Computing With Bifocals by Nancy Carroll Gravley A column for people who remember what the world was like before there was color..... More About Slides and Help on Adjusting Memory June 30th A few weeks ago I wrote a column on how to use your ClarisWorks or AppleWorks to make slide shows. I really enjoyed that whole process and learned stuff myself that I didn't know before I started the column. Following the publication I got a nice letter from David Huston telling me about another, free, program that was available for making slide shows. David raved about the program and said it had a lot more features than the basic features available on the other program(s). He also said it was quite easy to use. I promised to check it out for myself and write about it in the future. From a completely selfish point of view I also considered that we have a family reunion coming up in August and I would really like to dazzle all those stodgy PC users in my family with a fancy slide show. Well, this is the future and this is the promised review. However, this is a good news - bad news review. The program under review is called Teach! Lite. It is made by Acrux Software and is available at http://acruxsoft.com/teach/. This is a free version of the more comprehensive program(s) that are offered for sale by this company. The options available in this software are definitely aimed at meeting the needs of teachers and there are a number of predesigned elements that meet those needs. These same elements would lend themselves nicely to parents or others who want to use the computer to interest children in learning or practicing basic skills in an interesting way. This program does, indeed, offer several cool options such as banners with rolling headlines, and pop up designs that can appear and disappear, as well as things like slides that fade in and out and slides that have speech attached to them. Unless you are trying to impress graphic artists or other similarly skilled professionals, you can really create an impressive slide show with this program. So.....you are probably asking yourself what is the bad news. There are three basic elements that presented problems to me. One has to do with accessing the program, the second concerns technical support from the company, and the third has to do with ease of use. The program is easy to download, but you have to figure out exactly which version you need to download and I found that the instructions were not clear. The first version I choose did not include all the components that I needed. The first one took about 13 minutes to download on my 56k modem, and, when I eventually deleted it and downloaded the correct version, it took another 20 minutes. Another detriment is that you can not use the program, even to see how it works, without registering. Registering is free, but apparently you can only register during normal business hours. I first tried to test this program over the Memorial Day weekend, but when I attempted to register it I got a note saying that the office was closed for several days for the holiday. The second effort to register took over night. I have registered for several downloaded programs over the years and this is my first experience in which registration was not instantaneous. Technical support was also a problem. The program comes with some flashy teaching modules, including a slide show that includes both visuals and verbal directions. When trying to use them I could only get so far and then the program would freeze. David Huston assured me that the program was compatable with my 68030 Mac, and in fact, the documentation that accompanied the program said it was compatible with 69020 Macs (see the column from May 26th, 1999 to help check out your own machine's system), so I couldn't figure out what was wrong. At the same time, I continuously received messages that certain components of the program were missing and what did I want to do about it. I, of course, didn't have a clue. I increased the required memory for the program.* I tried turning off everything else as well. In my experience, problems related to memory are the most common cause of these kind of difficulties. When nothing else worked, I contacted the technical support folks through e-mail. Keep in mind that all this is taking place in late June. I first started trying to test this program at Memorial Day. That is a long time to try and get one program to successfully work. It took two days to get a response to my e-mail. I explained in my message that I was reviewing the program for this column, what I was trying to do and why, what operating system I use, and asked for advice. The first piece of advice was to turn off the text-to-speech engine by switching it off under the “Presentation” menu to stop the program from freezing up (which worked). The second was that I hadn't downloaded the correct version. I should have selected the “complete package” which would include all the components that I needed to actually create slides. The third was that I should consider trying the software on a more “high tech” computer. I found such a response to be fairly offensive and conscending, mainly because I don't have a more high tech machine. Duh. The third problem relates to ease of use. I consider myself to be a fairly competent user of both my computer and most software. I have been able to successfully (and competently) learn every piece of software that I have written about and done so with a good amount of ease. Even the software that makes patterns from photographs (see column from October 7, 1998) and is, by its nature, a complicated program, was easy to learn. This one has not been easy to learn. I have actually spent several hours at it without successfully making a working slide show. I have been able to create a lot of components of a finished show, and they are impressive, but the time it has taken makes me question its value, at least to me. I would say to brand new users that you may not want to try using Teach! Lite. There are too many opportunities for you to run into problems that you may not be able to solve. However, for those who have more expertise, you may want to give it a try, just because of the bells and whistles. You really can make a very creative slide show, but you are going to have to have a lot of patience to complete it. There is a tutorial that should be helpful to you. Once you open the program you can access it by clicking on the help key which you will find on the top bar of your desktop. HELP KEY *Increasing Memory for Programs As noted above, sometimes you will have problems with programs freezing up on your machine, or causing your machine itself to freeze up. It took me a long time to understand this and learn how to deal with it. It is actually very simple, but it is one of those things that no one remembers to teach you. Here are the steps. Close the program if you have it open. Find it on your hard drive. (If you have problems use the find option under the File pulldown menu.) Open the folder holding the specific program. Click ONCE on the icon for the program. Go to the File pulldown menu and click on Get Info. You will get an information screen about the program. If the minimum amount of memory shown under the Memory Requirements does not match the recommended size change it. You can change it by highlighting the number in the minimum amount box and typing in the correct number. It will automatically save when you close the information box. That is all there is to it, but it will certainly make a difference. If any readers have other slide making programs that they like, I will be happy to check them out. I appreciate David Huston taking the time to suggest Teach! Lite. If you have any tips, hints, or thoughts on these topics, make sure you write me so that I can share your thoughts with other readers. Copies of Nancy's book Tips, Hints, and Solutions for Seasoned Beginners Using Apple Macintosh Computers With OS X are available in PDF download versions  for US$9.57 and in print version for $18.15 plus $4.00 shipping.   To view sample pages and get ordering information visit the September 14, 2004 column. Post your comments below. Check out Nancy's complete index of all her columns for the most complete list of tips anywhere. The list is categorized and is a great reference when you are looking for help! A Capacious Catalog Of Computer Tips Talking to a generation that remembers what the world was like before there was color, covers issues for people who don't care how their computer works, but rather what their computer and the internet can do for them. Nancy has a Master's degree in Human Services Administration and prior to her retirement she worked for almost 30 years in field of mental health and mental retardation. She has been a Mac user for 11 years, and has recently developed an avocation of teaching basic computer skills in both group and one-to-one settings. Most Recent Computing With Bifocals Columns Of iPod Cases and System Preferences - August 30th Cool Tips, Kudos for Bob, & a Review - July 31st Two Apps for Reading and Browsing - June 23rd Other "Computing With Bifocals" Columns