can contact me. There's also a link to the Colouriser (see below) which lets you change the colour of the site's menus. At the bottom of each sub-menu, you'll find links back to the home page and the preceding menu.

In the articles themselves, check out the links and introductory blurb on the left to get a quick summary of the topic covered.

Can I change the colour of the menus?

Most people seem to like the standard menu colour scheme I use throughout Geekgirls, but some find it a little hard to read. If you don't like the scheme, or if you just want to have fun messing around, you can take your pick of colour schemes by using the Colouriser (there's a link to it directly under the main menu).

Your choice of colours will be recorded in a cookie (a little text file stored on your hard disk), so on future visits the site will recognise your preference and you won't have to change colours again. That's the only information contained in the cookie and the cookie itself expires after one year, after which you'll need to make a colour choice once more.

Can I e-mail you for help?

Sure, but I can't guarantee a prompt reply.

I love getting feedback and questions from visitors to my site and I try my hardest to reply to it all. But it arrives in truckloads, and I only get around to answering it when my day job isn't screaming at me. I can't guarantee a reply, at least not a prompt one. I do, however, read it all.

What font do you use for your headings?

The main headings in this site are created using the luscious Kabel Book Bt font. Because not everyone has this font installed on their system (it's one of the bonus fonts that come with most Corel products) I've used Microsoft's WEFT (Web Embedding Fonts Tool) to embed the font into the site. This adds a tiny overhead to the page download, but I think it's worth it.

If you happen to be using a browser which doesn't support embedded fonts, then you'll see headings in plain old Trebuchet MS or Arial, I'm afraid. Here's a graphic which gives you an idea of what they should look like:

Geekgirl heading displayed in Kabel Book BT font

And here's the full alphabet in 24-point Kabel Book Bt:

If you don't have Corel WordPerfect, CorelDRAW or any of the other products which feature this font and you'd like to add it to your collection, you can buy it for under $US30 from ITC (International Typeface Corporation). Once you buy it, you can use it in your own documents, graphics and Web pages, plus get the added bonus of viewing geekgirl's as it was meant to be seen.

What's with the strange spelling?

Some people have e-asked me why I spell colour and scrutinise and centre the way I do. Some have even remarked on the admirable consistency with which I 'misspell' these words throughout the site.

In fact, they're not misspellings, simply correct Australian spelling. Being an Aussie, I use Australian spelling and idioms throughout the site. Whenever I use an idiom or term which is likely to cause confusion for my US-based and other non-Aussie readers, I try to make sure I 'translate' the term as well.

Hopefully, if you're a non-Aussie you'll quickly get over the strangeness and enjoy the flavour of reading a foreign tongue.


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