Tech Tips

Free Training for Creative People…

/ HawaiiWP.com LLC

Hi Friends, Today, I want to suggest a website for all of us “creative wannabes”.

Creative Techs (www.creativetechs.com/training) has a number of classes for creative types. Personally I have taken their classes on Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, Dreamweaver and Acrobat.

What’s so special about these classes?

  • They are FREE!

(Well, the live showing of the class on the web are Free, and if you would like to purchase the entire class, get PDF handouts and shortcuts, etc. the classes are also available for purchase at very reasonable prices.)

So if you’re so inclined, check it out and sign up for a free class. A 5 week Final Cut Pro Beginner Class is starting in a couple of days.

🙂 arlen


Setup a Design Workspace for Pages

/ HawaiiWP.com LLC

Pages is a really powerful Design and Page Layout program. By far it’s my favorite iWork application because I use it everyday and I love how powerful and easy to use it is.

Here is a quick video tutorial on how I use it and some written steps for setting up a great design workspace.


When I open Pages, I click on “Fonts”, “Colors”, and “Inspector.” I arrange those windows like I have here. Fonts on top, Inspector and colors below and next to each other.

Then I open my file.

I click the bottom right corner and drag to make the file fill up the available screen space (I’m on a laptop so I have much less screen than you have with the imac)

On the bottom left corner is the zoom %. I change that to Fit Width so my file gets as big as my screen. Again that’s because I’m working on a laptop. You might choose 200% or something else that looks big enough to work with, while enabling you to see the layout well.

That’s how I setup my workspace. Now that I have everything open that I need, I can design to my hearts content. I can click on the various tabs in the “Inspector” panel to get to all the other options I need.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this tip!

Blessings, Arlen


How to send a Secure Email Attachment…

/ HawaiiWP.com LLC

A friend of mine asked me how to email attachments securely. Here’s my response.

1- If you’re sending a PDF, you can secure the PDF with a password.

If you already use acrobat professional to make PDf’s you’re all set. Acrobat will allow you to add security with a password. If not, windows users can download a free PDF creation software. I believe Bullzip PDF supports security. Bullzip PDF installs as a printer so when you have your document open, print it and select Bullzip as your printer, it creates a pdf and gives you security options. Mac solution: For those using Mac OS X Snow Leopard or Leopard, PDF creation is built into the operating system. When you have your document open, choose File -> Print. You should see a PDF button. Click it and choose save as PDF. You’ll see a “Security Options” button and you can click there to add a password.

2- If you’re not sending PDF’s or you like this solution better, use a compression program.

Windows users can choose from a myriad of options. I like 7zip or winzip to compress and zip the file. You can also add a password to unzip the file. Mac users also have lots of options for compression applications. I use Better Zip. It’s not a free program, but perhaps there are free compression applications which can add security. Email me if you find one. 🙂