I ran into a set back in the Website Upgrade about a week ago.  I was working to include a dynamic css menu system that would automatically update every time I added a page into my content management system.

I compared several different tools and pulled the trigger on CSS Menu Writer a Dreamweaver extension.

To make a long story short, the software did not do what I expected nor did it do much of anything the way I expected it to do it!

That said after essentially walking through one user issue after the next all week long, by the end of the week, I had figured out how the tool actually works, and I had conceived a way to achieve my goal anyway, even though the software isn’t actually designed to make things such as I wanted, easy.

Fortunately, I have some strengths in working with content management systems and databases, and so I was able to compensate for the software programs shortcomings and still use some of its capability to achieve the same result.  So now, I am back off to the races to work to finish migrating the site over into the new system and make up for the week I lost with the wisdom that I gained.

One of my primary goals is to have the new site up and tuned heavily before August when I will fly out to LA and Vegas for back to back conventions.  By the time those events come around, I want to insure that my website is reliable and make the least of my worries be the search for some good hotel deals.

Page Popularity for Site: 27% [?]

Sometimes when you have a ‘good’ program and it goes through a version update, you may not get the latest update each year because the current version is good enough.  For me that has been the case with OmniPage and with PaperPort, both products from Nuance.

I’ve been using PaperPort 9, that came with my amazing Brother Printer, copy machine, scanner and fax with a feeder tray.  Plus, I had a lite version of OmniPage that has served me very well over the years when I needed to convert a lot of paper text into something machine readable.

So these good programs are not my work horses.  I do not turn to them every day like some programs, but when I use them I use them heavily and they save me a lot of time and even more money.  For me an average single usage of OmniPage can easily cover the cost of the software.

PaperPort is similarly useful as it enables me to easily (very very very easily) manage a library of PDF documents, including bills and receipts and things that would have been kept in paper files without taking up all the space.  Plus, the information is at my finger tips when I need it!

Well to make a long story a little longer than short, today I’m finally upgrading my work horses.  Its been 2 versions with PaperPort and 3 or 4 with OmniPage. 

There are two reasons why I’m making the move:

1. The price is right (I’m getting PaperPort free with my purchase of OmniPage Pro (the big full version)
2. OmniPage offers the ability for me to take a picture with my camera or even my phone, and have that image converted into a text document with their optical character reader.

That last point is the new functionality that I need.  When I have loose documents, OmniPage running with my normal scanner and the document feeder is awesome.  But when I have a page in a book, folder, or some other bound or abnormal item, or even an image on a White Board!, well then having the ability to take a picture and have it converted to text will definitely be worth the money of the upgrade, not to mention the major increases in accuracy that the program has gone through since my last purchase.

That money I save will not necessarily line my pockets are encourage me to go buy a new car or gold cufflinks or something, but every little bit will help me keep my prices low and competitive and that means more business for me over the long stretch.

OmniPage 16- Best OCR Software

Page Popularity for Site: 24% [?]