Club Meetings
Next Meeting - Tues, November
14, 2006 - 7pm - Ludwick Community
Center
Latest Trends in Digital Cameras by Dennis Johansen
Special Notice
The November meeting has been moved up a week to avoid the Thanksgiving holiday week. Mark your calendars - the November meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 .
Latest Trends in Digital Cameras by Dennis Johansen
Special Notice
The November meeting has been moved up a week to avoid the Thanksgiving holiday week. Mark your calendars - the November meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 .
Dennis Johansen from Jim's Campus Camera to speak
on the latest trends in digital cameras, more mega pixels, size of point and
shoot cameras, versatility of SLR cameras and more camera for your
buck.
Note: All meetings will be at the Ludwick Community Center, 864 Santa Rosa Street (at Mill), San Luis Obispo, Room 1 at 7 PM. Street parking is available on Mill Street, and in the parking lot at the rear of the Center. Note that the Sierra Club sometimes meets at the same time, so parking may be limited. Click HERE for a map.
Future meetings: 11/14/06 (special meeting date this month - second Tuesday instead of third Tuesday), December 2006 - no meeting
____________________________________________________________________________
Past Meeting Announcements & Minutes:
October 17, 2006 - 7pm - Ludwick Community Center
Regular Computer Maintenance for Your Mac by Vincent DePass, the Mac Doctor
Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Ludwick Community Center, San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, October 17, 2006.
President Joe Peel opened the meeting shortly after 7, with 30 persons in attendance. Shortly after the beginning, Claire Gordon, announced the slate of the club’s future officers: Einar Berg, Chair, Joe Peel, VP, and Jean Anderson, Membership. She then requested and obtained a volunteer for Treasurer.
Chuck Adoff, reminded the membership that the November meeting is moved to Tuesday, the 14th to avoid crowding Thanksgiving week. The presenter will be: Dennis Johansen from Jim's Campus Camera to speak on the latest trends in digital cameras, more mega pixels, size of point and shoot cameras, versatility of SLR cameras and more camera for your buck.
The presenter for October’s meeting was Vincent DePass, the Mac Doctor. His topic was: “Regular Computer Maintenance for Your Mac”.
He pointed out that, as with our autos and other major appliances, regular maintenance is required to obtain optimum performance from the computer. His first recommendation was to move to the latest operating system to take advantage of the improvements that come with each upgrade. He then made a distinction between upgrades, which are accompanied by whole number increases in the OS, example, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, and updates, which are identified by additional decimals in the existing OS, example, 10.4.1, to the present 10.4.8.
Upgrades represent major changes in the OS and in the past have been sold for $129. Updates are minor changes and are usually available free from Apple. A new upgrade is in the works, code named “Leopard”, but no launch date has been announced.
Vinny then specified the importance of cleaning the desktop prior to installing upgrades and updates, and protecting data by backing up. He explained the location of Disk Utility, and its use in Repairing Permissions.
He then focused on correcting several problems some of which could be resolved by running Apple Hardware Test, which is on the CD/DVD that came with the computer.
Finally, he noted that many problems can be corrected by either running Disk Utility and Repairing Permissions, or by running Disk Warrior, a third party utility which optimizes the data base used by the computer to order the files in its volume.
Questions from the members were handled throughout the presentation, which formally ended around 8:15, although several members remained to ask further questions.
September 19, 2006 - 7pm - Ludwick Community Center
Josh Ernstrom of MacSuperstore will present “Sharing Your Memories”
Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Ludwick Community Center, San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, September 19, 2006.
President Joe Peel opened the meeting shortly after 7, with 20 persons in attendance. Joe mentioned the need for volunteers to fill several positions on the club’s board. The elections will be held at October meeting.
The group was questioned on whether the November meeting should be held since its scheduled date occurs in the same week as Thanksgiving. (Note - it has been since determined that the normal meeting place is available one week earlier than our normal third Tuesday of the month so the final meeting of the year will be held on the second Tuesday of November which is November 14 ... please mark your calendars)
Prior to the evening’s presentation Chuck Berman, a professional photographer based in Los Angeles, extended an invitation to the group to attend his class on “creating panoramic images” the following evening at 7 at the San Luis Obispo Art Center. He also donated two DVDs that were raffled at the end of the meeting.
Joe introduced Josh Ernstrom, Sales Manager of MacSuperstore, and our presenter for the evening on the topic of “Sharing Your Memories”.
Josh focused on iPhoto and how easy its use, together with Mail, or other email programs, makes sharing photos. He spoke of creating folders that could be shared, and using iWeb, now part of .Mac accounts, to post photos on the web while providing an address to invited parties to view them.
He also provided examples of the books that can be ordered from Apple. The photos were clear, and were printed on high quality paper, and bound in a book form. He finally indicated that there was a way to enable receivers of previous photos to automatically obtain upgrades to changes made at the host’s computer. Josh answered questions as they arose. The one message he emphasized was the wisdom of not changing photos in the Library as they obey Apple’s file structure and corruption can result in many subsequent problems.
The DVDs mentioned earlier were raffled, and the meeting was adjourned shortly after 8:30
Tues, August 15, 2006 - 7pm - Ludwick Community Center
Daniel Adoff will present an overview of Adobe Photoshop
NOTE:The meeting will start with Shane Williams, owner of MacSuperstore, sharing his thoughts on the new Apple store coming to town. A brief question and answer period will follow.
Daniel will explain the layout of the Photoshop software, including its tools and menus. He will demonstrate some simple examples based on questions, and will explain also how Photoshop CS and Photoshop Elements can be used by everyone.
Lastly, Daniel will show how to use Photomerge to interconnect two or more photos into one continues panorama.
A San Luis Obispo native, Daniel attended Laguna College of Art and Design, majoring in illustration, with a focus on computer illustration. He has also taught computer illustration at the College.
For more information: cadoff@charter.net
Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Ludwick Community Center, San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, August 15, 2006.
President Joe Peel opened the meeting shortly after 7, with 42 persons in attendance. The meeting was turned over to Mr. Shane Williams, Owner of MacSuperstore, for an update on the recent announcement of the opening of an Apple Computer, Inc. store in downtown San Luis Obispo.
While acknowledging the group’s support he provided some insights to the relations of Apple Computer with retailers like himself. He concluded that MacSuperstore would have to adapt to the eventuality of the new store, and continue to build on its loyal customer base, providing those services in which MacSuperstore would enjoy a competitive advantage.
In response to questions of what action the group could take to request reconsideration on the part of Apple Computer, he thought that little could be done to alter the decision. He closed his presentation on a positive optimistic note.
The meeting was then turned over to Daniel Adoff, a recent graduate of Laguna College of Art and Design, for his presentation on Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. His equipment included a laptop, a WACOM tablet (including the pressure sensitive stylus) and a projector.
He began his introduction by pointing out that while Apple’s iPhoto tools provide some means of manipulating photos, both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements offer a wider range of control over photographs. He also mentioned that Photoshop is geared to professionals, and costs $600. Photoshop Elements is designed for the consumer market, and retails for $100. But he did emphasize that many of the tools are common to both applications.
He then proceeded to demonstrate many of the tools allowing the audience to observe the effects of their use on a photograph. One feature that drew much discussion was the one, which allowed the “stitching” together of a series of discrete photographs into a seamless panoramic view.
Questions were posed and addressed throughout his presentation. The session was closed shortly after 8:30.
SLOMUG’s next meeting will tackle the questions of which Mac is best for you? Josh, Sales Manager of MacSuperstore will be the presenter..
Tues, July 18, 2006 - 7pm - Ludwick Community Center
Vinny DePass will present Troubleshooting Your Mac
Vinny, "The Mac Doctor", is a professional who specializes in installing, maintaining and repairing Macintosh computers and computer systems. Prior to starting his own business, he worked for MacSuperstore.
Bring your questions about how to maintain and repair your Mac hardware and software to the meeting.
For more information: cadoff@charter.net
Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Ludwick Community Center, San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, July 18, 2006.
Joe Peel, President opened the meeting shortly after 7, with 25 persons in attendance.
Chuck Adoff, Program Chair, announced that next month’s meeting would focus on Photoshop or Illustrator, and that Mr. David Adoff would be next month’s presenter. Similarly, the September meeting would focus on the question of “Which new Mac is right for you”, and MacSuperstore would present.
Today’s meeting was on Troubleshooting, however, Vinny DePass, the scheduled presenter was ill. In his absence Cal DePass offered to lead the meeting on the assumption that many of the questions would probably find answers from others in attendance.
Cal initially made reference to a couple resources that he found useful. TidBITS published by Adam and Tonya Engst, and Take Control of Maintaining Your Mac by Joe Kissell. TidBITS is a free newsletter, a while Take Control is an ebook costing $10.
In Take Control the author indicates which series of maintenance activities should be carried out on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. After this general introduction of this resource the floor was opened for questions. The assumption about the wisdom in the group was amply met as most questions were addressed.
Some time was also spent on addressing a rumor that Apple Computer was considering locating an Apple Store in SLO. After much discussion of the topic the Secretary was asked to contact Mr. Shane Williams, owner of MacSuperstore, to request the name of a contact at Apple Computer Co. The group decided that letters were preferable to emails, and individual contact rather than a form letter.
The Program Chair confirmed the group’s preference for Photoshop for August’s meeting.
Joe Peel adjourned the meeting shortly after 8.
June 20, 2006 - 7pm - Ludwick Community Center
Program: Creating a computer design with Corel Painter IX
Presenter: Daniel Adoff, a a recent graduate of Laguna College of Art and Design. While obtaining his BFA he majored in illustration and has taught computer illustration classes. At present he has his own computer illustration business and is working with a number of clients.
Daniel will demonstrate how to create a computer design using Corel Painter IX, a popular cross-platform painting and illustration program, and display some of the designs he has created.
From the Corel Web site:
More power to fuel your creativity
"The world's most popular painting and illustration software just got even better! Corel® Painter™ IX.5 features a new set of advanced tools and features to help you create your digital masterpieces. Now it's especially easy to transform photographs into stunning paintings with the addition of Photo Painting palettes. Discover Corel Painter IX.5 today!" See http://apps.corel.com/painterix/home/index.html
For more information: cadoff@charter.net
Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Ludwick Community Center, San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, June 20, 2006.
Einar Berg, Vice President opened the meeting shortly after 7, with 12 persons in attendance. Einar made a couple comments related to his presentation in May. He indicated that he had placed the presentation on the SLOMUG’s site, dividing the file into 5 sections to facilitate downloading by older computers.
Chuck Adoff introduced Mr. Daniel Adoff, a recent graduate of Laguna College of Art and Design. Daniel obtained a BFA in Illustration, with further specialization in Computer Design. His topic for the evening was: Creating a Computer Design with Corel Painter IX.
He began his introduction by telling us a bit regarding his training that focused initially on classical art training, and in the later years included design and computer design.
He noted that there is some functional overlap between Photoshop and Corel Painter, the main distinction being that where Photoshop is used to enhance a photo/drawing, in Corel you can start from a variety of media.
He illustrated his presentation by using a photograph, and showing us a scripted version of how the photograph was used to create a painting from the photograph.
The program (Corel) is loaded with tools which enable the user to create many views, including the surface on which the design is created, and the colors used.
Although the mouse can be used for input a much more efficient means is the use of A Wacom Tablet. The tablet comes in many sizes Daniel’s is
9” X 12”, and included a stylus that is a remarkable tool in itself. Different pressures, and angles yield different strokes that are translated on the computer’s screen.
Daniel answered questions throughout his presentation that lasted about 1 hr. The cost of the program is around $350, with a variety of plug-ins that give the program additional functionality. He also indicated that more information, including learning materials, could be obtained at the company’s website.
Those present received a 5.5” X 8.5” card advertising Daniel’s work with his address, phone, and email. Fees for his services vary according to the project and the ultimate consumer of the design. He also indicated that a version of his presentation would be posted on SLOMUG’s site.
At the conclusion of the presentation a raffle for the latest version of iLife was held. Mr. Howard Ibsen, was the holder of the winning ticket.
Ms. Verena von Engel became a member. The meeting was adjourned shortly after 8 pm.
May 16, 2006 - 7pm - Ludwick Community Center
Brian P. Lawler will talk on the topic Digital Photo Work Flow
Mr Lawler is a graphic arts and prepress consultant and writer based in San Luis Obispo. He will give a lecture on his system of creating an effective digital photo work flow. He has written about it for his column in CreativePro.com, which has not yet been published.
He has about 250,000 photos and other files archived, and can find any one of them in seconds. He has a printed version of his article that he can provide, and will demonstrate how he uses Adobe Bridge, Photo Mechanic, and a shareware program to catalog his many files. He also uses FileMaker Pro to index the disc names so he doesn't duplicate them.
You can reach Mr. Lawler at brian@thelawlers.com and see some of his work at http://www.creativepro.com/author/home/211.html
Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Ludwick Community Center, San Luis Obispo, on Tuesday, May 16, 2006.
16 persons were present, including the guest speaker.
President Joe Peel opened the meeting and welcomed the guest speaker, Brian P. Lawler, a Cal Poly Professor as well as a graphic arts and prepress consultant and writer based in San Luis Obispo. Tonight’s topic: Digital photo work flow.
To quote Brian, "I propose that I do a little bitty lecture on my system of creating an effective digital photo work flow. I have written about it for my column in CreativePro.com, but the article has not yet been published. I have about 250,000 photos and other files archived, and I can find any one of them in seconds... well, minutes. I have a nice printed version of my article that I can provide, and will demonstrate how I use Adobe Bridge, Photo Mechanic,, and a shareware program to catalog my many files. I also use FileMaker Pro to index the disc names so I don't duplicate them.”
Brian proceeded to do just that in his easy, jovial manner that almost disguises what a brilliant teacher he really is.
He discussed saving photos in raw format vs jpeg. Raw takes up an incredible amount of memory space but is a necessity for high quality and/or publication reasons where copyrights can be challenged (Raw serves the way a negative used to). Jpeg may be okay for many purposes. Just remember that, even with improved technology, Jpeg files still lose quality each time a photo is opened.
Brian stressed the importance of using text (rather than numbers) in naming photographs and storage files, names that can be easily remembered. With Adobe bridge you can create key words that’ll assist in locating files, e.g., grandma, 90 years, birthday party, July 2003.
The workflow runs as follows (from the graphics in his handout):
Download images from camera or memory card
Rename images using Adobe Bridge or iPhoto
Sort photos into folders of similar images in Finder or Bridge
Embed IPTC data using Photo Mechanic (copyright data, etc.)
Create Archive on CD/DVD (unless you use printable blanks, make sure you use safe pens for writing on the disks - Staedtler or specially made Sharpie felt tip pens)
Catalog archive disks using Disk Tracker or similar app.
Create backup copy for offsite archive (in case your dog sets your house on fire)
Create low resolution images and disk for customer use or review
Create Web gallery and upload to public or secure site for
client review
Remove photos from computer
Brian recommended storing data disks in individual cases vertically (since warping can occur with horizontal storage). Cases with center spindle (many blanks come in such cases) may be okay for storage if stored on the side so the disks hang vertically from the spindle.
His article A workable work flow for digital photographers will be published on line at www.creativepro.com. I recommend it highly.
You can reach Brian Lawler at <brian@thelawlers.com> and see some of his work at http://www.creativepro.com/author/home/211.html
We thank Brian Lawler for an excellent presentation and welcome him back anytime.
Joe adjourned the meeting.
Einar Berg
Acting Secretary
Apr 18, 2006 - 7pm - Ludwick Community Center
Our own Einar Berg will demonstrate the process of creating/burning a movie on a Macintosh
Einar will be making a short movie from photos, taking us through the process in detail from beginning to end and then burning the DVD and viewing the result. He will then show his 35 minute long movie created from 302 flower and leaf photos, set to Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet in A.
Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Ludwick Community Center, San Luis Obispo, on Tuesday, April 18, 2006.
39 persons were present, including the guest speaker.
President Joe Peel opened the meeting and welcomed the guest speaker, Einar Berg, our current Acting Secretary.
I proceeded to demonstrate movie making using iPhoto, iMovie and iDVD, while taking questions from the audience. Since I was new at iLife 6, I had to enlist the help of others now and then. But finally, the DVD got burned - and it played!
A brief Q & A period followed, after which I showed my 35 minute movie of flowers set to a Mozart concerto. After some more questions, Joe thanked me and closed the meeting.
Here follows a “beginners’ outline” of the procedure I followed for making the movie (iLife 5 version; there are differences in 6, but the information may still be useful if you running 6).
You start with still photos, using the Ken Burns effect in the Slideshow mode of iPhoto for panning and zooming. Double clicking on any photo in the slideshow, brings the photo back to iPhoto should further editing of the photo be necessary, e.g. to remove a previously unnoticed flaw. Clicking on the Done button, brings the slideshow back (as does a double click on the photo).
The Settings button opens a menu for adjusting the display length for each photo, turning off or on the Automatic Ken Burns effect, mode and length of transition , etc.
The Music button allows you to choose music, or, as in this case, turn off the music - adding music in iMovie allows a more precise timing of sound.
Then go to Share in the top Menu and choose Export. A new menu lets you choose size (small, medium, large), and we choose large, for best quality, and Movie file or Desktop as destination (Movie file is usually set as default).
The slideshow has now been turned into a QuickTime movie.
Close down iPhoto and open iMovie. Click on the Create-a- New-Project button and name the movie in the window that opens. In the same window, you are asked to choose Video format. DV would be the common choice usable for most purposes (standard DVD player/TV combination). Then click the Create button and the iMovie main window opens.
Under iMovie HD in the top menu, choose Preferences. A window opens with three choices at the top. In the General window, make sure 29.97 fps is selected under New Project frame rate, unless you are making a movie for your European friends, in which case 25 fps is the choice. Of the other choices in the General window, you can ignore the top three (they are probably checked as default). Of the other four items, I check the last three boxes (extract audio, snap to, play sound), but all this can be changed later as you get used to working the tools in the movie.
Click on Import in the Preference window and select Clips Pane. Leave the other boxes unchecked for now. Go to the Playback window, the third one in the Preferences window. You’ll probably want to choose Highest (field blending), but experimentation will tell you which is best for you. Close the window.
Under File menu, choose Import. Find your QuickTime movie (on desktop, in your Movie file, wherever you put it), and click Open. This may take a while depending on the length of your movie. The movie will show up in one of the upper right squares.
Select the little rectangular button to the lower left (rather than the clock button). Then click and drag your movie down to the bottom of the main window. Now you can start the editing process. You can bring in other movie clips or still photos and insert them once they are imported. Clips will move apart as you drag the new items down to the editing panel. Play around with this to learn how it works. Command T or Split Video Clip under the Edit menu will split a clip at the playhead and allow you to insert item at that point. Then you can choose to insert Titles and Transitions (if clip is short and timing crucial, remember that Transitions steal time from each surrounding clip.) and special Effects, and, finally, import Audio.
There are three audio channels allowing for inherent video sound from camera, background music, and voice over from external or internal microphone. Click on the clock button at the lower left to set the window for audio. Then, by clicking on Show Clip Volume Levels under View in Menu, a horizontal line is added to each channel. By moving this line up or down, you can change the volume, create fade-in/out, etc. It’s a click and drag procedure that requires some practice. I recommend adding the sound last of all editing, since other action usually will add time to the movie and you may want split second timing.
If you want the movie divided into Chapters, go in under Markers in the top menu. Command, shift, M places a chapter maker at the playhead. It shows up in the time line as a small yellow diamond. You can name these chapters in iDVD. This will enable your DVD player to go to each chapter with the skip button on your remote.
Note: The computer remembers all of your editing steps. This means you can go back and change or correct anything. If you want to keep some changes and not others, you can always use the Save as under File in the menu and have two separate versions of the movie.
When the movie is finished and saved (save changes once you are pleased with the result, or they will be lost when you close down the project), click on the iDVD button (lower right), then the horizontal Create iDVD Project bar slightly above.
In iDVD, got to Preferences under iDVD in the top menu. In the General panel, choose Show Drop Zones, Best Quality (I don’t know the difference between Best Quality and Best Performance - I always choose the former.), and NTSC - again, unless you are creating a movie for Europe, in which case PAL is the choice. Under Slideshow panel in Preferences, choose TV Safe area. This will make sure all text is visible when movie is shown on a TV. Click on Add photos to DVD-ROM if you wish. Under Movies (still under Preferences), I have checked Automatically create chapter marker submenu.
Click on the Customize button at the bottom left to choose theme. Click on Themes if it is not already selected. Drag photos to drop zones, then position them by dragging, if needed. Click on Settings to position title text, etc. This may be tricky and requires practice. The Media button you can ignore unless you are creating a movie directly in iDVD. Same thing goes for the Folder button lower left in the main window.
Another click on the Customize button closes this panel.
Click on the Motion button to see the theme in action with music. If you want to loop the movie (to play over and over again automatically), select the Map button, then click on your movie (the square to the right). Now go to Advanced in the top menu and click on Loop Movie.
When complete to your satisfaction, make sure the Motion is on before burning (button will be green), then click on Burn (bottom right button), and proceed, following the prompts.
Note: a 30 minute movie may take 3 to 4 hours for the computer to encode and burn - all depending on the speed and RAM of your computer. Good luck!
Einar Berg
Acting Secretary
Mar 21, 2006 - 7pm - Ludwick Community Center
Josh Ernstrom - iLife programs and how they interact with each other seamlessly
Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Ludwick Community Center, San Luis Obispo, on Tuesday, March 21, 2006.
25 persons were present, excluding the guest speaker.
President Joe Peel opened the meeting and welcomed the guest speaker, Mr. Josh Ernstrom, the Sales Manager at MacSuperstore. Before joining MacSuperstore, Josh worked for Apple teaching iLife and other courses for Apple products.
He gave a detailed account of the upgraded iLife program (current version is #6), consisting of six separate applications closely linked in many functions. They are GarageBand, iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD and iWeb, the last being a new addition to the series.
Josh recommended that you always go to Preferences first and set them according to your needs before you start operating any program.
He spent the bulk of the evening talking about iPhoto and iMovie. He showed the download-from-a-camera process and recommended always to make sure the camera date is set correctly. The dates will stay with the downloaded photos and are a good way of finding them, since the default organization in iPhoto is by date. He also strongly recommended not to delete the photos in the camera from iPhoto, although that option exists.
Some of the new features in iPhoto:
Roll and date will show as you scroll.
Scrolling is much smoother.
The program has been expanded to hold 250,000 photos instead of 25,000.
Full-screen editing choice.
There is a compare function, in which you can view and compare two or more photos.
It has a navigation button for 1-click effects in adjusting exposure, contrast, brightness, edge blur, sepia, B&W, etc.
The Book feature has more themes and choices.
The Calendar can be done completely on the computer, and iCal events can be inserted, as well as photos on chosen dates.
Photocasting delivers photos over the internet.
You can order cards directly from Apple.
iMovie now has the option of opening more than one film at a time. A video camera can be hooked up and movies edited directly from the camera before they are downloaded and saved.
Real time rendering of titles has been added; so are Themes (previously only in iDVD). There are video fix and audio fix buttons in addition to the transition choices.
iWeb gives you the tools for creating your own website with slides or movie clips as well as the usual text, links, blog. You can publish directly to a folder or to .Mac.
Josh is a fast and enthusiastic speaker, and he covered in one hour what normally would take many hours in the classes he taught. We are grateful to him for his presentation and welcome him back anytime.
Joe adjourned the meeting.
Einar Berg
Acting Secretary
Feb 14, 2006 - 7pm - Ludwick Community Center
FileMaker Pro does it ALL - for Mac & PC Users by Gerald Clare
Gerald Clare is a software designer who will demonstrate the versatility of
the popular Mac/PC database program. He will demonstrate basic database
processes, field types, relationship creation, scripting, and portals. This
will be an interactive program lasting an hour.
Gerald created a FileMaker product for his own use that is now used by
almost a hundred clinician’s at Mental Health to create documents,
prescriptions, reports and correspondence. He also uses FileMaker as a
simple graphics program. He’s used it to create tickets and badges for the
SLO International Film Festival.
His private clients include: Transitions inc., Jeter’s Legal Messenger
Service, Wiz Photography, and JTR Associates.
Contact: Chuck Adoff at cadoff@charter.net
Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Ludwick Community Center, San Luis Obispo, on Tuesday, February 14, 2006.
27 persons were present, excluding the guest speaker.
President Joe Peel opened the meeting with a welcome and the announcement that there would be no raffle this evening.
Chuck Adoff, Program Director, attended the recent Macworld Expo. There he approached several exhibitors about the possibility of coming to San Luis Obispo and giving a talk. One of these folks was Gerald Clare a local software designer, who graciously agreed to come give a talk about the versatility of FileMaker Pro (8 Advanced is his current version). FileMaker is a database program usable on both PC and Mac platforms.
Mr. Clare set out to demonstrate the basic database processes, field types, relationship creation, scripting, portals, etc. He did this mainly through manipulating the program he designed while working at the County Community Mental Health Department and realizing that the clinical record keeping could be vastly streamlined by converting to a flexible database program. It is now used by almost a hundred clinicians to create documents, prescriptions, reports and correspondence. He has named this program ClinDox.
He also uses FileMaker as a simple graphics program and used it to create tickets and badges for the SLO International Film Festival. He praised the Help program of FileMaker as being extremely useful for anyone attempting to construct a database program.
For questions, you may contact Gerald Clare at
gerald@clareware.com . His website is ClareWare.com
We thank Gerald for a lively and amusing presentation.
Jerry Grotzinger is creating a YAHOO “chat room” on the internet, where we can exchange ideas, present problems, offer solutions to problems, etc. It will operate as a Yahoo group; this means that if you’re have an identity and a password with Yahoo for any group, you’ll retain this with the SLOMUG group.
Joe adjourned the meeting.
Next meeting will be held at the same place on the 3rd Tuesday in April, the 18st, at 7 pm. The speaker will be Josh Ernstrom, who will be speaking on the iLife Programs and how they interact with each other seamlessly.
Einar Berg
Acting Secretary
January 17, 2006 - 7pm - Ludwick Community Center
Designing Web Sites using Illustrator & Photoshop by Melanie Kronemann of Cal Poly
Tuesday, January 17, 2006 at 7 p.m San Luis Obispo Macintosh Group presents “Designing Web Sites: Combining Photoshop, Illustrator, Image Ready and GoLive” all part of Adobe Creative Suite 2, by Melanie Kronemann. Attendees will leave with clear understanding on how to combine Illustrator & Photoshop to a visually effective web site. This is a cross platform presentation applicable to both Macintosh and PC users. Kroneman teaches Graphic Art and Packaging in the Graphic Communication Department at Cal Poly as well as having her own design consulting business. Off street parking is available in back of the center. Contact Chuck Adoff at cadoff@charter.net.
Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Ludwick Community Center, San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, January 17, 2006.
21 persons were present, excluding the guest speaker.
President Joe Peel, opened the meeting and announced the raffle (since our Treasurer, Vinny DePass, could not attend), offering three prizes this day.
Chuck Adoff, Program Director, was asked to comment on the recent Macworld Expo. He said it was better attended than last year’s and mentioned that he had approached representatives for Apple, Canon, and other companies regarding coming to SLO to give a talk about their products at future meetings.
Joe then introduced our guest speaker, Melanie Kronemann from the Graphic Arts and Communication Department at Cal Poly, whose topic was designing websites combining Photoshop, Illustrator, Image Ready and Go Live. Her colleague, Brian Lawler, was also present and assisting where necessary.
Professor Kronemann uses Photoshop and Illustrator for her design work to create the “feel of the page.” (For this demonstration, she used Photoshop exclusively.) Relevant questions are: Who is the client? What is to be conveyed? What is the preferred color scheme? How much information need go in? Who will access the site? How many pages will be necessary? Are there to be action buttons? Hypertext links? Roll-overs or drop-down menus or forms? (Note: too many buttons create confusion!) Are there to be animations? Pictures? Top bar or side bar words?
Web design is a combination of web architecture and web usability.
The order of action would be:
1. Design (as determined from analysis of above questions)
2. Organizing layers (from bottom up). They can be grouped into subgroups.
3. Organizing pages
4. Adding flair
When creating layers, name them for easy identification. This way layers can easily be found and modified according to designer’s or client’s wishes. Consider repetition, alignment and proximity of elements in the design.
When considering text, never use all caps, except for headlines. Sans serif fonts are best for clarity on the screen (curlicues tend to get mushy at low resolution).
Photos should be copied in at actual viewing size and no more than 72 dpi in resolution. (Note: 300 dpi is fine for printing but too slow in action for a website, where speed of manifestation of images is imperative.) Color mode: red, green, blue (r.g.b.). Stock photos are useful and plentiful. istockphotos.com is a good site with very reasonably priced photos.
Since all graphics programs are very complex, use the Help function. It has gotten much more useful and complete than it used to be.
Generally, avoid white space. But remember, white space is much better than clutter.
Once a site is designed, it should be cut up into slices for faster appearance on the website. It is best to save them as jpeg images - unless transparency is desired, in which case gif is the format to use. I believe .ping is another format for pix, but I am not sure.
Classroom in a book is a good source for website design.
We thank Professor Kronemann for an excellent presentation and precise answers to many questions.
The President conducted the raffle.
Next meeting will be held at the same place on the 2nd Tuesday in February, the 14th, at 7 pm.
Einar Berg
Acting Secretary
December, 2005
No meeting this month. Happy Holidays
November 22, 2005 - 7pm - Odd Fellows Hall
Lorraine Donegan, a much requested speaker, will demo Indesign
Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Odd Fellows Hall, San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, November 22, 2005.
10 persons were present, excluding the guest speaker, poor attendance probably due to the holiday week.
President Joe Peel, opened the meeting and immediately introduced our popular guest speaker, Lorraine Donegan, Graphic Arts and Communication Professor at Cal Poly, whose topic was desktop publishing using inDesign software program.
Professor Donegan began by stating that she now uses inDesign CS2 (the latest version) for all her desktop publishing. She distributed a handout describing the program in detail and then proceeded to demonstrate the creation of a threefold brochure.
Once the margins and gutter (distance between columns) had been decided - as well as bleed factor (amount of color bleeding over the margins) - one can start naming the panels (in this case, six): left inside, middle inside, right inside, first inside flap, back panel, front. This will prevent mixup of pages.
Then comes the insertion of text boxes. These can be Anchored, meaning they are linked together so that whatever font, color, size, etc. is chosen for one box is carried over to the linked box. Graphics and photos can also be placed and linked to the text boxes and exact relative placement determined along the x & y axis (horizontal and vertical positions), position maintained if text boxes are shuffled around. Note: Placement relative to the spine in a book project can also be determined and maintained.
Style of graphic objects can readily be changed, e.g., given drop shadow, “noise” added to the shadow, etc.
One important feature available in the program is the ability to show layers in graphics one at a time. Thus one can view the effect of photo or graphics layer editing in the total setting of the brochure - all with the click of a button or two.
Professor Donegan was warmly thanked for a fine presentation. Her website is www.calpoly.edu/~ldonegan/
Vinny DePass sold rifle tickets.
Joe Peel announced the slate for officers for next year. No new names were given and the slate was unanimously approved.
President: Joe Peel
Vice President: Jerry Grotzinger
Secretary: Cal DePass
Treasurer: Vinny De Pass
Program Chair: Charles Adoff
We thank warmly the current officers for their fine service. Special kudos to Claire Gordon, without whose hard work the club would have ceased to exist a long time ago.
Vinny DePass graciously gave us some tips about Tiger. Mentioned macfixit.com as a useful website for looking at various problems with soft- and hardware. He mentioned that it is a bad idea to overburden the desktop with files - it will slow down your computer. Place everything in a file on the hard disk instead. He also showed us how to use a photo or graphic to replace the usual standard folder look. And, of course, Vinny recommended backup, backup, backup!
The raffle was held and the winner won a gift certificate to the MacSuperstore.
NOTE: There will be no meeting in December. The next one will be held on January 2006 (3rd Tuesday) 17th at Ludwick Rec.Center on Mill & Santa Rosa Streets at 7 PM.
Einar Berg
Secretary
Tuesday, October 25, 2005 - 7pm
A favorite speaker, Cal Poly professor Hal Hinderliter, will demo and tell us about updates to Quark Express 7
Tuesday, September 27, 2005 - 7pm
Lies, Spies and Blue Skies by Rick Auricchio
Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, Sept 27th at 7 PM. Speaker Rick Auricchio has entitled it “Lies, Spies and Blue Skies”. He’ll talk about the email you get from pharmacies, Nigerians with millions in the bank to share, about sex parties, cheap mortgages and such. How do they get your email address? Is there anything you can do about it?
Our “Mac doctor,” Vinny DePass will be ready to hear your Mac questions.
We will also have a brief reminder that elections will be held in November and we need a slate in October. We don’t want to use up meeting time so please read about the election. (And think about volunteering for one of the positions—send in your email offer)
These are the offices up for grabs:
President
Leads the meeting and makes announcements. Total time expended, being at the meeting and perhaps 20 minutes besides to prepare an agenda. Current President Joe Peel expects to be away at meeting time for various meetings in 06 and would like to be replaced. Please!
Vice President
Serves when President is absent. Vinny DePass is our temporary replacement
Flyer writer
Former Veep, Ed Rush (moved our of state) used to keep MacSuperstore supplied with flyers about our meetings. This would take about 30-45 minutes a month and much appreciated.
Secretary
Attend meeting and send meeting reviews and announcement of forthcoming meeting to our web site. Time 45 minutes a month or less.Current officer is Einar Berg who has offered to continue, dependant on his health. He sends reviews about meetings to our web site. Take a peek at slomug.com
Treasurer
Be at meeting, once a year, collect membership dues, every month pass the basket for contributions, write a check for the meeting place, provide a raffle item and sell tickets. Keep the bank account. Time- Attend the meeting and in addition Less than an hour a month. Isn’t it time for someone else to take over? Dale Landis- has had the job for almost 3 years and has done a super job.
Program Chair
Claire Gordon assumed the job when the original officer was out of state and ill. She has been program chair for almost 3 years. Charles Adoff has already put his name in nomination. Thank you, Chuck
Membership
Bring a sign in sheet, pass it at the meeting, take it home and up-date with new names, deleting changes as reported by other officers. Time (estimate) 30 minutes a month. Robert Boyer took over this important duty when Ed Rush left. Bob is doing an A-1 job and we hope he will continue.
We will give you an email address to SEND YOUR NOMINATIONS FOR YOURSELF OR A FRIEND
Come see our newly purchased projector in use for the first time. For those who are new to our group, please be aware that there is no admission charge, but a voluntary contribution toward expenses is appreciated. Throw a few bucks in the basket when it comes by. Memberships will be available again in January 2006.
For further information call Claire Gordon, 474-6509
Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Odd Fellows Hall, San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, September 27, 2005.
17 persons were present, excluding the guest speaker.
President Joe Peel, opened the meeting and discussed upcoming changes in staff, asking for volunteers. The raffle was announced. Since Vinny DePass could not be present for his usual Q & A period, Joe immediately launched the guest speaker, Rick Auricchio, the Mac expert from Cambria with a twenty-year plus employment/affiliation history with Apple (1979-2001). He now runs his own business, offering system upgrades, cleanup, tuning, network design and setup, cabling, and, not the least, MacOS X expert advice. He can be reached at (805)924-1609 or rick@cfcl.com.
The topic was spam, or, as Rick called it, “Lies, Spies, Blue Skies.”
80% of all internet traffic is spam, and since the service providers constantly have to upgrade their equipment to accommodate this volume, all of us pay with our dues. We can help a bit by avoiding forwarding that joke or picture that has circulated for years. Chain letters or pyramid schemes should be deleted on the spot, not just for the sake of spam volume but because most of them are fraudulent. And don’t open those attachments from unknown sources. But even attachments sent from well meaning friends can contain fraudulent information. Ever opened an attachment or just an e-mail and there is nothing there? It may have damaging information printed with white font on white background. Graphics can be used fraudulently as well, carrying problems. Be especially weary if you are running a microsoft mail program. If you use Apple’s mail program, you are safer but may still pass on problems to friends with PCs when you forward stuff indiscriminately.
The get-rich-quick schemes are plenty. The “Nigerian” or the “widow of former president,” etc. are fairly easy to spot. Stock market tips may be alluring, but don’t go there. Never answer these spams, or more junk will come your way even if no direct fraud is at hand. Do not trust links in e-mails. They can take you to hell and not necessarily back. And never never give out personal information and numbers even if the message seems a very legitimate note from your favorite bank or e-mail account or server. Legit institutions never contact you via e-mail regarding personal or security matters.
With 90% of the market share, PCs are much more attractive a target for creators of virus or other safety assaults. (It may take only four minutes for a new PC hooked up to a broad band connection to hopeless jam the computer.) So far, the Macintosh operating system X has held up. Unless a direct warning comes from Apple to the contrary, there is no current need for virus or firewall protection for us mac users (although available from Norton, etc.).
Apple’s switch to Intel processor chips may not be a good sign for future mac security. Time will tell.
Advice: Do not buy cheap counterfeit software. It may get you into deep trouble - and there will be no support when you need it. Pay attention to the warning that says, “You seem to be running this program for the first time,” and then gives you option to cancel or proceed.
hoaxbusters.org is a website listing fraudulent practices.
In the Q & A period, the question of on-line banking came up. Rick feels this is perfectly safe, as is any purchases or exchanges with reputable companies, such as Amazon.com.
Thank you, Rick, for an informative and lively presentation!
Dale Landis, our treasurer held the raffle and one lucky person got the gift certificate to the Mac Superstore.
Einar Berg
Secretary
Tuesday, August 23, 2005 - 7pm
Subject - Innovations with Photos is the topic to be explored by photo expert Garrett Krnich
He’ll show examples of unusual ways of displaying your photos and explain how to do it yourself. Interesting examples from members’ photo collections and from his own documentaries will be shown. There will also be a q. and a. period and a drawing. The meetings are free, but non-members are requested to be generous when the basket comes around and toss in some money to help with expenses.
As most of you know our Vice President, Ed Rush, moved out of the state. Vinny DePass has agreed to take his place until elections. Next month we will be getting a slate together and hold SLOMUG elections before year end. Some of our officers have served for more than two years. It is hoped that you will think about helping out. If enough people take on a responsibility, each job takes less than an hour a month. Think about it, and please volunteer!
Claire Gordon, Program chair
Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Odd Fellows Hall, San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, August 23, 2005.
22 persons were present, excluding the guest speaker.
President Joe Peel, opened the meeting. Since the guest speaker was a bit late, we started with Vinny DePass holding a Q & A session. Thank you Vinny! Vinny is available for Macintosh consulting work at
(805) 234-6130
vinnydepass@mac.com
Mr. Garrett Krnich of Dream Cafe Productions, who gave an wonderful presentation of iPhoto at our March meeting, was scheduled to do a presentation, to be followed by two members of the club, Tony Hyman and Einar Berg, showing their own work. However, Mr. Krnich was not feeling well, so after mentioning that he, in essence, just showed Tony how to burn a DVD of his slideshow, he left. We wish him good health!
Dale Landis, our treasurer, was to bring the club’s new projector but was prevented to attend.
Fortunately, Tony had brought his own projector and proceeded to show his excellent slideshow from a recent archeological trip to Egypt. Tony, an experienced speaker and lecturer, gave a lively and interesting talk, occasionally assisted by his wife, Marilee.
Einar brought his home movie as well but cut the presentation short, since the projector speakers were totally insufficient to make justice to the sound - as well as the images being too light and washed out. (The Hymans had not yet learned the settings, since the projector was new.)
Both presenters answered questions about their work, and Tony praised iLife5 as very easy to work. Mr. Berg offered to assist anyone in the club wanting hands-on experience with making a movie with iPhoto, iMovie, etc. iLife may be easy, but there certainly are some challenging choices and questions that come up with the process and where a helping hand would be welcome.
No raffle was held due to Dale’s absence.
Einar Berg
Secretary
Tuesday, July 25, 2005 - 7pm
Subject - Vincent De Pass will discuss BLOGS
Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Odd Fellows Hall, San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, July 26, 2005.
Circa 20 persons were present (including two persons from the Santa Maria club for part of the meeting), excluding the guest speaker.
President Joe Peel, opened the meeting. A brief discussion was held about the possibility of buying a projector, perhaps joint ownership with the Santa Maria group (assuming the latter will remain functional). Members were encouraged to help with the projector research project.
Dale Landis, our Treasurer, announced the raffle, the price being the usual $20 gift certificate to the MacSuperstore.
Program Director, Claire Gordon, introduced the guest speaker, Vinny DePass, formerly of the MacSuperstore.
Vinny’s topic was Blogs.
Blogs is an abbreviated term for Weblogs. We could perhaps define it as:
A frequent, chronological publication of personal thought and ideas about self, the web or the world, covering any topic imaginable; with links to calendars, websites, etc., and allowing commentary from visitors to the site.
This sounds very much like a personal website, and I as far as I could discern, the only difference is the diary-like format and archives, each entry accessible through a calendar or date strip.
Blogs are becoming very popular as sounding boards for political, philosophical, scientific discussion. It is a tool for exchanging ideas on subjects of mutual concern, be that humane treatment of animals, or musicians, poets and writers swapping stories and heartaches. Photographers use blogs to display their work and make it accessible to a larger public. Teachers use them to post daily assignments and lecture topics, especially valuable for anyone who missed a class and wants to catch up.
Vinny pointed out that our own SLOMUG site is, for all practical purposes, a blog.
There are two ways to create a blog:
1. Host your own blog. You buy your own software, such as iBlog (compatible with iLife, mail, Safari, etc., even looking like Apple although not made by Macintosh). You will still need an internet host. .mac internet services charges $99/year with a 60-day free trial period. iBlog costs $19.95 for single user (two computers) and $29.95 for family use (up to 5 computers). It may still be free if you purchase .mac, but I could not find any mention of that. It is available at www.lifli.com/Products/iBlog/main.htm
2. Go to a free blog site, such as www.Blogsome.com, www.blogger.com, www.livejournal.com. There are evidently hundreds of free blog sites.
How to find blog sites:
Go to Google search by subject, but Google has also developed a special blog search to assist.
Vinny talked briefly but enthusiastically about Quicksilver and Cocktail, programs he found through VersionTracker and both helpful for finding and opening stuff fast on your computer. Same for Widgets, a Tiger feature, not to forget Utilities (under Applications), with Activity Monitor (to see which program does what on your computer) and System Profiler (go easy!)
Via Vinny came the following recommended resources from Garrett Krnich (805-215-8400 - lockecole@mac.com) (who will be speaking about film making at the next regular meeting):
www.blog-connection.com
www.writerswrite.com/journal/jul02/gak16.htm
www.createblog.com
www.jamescollins.net/blogging/
www.inc.com/articles/2003/07/blogres.html
www.bloggersblog.com
www.forbes.com/bow/b2c/section.jhtml?id=12
www.livejournal.com/community/audiography/
www.livejournal.com/community/picturing_food/
Q & A period followed.
Thank you, Vincent DePass, for a good evening!
Vinny is available for Macintosh consulting work at
(805) 234-6130
vinnydepass@mac.com
Raffle was held.
PS. Note: New Times, July 28 - Aug 4 issue has a lead article about blogs. There is a list of SLO County bloggers at
www.slopages.com/sloggers/index.asp
Einar Berg
Secretary
Tuesday, June 28, 2005 - 7pm
Subject - Digital Cameras and Photo Printers
Brent McGregor of Campus Cameras will speak to us about Miniature digital cameras and new photo printers. Put this on your calendar and save up your digital camera questions!
Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Odd Fellows Hall, San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, June 28, 2005.
18 persons were present, excluding the guest speaker.
President Joe Peel, opened the meeting and apologized for the late start (due to technical problems with the projector). After Dale Landis, our Treasurer, had announced the raffle (with a gift certificate at the MacSuperstore as the prize), Joe continued with a tribute to Claire Gordon, our Program Director who was featured in the June 25th issue of the Santa Maria Times - she has an illustrious past in the field of jazz and has just written and published a book. He then introduced our guest speaker, Mr. Brent McGregor from Jim’s Campus Camera.
Brent confessed he is still using film, but hinted that it may be a matter of time before his world turns totally digital. He talked about the pros and cons of the new miniature cameras, having brought a very small Canon for show and tell. The main advantage seems to be that you can always carry the camera with you and photograph events and things you would otherwise miss. Cons would be that they are easily dropped and damaged, even damaged in luggage, especially models with exterior zoom. Konika and others have, or are coming out with, internal optical zoom (prism system), which is less vulnerable. Well-known brands are recommended, since lens qualities tend to be superior. The small size of these cameras does not prevent a wonderful performance, but 4 or 5 megapixels are recommended if the photos are to be enlarged beyond 4x6 or shown on newer TV systems. Optical zoom is preferred since a computer can take care of the cropping produced by the digital zoom in the camera and give the same result.
Another con of mini-cameras should be mentioned: poor flash range, perhaps 5-6 feet vs. the normal 15 or so.
He recommended and showed a mini-tripod, a very useful tool for these small cameras considering small lenses and thus slow shutter speeds under low-light conditions. Cameras with a view finder are a must, since the screen is very hard to see in bright light.
Brent showed us a very portable mini-printer producing top quality 4x6’s at a cost of about 60ç per copy. Cost of printer: about $180.
There are no universal agreements as to the perfect methods for color measuring and rendition, thus many printing problems. Instability of inks and paper add to the problem, fading being the main concern. Watch out for cheap inks! They may fade in as little as a year and a half - versus 30 to 100 years for top and archival quality. Brent recommended Canon and Epson printers as currently producing the best results. He also suggested putting photo data on a CD or DVD and taking them to a photo lab for regular chemical printing on photo paper - this for valuable family photos, etc. Matte paper promises better longevity than glossy, since the surface offers better adhesion for the dyes in ink jet printers.
Another problem is that CD’s and DVD’s also tend to go bad due to oxidation of the reflective layer, although some may last up to 30 years. One brand (Delkin - efilm Archival Gold, www.delkin.com) now has a gold reflective layer announcing a 100 year reliability - assuming the plastics don’t deteriorate, I guess.
Brent’s talk was followed by a brief Q & A period.
Joe thanked the speaker for an excellent presentation.
Dale held the raffle.
Einar Berg
Secretary
Tuesday, May 24, 2005 - 7pm
Subject - OSX 10.4 (a.k.a. TIGER)
Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Odd Fellows Hall, San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, May 24, 2005.
31 persons were present, excluding the guest speaker.
President Joe Peel, opened the meeting and introduced Mr. Ben Hudson (ben@macsuper.com), our guest speaker from the MacSuperstore, who gave us an introduction to Tiger, OS System 10.4.
Tiger is the 5th revision of System X. With over 200 new features, Tiger offers a “wide range of solutions for customers in many industries” to quote an Apple sales training outline, which Ben was kind enough to provide for me to supplement my notes. A few of the main new features are as follows:
SPOTLIGHT
Spotlight is a desktop search engine and lets you search by file name, content, and metadata, not just for documents but mail messages, photos, music, address book entries, etc. Information is entered as you create the documents and thus instantly available to the search engine. Search results can be saved as a smart folder. You can customize the system so that new messages automatically get placed in such a smart folder, e.g. mail from a certain person or firm. Multilingual search is also available, as well as search within system preferences.
DASHBOARD
Dashboard is a direct desktop avenue to unit conversion, weather reports, calculator, calendar, dictionary, thesaurus, and the yellow pages, among other things.
Mail
In addition to a new look, Mail has been upgraded to allow for Spotlight search and smart mailboxes, parental control, HTML formatting (allowing direct mailing of web pages), a slideshow for photos mailed to you. Parental control options are also available.
Safari
Safari has RSS (Real Simple Syndication). This means you can customize search to include multiple websites simultaneously, e.g. access specific information (long or short) from multiple sources in one search. This is god sent for people doing research. You do, of course, have to bookmark the websites in question. Websites can be archived as well. Automatic feed detection will give you a blue RSS marker at the end of the address line whenever you go to a website that has an RSS feed. A new important feature in Safari is private browsing - creates no history, sets no cookies. It also has parental controls options.
Windows compatibility
Tiger allows access to Windows-based networks, allowing a company to integrate Mac and Windows hardware and software, such as sharing printers, exchange Mail and Address Book information.
QuickTime
QuickTime has been upgraded to H.264 (for sharper picture), but you still have to get the Pro version to capture or share audio and video or get the full screen view, not to mention edit video - not fair, I think, but that’s another story.
Automator
You can automate repetitive tasks, even complex ones. AppleScript is still available and “provides a broad range of development capabilities,” again to quote the sales pitch.
Other things were mentioned - voice over, automatic networking (auto-detect of hotspots when traveling), better security with personal firewall, etc.
Ben was warmly applauded for his excellent presentation.
Joe introduced Vincent DePass for a Q & A period. (Vinny has recently left the MacSuperstore and started his own Mac problem solver business called Macintosh Dr., offering reduced consultation rates for members of the club: 805-234-6130, e-mail: vinnydepass@mac.com). But the hour was getting late and only one question came forth.
Dale Landis, Treasurer, held the raffle.
Einar Berg
Secretary
Tuesday, April 26, 2005 - 7pm
James Lee from Tropical Software will show us TopXNotes
It isn’t often that a Silicon Valley company makes a 200 plus mile trip down the coast to give us a presentation of their software, so we are delighted to announce that the president of Tropical Software, James H. Lee, will be our presenter on Tuesday, April 26th. He will show us the program his company has developed called TopXNotes. Mr. Lee writes us that this software was designed originally as a replacement for the old Apple Notepad that Apple killed with the advent of Stickies in OS 9. The intention was to build a modern replacement, but they got carried away and developed a somewhat more elaborate product called TopXNotes. The software is beyond being a simple notepad replacement and also became a way for anyone who uses Macs to create notes, organize them, access them quickly, and secure sensitive data. Mr. Lee will show us how to do it.
Meeting Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Odd Fellows Hall, San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, April 26, 2005.
22 persons were present, excluding the guest speaker.
President Joe Peel, opened the meeting and introduced Mr. Bob Boyer as having agreed to serve on the Board. Joe talked about the club and mentioned Claire Gordon's excellent job as Program Director and that Claire is still looking for a replacement.
Joe introduced Vincent DePass for a Q & A period. Vinny has recently left the MacSuperstore and started his own Mac problem solver business called Macintosh Dr., offering reduced consultation rates for members of the club.
Sharing his knowledge was much appreciated. Should you need his services, his phone: 805-234-6130, e-mail: vinnydepass@mac.com
Dale Landis, Treasurer, announced the raffle.
Joe introduced the guest speaker, James H. Lee, President, Tropical Software, traveling in from the "Silicon Valley" area but currently living and working in Atlantic Beach, Florida. He was a software developer with Apple for many years and started his own company recently.
Due to a misunderstanding, no projector was available, but Mr. Lee had us arrange the chairs in a tight semicircle so we could see his laptop screen.
He and his company has developed TopXNotes, sort of a development of Apple's old Notepad (which was dropped and replaced with Stickies for System 9).
It's a handy quick-note system for the busy person who needs plenty of little reminder notes for fast access without having Stickies covering the screen.
It organizes all your notes in an easy system. You set up your own Categories, e.g. shopping, to do list, passwords and access information to accounts. You can use any font, text size, color, etc. and also choose background color or highlight color for extra emphasis.
Several notes can be displayed simultaneously and a traveling icon indicates which one you are working on.
Templates can be created for certain tasks, such as credit card, bank, software serial # info. Sensitive information can be protected, since you can encrypt, not an individual note but the whole document - and TopXNotes, if I understood it correctly, is filed and kept as a single document.
There is an auto-save function, and the system will remember your last setup at startup. Access is easy through the Dock and/or as a separate little icon on the desktop. A search system is being developed but not currently a part of TopXNotes.
The help system is concise and easy to use - the menus in general are easy to access and use. In addition, the program exports or prints, as any word processing program would. You can choose the Text or RTF format.
Perhaps we can dub TopXNotes a word processing program for dummies?
The program costs $20 for download and $25 for CD - with a $2 discount for club members this evening. The website is www.tropic4.com
We thank James Lee for an informative and useful presentation.
Raffle was held, with a copy of TopXNotes and the Epson Photo Stylus 1200 printer (donated by Ed Rush).
Einar Berg
Secretary
Tuesday, March 22, 2005 - 7pm
Learn all about iLife05
Our speaker will be Mac expert Garrett Krnich. He has just moved into our area from San Diego where he was one of the Mac experts at the big Mac store there. His presentation is” All about iLife 05.” This is an update from the previous software and includes iTunes, iphoto, i Movie, iDV , and Garageband2. You will be amazed at how much more you can do with your photos, music and so on. We will have time for other questions and answers and, if time allows, a display of more new software.
Meeting Minutes:
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Odd Fellows Hall, San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, March 22, 2005.
President Joe Peel, opened the meeting. While we were waiting for the guest speaker to show up, the Treasurer, Dale Landis, mentioned the two items that were going to be raffled off: A book on iDVD movie making and a black Apple tee-shirt. Joe also announced a "Soft-Tech" gathering on the 23rd of March at the iPod store (next to the the Mac Superstore). Vice President Ed Rush, who will be leaving the area and is looking for someone to take over the SLOMUG data base (AppleWorks), offered an Epson Stylus Photo 1200 printer for the raffle at the next meeting, a big incentive for all to come to the next gathering.
By this time, the speaker had arrived, and Joe introduced Mr. Garrett Krnich, an independent filmmaker and editor who recently relocated to this area.
30 persons were present, plus the guest speaker.
A question had already been raised as to how to renumber photos in iPhoto so Garrett launched straight into that topic; evidently, there is an option of "Batch" change. He then continued to demonstrate various virtues of the upgraded version of iPhoto, which is directly compatible with Formal Cut Pro, among other programs, if I got it right, and thus very useful for professionals and amateurs alike.
Of all the upgrades offered in iLife 5, iPhoto seems to have undergone most changes. The information window offers options to change dates, names, e.g., and also includes a search function. The slide show now includes options to edit the Ken Burns effect (zooming in and out of photos), and the photos can elegantly be shuffled around to your heart's content - and then directly burned to a DVD.
iPhoto's automatic duplication process was discussed. It takes up much memory, but it useful when you want to revert to the original version of a photo. However, iPhoto Diet or iPhoto Cache Cleaner are programs that will remove the duplicates.
All in all, it was an informal and useful hands-on presentation and the President thanked the speaker warmly. There was no time to discuss the promised iDVD upgrade. We hope Mr. Krnich can return to present that program. He can be reached at Dream Cafe Productions, phone (805)215-8400, e-mail: lockecole@mac.com
Einar Berg
Secretary
Tuesday, February 22, 2005 - 7pm
Professor Hal Hinderliter of Cal Poly will talk about XML
You asked. Hal Hinderliter was promised for January but postponed. He will be definitely be SLOMUG’s guest speaker on Tuesday, Feb 22, at 7 PM. Our usual place, Odd Fellows Hall on Dana Street.
Hinderliter is both a well-known author and educator, director of the new graphic communications institute at Cal Poly. He will give us an introductory session to something very new and different -- XML which stands for “ EXtensible Markup Language.” It does not mean having to buy new software— users can continue using their current applications, with translation techniques. XML is a new programming language, just like HTML was once new many years ago. And just like with HTML, some people will choose to learn how to write out the computer instructions by hand, while most will rely on existing software programs that make the process more user friendly. Both will be demonstrated. Desk top publishers will find this of particular interest because XML is a programming and style sheet language to improve printing and publishing output.
We will also have q and a period and a drawing. Those who forgot in January are reminded to bring check-books and write a check to SLOMUG for $20 for your years’ membership. We have several ideas in work for future programs but we’d like to get a quick overview of the software you use and your interests in using your Mac to plan for the sort of topics you would enjoy the most.
Claire Gordon, Program chair
Meeting Minutes:
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Odd Fellows Hall, San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, February 22, 2005.
The President, Joe Peel, opened the meeting.
24 persons were present, plus the guest speaker.
Vice President, Ed Rush, mentioned Small Dog Electronics as a good and honest dealer in Apple products and peripherals. In a weekly message from Small Dog, he saw a good review of the Skype VoIP telephone program. To see the review itself, go to http://www.smalldog.com/newsarchive/techtails_display.php?id=247 and scroll about halfway down. Skype makes it free to talk to someone via computer. What Skype does (that other IM software such as iChat doesn't) is that you can call telephone numbers from your computer and talk to people who are on their regular telephone. The charge to talk to an actual telephone is about 2¢ per minute.
Ed mentioned two other iPod-related products. One is replacement batteries for $23 at iPod911.com. The other is their DockCover, a hardwood dock for the iPod, at westshorecraftworks.com. A nice gift for the right person!
The President welcomed the guest speaker, Professor Hal Hinderliter, director of the new Graphic Communication Institute at Cal Poly. He is a well-known author and educator and has been in the printing business since he was 17 (shall we guess, about 30 years ago?).
He introduced what he called The XML Revolution. The XML (EXtensible Markup Language) is a computer language that will truly revolutionize the graphic communications, including printing and web publishing. I¹ll quote a few paragraphs from Hal¹s handout, since my level of expertise may not lend itself to a correct and precise description of XML.
XML is actually an entire category of markup languages, each with a special purpose:
1. For the exchange of database information
2. For the display of data in multiple formats
3. to provide metadata that allows automated discovery
XML allows developers to adopt their own unique modifications, yet remain compatible with with other systems.
XML must be paired with a matching style sheet to have a formatted appearance.
In other words, XML is great for storing the content of your written masterpiece in a media-neutral format (neither print-specific nor web-specific) and then allow you to edit or update the content without having to redo the formatting or layout (which is contained in the style sheet). It also allows the exchange of complex data between systems.
Many programs and approaches as available for these media-neutral workflows, including Adobe InDesign 2+ and QuarkXPress 5+, Apropos Roustabout, Atomic Roundtrip, XML Spy, Turbo XML, and Corel¹s XMetal. ³Industrial strength² XML composition systems are offered by Arbortext, XyEnterprise, Advent, and others.
For more information. go to www.xml.com.
You can also signup for a FREE monthly newsletter at http://grci.calpoly.edu/contact.html to learn more about Cal Poly¹s testing and research programs, as well as Newspaper Production Workshops, cosponsored by Goss International.
Professor Hinderliter demonstrated in detail the process of tagging a document, then stayed for a brief question and answer period.
We thank him for an excellent presentation.
A raffle was held.
Einar Berg
Secretary
Tuesday, January 25, 2004 - 7pm
Josh Oakes of MacSuperstore spoke about troubleshooting Macs.
Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - 7pm
Lorraine Donegan of Cal Poly talked about fonts
Meeting Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Odd Fellows Hall, San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, November 23, 2004.
Joe Peel opened the meeting. The Secretary may have missed portion of this, since he was requested to go and get an extension cord for the projector.
20 persons were present, plus the guest speaker.
Joe introduced last year's officers and asked for further nominations for each office. There were none. Einar Berg was introduced as offering to be secretary. There was then a voice vote of ayes to accept the following slate.
President: Joe Peel
Vice President: Ed Rush
Treasurer: Dale Landis
Program Chair: Claire Gordon
Secretary: Einar Berg
The President welcomed the guest speaker, Lorraine Donegan, a Graphic Arts Communication Professor from Cal Poly. If this does not impress you, go to Google and search under “Lorraine Donegan.” About 87 entries!!!
The topic was fonts and how to manage fonts. She gave us some useful handouts, specially recommending Chuck Weger’s articles at creativepro.com with step by step instructions on how to eliminate excessive fonts from the rather huge supply available to OS X users. She described Font Formats, such as Type 1, True type, and Open type, the latter evidently offering infinite possibilities for manipulation. (Some of this information was lost on me, since I am running OS 9 and not very well versed in X. - I must also confess that between Times New Roman and Georgia, with a few excursions into Apple Chancery, Bickley Script, Bradley Hand, and Sand, I am doing just fine for letters and greeting cards!)
Many questions popped up, and Lorraine, graciously and gracefully, handled them all. And we thank her for her contribution. For more information and many links, go to her website: www.calpoly.edu/~ldonegan .
Einar Berg, Secretary
Tuesday, October 26, 2004 - 7pm
SLOMUG member Sally Gorey will demonstrate Reunion, a geneology program
Please give Sally the honor of your presence on October 26th at 7PM, Odd Fellows Hall. Also, please remember that SLOMUG elections will be held in November by email. This is a volunteer organization. Who wants to chair the meetings? Who wants to be secretary? Program chair? Treasurer? None of the jobs require more than an hour a month of work. We need your participation. Volunteer!
Claire Gordon, Program chair 474-6509
Tuesday, September 28, 2004 - 7pm
How to Use 4th Dimension, an award-winning database program
4D, Inc. would like to show you and your fellow MUG members how databases can make your life easier. We'll show you how you can better manage your data, whether it be contacts, sales leads, pictures, or more complex data needs, with the easy-to-use power of 4th Dimension. This program lets you easily store and track all types of data, print labels, create reports, build charts and more - with no programming required! If you enjoy programming, 4D's programming language gives you the power to build any kind of application you want.
To learn more about live 4D presentations for MUG's, visit
http://www.4d.com/mug/presentation.html
We will not take time from this interesting presentation to remind you about the forthcoming electronic election for SLOMUG in November. We have a proposed slate of officers.
Claire Gordon, Program chair 474-6509
Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 7pm
Spreadsheet Basics - Not Just Number Crunching will be the topic of Jack Hennessy of the Cambria Computer Club
This presentation includes—
€ Background
€ About spreadsheets
€ Key spreadsheet concepts
€ Types of data you can enter
€ Formulas (functions)
€ Selecting cells and entering data
€ Editing and deleting data
€ Cutting, copying & pasting data
€ Formatting data
€ Sorting data
€ Incorporating charts
€ Placing spreadsheets into text documents
€ Spreadsheet examples
We will meet as usual at 7 PM, Odd Fellows Hall on Dana Street in SLO, Tuesday August 24th.
Please remember that we are due to have elections at the end of the year by email. Do you or a friend wish to be active, help select programs or participate in any waay? Please send your nomination to Cal dePass caldepass@hotmail.com . Come on Tuesday, bring your Mac questions and enjoy our program.
Claire Gordon, Program chair 474-6509
Tuesday, July 27, 2004 - 7pm
A demo of iMovie 4 and other interesting stuff will be given by Harold Adams of the Santa Barbara User Group
Last year his presentation was such a hit that we have had many requests for him to return. He is obliging us. Please remember, we start promptly at 7PM, at Odd Fellow Hall 520 Dana St. in SLO. Lot of free off-street parking.
Now a little business. Last year, due to attrition of officers, we were obliged to have an emergency election in September. Rightfully it should be at year-end for installation in January. All current officers are willing to continue serving next year with the exception of our secretary, Jean Anderson, who would like to be replaced. These are the secretary’s duties: Come to the meeting, make a note of how many people attended, the subject matter, the speaker’s name and and anything else noteworthy. eMail the information to our Web site. Perhaps once or twice a year there will be a 10 minute officers’ meeting. That’s it.
Chair duties. Follow the agenda and make announcements. Introduce the speaker
Vice chair-replace the chairman when necessary
Secretary-see above
Membership—keep the roster up to date from the monthly sign-in sheet and email returns.
Treasurer- Collect the money from donations and memberships, bank, and cut a check each month for the rent and other expenses, as necessary.
Program- Get speakers for the meetings; send out monthly meeting announcements
The roster (current officers)
Chairman Joe Peel
Vice chair Ed Rush
Secretary-open
Membership-Ed Rush
Treasurer-Dale Landis
Program- Claire Gordon
We hope a few other people would like to serve. This is not a dynasty.
Cal de Pass has offered to be in charge of the electronic election. Let him know your nomination by email at caldepass@hotmail.com . We will vote in December by email, same address.
See you Tuesday 27th!
Claire Gordon, Program chair 474-6509
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Exploring Internet providers and spam
Feel free to share your experiences about spam and bring your questions.
Ed will tell us how to set up mail application filters for spam.We will discuss the various internet providers, pros and cons.
Learn about some lesser-known features of Google. The meeting is at 7PM at Odd Fellow Hall 520 Dana St. in SLO.
Claire Gordon, Program chair 474 6509
Tuesday, May 25, 2004 - 7pm
Getting the Most out of Panther is the topic of our speaker Shane Williams of MacSuperstore
In case you missed it, the Mac members who attended the April meeting were totally intrigued. Our speaker, Cal Poly Professor Lorraine Donegan, kept adding more important details about Quark and In Design. And all of you in listeners kept having more questions to ask. Instead of closing up around 8:15 or 8:30, it was almost 9 before we persuaded everyone to leave.
A year ago, we still had many members who were using system 9 and even who some who still used system 8. It was a surprise that when a show of hands was requested for people using System X, almost every hand went up. That being the case, our May presentation promises to be really special so we are letting you know well you in advance. On May 25th, Shane from Mac Superstore is going to show how to “get the most out of Panther.” Don’t miss this!
Here’s a preview of some up-coming meetings. In July, by popular demand, Harold Adams from the Santa Barbara Mac group will return and show us the latest version of iMovie. Jack Hennessy from the Cambria user group will be with us in August and share the information he presented to his group. The subject is fascinating and useful ways to use a data base. And in August, a first! We are getting a demonstration from the people who developed the data base software, 4th dimension in Silicon Valley. I’m sure everyone will want to see what this is about.
We meet on 4th Tuesdays at Odd Fellows Hall, 7 PM. All Mac users are welcome. We hope to see you at our forthcoming meetings.
Claire Gordon, SLOMUG Program chair
Tuesday, April 27, 2004 - 7pm
Macintosh Page Layout Programs will be presented by Loraine Donegan of Cal Poly
Our speaker this month is Lorraine Donegan, assistant professor in Graphic Communication at Cal Poly. She will discuss InDesign and Quark. Professor Donegan will show us what Adobe is offering PageMaker users to ease their transition to InDesign. She will also cover Quark and help you decide which of these programs is right for you.
Bring your questions for a Q-and-A period. There will also be a drawing, as usual.
Meeting announcement by Claire Gordon.
Tuesday, March 23, 2004 - 7pm
From Vinyl to CD is the topic of our speaker Vinny DePass of MacSuperstore.
Meeting announcement by Claire Gordon.
If you have a stack of old 33rpm records that you really enjoy but you wish they were CD’s instead, Vinny is going to show you how to do this. He will also demo Garage Band.
If you haven’t been to a meeting recently, please be aware that beginning in January we have a new location, the Odd Fellow Hall in SLO at 520 Dana Street. Lots of parking. Meetings start promptly at 7 PM. This time we will begin with 15 minutes of Q and A. followed by our speaker.
Please note, our membership lists have just been revised and updated. If by mistake you have received two notices, please email me at clgordon@charter.net and let me know.
Tuesday, February 24, 2004 - 7pm
A Demonstration of the new Adobe Photoshop will be given by Brian Lawler.
Meeting announcement by Claire Gordon.
Everyone enjoyed last month’s wonderful presentation by Brian Mc Gregor of Jim’s Camera so much that we wouldn’t let him go. This month we offer another outstanding speaker. Brian Lawler is a photographer, writer, educator, and consultant. Currently he is in the Graphic Communication Department at Cal Poly, and works as a graphic arts and photographic industry consultant with clients worldwide. His regular articles on the CreativePro.com website are read by thousands. He will demonstrate the new Adobe Photoshop Creative Suite and discuss its interaction with other Adobe publishing and illustration applications. Even if you don’t have this software, it is worth knowing about it and possibly it is something you will want to own.
The meeting is this coming Tuesday at 7 PM , Odd Fellow Hall on Dana Street. Plenty of parking. We will also have a question and answer period and a drawing.
For March, Vinny De Pass will present Garage Band. In the months following we plan to present demos of other interesting Mac software.
Anytime, check into our Web site, SLOMUG.com for news about our group and about Macintosh.
Tuesday, January 27, 2004 - 7pm
Digital Cameras, pros and cons will be presented by Brent MacGregor of Jim’s Campus Cameras at the Tuesday Jan 27 SLOMUG general meeting.
Meeting announcement by Claire Gordon.
Starting the fourth Tuesday of this month, SLOMUG will be meeting every fourth Tuesday at a new place-
Odd Fellow Hall
520 Dana St. in SLO
Dana is a cul de sac street off Nipomo, between Monterey and Palm heading west. Actually it is almost exactly where Monterey dead ends. The Hall is near the end of the street with a large parking lot. We will have a very nice room, much more space and hope we will need it. The only bad part is we have to pay $30 a month for use of the room. A hat or box will be available for your voluntary contribution. Those who wish to join, membership now is only $20 a year per person, $30 per couple. Members need not contribute at meetings. Here is your chance!
The first meeting is January 27 at 7 PM. The manager of Jim’s Camera will tell us all about digital cameras. We’ll have q. and a. and reports from our members about what was new and special at Mac World. Looking ahead, mark your calendar Feb 24th A demo of Rendezvous
For those that who would be interested, The Cambria Computer Club January 2004 Macintosh Users meeting will be held at the Joslyn Center, in the Conference Room, on the second Thursday (January 8th) at 2:00 PM (doors open at 1:30) and will feature Rick Auricchio who will be repeating the presentation he made to the group last July, "Migrating to Mac OS X from Earlier Versions". Rick is the owner/operator of "Macs Only", specializing in Macintosh support in the Cambria area. He has over 20 years' experience as a software engineer for Apple Computer---four years of Mac OS X development and usage experience.
As usual the January meeting will start with an informal open forum prior to the main presentation - for all participants, all levels of expertise - for problem solving and sharing information. Arrive early to listen in and/or participate.
Note: All meetings will be at the Ludwick Community Center, 864 Santa Rosa Street (at Mill), San Luis Obispo, Room 1 at 7 PM. Street parking is available on Mill Street, and in the parking lot at the rear of the Center. Note that the Sierra Club sometimes meets at the same time, so parking may be limited. Click HERE for a map.
Future meetings: 11/14/06 (special meeting date this month - second Tuesday instead of third Tuesday), December 2006 - no meeting
____________________________________________________________________________
Past Meeting Announcements & Minutes:
October 17, 2006 - 7pm - Ludwick Community Center
Regular Computer Maintenance for Your Mac by Vincent DePass, the Mac Doctor
Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Ludwick Community Center, San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, October 17, 2006.
President Joe Peel opened the meeting shortly after 7, with 30 persons in attendance. Shortly after the beginning, Claire Gordon, announced the slate of the club’s future officers: Einar Berg, Chair, Joe Peel, VP, and Jean Anderson, Membership. She then requested and obtained a volunteer for Treasurer.
Chuck Adoff, reminded the membership that the November meeting is moved to Tuesday, the 14th to avoid crowding Thanksgiving week. The presenter will be: Dennis Johansen from Jim's Campus Camera to speak on the latest trends in digital cameras, more mega pixels, size of point and shoot cameras, versatility of SLR cameras and more camera for your buck.
The presenter for October’s meeting was Vincent DePass, the Mac Doctor. His topic was: “Regular Computer Maintenance for Your Mac”.
He pointed out that, as with our autos and other major appliances, regular maintenance is required to obtain optimum performance from the computer. His first recommendation was to move to the latest operating system to take advantage of the improvements that come with each upgrade. He then made a distinction between upgrades, which are accompanied by whole number increases in the OS, example, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, and updates, which are identified by additional decimals in the existing OS, example, 10.4.1, to the present 10.4.8.
Upgrades represent major changes in the OS and in the past have been sold for $129. Updates are minor changes and are usually available free from Apple. A new upgrade is in the works, code named “Leopard”, but no launch date has been announced.
Vinny then specified the importance of cleaning the desktop prior to installing upgrades and updates, and protecting data by backing up. He explained the location of Disk Utility, and its use in Repairing Permissions.
He then focused on correcting several problems some of which could be resolved by running Apple Hardware Test, which is on the CD/DVD that came with the computer.
Finally, he noted that many problems can be corrected by either running Disk Utility and Repairing Permissions, or by running Disk Warrior, a third party utility which optimizes the data base used by the computer to order the files in its volume.
Questions from the members were handled throughout the presentation, which formally ended around 8:15, although several members remained to ask further questions.
September 19, 2006 - 7pm - Ludwick Community Center
Josh Ernstrom of MacSuperstore will present “Sharing Your Memories”
Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Ludwick Community Center, San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, September 19, 2006.
President Joe Peel opened the meeting shortly after 7, with 20 persons in attendance. Joe mentioned the need for volunteers to fill several positions on the club’s board. The elections will be held at October meeting.
The group was questioned on whether the November meeting should be held since its scheduled date occurs in the same week as Thanksgiving. (Note - it has been since determined that the normal meeting place is available one week earlier than our normal third Tuesday of the month so the final meeting of the year will be held on the second Tuesday of November which is November 14 ... please mark your calendars)
Prior to the evening’s presentation Chuck Berman, a professional photographer based in Los Angeles, extended an invitation to the group to attend his class on “creating panoramic images” the following evening at 7 at the San Luis Obispo Art Center. He also donated two DVDs that were raffled at the end of the meeting.
Joe introduced Josh Ernstrom, Sales Manager of MacSuperstore, and our presenter for the evening on the topic of “Sharing Your Memories”.
Josh focused on iPhoto and how easy its use, together with Mail, or other email programs, makes sharing photos. He spoke of creating folders that could be shared, and using iWeb, now part of .Mac accounts, to post photos on the web while providing an address to invited parties to view them.
He also provided examples of the books that can be ordered from Apple. The photos were clear, and were printed on high quality paper, and bound in a book form. He finally indicated that there was a way to enable receivers of previous photos to automatically obtain upgrades to changes made at the host’s computer. Josh answered questions as they arose. The one message he emphasized was the wisdom of not changing photos in the Library as they obey Apple’s file structure and corruption can result in many subsequent problems.
The DVDs mentioned earlier were raffled, and the meeting was adjourned shortly after 8:30
Tues, August 15, 2006 - 7pm - Ludwick Community Center
Daniel Adoff will present an overview of Adobe Photoshop
NOTE:The meeting will start with Shane Williams, owner of MacSuperstore, sharing his thoughts on the new Apple store coming to town. A brief question and answer period will follow.
Daniel will explain the layout of the Photoshop software, including its tools and menus. He will demonstrate some simple examples based on questions, and will explain also how Photoshop CS and Photoshop Elements can be used by everyone.
Lastly, Daniel will show how to use Photomerge to interconnect two or more photos into one continues panorama.
A San Luis Obispo native, Daniel attended Laguna College of Art and Design, majoring in illustration, with a focus on computer illustration. He has also taught computer illustration at the College.
For more information: cadoff@charter.net
Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Ludwick Community Center, San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, August 15, 2006.
President Joe Peel opened the meeting shortly after 7, with 42 persons in attendance. The meeting was turned over to Mr. Shane Williams, Owner of MacSuperstore, for an update on the recent announcement of the opening of an Apple Computer, Inc. store in downtown San Luis Obispo.
While acknowledging the group’s support he provided some insights to the relations of Apple Computer with retailers like himself. He concluded that MacSuperstore would have to adapt to the eventuality of the new store, and continue to build on its loyal customer base, providing those services in which MacSuperstore would enjoy a competitive advantage.
In response to questions of what action the group could take to request reconsideration on the part of Apple Computer, he thought that little could be done to alter the decision. He closed his presentation on a positive optimistic note.
The meeting was then turned over to Daniel Adoff, a recent graduate of Laguna College of Art and Design, for his presentation on Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. His equipment included a laptop, a WACOM tablet (including the pressure sensitive stylus) and a projector.
He began his introduction by pointing out that while Apple’s iPhoto tools provide some means of manipulating photos, both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements offer a wider range of control over photographs. He also mentioned that Photoshop is geared to professionals, and costs $600. Photoshop Elements is designed for the consumer market, and retails for $100. But he did emphasize that many of the tools are common to both applications.
He then proceeded to demonstrate many of the tools allowing the audience to observe the effects of their use on a photograph. One feature that drew much discussion was the one, which allowed the “stitching” together of a series of discrete photographs into a seamless panoramic view.
Questions were posed and addressed throughout his presentation. The session was closed shortly after 8:30.
SLOMUG’s next meeting will tackle the questions of which Mac is best for you? Josh, Sales Manager of MacSuperstore will be the presenter..
Tues, July 18, 2006 - 7pm - Ludwick Community Center
Vinny DePass will present Troubleshooting Your Mac
Vinny, "The Mac Doctor", is a professional who specializes in installing, maintaining and repairing Macintosh computers and computer systems. Prior to starting his own business, he worked for MacSuperstore.
Bring your questions about how to maintain and repair your Mac hardware and software to the meeting.
For more information: cadoff@charter.net
Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Ludwick Community Center, San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, July 18, 2006.
Joe Peel, President opened the meeting shortly after 7, with 25 persons in attendance.
Chuck Adoff, Program Chair, announced that next month’s meeting would focus on Photoshop or Illustrator, and that Mr. David Adoff would be next month’s presenter. Similarly, the September meeting would focus on the question of “Which new Mac is right for you”, and MacSuperstore would present.
Today’s meeting was on Troubleshooting, however, Vinny DePass, the scheduled presenter was ill. In his absence Cal DePass offered to lead the meeting on the assumption that many of the questions would probably find answers from others in attendance.
Cal initially made reference to a couple resources that he found useful. TidBITS published by Adam and Tonya Engst, and Take Control of Maintaining Your Mac by Joe Kissell. TidBITS is a free newsletter, a while Take Control is an ebook costing $10.
In Take Control the author indicates which series of maintenance activities should be carried out on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. After this general introduction of this resource the floor was opened for questions. The assumption about the wisdom in the group was amply met as most questions were addressed.
Some time was also spent on addressing a rumor that Apple Computer was considering locating an Apple Store in SLO. After much discussion of the topic the Secretary was asked to contact Mr. Shane Williams, owner of MacSuperstore, to request the name of a contact at Apple Computer Co. The group decided that letters were preferable to emails, and individual contact rather than a form letter.
The Program Chair confirmed the group’s preference for Photoshop for August’s meeting.
Joe Peel adjourned the meeting shortly after 8.
June 20, 2006 - 7pm - Ludwick Community Center
Program: Creating a computer design with Corel Painter IX
Presenter: Daniel Adoff, a a recent graduate of Laguna College of Art and Design. While obtaining his BFA he majored in illustration and has taught computer illustration classes. At present he has his own computer illustration business and is working with a number of clients.
Daniel will demonstrate how to create a computer design using Corel Painter IX, a popular cross-platform painting and illustration program, and display some of the designs he has created.
From the Corel Web site:
More power to fuel your creativity
"The world's most popular painting and illustration software just got even better! Corel® Painter™ IX.5 features a new set of advanced tools and features to help you create your digital masterpieces. Now it's especially easy to transform photographs into stunning paintings with the addition of Photo Painting palettes. Discover Corel Painter IX.5 today!" See http://apps.corel.com/painterix/home/index.html
For more information: cadoff@charter.net
Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Ludwick Community Center, San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, June 20, 2006.
Einar Berg, Vice President opened the meeting shortly after 7, with 12 persons in attendance. Einar made a couple comments related to his presentation in May. He indicated that he had placed the presentation on the SLOMUG’s site, dividing the file into 5 sections to facilitate downloading by older computers.
Chuck Adoff introduced Mr. Daniel Adoff, a recent graduate of Laguna College of Art and Design. Daniel obtained a BFA in Illustration, with further specialization in Computer Design. His topic for the evening was: Creating a Computer Design with Corel Painter IX.
He began his introduction by telling us a bit regarding his training that focused initially on classical art training, and in the later years included design and computer design.
He noted that there is some functional overlap between Photoshop and Corel Painter, the main distinction being that where Photoshop is used to enhance a photo/drawing, in Corel you can start from a variety of media.
He illustrated his presentation by using a photograph, and showing us a scripted version of how the photograph was used to create a painting from the photograph.
The program (Corel) is loaded with tools which enable the user to create many views, including the surface on which the design is created, and the colors used.
Although the mouse can be used for input a much more efficient means is the use of A Wacom Tablet. The tablet comes in many sizes Daniel’s is
9” X 12”, and included a stylus that is a remarkable tool in itself. Different pressures, and angles yield different strokes that are translated on the computer’s screen.
Daniel answered questions throughout his presentation that lasted about 1 hr. The cost of the program is around $350, with a variety of plug-ins that give the program additional functionality. He also indicated that more information, including learning materials, could be obtained at the company’s website.
Those present received a 5.5” X 8.5” card advertising Daniel’s work with his address, phone, and email. Fees for his services vary according to the project and the ultimate consumer of the design. He also indicated that a version of his presentation would be posted on SLOMUG’s site.
At the conclusion of the presentation a raffle for the latest version of iLife was held. Mr. Howard Ibsen, was the holder of the winning ticket.
Ms. Verena von Engel became a member. The meeting was adjourned shortly after 8 pm.
May 16, 2006 - 7pm - Ludwick Community Center
Brian P. Lawler will talk on the topic Digital Photo Work Flow
Mr Lawler is a graphic arts and prepress consultant and writer based in San Luis Obispo. He will give a lecture on his system of creating an effective digital photo work flow. He has written about it for his column in CreativePro.com, which has not yet been published.
He has about 250,000 photos and other files archived, and can find any one of them in seconds. He has a printed version of his article that he can provide, and will demonstrate how he uses Adobe Bridge, Photo Mechanic, and a shareware program to catalog his many files. He also uses FileMaker Pro to index the disc names so he doesn't duplicate them.
You can reach Mr. Lawler at brian@thelawlers.com and see some of his work at http://www.creativepro.com/author/home/211.html
Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Ludwick Community Center, San Luis Obispo, on Tuesday, May 16, 2006.
16 persons were present, including the guest speaker.
President Joe Peel opened the meeting and welcomed the guest speaker, Brian P. Lawler, a Cal Poly Professor as well as a graphic arts and prepress consultant and writer based in San Luis Obispo. Tonight’s topic: Digital photo work flow.
To quote Brian, "I propose that I do a little bitty lecture on my system of creating an effective digital photo work flow. I have written about it for my column in CreativePro.com, but the article has not yet been published. I have about 250,000 photos and other files archived, and I can find any one of them in seconds... well, minutes. I have a nice printed version of my article that I can provide, and will demonstrate how I use Adobe Bridge, Photo Mechanic,, and a shareware program to catalog my many files. I also use FileMaker Pro to index the disc names so I don't duplicate them.”
Brian proceeded to do just that in his easy, jovial manner that almost disguises what a brilliant teacher he really is.
He discussed saving photos in raw format vs jpeg. Raw takes up an incredible amount of memory space but is a necessity for high quality and/or publication reasons where copyrights can be challenged (Raw serves the way a negative used to). Jpeg may be okay for many purposes. Just remember that, even with improved technology, Jpeg files still lose quality each time a photo is opened.
Brian stressed the importance of using text (rather than numbers) in naming photographs and storage files, names that can be easily remembered. With Adobe bridge you can create key words that’ll assist in locating files, e.g., grandma, 90 years, birthday party, July 2003.
The workflow runs as follows (from the graphics in his handout):
Download images from camera or memory card
Rename images using Adobe Bridge or iPhoto
Sort photos into folders of similar images in Finder or Bridge
Embed IPTC data using Photo Mechanic (copyright data, etc.)
Create Archive on CD/DVD (unless you use printable blanks, make sure you use safe pens for writing on the disks - Staedtler or specially made Sharpie felt tip pens)
Catalog archive disks using Disk Tracker or similar app.
Create backup copy for offsite archive (in case your dog sets your house on fire)
Create low resolution images and disk for customer use or review
Create Web gallery and upload to public or secure site for
client review
Remove photos from computer
Brian recommended storing data disks in individual cases vertically (since warping can occur with horizontal storage). Cases with center spindle (many blanks come in such cases) may be okay for storage if stored on the side so the disks hang vertically from the spindle.
His article A workable work flow for digital photographers will be published on line at www.creativepro.com. I recommend it highly.
You can reach Brian Lawler at <brian@thelawlers.com> and see some of his work at http://www.creativepro.com/author/home/211.html
We thank Brian Lawler for an excellent presentation and welcome him back anytime.
Joe adjourned the meeting.
Einar Berg
Acting Secretary
Apr 18, 2006 - 7pm - Ludwick Community Center
Our own Einar Berg will demonstrate the process of creating/burning a movie on a Macintosh
Einar will be making a short movie from photos, taking us through the process in detail from beginning to end and then burning the DVD and viewing the result. He will then show his 35 minute long movie created from 302 flower and leaf photos, set to Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet in A.
Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Ludwick Community Center, San Luis Obispo, on Tuesday, April 18, 2006.
39 persons were present, including the guest speaker.
President Joe Peel opened the meeting and welcomed the guest speaker, Einar Berg, our current Acting Secretary.
I proceeded to demonstrate movie making using iPhoto, iMovie and iDVD, while taking questions from the audience. Since I was new at iLife 6, I had to enlist the help of others now and then. But finally, the DVD got burned - and it played!
A brief Q & A period followed, after which I showed my 35 minute movie of flowers set to a Mozart concerto. After some more questions, Joe thanked me and closed the meeting.
Here follows a “beginners’ outline” of the procedure I followed for making the movie (iLife 5 version; there are differences in 6, but the information may still be useful if you running 6).
You start with still photos, using the Ken Burns effect in the Slideshow mode of iPhoto for panning and zooming. Double clicking on any photo in the slideshow, brings the photo back to iPhoto should further editing of the photo be necessary, e.g. to remove a previously unnoticed flaw. Clicking on the Done button, brings the slideshow back (as does a double click on the photo).
The Settings button opens a menu for adjusting the display length for each photo, turning off or on the Automatic Ken Burns effect, mode and length of transition , etc.
The Music button allows you to choose music, or, as in this case, turn off the music - adding music in iMovie allows a more precise timing of sound.
Then go to Share in the top Menu and choose Export. A new menu lets you choose size (small, medium, large), and we choose large, for best quality, and Movie file or Desktop as destination (Movie file is usually set as default).
The slideshow has now been turned into a QuickTime movie.
Close down iPhoto and open iMovie. Click on the Create-a- New-Project button and name the movie in the window that opens. In the same window, you are asked to choose Video format. DV would be the common choice usable for most purposes (standard DVD player/TV combination). Then click the Create button and the iMovie main window opens.
Under iMovie HD in the top menu, choose Preferences. A window opens with three choices at the top. In the General window, make sure 29.97 fps is selected under New Project frame rate, unless you are making a movie for your European friends, in which case 25 fps is the choice. Of the other choices in the General window, you can ignore the top three (they are probably checked as default). Of the other four items, I check the last three boxes (extract audio, snap to, play sound), but all this can be changed later as you get used to working the tools in the movie.
Click on Import in the Preference window and select Clips Pane. Leave the other boxes unchecked for now. Go to the Playback window, the third one in the Preferences window. You’ll probably want to choose Highest (field blending), but experimentation will tell you which is best for you. Close the window.
Under File menu, choose Import. Find your QuickTime movie (on desktop, in your Movie file, wherever you put it), and click Open. This may take a while depending on the length of your movie. The movie will show up in one of the upper right squares.
Select the little rectangular button to the lower left (rather than the clock button). Then click and drag your movie down to the bottom of the main window. Now you can start the editing process. You can bring in other movie clips or still photos and insert them once they are imported. Clips will move apart as you drag the new items down to the editing panel. Play around with this to learn how it works. Command T or Split Video Clip under the Edit menu will split a clip at the playhead and allow you to insert item at that point. Then you can choose to insert Titles and Transitions (if clip is short and timing crucial, remember that Transitions steal time from each surrounding clip.) and special Effects, and, finally, import Audio.
There are three audio channels allowing for inherent video sound from camera, background music, and voice over from external or internal microphone. Click on the clock button at the lower left to set the window for audio. Then, by clicking on Show Clip Volume Levels under View in Menu, a horizontal line is added to each channel. By moving this line up or down, you can change the volume, create fade-in/out, etc. It’s a click and drag procedure that requires some practice. I recommend adding the sound last of all editing, since other action usually will add time to the movie and you may want split second timing.
If you want the movie divided into Chapters, go in under Markers in the top menu. Command, shift, M places a chapter maker at the playhead. It shows up in the time line as a small yellow diamond. You can name these chapters in iDVD. This will enable your DVD player to go to each chapter with the skip button on your remote.
Note: The computer remembers all of your editing steps. This means you can go back and change or correct anything. If you want to keep some changes and not others, you can always use the Save as under File in the menu and have two separate versions of the movie.
When the movie is finished and saved (save changes once you are pleased with the result, or they will be lost when you close down the project), click on the iDVD button (lower right), then the horizontal Create iDVD Project bar slightly above.
In iDVD, got to Preferences under iDVD in the top menu. In the General panel, choose Show Drop Zones, Best Quality (I don’t know the difference between Best Quality and Best Performance - I always choose the former.), and NTSC - again, unless you are creating a movie for Europe, in which case PAL is the choice. Under Slideshow panel in Preferences, choose TV Safe area. This will make sure all text is visible when movie is shown on a TV. Click on Add photos to DVD-ROM if you wish. Under Movies (still under Preferences), I have checked Automatically create chapter marker submenu.
Click on the Customize button at the bottom left to choose theme. Click on Themes if it is not already selected. Drag photos to drop zones, then position them by dragging, if needed. Click on Settings to position title text, etc. This may be tricky and requires practice. The Media button you can ignore unless you are creating a movie directly in iDVD. Same thing goes for the Folder button lower left in the main window.
Another click on the Customize button closes this panel.
Click on the Motion button to see the theme in action with music. If you want to loop the movie (to play over and over again automatically), select the Map button, then click on your movie (the square to the right). Now go to Advanced in the top menu and click on Loop Movie.
When complete to your satisfaction, make sure the Motion is on before burning (button will be green), then click on Burn (bottom right button), and proceed, following the prompts.
Note: a 30 minute movie may take 3 to 4 hours for the computer to encode and burn - all depending on the speed and RAM of your computer. Good luck!
Einar Berg
Acting Secretary
Mar 21, 2006 - 7pm - Ludwick Community Center
Josh Ernstrom - iLife programs and how they interact with each other seamlessly
Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Ludwick Community Center, San Luis Obispo, on Tuesday, March 21, 2006.
25 persons were present, excluding the guest speaker.
President Joe Peel opened the meeting and welcomed the guest speaker, Mr. Josh Ernstrom, the Sales Manager at MacSuperstore. Before joining MacSuperstore, Josh worked for Apple teaching iLife and other courses for Apple products.
He gave a detailed account of the upgraded iLife program (current version is #6), consisting of six separate applications closely linked in many functions. They are GarageBand, iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD and iWeb, the last being a new addition to the series.
Josh recommended that you always go to Preferences first and set them according to your needs before you start operating any program.
He spent the bulk of the evening talking about iPhoto and iMovie. He showed the download-from-a-camera process and recommended always to make sure the camera date is set correctly. The dates will stay with the downloaded photos and are a good way of finding them, since the default organization in iPhoto is by date. He also strongly recommended not to delete the photos in the camera from iPhoto, although that option exists.
Some of the new features in iPhoto:
Roll and date will show as you scroll.
Scrolling is much smoother.
The program has been expanded to hold 250,000 photos instead of 25,000.
Full-screen editing choice.
There is a compare function, in which you can view and compare two or more photos.
It has a navigation button for 1-click effects in adjusting exposure, contrast, brightness, edge blur, sepia, B&W, etc.
The Book feature has more themes and choices.
The Calendar can be done completely on the computer, and iCal events can be inserted, as well as photos on chosen dates.
Photocasting delivers photos over the internet.
You can order cards directly from Apple.
iMovie now has the option of opening more than one film at a time. A video camera can be hooked up and movies edited directly from the camera before they are downloaded and saved.
Real time rendering of titles has been added; so are Themes (previously only in iDVD). There are video fix and audio fix buttons in addition to the transition choices.
iWeb gives you the tools for creating your own website with slides or movie clips as well as the usual text, links, blog. You can publish directly to a folder or to .Mac.
Josh is a fast and enthusiastic speaker, and he covered in one hour what normally would take many hours in the classes he taught. We are grateful to him for his presentation and welcome him back anytime.
Joe adjourned the meeting.
Einar Berg
Acting Secretary
Feb 14, 2006 - 7pm - Ludwick Community Center
FileMaker Pro does it ALL - for Mac & PC Users by Gerald Clare
Gerald Clare is a software designer who will demonstrate the versatility of
the popular Mac/PC database program. He will demonstrate basic database
processes, field types, relationship creation, scripting, and portals. This
will be an interactive program lasting an hour.
Gerald created a FileMaker product for his own use that is now used by
almost a hundred clinician’s at Mental Health to create documents,
prescriptions, reports and correspondence. He also uses FileMaker as a
simple graphics program. He’s used it to create tickets and badges for the
SLO International Film Festival.
His private clients include: Transitions inc., Jeter’s Legal Messenger
Service, Wiz Photography, and JTR Associates.
Contact: Chuck Adoff at cadoff@charter.net
Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Ludwick Community Center, San Luis Obispo, on Tuesday, February 14, 2006.
27 persons were present, excluding the guest speaker.
President Joe Peel opened the meeting with a welcome and the announcement that there would be no raffle this evening.
Chuck Adoff, Program Director, attended the recent Macworld Expo. There he approached several exhibitors about the possibility of coming to San Luis Obispo and giving a talk. One of these folks was Gerald Clare a local software designer, who graciously agreed to come give a talk about the versatility of FileMaker Pro (8 Advanced is his current version). FileMaker is a database program usable on both PC and Mac platforms.
Mr. Clare set out to demonstrate the basic database processes, field types, relationship creation, scripting, portals, etc. He did this mainly through manipulating the program he designed while working at the County Community Mental Health Department and realizing that the clinical record keeping could be vastly streamlined by converting to a flexible database program. It is now used by almost a hundred clinicians to create documents, prescriptions, reports and correspondence. He has named this program ClinDox.
He also uses FileMaker as a simple graphics program and used it to create tickets and badges for the SLO International Film Festival. He praised the Help program of FileMaker as being extremely useful for anyone attempting to construct a database program.
For questions, you may contact Gerald Clare at
gerald@clareware.com . His website is ClareWare.com
We thank Gerald for a lively and amusing presentation.
Jerry Grotzinger is creating a YAHOO “chat room” on the internet, where we can exchange ideas, present problems, offer solutions to problems, etc. It will operate as a Yahoo group; this means that if you’re have an identity and a password with Yahoo for any group, you’ll retain this with the SLOMUG group.
Joe adjourned the meeting.
Next meeting will be held at the same place on the 3rd Tuesday in April, the 18st, at 7 pm. The speaker will be Josh Ernstrom, who will be speaking on the iLife Programs and how they interact with each other seamlessly.
Einar Berg
Acting Secretary
January 17, 2006 - 7pm - Ludwick Community Center
Designing Web Sites using Illustrator & Photoshop by Melanie Kronemann of Cal Poly
Tuesday, January 17, 2006 at 7 p.m San Luis Obispo Macintosh Group presents “Designing Web Sites: Combining Photoshop, Illustrator, Image Ready and GoLive” all part of Adobe Creative Suite 2, by Melanie Kronemann. Attendees will leave with clear understanding on how to combine Illustrator & Photoshop to a visually effective web site. This is a cross platform presentation applicable to both Macintosh and PC users. Kroneman teaches Graphic Art and Packaging in the Graphic Communication Department at Cal Poly as well as having her own design consulting business. Off street parking is available in back of the center. Contact Chuck Adoff at cadoff@charter.net.
Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Ludwick Community Center, San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, January 17, 2006.
21 persons were present, excluding the guest speaker.
President Joe Peel, opened the meeting and announced the raffle (since our Treasurer, Vinny DePass, could not attend), offering three prizes this day.
Chuck Adoff, Program Director, was asked to comment on the recent Macworld Expo. He said it was better attended than last year’s and mentioned that he had approached representatives for Apple, Canon, and other companies regarding coming to SLO to give a talk about their products at future meetings.
Joe then introduced our guest speaker, Melanie Kronemann from the Graphic Arts and Communication Department at Cal Poly, whose topic was designing websites combining Photoshop, Illustrator, Image Ready and Go Live. Her colleague, Brian Lawler, was also present and assisting where necessary.
Professor Kronemann uses Photoshop and Illustrator for her design work to create the “feel of the page.” (For this demonstration, she used Photoshop exclusively.) Relevant questions are: Who is the client? What is to be conveyed? What is the preferred color scheme? How much information need go in? Who will access the site? How many pages will be necessary? Are there to be action buttons? Hypertext links? Roll-overs or drop-down menus or forms? (Note: too many buttons create confusion!) Are there to be animations? Pictures? Top bar or side bar words?
Web design is a combination of web architecture and web usability.
The order of action would be:
1. Design (as determined from analysis of above questions)
2. Organizing layers (from bottom up). They can be grouped into subgroups.
3. Organizing pages
4. Adding flair
When creating layers, name them for easy identification. This way layers can easily be found and modified according to designer’s or client’s wishes. Consider repetition, alignment and proximity of elements in the design.
When considering text, never use all caps, except for headlines. Sans serif fonts are best for clarity on the screen (curlicues tend to get mushy at low resolution).
Photos should be copied in at actual viewing size and no more than 72 dpi in resolution. (Note: 300 dpi is fine for printing but too slow in action for a website, where speed of manifestation of images is imperative.) Color mode: red, green, blue (r.g.b.). Stock photos are useful and plentiful. istockphotos.com is a good site with very reasonably priced photos.
Since all graphics programs are very complex, use the Help function. It has gotten much more useful and complete than it used to be.
Generally, avoid white space. But remember, white space is much better than clutter.
Once a site is designed, it should be cut up into slices for faster appearance on the website. It is best to save them as jpeg images - unless transparency is desired, in which case gif is the format to use. I believe .ping is another format for pix, but I am not sure.
Classroom in a book is a good source for website design.
We thank Professor Kronemann for an excellent presentation and precise answers to many questions.
The President conducted the raffle.
Next meeting will be held at the same place on the 2nd Tuesday in February, the 14th, at 7 pm.
Einar Berg
Acting Secretary
December, 2005
No meeting this month. Happy Holidays
November 22, 2005 - 7pm - Odd Fellows Hall
Lorraine Donegan, a much requested speaker, will demo Indesign
Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Odd Fellows Hall, San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, November 22, 2005.
10 persons were present, excluding the guest speaker, poor attendance probably due to the holiday week.
President Joe Peel, opened the meeting and immediately introduced our popular guest speaker, Lorraine Donegan, Graphic Arts and Communication Professor at Cal Poly, whose topic was desktop publishing using inDesign software program.
Professor Donegan began by stating that she now uses inDesign CS2 (the latest version) for all her desktop publishing. She distributed a handout describing the program in detail and then proceeded to demonstrate the creation of a threefold brochure.
Once the margins and gutter (distance between columns) had been decided - as well as bleed factor (amount of color bleeding over the margins) - one can start naming the panels (in this case, six): left inside, middle inside, right inside, first inside flap, back panel, front. This will prevent mixup of pages.
Then comes the insertion of text boxes. These can be Anchored, meaning they are linked together so that whatever font, color, size, etc. is chosen for one box is carried over to the linked box. Graphics and photos can also be placed and linked to the text boxes and exact relative placement determined along the x & y axis (horizontal and vertical positions), position maintained if text boxes are shuffled around. Note: Placement relative to the spine in a book project can also be determined and maintained.
Style of graphic objects can readily be changed, e.g., given drop shadow, “noise” added to the shadow, etc.
One important feature available in the program is the ability to show layers in graphics one at a time. Thus one can view the effect of photo or graphics layer editing in the total setting of the brochure - all with the click of a button or two.
Professor Donegan was warmly thanked for a fine presentation. Her website is www.calpoly.edu/~ldonegan/
Vinny DePass sold rifle tickets.
Joe Peel announced the slate for officers for next year. No new names were given and the slate was unanimously approved.
President: Joe Peel
Vice President: Jerry Grotzinger
Secretary: Cal DePass
Treasurer: Vinny De Pass
Program Chair: Charles Adoff
We thank warmly the current officers for their fine service. Special kudos to Claire Gordon, without whose hard work the club would have ceased to exist a long time ago.
Vinny DePass graciously gave us some tips about Tiger. Mentioned macfixit.com as a useful website for looking at various problems with soft- and hardware. He mentioned that it is a bad idea to overburden the desktop with files - it will slow down your computer. Place everything in a file on the hard disk instead. He also showed us how to use a photo or graphic to replace the usual standard folder look. And, of course, Vinny recommended backup, backup, backup!
The raffle was held and the winner won a gift certificate to the MacSuperstore.
NOTE: There will be no meeting in December. The next one will be held on January 2006 (3rd Tuesday) 17th at Ludwick Rec.Center on Mill & Santa Rosa Streets at 7 PM.
Einar Berg
Secretary
Tuesday, October 25, 2005 - 7pm
A favorite speaker, Cal Poly professor Hal Hinderliter, will demo and tell us about updates to Quark Express 7
Tuesday, September 27, 2005 - 7pm
Lies, Spies and Blue Skies by Rick Auricchio
Our next meeting will be on Tuesday, Sept 27th at 7 PM. Speaker Rick Auricchio has entitled it “Lies, Spies and Blue Skies”. He’ll talk about the email you get from pharmacies, Nigerians with millions in the bank to share, about sex parties, cheap mortgages and such. How do they get your email address? Is there anything you can do about it?
Our “Mac doctor,” Vinny DePass will be ready to hear your Mac questions.
We will also have a brief reminder that elections will be held in November and we need a slate in October. We don’t want to use up meeting time so please read about the election. (And think about volunteering for one of the positions—send in your email offer)
These are the offices up for grabs:
President
Leads the meeting and makes announcements. Total time expended, being at the meeting and perhaps 20 minutes besides to prepare an agenda. Current President Joe Peel expects to be away at meeting time for various meetings in 06 and would like to be replaced. Please!
Vice President
Serves when President is absent. Vinny DePass is our temporary replacement
Flyer writer
Former Veep, Ed Rush (moved our of state) used to keep MacSuperstore supplied with flyers about our meetings. This would take about 30-45 minutes a month and much appreciated.
Secretary
Attend meeting and send meeting reviews and announcement of forthcoming meeting to our web site. Time 45 minutes a month or less.Current officer is Einar Berg who has offered to continue, dependant on his health. He sends reviews about meetings to our web site. Take a peek at slomug.com
Treasurer
Be at meeting, once a year, collect membership dues, every month pass the basket for contributions, write a check for the meeting place, provide a raffle item and sell tickets. Keep the bank account. Time- Attend the meeting and in addition Less than an hour a month. Isn’t it time for someone else to take over? Dale Landis- has had the job for almost 3 years and has done a super job.
Program Chair
Claire Gordon assumed the job when the original officer was out of state and ill. She has been program chair for almost 3 years. Charles Adoff has already put his name in nomination. Thank you, Chuck
Membership
Bring a sign in sheet, pass it at the meeting, take it home and up-date with new names, deleting changes as reported by other officers. Time (estimate) 30 minutes a month. Robert Boyer took over this important duty when Ed Rush left. Bob is doing an A-1 job and we hope he will continue.
We will give you an email address to SEND YOUR NOMINATIONS FOR YOURSELF OR A FRIEND
Come see our newly purchased projector in use for the first time. For those who are new to our group, please be aware that there is no admission charge, but a voluntary contribution toward expenses is appreciated. Throw a few bucks in the basket when it comes by. Memberships will be available again in January 2006.
For further information call Claire Gordon, 474-6509
Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Odd Fellows Hall, San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, September 27, 2005.
17 persons were present, excluding the guest speaker.
President Joe Peel, opened the meeting and discussed upcoming changes in staff, asking for volunteers. The raffle was announced. Since Vinny DePass could not be present for his usual Q & A period, Joe immediately launched the guest speaker, Rick Auricchio, the Mac expert from Cambria with a twenty-year plus employment/affiliation history with Apple (1979-2001). He now runs his own business, offering system upgrades, cleanup, tuning, network design and setup, cabling, and, not the least, MacOS X expert advice. He can be reached at (805)924-1609 or rick@cfcl.com.
The topic was spam, or, as Rick called it, “Lies, Spies, Blue Skies.”
80% of all internet traffic is spam, and since the service providers constantly have to upgrade their equipment to accommodate this volume, all of us pay with our dues. We can help a bit by avoiding forwarding that joke or picture that has circulated for years. Chain letters or pyramid schemes should be deleted on the spot, not just for the sake of spam volume but because most of them are fraudulent. And don’t open those attachments from unknown sources. But even attachments sent from well meaning friends can contain fraudulent information. Ever opened an attachment or just an e-mail and there is nothing there? It may have damaging information printed with white font on white background. Graphics can be used fraudulently as well, carrying problems. Be especially weary if you are running a microsoft mail program. If you use Apple’s mail program, you are safer but may still pass on problems to friends with PCs when you forward stuff indiscriminately.
The get-rich-quick schemes are plenty. The “Nigerian” or the “widow of former president,” etc. are fairly easy to spot. Stock market tips may be alluring, but don’t go there. Never answer these spams, or more junk will come your way even if no direct fraud is at hand. Do not trust links in e-mails. They can take you to hell and not necessarily back. And never never give out personal information and numbers even if the message seems a very legitimate note from your favorite bank or e-mail account or server. Legit institutions never contact you via e-mail regarding personal or security matters.
With 90% of the market share, PCs are much more attractive a target for creators of virus or other safety assaults. (It may take only four minutes for a new PC hooked up to a broad band connection to hopeless jam the computer.) So far, the Macintosh operating system X has held up. Unless a direct warning comes from Apple to the contrary, there is no current need for virus or firewall protection for us mac users (although available from Norton, etc.).
Apple’s switch to Intel processor chips may not be a good sign for future mac security. Time will tell.
Advice: Do not buy cheap counterfeit software. It may get you into deep trouble - and there will be no support when you need it. Pay attention to the warning that says, “You seem to be running this program for the first time,” and then gives you option to cancel or proceed.
hoaxbusters.org is a website listing fraudulent practices.
In the Q & A period, the question of on-line banking came up. Rick feels this is perfectly safe, as is any purchases or exchanges with reputable companies, such as Amazon.com.
Thank you, Rick, for an informative and lively presentation!
Dale Landis, our treasurer held the raffle and one lucky person got the gift certificate to the Mac Superstore.
Einar Berg
Secretary
Tuesday, August 23, 2005 - 7pm
Subject - Innovations with Photos is the topic to be explored by photo expert Garrett Krnich
He’ll show examples of unusual ways of displaying your photos and explain how to do it yourself. Interesting examples from members’ photo collections and from his own documentaries will be shown. There will also be a q. and a. period and a drawing. The meetings are free, but non-members are requested to be generous when the basket comes around and toss in some money to help with expenses.
As most of you know our Vice President, Ed Rush, moved out of the state. Vinny DePass has agreed to take his place until elections. Next month we will be getting a slate together and hold SLOMUG elections before year end. Some of our officers have served for more than two years. It is hoped that you will think about helping out. If enough people take on a responsibility, each job takes less than an hour a month. Think about it, and please volunteer!
Claire Gordon, Program chair
Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Odd Fellows Hall, San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, August 23, 2005.
22 persons were present, excluding the guest speaker.
President Joe Peel, opened the meeting. Since the guest speaker was a bit late, we started with Vinny DePass holding a Q & A session. Thank you Vinny! Vinny is available for Macintosh consulting work at
(805) 234-6130
vinnydepass@mac.com
Mr. Garrett Krnich of Dream Cafe Productions, who gave an wonderful presentation of iPhoto at our March meeting, was scheduled to do a presentation, to be followed by two members of the club, Tony Hyman and Einar Berg, showing their own work. However, Mr. Krnich was not feeling well, so after mentioning that he, in essence, just showed Tony how to burn a DVD of his slideshow, he left. We wish him good health!
Dale Landis, our treasurer, was to bring the club’s new projector but was prevented to attend.
Fortunately, Tony had brought his own projector and proceeded to show his excellent slideshow from a recent archeological trip to Egypt. Tony, an experienced speaker and lecturer, gave a lively and interesting talk, occasionally assisted by his wife, Marilee.
Einar brought his home movie as well but cut the presentation short, since the projector speakers were totally insufficient to make justice to the sound - as well as the images being too light and washed out. (The Hymans had not yet learned the settings, since the projector was new.)
Both presenters answered questions about their work, and Tony praised iLife5 as very easy to work. Mr. Berg offered to assist anyone in the club wanting hands-on experience with making a movie with iPhoto, iMovie, etc. iLife may be easy, but there certainly are some challenging choices and questions that come up with the process and where a helping hand would be welcome.
No raffle was held due to Dale’s absence.
Einar Berg
Secretary
Tuesday, July 25, 2005 - 7pm
Subject - Vincent De Pass will discuss BLOGS
Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Odd Fellows Hall, San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, July 26, 2005.
Circa 20 persons were present (including two persons from the Santa Maria club for part of the meeting), excluding the guest speaker.
President Joe Peel, opened the meeting. A brief discussion was held about the possibility of buying a projector, perhaps joint ownership with the Santa Maria group (assuming the latter will remain functional). Members were encouraged to help with the projector research project.
Dale Landis, our Treasurer, announced the raffle, the price being the usual $20 gift certificate to the MacSuperstore.
Program Director, Claire Gordon, introduced the guest speaker, Vinny DePass, formerly of the MacSuperstore.
Vinny’s topic was Blogs.
Blogs is an abbreviated term for Weblogs. We could perhaps define it as:
A frequent, chronological publication of personal thought and ideas about self, the web or the world, covering any topic imaginable; with links to calendars, websites, etc., and allowing commentary from visitors to the site.
This sounds very much like a personal website, and I as far as I could discern, the only difference is the diary-like format and archives, each entry accessible through a calendar or date strip.
Blogs are becoming very popular as sounding boards for political, philosophical, scientific discussion. It is a tool for exchanging ideas on subjects of mutual concern, be that humane treatment of animals, or musicians, poets and writers swapping stories and heartaches. Photographers use blogs to display their work and make it accessible to a larger public. Teachers use them to post daily assignments and lecture topics, especially valuable for anyone who missed a class and wants to catch up.
Vinny pointed out that our own SLOMUG site is, for all practical purposes, a blog.
There are two ways to create a blog:
1. Host your own blog. You buy your own software, such as iBlog (compatible with iLife, mail, Safari, etc., even looking like Apple although not made by Macintosh). You will still need an internet host. .mac internet services charges $99/year with a 60-day free trial period. iBlog costs $19.95 for single user (two computers) and $29.95 for family use (up to 5 computers). It may still be free if you purchase .mac, but I could not find any mention of that. It is available at www.lifli.com/Products/iBlog/main.htm
2. Go to a free blog site, such as www.Blogsome.com, www.blogger.com, www.livejournal.com. There are evidently hundreds of free blog sites.
How to find blog sites:
Go to Google search by subject, but Google has also developed a special blog search to assist.
Vinny talked briefly but enthusiastically about Quicksilver and Cocktail, programs he found through VersionTracker and both helpful for finding and opening stuff fast on your computer. Same for Widgets, a Tiger feature, not to forget Utilities (under Applications), with Activity Monitor (to see which program does what on your computer) and System Profiler (go easy!)
Via Vinny came the following recommended resources from Garrett Krnich (805-215-8400 - lockecole@mac.com) (who will be speaking about film making at the next regular meeting):
www.blog-connection.com
www.writerswrite.com/journal/jul02/gak16.htm
www.createblog.com
www.jamescollins.net/blogging/
www.inc.com/articles/2003/07/blogres.html
www.bloggersblog.com
www.forbes.com/bow/b2c/section.jhtml?id=12
www.livejournal.com/community/audiography/
www.livejournal.com/community/picturing_food/
Q & A period followed.
Thank you, Vincent DePass, for a good evening!
Vinny is available for Macintosh consulting work at
(805) 234-6130
vinnydepass@mac.com
Raffle was held.
PS. Note: New Times, July 28 - Aug 4 issue has a lead article about blogs. There is a list of SLO County bloggers at
www.slopages.com/sloggers/index.asp
Einar Berg
Secretary
Tuesday, June 28, 2005 - 7pm
Subject - Digital Cameras and Photo Printers
Brent McGregor of Campus Cameras will speak to us about Miniature digital cameras and new photo printers. Put this on your calendar and save up your digital camera questions!
Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Odd Fellows Hall, San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, June 28, 2005.
18 persons were present, excluding the guest speaker.
President Joe Peel, opened the meeting and apologized for the late start (due to technical problems with the projector). After Dale Landis, our Treasurer, had announced the raffle (with a gift certificate at the MacSuperstore as the prize), Joe continued with a tribute to Claire Gordon, our Program Director who was featured in the June 25th issue of the Santa Maria Times - she has an illustrious past in the field of jazz and has just written and published a book. He then introduced our guest speaker, Mr. Brent McGregor from Jim’s Campus Camera.
Brent confessed he is still using film, but hinted that it may be a matter of time before his world turns totally digital. He talked about the pros and cons of the new miniature cameras, having brought a very small Canon for show and tell. The main advantage seems to be that you can always carry the camera with you and photograph events and things you would otherwise miss. Cons would be that they are easily dropped and damaged, even damaged in luggage, especially models with exterior zoom. Konika and others have, or are coming out with, internal optical zoom (prism system), which is less vulnerable. Well-known brands are recommended, since lens qualities tend to be superior. The small size of these cameras does not prevent a wonderful performance, but 4 or 5 megapixels are recommended if the photos are to be enlarged beyond 4x6 or shown on newer TV systems. Optical zoom is preferred since a computer can take care of the cropping produced by the digital zoom in the camera and give the same result.
Another con of mini-cameras should be mentioned: poor flash range, perhaps 5-6 feet vs. the normal 15 or so.
He recommended and showed a mini-tripod, a very useful tool for these small cameras considering small lenses and thus slow shutter speeds under low-light conditions. Cameras with a view finder are a must, since the screen is very hard to see in bright light.
Brent showed us a very portable mini-printer producing top quality 4x6’s at a cost of about 60ç per copy. Cost of printer: about $180.
There are no universal agreements as to the perfect methods for color measuring and rendition, thus many printing problems. Instability of inks and paper add to the problem, fading being the main concern. Watch out for cheap inks! They may fade in as little as a year and a half - versus 30 to 100 years for top and archival quality. Brent recommended Canon and Epson printers as currently producing the best results. He also suggested putting photo data on a CD or DVD and taking them to a photo lab for regular chemical printing on photo paper - this for valuable family photos, etc. Matte paper promises better longevity than glossy, since the surface offers better adhesion for the dyes in ink jet printers.
Another problem is that CD’s and DVD’s also tend to go bad due to oxidation of the reflective layer, although some may last up to 30 years. One brand (Delkin - efilm Archival Gold, www.delkin.com) now has a gold reflective layer announcing a 100 year reliability - assuming the plastics don’t deteriorate, I guess.
Brent’s talk was followed by a brief Q & A period.
Joe thanked the speaker for an excellent presentation.
Dale held the raffle.
Einar Berg
Secretary
Tuesday, May 24, 2005 - 7pm
Subject - OSX 10.4 (a.k.a. TIGER)
Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Odd Fellows Hall, San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, May 24, 2005.
31 persons were present, excluding the guest speaker.
President Joe Peel, opened the meeting and introduced Mr. Ben Hudson (ben@macsuper.com), our guest speaker from the MacSuperstore, who gave us an introduction to Tiger, OS System 10.4.
Tiger is the 5th revision of System X. With over 200 new features, Tiger offers a “wide range of solutions for customers in many industries” to quote an Apple sales training outline, which Ben was kind enough to provide for me to supplement my notes. A few of the main new features are as follows:
SPOTLIGHT
Spotlight is a desktop search engine and lets you search by file name, content, and metadata, not just for documents but mail messages, photos, music, address book entries, etc. Information is entered as you create the documents and thus instantly available to the search engine. Search results can be saved as a smart folder. You can customize the system so that new messages automatically get placed in such a smart folder, e.g. mail from a certain person or firm. Multilingual search is also available, as well as search within system preferences.
DASHBOARD
Dashboard is a direct desktop avenue to unit conversion, weather reports, calculator, calendar, dictionary, thesaurus, and the yellow pages, among other things.
In addition to a new look, Mail has been upgraded to allow for Spotlight search and smart mailboxes, parental control, HTML formatting (allowing direct mailing of web pages), a slideshow for photos mailed to you. Parental control options are also available.
Safari
Safari has RSS (Real Simple Syndication). This means you can customize search to include multiple websites simultaneously, e.g. access specific information (long or short) from multiple sources in one search. This is god sent for people doing research. You do, of course, have to bookmark the websites in question. Websites can be archived as well. Automatic feed detection will give you a blue RSS marker at the end of the address line whenever you go to a website that has an RSS feed. A new important feature in Safari is private browsing - creates no history, sets no cookies. It also has parental controls options.
Windows compatibility
Tiger allows access to Windows-based networks, allowing a company to integrate Mac and Windows hardware and software, such as sharing printers, exchange Mail and Address Book information.
QuickTime
QuickTime has been upgraded to H.264 (for sharper picture), but you still have to get the Pro version to capture or share audio and video or get the full screen view, not to mention edit video - not fair, I think, but that’s another story.
Automator
You can automate repetitive tasks, even complex ones. AppleScript is still available and “provides a broad range of development capabilities,” again to quote the sales pitch.
Other things were mentioned - voice over, automatic networking (auto-detect of hotspots when traveling), better security with personal firewall, etc.
Ben was warmly applauded for his excellent presentation.
Joe introduced Vincent DePass for a Q & A period. (Vinny has recently left the MacSuperstore and started his own Mac problem solver business called Macintosh Dr., offering reduced consultation rates for members of the club: 805-234-6130, e-mail: vinnydepass@mac.com). But the hour was getting late and only one question came forth.
Dale Landis, Treasurer, held the raffle.
Einar Berg
Secretary
Tuesday, April 26, 2005 - 7pm
James Lee from Tropical Software will show us TopXNotes
It isn’t often that a Silicon Valley company makes a 200 plus mile trip down the coast to give us a presentation of their software, so we are delighted to announce that the president of Tropical Software, James H. Lee, will be our presenter on Tuesday, April 26th. He will show us the program his company has developed called TopXNotes. Mr. Lee writes us that this software was designed originally as a replacement for the old Apple Notepad that Apple killed with the advent of Stickies in OS 9. The intention was to build a modern replacement, but they got carried away and developed a somewhat more elaborate product called TopXNotes. The software is beyond being a simple notepad replacement and also became a way for anyone who uses Macs to create notes, organize them, access them quickly, and secure sensitive data. Mr. Lee will show us how to do it.
Meeting Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Odd Fellows Hall, San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, April 26, 2005.
22 persons were present, excluding the guest speaker.
President Joe Peel, opened the meeting and introduced Mr. Bob Boyer as having agreed to serve on the Board. Joe talked about the club and mentioned Claire Gordon's excellent job as Program Director and that Claire is still looking for a replacement.
Joe introduced Vincent DePass for a Q & A period. Vinny has recently left the MacSuperstore and started his own Mac problem solver business called Macintosh Dr., offering reduced consultation rates for members of the club.
Sharing his knowledge was much appreciated. Should you need his services, his phone: 805-234-6130, e-mail: vinnydepass@mac.com
Dale Landis, Treasurer, announced the raffle.
Joe introduced the guest speaker, James H. Lee, President, Tropical Software, traveling in from the "Silicon Valley" area but currently living and working in Atlantic Beach, Florida. He was a software developer with Apple for many years and started his own company recently.
Due to a misunderstanding, no projector was available, but Mr. Lee had us arrange the chairs in a tight semicircle so we could see his laptop screen.
He and his company has developed TopXNotes, sort of a development of Apple's old Notepad (which was dropped and replaced with Stickies for System 9).
It's a handy quick-note system for the busy person who needs plenty of little reminder notes for fast access without having Stickies covering the screen.
It organizes all your notes in an easy system. You set up your own Categories, e.g. shopping, to do list, passwords and access information to accounts. You can use any font, text size, color, etc. and also choose background color or highlight color for extra emphasis.
Several notes can be displayed simultaneously and a traveling icon indicates which one you are working on.
Templates can be created for certain tasks, such as credit card, bank, software serial # info. Sensitive information can be protected, since you can encrypt, not an individual note but the whole document - and TopXNotes, if I understood it correctly, is filed and kept as a single document.
There is an auto-save function, and the system will remember your last setup at startup. Access is easy through the Dock and/or as a separate little icon on the desktop. A search system is being developed but not currently a part of TopXNotes.
The help system is concise and easy to use - the menus in general are easy to access and use. In addition, the program exports or prints, as any word processing program would. You can choose the Text or RTF format.
Perhaps we can dub TopXNotes a word processing program for dummies?
The program costs $20 for download and $25 for CD - with a $2 discount for club members this evening. The website is www.tropic4.com
We thank James Lee for an informative and useful presentation.
Raffle was held, with a copy of TopXNotes and the Epson Photo Stylus 1200 printer (donated by Ed Rush).
Einar Berg
Secretary
Tuesday, March 22, 2005 - 7pm
Learn all about iLife05
Our speaker will be Mac expert Garrett Krnich. He has just moved into our area from San Diego where he was one of the Mac experts at the big Mac store there. His presentation is” All about iLife 05.” This is an update from the previous software and includes iTunes, iphoto, i Movie, iDV , and Garageband2. You will be amazed at how much more you can do with your photos, music and so on. We will have time for other questions and answers and, if time allows, a display of more new software.
Meeting Minutes:
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Odd Fellows Hall, San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, March 22, 2005.
President Joe Peel, opened the meeting. While we were waiting for the guest speaker to show up, the Treasurer, Dale Landis, mentioned the two items that were going to be raffled off: A book on iDVD movie making and a black Apple tee-shirt. Joe also announced a "Soft-Tech" gathering on the 23rd of March at the iPod store (next to the the Mac Superstore). Vice President Ed Rush, who will be leaving the area and is looking for someone to take over the SLOMUG data base (AppleWorks), offered an Epson Stylus Photo 1200 printer for the raffle at the next meeting, a big incentive for all to come to the next gathering.
By this time, the speaker had arrived, and Joe introduced Mr. Garrett Krnich, an independent filmmaker and editor who recently relocated to this area.
30 persons were present, plus the guest speaker.
A question had already been raised as to how to renumber photos in iPhoto so Garrett launched straight into that topic; evidently, there is an option of "Batch" change. He then continued to demonstrate various virtues of the upgraded version of iPhoto, which is directly compatible with Formal Cut Pro, among other programs, if I got it right, and thus very useful for professionals and amateurs alike.
Of all the upgrades offered in iLife 5, iPhoto seems to have undergone most changes. The information window offers options to change dates, names, e.g., and also includes a search function. The slide show now includes options to edit the Ken Burns effect (zooming in and out of photos), and the photos can elegantly be shuffled around to your heart's content - and then directly burned to a DVD.
iPhoto's automatic duplication process was discussed. It takes up much memory, but it useful when you want to revert to the original version of a photo. However, iPhoto Diet or iPhoto Cache Cleaner are programs that will remove the duplicates.
All in all, it was an informal and useful hands-on presentation and the President thanked the speaker warmly. There was no time to discuss the promised iDVD upgrade. We hope Mr. Krnich can return to present that program. He can be reached at Dream Cafe Productions, phone (805)215-8400, e-mail: lockecole@mac.com
Einar Berg
Secretary
Tuesday, February 22, 2005 - 7pm
Professor Hal Hinderliter of Cal Poly will talk about XML
You asked. Hal Hinderliter was promised for January but postponed. He will be definitely be SLOMUG’s guest speaker on Tuesday, Feb 22, at 7 PM. Our usual place, Odd Fellows Hall on Dana Street.
Hinderliter is both a well-known author and educator, director of the new graphic communications institute at Cal Poly. He will give us an introductory session to something very new and different -- XML which stands for “ EXtensible Markup Language.” It does not mean having to buy new software— users can continue using their current applications, with translation techniques. XML is a new programming language, just like HTML was once new many years ago. And just like with HTML, some people will choose to learn how to write out the computer instructions by hand, while most will rely on existing software programs that make the process more user friendly. Both will be demonstrated. Desk top publishers will find this of particular interest because XML is a programming and style sheet language to improve printing and publishing output.
We will also have q and a period and a drawing. Those who forgot in January are reminded to bring check-books and write a check to SLOMUG for $20 for your years’ membership. We have several ideas in work for future programs but we’d like to get a quick overview of the software you use and your interests in using your Mac to plan for the sort of topics you would enjoy the most.
Claire Gordon, Program chair
Meeting Minutes:
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Odd Fellows Hall, San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, February 22, 2005.
The President, Joe Peel, opened the meeting.
24 persons were present, plus the guest speaker.
Vice President, Ed Rush, mentioned Small Dog Electronics as a good and honest dealer in Apple products and peripherals. In a weekly message from Small Dog, he saw a good review of the Skype VoIP telephone program. To see the review itself, go to http://www.smalldog.com/newsarchive/techtails_display.php?id=247 and scroll about halfway down. Skype makes it free to talk to someone via computer. What Skype does (that other IM software such as iChat doesn't) is that you can call telephone numbers from your computer and talk to people who are on their regular telephone. The charge to talk to an actual telephone is about 2¢ per minute.
Ed mentioned two other iPod-related products. One is replacement batteries for $23 at iPod911.com. The other is their DockCover, a hardwood dock for the iPod, at westshorecraftworks.com. A nice gift for the right person!
The President welcomed the guest speaker, Professor Hal Hinderliter, director of the new Graphic Communication Institute at Cal Poly. He is a well-known author and educator and has been in the printing business since he was 17 (shall we guess, about 30 years ago?).
He introduced what he called The XML Revolution. The XML (EXtensible Markup Language) is a computer language that will truly revolutionize the graphic communications, including printing and web publishing. I¹ll quote a few paragraphs from Hal¹s handout, since my level of expertise may not lend itself to a correct and precise description of XML.
XML is actually an entire category of markup languages, each with a special purpose:
1. For the exchange of database information
2. For the display of data in multiple formats
3. to provide metadata that allows automated discovery
XML allows developers to adopt their own unique modifications, yet remain compatible with with other systems.
XML must be paired with a matching style sheet to have a formatted appearance.
In other words, XML is great for storing the content of your written masterpiece in a media-neutral format (neither print-specific nor web-specific) and then allow you to edit or update the content without having to redo the formatting or layout (which is contained in the style sheet). It also allows the exchange of complex data between systems.
Many programs and approaches as available for these media-neutral workflows, including Adobe InDesign 2+ and QuarkXPress 5+, Apropos Roustabout, Atomic Roundtrip, XML Spy, Turbo XML, and Corel¹s XMetal. ³Industrial strength² XML composition systems are offered by Arbortext, XyEnterprise, Advent, and others.
For more information. go to www.xml.com.
You can also signup for a FREE monthly newsletter at http://grci.calpoly.edu/contact.html to learn more about Cal Poly¹s testing and research programs, as well as Newspaper Production Workshops, cosponsored by Goss International.
Professor Hinderliter demonstrated in detail the process of tagging a document, then stayed for a brief question and answer period.
We thank him for an excellent presentation.
A raffle was held.
Einar Berg
Secretary
Tuesday, January 25, 2004 - 7pm
Josh Oakes of MacSuperstore spoke about troubleshooting Macs.
Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - 7pm
Lorraine Donegan of Cal Poly talked about fonts
Meeting Minutes
The regular meeting of the SLOMUG was held at the Odd Fellows Hall, San Luis Obispo on Tuesday, November 23, 2004.
Joe Peel opened the meeting. The Secretary may have missed portion of this, since he was requested to go and get an extension cord for the projector.
20 persons were present, plus the guest speaker.
Joe introduced last year's officers and asked for further nominations for each office. There were none. Einar Berg was introduced as offering to be secretary. There was then a voice vote of ayes to accept the following slate.
President: Joe Peel
Vice President: Ed Rush
Treasurer: Dale Landis
Program Chair: Claire Gordon
Secretary: Einar Berg
The President welcomed the guest speaker, Lorraine Donegan, a Graphic Arts Communication Professor from Cal Poly. If this does not impress you, go to Google and search under “Lorraine Donegan.” About 87 entries!!!
The topic was fonts and how to manage fonts. She gave us some useful handouts, specially recommending Chuck Weger’s articles at creativepro.com with step by step instructions on how to eliminate excessive fonts from the rather huge supply available to OS X users. She described Font Formats, such as Type 1, True type, and Open type, the latter evidently offering infinite possibilities for manipulation. (Some of this information was lost on me, since I am running OS 9 and not very well versed in X. - I must also confess that between Times New Roman and Georgia, with a few excursions into Apple Chancery, Bickley Script, Bradley Hand, and Sand, I am doing just fine for letters and greeting cards!)
Many questions popped up, and Lorraine, graciously and gracefully, handled them all. And we thank her for her contribution. For more information and many links, go to her website: www.calpoly.edu/~ldonegan .
Einar Berg, Secretary
Tuesday, October 26, 2004 - 7pm
SLOMUG member Sally Gorey will demonstrate Reunion, a geneology program
Please give Sally the honor of your presence on October 26th at 7PM, Odd Fellows Hall. Also, please remember that SLOMUG elections will be held in November by email. This is a volunteer organization. Who wants to chair the meetings? Who wants to be secretary? Program chair? Treasurer? None of the jobs require more than an hour a month of work. We need your participation. Volunteer!
Claire Gordon, Program chair 474-6509
Tuesday, September 28, 2004 - 7pm
How to Use 4th Dimension, an award-winning database program
4D, Inc. would like to show you and your fellow MUG members how databases can make your life easier. We'll show you how you can better manage your data, whether it be contacts, sales leads, pictures, or more complex data needs, with the easy-to-use power of 4th Dimension. This program lets you easily store and track all types of data, print labels, create reports, build charts and more - with no programming required! If you enjoy programming, 4D's programming language gives you the power to build any kind of application you want.
To learn more about live 4D presentations for MUG's, visit
http://www.4d.com/mug/presentation.html
We will not take time from this interesting presentation to remind you about the forthcoming electronic election for SLOMUG in November. We have a proposed slate of officers.
Claire Gordon, Program chair 474-6509
Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 7pm
Spreadsheet Basics - Not Just Number Crunching will be the topic of Jack Hennessy of the Cambria Computer Club
This presentation includes—
€ Background
€ About spreadsheets
€ Key spreadsheet concepts
€ Types of data you can enter
€ Formulas (functions)
€ Selecting cells and entering data
€ Editing and deleting data
€ Cutting, copying & pasting data
€ Formatting data
€ Sorting data
€ Incorporating charts
€ Placing spreadsheets into text documents
€ Spreadsheet examples
We will meet as usual at 7 PM, Odd Fellows Hall on Dana Street in SLO, Tuesday August 24th.
Please remember that we are due to have elections at the end of the year by email. Do you or a friend wish to be active, help select programs or participate in any waay? Please send your nomination to Cal dePass caldepass@hotmail.com . Come on Tuesday, bring your Mac questions and enjoy our program.
Claire Gordon, Program chair 474-6509
Tuesday, July 27, 2004 - 7pm
A demo of iMovie 4 and other interesting stuff will be given by Harold Adams of the Santa Barbara User Group
Last year his presentation was such a hit that we have had many requests for him to return. He is obliging us. Please remember, we start promptly at 7PM, at Odd Fellow Hall 520 Dana St. in SLO. Lot of free off-street parking.
Now a little business. Last year, due to attrition of officers, we were obliged to have an emergency election in September. Rightfully it should be at year-end for installation in January. All current officers are willing to continue serving next year with the exception of our secretary, Jean Anderson, who would like to be replaced. These are the secretary’s duties: Come to the meeting, make a note of how many people attended, the subject matter, the speaker’s name and and anything else noteworthy. eMail the information to our Web site. Perhaps once or twice a year there will be a 10 minute officers’ meeting. That’s it.
Chair duties. Follow the agenda and make announcements. Introduce the speaker
Vice chair-replace the chairman when necessary
Secretary-see above
Membership—keep the roster up to date from the monthly sign-in sheet and email returns.
Treasurer- Collect the money from donations and memberships, bank, and cut a check each month for the rent and other expenses, as necessary.
Program- Get speakers for the meetings; send out monthly meeting announcements
The roster (current officers)
Chairman Joe Peel
Vice chair Ed Rush
Secretary-open
Membership-Ed Rush
Treasurer-Dale Landis
Program- Claire Gordon
We hope a few other people would like to serve. This is not a dynasty.
Cal de Pass has offered to be in charge of the electronic election. Let him know your nomination by email at caldepass@hotmail.com . We will vote in December by email, same address.
See you Tuesday 27th!
Claire Gordon, Program chair 474-6509
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Exploring Internet providers and spam
Feel free to share your experiences about spam and bring your questions.
Ed will tell us how to set up mail application filters for spam.We will discuss the various internet providers, pros and cons.
Learn about some lesser-known features of Google. The meeting is at 7PM at Odd Fellow Hall 520 Dana St. in SLO.
Claire Gordon, Program chair 474 6509
Tuesday, May 25, 2004 - 7pm
Getting the Most out of Panther is the topic of our speaker Shane Williams of MacSuperstore
In case you missed it, the Mac members who attended the April meeting were totally intrigued. Our speaker, Cal Poly Professor Lorraine Donegan, kept adding more important details about Quark and In Design. And all of you in listeners kept having more questions to ask. Instead of closing up around 8:15 or 8:30, it was almost 9 before we persuaded everyone to leave.
A year ago, we still had many members who were using system 9 and even who some who still used system 8. It was a surprise that when a show of hands was requested for people using System X, almost every hand went up. That being the case, our May presentation promises to be really special so we are letting you know well you in advance. On May 25th, Shane from Mac Superstore is going to show how to “get the most out of Panther.” Don’t miss this!
Here’s a preview of some up-coming meetings. In July, by popular demand, Harold Adams from the Santa Barbara Mac group will return and show us the latest version of iMovie. Jack Hennessy from the Cambria user group will be with us in August and share the information he presented to his group. The subject is fascinating and useful ways to use a data base. And in August, a first! We are getting a demonstration from the people who developed the data base software, 4th dimension in Silicon Valley. I’m sure everyone will want to see what this is about.
We meet on 4th Tuesdays at Odd Fellows Hall, 7 PM. All Mac users are welcome. We hope to see you at our forthcoming meetings.
Claire Gordon, SLOMUG Program chair
Tuesday, April 27, 2004 - 7pm
Macintosh Page Layout Programs will be presented by Loraine Donegan of Cal Poly
Our speaker this month is Lorraine Donegan, assistant professor in Graphic Communication at Cal Poly. She will discuss InDesign and Quark. Professor Donegan will show us what Adobe is offering PageMaker users to ease their transition to InDesign. She will also cover Quark and help you decide which of these programs is right for you.
Bring your questions for a Q-and-A period. There will also be a drawing, as usual.
Meeting announcement by Claire Gordon.
Tuesday, March 23, 2004 - 7pm
From Vinyl to CD is the topic of our speaker Vinny DePass of MacSuperstore.
Meeting announcement by Claire Gordon.
If you have a stack of old 33rpm records that you really enjoy but you wish they were CD’s instead, Vinny is going to show you how to do this. He will also demo Garage Band.
If you haven’t been to a meeting recently, please be aware that beginning in January we have a new location, the Odd Fellow Hall in SLO at 520 Dana Street. Lots of parking. Meetings start promptly at 7 PM. This time we will begin with 15 minutes of Q and A. followed by our speaker.
Please note, our membership lists have just been revised and updated. If by mistake you have received two notices, please email me at clgordon@charter.net and let me know.
Tuesday, February 24, 2004 - 7pm
A Demonstration of the new Adobe Photoshop will be given by Brian Lawler.
Meeting announcement by Claire Gordon.
Everyone enjoyed last month’s wonderful presentation by Brian Mc Gregor of Jim’s Camera so much that we wouldn’t let him go. This month we offer another outstanding speaker. Brian Lawler is a photographer, writer, educator, and consultant. Currently he is in the Graphic Communication Department at Cal Poly, and works as a graphic arts and photographic industry consultant with clients worldwide. His regular articles on the CreativePro.com website are read by thousands. He will demonstrate the new Adobe Photoshop Creative Suite and discuss its interaction with other Adobe publishing and illustration applications. Even if you don’t have this software, it is worth knowing about it and possibly it is something you will want to own.
The meeting is this coming Tuesday at 7 PM , Odd Fellow Hall on Dana Street. Plenty of parking. We will also have a question and answer period and a drawing.
For March, Vinny De Pass will present Garage Band. In the months following we plan to present demos of other interesting Mac software.
Anytime, check into our Web site, SLOMUG.com for news about our group and about Macintosh.
Tuesday, January 27, 2004 - 7pm
Digital Cameras, pros and cons will be presented by Brent MacGregor of Jim’s Campus Cameras at the Tuesday Jan 27 SLOMUG general meeting.
Meeting announcement by Claire Gordon.
Starting the fourth Tuesday of this month, SLOMUG will be meeting every fourth Tuesday at a new place-
Odd Fellow Hall
520 Dana St. in SLO
Dana is a cul de sac street off Nipomo, between Monterey and Palm heading west. Actually it is almost exactly where Monterey dead ends. The Hall is near the end of the street with a large parking lot. We will have a very nice room, much more space and hope we will need it. The only bad part is we have to pay $30 a month for use of the room. A hat or box will be available for your voluntary contribution. Those who wish to join, membership now is only $20 a year per person, $30 per couple. Members need not contribute at meetings. Here is your chance!
The first meeting is January 27 at 7 PM. The manager of Jim’s Camera will tell us all about digital cameras. We’ll have q. and a. and reports from our members about what was new and special at Mac World. Looking ahead, mark your calendar Feb 24th A demo of Rendezvous
For those that who would be interested, The Cambria Computer Club January 2004 Macintosh Users meeting will be held at the Joslyn Center, in the Conference Room, on the second Thursday (January 8th) at 2:00 PM (doors open at 1:30) and will feature Rick Auricchio who will be repeating the presentation he made to the group last July, "Migrating to Mac OS X from Earlier Versions". Rick is the owner/operator of "Macs Only", specializing in Macintosh support in the Cambria area. He has over 20 years' experience as a software engineer for Apple Computer---four years of Mac OS X development and usage experience.
As usual the January meeting will start with an informal open forum prior to the main presentation - for all participants, all levels of expertise - for problem solving and sharing information. Arrive early to listen in and/or participate.
Posted: Mon - October 23, 2006 at 07:00 AM
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