Having screenshots from specific windows, web pages, movie scenes, etc. is a good idea when you want to stress the importance of a particular visual material. This blog post will guide you through different methods of taking screenshots on both Windows and Mac machines.

Let us begin with taking a screenshot off the entire screen of a Windows machine

Step 1) Prepare your screen. Organize the visual items in the manner you wish them to be captured.

Step 2) On your keyboard, find the button titled "Print Screen" and press it.

If you are using a standard Windows keyboard, please see the location of the button on the picture below:

If you are using a Mac keyboard, while running Windows on your machine, please see the location of the button (F14) on the picture below: 

Now, there are two ways to proceed to the next step. All Trinity College Windows platforms have "PrintKey 2000" installed. This is an easy to work with software solution that would enable you to take screenshots. If you, however, do not have a copy of this program, there is a different way through which you can save your screenshots.

In steps 3a and 4a, "PrintKey 2000" will be used. In steps 3b and 4b, a different, universal method will be used.

Step 3a) A "PrintKey 2000" program launches on your computer. It has taken the screenshot.
Step 4a) Proceed to saving the screenshot. Click on the "Save" button, located at the top left side of the program.

Would you like to take a screenshot of a certain area on your screen only?

Once you have clicked on the "Print Screen" button and the "PrintKey 2000" program has launched, you may select the "Rectangular" tool from the menu in the top of the PrintKey 2000 program.
When you have clicked on the "Rectangular" tool, with your mouse, you can draw a rectangle around the area you wish to take a screenshot of.

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Step 3b) Open MS Paint.
Step 4b) Go to Edit>Paste. You screenshot appears on the white sheet. You can save the screenshot from File>Save.

Let us have a look at taking screenshots on a Mac platform

There are four different ways of taking screenshots on Mac machines. Three of the ways require use of keyboard combinations, and one of the ways lets you use a software product.

Combination 1) Command-Shift-3

When you click on Command, then Shift, and then 3, a screenshot of your entire screen is taken. This means that you need to have your visual items arranged prior to selecting the combination.

Combination 2) Command-Shift-4

When you click on Command, then Shift, and then 4, you can draw a rectangle, with your mouse, around the area you wish to take a screenshot of. 

Combination 3) Command-Shift-4-Space

When you click on Command, then Shift, then 4, and then Space, your mouse cursor turns into a camera. You can click with the camera on a specific window that you want the screenshot of.

*All screenshots taken with keyboard combinations are automatically saved to your Desktop.

Taking screenshots with Grab on Mac

Step 1) Start "Grab". You can find the program in your "Applications" folder.
Step 2) Go to the "Capture" menu of Grab, at the top of the screen. 

Step 3) Select what type of screenshot you would like to take:

a) "Selection" gives you the opportunity to select an area of your screen
b) "Window" lets you take a screenshot of a particular window on your screen
c) "Screen" gives you the ability to take a screenshot of your entire screen
d) "Timed Screen" lets you take a screenshot with a 10-second time delay. This option is perfect for use when you need to move or select an object right before the screenshot is taken.

Once you have taken the screenshot, it will appear on your screen. To save it, go to Grab: File>Save

To be able to use the Apple keyboard on a dualboot PC platform is a very simple process. This blog entry will highlight the differences between Apple keyboards and PC keyboards.

For beginners, it is important to note that the alpha-numeric keys are in the same location as a regular PC keyboard.

There are, however, some new keys that you may not be familiar with, and some that seem to be lacking altogether.

Among those that are lacking is one of the most frustrating ones-the NUMLOCK key. This key is the key that unlocks the numerical keypad located on the right hand side of the keyboard.

On a PC keyboard, this key would be located immediately above the number "7" key. However, this is not the case for the Apple keyboards. In the apple keyboards the equivalent of this numlock key is the CLEAR key that is found immediately above the number "7" key. Press this key to unlock the numeric keypad.

There is also another obvious difference between the apple keyboard and the PC keyboard. That is the lack of a Windows key. This key is traditionally found between the ALT key and the CONTROL key. By pressing this key on the PC keyboard, the START menu is called up.

On the apple keyboard, the substitute for this key is the COMMAND key. This key is located immediately adjacent to the SPACE bar and next to the ALT/OPTION keys. Use this key to perform the same functions that the Windows key would perform.

You should also know how to take a screen shot of a window using the apple keyboard. To do so, simultaneously press the ALT key and the F14 key. From there simply open PAINT and paste and you should have a screenshot of your window open in the program. From there you can save it as a .jpeg by clicking Save As from the File menu and in the scroll down menu that reads Save as type: select JPEG.

An additional piece of information that would be useful to know is the use of international characters, i.e. accent marks. To create these characters anywhere on a PC platform (not just in Microsoft Office) you simply need to simultaneously press the Alt Key and the numerical configuration that accompanies each character. Below you will find a table listing the most common characters used in a number of international languages that include: French, Spanish, Italian, German, & Portuguese.

Note: You must use the numerical keypad for the numbers

If you have any questions about this blog post, or would like additional information about the use of an Apple keyboard on a dualboot PC Platform, please feel free to contact the STA office.

You just finished entering all the information of your next presentation as bullets on Microsoft PowerPoint 2008 (PP), you have 150 slides to present, and only a few minutes to add the same "Appear" of "Fade" entrance animation to each of your 1000+ bullets!

Fear not, as Microsoft has actually made this quite simple, with something called the "Master Slides". Master Slides will allow you to add animations (and styles) to different objects on a certain slide layout, and whenever you use the same layout, the settings will automatically effect the new slide.

First off, open PP and go to View -- Master -- Slide Master:


You will then see the following screen:


Make sure the first slide is chosen to edit the layout for Titles followed only one box of text. However if you are using different layouts, you may choose any other layouts that you desire.



Feel free to do any styling edits here, but this post will only deal with adding an animation to the bullets.

Now click on the main bullet (the one that says "Click to edit Master text styles") and then go to the toolbox. If you do not have the toolbox out, you can release it by clicking the "Toolbox" icon on the top of the window: 

On the toolbox, click on "Custom Animation" (highlighted in orange) and then click on the green star to add an Entrance Effect:

A menu will pop: choose "Fade" or any other effect you desire.


Now you are done, and you animation must incorporate "Fade" entrances for every bullet in your slide, and they will all go off by a mouse click!

This is a tutorial on activating the Arabic language on your mac. It also applies to other languages.

First of all, you must access the "International" menu under "System Preferences".

Youtube is a video sharing website that streams content from around the world. Users can upload videos and view others' with a click of a mouse. However, uploading to youtube sometimes takes a very long time. If you just want to finish the project and upload it to youtube, then imovie has a function which uploads the video straight to youtube.

1.Open imovie, then your project.

2. Go to share-->youtube.

3. After clicking on youtube, you will  see a window pop up. If this is your first time, you have to add your account to the computer so it will be saved for future use. Simply click add, then put in your account name.

4. Put in all necessary information in the window.

5. Press publish.

6. Read the terms and conditions, and then press accept.

7. Wait for your video to load.

8. Go to your youtube account after a few hours, and your video should be uploaded!

If you add many icons to your dock, you may consider wanting to organize it with separators. One easy way to do that is to download Dock Dividers, then just unzip the file, open it, access the desired type of dividers (horizontal or vertical), and then just drag them onto your dock.

It is a very simple process but may also be quite useful.

Here is a screen-shot of a portion of my dock after adding the dividers:

If you have just taken the plunge and switched to a Mac, one of the first things you might have realized is that Mac OS X does not include a "Start Menu Bar". OS X instead uses a dock in which all your open, as well as "bookmarked" programs appear.

One consequence of this is that you may not "Alt+Tab" - or in the Mac case, "Cmnd+Tab" - between all the open windows on the desktop. Instead you will first have to press "Cmnd+Tab" and go to the desired program, and then "Cmnd+`" in order to get to the desired window in that particular program.

If you find that a bit of a hassle, you can try using Exposé, which will fit all your open windows to screen, by pressing the Exposé button on your keyboard. The following is a screenshot of what I can do when I press the Exposé button on my computer:

Using WMA (Windows Media Audio) files on a Mac can be something of a hassle sometimes, especially that Macs do not support WMA. (Example iTunes).

Therefore it is always recommended to convert your audio files into a format supported by OS X.

1. First thing you have to do is obtain an audio converter. In this post I will be using Switch Audio Converter, which can be downloaded here.
2. Install Switch, and then open it.
3. Click on "Add File(s)" in the upper left corner, and then navigate through the finder in order to find the files you want. Alternatively, you click on "Add Folder" and choose a whole folder with audio files to convert.

4. In the bottom menu, specify your desired output folder. All converted files will be saved there. You can also choose your output format and some Encoder Options such as the bitrate.


5. Once you are done choosing your options, click on "Convert" and wait for your files to get converted. Now you have your WMA file in a different format. 

Ever been caught in a dilemma, where the software program you need to use only works on Windows? Or maybe you just prefer to do something on XP rather than on your Mac.

Dual booting is the solution to your problems. It allows you to enjoy using both Windows XP and the Mac operating software.

                

This post is about burning files to a CD/DVD, and it assumes that you are using the MAC in the Blume Language Lab.