GeorgiaVIEW Tips
1. Managing files
2. Text
3. Powerpoint
4. Text with graphics
5. Graphics
6. Audio
7. Video
8. Screen capture
9. Screen motion capture
10 Top 10 Tips for GaVIEW Vista users
Managing Files in GeorgiaVIEW
You can add text, pictures, sound clips, and more to pages in a section in GeorgiaVIEW. Basically, if you have seen it used on the web, you can add it to a page in a GeorgiaVIEW course section.
You can add files directly to the page you are editing with the "Add File" link at the top of the page, or you can upload your files to the File Manager first, then place them where you need them in your course section.
The File Manger is basically a place in a GeorgiaVIEW section where you can store files. You should become familiar with how it works, because you'll make frequent use of it when you put a course together. Here are instructions: SPSU has a number of step-by-step guides to using File Manager, including the following:
- How to add a file to a page in GeorgaVIEW. For a reminder, look over this explanation from SPSU.
- Using the File Manager for a review of how Vista's file manager works.
- Using File Manager pdf from Georgia Sothern
Preparing content for the web
It is essential to prepare content for the web in the appropriate format so students see the material quickly and without having to download anything or open an application. This means, for example, that you should convert .doc, .docx or .ppt files to a format designed for the web.
In the next sections are suggestions for preparing text, slide shows, graphics, and video., in the best formats for use in GVVista. There is also a section on working with screen captures.
Text Formatting
Unless you have a good reason to use another format (i.e users need to download a Word document) you should use the file format used to display text on the web. This means that most pages in your section should be web pages (or "html"). There are several ways to do this.
The easiest is to use Vista's built-in html Editor.
1. Use Vista's HTML editor,
- Guide to using Vista's html Editor (a short Camtasia movie).
- Full-screen version of the Camtasia movie in the list at Georgia Southern's Center for Online Learning site.
- Edit an html file in Vista (pdf)
If Vista's html Editor doesn't work, you probably need to make some adjustments on your computer, Try using the html Editor in another browser (i.e. Firefox or Internet Explorer). If you are still having problems making the html Editor work, follow the steps in this guide.
See also: FAQ about troubleshooting the HTML Editor. Includes links to articles at the Online Support Center .
2. Use a "WYSIWYG" html editor
If you have a lot of text and pages to prepare, you may want to use a "WYSIWYG" (what you see is what you get) web page editor like Dreamweaver or Seamonkey Composer to prepare pages for Vista.The advantage of using this kind of HTML editor is that you do not need to be online to use the ediitor (to use Vista's built in HTML editior, you have to be logged in to Vista and online).
- Dreamweaver is comprehensive but it takes a while to learn. There is a 30-day trial version, but you must buy it after 30-days.
- Seamonkey is free and easy to use. You can download the Seamonkey "suite." which consists of a web browser, and an HTML editor called Composer. You can compose web pages in a "what-you-see-is-what-you-get" environment You save the page you have created in Composer, then upload it to Vista as usual via Vista's File Manger.
- Using Seamonkey Composer.
- Seamonkey Composer Tutorial.
3. Convert a Word doc to a web page
Unless you have a good reason to post documents created in Word, you should avoid posting .doc or .docx files to GeorgiaVIEW. The reason for this is that the user must first download this type of file and then open Word to view it. It is thus strongly advised that you learn to prepare pages in either the html Editor in Vista itself, or in an application such as Seamonkey or Dreamweaver.
Although it is not the best solution, it is possible to convert existing Word docs to html from within Word itself.
See how to convert Word files to html.
If the page that results from you converting a Word file to html does not look right when you upload it to GeorgiaVIEW, you can clean it up by using HTML Tidy.
Use CK Editor
If you have worked with the GHC Web management system, you have used CK Editor to format web pages. You can use it to format web pages for GeorgiaVIE as well.
1. Paste from Word
CKEditor allows you to preserve basic formatting when you paste a text fragment from Microsoft Word. To achieve this, copy the text in a Word document and paste it using one of the following methods:
-
Press the
button on the toolbar. - Use the Ctrl+V shortcut on your keyboard. Note this method works even when the browser blocks CKEditor toolbar's access to the clipboard, so this is the most reliable way of pasting the text.
2. Removing Format
CKEditor makes it easy to not only change the style of your text, but it also makes it equally easy to remove these styles.
To remove text styling applied to the document text, select the text fragment and press the 
toolbar button. All text styling will be removed and the text will be displayed in the default font.
PowerPoint Formatting
Powerpoint presentations can be uploaded to GVV, but this requires the user to download them and open PowerPoint to view them, or to download and use a Powerpoint viewer to view them directly in the browser. Powerpoint slides are graphics, and can be large and slow to display.
If you convert ppt files to Flash files they will be smaller, and thus display more quickly, without the user needing to open Powerpoint to see them.
Here are 3 ways to convert ppt files so that they play directly in the user's web browser, without requiring Powerpoint.
1. Impatica or iSpring.
Use a product such as Impatica or iSpring to convert .ppt to Flash movies. iSpring is free. It adds a button to PowerPoint, converting a ppt file to a Flash file. The slideshow plays right in Vista's browser window, and your users don't need PowerPoint and don't download files to see them. Download iSpring
See this iSpring Tutorial: "How to convert Powerpoint to Flash with iSpring" at GeorgiaSouthern.
2. Use Keynote on a Mac.
Download a 30-day trial version from Apple.
You can open the ppt file in Keynote and save it a a swf file (i.e. Flash).
3. Save for the web in Powerpoint 2010
Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 enables you to save your presentation to Web sites such as Windows Live for others to access.
- Open the presentation that you want to publish (publish: To save a copy of a file in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) format to a Web server.) to the Web.
- Click the File tab, and then click Save & Send.
- Under Save & Send, click Save to Web.
If you want people to have access to a presentation that you published to the Web, you must specify a Web server (Web server: A computer that hosts Web pages and responds to requests from browsers. Also known as an HTTP server, a Web server stores files whose URLs begin with http://.) or other available computer when you choose a location for the file. Some Web sites, such as Windows Live, may require you to sign in to connect to the server on which your presentation is to be saved.
- Click Save As.
- In the File name box, type a file name, or do nothing to accept the suggested file name.
Preparing Text that includes graphics
If you want to post a document that includes text as well as graphics, convert text-that-includes-graphics to pdf files (portable document format). This turns the document into a "picture" of the original (a graphics file). If you decide to convert a document to pdf format, you should be aware that editing the document is not quite as easy to accomplish as editing a document in Word.
1. Word 2007/2010:
Use the MS Word's "Save as" command; To convert a Word doc or docx to pdf in Word 2007 or 2010, click "Save As" and choose "pdf" in the 'Save as Type" dropdown menu of the Save as popup box.
You can also install an add-in to versions of Word other than Word 2007 or 2010. This allows you to save a Word doc directly from within Word as a pdf. (You don't need to do this if you are using Word 2007 or 2001, see above).
To download and install the Save as pdf add-in for pre-2007 versions, follow these instructions.
2. Use Adobe Acrobat 7.
See: Converting files to PDF using Acrobat 7
Preparing Graphics
Save photos or continuous-tone pictures as .jpeg or .png files. Download Irfanview, a free image converter. Save line art (diagrams, drawings, etc) as .gif or .png files. Irfanview does this too.
Audio Formats
Convert sound files to mp3 files.
See Using Audio in Blackboard Vista Workshop handout.
Video Formats
You will need to prepare your video in a format that will play in a web browser. In GeorgiaVIEW, your files should be one of the following types: MPEG, .mov, or .avi files. Services are available in IT for filming and producing digital video, and for converting it to an appropriate format.
Basically, you upload video files as you would upload any file, using GVV's File manager. You then place the video file on the page in your course section in which you want your video to play. As usual, a link to the file (the movie) appears on the page. To view the video, users simply click the link. Watch the "Uploading Video" movie above to see how it is done. Note how the movie opens in a separate browser window, enabling the user to see the video controls
Uploading Video into Blackboard (Vista) UTube video.
Embed Youube video code
For help with video production and editing, contact IT staff or S Grist.. If you want to learn by yourself, there are free DV creation applications on Windows and mac computers:
On a Mac, see iMovie.
On a Windows computer, see Moviemaker.
Screen capture
You can capture a window, a menu or part of what is displaying on the screen with screenshot utilities built in to Windows 7.
You can also take screenshots with earlier Windows versions. See How to take a Screenshot on a Windows PC Macs have a capable and built-in screenshot utility called Grab.
Screen motion
Download and use Jing to capture screen and screen motion which can be saved as movie files (5 mins limit).
Tutorial. showing how to use Jing.
Using Jing to Create Screen Shots and Short Videos
Top 10 Tips
Top Ten Tips for GeorgiaVIEW Vista Users (docx)