2.2 Preparing a Lecture


At first, a user will be presented with a blank slide. It is in this that new slide material will be inserted.
Empty Presentation
Figure 1: Blank Slide

A user may insert elements by going to the insert menu and clicking "View XML" or clicking any of the options therein. A more comprehensive explanation of the ways to insert elements into slides is shown in 2.2.3 Summary.

The following shows an example of a completed slide using a heading, images, and line breaks, as outlined in 2.2.3.

Presentation Viewer [Instructor's View] Presentation Viewer [Student's View]
Figure 2: Presentation Viewer from Instructor's Point of View Figure 3: Presentation Viewer from Student's Point of View

The presentation viewer displays the current slide selected from the Slide Navigator. It is displayed by default upon logging in.

2.2.1 Using the Insert Menu

To create a lecture, the user begins by inserting a slide from the Insert menu. Once done, the new slide will show in the Slide Navigator and in the presentation viewer.

To view the XHTML Editor, which shows the underlying XHTML code for the slide, the user selects the "XHTML Editor" option from the Edit menu.

Figure 4.1: New Slide Figure 4.2: XHTML of New Slide

The user then includes images by using the Images item in the Insert menu.

Figure 5.1: Image Inserted into Slide Figure 5.2: XHTML of Inserted Image

The user then inserts a video via the Video item in the Insert menu.

Figure 6.1: Video added to Slide Figure 6.2: XHTML of Inserted Video

The user then adds an audio clip with the Audio item through the Insert menu. As this is an audio clip, showing images of this effect is not useful.

Figure 7: XHTML of Inserted Audio

2.2.2 Importing a Lecture from an External Source

A slide show may also already exist from an external file. From the File menu, the instructor adds slide shows from an external file with the Import item, the file being one formatted with a compatible XHTML markup.

To view the XHTML Editor, which shows the underlying XHTML code for the slide, the user selects the "XHTML Editor" option from the Edit menu.

Figure 8.1: XHTML Before Import Figure 8.2: XHTML After Import

When the user imports a slide show in this way, an XHTML view shows up to preview and edit the raw XHTML markup for the slide. This offers the user complete design capabilities for the slides.

2.2.3 Summary of Lecture Format

The XHTML format alluded to in section 2.2.2 is an extension of the HTML format. One who is familiar with HTML can easily create slide shows from a text editor and have them imported that way.

To view the XHTML Editor, which shows the underlying XHTML code for the slide, the user selects the "XHTML Editor" option from the Edit menu.

There are new tags available in this implementation of XHTML, such as the <slide> tag, which denotes the beginning of a slide in the same way that <html> denotes an html page.

The supported tags in this implementation of XHTML are as follows:

  • <slide></slide>
    These tags denote the beginning of and end of a slide. This is a non-html tag for use specifically with this type of file.
  • <ol></ol>
    These tags are used to start and end an ordered list.
  • <l1><l2><l3>
    When used with <ol>, these create each ordered list entry.
    Figure 9.1: Before adding ol and l1 tags Figure 9.2: After adding tags
    Figure 9.3: XHTMl Before Adding Tags Figure 9.4: XHTMl Representation of ol and l1 tags
  • <p></p>
    This tag is used to start and end a paragraph.
    Figure 10.1: Before adding p tag Figure 10.2: After adding p tag
    Figure 10.3: XHTMl Before Adding Tags Figure 10.4: XHTMl Representation of p tag
  • <br></br>
    This tag is used for line breaks.
  • <h1></h1>
    This tag is used for a large header.
    Figure 11.1: Before adding h1 tag Figure 11.2: After adding h1 tag
    Figure 11.3: XHTMl Before Adding Tags Figure 11.4: XHTMl Representation of h1 tag
  • <ul></ul>
    These tags are used to start and end a bullet list.
  • <li></li>
    When used with <ul>, this tag creates each bulleted entry.
    Figure 12.1: Before adding bullet tag Figure 12.2: After adding bullet tag
    Figure 12.3: XHTMl Before Adding Tags Figure 12.4: XHTMl Representation of ul and li tags
  • <img></img>
    This tag is used to insert an image into a slide.
    Figure 13.1: Before adding img tag Figure 13.2: After adding img tag
    Figure 13.3: XHTMl Before Adding Tags Figure 13.4: XHTMl Representation of img tag
  • <video></video>
    This tag is used to insert video into the slide.
    Figure 14.1: Before adding video tag Figure 14.2: After adding video tag
    Figure 14.3: XHTMl Before Adding Tags Figure 14.4: XHTMl Representation of video tag
  • <audio></audio>
    This tag is used to insert audio into the slide.
    Figure 15.1: XHTMl Before Adding Tags Figure 15.2: XHTMl Representation of audio tag

Unless otherwise noted, these tags are used and behave in the same way as they would in a normal web browser.

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