Starting the program

The program should start automatically when you place the CD in the CD-Rom drive of your computer. If the program does not start automatically, follow the steps below:

The program opens to the Start Screen. This screen provides access to the three sections of the course. Clicking on the Section description opens that section in a new browser window.

Note: If you would prefer a larger or smaller text size in the lesson presentations, click 'View' on the Menu Bar at the top of the screen, then choose 'Text Size.' Experiment with different sizes to find the text size best for you. See the 'Menu Bar' section below for more information.

Exit Link

The Exit Button terminates the program. To restart the program, follow the instructions above.

Clicking on the word Exit in the top line navigator closes that section

Main Sections

Each main sections begins with its own Table of Contents page. Thumbnail illustrations of the main section Tables of Contents pages are shown here.

           

Lessons

Each Section Table of Content lists a series of numbered 'Lessons.' Clicking on a Lesson title opens that lesson.

Frames

Each lesson consists of a sequence of one or more 'Frames.' The Frame represents the basic unit of instruction presented in the Interactive Guide.

Here's a screen capture of a typical lesson frame:

At the top of each frame, a Navigation Bar allows you to move quickly within the lesson. A typical Navigation Bar is illustrated here.

Navigating the Frames

The topic of the lesson is indicated at the left end of the bar, followed by a series of numbers, one for each frame in the lesson. The number with the underscore is the currently displayed frame. You can move to any frame in the lesson by clicking on it's frame number. At the end of some lessons you will find a Quiz and/or Exercise. A 'Q' in the number list indicates a Quiz frame and an 'E' indicates an Exercise frame.

Clicking on the 'Table of Contents' will always return you to the Section Table of Contents.

'Next Frame' advances through the lesson frames in numerical order. The 'Previous Frame' acts like a back button in your web browser, moving back through frames in the order in which they were accessed.

'Next Lesson' advances the guide to the next lesson in the section.

The 'Exit Course' will close the current Section.

Clicking on the Print icon will open your computer's Print function allowing you to print the current frame.

Frame Content

Most frames can be displayed on a single screen (depending on your Monitor and the text size you've chosen). However, some frames require you to 'scroll down' to see all of the frame's content. If you see a vertical scroll bar at the right side of a frame, make sure you scroll down to see the entire frame before advancing.

Frames contain text, illustrations and, in many cases, video demonstrations.

Text

Most of the information contained in this Guide is in the form of text, presented in as clear and concise a manner as possible.

Animated Illustrations

Some illustrations are animated. It may be necessary for you to click on the illustration or it's caption to view the animation. The text in the frame will always tell you when this is required.

Video Demonstration.

All video demonstrations are located in the Computer and Photo-Editing Sections of the guide. This graphic icon is used to indicate a video demonstration. Clicking on the icon opens a separate video window in the center of your screen within which the video will be displayed.

Macromedia Flash Player

Video demonstrations are presented using Macromedia Flash, requiring the Macromedia flash player be installed on your computer. The Macromedia Flash player has proven itself to be a safe and reliable program for displaying video on the personal computer. If your PC does not have the proper version of the Flash player installed, the guide will automatically ask you if you would like to download it from the internet. Make sure your computer is connected to the internet when attempting to download the player. Be advised that the Computer Section and the Photo-Editing Section of the Interactive Guide to Digital Photography will be rendered useless if the Macromedia Flash player in not installed on you computer.

Video demonstrations DO NOT contain music or narration. They are step by step presentations of the topic. You 'interact' with them. At each step, one or more yellow text 'balloons' appear and the video pause while you read the text. Balloon text describe what's going on in the current step. Clicking on the balloon causes the video to continue to the next step.

Including step by step text descriptions in demonstration videos is much more difficult and expensive to produce, but were chosen over audio narration because they allow you to proceed through the material at your own pace, consistent with your personal attention span. The interactive nature of 'Click to continue' demonstrations is a much more powerful learning tool than the more passive narrated versions.

Here's a screen capture of a screen from a demonstration video. Note the controls at the bottom of the window. You can use them to override the balloon text pauses.

Activities

Many frames, particularly in the Camera Section, contain 'Activities.' Activities ask you to do certain things to complete the learning experience offered by the frame. Activities are designed to fill gaps in the program created by the different makes and models of digital camera and/or computers in use today. The Interactive Guide to Digital Photography has promised to teach you everything you need to know about your digital camera. It can't do that if you don't follow our instructions concerning the specifics of your particular equipment. So, do all the exercises as directed.

Exercises

Remember the old joke:

A man carrying a violin case asks a New York City policeman, "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?" "Practice," answers the cop, "Lots and lots of practice."

At the end of many of the Camera lessons, we ask you to do certain procedures to 1.) prove to yourself that what we're telling you is true, and 2.) provide you with practice doing it. Even if you think what we ask you to do is too complicated, too silly or too tedious to do, do it anyway. Learning anything takes effort and practice. Digital photography is no exception.

Quizzes

You will find a quiz at the end of most Camera Section lessons. A quiz is not a test. No scoring is involved, and no record is kept of how well you answer the quiz questions. The quiz contains a series of multiple-choice questions concerning the material covered in the lesson. They are designed to reinforce what you have learned. You may even find them entertaining. Technically speaking, a quiz is a special form of video.

Here's a sample quiz. See how well you do. Click on the question mark graphic to start the quiz.

Menu Bar

As with most Windows programs, the Interactive Guide includes a Menu Bar at the top of each screen. The table below illustrates and describes the function of each Menu Bar item.

	The File Menu offers printing options and another way to Exit the Section
	The Edit Menu offers a Search Page function and the ability to Select All
	Use the View Menu to Change Text Size. Select 'Fonts', then, from the sub-menu, choose your preferred size. 'Stop' can be used to stop the program if it gets stuck loading a frame. 'Refresh' reloads frame content
	The Go Menu offers another way to navigate the section. It also offers a Search function for the entire Section (on this menu referred to as an E-Book)
	Here we see the Help Menu. It provides access to a version of this document.