Applied Technology

Word is an incredibly useful tool. It is great for formatting documents quickly and easily and has improved a great deal since I decided I did not like it. However, what is it's future on the Macintosh? I understand that they will not be developing future releases and will stop support soon? I am not 100% sure of this rumor but it does not bode well.

I have been using Pages for some time and like it's simplicity and how easy it is to create really stylish documents and templates. Maybe it will evolve. I hope that it does not evolve into Word because it is not what I need. I need simple and quick. I want stylish too.

I did not havy trouble creating a customized toolbar. It was pretty striaghtforward. I will certainly set up a customized toolbar for Word documents. I prefer certain fonts and also rarely use many of the formatting features in te standard toolbar. Mainly because I just want to create simple documents with Word. Also I prefer to use Apple's Pages software for making pretty documents because I find it easier and more intuitive.

I have used PowerPoint many times to give presentations. I have never been very keen on the software. I make the simplest slides and despite my background avoid animation. It was a tool I used grudgingly until Apple's Keynote arrived. I like Keynote's interface better and my slide presentations tend to be so simple that I don't need some of the admittedly cool and useful features in PowerPoint. I will use it if I have to do a more eloborate presentation.

My next presentation will likely be the ACE conference in Quebec. I will be making two presentations at the conference and the development of these I hope to incorporate into this class.

I enjoyed he class on digital photography. I am guilty of bad picture taking. I make all the common mistakes that you pointed out. I have started to experiment with your suggestions. We shall see how well I do. I will bust out my old digital camera and take lots o' pix. If'in I do well I might invest in a better camera for the trip to Scotland.

I use digital images all the time in my work. If I am having a hard time getting a cartoon character to look right I will often take a photo of someone or myslef in the action pose I need. Then I can import the image and rotoscope it. I would like to take this further.

Also, I like photography and want to take better pictures just for myself. I want to do some "Jib-Jab" style animations in my "spare" time ... LOL

Anyway, I am enjoying this and look forward to more.