WEEK 9 LECTURE

JASONS ALL EVERYTHING, GIGANTIC AND SUPER LECTURE ON HOW TO TEACH YOURSELF SOFTWARE.

SOFTWARE EXAMPLE: ADOBE FLASH
+ almost all movie sites are made in Adobe Flash. Corportations who want to make sites or anything with graphic or dynamic content tent to use Adobe Flash.

1. Begin by figuring out what you need to do.
well der... how else would you get started????

2. PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED BY "NEWBS":
- they dont actually know what they need to do
- havent explored enough of the software - create something they think is amazing but marker or employer has high expectations
anyone who denies that the above hasnt happened to them before is a liar - it will have happened to everyone at some stage in their life

3. Software is impossible to learn in just a few days.
> Software is designed to be deep ( good software has a lot of deep levels )
im sure everyone will claim this statement is true, but there is absolutely no way you could learn an entire program in a few days.
+chances are that by the time you actually finish learning it - a new and better version will be available.

4. The best way to begin learning is to play around and explore the software
- you will no doubt get lost real quick.
- begin by finding common features amongst all software
e.g. open, save, cut, paste, colour fill, eraser
- approx 15-20% of software is known just because of common features knowledge.

6. Every time you save a document, dont save over the same file
SAVE MULTIPLE VERSIONS.
i would do that, but then i'd have copious amounts of files on the computer.

7. Use the help section - even though it sucks.
+ Although the help section is generally for medium to advanced users because of the level of terminology and deep description- tends to be used for clarification.
I HATE THE HELP SECTION FOR ANY PROGRAM!!!! IT IS OF NO USE TO ME
+ Search the internet for help with software - you could begin by typing phrases and hoping for the best... or you could type descriptive phrases and key words to help refine the search.
+ If you find a site, dont just skim over it, use the search bar.
see im the kind of person to just have a quick browse and move on, sometimes im just too impatient or pre-occupied to bother.

WHEN USING SOFTWARE: dont get bogged down on one thing - try something different = when it doesnt work move on.
e.g. RACQ: try different methods of breaking into a car each time one fails.

DONT BUY ANYTHING: SOFTWARE OR TUTORIAL BOOKS.... ANYTHING! BECAUSE CHANCES ARE YOU CAN FIND THE SAME THING ON THE NET FOR FREE, OR EVEN DOWNLOAD A FREEWARE APPLICATION WHICH WILL HELP YOU WITH THE SAME THING.
+ There are lots of video tutorials out there on the net - its just a matter of finding them.

TO BE ABLE TO TEACH YOURSELF SOFTWARE IS A GREAT WAY TO LEARN HOW TO USE A PROGRAM YOUR OWN WAY
You never know, you could stumble across something amazing that nobody knows about.

TIPS AND TRICKS:
+ if something is very easy to do using software -it means that everyone else is doing it too
how un-original and boring! LAME = look for whats cliche and whats not!
+ When playing around - be careful