Adobe Acrobat Reader Tips January 25, 2007
Posted by iawalsh in : Misc, Adobe Products, Tips , add a comment
Acrobat Reader is a standard Windows application, with pull-down menus as a top row, a tool bar as a second row, and scroll bars at the side and bottom of the screen.
Searching for text
You can search for text by selecting “Find” from the “Tools” pull-down menu or by
clicking the “binoculars” button on the tool bar.
Navigating through a document
Acrobat Reader has a number of tools to let you move through a document. Hand Cursor
The “hand” cursor lets you quickly move around the page. Press the left mouse button and the hand becomes a fist, grabbing the page. With the mouse button held down you can “drag” or “push” the page anywhere on the screen.
Vertical Scroll bar
The vertical scroll bar on the right of the screen lets you move up or down by line (arrows), by half-page (click in the scroll area), or by user-selected distances (drag the scroll button).
View drop-down
The “View” pull-down menu lets you move to defined (first, last, etc.) or selected pages.
Arrow Keys
The arrow keys in the tool bar let you move to first, previous, next or last page.
Page Button
The “Page” button at the bottom of the screen displays a page icon and the text “n of m” showing your current page and the total pages in the document. Click on it to select a “go to” page.
Resizing a document.
The “View” pull-down menu has five pre-set sizes (Actual, Fit Page, etc.) as well as a “Zoom to…” option which lets you select a variety of magnifications for the document.
The second block of buttons in the tool bar contains 4 buttons for setting the cursor. The default “hand” cursor is for navigation use only. (see above) The “+” and “-” magnifying glass buttons provide zoom in and zoom out capability, respectively.
When you select the “+” button, the cursor will change to a “+.” Click with the cursor in the document and the displayed document will double in size. Each succeeding click will again double the document size, to a maximum of 800%.
The three buttons on the tool bar let you select from predefined document settings. The rightmost button of the three will set the document to fill the screen. Magnification will vary by screen size. The middle button will shrink the document to display the full page. The leftmost button will set the document at 100% magnification.
Vulnerabilities in Macromedia Flash Player December 7, 2006
Posted by iawalsh in : Adobe Products, Troubleshooting , add a comment
Warning for those who develop products or simply use Macromedia Flash Player.
“If a user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker who successfully exploited these vulnerabilities could take complete control of an affected system. An attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.”
Read the full instructions over on http://www.microsoft.com/technet/
Issues with .art file November 1, 2006
Posted by iawalsh in : How do I ?, Formatting, Writing, Adobe Products, Troubleshooting , add a comment
You may experience one or more of the following issues when working with .art files:
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You cannot save or open the .art file.
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When you try to paste an .art file from a Web site, the image does not appear in the document.
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When you insert an .art file into a document, the quality of the image is poor.
These issues may occur if the .art file is compressed. An .art file may be compressed if the following conditions are true:
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You used America Online (AOL) to download the .art file.
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The AOL software is configured to compress graphics.
To resolve these issues, use one of the following methods.
Method 1: Save the image in a different format
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Right-click the image in Internet Explorer, and click Save Picture as.
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In the Save as type box, select either • JPEG or Bitmap
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Give the file a name and save it.
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Use a graphics program to save the image in a different format.
Method 2: Install the AOL Image Support Update
If you are an AOL user who uses a Microsoft Windows 2000-based computer, install the AOL Image Support Update.
You can get this as at the following link: http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/downloads/recommended/aolfix
Using Master Templates in Adobe FrameMaker October 10, 2006
Posted by iawalsh in : Adobe Products , add a comment
Master templates let you control the format and positioning of every component in your FrameMaker document.
In plain English, this means that if you setup a footer as Arial, size 10, and then apply it to the main document, all footers will appear in this font and this size.
Sounds good !
But, what if you wanted to have different footers in the document?
You could hard-code every footer.
Hard code means you manually type in the footer.
That’s ok for a 5 page document —- but not if your creating a 250 page user guide. You need to automate the process, which is where templates come in.
In FrameMaker, you can create different footers, identify each type, and then apply them where you wish. You can have different headers and footers for the Cover Page, Table of Contents, Index, Chapters, and Copyright pages.
Common Problems with Master Templates
One of the problems I’ve had was that even though I’d created the component, it didn’t appear in the document.
The main reason for this, especially for headers and footers, was that the previous entry was still there. In other words, you have to remove the previous header and then enter the new one. When you think about it, it makes sense, but if you don’t know you could get very frustrated.
Delete the ‘old’ header and insert the new ‘one’ instead.
Tips and Tricks
Numbering chapters, headers, footers, and labels can cause all types of confusion.
One trick I’ve learnt it to cut and paste template settings from a FrameMaker document I know works into the new document.
In the first document (you know works), open the template settings, and select the section you want to copy.
In the document you want to update, open the template settings, and paste where appropriate.
Click Apply and return to the main document.
Your changes should now be reflected in the second document.