VISIT and how to use it

Anthony Mostek – NOAA National Weather service and Tom Whittaker

Slide 2:Today’s training

Objective: prepare and teach teletraining lessons using VISITview background overview hands-on Requirements: basic DOS experience Power Point, Corel Draw or something similar Windows 98, 2000, NT, or XP computer (LINUX or MACS can be used)

Slide 3:VISITview ProjectVISITview: teletraining / distance-learning / collaboration software aimed at the meteorological community

History: Initiated 1998-1999 Four programmers have contributed Feedback from instructors directs changes Goals: Complement other training aids Continue to evolve as needs are identified

Slide 4:VISITview Overview

Modes pre-loaded lessons via a browser (VISITview RAMSDIS Online) Participants master (instructor) student listener Client/server Not a slide preparation tool

Slide 5:VISITview Terminology

Lesson – a collection of pages Page – one or more frames Frame – a single image (GIF or JPEG) Client/server – commands are initiated by the client; the VISITview server redistributes commands http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/visitview/terminology.html

Slide 6:VISITview Client-Server

Training Sessions the Lesson is downloaded to your local computer before the scheduled session the server is used to distribute the “small” commands to everyone (move pointer, turn to next page, draw text and animations, etc.) VISITview RAMSDIS Online all images are downloaded in real time from the server the server is also used to distribute the “small” commands to everyone (move pointer, turn to next page, draw text and animations, etc.)

Slide 7:The Student’s view

Download a lesson make a directory, ftp the file, ‘run’ it (use a browser for VISITview RAMSDIS Online) Voice connection - set up a conference call via phone or yahoo messenger Basic mechanics (“knobology”) Starting up a session convenience batch files

Slide 8:Features for students and instructors

Big Red Pointer positioning (click) drawing drag for line SHIFT+CTRL+drag for box change color using choice box On - screen help open (ALT+?) (in English) close (any other key) Help pop-up

Slide 9:Annotations – drawing and text

To draw free-hand, just “drag” mouse – press button and hold while moving; when you release button, drawing is sent To draw a box, hold SHIFT+CTRL and “drag” the mouse To do text, click ALT+T. A | cursor will appear. Type your text. Move it around. Change color. Press “enter” to send it to everyone (press ESC to abandon)

Slide 10:Animation Controls

Animate or stop Change color Change animation speed Loop or Rock mode Manually set frame or fade Fade mode on/off Toggle between last two frames Single step back (<) or forward (>) Labels are dim – example of “disabled” controls Erase all

Slide 11:User ID and “chat”

To initiate a chat window – ALT+C Enter a user or site ID and hit the “submit” button Chat client window – resizable. All chatting is public – everyone sees everything. Write here.

Slide 12:Other features

Zooming – pixel replication Enhancements – colorizing images on-the-fly Portals - frame within a frame 4 panels emulation showing “large” frames Overlays available

Slide 13:From the Instructor’s viewpoint

Creating a lesson: your slides and the Builder Packaging and testing Distribution Doing a lesson

Slide 14:Page and Enhancement Controls

Load next page Load the selected page Load previous page Shows frame number and label / Select page to show Get client/student status of last load Choose an enhancement to apply to the current page Appears red when you have NOT loaded a selected page yet When beginning, hit Next to load first page

Slide 15:Creating a lesson

make your slides use the VISITview Lesson Builder check your lesson distribute your lesson run a session

Slide 16:Make your slides

Use Power Point Pages consist of one or more frames Each frame is a single GIF or JPEG image Image size determines VISITview window size 640X480 is good Portals and other issues

Slide 17:Use the VISITview Lesson Builder

Start the builder (visitbuild.bat or from start/All programs/VISITview Lesson Builder) Use “browse” to gather and organize your pages Put labels on each page Use “file => move” to move things around Use “save lesson” to save it into a ZIP file

Slide 18:The builder interface

File menu Edit menu Labels for pages URL for linked text or audio Initial Big Red Pointer position Page and frame thumbnails Slide through page or frame Insert Append Append all Browse thumbnail View pages, frames, portals, or overlays Browse directory and files

Slide 19:File menu

Open an existing lesson in a ZIP file Start a new lesson Save the work as a zip file Browse for images in a directory Make a Windows .EXE file drom a .ZIP file Import Presentation Make an image from a URL Unzip File Exit (if changes, ask to save)

Slide 20:Edit Menu

Undo previous Move or Delete or Insert or Append To move page or frame: select page/frame to move click this Move item click on destination page/frame Copy/Delete secected page or frame

Slide 21:Browse for images

Browse directories to find file names Current directory Thumbnail of last selected file (click so see original size image) Hints, cues, messages Insert thumbnail at selected position Append thumbnail to end (of pages or frames) Append all Filenames appear here when you browse. **Click to select one file **CTRL+Click to toggle one or more image files. **SHIFT+Click to select a range of files

Slide 22:Organize Pages and Frames

Type in page label Initial red pointer position Page selected (magenta border) Type in linked URL or audio filename # frames on this page Original filename Slide through pages/frames Select page or frame view If there are frames for a loop, check to have them looping upon startup and set the speed

Slide 23:Save Lesson and Set Parameters

Essentially, accept the defaults. Choose Save Lesson under file menu Specifiy filename (name.zip) Save Cancel Directory name Directory contents

Slide 24:Parameter details

Height – height of window (frame size + 120 lines for controls (e.g. 480+120=600) Width – width of window (frame size + 20 for borders (e.g. 640+20=660) Server hostname – name of machine running VISITview server you want to use as a promary server (e.g. www.ssec.wisc.edu) Alternate servers – name(s) of other machines running VISITview servers you use as backups (e.g. visit.cirs.colostate.edu) Entries here make alternate batch files.

Slide 25:Getting assistance with VISITview

Home page on the web (in English) http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/visitview Contacts ?