|
Note: Tutorial created in Windows XP.
Welcome to Scrap Girls!
We are thrilled to have you join the growing
ranks of digital scrapbookers. By participating in one of the many
events, chats, crops, and challenges in the Scrap Girls Chat Room,
you are taking advantage of an outstanding way to learn and interact
with our talented and helpful Scrap Girls Team - the Staff, Product
Designers, Layout Designers, and Welcoming Committee.
The information
included here is designed to help out our newest members and those
just dipping their toes in the digital world. To make the chat
process easier to understand, it has been separated into three
categories: Before the Chat, Entering
the Chat, and During the
Chat.
Before the Chat
Before the Chat - Downloading a file
Some of the Chat Room events, such as the Sketch
Crop Challenges, require you to download a file ahead of time.
One of the most common sites to download files from is yousendit.com.
The
download link will be included in the event message board announcement.
Copy and paste the link into the web address bar of your Internet
browser or click on the link to follow it.
An example of the first
download screen at yousendit.com is
shown here. Click on the link beginning “http://” (most
download sites will work in a similar manner).
This is an example
of the second screen you will see at yousendit. Click on the “Download
Now Securely” button to continue.
Next, a file download window
will appear. Click on “Save” to
continue.
In the “Save As” window, first use the drop
down menu to select the file in which to save your download. You
may find it easier to set up one file folder for downloading all
your chat materials.
For example, I always download into my “classes
and crops” folder.
The file path for my classes and crops folder is as follows: “N:\ScrapGirls\classes
and crops”. The “N:” in this example represents
the drive name, and each word after that is the name of a folder.
So essentially, my classes and crops folder is in the Scrap Girls
folder on my N: drive.
It is important to make note of your file
folder location so you can easily find your information for the
chat.
After selecting your folder, click on “Save” to
begin the download.
Before the Chat - Extracting (or Unzipping)
a File
Many of the file downloads are zipped to compress the file
size. You will have to unzip or extract the information before
you can use it.
This screen shot shows an example of
a zipped file.
On a Mac:
- Double-click on the file, and it automatically uses an
extract program to extract the file.
- You can do more than one at
a time just by highlighting (clicking and dragging over) as many
files as you want. The program automatically extracts the files
to the same location where the ZIP file is located.
On
a PC:
-
For extracting multiple files, you may want to use a freeware
program such as Extract Now, go to http://www.extractnow.com/ to
download for free.
-
You may also use the Extraction Wizard (that
comes with Windows) to extract one file at a time.
-
Right-click on
the file, and then select “Extract All...” from
the drop down menu.
-
In the Extraction Wizard window, click “Next”.
-
If you
want to unzip the file into the current folder, click on “Next”.
-
If
you wish to unzip the file to another location, first click
on “Browse” to
choose the new folder, and then click on “Next”. Make note of any folder changes so you may easily find the file
for your chat.
-
To complete the extraction process, click “Finish”.
You will now see the unzipped file.
Before the Chat - The small,
little details
Before your chat begins, it is recommended you review
the chat materials (if any) so you have a basic overview of what
will be covered. You may wish to make note of any questions you
have so you may ask the teacher or hostess during the chat.
You
will want to open your photo-editing software. During a general
chat, challenge, or event, there will regularly be assistance available
for Photoshop Elements and Photoshop.
Make sure you have the latest
version of Java. You can check at http://java.com/en/download/index.jsp.
Entering
the Chat
You can enter the chat by clicking on the “Live Chat” icon
(on the upper right of the page) from either the Scrap Girls home
page or the Scrap Girls Message Board.
It will take a few moments
for the Chat Room Java application to open. While you are waiting,
you will see a screen similar to the one here.
During the Chat
The screen shot here shows what you will see upon
entering the chat room.
A. This is a list of the Users currently
in the Chat Room. Your name will be shown in blue.
B. This is where
you will see the chat text as each user posts a comment. Your name
will be seen in blue.
C. This is where you type in your text. You
can either hit your “Enter” key
on your keyboard or “Send” to enter your words in
the chat.
Please note: Bold and CAPS are
used by the hostess or teacher only so their posts can
be easily seen by all participants.
Many of the chats, challenges, and classes
are held in specific chat rooms (refer to the message board thread
for each event for more details).
To enter a specific room, click
on “Show Rooms” button
on the upper left side. Where the user names once were, will appear
a list of the available rooms. To enter a room, double-click on
the room name.
Note: The “Show
Rooms” button
will be visible when viewing the list of users. The “Show
Users” button
will be visible when viewing the list of rooms.
To make your chat
window float (so you may see more than one window at a time), click
on the second button from the right with four black arrows. Once
the chat is floating, you may change the size of the window and
move it around your monitor.
Regularly, the hostess of the chat
will share links to different products in the Scrap Girls Boutique,
to various layouts in the Scrap Girls Gallery, or to informational
threads in the Scrap Girls Message Board.
Depending on your internet
browser and security settings, you may be able to follow a link
by using Control+Click (Command+Click on Mac).
If
that method doesn’t work for you, click on “Actions” from
the chat menu and click on “Recent Room History” from
the drop down menu. A new pop-up window will appear.
Highlight
the link by clicking and dragging your mouse across the web address.
Use Control+C (Command +C on Mac) to copy the link.
Open another
Internet browser window. Paste the copied address into the new
window by using Control+V (Command+V on
Mac) and hit your “Enter” key.
During the Chat - A few
last things to keep in mind
Here at Scrap Girls, we welcome all
members, experienced and new, to our chats/crops/challenges held
in the Live Chat room. All of our events are hosted and moderated
by Scrap Girls team members. Moderators will appear in RED/BOLD in
the chat room; other Scrap Girls Team members will appear in
blue. Please refrain from using these
colors and/or bold during the chats to avoid confusion.
New Member
chats are directed towards our newest members and are held to answer
questions they may have about the message board, galleries, TOU
(Terms of Use), and challenges. They are a great way for our new
members to find their way around the chat room, learn how things
work and get to know us. All members are welcome to attend; however,
we ask that the focus stay on the new members and welcoming them
to our forum.
Each chat event has a theme: Sketch, Art, Ad, All
About Me, and High Noon to name but a few. It is important for
all our members that we stay on topic with the chats while having
fun. All questions are answered by team members unless the team
member opens the question to the group. Discussions about software
and message board use, chocolate and ice cream are natural, however,
we ask that personal information and topics be reserved for our "Non-ScrapBook
Related" (NSBR)
chat, held once a week in the chat room.
Team members may invite
a member into a Private Chat for a gentle reminder if these rules
aren't being followed. Remember, we have a limited amount
of time to cover a lot of information. Should the chat or
crop end with members still wishing to chat, then please feel free. But
wait until all topics have been covered, all questions answered,
and the moderator has signed off the chat room floor.
And finally...
If you have any questions regarding this information
or anything involving digital scrapbooking and photo editing software,
please feel free to post on the message board or send a private
message to any one of our team members. We want your digi scrapping
adventure to be a happy one, and we all take great pleasure in
helping you learn and grow.
Thank you for being a part of the Scrap
Girls family!
Tutorial by Marnie Adams, Dee-Ann Decker and Theresa Kavouras
|
