Lesson 3: Toolbar Menu Continued

The Browse or hand tool must be selected to see if any actions added to objects work. When the stack is in "presentation mode" you are using the Browse tool. You can

see a hand for the mouse pointer when there is an action to an object on the card.

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Objects Menu

You need to add a button mainly for navigation purposes. When you click on Add a Button, the Button Appearance box will display several choices to customize your button. You can choose your button type, whether you want to use text, the text color, button background color, or if you want to use an icon such as a directional arrow to indicate if the button will go backwards or forwards. If you select an icon, make sure the "Show Icon" box is checked.

If you want to use text, make sure that Show Name is checked. Type in the name of the button, such as Next or Back, depending on the purpose for the button. The button may link to a URL on the World Wide Web or will play a video when clicked.

Format is used when you want to change the type of font, font size, style (plain, bold, italic, or underline), and text color.

The "features" button on the Text Appearance box will give you a description of the object type, space used in the stack, the number of the card the object is on, and other info.

Under Features, you can check a box beside the feature you want to be attributed to this object.

Click "Locked" and the button or object cannot be edited in any way unless you unlock it.

When you click on "Group Object", any object that is a group object on a card appear on

any other card that you create using Edit>Ready-Made Card>Group Card or if you copy

and paste that card in the stack. The objects will appear in the same location and if moved

will move in the same place on all the group cards. This can be a problem if all the cards are

not exactly the same.

When you click "Cursor", you can select how you want your cursor to look like. A box of cursor choices will appear so you can select which cursor type will show when it is passed

over an object. If you want to change the cursor type to something else, just double-click on

the specific object that will be affected by the cursor change, re-select "features" and choose another cursor.

Clicking on "Hidden" will make the object selected be hidden or invisible when the browse

tool is used or you are in "presentation mode".

If the box by "Draggable" is selected, then the graphic can be moved or dragged around by clicking on the object with the mouse pointer, holding down the mouse button and dragging it around on the card. This feature can be used to make a drag-n-drop activity such as matching

an image with the word that tells what that graphic is, or putting in numbers to make a math fact correct.

To add a graphic object, go to Objects>Add a Graphic Object. Browse to find the image.

The HyperStudio Media Library has folders that you can find some images such as Animation, Clip Art, Photos, or Tutorial Art. You can use any images you have saved on your computer

in formats such as .jpg or .gif.

Remember that inserting an image as a graphic object is different from inserting the image as

clip art. Images that are inserted as a graphic object can be moved anywhere on the card by clicking on the graphic object on the card, holding the mouse button down as you drag the object to the desired location on the card. When you insert the object you can adjust the size and angle of rotation before you insert it on the card.

Once the image is selected you will see the flashing dots around the image border, then the

image can be moved, copied, pasted, or deleted/cleared. A clip art image can also be resized

or the angle rotated the same before it is inserted on the background of the card just like a graphic object.

You can edit a text object by clicking on the text box with the mouse pointer. When the text

box is selected you will see the "marching ants" or moving red dashes. When you move the mouse pointer that is shaped like an arrow, you will see the mouse pointer turn into a 4-way cursor. Move the cursor over the dotted lines around the box until you see the 4-way cursor turn into a 2-way cursor. Then you can drag the side of the text object in/out or up/down, depending on the direction of the arrow.

You can edit a text object by clicking on the text box with the mouse pointer. When the text

box is selected you will see the "marching ants" or moving red dashes. When you move the mouse pointer that is shaped like an arrow, you will see the mouse pointer turn into a 4-way cursor. Move the cursor over the dotted lines around the box until you see the 4-way cursor turn into a 2-way cursor. Then you can drag the side of the text object in/out or up/down, depending on the direction of the arrow.

You can edit the text appearance by double-clicking on the text object. A Text Appearance box will appear giving you the option to select the text color, background color, and if you want the box to have a frame around it, have a scroll bar, or be scrollable

(you can have the text be scrollable without having the scroll bar by using the mouse). If the text object is "read only", it cannot be edited by others. You can also specify certain features for the text object, or add add actions.

The difference between a text object and typing text on the background of the card, is that

the text object (or text box) can be moved around anywhere on the card by selecting it. Click

on the text object and hold the mouse button, dragging the text object to the desired location

on the card. Once text or clip art is put on the background of the card it becomes a part of the background and cannot be edited or moved as easily. You must erase the text or lasso the graphic move it or delete it.

You can arrange things to do when arriving at the card, leaving the card, or by clicking on

the card.

About This Stack will allow you to specify things concerning the stack you are working on. When you go Objects>About This Stack a dialog box will be displayed showing you details about the stack, things you can do, and stack settings. Just like the details about a specific card, About This Stack shows the memory or space taken up on your computer for the stack, but

this information box will tell you how many cards you have in this stack and the card dimensions (width and height).

Stack settings offer changing the cursor appearance like with About This Card, but also will

take you back to the dialog box that sets your card size or amount of colors available in the stack (also seen under Edit>Preferences). Using this option will allow you to change the card size of the entire stack. Changing the color settings will affect the stack size. Using 256 colors will make your stack take up the least amount of memory. True colors will take up the most amount of memory. True color is 24 bit and High color is 16 bit.

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Colors Menu

The Colors Menu is a detachable menu just like the Tools Menu.

It is important to have these 2 menus, the Tools & Colors Menus, detached from the main menu when working on your stack, especially when working on something that will need color choices made or using various tools you need instead of going back to the main menu to select these tools or colors.

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Next:

Toolbar Menus 2