Creating .pdf files

In our previous post, we discussed what an Adobe Acrobat .pdf was and how to read them. Today we’ll look at ways to create them.

Adobe’s own program is quite expensive, and I won’t discuss it here. If you can afford it, enjoy!

If you have Microsoft’s Word2007 or OpenOffice Writer, you can save any document you have created as a .pdf just by clicking a button. (Click here for a 10-second video of how to save a pdf in Word, and click here for a shot of the same thing in OpenOffice Writer.)

But what if you don’t have either of these programs? What if you’re using an older version of Word, or the free AbiWord program? No problemo.

PrimoPDF is a free program you can download and install that acts like a printer driver. Meaning, when you click Print, PrimoPDF appears as one of your choices for printers. Choose that over your regular printer, and it will save your document as a .pdf.

(Warning: PrimoPDF keeps trying to get you to register, and every ten saves or so it will annoy you with a pop-up registration form that has no X in the corner to close it. But if you click ALT+F4, it will go away. It’s a small price to pay for such a useful tool.)

Click here to get PrimoPDF.

Click here to see it in action.

Adobe Acrobat and You – Viewing a .pdf file

One of the best things to happen to internet communications was the invention of Adobe Acrobat (any document ending with .pdf). PDF stands for Portable Document Format, and basically it “takes a snapshot” of your page. Why? So you can share your work with anyone, with any type of computer (Mac or PC, etc) with any type of word-processor. So no more will a student say, “I couldn’t open the review sheet because we have a Mac, or we don’t have Word, or my computer can’t handle Hebrew, etc.”

All the receiving end requires is a free program to read the document. Most Internet browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari) can also read .pdf files.

Adobe Reader is available for free download, and is compatible with all types of computers. Feel free to uncheck “Also Install: Adobe Media Player” if you want. You don’t need it to read .pdfs.

Another program that opens Acrobat files is Foxit. It is also free, much smaller and quicker to open than Adobe Reader, and I find myself turning to it more and more.
Foxit Reader can be downloaded here. [You want to download the file called Foxit Reader 2.3 (.exe)]

Click here for a shot of Adobe Reader and here for a shot of the same document opened in Foxit Reader.

AbiWord – an alternative Word Processor

In my previous post I introduced you to OpenOffice. I forgot to mention, that OpenOffice can save documents in a compatible format with other programs, including Microsoft’s. So if you work on a test at home in OO, you can save it as a Word-compatible (.doc) document and open it and edit it in Word at school.

Another freeware Open Source program for word-processing is AbiWord.

Abiword reminds me of Word or WordPerfect before they succumbed to Feature Bloat. It’s small, loads up very quickly, and does everything I need it to do. It handles Hebrew (with one or two quirks I’ll deal with later) and can save in a multitude of formats, including Microsoft Word.

Here is a shot of Abiword’s main screen.

And to compare, here is a shot of OpenOffice’s wordprocessor, named Writer.

I’ve been playing with both, and am leaning towards AbiWord, primarily because it’s faster. Also, because the program itself is so small it can run off of a Flash Drive and go where I go, regardless of whether it’s installed on any particular computer. (In truth, so can Writer.) More on that later.

If you’d like to try AbiWord (it’s absolutely free) you can download it here.

Intro to Freeware

Let’s define “freeware.”
Freeware is software that developers offer for free. Get it?

Why would someone do that? Are they mad?!

Maybe.

Or maybe they are professional software designers who hope to entice you to purchase their more expensive package by giving you a taste of what they can do for free. Kind of a test-drive. Sometimes it’s a fully functional but older version of the current product.

Or they could be computer programmers who came up with something useful that they wish to share with the world for the sheer joy of it.

Or, they might be left-overs from the idealistic hippies who designed the web, and who feel that information just wants to be free, man.

Today we’re going to look at Open Source software. It’s software where the code is available to developers, who then play with it and develop new features, which are sometimes then incorporated into the package. Open Source software is updated often. And it’s free and legal, unlike “borrowed” software.

Open Office is a wonderful program if you need any or all of the following programs: word-processor, spreadsheet program, presentation software (like PowerPoint), graphics, and database. You can choose to install all of the programs or only the ones you need. (I passed on the database and spreadsheet ones.)
As an added bonus, Open Office has a Hebrew dictionary for spell-check. Cool.

Click here to go to Open Office. Read more, and download it and install it and try it out. (If you already have a word-processor and just want to test out OO, be careful to uncheck the “Make Open Office your default” option.)

In future posts, we’ll discuss some of Open Office’s features.

Changing the Look of Your Blog

Not that it’s high on your priority list, but I’m sure you find it annoying that WordPress has assigned your blog the rather pedestrian subtitle “Just another WordPress weblog”.

Today, in a really cruddy video (but it’s small enough for Youtube!) I’ll go through the procedure to change it.

For a much better quality video, plus instructions on how to choose a custom theme for your blog, click here
 

Starting Your Blog

I re-read the last post and it was way too wordy. For the next step, let’s try a video.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then an audio/video tutorial ought to be priceless:

Click here to view tutorial on making your first blog post.

(I know you may be used to viewing small Youtube videos embedded within a blog. I wanted the video to be large enough (it’s full-screen) so that it would be easier to follow. So for legibility’s sake, I have made it an outside link.)

Getting a blog

This is really easy. Just follow these directions.

1. Go to http://wordpress.com/
2. Click the button that says “Sign Up Now!”
3. If you are at all password-challenged, write down EVERYTHING as you go along!
4. Pick a User name. This will be the name that you use to log on to WordPress. If you’re doing this for class, you probably don’t want an anonymous username and should go for something like “Mrs. Yourname”. Choose something you’ll remember!
5. Choose a password you’ll remember, without picking something that’s so obvious your students will be able to guess it and hack into your account and remove all your homework assignments. Some suggestions are – meaningful dates, a significant other’s middle name, a favorite pet, etc. The best passwords are combinations of letters, numbers and symbols. (NOTE: I have had some problems with using symbols and had to change my password. Caveat Blogger.)
6. Re-enter your password, and then enter your e-mail address.
7. Check off the legal box, and the radio-button that says “Gimme a blog!” and click Next.

On the next screen, WordPress will assign you a domain name based on your e-mail address. (i.e. Yourname @ whatever.com will get you Yourname.wordpress.com. This should be fine for you, and there’s no need to change it. But you can if you want.)

WordPress will also automatically assign you a blog name of Yourname’s Weblog. Feel free to change that. May I suggest Mrs. Yourname’s Homework blog. Whatever you want. Make it descriptive and something you’ll remember! (Are you sensing a pattern here?)

The default language is English, but WordPress can handle many different languages, including Hebrew. So if you’re teaching עברית or work in an עברית בעברית school, go for it. But as you can see (if the last sentence contained Hebrew and not gibberish) you can type in other languages even if you stay with English as a default.

Privacy: This is up to you, but if a student forgets your blog address, it may be helpful to be able to do a Google search for it. I’d suggest you check off that little box.

Click Sign up. WordPress will send an e-mail to your account. Open it, and click the link inside to finish your registration.

Congratulations! You now have a blog!

Next post: Now what?

Getting it on the Web

I’m trying to help teachers (especially, but not exclusively, Limudei Kodesh teachers) with little computer experience or savvy to learn to use the web as a tool for posting homework, handouts, test information and useful links and resources for their students.

My secondary goal is to assist teachers to use readily available (and free!) programs to produce professional-looking material for their students.

We’ll start with the quick-and-dirty method of using a blog (short for “web log”) as a substitute for a website.
The advantages of using a blog are:

• It requires no knowledge of web-design.
• It requires no special programs.
• It can be updated in moments from any available computer.
• You can upload documents, post helpful links or get an assignment to your students without having to e-mail everyone.
• Parents can keep posted on assignments, upcoming projects, due dates and exams.

Next post, we’ll get you your own blog and start rolling!