UConn JSTBC

demo

uconnjstbc — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 15:51:24 +0000

Literary Tattoos 2010 on PhotoPeachhttp://photopeach.com/public/swf/story.swf

Topic: Photoshop CS3

uconnjstbc — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:53:39 +0000

What we covered:

1. Creating banners for Custom Header themes in WordPress blogs (including layers)
2. Using Filter effects on an image.
3. How to use the blur tool to erase “imperfections.”
4. How to use the magic wand tool to select a specific part of an image (and then change the color, or copy & paste it onto another image).

Attended: Jennifer Lewis, Jessica Pessoa, Stephen Hamel, Kira O’Grady

Topic: Blogging with WordPress

uconnjstbc — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:22:24 +0000

Some issues related to using WordPress in the labs:

1. Make sure you use Safari when uploading pictures, posts, etc.
2. Write down your username and password and keep it in a safe place!
3. To capture a screen shot on a Mac, hold down the Command/Apple key, the Control key, the Shift key, and the number 4 key. Drag your cursor across the part of the screen you want to capture. Launch Photoshop (go to File > New) and it will automatically have these dimensions.
4. When uploading YouTube videos, it’s recommended to select “From URL” (copy & paste URL provided to you by YouTube) instead of copying and pasting the HTML embed code. The embed code didn’t seem to register with WordPress when we tried it.

Attended: Thomas Michael, Jasmine Silvestre, Rachel Wainacht, Michael Brown

Schedule for Spring 2010

uconnjstbc — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:20:23 +0000

Please note that sessions are held Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 10 a.m. to noon in Arjona 433. You only have to attend one session per week to get a certificate of participation, signed by the Instructional Developer and Department Head.

o Week 1 (Jan. 25-29): Blogging (WordPress, Blogger)

o Week 2 (Feb. 1-5): Photoshop CS3 – photo editing

o Week 3 (Feb. 8-12): iMovie – video editing

o Week 4 (Feb. 15-29): Audacity – audio editing

o Week 5 (Feb. 22-26): Final Cut Express – video editing

o Week 6 (March 1-5): Microsoft Excel – database management

o Week 7 (March 15-19): Dreamweaver CS3 – intro to web design

o Week 8 (March 22-26): InDesign CS3 – online page layout

o Week 9 (March 29-April 2): Slideshow Creators

o Week 10 (April 5-9): Flash CS3 – basic animation

o Week 11 (April 12-16): Dreamweaver CS3 – advanced web design

o Week 12 (April 19-23): Photoshop CS3 – photo editing

Questions? Email maeve.ryan@uconn.edu

Schedule for Fall 2009 JSTBC

uconnjstbc — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:08:04 +0000

Week 1 (September 9, 11):

Mac 10.5 Leopard Shortcuts & Tips

Attended: Jeremy Katz

Week 2 (September 14, 16, 18):

Web Navigation & Using Firefox

Attended: Jeremy Katz, Chase Carnot, Tom Crosby, Brett Gorman, Mike Tidmarsh, Evan Pajer, Allison Lex, John Kennedy, Ronald Quiroga, Caitlin Emma, Perry Robbin, Kate Monohan, John Garrigan

Week 3 (September 21, 23, 25):

Photoshop CS3 – photo editing

Attended: Jeremy Katz, Robert Quinn, Lindsey Cunningham, Jordan Acker, Hugh McQuaid, Kelly Sullivan, John Kennedy, Nicole Guzzardi, Rafal Wilson, Amy McDavitt, Farrah Duffany, Beren Jones, Melanie Deziel, Stephanie Ratty, Gwendolyn Craig, Pinky Gaba, Chelsea Krisanda, Caitlin Kelly, Gregory Hebert, Ronald Quiroga

Week 4 (September 28, 30 & October 2):

Microsoft Excel – database management

Attended: Chase Carnot, Brett Gorman, Michael Tidmarsh, Jeremy Katz, Allison Lex, John Kennedy, Caitlin Kelly, Kate Monohan, Perry Robbin, John Garrigan, Caitlin Emma, Eli Pearlstein, Tom Crosby

Week 5 (October 12, 14, 16):

Audacity/iMovie – audio & video editing

Attended: Lindsey Cunningham, Robert Quinn, Gregory Hebert, Melanie Deziel, William Smith, Kelly Sullivan, Chelsea Krisanda

Week 6 (October 19, 21, 23):

Final Cut Express – video editing

Attended: Lindsey Cunningham, Robert Quinn, Jeremy Katz, Amy McDavitt, Gregory Hebert, Alexander Villegas, Ronald Quiroga

Week 7 (October 26, 28, 30):

Microsoft Access – database management

Session canceled.

Week 8 (November 2, 4, 6):

Flash CS3 – basic animation & creating slideshows

Attended: Leah Salomoni

Week 9 (November 9, 11, 13):

Dreamweaver CS3 – beginner & intermediate levels

Attended: Lindsey Cunningham

Week 10 (November 16, 18, 20):

InDesign CS3 – online newspaper page layout

Week 11 (November 30 & December 2, 4):

Dreamweaver CS3 – advanced/CSS

To attend a session, you must fill out a JSTBC form (available in Arjona 426). Each topic is offered 3x per week (M/W/F) from 2-4PM in Arjona 433.

Intro to Blogging

uconnjstbc — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 20:21:42 +0000

I. GETTING STARTED:

1. Go to: https://www.blogger.com/start.
2. Click on the orange arrow that says “Create your blog now”.
3. Follow the prompts to set up your account and click “Continue”.
4. On the next page, give your blog a title and select a URL for your blog (something that will be relevant to class and easy to remember!).
5. Next, choose one of the 12 templates available to you through Blogger. (Note: you can always modify these later on with your own images.) Click “Continue”.
6. You should now see a screen that says: “Your blog has been created!” Click on the orange arrow that says: “Start posting”.

II. POSTING TO YOUR BLOG:

1. Once you’ve set up your blog, you can begin posting. After following the instructions above, you will see a screen showing a blank text box. (Make sure you’re in the Compose tab, not the HTML tab.) If you’re not sure about which tab you’re in, look towards the top right corner of the screen.
2. Now give your blog entry a title.
3. Next type something in the text field. Then click on the orange “Publish post” button. Don’t worry if you see a mistake; you can go back and edit your post at any time.
4. To format the text, use the tool bar at the top. Change the font type and style to your liking. You can also try using the bullet/numbering feature for making lists.
5. Check your spelling by clicking on the “ABC √” icon at the top of the text box.
6. To preview your page, click on the Preview link to the right of the page.
7. If you’ve already clicked “Publish post”, click on “View Blog” to see your page.

III. EDITING THE MAIN PAGE:

1. To customize your blog page, click on “Customize” at the top right corner of your screen.
2. Next click on “Edit” in the Header area. You can give your blog a description or change the display name that people see when they visit your blog.
3. You may also want to edit the section called “About Me” to the left of the screen.
4. If you want to add different features to your blog page, click on “Add a Page Element” and choose from the various options available to you (videos, newsreels, etc.).
5. On this screen, you can also change your template by clicking on “Pick New Template” at the top.
6. Clicking on “Fonts and Colors” at the top of the screen will allow you to customize the template even further.

IV. UPLOADING AN IMAGE:

1. To import an image into one of your posts, go to Dashboard > “+ New Post”. When the new post box appears, click on the image icon on the tool bar (if you’re not sure which one this is, drag your cursor over the icons to see their display names).
2. At the next prompt, browse for your .jpg image. Choose a layout and Image Size and then click the orange “Upload image” button.
3. Blogger will tell you it’s loading the image. Once it’s finished, you see it appear right in the text box.

V. UPLOADING A VIDEO CLIP:

1. To upload a video clip, click on the video icon (it looks like a film strip).
2. At the next prompt, Browse for your video file on your desktop or folder. Note that videos must be in the following formats: AVI, MPEG, or Real.
3. Give your video a title, check the box that says you agree to the Terms & Conditions of video material, and then click on the orange “Upload Video” button.
4. Note: an easy way to import YouTube videos into your blog is to copy and paste the “embed” link (located to the right of every YouTube video) into the “Edit HTML” view of your post.

VI. HYPERLINKING ONLINE MATERIAL TO YOUR BLOG:

1. To hyperlink a website to your blog, highlight the text you want to become “active”, then click on the globe/paperclip icon on the tool bar.
2. At the next prompt, copy the URL of the website you want to hyperlink and click OK.
3. You should now see your text highlighted and underlined. Next click on “Publish Post” button to test it out.
4. *NOTE: You can always delete a post by going to the Posting tab, then clicking on the “Edit posts” tab. Here you will see a list of all of your posts. To delete one, check the box to the left of the post’s title and then click on the blue “Delete” to the far right.

Intro to PowerPoint

uconnjstbc — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 19:27:42 +0000

*Note: Some of the instructions below may vary, depending on what version of PowerPoint you are using. This tutorial is based on Microsoft Office 2004.

• Launch PowerPoint and in the “Project Gallery” prompt, select “Presentation” (it should already be highlighted by default). Click OK.

• Next, you should see the “New Slide” prompt. Decide what kind of presentation you’ll be giving and choose from the many options. (If you do not see this prompt, go to Format > Slide Layout.)

• To create a presentation that will have media embedded, scroll down to the bottom and choose “Text & Media Clip”. Click OK.

• You will now see your first presentation slide appear on your screen. You can begin typing at any time in the spaces that say “Click to add title” and “Click to add text”.

TO ADD AND MANAGE SLIDES:

• Go to Insert > New Slide. Choose the type of slide from the “New Slide” prompt and click OK.

• You should see the number of slides you’ve accumulated to the left of your main screen. Click on these numbered slide icons to go back and forth between slides.

TO CHANGE THE BACKGROUND OF THE SLIDES:

• If you just want to change the color of the slides, go to Format > Slide Background and select a color from the “Background Fill” dropdown menu.

• If you want to create a background design for your slides, you can choose from the ones already available to you in PowerPoint. Go to Format > Slide Design…

• When the prompt comes up, select a Design (you can see previews of what each one looks like as you click on that selection). When you have selected the one you want, click Apply.

TO ADD AND ADJUST IMAGES:

• Go to Insert Image > Picture. You can either use a picture from Clip Art (provided to you in PowerPoint) or one of your own images.

• Once you click on your image, you should see it appear on your slide. You can move it anywhere you want on the screen by placing your cursor over it.

• If you have to adjust the size of it, place your cursor over one of the image’s four corners to minimize or maximize the size.

TO ADD A VIDEO CLIP (ACCEPTABLE FORMATS):

• To add a video clip, click on your screen where it says “Double click to add media clip”. You should now see a prompt asking you to select your media clip from your computer. (If you’re not working from a slide that accommodates a media clip, you can change the type of slide by going to: Format > Slide Layout. Click Reapply to change slides.)

• Keep in mind that your video must be in one of the following formats to be compatible with PowerPoint:

• QuickTime (QT, MOV)
• QuickTime VR (QTVR)
• MPEG (MPG)
• Video for Windows (AVI)

NOTE: If you are planning to show your presentation on a computer other than the one on which the presentation was created, don’t forget to copy the movie file over to the new computer! You can also save the presentation as a “PowerPoint Package” which automatically links all multimedia data to your presentation.

TO HYPERLINK TO A WEB PAGE:

• Go to: Insert > Hyperlink. Copy the url (ex: www.cnn.com) into the space next to “Link to”. You can then name the link anything you want (ex: “News”) in the space next to “Display”.

TO VIEW & MANAGE SLIDE SHOW PRESENTATION:

• Go to View > Slide Show. Use the forward and back keys on your keyboard to move in between slides.

TO DOWNLOAD/EMBED A YOUTUBE VIDEO CLIP:

• To embed a YouTube video into PowerPoint, you must first download it to your computer. To do this, you will need to download the freeware TubeTV, found here: http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/video/tubetv.html

• Once you’ve installed TubeTV on your computer, simply launch the program and copy a url from YouTube into the TubeTV browser window.

• Next, click on the hand icon (“Grab URL from Firefox”) to the right of the TubeTV browser window and then the down arrow icon (“Download”).

• You will now see a pop-up that shows your YouTube movie being downloaded. If you can’t find the downloaded video on your Desktop after it’s done downloading, check your Downloads folder (on the hard drive).

• TubeTV will download the video as an .mp4. In order to embed it into PowerPoint, simply change the extension from .mp4 to .mpeg.

• Now, back in your PPT presentation, go to Insert > Movies and Sounds > Movie from File and find the movie file you just saved as a .mpeg. You should now see your video appear embedded in your presentation!

Intro to Excel

uconnjstbc — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 19:18:50 +0000

*Note: Some of the instructions below may vary, depending on what version of PowerPoint you are using. This tutorial is based on Microsoft Office 2004.

• Launch Excel, make sure “Excel Workbook” is highlighted and click Open.

ENTERING DATA:

• To enter data in an Excel spreadsheet, highlight a cell with your cursor and simply start typing.

CREATING FORMULAS:

• To create a formula (for example, add up a series of numbers), go to the Formula Bar. If you don’t see it at the top of your spreadsheet, go to View > Formula Bar.

• Highlight an empty cell located below the series of numbers you want to total and then click on the calculator icon found in the Formula Bar. A calculator prompt will pop up.

• To total the numeric values in a column, simply click on “Sum” and then highlight the cells on your Excel spreadsheet you want to total. You should see something like: =SUM(C1:C12) in the Formula bar.

SORTING DATA:

• To sort data (for example, put names in alphabetical order), highlight the column you want to sort and go to Data > Sort. The “Sort” pop-up will then prompt you to select Ascending or Descending. Select Ascending if you want to sort names A > Z or numbers from lowest to highest. Or select Descending if you want to sort names Z > A or numbers from highest to lowest.

CUSTOMIZING ROWS/COLUMNS:

• Three features in Excel that I use often are Alignment, Text Wrap, and Colors.

a. Alignment: To change the direction of your text from horizontal to vertical, highlight the cells with your cursor and go to Format > Cells. At the top of the “Format Cells” pop up, select the “Alignment” button. Next place your cursor on the red diamond in the “Orientation” box (see below) and move it from 0 degrees to 90 degrees. Click OK. Your text will now be displayed vertically instead of horizontally.

b. Text Wrap: If you have a lot of text in one of the cells and would like to format it so that the text wraps within the column’s width, go to Format > Cells (select “Alignment”) and check the box that says “Text Wrap” under Text Control. Click OK.

c. Colors/Borders: To add color to your spreadsheet, highlight a few cells and go to Format > Cells. Select the “Patterns” button at the top of the pop-up and choose a color. Click OK. You can also add borders to your cells by selecting the “Border” button from the top bar.

DELETING ROWS/COLUMNS:

• To delete and entire row or column, click on the number to the far left of the row or the letter at the very top of the column and go to Edit > Delete.

ADDING A HEADER/FOOTER:

• To add a header or footer to your spreadsheet, go to File > Page Setup. Click on the Header/Footer button at the top of the pop-up and then “Customize Header” or “Customize Footer”.

PRINTING YOUR SPREADSHEET:

• Because Excel spreadsheets tend to have so much information, it’s often hard to fit all the data onto one page. Before you start printing, notice the icons at the bottom left of your spreadsheet. Hover your cursor over the icons and click on the middle one (the “Page Layout View”). This will allow you to see what will be printed on each page.

• To adjust what gets printed on each page, select the next icon over to the right (the “Page Break Preview”). It will then prompt you to move the vertical and horizontal blue lines to determine where the page breaks should occur.

• To increase or decrease the size of your spreadsheet, go to File > Page Setup and adjust the percentage under Scaling.

InDesign CS3 – Certificate Recipients

uconnjstbc — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 19:56:38 +0000

Friday, April 3rd
Samantha Henry
Kate Monohan

Monday, April 6th
Jason Bagley
Brendan Cox
Heather Murdock
Ellis Santandrea

Intro to InDesign CS3

uconnjstbc — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:29:08 +0000

I. GETTING STARTED:

o To create a new document, go to File > New > Document ( + N).
o Under New Document settings, adjust Number of Pages to “2”, Page Size to “tabloid”, and Columns to “6”. Click OK. (Be sure to consult your professor for specific newspaper layout settings.)

II. TOOLS & FEATURES:

o    Selection Tool vs. Direct Selection Tool – The black arrow tool allows you to select entire objects while the white arrow tool allows you to select certain points within a frame.
o    Text Tool – Drag it over the page to create a text box.
o    Rectangle Frame Tool – Use this tool to create the layout for where your stories/images will go on the page. (Click on Option & cursor to access Ellipse Frame Tool and Polygon Frame Tool)
o    Zoom Tool – Drag it over a portion of the screen to zoom in.
o    Hand Tool – Clicking it twice returns to normal view of full page.
o    Window > Control – makes all tools appear at the top of your page.

III. IMPORTING A STORY:

o Go to File > Place (shortcut =  + D). Find the file you’re looking for and click Open.
o You should now see the “ghost” of the text or image floating on your cursor. Click and drag the text or image to where you want it to go on the page.

SHORTCUT: The quickest way to load an InDesign page with content is to put all files in one folder on your desktop. When you’re ready to start placing, go to: File > Place. Locate your folder and holding down Shift, highlight all of the files you will be placing. Click Open. You should now see the first of your files “floating” on your cursor. Once you place one item, InDesign loads the next file on your cursor so that you can continue loading. After you’re done, you can go back and format the images and text files to the content boxes.

IV. CHANGING NUMBER OF COLUMNS:

o To change the number of columns on your InDesign page, go to Layout > Margins & Columns.
o To change the number of columns in your story, go to Object > Text Frame Options (shortcut = +B).

V. JUMPING TEXT:

o    If you don’t already have a Page 2, go to Layout > Pages > Add Page.
o    Now go back to Page 1 and click on the red box at the bottom right of your text box with your Selection Tool. (If you don’t see it, that means all the text is already placed.)
o    Next, take the floating text box (attached to your cursor) and place it on Page 2. Note how InDesign only places the remainder of the story.
o    Remember to wrap the article along the page’s columns with  +B.

VI. FORMATING & ALTERING TEXT (i.e., creating drop caps)

o    To format your text, highlight the text, then go to Type > Size (or use the tools at the top of your screen; if you don’t see these, go to Window > Control).
o    To create drop caps for your story, go to Window > Types & Tables > Paragraph. In the bottom right corner of the Paragraph box, select “Drop Cap One or More Characters” (hover your cursor over the box to find its function).
o    Adjust the number of lines the drop cap should occupy (i.e., 2).
o    For squeezing and kerning, adjust the settings under the Character tab (Window > Types & Tables > Character).

TIP: If you are using the template’s paragraph styles and don’t see them in a panel to the right of your InDesign page, go to Type > Paragraph Styles. Make sure there’s a check mark next to Paragraph Styles.

VII. JUSTIFYING TEXT:

o Since you will probably want “fully justified left and fully justified right” text, click on  + A (to select all text), then Window > Types & Tables > Paragraph.
o Select the 4th option: “Justify with last line justified left”.

VIII. IMPORTING AN IMAGE:

o Go to File > Place, find the .jpg file you’re looking for. You’ll see picture floating on cursor. Like with the text, place the picture on the page and draw a box.
o If picture doesn’t fill space you’ve allotted, go to Object > Fit Content Proportionally. (If you choose Fit Content to Frame, you may distort your picture).

IX. WRAPPING TEXT AROUND AN IMAGE:

o Using the selection tool, place your image where you would like it to go in the story (it will be overlapping at first), then go to: Window > Text Wrap.
o Select the 3rd box over: “Wrap around object shape”. Note how the wrap adds a buffer around the image so that there’s space between it and the text of your story.

X. CREATING A FRAME/BORDER:

TIP: It’s important to think about how you want your page to look. If you decide to create a frame/border around an image and a story or a headline and a story, be sure to place both inside a larger box so that they will be “grouped” together.

o    To create a black border around your story, use the Selection Tool to click on the story.
o    Double click on the Stroke Tool in the tool bar.
o    The color box will pop up. Click OK to select black.
o    To see your frame, use the Zoom tool.
o    To get back to full-page view, double click on the Hand Tool.
o    To change the thickness of your border, go to Window > Stroke and adjust the “weight”.

XI. ADDING MARGINS INSIDE A FRAMED BOX:

o If you want to add margins between your story and the edges of the border, highlight the text to be indented and then go to Windows > Type & Tables > Paragraph.
o In the Paragraph pop-up box, increase the left and right indents from 0p0 to 0p5.