I use a great deal of media in my seminars: slides, films, text files, PDF files, and web sites. Over the years I’ve tried to find software that can handle this variety. I thought web browsers could do it, but they fare poorly in displaying PDF files. (That fault lies partly with video projectors.)
So recently I tried using Scrivener,and I found that it’s an excellent tool for making classroom presentations. I’ve attached a screen shot to show the variety of materials that it can handle, placed in an order that follows our discussion for the day. Tip: all files go into the Research folder.
Interesting usage! Do you basically use a Layout without the Binder/Inspector/Headers/Footers etc, and then use the Cmd-Opt-DownArrow key to advance to the next “slide” when needed?
I only use the Binder at present, and didn’t think to turn off headers/footers. I need to see Binder because the item-order is not strict, as in a slide show, but in groups that I think we might consider in discussion. Often I need to return to an earlier item or move ahead to a later one.
At best, this outlines what I think may be useful references or discussion points. But it’s good to have them all together in the same application. At times it’s preferable to launch a browser window to display a video or sound file; in that case, a live link appears at the bottom of Scrivener’s right (Editor) window.
I was using Safari to show URLs and PDFs, but discovered that PDF Browser Plug-in uses Quartz in ways that exceed the abilities of most video projectors. Scrivener, on the other hand, just works!
