Issuu Digital Publishing

Issuu (http://issuu.com/) is a free, fast and easy way to publish documents digitally. You sign up for Issuu, log in, add a few keywords and give it a category, upload the document, and Issue automatically converts the document to a Flash format that can easily be read online. You can then send out the link directly, or use the embed code to embed your publication in a blog or website (as I've done below with a .pdf about Adobe Connect). The end user uses the navigation arrows to read your document, and have the option of displaying it full-screen by clicking the View Full Screen option that appears on rollover (see below). The end user can also, if you allow it, download and print the document, or simply read it online.

Document formats Issuu accepts include PDF, DOC, PPT, RTF, WPD, and more. You can customize the layout, add audio, add an autoflip option (automatically turns the page every 6 seconds), which page you'd like to start on, and many more options. Finally, it plays well with many social networking sites, particularly Facebook.

Open publication - Free publishing - More connect 8

5 Web-Based Alternatives to PowerPoint

The site ReadWriteBiz has a great article this month on 5 web-based alternatives to PowerPoint.

Included is Prezi (we'll be having a Connect session on using Prezi next week on January 19), a free Flash-based alternative to PowerPoint that allows a much more non-linear approach to your presentation. A particularly creative example is embedded below. Click the forward arrow to move the presentation along.

ZK Framework on Prezi

Also mentioned in the article are Sliderocket (http://www.sliderocket.com/), a collaborative, Web-based application that allows users to comment and answer polls in real time, 280 Slides (http://280slides.com/), a web-based presentation tool that has the look and feel of Apple's Keynote, Google Docs (https://docs.google.com/), which allows you to create, store and present presentations online, and Zoho Show (http://show.zoho.com/), which allows live audio chat with presentees.

All are free (or have free versions), all are web-based. Give them a try!

Thanks to Loretta Lohman and Erin Pheil for the tip.

Markup.io

Markup.io, at http://markup.io/, is a free tool that allows you to draw and add text to any webpage, then publish the result to share with others. Best of all, there are no downloads necessary, no registration required.

Go to http://markup.io/ and drag the markup icon to your bookmarks menu. Then whenever you want to mark up a webpage, choose the bookmark. A toolbox will appear in the upper lefthand corner (screenshot at upper left), allowing you to add shapes and text to a page. In the example below, I've circled a link and added text saying the link doesn't work.



When your markup is done, you click Publish. You'll be prompted to move a slider from left to right. When you do, a URL will appear. Copy the URL, send it to whoever you'd like to share your markup with (see below). Fast and easy. v To see the markup page used in this example, go to http://markup.io/v/akcccc06gwe3



Thanks to Loretta Lohman and Erin Pheil for the tip!

Zendit

Just in time to replace Drop.io, which is being shut down this month, is Zendit. Zendit, located at http://live.zendit.com/ allows you to store up to 1 GB of data online, for free. There are no restrictions on file format.

The interface is drag and drop, which can be a little cumbersome, as a "browse for files" option would be nice. Still, it's 1 GB of storage for free, it uploads and downloads very quickly, so I won't complain. Zendit also has many social media features integrated into it, to allow you to easily share files and communicate with others. Personally, I use it for music and as a backup for Word documents.

Zendit is still in beta testing, so you need to request an account at http://www.zendit.com/. They will follow up with an email allowing you to join within a few days. The URL is somewhat customizable as well, in that it is based on your username. So, for example, if your username was ninja, the URL for your Zendit account would be www.zendit.com/ninja.

Give it a try. Did I mention it's free?

Sharing Google Docs

There are two strategies you can use to share Google Docs you have uploaded.

The first is to allow access to specific people, via email address, and then invite them to view or edit.

The second way is to choose the "Anyone with the link" option, which allows anyone you email the link to to view/edit the document without the confusion of having to sign in. This is the easiest method, and relatively secure, as you have some control over who is sent the link (you can also reset the link at any time, if you are worried about security).

Both methods start out the same. Upload the document, then click the Share button on the upper right, and choose Sharing Settings.



A new dialogue box will appear (below). If you choose Anyone With the Link you will see the option of allowing them to edit the document at the bottom of the box. Leaving this box unchecked will only give them permission to view the document.



A final dialogue box will appear (shown below) with the link. Cut and paste it into an email and you are good to go. Note the Reset Link option just below and to the right of the link. If you do reset the link, make sure you alert everyone involved of the new link.



To keep the document private, choose Private.



This will bring up a new dialogue box. You allow access to the document with an email address. To the right of the email text box you can choose whether they can edit or merely view the document.



Checking the Send Email Notifications box will automatically send emails to all those who have been allowed access.

If you would like to learn more about Google Docs, my own video tutorials are available on the Video Tutorials page, and Lynda.com tutorials available at lynda.colostate.edu. Sign in and choose Google on the Vendor drop-down menu.

Aviary: Online Design Tools

Aviary (http://aviary.com/)is a suite of seven free browser-based design tools: Phoenix (a Photoshop-like image editor), Toucan (a color picker and color palette generator), Peacock (a very fun visual effects editor), Raven (a vector graphics editor), Talon (a screen capture tool), Falcon (an image markup tool) and Myna (a multi-track audio editor).


While the bird related names for the various tolls might be a little overly cute, the tools are for the most part easy to use and well designed (my seven year old daughter figured out how to use the image editor in minutes). Each tool has an introductory video and many video tutorials. Talon, the screen capture tool, can be incorporated into Firefox with an add-on. You can store your work either on the Aviary "cloud" or save it back to your own computer when you are done (recommended; see the last paragraph).

While all the tools are free, registration is required for some features (username, password, email address). There used to be a $25/yr pro version, but now everything is free.

Two drawbacks that I found: any work you do can be used for display by Aviary, although you will be listed as the creator. For example, your art could be used as an image for a third-party news article about Aviary. Also, if you store your work online with Aviary, they will place a watermark in the lower left hand corner. This watermark can be avoided, however, if you download your work directly to your desktop, rather than storing it with Aviary.

Other than those drawbacks, it's a wonderful design suite. Aviary does most of the chores performed by the costly Adobe Creative Suite, does them online, and for free!

Thanks to Darrin Goodman for the tip.

SlideRocket

SildeRocket is yet another tool for sharing slide presentations online, along with Slideshare and Google Docs.

Like Google Docs presentations, you can upload existing PowerPoint presentations, or collaborate with others to build a presentation together on-line. You can share the presentation only with those you invite, or publish to a URL for all to see. Like Slideshare, you can add audio (though synchronizing it to the slides is problematic) .

SlideRocket has a few advantages over the other two options I've mentioned. Primary among them is that it converts the slide graphics and text using Flash, so the visuals are crisp and sharp. Similarly, the on-line space the presentation runs in is very pleasing to the eye. There are also a number of very cool graphics available.

The free version allows an unlimited number of presentations, and a 250 mb overall limit.

All presentations come with easily copy-and-pastable embed code. An example of an embedded presentation is below.

drop.io

First off, I'd like to acknowledge eXtension and their always informative 30 Minute Sessions, which give fast nutshell descriptions and demos of emerging technologies and tools via the Connect system. To be notified of upcoming 30 Minute Sessions, go to the eXtension People page (https://people.extension.org/communities/learn) and click "Join Community." You'll need an eXtension ID, which will, I promise, take less than a minute.

The reason I'm plugging eXtension here is that I learned about drop.io during one of their 30 minute sessions, and begin using it on a daily basis almost immediately. It's at it's simplest a file drop, a place you can back up files, large or small, and share them with others. I use it as a place to access documents I'm working on from multiple computers. I keep music files on there as well, to play while I'm working.

It can store any kind of file (as opposed to, say, Google Docs), is very fast, and very customizable. You can choose the name of your subfolder (e.g. drop.io/csuextension/) if it's not already taken, password protect your site, change the background, and receive email notifications when anything is added.

Big bonus: each site you set up also automatically is given it's own email address, phone number, fax number, and conference call extension. So you can use it as a "drop" for emails, voice-mails, and faxes. You can even use it as a "bridge" to host conference calls.

Did I mention it's free? Go to http://drop.io/ to learn more, and sign up for your own "drop." Hint: you will be assigned a random series of numbers and letters as your subfolder name, but you can enter in your own title, assuming it's not taken.

Below is a screenshot of the file uploader in action.

Slideshare

Slideshare (http://www.slideshare.net/) has been called the "Youtube of PowerPoint" because it allows you to post PowerPoint presentations to the web that can be viewed by anyone who has a web browser; they do not need to own PowerPoint, or any other software. All they need to do is visit the Slideshare URL where the presentation resides.

Slideshows can be uploaded that contain narration, video and timings. They can, if you choose, be downloaded by the viewer in either PowerPoint (.ppt) or Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) formats. They can be embedded into a blog or a website with a cut-and-paste of a simple line of code.

To upload a video, register at the site with an email address and a password. Then upload your presentation in any of a variety of formats, from PowerPoint and Open Office to Adobe Acrobat. The resultant slideshow can be made public, or kept private and shared only among a group of invitees.

It's an excellent resource for Extension, to post presentations, or to archive them after a workshop or conference. Extension already has a sizable presence at the site (go to the "Community" tab at the top of the page, and search for "Extension").

Many thanks to eXtension for the 30 minute session yesterday, where much of this information was culled.

Collabedit

Collabedit (http://collabedit.com/) is a free, real-time, browser-based collaborative source code editor. What does that mean? It means that two or more users can work on the same source code document in real time, on-line, and any changes made to the document will appear in real time as they type. Collabedit will automatically color code the syntax of your document. Codes supported include C++, basic, visual basic, css, html, javascript, plain text, and many others. There is no limit to the number of users, and no login is required.

To begin, you simply click the “Create a New document” button and Collabedit assigns a URL to you. You then send the URL to whoever you wish to collaborate with, and begin building your code. When you are finished simply click the "download" button to download your work.

Did I mention it's free?

Here is a screenshot of a css document being coded by two users: