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Adding buttons and navigating

Making a button || Words on button || Moving the button || Choosing an action || Moving to another card || Transitions || Making sounds || Playing sound movies || Using icons || Testing your button

1. From Objects choose Add a button... which will let you choose from a variety of buttons. The top 4 on the left are the best to use when you are starting out. The other 4 are invisible, and you need to draw them in on your page.

 

Click on the button shape that you want to use.

 

2. There are many different ways you can design your button. You can choose the colour of the writing, and the colour of the background to the button on the right. Next to Name: you can type in any words you want to appear on the button.

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3. When you want to put the button in a particular place on the page, click Position. Now you can move the button around and put it wherever you like.

To get back to this window again, click outside the button.

 

4. When you are ready to tell the button what to do, click OK. You will now see this window.

 

5. If you want this button to open another card in the stack, click Another card... and you will be shown this window:

Click on either the left or right arrow, and when you have come to the card you want the button to open, click OK. (Note, you can connect to another stack, but it will always open the first card in the stack).

 

6. You can now choose how you want to move from one card to another. This is called the transition. There are many to choose from, and if you click the Try it button you can see how it works before choosing it. You can also alter the speed from Fast to Medium to Slow. Click OK when you have made your final choice.

7. If you want the button to make a sound when it is pushed, click Play a sound... You will then be shown this window.

Click on the sound you want, and then OK. You can also record a sound if you want. If you record your own sound, don't forget to name it so you know what it is called when you come back to it again in the future (and note that it will only exist on the particular computer you are using, not the network). When you return to a button, you can click Actions, and this brings you back to this window.

 

8. If you want to use a more complicated sound from the Sounds to use folder on the Student Disk, you click Play a Movie or Video. This will give you the following window - now choose Disk file (QuickTime movies).

 

Navigate to the Student Disk, and choose the sound you want from Sounds to use.

Once you have chosen the movie you want, it will tell you it doesn't have pictures (which you know already!), so just click OK.

Then you will get this window. Usually you would just click OK. (Be careful about using the Loop movie option - it will keep the sound playing over and over, which will probably annoy people reading your stack).

9. You can have just an icon on your button, or an icon and words. Go back to your button window by double clicking on the button (in Edit mode) and clicking Icon. This will show you a number of icons to choose from. Just click OK when you have made your choice.

 

10. You need to test your button to check that it works properly. Do this by clicking on the Browse tool (the pointing finger) and clicking your button. It won't work if you click it while you are in the Edit mode!

 

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