Presenter. REMEMBER: You will always be working with two documents.

Transcription

1 Presenter ICT Training Updated: May 2001 Job Aid Prepared by Luc Gelinas Introduction to Microsoftw Presenter 4.0 In this workshop you will learn how to use Presnter 4.0 to create dynamic Web pages and upload them to the Internet via FTP. Preparation Before you start Consider the elements that you will need. Collect your elements: text, graphics, sounds, video animations etc. Make sure that all of your elements are Web-ready (i.e. in the correct file format, see the section on file formats). Images: Should be in either JPEG or GIFF. Sounds: WAV or MP3. Text: It does not matter what format your text is in because it will eventually be pasted directly into your web document. On your computer 1. Create a publication folder on your desktop. This is where you are going to keep all of the elements of your publication. Give it a name appropriate to your site s content (e.g. Class 2B publication ). 2. You will also need a second folder where you will keep your WEB files (in.html format). These will be created by Presenter when you are ready to publish for the Web. Create it and give it a name appropriate to your site s content (e.g. Class2B_ webpages ). Presenter will create all the files necessary for the Web automatically. REMEMBER: You will always be working with two documents. Contents Preparation- Before you start Presenter tool box 1 2 File formats 4 Help and tutorials 5 Getting started 6 Opening an existing publication Creating a new page Choosing a template Inserting images Inserting text 11 Creating links 12 Publishing on the Internet Converting your publication into DHTML Uploading to a server Leech FTP The Presentation where you construct your pages. 2. The html files that the software will create for you. These will be uploaded to the server for web publishing.

2 Once your files have been converted from Presenter files to HTML files your web folder will look something like the screenshot directly below. Presenter will automatically place the clip art you use in the images folder, the buttons in the buttons folder, and the pages in the pages folder, etc. You do not have to create these yourself! The Presenter toolbox This is the principal tool for creating your presentations. The application s control are found here. By placing your mouse over the icons a pop-up window will appear letting you know the function of the tool. You can also explore the File and Edit menus for more important functions. The Pointer tool toggles between the Create Mode, in which you can create or select objects and access their settings, and View Mode. View Mode shows what a user will see when consulting a publication with the viewer. CSLP Presenter (PC) Page 2

3 Go to first page opens the first page of the publication. Go to previous goes back one page. Paste places the contents of the clipboard on the active page. The clipboard contents placed on the active page can be text or an image generated by a different application. Settings displays the settings of the selected object or objects. If no object has been selected, the active page settings are displayed by default, a highly useful feature for changing the setting of a page you cannot select because it is completely covered by a background image. In a multiple selection, the settings dialog box will be displayed as many times as needed to adjust the objects one after the other. Link allows the user to link to a page, a program or a registered file by selecting an object. The Link icon opens the links options window. (See the create a link section.) The library icon opens the Buttons library where you can choose from a series of ready to use buttons for your presentation. Image opens the Image Library. Use this tool to insert clip art or your own creations. Animatio/video opens the Animation Library for a selection of ready to use animations. Use this option to insert movies into your presentations as well. Note: Limit the number of special effects especially if you are going to present your work on the web, some effects may not translate very well for the web. It is up to you to experiment. Sound opens the Sound Library. Use this button to insert sound in your presentations. The Text tool will enable you to include text in your presentation. You can modify the text options to your specifications as well as re-size the textbox that is created. Undo cancels the last operation(s) performed. All operations carried out since the last save of the page can be undone by repeating this command. CSLP Presenter (PC) Page 3

4 File formats Determine the kind of information to be saved in a file, the compatibility with various software applications and the exchanging of data in the production process. There are some influential factors in saving a scanned image. What program will you use to postprocess the image? How much disk storage is available? Will you exchange the file with others during the production process? and What are the eventual output mediums? Please refer to the following table. File Format File Recommended Advantages Extension Output Media JPEG.jpg Multimedia, With the best compression ratio Presentation, Video (40:1) Smallest file size for Photographs. GIFF.gif Multimedia, Good for graphics, logos, line art. Presentation, Video PUBLICATION.xsc Presenter 4.0 Needed to open projects made with the software. Cannot be viewed in a Web browser. PAGES.pag Presentation pages Format used to identify pages in the before conversion Presenter software. Cannot be the Web. viewed in a Web browser. HTML.html Format to be used Can be read by all Web browser. for Web publishing Presenter will convert your.pag for all Web browsers. files into HTML files. SOUND.wav Sound files Most common file format for.aif sounds on PC and Mac. WINDOWS VECTOR IMAGE FORMAT.wmf Graphics format Can be used in Presenter. Many PC for Windows clip art catalogues use this format. BITMAP.bmp Graphics Can be imported through clipboard. CSLP Presenter (PC) Page 4

5 Help and tutorials You can get assistance while you work using some or all of these features: HELP files to guide you. How to Presenter demonstrates the features and possibilities. CSLP Presenter (PC) Page 5

6 Getting started Presenter is a great tool for communicating information. Not only will it allow you to produce visual slide shows but it helps you with the preparation of Web pages and a great deal more. Presenter is very similar to Microsoft PowerPoint or HyperStudio. If you have experience with these applications, you will see many similarities using Presenter. The presentations you prepare can be projected to a group or can be viewed individually on a computer screen. Both teachers and students can discover new ways to present information from all school subjects. To launch Presenter You should find the shortcut that starts the application under the Start menu in the Programs folder, LMSOFT Presenter 4.0. Select this for a new presentation Select this for an existing presentation CSLP Presenter (PC) Page 6

7 Opening an existing publication You may have many publications saved on your computer. You can open existing publications to modify them when required. On the first screen, when you first start up the program, select Open an existing publication. Navigate to find your publication The following window will appear: All Presenter publications end with the.xsc extension You can select the publication from the list. If you do not see the publication you want to work on, you must navigate through your computer hard drive to find your publication. It would be a good idea to organize your files, so your publications are easily found. Giving publications a specific and descriptive name is another key for quick searches. CSLP Presenter (PC) Page 7

8 Creating a new page To create a new page, first select an object that will link to the new page. The new page selection window will be displayed. Libraries manager Number of pages required Select the background you desire from one of the libraries, select the number of pages you require and click OK. All of the pages will have the same background. For varied background only insert one page at a time. Empty: Creates a blank page where you can build as you wish and opens the Assign a file name to the new page window. The page settings window the opens. CSLP Presenter (PC) Page 8

9 Choosing a template and creating a new slide Creating new pages with the library is quite simple. You have to select the model you want to use, enter the number of pages you require and press OK. Pages will be created in the Page subdirectory of your publication directory. If necessary, a message will ask you to insert the Presenter CD-ROM in your drive, in order to copy the required files to your hard disk. If the page model contains the necessary buttons, the sequence pages will be linked together by the Previous and Next buttons. To avoid having the software prompt you for the CD-ROM, you can custom install Presenter. Just re-install presenter, select custom install, and select all of the options for libraries and templates. For example, this page was chosen from the miscellaneous library. All of the buttons will be automatically added to your presentation along with the background. While working, make a habit of saving frequently. This will prevent the loss of any work in case of a mishap. CSLP Presenter (PC) Page 9

10 Inserting images Press the image icon on the tool box. The Image Settings window will appear. It is from this window you can choose your image and define settings. You can use images from clip art, the Web or even images you scanned yourself. Delete an image Select it using the pointer tool, a grey box should appear around it, then press Delete. Select image from the Presenter library Select image from your personal clip art files Image name For special effects Keeps proportions of image To see a preview of image Advanced options Image preview Define the link that the image will lead to CSLP Presenter (PC) Page 10

11 Inserting text Select the text tool from the tool box. A Text setting window should appear along with a greyed-out text box on your slide. The floating text settings palette contains all the functions for importing, exporting, creating or setting more complex texts. Select the font, style, color, justification, and so on from this window. You can also set a link for the text as well from this window. You can type your text in the grey text box on your slide. Type your text here The text box can be moved and re-sized to the exact location on your slide. You can re-edit existing text by double clicking the text. A text box will open along with the text settings palette. CSLP Presenter (PC) Page 11

12 Copying text or a table Text, tables and graphs from other applications can be imported in Presenter through the clipboard. When you take a text or a table from another application, it is first copied onto the clipboard. You can then paste the clipboard contents on a Presenter page with the tools palette paste tool. A dialog box lets you specify the file format for saving the object: Text The text attributes are not preserved. The text can be modified. Only the raw text is pasted. Page layout is ignored. The text can be edited and reformatted with our Text object. BITMAP image The source file will be saved as a.bmp file. Vector Image Format.WMF An object pasted in Presenter in this format can be resized at will, and the layout of tables will be preserved. It is possible to define transparent areas in this format, by choosing no background in the properties dialog box of the selected object, prior to putting it in the clip-board (Cut and Paste command). Creating links Links make the Web. To connect to different pages within your publication links are needed. Links can also bring the reader to other Web sites, start a program, and other special functions. The more links you have the better. Build clear navigation aids Most user interactions with Web pages involve navigating hypertext links between documents. The main interface problem in Web sites is the lack of a sense of where you are within the local organization of information. Clear, consistent icons, graphic identity schemes, and graphic or text-based overview and summary screen can give the user confidence that they can find what they are looking for without wasting time. (Source: CSLP Presenter (PC) Page 12

13 You will have to know the pages that you want to link to and/or have the exact URL of the Web site you want to link to (including the No dead-end pages Every Web page should contain at least one link. Dead-end pages pages with no links to any other local page in the site are not only a frustration to users, they are often a lost opportunity to bring surfers into other pages in your site. Web pages often appear with no preamble: readers often make or follow links directly to subsection pages buried deep in the hierarchy of Web sites. Thus they may never see your Home page or other introductory information in your site. If your subsection pages do not contain links back up the hierarchy, to the Home page or to local menus pages, the reader is essentially locked out of access to the rest of your Web site. (Source: To create a link you must first select the object that will be used as a link. This can be Text (highlight one word or a sentence), a Graphic, a Photo, a Button. A grey box will indicate that you have selected this item. Select the Link tool from the Tool box palette. The links options window will appear. You must decide what action will occur when the reader chooses your link. Will it... Bring the reader to another page within your publication? Bring the reader to another page in another publication? Link to a Web site (you will need the complete URL)? Send an (it will start the persons program)? Perform a special function? You can also include a sound, if you wish. CSLP Presenter (PC) Page 13

14 Link options Create a new page and link to it Links to an existing page Link to another Website Link will start readers program and attach a name to it Special links listed below Select a sound for the link Print current page: Will print the page. Go to next page of a sequence: Will bring the reader to the next sequenced page. Quit: Will turn off the web Browser with or without Confirmation. Go to Previous page: Will bring reader to the last page viewed. Return to start: Will bring the reader to the index page (page 1). CSLP Presenter (PC) Page 14

15 Publishing on the Internet Once you have finished your Presenter Publication you can export it for Web conversion. Steps involved: 1. Save your publication to update all changes. 2. Convert your publication into DHTML. This process is automated, but you will need to create a folder in which Presenter will place all of the converted files. (Refer to page 1 regarding this step). Select File, Distribute Publication, Distribute Publication in DHTML for Web Browser. 3. Upload your Web folder and all its contents to a Web Server using FTP. 4. Verify your pages using a Web browser. 5. Modifications must be made in the original publication and re-saved. Go back to step 1 and repeat all the steps for all modifications to occur. When viewing Web pages in a browser, it may be necessary to press refresh in order to download the latest version from the server. Most browsers keep pages in memory for quick access. Refresh guarantees you will see the latest version of a page. Conversion: Presenter optimizes multimedia objects for faster download on Internet. Video/Animation: Presenter converts file to QuickTime when possible. Image: Image files not in.gif or.jpg format will be converted into JPED by Presenter if the original file or files have not been altered. Button: Button files not in the.gif or.jpg format will be converted into JPEG by Presenter, if the original file or files have not been altered. Label and mask buttons are not available for the Internet. Page: Presenter converts the files with the extension.pag to the extension.html keeping the page file names the same or similar to the original. Example filename.pag to file namepag.html. CSLP Presenter (PC) Page 15

16 Functions not available in DHTML Presenter publication Video/Animation Animated images are not available. Links assigned to an animation are only available after one iteration. The video delay function is not available. All videos will start immediately. Sound A link assigned to a sound is only available after one iteration. Text Align Right function is not available. Only standards browser fonts are available such as Courier, Arial, Page A link assigned to a page is not available with a Netscape browser. Page sizes smaller than the publication size are not available in any browser. Appearance effects Some appearance effects can be used in the DHTML format. Browser compatibility for each appearance effect is indicated in the selection window. IE means the effect is available with the Internet Explorer. Browser. NS means the effect is available with the Netscape browser. Converting your publication into DHTML 1. Create a folder on your desktop where Presenter will store all of the converted files. For example name it Class2b_Web pages. 2. From the Tool Box palette select File, Distribute Publication, Distribute Publication in DHTML for Web Browser. 3. Presenter Distribution Wizard is a series of six windows that will appear prompting you for information. Once you have answered all the questions, your publication will have been converted to DHTML. The name of this folder cannot have any spaces or unusual characters. Use letter and numbers only. The underscore and the CSLP Presenter (PC) Page 16

17 4. To create an Access path, specify the location of the folder you want Presenter to place the converted files. As suggested earlier, create this folder on the desktop for easy finding. It can be moved later. Use the browse button to navigate to the location of your folder. 5. To name of the first page, enter the name of the first page. You must always name the first page of a Web site index.html. This is a convention that makes it possible for browsers to find the home page of any Web site. If your publication is part of a group of publications and will not be at the root directory of the Web server, then you can assign any name to the page. CSLP Presenter (PC) Page 17

18 6. The Position and Dimension window prompts you for the manner in which you would like your Web pages to be displayed in a Web browser. I suggest you experiment with these two choices and see what effect each brings. The final Web version will depend on the type of publication you created in the beginning. You can leave it at 100% to start. 7. To do a final check before conversion begins, go back and make changes if you wish before conversion occurs. CSLP Presenter (PC) Page 18

19 8. The Publishing publication window will appear and start the conversion process. You can keep track of the conversion by looking at the percentage complete. If all goes well, you should receive the The processing has been successful message. 9. Click Finish to end the conversion. 10. A final message log will appear. You can discard this message by closing the window. Error messages will be displayed here as well. CSLP Presenter (PC) Page 19

20 11. Go back to the desktop and look into your Class5b_Webpages folder. It should now be filled with several folders and files. These are the files that will be placed on the server for Web publishing. When uploading to the server, make sure you include all the files. This can be guaranteed by uploading the complete folder each time. Any missing files would result in errors in the Web page. If you have any changes to make to your pages, you must go back to the Presenter publication. Make the necessary changes, reconvert the files to HTML, and upload them again to the server. CSLP Presenter (PC) Page 20

21 Uploading to a server FTP File Transfer Protocol A popular way to transfer files between computers on the Internet. Universities, government agencies, and companies around the world have FTP sites offering files that you can look through and copy to your computer using the file transfer protocol. You can use many different software FTP applications to upload your.html files to a Web server. This will enable millions of readers to view your web site. In this instance, we are going to use a freeware program named Leech FTP, which you can download for free on any computer. A popular site from which to get such free application programs is CNET.COM. All you have to do is type in Leech FTP in the search engine, and it will bring you to the download page. Follow the instructions and in a few minutes you will have your own copy of Leech FTP to use. What you will need The Host server URL Username Password Directory CSLP Presenter (PC) Page 21

22 Leech FTP user interface 1 2 The log window contains all messages that are sent and received by the program. All files in the LOCAL directory are listed in this window. The current directory name is printed in the status bar. Once you are connected, you can upload files and directories (complete folders) to the remote server by dragging the selected files to the right Local directories and files Remote SERVER directory and files 3 4 The remote window displays all files and directories on the ftp server. Download files and directories by dragging the selected files to the local directory window. Note that all the selected files will be placed in the current local directory; you can change the local directory after all the files are queued. This window allows you to switch between the Job Queue, Thread Queue, Downloads listing, and Failures listing. CSLP Presenter (PC) Page 22

23 The Job Queue lists all pending jobs, you can delete jobs or submit jobs manually. The Thread Queue shows all thread activity; right click in the thread panel to access a popup menu. The Download section shows all successfully downloaded files. ZIP and RAR archives are checked for common errors, and archive contents can be viewed if this option is enabled. The Failure list shows all failed transfers; they can be resubmitted to the job queue. Connecting There are several ways to connect to a server. You can use the Connect Dialog available from the main menu and button bar. This gives you access to all ftp settings like username, port, etc. Or you can use the Quick/URL Connect, which is much faster. Edit Fields Host or URL : Enter a hostname, IP number, or URL. Hit Tab to parse the URL. Port : This specifies the port of the remote server. 21 is the default ftp port. Username & Password : These values will be used to login to the ftp server. Remote Directory : Initial starting directory on the ftp server. CSLP Presenter (PC) Page 23

24 Uploading To upload files to the remote server... Drag the selected file to the remote window or use the button or menu to do the some. Note that the files are not transferred immediately: They are submitted as jobs into the job queue. Once there are free resources (threads), the files will be uploaded. Uploading directories is done the same way, but the processing is different: A single thread starts recursively exploring the local directory and creates the directory structure in the ftp server. Additionally, it adds all files in the local directory to the queue for upload. Upload will fail if you do not have uploading permission on the server. If a transfer fails, you can find more information in the log files. Leech FTP tries to resume broken uploads if the local file is not newer than the remote file. Local Files Remote Files We are about to upload this class directory to the remote server CSLP Presenter (PC) Page 24

25 To do resume a broken upload, just drag the folder to the right side, to the remote server window. Press refresh and you should see the new uploaded directory with all its files on the remote server. New folder created on the remote site Local Files Remote Files Make sure you copy the folder to the proper location on the remote server. You should only copy your own folder. By copying in the wrong folder, you may delete someone else s work. When you are finished uploading your folder, return to the Internet and verify that the new pages are working properly. You may need to press refresh to upload the newly edited version from the server. Help Consult the Leech FPT help for more information on advanced features. CSLP Presenter (PC) Page 25

26 Downloading To download files from the remote server... Drag the selected file to the local directory window or use the button or menu to do the same. Note that the files are not transferred immediately: They are submitted as jobs into the job queue. Once there are free resources (threads), the files will be downloaded. Download directories is done the same way, but the processing is different: A single thread starts recursively exploring the specified directory and creates the directory structure in the local directory. Additionally, it adds all found files to the queue for download. Download will fail if you are not allowed to access the files. See the log files for detailed errors. Leech FTP tries to resume downloads... If the server supports the Rest command. If the file exists in the local directory. Leech FTP detects when the contents of the remote file differs from the local file. In this case the file will be overwritten. This should make it more secure to resume files from different servers. CSLP Presenter (PC) Page 26