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<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>To add to this:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Xerte is a powerful tool for developing interactive materials. When
you download and install Xerte, what you get is tool aimed at people who
can write some code and understand the world of objects, properties, methods
and events. Probably those people already write some actionscript or javascript,
which is required to build the more advanced stuff. The programming language in
Xerte is very close to actionscript / javascript, but is a little more
forgiving for new users, making it a good place to learn to write code if you’ve
not done any before. This will take some time though - don’t panic. As
your skills deveop, you can extend Xerte in a number of ways, making it a very
powerful suite of tools.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Not everyone wants or needs all this power. To make Xerte
accessible to users without scripting skills, or for developers who want to
create content quickly, Xerte provides a wizard interface, and comes installed
with a template called pageTemplates, which you can use from the templates
menu. Templates can be created by more advanced developers, and when they are
used, there is no need to write any code – you simply use the wizard
interface to create the content by filling in forms. Because Xerte is
essentially a flash movie, you can add custom functionality to templates by
creating your own flash movies to include in the pages. The page templates
template goes a long way to help create typical, quite simple, but attractive
elearning.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Xerte Online Toolkits takes this one step further by putting the
wizard in the browser, and allowing users to log on and create projects based
on templates online. There is no need to download and install anything, but to
use it, you will need to set it up on a a web server. The web server
environment also brings a number of other benefits, such as being able to
collaborate with other developers when working on projects, and simplifies
publishing since content is already online. You can install it on your own
machine, following these instructions: <a
href="http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/pipermail/xerte/2008-September/000730.html">http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/pipermail/xerte/2008-September/000730.html</a>.
If you like this approach, you will probably need to explore with IT people how
to set this up on your web servers, and make it available to all the users on
your network.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Fire away with any questions and read the help file, there’s
a lot to learn about,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>J<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<div>
<div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><b><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span
lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> xerte-bounces@lists.nottingham.ac.uk
[mailto:xerte-bounces@lists.nottingham.ac.uk] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Patrick
Lockley<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Thursday, January 15, 2009 12:53 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> Xerte discussion list<br>
<b>Subject:</b> RE: [Xerte] Slightly Overwhelmed<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div id=idOWAReplyText9988>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black'>Hi Robert,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>"Toolkits" is Xerte on the web. It
runs the same code and features that are available in desktop xerte
though. The wizard menu should bring up the same view locally as it does
online. Some more on wizards here (<a
href="http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/pipermail/xerte/2008-August/000661.html">http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/pipermail/xerte/2008-August/000661.html</a>)</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>The install you found is for University of
Nottingham staff only, but the software we run is available (it is open
source) to download from the Xerte Site for people to install on their own
servers. If you'd like to play with toolkits, the software comes with a
setup guide and installer, and this link <a
href="http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/pipermail/xerte/2008-September/000730.html">http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/pipermail/xerte/2008-September/000730.html</a> explains
how you could install the server version on a local PC. Please excuse me if
this sounds presumptious, but I wouldn't at present think you (as an
individual) would gain from this, but please don't let me put you off if you're
curious. This video - <a
href="http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/toolkits/modules/xerte/training/toolkits.htm">http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/toolkits/modules/xerte/training/toolkits.htm</a> -
gives you an idea of what Toolkits looks like / can do.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>The wizard view should allow you to easily
create templates with such features as videos, swfs, quizzes and drag and
drop exercises.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Hope this helps</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Pat</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-left:36.0pt;text-align:center'>
<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:
12.0pt;margin-left:36.0pt'><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> xerte-bounces@lists.nottingham.ac.uk
on behalf of Robert Fant<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Thu 15/01/2009 00:14<br>
<b>To:</b> Xerte@lists.nottingham.ac.uk<br>
<b>Subject:</b> [Xerte] Slightly Overwhelmed</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'>Greetings All,<br>
<br>
Yes, I am just a little overwhelmed. So, please bare with me as I
ask a bunch of questions. I must do this before I dive into this
application.<br>
<br>
Well, I just got the LaTeX portion to work for me. That is a major
important feature for any tool I use, thanks.<br>
<br>
For the question(s):<br>
As I am looking around, I see the "ToolKits" application.
What is the difference between this and Xerte itself. It appears to
be an "online editing" version of the same but I feel like I'm
missing something.<br>
Can I use the one that's installed on your server? Can I then
download and host my creations?<br>
Because I will have to pay to have it installed by my host, I would like to
play with ToolKits before installing it on my server.<br>
<br>
The ToolKits page suggests that I should "Login" but I didn't see
where to registar or signup. Is this open to the public or just for
Nottingham folks? <br>
<br>
I've seen several of the demo projects created by folks, containing video,
other *.swf files, quizzes, drag-n-drop modules, etc.<br>
Where can I read/learn about how to create these things myself?
I've read the basic manual but it is extremely basic.<br clear=all>
<br>
I apologize if I seem too presumptuous, asking neive, newbie questions.
Again, please bare with me.<br>
<br>
-- <br>
Robert Fant<br>
Mathematics Instructor<br>
Technology Integration Enthusiast<br>
<br>
<a href="mailto:rfantster@gmail.com">rfantster@gmail.com</a><br>
<a href="http://robertfant.com/">http://robertfant.com</a><br>
Skype Username: rfantster<o:p></o:p></p>
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