Newsbreak April 2001 2
Contents
1. Pro a Windows only application This renders the second half of the book pretty much useless for Mac users With only half the book of relevance to a Mac reader I can t recommend this title for purchase However the substantial information on photography and on using a digital camera may well make it worth borrowing from your local library ELsAa TRAVISANO NewsBreak Hunt Union MUG ONE s meeting place on the SUNY Oneonta Campus Map BY TERRY HELSER Directions to Physical Sciences Building room 121 e From Main Street in Oneonta take Chestnut Street to West Street Take West Street to Ravine Parkway then take the second right by the big OSC sign e Follow this road around and up the hill to the flagpole roundabout next to Morris Hall Go 3 4 around the roundabout and through the main parking lot behind the Human Ecology building to the small parking lots at the far end Park anywhere in these lots e Take the main sidewalk between Human Ecology and the Physical Sciences building Enter the low glass main entrance to your left The front room on your right is room 121 NEWSBREAK is the monthly newsletter of MUG ONE the Macintosh Users Group of Oneonta New York Editor Elsa Travisano Contact us at NewsBreak 28 State Street Oneonta NY 13820 607 433 2569 Fax 607 433 0909 mugone stny rr com www mugone com NewsBreak is an independent publication not affiliated or otherwise assoc2. of computer components in various states of undress Troubleshooting Maintaining amp Repairing Macs goes be yond most troubleshooting and repair manuals by explaining how each component actually works For example the chapter on keyboards explains and diagrams the difference between mechanical and membrane key switches The book is divided into four sections Macintosh internals expansion and periph erals networking and the internet and Macintosh operating system troubleshooting Symptoms at a Glance is a quick table of contents that precedes the first section Most chapters include a list of web addresses for further study If you plan to work inside your Mac make sure you read Chapter 3 Before Beginning Repairs first It sets out the steps for isolating problems and illustrates the proper way to handle components without damaging them The CD ROM of shareware and utilities that accompanies the book is disappointingly amateurish The disk mounts as Un titled CD and the window for the clippings file that lists the disk s contents opened half way off the screen on my 17 monitor I expect more for 59 95 Despite the the high price and the shortcomings of the CD ROM this ais useful book for owners of recent Macs my beige G3 not included who are ready to delve into the inner workings of their computers Adobe Photoshop 6 0 Classroom in a Book Adobe 487 pp plus CD ROM Adobe Press 2000 45 Adobe s Ph
3. web page e Picture Pro is worth the difference in price Also the e Picture Pro user manual has a ring binding a nice touch for a manual that will get a lot of use The Windows version has an extra export mode Windows Media Player that is not available in the Mac version and I wanted to see what its output looked like The Mac and Windows installers both are on a single CD ROM so installed the Windows version too It ran fine albeit slowly in Connectix Virtual PC 4 The Windows interface is more like the Mac version of eZ Motion I found e Picture Pro easier to use than Macromedia s Flash The interface is more intuitive Setting the length in frames of an animation for instance is a simple matter of typing ina number Over all Pd say that both of these products are winners and well worth the asking price I did find e Picture Pro s interface easier to learn than eZ Motion s I think because it is not so condensed Jay MANNING eZ Motion list price 99 System requirements Power PC OS 8 5 or higher OS X compatibility is coming 32 MB of RAM 64 MB recommended 25MB of free drive space and a 256 color monitor capable of 800x600 resolution 1024x768 millions of colors recommended e Picture Pro list price 179 System requirements Power PC Mac OS 8 5 8 6 or 9 0 it works fine with 9 1 32 MB of RAM 64 MB recommended CD ROM drive 20MB free drive space and a 256color monitor capable of 800x600 resolut
4. aph ics and video software applications have a few things going for them even before one starts to use them These things are called books Having a manual in your hands when learning new software has almost become a thing of the past eZ Motion and e PicturePro both include a tutorial booklet a user manual and a six page quick reference sheet On the down side the manual has Windows screen shots and the content is not always the same as what one sees on the Mac screen This is aminor problem considering the ease of use of both of these products Installation and use of the software is very simple Neither a restart nor quitting all running applications are necessary for the installation eZ Motion is designed to create moving graphics on the web It joins a growing list of such software One can create animated graphics from scratch using the included drawing tools which include 3D text and text on a curve as well as a bezier tool To begin creating content quickly Beatware has included 81 templates of various kinds from banners to video presentations All graphic creation is done in the animation panel The upper part is a window in which you create or import your graphics and animate them and the lower part is atime line showing each object s name the number of frames and which frames have a key function Tool palettes are used to select various functions and most are also available from the menus eZ Motion can export th
5. ding a calendar a task list and notes Entourage adds text enlargement and rewrapping spelling and grammar checking to the email management software Pressing the control key and clicking the mouse brings up a contextual menu with proposed spelling and grammar changes Command Y is ahandy key command for viewing unread messages only this works in Outlook Express too Flag for followup allows you to flag a message in your inbox then set a reminder to return to it at a specific time Flag for followup can be used for any document in Office For example you could flag an Excel document that tracks expenses to come up at the end of the day or week to be updated Cool Entourage s PIM functions are similar to Palm Desktop but not as fully developed I liked the way that notes and tasks appear in the same window as the calendar in Entourage which makes the day easier to plan However I found the calendar hard to read and not as flexible as Palm Desktop s Entering data in Entourage s address book also requires a lot more mouse clicks and mouse movement for clicking check boxes and the like What takes a couple of taps on the tab key in Palm Desktop seems to take twice as long in Entourage Like Palm Desktop Entourage can be synched with a Palm or compatible handheld If you have a Palm you can t synch to both Entourage and Palm Desktop it s an either or proposition You can set reminder alarms in Entourage but they re only activ
6. e CD ROM as is a Value Pack containing 120 MB of additional clip art 40 MB of additional templates and wizards and 140 MB of help add ons and other components The second surprise a pleasant one is the interface redesign Toolbars and icons have been simplified and standardized The status bar has been moved to the bottom of the window which cuts down on the top of screen clutter The Help interface 1s another good example of the improved integration of Office s components Help alternatives include the Office Assistant the Help menu and Help on the Web which is accessible from the Help menu The Office Assistant is a little animated helper who offers tips and a place to type in questions Some people like my husband Tom abhor it and disable it first chance they get I find it useful and occasionally amusing My current favorite is Bosgrove the obsequious butler from the Value Pack folder on the installation CD ROM The Project Gallery is another feature that is consistent across the applications The gallery is a launch pad for an extensive collection of templates and wizards fill in the blanks document starters for the different applications Templates range from business forms to web pages Unless you disable it the Project Gallery window appears each time you launch an application Entourage Entourage is the new addition to the Office suite It s an enhanced version of Outlook Express with additional PIM features inclu
7. e finished product in a number of formats animated GIF QuickTime RealPlayer or Macromedia Flash for moving graphics or GIF JPEG PICT PNG TIFF Targa Photoshop or a Photoshop sequence for stills There is also an Export Wizard a la Microsoft to walk one through the process Beatware s e Picture Pro has everything that eZ Motion has and more It is designed for web professionals and as such has more capabilities than eZ Motion Image slicing and JavaScript rollovers which are not available in eZ Motion can be created e Picture Pro s outputis fully compatible with Dreamweaver Flash Front Page and GoLive It can export to all the formats eZ Motion can and more The interface is friendlier with e Picture Pro The animation panel is separated from the document window which makes resizing much easier in both windows There is much more control over all aspects of the animation All the elements of each frame are available for modification so all pieces of your project can be tweaked as necessary Both of these products are very easy to use The keyboard shortcuts are the same as Photoshop at least for the most used tool selections There are a lot of tools and modifiers to be learned but with the quick references guide in hand anyone can produce professional looking web animations with either Animation panel and document window in e Picture Pro piece of software I would suggest that if you are doing more than a casual
8. e in Office applications If you re working in Photoshop you re out of luck After trying the PIM features of Entourage for a week I decided to stick with Palm Desktop for PIM functions but to keep my address book up to date in both applications Entourage s address book leverages the real strength of Office Addresses from the address book can be selected for Word mail merges From the Summary view of an Entourage address you can get driving directions online from Expedia com from your work or home address to your destination Excel Word and PowerPoint each incorporate a range of new features The Office Clipboard common to all three has multiple panes for multiple copy and paste elements Text continued on page 4 Page 4 Office Mac 2001 continued from page 3 pictures and elements can be dragged to the clipboard and used in any of the three applications The Formatting Palette puts menus for fonts styles and application specific attributes like number formatting in Excel or slide layout in PowerPoint onto a convenient movable palette Word The Data Merge Manager replaces mail merge in the new version of Word and it s a vast improvement Now you can choose information from your Entourage address book or FileMaker Pro file with ease to create form letters labels envelopes or catalogs and you can preview your final merge before printing Click and Type allows you to type in the middle of a blank page to cen
9. f Virtual Memory for systems 9 0 or later 160 MB of hard disk space for a drag install 75 MB for a minimum custom install CD ROM drive monitor supporting 256 grays or colors with 640x480 or higher resolution April 2001 we oa GoLIve JEFF CARLS and GLENN FLEISHMAN weih HEIL ROBERTSA and AGEN SCRAITE ie nt Bah geralrigenal Pmp aA mirria irren rm jmbargeri BOOKS Page 5 NANPA amp REPAIRING Digital Camera How to Do Adobe Photoshop 60 E verything Bring your digatal vision to life Quickly master the basics of good photography Bbk Ti Eca berg ardiak DFii fry piai iLi pl dagit Rae Os orRnNE E REAL WORLD ADOBE GOLIVE 5 TROUBLESHOOTING MACS PHOTOSHOP 6 0 CLASSROOM IN A BOOK AND HOW TO DO EVERYTHING WITH YOUR DIGITAL CAMERA Real World Adobe GoLive 5 by Jeff Carlson and Glenn Fleishman 960 pp Adobe Press 2000 44 99 GoLive is a big sprawling husky voiced program that likes to plop down on your sofa open a bag of chips and watch football on the picture in a picture while flipping the dial to watch other programs At the same time it s a smart big hearted program with a great deal of potential just waiting to be tapped So begins Real World Adobe GoLive 5 Authors Jeff Carlson and Glenn Fleishman have taken on the latest version of Adobe s web software with just the right blend of humor and encyclopedic informati
10. he anticipated retail price At its 499 list price 299 for upgrades significantly lower pricing on academic versions Office Mac 2001 is a major investment To help you decide whether the software is the right choice for you take a look at the Microsoft s Office 2001 Tour CD ROM which contains self running demos of new features a technical guide in PDF format and version 5 of Internet Explorer and Outlook Express The same material is available online at www mactopia com The auto demos are also a great way for new users to get up to speed Over the past four months I ve used Office Mac 2001 virtually every day I ve found this newest version of Microsoft Office and its component programs to be a pleasure to use and a genuine enhancement to my working experience I recommend it highly Microsoft is currently offering a 50 rebate for purchases of Office Mac 2001 made between March 5 and June 15 2001 For details go to Www mactopia com ELSA TRAVISANO Microsoft Office Mac 2001 Microsoft Corporation www mactopia com 499 299 upgrade Excel Word and PowerPoint are also available individually for 399 each 149 each for upgrade System Requirements OS 8 1 or later System 8 5 or later recommended Any PowerPC processor based Mac OS compatible system clock speed of at least 120 MHz recommended 32 MB of RAM with at least 1 MB of Virtual Memory for systems prior to 9 0 48 MB of RAM with at least 1 MB o
11. iated with or sponsored or sanctioned by Apple Computer Inc NewsBreak received an award for excellence from the January 2001 User Group University
12. inally import designs into GoLive to create the actual web pages As with all Classroom in a Book titles this one is highly recommended How to Do Everything with Your Digital Camera by Dave Johnson 394 pp Osborne McGraw Hill 2001 24 99 This book is misleadingly titled a more apt name might be How to Do Everything with Your Digital Camera and Your Windows PC The book makes no attempt to be cross platform unlike the author s earlier How to Do Everything with Your Palm Handheld The Mac is only mentioned once in a brief discussion of preferred formats for sending files to Mac users So if you re looking for information on how to import images from your camera to your Mac and how to manipulate them once there you ll be disappointed However the book does contain a good deal of useful infor mation about digital cameras and photography The advice on choosing a camera is sound and up to date taking into account cameras with resolutions of up to six megapixels The author draws on his twenty years of experience as a photographer to offer thoughtful instruction on exposure composition flash and lighting and on taking closeups The sections on compos ing shots and on compensating for poor lighting situations are particularly useful If Johnson had chosen a cross platform application like Photoshop for his discussion of image editing the book would have a much broader appeal Unfortunately he chose to use Paint Shop
13. ion 1024x768 millions of colors recommended Beatware Inc www beatware com 650 556 7900 1779 Woodside Road Suite 200 Redwood City CA 94061 April 2001 Page 3 SOFTWARE REVIEW MICROSOFT S OFFICE MAC 2001 Office Mac 2001 is big news in a small package Microsoft s productivity software suite has undergone acomplete redesign since its previous version Office 98 The result is a collection of programs that is more capable more tightly integrated and in many respects easier to use Office Mac 2001 costs 499 199 for upgrades and consists of Word Excel PowerPoint and anew application Entourage Word Excel and PowerPoint are also available separately for 399 each 149 upgrade Entourage which combines PIM personal information manager functions with an enhanced version of Outlook Express is available only as part of Office The first surprise is the product s packaging Gone is the hulking box of previous versions Office Mac 2001 comes in a translucent gray pebbled clamshell case made from recycled plastic This clever case has room for nine CDs as well as the program CD ROM Achieving the compact design meant omitting printed manuals a mixed blessing Fortunately cach component of Office has a consistent help interface To install Office simply drag a folder from the CD ROM to your hard drive Minimal install takes 75 MB more realistic is the 160 MB full install Internet Explorer is included on th
14. nd italicizing a row when I intend to insert a new row with control I The key swap was probably done to bring the Mac version more in line with the Windows version by emulating the second button of a two button Windows style mouse The change may increase my productivity in the long run but right now I m struggling to unlearn a ten year habit Compatibility and interoperability are emphasized in the new version of Office Office Mac 2001 files are compatible with Office 98 for Mac and Office 97 and Office 2000 for Windows Save dialog boxes now have a check box for adding the proper NewsBreak Windows file extension doc for example to a file All the applications support drag and drop so a photograph can be dragged from the desktop into a Word document and elements can be dragged between applications Many Windows users ask why Microsoft doesn t make a Mac version of Access their Windows database software The answer is that FileMaker Pro is such a strong Mac product Microsoft decided to coordinate rather than compete The new FileMaker Import Wizard allows FileMaker data to be imported into Excel in a variety of ways Office is also designed to integrate with MYOB AccountEdge accounting software and Palm handhelds OS X Microsoft has targeted the fall for the release of the OS X version of Office 2001 According to the MacTopia website current Office 2001 owners will offered a promotional upgrade price of 149 half of t
15. ng for the replacement cartridge and sealed into the clear postage paid envelope Envelopes can be mailed from any mailbox Many thanks to the local Post Office for making it so easy to recycle used inkjet cartridges April 2001 OS Ser a Mac OS OS X TEN ARRIVES AT LONG LAST Well the wait is finally over OS X ten touted by Apple as the world s most advanced operating system began ship ping on Saturday March 24th And it was worth the wait Apple has generously provided MUG ONE with a copy of OS X We ve scheduled a full fledged demonstration for our May lst meeting In the meantime watch for a sneak preview as well as a surprise or two at the April 3rd meeting ELSA TRAVISANO MUG ONE OFFICERS FOR 2000 2001 Jay Manning President 607 433 1305 email mactechl dmcom net Elsa Travisano Vice President 607 433 2569 email mugone stny rr com Terry Helser Sec amp OSC Liaison email thelser stny rr com Office 436 3518 fax 436 2654 Joanne Johnston Treasurer email ejohnston stny rr com 607 432 8123 607 432 6320 607 433 2466 Art Dauria Program Co Chair email dauriaaf oneonta edu Fran Sokol Program Co Chair 607 369 7645 email fransokol stny rr com Johanna Koenig Librarian 607 432 4975 email jokoenig dmcom net Page 2 NewsBreak SOFTWARE REVIEW BEATWARE S EZ MOTION AND E PICTURE PRO Beatware s eZ Motionand e PicturePro web animation gr
16. on Peachpit Press s Real World series is focused on production techniques rather than graphic design Real World Adobe GoLive 5 details the practical issues of creating and maintain ing web sites The book is very well designed with very legible page layouts and a thorough index Highlighted bars in the left margins draw attention to tips and new in 5 features and screen shots are plentiful and well chosen The very useful companion web site www realworldgolive com contains even more tips examples sample chapters and book updates as well as links to articles software updates and to the downloadable demo version of GoLive 5 This excellent book belongs on the shelf of every serious GoLive user Troubleshooting Maintaining amp Repairing Macs by Ryan J Fass Stuart Brown and Kim Foglia 1186 pp plus CD ROM Osborne McGraw Hill 2001 59 99 Aimed at intermediate to advanced Mac users Troubleshoot ing Maintaining amp Repairing Macs is a massive hardcover reference volume that covers recent Macintosh models in cluding the iMac iBook blue and white PowerMac G3 Power Mac G4 PowerBook G3 models with bronze key boards and the Cube The book takes a narrative rather than step by step approach so you generally need to read through a paragraph or two to learn how to do a particular repair The textis sound and thoroughgoing and is amply illustrated with charts diagrams screen shots and black and white photo graphs
17. otoshop 6 0 constitutes a major overhaul for the essential Mac graphics software and there s no better way to get up to speed than with this title from Adobe s Classroom in a Book series Adobe Photoshop 6 0 Classroom in a Book consists of seventeen self paced step by step lessons for mastering various aspects of Photoshop 6 0 Lessons are designed to take from thirty to ninety minutes to complete continued on page 6 Page 6 Books continued from page 5 with most requiring between forty five and sixty minutes Review questions and answers follow each lesson The ac companying CD ROM contains support materials including lesson components and final versions with which to compare your own efforts Both new and experienced Photoshop users should start with the first lesson Getting to Know the Work Area in order to familiarize themselves with Photoshop 6 0 s new menus palettes and context menus The lessons on Basic Pen Tool Techniques and Vector Shapes and Clipping Paths cover the ustrator style tools and techniques that are new to this version of Photoshop Designing Web Pages Using Multiple Adobe Programs demonstrates how to leverage the synergy between various Adobe applications for web production The lesson shows how to create web content in Photoshop then review designs and share comments with colleagues in Acro bat add animations and rollovers in ImageReady included with Photoshop and f
18. shale a MACINTOSH USERS GROUP ONEONTA NEW YORK Volume 16 Number 3 APRIL MEETING SHOULD YOU QUICKEN YOUR LIFE TERRY HELSER xxii NOTE OUR NEW LOCATION Joinus on Tuesday April 3rd postponed from March 6th at 7 30 PM in our new location Physical Sciences building room 121 on the SUNY Oneonta campus See map and directions Professor Terry Helser will introduce us to Quicken 2001 the personal finance program and to the Physical Science building s new smart classroom For more information contact Terry Helser at 432 8123 or email us at mugone stny rr com NEEDED USED CHILDREN S SOFTWARE FOR KIDS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS Do you have children s software gathering dust on a shelf MUG ONE member Don Gersch will gladly accept donations of used kid s software on floppies or CD ROMs to be used by area children of all ages with developmental disabilities He s particularly interested in finding older Living Books titles If you have children s software Mac or Windows that you re no longer using and would be willing to donate it to a good cause contact Don at dgersch aol com or bring the software to the next MUG ONE meeting POST OFFICE OFFERS FREE ENVELOPES FOR RECYCLING INK CARTRIDGES A display in the Oneonta Post Office dispenses free postage paid envelopes for recycling empty inkjet printer cartridges Cartridges need to be placed into their original packaging or into the packagi
19. ter a title for example Word adds page and text border and shading styles for enhanced page design Word also features web authoring tools and enhanced graphics and drawing tools PowerPoint PowerPoint s new Project Gallery and formatting palettes simplify creating and formatting presentations Tables can now be created and formatted from within the program You can also scan pictures directly into PowerPoint from most scanners and digital cameras Active links to web sites can be incorporated into PowerPoint presentations as can QuickTime movies Presentations can be saved in PowerPoint Movie format as a fully controllable QuickTime movie You can also save presentations as web pages Excel I found some of the biggest changes in Excel Microsoft realized that a lot of people were using Excel to manage lists of things like wines and CD collections To simplify such tasks they created the List Manager with tools that allow you to sort filter and total items in a list As you scroll through a long list column headers stay at the top of the screen They also print on every page These and other similar enhancements will make the lives of many Excel users a lot simpler by reducing the need for manual fiddling to make a spreadsheet view and print properly The change that s been hardest for me to get used to has been Excel s replacement of the command key with the control key for many keyboard commands I keep hitting command I a
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