[Xerte] Slightly Overwhelmed

Thu Jan 15 09:56:20 GMT 2009

To add to this:

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.

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.

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:
http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/pipermail/xerte/2008-September/000730.html
. 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.

Fire away with any questions and read the help file, there's a lot to
learn about,

J

From: xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
[mailto:xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Patrick
Lockley
Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2009 12:53 AM
To: Xerte discussion list
Subject: RE: [Xerte] Slightly Overwhelmed

Hi Robert,

"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
(http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/pipermail/xerte/2008-August/000661.html)

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
http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/pipermail/xerte/2008-September/000730.html
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 -
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/toolkits/modules/xerte/training/toolkits.htm
- gives you an idea of what Toolkits looks like / can do.

The wizard view should allow you to easily create templates with such
features as videos, swfs, quizzes and drag and drop exercises.

Hope this helps

Pat

________________________________

From: xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk on behalf of Robert Fant
Sent: Thu 15/01/2009 00:14
To: Xerte at lists.nottingham.ac.uk
Subject: [Xerte] Slightly Overwhelmed

Greetings All,

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.

Well, I just got the LaTeX portion to work for me.   That is a major
important feature for any tool I use, thanks.

For the question(s):
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.
Can I use the one that's installed on your server?   Can I then download
and host my creations?
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.

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?   

I've seen several of the demo projects created by folks, containing
video, other *.swf files, quizzes, drag-n-drop modules, etc.
Where can I read/learn about how to create these things myself?   I've
read the basic manual but it is extremely basic.

I apologize if I seem too presumptuous, asking neive, newbie questions.
Again, please bare with me.

-- 
Robert Fant
Mathematics Instructor
Technology Integration Enthusiast

rfantster at gmail.com
http://robertfant.com <http://robertfant.com/> 
Skype Username:  rfantster

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