I’ve Moved My Blog to ifcatscouldwrite.com

I’ve finally moved my blog from the free hosted service at www.wordpress.com to Network Solution’s hosted WordPress service.  It’s a pretty good deal at only $49.50 per year.  The only problem I’ve seen so far is that the maximum size for videos you can upload is 25 MB.  That’s doesn’t work very well when my five-minute videos are usually 100 MB.  So I uploaded my wedding video to YouTube and linked to it.

Please visit my new site at www.ifcatscouldwrite.com, since I’ll be taking this one down soon.

Our Wedding in Paris: March 18, 2011

 

Recording Webex Presentations and Editing Them in Camtasia Studio 7

There is a much easier way to record and edit Webex presentations than what I previously posted in How to Record, Edit, and Distribute WebEx Meeting Recordings. 

Just record the meeting during the Webex session, then play back the Webex recording while recording it with Camtasia Studio 7.  Then you can edit it, add a title page, table of contents, etc.

I had tried other ways to do this, including Webex’s recording editor, Captivate, and even Jing.  I was not able to capture the audio from my Webex recordings (arf) with Captivate 5, even though I followed the instructions in Captivate’s startup message and ran Captivate as the Administrator, then set the audio input device as Stereo Mix.  I tried this with Jing 2.4 and couldn’t get the audio either, even though I set it to Stereo Mix. 

I was able to capture the audio and video with Camtasia Studio 7 without a problem. 

Here are the steps:

1. Record the meeting during the Webex session.

2. Download the recording from Webex.  (You don’t have to convert the arf file).

3. In Windows 7, right click the sound icon on the taskbar and select Recording Devices.  Make Stereo Mix the default. 

4. Then in Camtasia, select Record System Audio from the Recorded Inputs dialog (this automatically opens when you start a recording). 

5. Play back the Webex recording while recording it with Camtasia Studio 7. 

6. After you record the Webex recording in Camtasia, you can add markers to create a table of contents.  (See http://www.techsmith.com/learn/camtasia/7/use-markers-to-create-toc/).

Camtasia is $299 and well worth it, in my opinion.

Changing the Selected Text Color in Windows 7 (and Word 2007)

When I upgraded to Windows 7/Word 2007 from XP/Word 2003, I noticed that it was very difficult to see selected text in a Word 2007 document.  When you select text, it’s pale blue.  That doesn’t help when you’re working with long documents.  However, you can change the color of selected text in Windows 7.

1. Right-click your desktop in Windows 7.
2. Select Personalize.
3. Select Window Color at the bottom.
4. Select Advanced appearance settings…
5. On the Window Color and Appearance dialog, select Selected Items from the Items drop-down list.
6. Select a color from the Color drop-down.
7. To create a custom color, select Other from the Color drop-down, then find the color you want in the palette, and click Add to Custom Colors.  Then click OK on the on the Window Color and Appearance dialog.
8. On the Change the color of your window borders…window, click Save Changes.

Now when you select text in Word 2007, your color will display.

Using Tasks and Groups in Microsoft Outlook 2007

You can create folders for your tasks and then organize them into groups on the Tasks pane in Outlook 2007.  (I couldn’t find this in Outlook’s online help.)

1. To create a folder for your tasks, in the Tasks view in Outlook, click the drop-down on the New button on the menu, then select Folder.
2. Enter a name for your folder, then click OK.
3. To create a group, click Add New Group (this displays beneath “Current View” on the Tasks pane).
4. Enter a name for your group.  Once you create the group, you can rename it by right-clicking the group name.
5. Drag the folder you created (under My Tasks on the Tasks pane) and drop it on top of your new group.

Last Few Weeks of My Graphics Design Class at USF – St. Petersburg, Florida

I haven’t been posting much about tech writing since the summer.  That’s because I’ve been taking an art class to maintain my teacher certification.  I’m certified to teach French, and in the state of Florida, you can maintain your teacher certification by taking 6 credit hours every 5 years from an accredited college or university (see Florida Educator Certification Renewal Requirements).  At least 3 of those credit hours must meet specific requirements (see Appropriate Categories for Renewal).  I took a French class 2 years ago, so I was able to take a class of my choice.  (The 6 credit hour requirement is for teachers that are not currently teaching — those who are can use inservice points.)

My professor is Erika Greenberg Schneider.  It’s been a great class.   Here are some of my drawings from the class:

Low Headphone Volume with Windows 7 64-bit PCs: Resolved

I was having trouble with low volume output with my headphones and my new Windows 7 PC (HP Compaq 6000 Pro Small Form Factor).  After finding all kinds of complaints on the Web about it, I was able to resolve my problem with a really simple fix.  I had been plugging in the headphones in the back of the CPU.  I didn’t realize there was a jack in the front, and when I plugged it in there, it works fine now.

Transcribing Webex Recordings

I’m looking for an easier way to transcribe Webex recordings than playing them in the Webex Network Recording Player (version 2.5.1).  It’s really difficult to pause and start using the timeline and a mouse, in addition to using a dual monitor — one with Word 2007 and one with the Webex player.  It took me almost all day to transcribe a recording that was a little over an hour long.  I want to transcribe this myself, and I’m already aware of all of the transcription companies that can do this.  (I heard a rumor that it’s $1/word and I just finished transcribing 7,000 words!)

I’m looking into transcription software and foot pedals, specifically Express Scribe Transcription Playback Software.  I haven’t downloaded it yet, but it’s free.  The foot pedals are from AltoEdge and average under US$100.

You can download the WebEx Network Recording Player to record the Webex meetings, then use it to convert the file to .wav, .swf, or .mp4.  Express Scribe supports .wav and .mp4 among other formats (but not .swf).

So if anyone out there has personal experience transcribing Webex recordings and has suggestions, please let me know.

Thanks!

Gina

Writing an Implementation Plan for our Confluence Wiki for User Docs

We successfully completed our Confluence wiki pilot (using the wiki as online help for our software applications).  I’ve contacted Atlassian Sales for advice on the following.  If any of you have used a wiki and have solved these problems, please let me know.

1. We will be hosting Confluence on our own server. We have converted our user docs (online help) to Confluence. The wiki will replace our online help which is accessed from the context-sensitive links in our software application. We need assistance in a single sign-on solution so that when the CSH link is clicked, the wiki will open transparently without the customer having to log on again to Confluence. (We will notify our customers to use their Support login and password, then after the first logon, the wiki will open automatically.) I don’t know if your Crowd application is what we need. So please let me know.

2. We must deliver the wiki in multiple languages (French, German, Spanish, and Portuguese). We are creating “mirror” localized spaces for the user docs English space and populating it by importing the Word docs output from Madcap Flare (current online help source). What is the best way to get the wiki pages translated? What part of the xml backup file just contains the latest version of the page, and not the comments or page history? If we could identify that for our localization service provider, it would be relatively easy to translate. As it is now, I can only send the wiki markup version of the page as a txt file to the translators because the xml contains too much other code. So if you have a solution, please let me know.

Gina

 

Hiding Friends on Your Facebook Wall for iPhone

You can’t hide friends in the iPhone Facebook application, but you can change the view so that you only see friends in certain Friends Lists (groups).  You can create, for example, a list of BFFs, and a list of Hidden friends.  Then you can view the list you want to see on your iPhone Facebook application.

1. First, create Friends Lists in Facebook (Web version on your PC, for example).
   1. Click Profile on the top right.
   2. Scroll down to Friends and click See All.
   3. At the top of the Friends list, click Create New List.
   4. Name the list “Hidden”, for example, then click Create List.
2. Next, add the Friend to one of your lists.
   1. On the Friends list next to the Friend’s name, click Add to List.
   2. Select “Hidden” if you want to put the Friend in a list that you don’t want to see on your iPhone, or
   3. Select “BFF” (or whichever list you choose) for the Friends you want to see.
3. On your iPhone Facebook application, go to the News Feed page.
4. Touch the Live Feed button, then scroll down and touch the Friends List you want to see, then touch the Done button.The Friends List name for the current view will display on the button (BFF, for example), until you select a new Friends list to view.
5. To return to view all Friends on your News Feed page, touch the Friends List button (such as BFF), then touch Live Feed, and touch the Done button.