Tutorials
An Absolute Beginner's Guide to the Terminal
Ric Getter February 12, 2007
Sitting discreetly in Utilities folder (nestled nearly unnoticed amid your applications) is one of the most powerful tools ever created for the Mac. It is simple and elegant, yet can be intimidating (if not terrifying) and has the power to cure some of your computer’s most puzzling ills. It also possesses the fearsome ability to wreak unimaginable havoc on your system. We are talking, of course, about the Terminal, that magnificent gateway to the hidden underpinnings of the Mac OS.
How to Print Borderless Photos with iPhoto
Dave Strom February 9, 2007
We use iPhoto for our digital photos. (Who doesn’t?) For this tutorial, we wanted to perform two iPhoto tasks: print 8.5x11 photos, and crop a portrait photo from a landscape original. We used iPhoto ‘06 on Mac OS 10.4, with a Hewlett-Packard 7960 Photosmart printer. Differences in printers and in the iPhoto and OS versions should not make for too dissimilar of a process, provided the OS is in the 10.
Podcasts In Education
Charles Thacker February 7, 2007
Although the concept of streaming media has been around almost as long as the Internet itself, and Podcasts specifically since 2000, the use of Podcasts in education has recently experienced a growth spurt around the world. Education is not generally known for its quick adoption of new technologies. There are still districts that don’t have a presence on the Internet, although I would be surprised to find some that don’t communicate electronically.
Convert a HyperCard Stack to Revolution
Joe Wilkins February 6, 2007
I had every intention of responding to readers’ comments about my last column on Revolution, and I’m going to do just that; but we’re also going to start with some serious Revolution activity after I make a few corrections to my previous offerings. Thanks to several of the RevList members, it was brought to my attention that I made a couple of erroneous observations and remarks. Should you go back to reread my previous articles, you will notice that I will have changed them a little to reflect the things that I am about to reveal - though not immediately!
How to Create Slideshows Using iDVD
Dave Strom February 5, 2007
Do you want to show off your photos on something besides your Mac? Then you need to create a slideshow and burn it to a DVD! You’ll be able to play your slideshow on any DVD player. Why do we use iDVD instead of iPhoto to do this? We tried creating slideshows using iPhoto with our 800MHz G4 iBook (1 GB of RAM and a SuperDrive), and with a 1.5 GHz G4 desktop.
A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Mac Icon Design
Matt Cone February 4, 2007
Several months ago, Macinstruct decided to commission a set of custom-designed icons for its new website. We had no idea what we were doing. After researching the heck out of icon designers and emailing more than a dozen of them, we found somebody we liked who managed to create the beautiful icons you see today on Macinstruct. This article is a crooked chronicle of our experience. What the @#$%?! Why Mac Icons on a Website?
How to Find Macs on eBay
Eric Buczynski February 1, 2007
If you’re in the market for a specific part for your Apple computer, you probably know that Apple charges retail prices for their products. Third-party resellers often charge the same amount for these products, or even a little more if they’ve marked up the price. So, sometimes the best place to look for Apple parts is eBay. Where do we start? Let’s try searching for baseball cards first, just as an example.
Internet Safety for Families
Charles Thacker January 31, 2007
School districts across the United States provide Internet access for students and staff through their district networks. The purpose of this access is to provide an additional resource for the educational environment and meet the needs of an increasingly dynamic instructional model. Technology in general, and the Internet specifically, is just a tool. It is inherently neither good nor bad - it just is, until it’s used. Like many new advances in our society, the Internet has brought out the best and the worst in humanity.
Effective Technical Writing
Adam Engst January 31, 2007
Tip: This article was originally submitted to coach tutorial contest contestants. We liked it so much that we’ve left it online – hopefully it will help other writers. Greetings, writerly ones! I’ve been asked to offer you some sage advice, but since holiday preparations have left me rather short on thyme, I’ll settle for these recommendations for effective technical writing. First, and most important, write directly to your reader, and write in the active voice.
What Can Be Done Using Revolution?
Joe Wilkins January 30, 2007
Since this column is going to be an evaluation and, hopefully, a guide to using Revolution to assist you in solving your problems, the very first thing we need to do is cover some of the most important general programming tenets. When an idea for resolving a problem or issue that we encounter in everyday life occurs to us, our first hurdle is to come up with a method of “doing it” with our computer.