Indiana University: IT Training Tips Blog

You might have noticed while idly clicking around that in some applications, clicks and double-clicks have different functionality.  In almost every application that involves text, clicking once will place a cursor, and clicking twice will select the work that you clicked on.  This can help to quickly select some text without having to press and drag.  But have you ever tried clicking more than twice?  Thrice?  Four times?  The fabled quintuple-click?

Let's see how InDesign handles this.

Open up an InDesign document with some text.  If you don't have a document handy, then simply create one and place a text-heavy Word document, or even a web page. (From the menu bar File->Place, and then locate a file to place.  Double-click the file, and then click on the page to place).

Now, select the Type tool from the toolbox, and test out the following.

• One click places a cursor in the text
• Two clicks in quick succession(double-click) will select a single word
• Three clicks in quick succession(triple-click) will select a single sentence
• Four clicks in quick succession(quadruple-click) will select an entire paragraph
• Five clicks in quick succession(quintuple-click) will select all the text in the frame (the same effect as going to the menu and selecting Edit->Select All)

InDesign is far ahead in the multiple-click arms race.  Most applications will support up to three clicks, (Word, Dreamweaver, most web browsers), and three clicks in these applications will commonly select an entire paragraph.

The Opera web browser is somewhat of an oddball as it will support four clicks, in the same way that InDesign handles four clicks.

Experiment with some of your other favorite applications, and see how much time you can save with extra clicks versus pressing and dragging.

It seems like every device these days includes a video camera.  Cell phones, music players, laptops and more all include easy to use video cameras.  Along with this, consumer level cameras are becoming cheaper and more powerful all the time.  But what to do with all of that video?  Well IT Training is here to help.  Starting next week, we'll begin teaching on video topics with the following workshops on 11/4 and 11/5:

Video Basics - An Overview of Tools and Resources - In this workshop, Donna Jones will discuss the basics of video, starting with a discussion of cameras, and what features to look for, and then using Windows Movie Maker to edit a short video.  While working on editing the video, the process of shooting a movie will be discussed, including setting up lighting, getting good quality audio, and setting up good shots.  Donna will also discuss some simple ways to make your production look more professional.

After Effects: Text Animation and Video Basics - Adobe After Effects is an animation program focused on video production which allows you to combine video and animations into a single project and then export it into many common video formats. In this workshop, Andy Hunsucker will guide you through the creation of a short movie trailer that combines text animation, video, and background music, along with some animations created entirely within After Effects.  Participants will get a chance to spend time working in the interface, and learn the basics of the animation system and the effects system.

See the workshop descriptions to sign up.  If you can't make it next week, we're doing a rerun on 11/17 and 11/18.  And don't forget about the same workshops being held at IUPUI.

On October 29th, IT Training & Education and Adobe will be offering three special Acrobat hands-on workshops taught by Steve Adler, an Acrobat Field Specialist from Adobe. These special workshops are being offered at no cost to IU students, faculty and staff, and are intended to complement our regular Acrobat workshop offerings and take you deeper into key features.

This is a rare opportunity to get in-depth hands-on Acrobat training direct from the source, on topics that aren't normally covered in our IT Training & Education workshops. The workshops (with brief description and schedule information) are:

Enhanced ePortfolios Using Adobe Acrobat 9 - October 29th, 9-11am in Wells Library, rm. W302

Teaches how to organize and gather information from a variety of sources, collaborate and share documents in real-time, and collect and manage feedback in a single PDF document. Also shows how to include video, audio, interactivity and assessment in a single PDF wrapper.

Creating and Distributing Forms with Adobe Acrobat 9 - October 29th, 12:30-2:30pm in Kelly School of Business, rm. CG0030

Teaches how to use Acrobat 9 (and the included Adobe LiveCycle Designer) to convert existing forms into intelligent, interactive documents that reduce re-keying and errors; also shows how Acrobat's workflows can improve distribution, data collection, and analysis.

Achieving Efficiencies in collaboration and instruction with Acrobat 9 - October 29th, 3-5pm in Kelly School of Business, rm. CG0030

Participants will learn how to use Acrobat as a collaboration tool. Acrobat allows users to both view a document remotely and comment on it at the same time. This workshop will focus on how to these features can be used by faculty and students in the classroom.

You can find full descriptions and register for each workshop by clicking the title of the workshop above, or you can visit http://ittraining.iu.edu/Acrobat to see all IT Training STEPS workshops in Acrobat and register for the ones of your choice. Please contact us with any questions, and we hope to see you there.

I was teaching an Illustrator class recently, and talking briefly about the Pathfinder panel:

I realized as I was discussing it, that many of these options are not as straightforward as the end-user might like. I promised the class I would go into more depth on our blog.

So in the following video, I will explore the Pathfinder panel, and demonstrate each of the buttons, so that we can see exactly what they all can accomplish.  Hopefully this will spark your creativity, and give you a better idea of the power of these simple buttons.

Illustrator: Exploring the Pathfinder Panel

NOTE: This event has ended.

IT Training & Education is at TechFest '09 all day today in the Wells Library Lobby.

Come check out our table and all the interesting displays in the lobby.

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Note: Windows 7 has been released to IU students faculty and staff earlier than anticipated.  This article has been updated to reflect the new information.

Windows 7 is now available to IU students, faculty and staff, so it's a good time to think about whether or not you will want to upgrade, and start taking steps to prepare for the upgrade.

In this post, we'll examine some resources you can use to help make your decision, and try to answer some common questions that might arise.

How to get Windows 7

At IU, you can go to any IU Bookstore to purchase the Ultimate edition for $20.  As of now, only the Ultimate edition will be available, but both 32-bit and 64-bit versions will be available.

32-bit or 64-bit?

The difference between the 32-bit and 64-bit versions will not be apparent just by using the operating system.  From the end-users perspective, they are identical.  However, the 64-bit version of the OS allows Windows to use greater amounts of memory.  A 64-bit operating system requires a 64-bit compatible processor.  If your computer was built in the last 3 years, it is likely capable of using a 64-bit operating system, but check with your computers manufacturer to be certain.

32-bit operating systems have been the default version for a long time, and if you purchased a computer more than a year ago, it likely had a 32-bit OS installed.  The monikers '32-bit' and '64-bit' refers to the size of the numbers your computer can keep track of.  For lack of a better analogy, it determines how high your computer can count.  With 32-bit addressing, the computer can count as high as 232. For a long time, this was sufficient for computers.  However, as memory requirements get larger, computers have run into a limit.  Your 32-bit computer can only keep track of about 4GB worth of memory, and because of other limitations, even if you have 4GB of RAM in your 32-bit machine, it is probably only utilizing about 3.5 GB.

Should I move to 64-bit?

If you plan on adding 4GB of RAM to your system, then moving to a 64-bit OS would be a good idea.  However, you cannot simply upgrade your OS from 32-bit to 64-bit.  You must do a completely clean installation, which requires some planning and forethought, not to mention time.

Computers that can have more than 4GB of RAM installed in the system are just starting to become common, so if your computer is more than a year old, it is likely it is not possible to install more than 4GB of RAM because of various technical limitations.  Still, you will likely see a performance boost by moving from a 32-bit to a 64-bit operating system.

Be aware that you will need new drivers for your hardware that are specifically written for a 64-bit operating system, but these are fairly common, and shouldn't be hard to find.  You might also notice that some software manufacturers release '64-bit' versions of their applications.  Most of the time, you can still use the 32-bit version, as the OS will be backwards compatible, but after moving to 64-bit, you should choose the 64-bit version of software when applicable.

The bottom line: If you are upgrading and doing a clean install anyway, there's no compelling reason not to move to 64-bit if your hardware can handle it.  However, moving to 64-bit should probably not be your only reason for upgrading.

For more information on 32-bit vs. 64-bit, including ways to tell if your machine can run a 64-bit OS, see this help article from Microsoft.

Preparing for Windows 7

Now that we understand how to get the software, and which version to get, let's talk about preparing your system for Windows 7.

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At IT Training & Education, we have a workshop called Acrobat 9: Forms, which teaches you the basics of creating Acrobat forms, along with how to distribute them, and collect data, along with several ways to store that data once collected.  It covers all the major aspects of creating forms in Acrobat 9 Pro.

However, there is a lesser known program called LiveCycle Designer, which is installed with Acrobat Pro, which can also create forms.  These forms can be created from a template, or a spreadsheet, and it can even start with a blank document. It can also create forms that can be connected to a database, and can create more complex calculated fields using FormCalc or JavaScript (JavaScript can also be used in Acrobat 9).  LiveCycle Designer is a much more complex program, and unfortunately we don't have time in Acrobat 9: Forms to cover it.

Now that IU students, faculty and staff can access lynda.com, you can now learn how to use this program, and create forms in a different way which might work better for your situation.  One of the main benefits of LiveCycle Designer is that it can give you a better starting point, since LiveCycle forms do not need a pre-existing file to work from, unlike Acrobat 9 Pro.
In Acrobat 9 Pro: Creating Forms from lynda.com (make sure you're logged in through IT Training & Education's lynda.com portal to access the workshop), Brian Wood covers the creation of Forms in both Acrobat Pro and LiveCycle Designer.

However, if you've already taken Acrobat 9: Forms from IT Training & Education, you can skip sections 1, 2 and 3 of the lynda.com video series, giving you a head start on getting through the rest of the videos, and saving approximately the same amount of time you would have spent in the IT Training & Education workshop.  Understanding form creation can probably save you time learning LiveCycle Designer as well.
Suggested IT Training & Education Prerequisites:

• Acrobat 9: Forms - Optional prerequisite. Covers the first 3 sections of Acrobat 9 Pro: Creating Forms on lynda.com, including Form creation and distribution.

NOTE: This article was originally posted as an appendix and supplemental material to Photoshop: In-Depth Healing Tools in conjunction with Carol Rhodes.

With digital camera photographs, there is very little preparation involved to work with them in an application like Photoshop. Many times, it is as simple as plugging a cable into the camera and then into your computer. The rest of the process is frequently accomplished automatically, or with very little direction.

However older photographs must be scanned in for the computer to be able to use them.  You might think, "I'll never need to work with old photographs, I have my digital camera."  But considering photography has been around for more than a century, and digital photography has only been the standard for a decade or so, there are millions of printed photographs still around that are deteriorating everyday.  If you want these photographs to last into the next generation, you need to preserve them digitally.

The problem with print photography is that it was growing and changing constantly throughout it's lifetime.  Many of the developing techniques used by early consumer cameras are unstable, and the chemicals used can breakdown over time.  Look at any old photograph.  The 'sepia tone' effect that we associate with older photographs is actually the deterioration of the chemicals used to develop the photograph.  Left unchecked, eventually the image will be unrecognizable.

Considering that many print photographs are stored in shoe boxes in closets and under beds, it's even more important to preserve the images we want to last forever.

In this article, we will examine scanners, including what types are available to consumers, and what features to look for.  Finally, we will discuss the best practice to follow to ensure you get a good scan.

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At IT Training & Education, we're always looking for ways to improve our STEPS curriculum.  Occasionally, even when we find a great topic to cover, we find that for whatever reason, either time or technical, we simply can't cover it in our workshops.  But now, IU students, faculty and staff have access to a wealth of lynda.com content for the fall semester, and lynda.com can cover some of these more specialized topics.

In this series of articles, we will explore some of these topics and point users to specific lynda.com courses that can enhance your skills after working through IT Training & Education workshops.

The first lynda.com workshop we will examine is Photoshop CS4 for Photographers (make sure you're logged into lynda.com through IT Training & Education to gain access).

In this workshop, professional photographer Chris Orwig takes us through Photoshop with the eye of a photographer. While many topics such as Curves, Levels, Layers and Masks will be familiar to participants who have taken Photoshop CS4: Retouching and Color Correction, Chris Orwig also covers things like monitor calibration, Camera RAW and printing images, which are all essential topics to a professional or aspiring professional photographer.

While the standard STEPS workshop is 3 hours in length, this lynda.com course includes almost 15 hours of content, covering many topics in greater depth than we have time for at IT Training & Education.

And the best part?  You can still ask questions relating to the topics covered of your IT Training & Education subject matter experts.  So you get the best of both worlds. In-depth training, taken at your own pace, along with an expert (or in this case, experts ) to answer your specific questions.

Photoshop CS4 for Photographers is not for beginners however, here are some IT Training & Education STEPS workshops you might want to take a look at before diving in:

IT Training & Education Recommended Prerequisites(or suggested skills):

• Photoshop CS4: The Basics - Basic interface and concepts
• Photoshop CS4: Restoring & Blending Images - Blending modes, Masks, and sharpening
• Photoshop CS4: Retouching & Color Correction - Curves, Levels, Layers and Channels

Exciting news from UITS IT Training & Education and Indiana University.  For the fall semester, IU students faculty and staff can access the in-depth training resources of lynda.com for free!

Lynda.com provides video courses on a vast array of software and subjects including Adobe and Microsoft applications, programming languages, 3D animation programs, web-based and multimedia technologies. These courses typically contain several hours of short videos covering both the basic and in-depth features of a program or technology. Another great aspect of these courses is that lynda.com stores older versions of their classes.  So if you still want to learn about Photoshop CS2, lynda.com has you covered.

But what if you like the STEPS workshops that IT Training & Education already offers?  Don't worry, those aren't going anywhere.  This announcement is all about Empowering People so you can choose the training method that best suits you. You can use them both to expand your skills -- whatever best fits your needs.

This program is only in effect for the Fall semester but IT Training will look to continue this program if there is a lot of interest. So take advantage now and check out all the training lynda.com has to offer. To find out more or to access lynda courses, go to:

http://ittraining.iu.edu/lynda