Blogpost by Sioned Llywelyn (Digital Skills Lead)
In today’s age, most of us rely heavily on technology. While the digital world offers endless possibilities and conveniences, it’s crucial to remain mindful of its potential impacts on our digital wellbeing. As today is University Mental Health Day, it’s a perfect day to share with you a selection of tips and resources to help you achieve a healthier relationship with technology.
Have you ever worked on a large Excel document where you’ve scrolled down to find a figure, but then you’ve had to scroll back up to the top again to remind yourself of what the headings was for that column?!
There’s an incredibly useful function in Excel that can help with this issue, which enables you to freeze single or multiple rows and columns. You can access this feature within Excel by clicking View > Freeze Panes.
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Blogpost by Noel Czempik (Student Digital Champion)
Have you ever felt like your phone was controlling you more than you were controlling it? That was me, until I hit a breaking point last year. Frustrated by the failed attempts to reduce my screen time and the feeling of being stuck in a digital world, I embarked on a digital detox journey throughout December – you can read about it here.
In this blog post, I’ll share my experience, the highs and lows, and the lessons I learned from reclaiming control over my digital habits.
Blogpost by Sioned Llywelyn (Digital Skills Lead)
Happy St David’s Day!
It is extremely important that everyone has the choice to work on their computer in the language they wish. On St David’s Day, I want to share with you some of my favourite tips for making working in Welsh on your computer much more convenient.
One of the first things you can do is change your computer’s display language. This will change your computer interface and icons like Settings and File Explorer will appear in Welsh.
Follow the following instructions to customize your computer’s display language for Windows PCs, Mac computers, or if you are on a public computer on the campus of Aberystwyth University.
Additional suggestion: Did you know that you can also customize the display language of your mobile phone? Follow the following instructions for your Android or Apple phones.
If you don’t want to change the language of your computer, there is also an option for you to change the language of certain software, and you can do this in any Microsoft Office programme (e.g. Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, etc.). You have the choice to change the display language and to change your authoring and proof-reading language. Follow the following instructions to learn how to change specific software language.
While writing in Welsh, have you ever used the symbols button to find accents or circumflexes for letters? You don’t need to do that anymore!
You can download the to bach software on your work computer from the software centre or on your Personal computer, then hold the Alt Gr key and press the vowel you wish to add a circumflex to it:
| Keystroke | Symbol |
| Alt Gr + a | â |
| Alt Gr + e | ê |
| Alt Gr + o | ô |
| Alt Gr + i | î |
| Alt Gr + y | ŷ |
| Alt Gr + w | ŵ |
| Alt Gr + u | û |
If you haven’t changed the authoring and proofreading language of a particular software (see tip 2), you could modify the proofreading language of individual documents to ensure that spelling errors and simple grammatical errors are highlighted.
Watch the following video to learn how to change the proofreading language of your documents.
Cysill is part of the Cysgliad language software package that you can download to your computer. Cysill will allow you to find and correct Welsh errors in your text, and includes an useful thesaurus.
Read DigitalTip 2 where we give you instructions on how to download and use the Cysill app and the online version.
You can also find a plethora of terminology databases online. Here are some of the most popular ones:
In addition to the resources mentioned above, there is extensive information on the Centre for Welsh Services’ webpage on language resources.
If you would like to speak to a member of the Digital Skills Team about using your computer in Welsh, and for any help with any of the above suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact us by email (digi@aber.ac.uk), or call by our weekly Digital Skills drop-in sessions in the Hugh Owen Library.
Blogpost by Noel Czempik (Student Digital Champion)
Main positives: Free. Customisable settings for different apps. Motivating.
Main negatives: Take a bit of time to set up for each app.
Nowadays, smartphone users often find themselves in a losing battle when it comes to staying focused. Access to distracting apps has become so easy and habit-forming that we get lost in the digital world before we get a chance to make a deliberate choice. This is one of the reasons I decided to try a digital detox in December, and that was when ScreenZen came to the rescue!
ScreenZen is a configurable app that empowers users to set boundaries with their devices. Unlike traditional app blockers that restrict access entirely, ScreenZen introduces a novel approach by increasing the barrier to entry. By providing users with time and mental space to make conscious decisions about their digital consumption, ScreenZen naturally fosters mindfulness in the interaction with technology and, therefore, better digital wellbeing.
The app is entirely free and available for both Apple and Android users.
What sets ScreenZen apart is its remarkable customisability, and its main features are:
Will I continue to use ScreenZen? Absolutely!
My favourite thing about this app is that it makes it easier to align my digital choices with my values and routines and can be useful to anyone. Whether you prefer strict limits or simply looking to cultivate awareness of your digital habits, ScreenZen accommodates these diverse preferences. The customisability features mean it takes a while to set up, but once set up, I found this app to be a valuable addition to supporting my digital wellbeing.
Blogpost by Noel Czempik (Student Digital Champion)
In today’s digital age, online meetings have become an integral part of academic and professional life. Whether attending a virtual lecture, collaborating on a group project, or attending a job interview, knowing how to navigate online meetings effectively is crucial for success.
In this blogpost I’m going to share some tips to help you navigate online meetings, and you can also visit this webpage for FAQs and training guidance on using MS Teams.
Online meetings provide the convenience of not needing to leave your house. This comes with the temptation to roll out of bed 5 minutes before the start of the meeting. To give yourself the best chance for success:
Here are the top tips for making a positive, professional impression:
If you need to share your screen during the meeting it’s always better to share a specific window rather than your entire screen, but there may be occasions where this is unavoidable. In which case:
Blogpost by Noel Czempik (Student Digital Champion)
Taking charge of your digital identity is now more crucial than ever. Safeguard your privacy, strengthen your security, and unlock potential professional opportunities with the short guide below.
Take advantage of tools that allow you to display your content as it’s visible to your audience, customise privacy settings for individual posts or modify what information can be used to search your profile. You can read this article for more information on the privacy settings available on the most popular social media sites.
Don’t solely rely on privacy settings. Think before posting, considering the potential impact on your reputation and safety. Be cautious of content that could be misinterpreted or taken out of context, and don’t share sensitive personal information unnecessarily.
Regularly search your name online to assess available information. Consider setting up alerts for new mentions or content associated with your name.
Align shared content with your desired digital image. Remove or update outdated or irrelevant information.
Showcase skills and achievements on professional platforms, maintaining a professional tone and image in your communication. For example, you can add certificate of completions for LinkedIn Learning courses on your personal LinkedIn account. For multi-purpose platforms, consider creating separate profiles for personal and professional use. If you are interested in building a LinkedIn profile, a recording of the Careers Services’ LinkedIn session is available here.
For further information about managing your digital identity, you can watch the Careers Services’ session on this topic from the Digital Skills Festival.
Blogpost by Shân Saunders (Digital Capabilities and Skills Development Coordinator)
With the advancement of phones and technology there’s now an app for everything – including reading! As an avid reader I like to challenge myself with yearly goals, discuss books with fellow readers and gain reading stats. With my top three reading apps – all of these are possible!
Goodreads is great for tracking your current reads and staying on track for your reading goals.
Have you ever copied and pasted content from a webpage or another document into a new Word document and found that it completely messes up your formatting? Luckily, there are additional options outside of the basic pasting option (ctrl+v) which can help solve this!
Start by selecting where you want to paste your content and right-click with your cursor. You’ll then find several additional paste options (the options visible will be based on the type of content that you’ve copied).
Here’s a summary of what the most common 4 paste options will do:
This keeps the formatting of the text that you’ve just copied (be it from a webpage, another document, or another source).
This option changes the formatting of the text so that it matches the formatting of the text that surrounds it.
This option formats the copied text so that it matches the formatting of the text where you’ve pasted your text
This option discards any existing formatting AND any non-text elements you have copied (e.g. images or tables).
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Emojis have become an essential part of how we communicate, and they can be fantastic for expressing our emotions with just a single character 🥰🤣🙄🤯😴
Most of us will be more familiar with using emojis on our mobile phones 📱, but there will be times when we’ll want to include emojis when using our laptops or computers 💻. Instead of googling for the emoji you need, why not access it directly from your keyboard!?
On both Windows and Mac, you can access your emoji keyboard in seconds by selecting:
Watch the video below to see how this shortcut works on a Windows device.
To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week!
