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gemboy27
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Off topic

Post by gemboy27 »

I have two off topic questions:

Can anyone recommend a good general use book on Macs. One that deals with topics like the using the Automator and macros. I've tried to figure out the Automator from the Apple site, without luck. Some of this is due to I grasp knowledge better from a book than a web site.

What has been going on with LinkBack? It appears the site (http://www.linkbackproject.org/) is kind of stagnant. I have been playing around a bit with Linkback --- mostly using LiveSketch (ironically Nisus doesn't work with the updated version -- Sketch+). This would be a great resource, if it continues to grow.

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I have never let my schooling interfere with my education/Mark Twain (1835-1910)
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Patrick J
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Post by Patrick J »

Hi

For AppleScript I think you might really like Hanaan Rosenthal's book "AppleScript". This is the best book on the subject I've encountered and most people will learn from it from those absolutely new to AppleScript to quite experienced.

I don't know if anyone has written a book on Automator. I haven't much of a clue about it either but I have hardly looked at it so it's a bit unfair. I do like the Robot icon for it

I agree with you about LinkBack. It is to my knowledge the only thing of its type currently for OS X. With the Classic OS Apple introduced OpenDoc of course which was a bit along these lines.

I read somewhere that Keynote is LinkBack aware with a plug-in. I also read that this is not so with the very latest version of Keynote. I think that LinkBack requires some big-ish developers to start using it for it to get known about.

I think today's animation is the best yet.
gemboy27
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tanks

Post by gemboy27 »

Thank you

I'll look at the Rosenthal book, I would like a general book for many subjects though....

If you go to the plug in page for KeyNote
http://commons.ucalgary.ca/~king/projec ... /linkback/

there has been a message (for at least a month) how the guy is working on one for KN3...


Gem
I have never let my schooling interfere with my education/Mark Twain (1835-1910)
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Patrick J
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Post by Patrick J »

I don't think single books covering using the Mac in general tend to go into scripting and that kind of thing in much detail because it would make the book very large.

I have David Pogue's book "Mac OS X, The Missing Manual, Tiger Edition" and in fact it looks like this describes using Automator quite well, but it really only touches on AppleScript.
gemboy27
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better

Post by gemboy27 »

That might be better, I am not likely to do a lot of scripting. Actually I am not sure what I would use Automator for...what is a common use for that function??
I have never let my schooling interfere with my education/Mark Twain (1835-1910)
Agnostus
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Re: tanks

Post by Agnostus »

gemboy27 wrote: If you go to the plug in page for KeyNote
http://commons.ucalgary.ca/~king/projec ... /linkback/

there has been a message (for at least a month) how the guy is working on one for KN3...
Hmmmmm... I think this message has been there for quite a while now. But I can imagine that it is discouraging for a volunteer developer to have to write a new plugin for every of the annual releases of iWork, because it breaks plugins for previous versions.

As for info about LinkBack in general, Apple just launched a new website for OSS projects centered around OS X: http://www.macosforge.org/

As far as I understand it is supposed to be not only for Apple's own projects. Wouldn't it make sense to try to get LinkBack listed there?
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Patrick J
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Re: better

Post by Patrick J »

gemboy27 wrote:That might be better, I am not likely to do a lot of scripting. Actually I am not sure what I would use Automator for...what is a common use for that function??
"Create time-saving automations without programming a single line of code."

That's what it says in the Help for Automator :)

I think it's quite fun; I've just been playing with it.

I tend to use AppleScript for things but Automator doesn't seem to require any scripting knowledge.
gemboy27
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and

Post by gemboy27 »

What kind of things do you use it for?
I have never let my schooling interfere with my education/Mark Twain (1835-1910)
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Patrick J
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Post by Patrick J »

Well I don't use it for anything but I will give you two examples:

If you want to make the same set of modifications to a whole bunch of different images then you could use Automator to do that.

If you want to rename a big group of files including an incremental number at the end you could get it to do that.

With Automator you can add different commands together thus creating a "workflow". So you could add the two things I've described together and do both at the same time.
gemboy27
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hmm

Post by gemboy27 »

<a href="http://librarymonkey27.wordpress.com/fi ... cketsm.gif" target="_blank"><img src="http://librarymonkey27.wordpress.com/fi ... cketsm.gif" border="0" height="427" width="123" alt="rocketsm.gif" align="right" /></a> I guess I am not sure what need I have that would fall into that category. There are things I do a lot of, but never seems to need a repetative, since they end up being a bit unique. Like a dancing monkey is nowhere like a space ship
I have never let my schooling interfere with my education/Mark Twain (1835-1910)
Jzents
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Re: and

Post by Jzents »

gemboy27 wrote:What kind of things do you use it for?
I have used it to create folder actions. For example, when students send me work, I want to make sure it is not confused with stuff I have graded. I created a folder action that takes the file I drop in the folder, which I just got from the student, it adds the word Ungraded to the end of the file name and moves it to the folder where I keep ungraded stuff. Then when done I drop it in another folder, the action deletes Ungraded and adds Graded and moves it to the folder where stuff that is ready to be returned in kept. I also created a workflow that asks me for to identify an email recipient, and opens the folder where graded assignments are so I pick out the correct one, and then attaches it to an email, adds canned text and send the email out, it then moves the assignment to another folder to I know that it has been sent back to the student. Saves lots of time when I have 30 assignments to return. Cheers!
Jeffrey Zents
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midwinter
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Re: and

Post by midwinter »

Jzents wrote:I have used it to create folder actions. For example, when students send me work, I want to make sure it is not confused with stuff I have graded. I created a folder action that takes the file I drop in the folder, which I just got from the student, it adds the word Ungraded to the end of the file name and moves it to the folder where I keep ungraded stuff. Then when done I drop it in another folder, the action deletes Ungraded and adds Graded and moves it to the folder where stuff that is ready to be returned in kept. I also created a workflow that asks me for to identify an email recipient, and opens the folder where graded assignments are so I pick out the correct one, and then attaches it to an email, adds canned text and send the email out, it then moves the assignment to another folder to I know that it has been sent back to the student. Saves lots of time when I have 30 assignments to return. Cheers!
I do the same thing, except I have labels: all files added to a specific watch folder are labeled red. When I comment on them, I turn them green.
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scottwhitlock
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This gets me thinking...

Post by scottwhitlock »

You know, this post, especially the last two replies, has gotten me thinking. I have never come across a decent book on using your Mac for education, surprising since so many college professors, secondary and primary educators, etc. use the Macintosh on a daily basis. If not a book, I would even like to see a website, maybe to collect ideas, shortcuts, powertips, etc. that can help professors and teachers use their Macs to make grading easier, etc. I have 80 students this semester in a freshman level class who have questions about everything and are constantly sending me drafts, etc. I find so much of my work is not in grading and mentoring but in simply trying to keep it all together.

Is there a resource? If not, would anyone here be willing to help start one?

Scott
midwinter
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Re: This gets me thinking...

Post by midwinter »

scottwhitlock wrote:You know, this post, especially the last two replies, has gotten me thinking. I have never come across a decent book on using your Mac for education, surprising since so many college professors, secondary and primary educators, etc. use the Macintosh on a daily basis. If not a book, I would even like to see a website, maybe to collect ideas, shortcuts, powertips, etc. that can help professors and teachers use their Macs to make grading easier, etc. I have 80 students this semester in a freshman level class who have questions about everything and are constantly sending me drafts, etc. I find so much of my work is not in grading and mentoring but in simply trying to keep it all together.

Is there a resource? If not, would anyone here be willing to help start one?

Scott
Like this?
TimL
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Re: This gets me thinking...

Post by TimL »

scottwhitlock wrote:You know, this post, especially the last two replies, has gotten me thinking. I have never come across a decent book on using your Mac for education, surprising since so many college professors, secondary and primary educators, etc. use the Macintosh on a daily basis. If not a book, I would even like to see a website, maybe to collect ideas, shortcuts, powertips, etc. that can help professors and teachers use their Macs to make grading easier, etc. I have 80 students this semester in a freshman level class who have questions about everything and are constantly sending me drafts, etc. I find so much of my work is not in grading and mentoring but in simply trying to keep it all together.

Is there a resource? If not, would anyone here be willing to help start one?

Scott
I recently discovered this site, it's quite good:
http://academhack.outsidethetext.com/home/
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