| Public and Private Comment Threads Stardate 2026.0903: I made a small change to the website today that gives me a little more flexibility over which comment discussions are public and which remain private. Normally, if you're on a public page, such as one of my regular forums, TechHelp pages, Video Quizzes, and so on, the comments are public just like they've always been. You won't see anything different on those pages. However, pages that require... |  |
| Handbook Generator Update Stardate 2026.0831: I wanted to give everyone a quick update about the course Handbooks, especially those of you waiting for Handbooks for the latest Access Developer lessons. A few of you have also politely reminding me that some of the newer lessons don't have Handbooks yet. I haven't forgotten about them. The delay is because I'm working on a much better way to produce them. My old automated Handbook generator... |  |
| Add to Preferred Sources on Google Stardate 2026.0830: You may have noticed a new "Add to Preferred Sources" button near the bottom of most pages on my website. This is a new feature from Google that lets you tell Google Search that you trust Computer Learning Zone and would like to see more content from 599cd.com. If you click the button, Google will add Computer Learning Zone to your personal list of preferred sources. When you search for topics... |  |
| John Henry vs. Tom Sawyer Stardate 2026.0828: I received an email today from a former student named Susan that got me thinking about AI and where programming is headed. She had moved away from Microsoft Access some time ago to another development platform, but she told me that she's now largely left that behind too. These days, she's using AI to help build web applications, and while she admits she still prefers coding by hand, the... |  |
| Sticky Nav Bar. Only Took 24 Years. Stardate 2026.0818: For years now, I've wanted to make the navigation bars on my website stay at the top of the screen while you scroll down the page. Seems simple enough, right? Well, you have to understand that I learned HTML, CSS, and JavaScript back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, websites had visitor counters, and everyone was very excited about getting their screen resolution up to 800x600. Back then,... |  |
| The Heisenbug Stardate 2026.0817: I've been doing a little browser automation lately using the WebView (Edge) control in Microsoft Access. I've covered WebView before, but I haven't really gotten too deep into using it for full-blown website automation. The goal is to automate some repetitive browser tasks without relying on SendKeys. Instead, Access can navigate to a page, look for specific HTML elements, click buttons, fill... |  |
| Eclipse Chase II: The Wrath of Clouds Stardate 2026.0814: The wife and I just got back from almost a week in Spain chasing the total solar eclipse, and yes, I am officially exhausted. Our first total solar eclipse was Dallas in 2024. We went down there to see it, absolutely loved the experience, and pretty much decided right then that we were hooked. So I guess we're eclipse chasers now, or at least aspiring eclipse chasers. We're only two eclipses in,... |  |
| Out of the Office for a Bit Stardate 2026.0806: Just a quick heads-up... I'll be out of the office for a bit. Just trying to experience what this mysterious thing called "free time" is. Don't worry, I've queued up plenty of videos, so you'll still have fresh content to watch while I'm away. The forums are in the capable hands of our awesome moderators, so if you have technical questions, they'll do a great job keeping things running... |  |
| A Better Way to Parse Financial Data Stardate 2026.0805: A while back I released my Account Balances Database for Microsoft Access. It wasn't intended to replace proper bookkeeping software or accounting software. I still download all of my transactions from my financial institutions every quarter and import them into a different database for budgeting, taxes, expense tracking, and all that fun stuff. This database serves a completely different... |  |
| Autoplay Setting Stardate 2026.0804: I asked you guys last week if you liked having videos autoplay when you go to a page because most of the time, you're going to a page to watch the video. Well, speaking as someone who almost never watches my own videos (I usually watch them once... OK, OK... spot check them once) to make sure that everything's okay with them. Beyond that, every time I go to a page I don't want to have to... |  |