Session Interaction

All session interaction takes place in the session window. From here, you can bring up a slide for discussion, mark on it or use the Live Pointer. You can also create new slides and save changes in new files.


Slide Control:

The controls for changing the slides appear on the top of the Session window.



Slide Tools

Live Pointer

An exclusive feature of WebCollab is the Live Pointer. It is controlled by the arrow icon in the WebCollab Session window. The Live Pointer is a dynamic shared cursor that can be used much as a pointing stick or a laser pointer is used in a face-to-face presentation. The Live Pointer is an arrow that appears on all participants and moves in real time under the control of one participant. This can be used very effectively by a participant to make a point or to explain something that appears on the slide. Under normal conditions, the Live Pointer is enabled but dormant. This is represented by the Black filled in arrow inside the Live Pointer icon. To use the Live Pointer, click inside the icon and drag the pointer over the slide with the button depressed. A shadow of the arrow is created and follows the mouse in real time. This arrow will be seen by all participants. The arrow in the Live Pointer icon changes color to reflect your code. This allows everyone to recognize who is in control of the Live Pointer. No other participant can use the Live Pointer at this time. When you want to let go, simply release the mouse button and stop dragging. The Live Pointer will return back to its default state, and anyone else can now use it. (If the Live Pointer gets stuck, the controlling participant can release control back by simply clicking inside the icon, dragging it out and releasing it again.

Annotation ToolBar

You can mark on the current slide and create annotations using the drawing tools in the tool bar. All outlines will be created in your color code. However, you can choose the Fill color for the filled-in shapes.
The arrow tool places a color-coded static pointer on the image. This will stay in the same place until moved to a different location by the owner. To move the static pointer, select the arrow tool and simply click on the spot where the pointer should be placed.
The Text tool is used to enter text on the slide. Select the tool and click where you want the text to be placed. The status bar on the bottom of the window changes to a text entry box. Type the text in this box, and press the Return key to actually place the text.
Fill Color brings up a dialog that can be used to change the color used to fill-in subsequent annotations.
Text Style is used to change the appearance of text entries. As with Fill Color, this only applies to subsequent annotations.
Undo removes the previous annotation. Repeated use of Undo keeps removing annotations in the reverse order in which they were created.

The Image Library

The Image Library feature can be used to store and place clip art on your slides during a WebCollab session. This allows participants to mark slides using figures other than outlines and filled in shapes. Any slide file from the slide list can be loaded into a Library window. Simply select the file from the list and press Load Library. A new window with the slide will open. You can select any portion of the image from the Library window by dragging an outline around the piece. When you move the mouse back to the Session window, the outline will appear on the Session window. Simply move to where you want the portion to be placed and click. The selected portion of the image from the Library window will be copied and placed on the Session window as another annotation.
This feature is handy when the contents of the slide are well defined, such as a flow chart or an electrical circuit diagram. In this case, prepare a special slide image file with symbols representing the content - electrical circuit elements or flow chart elements. (Save the image as a transparent GIF file). Transfer the file to the server and load it as an image library. You can now place the symbols of your choice on the slide.

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