Using our Computer lab.

The lab is Social Science room 1316A. Access is by UWO student card (swipe box on wall outside door), and the lab is available to you any time you need it and no other class is being taught. If your card does not work, check with your instructor at once to correct the problem. Keep the door closed all the time (an alarm will sound if it is propped open) and don't bring or let unauthorized people into the lab. The room is equipped with security cameras - give them a big smile. If the alarm sounds get assistance from the Geography office or campus security immediately.

1. Startup.

Start up the computer you wish to use and log on. Your logon ID and password are the same ones you use for UWO email. If you can't get on, let the TA or instructor know immediately. Your account includes some network space in which you can save files - use it! If you save on the hard drive (C drive) you have to go back to that machine to retrieve your file. And... anyone else can get it as well, steal it, delete it, whatever! You can also use a USB drive for backups, probably a very good idea.

NOTE: If you can't log on properly in the lab you need to 'syncronize' your email account with these accounts in Social Science. Go to this website:
ITS-PASSWORDS
and follow instructions to syncronize accounts. This should be done before our first computer lab, from any other computer (such as at home or in the libraries). I'm sorry about requiring this extra step! - but I didn't design the system...

NOTE: If you are stuck, please go to see Mary Van de Ven in the SSNDS main office (Social Science Network and Data Services, Social Science Centre, Room 1008... behind the food court area at the bottom of the main stairs).

2. Starting Corel Draw.

We will use Corel Draw in the lab for this course. NOTE: some students may have other drawing software such as Adobe Illustrator on a home computer or in some other lab they have access to. You are free to use other software or to work in other locations if you prefer. All that matters is that you can create the finished product, a printed map.

3. Drawing with Corel Draw.

When Corel Draw starts up you will see a nearly blank white screen with a rectangle marked on it. The rectangle indicates a single 8.5 by 11 inch piece of paper. Normally we draw within it, but you can draw anywhere. Only what is in the rectangle will normally be printed, though. You should also see a menu bar across the top of the screen and various other small windows showing drawing tools etc.

Your screen will look the way it was left by the last user, so windows may be closed or moved. If you don't see things you need, open them from the 'window' menu item. If you don't see the drawing area, use the 'file' - 'new' menu to create a new one.

The drawing area itself has various controls and other small windows around it. These will be explained by the TA. Take some time at the beginning to just play with them, getting used to where they are and how they work. There are many more controls than we will use to create a basic drawing, so you don't need to know them all.

To draw something, choose the tool you want from the toolbox. Move the pointer to the drawing area and start clicking points, or dragging shapes according to the tool you chose. Rectangles, for instance, are made by dragging from one corner position to the opposite corner. Don't worry if you end up with the wrong shape - nothing is fixed, it can all be edited. The most useful shapes for us will usually be polygons, made by clicking many points around a complex shape.

When you have made several objects you can move between them using the selection tool (arrow). The selected object, the one you are currently working with, is surrounded by dots called handles. You can click on a handle and drag it to change the size or shape of an object. Holding the shift key down keeps it in the right proportions if necessary. Click inside a shape and drag to move it.

Note that the current tool will remain chosen until another tool is selected, or the selection tool (arrow) at the top of the toolbox has been clicked to clear it. Try many options to see how they work - we don't need all of them in 242.

Draw a closed shape, then you can add colour or shading. At the bottom of the tool bar or in a separate window you will see two overlapping rectangles. They control the colours of the 'stroke' (the lines which outline a shape) and 'fill', the interior colour of a shape. You can switch between stroke and fill by clicking one or the other of the rectangles - the one in the foreground is the active one. Select an object, then select stroke or fill, and click on the colour bar - the line or fill will change colour. Experiment to get used to it.

Note one important rule: normally, only one object can be worked on at a time. When there are several objects on the screen you must select the one you want to operate on by clicking on it. It will be identified as the 'active' object by the appearance of eight handles around it and an 'x' in the centre. Practice switching from one object to another simply by clicking on one object then the next.

Experiment with different line widths. Select an object, then select stroke. Line width can be varied from a number menu below the colour window. Add some text to the image and practise changing the text size, style and font from the text menu above the drawing window). If you select one of these choices when an object is 'active' and the text is highlighted, the change happens at once. If you select one of the menu choices when no object is active, it changes the default settings and defines how subsequent objects will be drawn.

To remove an error you have JUST made, select the Edit menu and use the Undo option (see Figure 6). It will reverse the last action you performed. You can repeat this for several steps. To remove anything else, click on it to make it active and select cut from the edit menu or hit delete on your keyboard.

5. Saving a file.

Steps: (follow carefully or you are doomed...)

(1): Under the File menu, pick the Save As... option, NOT Save. If you pick a wrong item you need only click on cancel to get out of it.

(2): The file will be copied to the destination you specify: the computer you are working on, your student network space or your portable drive. IMPORTANT: If you do not specify this, it could go to some unexpected place and be hard to find later. Select the destination in the 'Save As...' box which you are working in now. This produces a list of places including your computer's name or other drive or disk. Select a destination by clicking on its name in the list, then click on Open to prepare that destination for saving. NOTE: the disk is NOT open and you can't save to it if you fail to click Open.

(3): Give your file a name. The name box is highlighted (shaded). Name your file. Your name can be more than one word and up to 31 characters long. Click on Save to save your file. NOTE: Save your work regularly every ten minutes or so to guard against a system crash, power failure, etc. Alternate saves between different places (your disk, your computer) and different file names (lab1a, lab1b etc.). Computers can't be prevented from crashing occasionally - if you haven't saved your map, you will lose all the work you've done, so be warned.

NOTE: Do not choose SAVE!!! - it gives you no control over where the file is saved or what it is called.

Best advice: save to the computer every 10 or 15 minutes during a session, and save a copy to your network drive at the end of a session. Then back it up by saving to a USB stick, or emailing the file to yourself. I recommend you save important files (such as 2240 labs) twice with different names every time you save. This makes it less likely a save command will fail, as can happen.

6. Printing.

Select Print under the File menu. That's it.

Sometimes you will want to print elsewhere. To take a file elsewhere to print, select 'export' under the file menu. Give the file a name, and select 'JPG' or 'JPEG' from the list of file types under the name box.

Then click to continue to the next screen. Here, check the resolution number. It needs to be set at about 150 to work properly. Default is usually about 72, but it's not detailed enough. Also set the quality control (sliding control at top) to the middle of the range, or a little to the right of it, to get an adequate quality image.

An image exported like this can be opened in Adobe Photoshop or inserted in a Word File (Insert... picture... from file...) on a PC, such as in the SDAL lab (room 1425). Photoshop and Corel Draw are on the scanning stations in 1425. You can also now print this file at a commercial image printing shop, or on a home computer with a good printer.

7. Shutdown.

After you have saved your work is it safe to get out of Corel Draw. Select Quit from the File menu. Then select Shut Down from the 'Start' menu on the desktop. The computer automatically turns itself off.