USER MANUAL

FOR

LifeMap 3.7.5



A Concept Mapping Program for Macintosh computers

Table of Contents

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS TO RUN LIFEMAP
DECOMPRESSING FILES

CONCEPT MAPPING TUTORIAL

INTRODUCTION

TASK 1-SETTING UP LIFEMAP TO START A NEW CONCEPT MAP
TASK 2-CREATING A BASIC CONCEPT
TASK 3-REARRANGING CONCEPTS
TASK 4-CREATING MULTIPLE CONCEPTS
TASK 5-CREATING LINKWORDS
TASK 6-CREATING LINKS
TASK 7-CREATING MULTIPLE LINKS
TASK 8-GENERAL INFORMATION
TASK 9-CREATING A CONCEPT AT A SPECIFIC SPOT
TASK 10-USING LINK 2 WITH LINKWORD
TASK 11-FONTS AND TEXT SIZE
TASK 12-FINISHING THE MAP

ADVANCED FEATURES

TASK 13-REMOVING ARROWHEADS
TASK 14-MAKING NON-STRAIGHT LINK LINES

TUTORIAL FOR VEE DIAGRAM

ADDING INFORMATION TO THE VEE DIAGRAM
NEW FEATURES FOR CONCEPT MAPPING AND VEE DIAGRAMMING
ADJUST SIZE OF SELECTED CONCEPT THEMES
ASSIGN THEME TO CONCEPT
ACTIVATING THEMES
EDITING LINKS
CHANGING PATTERNS
CHANGING COLOR
SET BACKDROP

DESCRIPTIONS OF MENU ITEMS AND WHAT THEY DO
TROUBLESHOOTING
TECHNICAL SUPPORT



SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS TO RUN LIFEMAP

In order to run LifeMap, you must use System 6.0.4 or later. You must have a minimum of 1 megabyte of RAM for a black-and-white system, and a minimum of 2 megabytes of RAM for a color system. If you need to keep many large documents open at the same time, you may need more than 2 megabytes of RAM.

DECOMPRESSING FILES

The files given to you on the Concept Mappers disk are in the compressed form. This allows us to put more information on a disk which in turn reduces costs. While this saves you money, it does require you to take a few extra steps before you can begin to concept map.

After opening the Concept Mappers folder, a screen will appear with four different applications. In order to decompress LifeMap, double click on its Unstuffit Icon. You can tell it is a compressed file because the file name will end in ".sea", which stands for Self Extracting Archive. By following the directions on the screen, you will save LifeMap in decompressed form on your hard drive. Open the folder you have just saved to your hard drive. You can now continue with the program by using the Tutorial in the User's Manual. If you see any files which end in ".sit", these are also compressed and need to be decompressed with a StuffIt program.

CONCEPT MAPPING TUTORIAL

INTRODUCTION

This tutorial is designed to introduce you to the basics of concept mapping using the LifeMap program. By following the steps outlined below, you will become more familiar with the features available in this program by creating the concept map shown below (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Finished Concept Map.

TASK 1-SETTING UP LIFEMAP TO START A NEW CONCEPT MAP

Double click on LifeMap (Shown in below in Figure 2.)


Figure 2. LifeMap's Icon.

Note: If your computer does not show the icon, you should see an application program named LifeMap!. Double click on the LifeMap.

LifeMap's opening screen will reappear (Figure 3). Click anywhere in the window to close it.


Figure 3. LifeMap's opening screen

The top menu bar should now look like the one in Figure 4.


Figure 4. LifeMap 3.6.3

Under the "File" menu select "New LifeMap File..."(Figure 5).




Figure 5. File Menu

You will now see a box which asks you to save the LifeMap file (Figure 6). You can either save the new file directly onto the hard drive or insert another disk on which to save the new file. Type an appropriate file name for the map you are going to create and click "Save". For our purposes you may want to name this file "Tutorial".




Figure 6. File Box which requires you to title and save a new map.

LifeMap will now be open-end ready for use.

You may see a small window like Figure 7 below. This is LifeMap's main control window. It contains navigation buttons which are useful for other parts of LifeMap, but not relevant, most of the time, for LifeMap. You can close it by choosing "Hide Main Control Window" in the Apple Menu (Figure 8)




Figure 7. LifeMap's Main Control Window, small version.




Figure 8. LifeMap's Apple Menu

Having followed all of the above steps, you will now see a window like the one below. (Figure 9)




Figure 9. Sample window in which a concept map can be constructed.

You are now all set up and ready to begin concept mapping!

TASK 2-CREATING A BASIC CONCEPT

Choose "Create New Concept..." from the Concepts menu. (Figure 10)




Figure 10. The Concepts Menu.

The ConceptMaker window will appear. (Figure 11)




Figure 11. The ConceptMaker window.

At the blinking cursor, located in the scrolling text field, type the first main concept "Environmental Destruction" and click "New".

The concept you just entered should appear in the upper left hand corner of your screen surrounded by a box. This is the general way to insert concepts into your map. Anything typed into the scrolling text field box will be transported into the upper left hand corner of your map when "New" is selected.

Practice making some more basic concepts by following the same procedure above. Add the concepts "degradation of air quality" and "degradation of water quality" to the map.

Note: The concepts will overlap, but will be rearranged in the next step.

TASK 3-REARRANGING CONCEPTS

To move a concept, click on the box of the concept you want to move using the mouse. While still holding down the mouse button, drag the concept to a new spot on the screen. Release the mouse in a new location, and the concept will move to this location.

Try rearranging the concepts to look like the sample map below. (Figure 12)




Figure 12. Sample rearrangement

TASK 4-CREATING MULTIPLE CONCEPTS

Another way to create concepts is by using the "Create Multiple Concepts..." option under the Concepts menu (Figure 13).




Figure 13. Concepts Menu.

A window such as the one in Figure 14 should appear on your screen.




Figure 14. MultiConceptMaker Box

The purpose of "Create Multiple Concepts" is to allow the user to add a number of different concepts to the map at one time. After you type in each new concept, hit return. For our purposes, type in the following concepts:

natural disasters
human carelessness
pollution

Be sure to hit return after you type in each individual concept.
Click the Create Multiple Concepts oval to add these concepts to your map.

When the computer has finished generating the concepts, click on the small box in the upper left hand corner of the MultiConceptMaker box. The concepts you just entered can be seen on the map.

Rearrange these concepts to look like the map shown below.




Figure 15. Rearranged Concepts.

Note: Create Multiple Concepts allows you to create several concepts at once. If you have a large number of concepts that you need, and you don't need to give each one a different font or type size, this is the fastest way to produce concepts. You can always change the font or type size, and make other changes at a later time. We will address this issue later in the tutorial.

Now that you have created a central theme and a few concepts related to that theme, you are ready to connect them by linking.

TASK 5-CREATING LINKWORDS

Creating linkwords (words not enclosed in a rectangular border) can be accomplished using Create New Concept under the LifeMap heading. Type in the linkword "as seen in" and click on the Basic Linkword oval in the right-hand corner of the ConceptMaker box. Now click on the "New" oval and the basic concept will appear in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. Position the linkword to the correct position on the map which is below the "Environmental Destruction" concept and centered above the "degradation of air quality" and "degradation of water quality" concepts. Create another linkword, "can be caused by" and position it on the map. Your map may now look as follows:




Figure 16. Adding Linkwords

TASK 6-CREATING LINKS

Click on the "Environmental Destruction" concept box. The concept box will now be highlighted with four boxes in each of the corners. This will be the starting point of the linking line.

Select "Create a Link..." from the Links menu (Figure 17). (You can also use Command -L. There is no difference in the effect.)




Figure 17. Links Menu

You will now see a message telling you to double-click on the concept you want the link to go to. The cursor will change to a downward pointing arrow (the hot spot of the cursor is the point of the arrow.) Double click on the desired destination linkword, "as seen in." You will see the "LinkMaker" window open while the new link is being created. The LinkMaker window will go away, and you will have created a brand new link. Following the same procedure connect the link word "can be caused by " to the "pollution" concept.

If successful, your concept map should look similar to the one in Figure 18.




Figure 18. Sample map showing basic linking.

Note: When you move a concept or a linkword, the link will automatically redraw.

TASK 7-CREATING MULTIPLE LINKS

Creating Multiple Links allows the user to connect a main concept to other concepts in a single step. There are two ways of creating multiple links using LifeMap.

The first method uses Create Multiple Links (origin). Select three concepts to be connected by shift clicking on each one. (Shift-clicking is clicking with the mouse while holding down the shift key.) For our purposes, select the linkword "as seen in", and the two concepts "degradation of air quality", and "degradation of water quality."

Select "Create Multiple Links (origin)" under the LifeMap menu. The "Create Multiple Links..." box will appear. (Figure 19)




Figure 19. Screen to Create Multiple Links.

Highlight the main concept which you would like to be the origin of the links. Highlight the linkword "as seen in" and click "OK".

The computer will generate the lines and arrowheads from the main concept which you highlighted to the other two concepts that were selected.

The second method of generating links uses "Create Multiple Links (Destination)." Once again, select the three concepts or linkwords that are to be linked by shift-clicking on each. For our purposes, shift-click on "degradation of environment," "degradation of air quality," and the linkword "can be caused by." When the Create Multiple Links box appears, highlight the linkwords "can be caused by," which is the destination of the links selected and click "OK. " The computer will once again generate the links for you.

TASK 8-GENERAL INFORMATION

If you had any difficulty up to this point and need to erase a mistake that you made, click on the area that you want to erase. You should see it highlighted in the four little squares. If the area you want to erase is boxed in by the four squares, press Command and the letter X key simultaneously and, it should disappear.

When selecting concepts, if only one concept is to be selected it can be highlighted by clicking on it with the mouse. If multiple concepts are to be selected at the same time, press the shift key while clicking on each of the concepts you want to select.

Up to this point, you have used some of the basic features of this program to create a very simple concept map. From this point on, we will demonstrate how to use a variety of other techniques designed to facilitate easier mapping and add some style to your concept map.

TASK 9-CREATING A CONCEPT AT A SPECIFIC SPOT

In order to place a particular concept in a specific spot on the screen, place the arrow on the screen wherever you would like the new concept box to appear. Press down the Apple key and the letter K at the same time (or pressing the option key and clicking with the mouse) you will see the ConceptMaker box appear. Type in the concept you want to appear at that particular location and click "New". The concept you just entered, will be transported to the location of the cursor on the larger map. You must keep the apple key, or option key depressed until you see the ConceptMaker Box. Otherwise, the new concept you create will be placed in the upper left hand corner of your screen.

Try using this feature by inserting the concept "oil spills" directly below the "human carelessness" concept. While pressing the option key, click the mouse at a spot directly below the "human carelessness" concept. When the ConceptMaker Box appears, type in "oil spills" and click "New". The concept should be added onto the map where you had option-clicked.

TASK 10-USING LINK 2 WITH LINKWORD

Link 2 with Linkword is a fast way to connect two concepts with a link word.

Select two related concepts that you would like to link. For our purposes, select the ³pollution² and "human carelessness" concept by shift-clicking on the two.

Open the Link 2 with Linkword option under the LifeMap menu.

You will see the workspace for Link 2 with Linkword on your screen (Figure 20).




Figure 20. Link 2 with Linkword Command Screen.

Select the way you would like the arrow to point by clicking on one of the circles on the right hand side of your screen. Make the arrow go from the ³pollution² to the ³human carelessness² concept.

Click on the rectangle between the two concepts. When the blinking cursor appears, type in the linkwords "is caused by." Click "Insert LinkWord and Create Links".

The computer will now generate a link between the two concepts with the link word inserted.

Repeat the procedure, this time linking the concepts "pollution" and "natural disasters" with the linkwords "as a result of".

If successful, your concept map may look something like the one below. (Figure 21)




Figure 21. Map after using Link 2 with Linkword.

TASK 11-FONTS AND TEXT SIZE

There are two different ways to add fonts to your concept map.

1. Option-click on a location directly below the "human carelessness" concept. Type in a concept at the ConceptMaker prompt. For our purposes the concept will be "oil spills". Now highlight this text using the mouse. With the text highlighted, you can alter the text size by either clicking on the up or down arrow next to the Size menu or by clicking on the down arrow next to the box denoting the current text size and dragging down to the appropriate size. Change the size of this text to 10.

With the text still highlighted, you can also change the style of the text. Click on the down arrow in the Style box and drag down to the desired style. For our purposes, change the text style to italics. When you are finished editing, click "New".

Add two new concepts in italics to the map. These concepts are: "deforestation" and "release of fluorocarbons." Now using Create Multiple Links link all three new italicized concepts to the larger concept "human carelessness." Your new map may look similar to the one in Figure 22.




Figure 22. Map after adding three smaller concepts

If you want to change the font style or size of text for a concept that has already been placed on the map, click on the concept box of the text you want to change. Then go to the Style menu (Figure 23).




Figure 23. Style menu

Select the appropriate size or font. The changes you made should show on your screen.

For this tutorial, change the size and font of the main theme "Environmental Destruction." Click on this concept box and go to the LMtext+ menu. Change the size of the text to 18.

Note: When you are trying to change the size of text that has already been inserted in the map, the computer will not automatically readjust the size of the concept box to fit the size change. This must be manually done by the user by clicking on the concept box so all four corners are highlighted with little squares. Click on one of these squares and drag the box so it is large enough to fit the size of the text. (You can also double-click on the concept to open it in Concept Maker. Select the text. Change the type size. Click "Redraw". The concept box will automatically resize.)

Practice this process again by changing the type face of the "environmental destruction" concept to bold type.

TASK 12-FINISHING THE MAP

To finish this tutorial create some examples of natural disasters and link them to the "natural disaster" concept box. The following is a list to help generate some ideas:

earthquakes, dust storms, volcanic eruptions
floods, hurricanes




Figure 24. Finished Map.

You have now completed the basics of concept mapping. I hope that this short walk through the program has developed your interest in using LifeMap to effectively concept map. Other features of this program can be found in the user's manual which includes information about connecting concepts without arrowheads, changing the direction of linking lines, borders, etc.....

ADVANCED FEATURES

TASK 13-REMOVING ARROWHEADS

To remove an arrowhead from a linkline, simply select the arrowhead.




Figure 25. A Sample linkline with arrowhead selected.

Choose CUT from the EDIT menu. You will see the following dialog box.




Figure 26. Arrowhead removal options.

If you choose "Temporary" the arrowhead will be removed, but it will reappear when you redraw. Use this option if you want to see what the linkline will look like when the arrowhead is removed, but you are not yet sure if this is what you want. If you choose "Permanent" the arrowhead will be removed and it will not reappear when the linkline is redrawn.




Figure 27. A Sample linkline with arrowhead removed.

TASK 14-MAKING NON-STRAIGHT LINK LINES

To make a non-straight link line, double-click on the line between two concepts. You will see the following window.




Figure 28. The BreakPointSetter Window.

The name of the selected link line is placed in the BreakPointSetter field. The end points of the link line become individually selectable and movable. If you move the link line, and then click "Save New Breakpoints" the positions of the ends of the line become two new places at which the line will bend or 'break' when redrawn. You can add a breakpoint by clicking "Add a Breakpoint". The cursor will then change, and you can click anywhere on the map to add a new breakpoint. This breakpoint will be added just after the breakpoint designated in the "s" or "e" fields. You can replace any existing breakpoints with a breakpoint which will form a right angle between the two concepts the line links by clicking "Right Angle". You can smooth a curved line by clicking "Smooth". The section of the line smoothed will between the breakpoints designated in the "s" (start) and "e" (end) fields. "s" counts forward from the origin concept, and "e" counts backward from the destination concept. The line will be smoothed to the degree specified in "Degree". For all of these options, you must click "Save New BreakPoints" after creating the new breakpoints, otherwise the line will revert to its previous shape when the link is redrawn. "Remove Breakpoints" will remove all breakpoints and restore a straight line. "Rotate LinkLine" will put the line into rotate mode. You can then grab the handle, rotate the line, and then click "Save New Breakpoints".

The "Insert a Concept" section of this window allows you to insert a concept between two already linked concepts. You can either type in a concept in the field (it will be created if it doesn't already exist), or you can select a concept in the map and click "Add". When you click "Insert", the concepts are created, and the links are removed, created, and redrawn, depending on the settings you have chosen.

BreakPoints do not have to be expressed in absolute coordinates. You can open the window below from within LinkMaker.




Figure 29. Alternate BreakPoint Editor.

To use this editor, click "Copy Original List to Working List". Then change and create new breakpoints or edit existing ones in the format "C###;C###". C can be A (Absolute), R (Relative to origin concept), or D (relative to Destination concept). When you are finished, click "Save New Breakpoints". Note: you can cut, copy and paste in this window, but for technical reasons, you need to use the special Edit menu. "Smooth" will compute the new breakpoints necessary to smooth the breakpoints in the working list. It uses a format of "C #" where C is the code specifying the type of breakpoint, and the number specifies the degree of smoothness.

TUTORIAL FOR VEE DIAGRAM

This tutorial will familiarize you with some of the basic features of the Vee Diagramming application.

1. Open the LifeMap application as instructed in the basic User's Manual. Under the File Menu, click on "Open New File." You should see a box appear like the one in Figure 30. Save the New File you will create as "Sample Vee Diagram" and click save. 


Figure 30. "Save LifeMap as:" Dialog box

2. If you have proceeded correctly, a blank screen will appear in which you will create the Vee Diagram. (Figure 31). You will also see the LifeMap Menu bar at the top of the screen. (Figure 32)




Figure 31. Window used to create Vee Diagram




Figure 32. Menu Bar for the LifeMap application

3. Under the "Concepts" menu, located in the menu bar, select "Open Vee Diagram Maker." (Figure 33)




Figure 33. Concepts Menu

4. Click on the oval that says "Create Basic Vee Diagram." (Figure 34)




Figure 34. Vee Diagram Maker Dialog Box

5. The computer will then generate the template for the Vee Diagram. You will see the ConceptMaker box appear a number of times as the computer self-generates the template of the Vee Diagram. It should take a relatively short amount of time for the template to completely generate, but it is not an instaneous process. The template you should see will look like the one in Figure 35.




Figure 35. Vee Diagram Template

6. It is now time to add your own information to the Vee Diagram. For the purposes of this tutorial, we will construct a simple Vee Diagram that was used as an example in Novak and Gowin's book Learning to Learn.

Adding Information to the Vee Diagram

1. The first piece of information we will add to the diagram is the focus question. The template of the Vee Diagram at this stage in development, requires you to keep the template headings that are already made. To add your own information under the headings, double click on the concept you would like to add to. When the ConceptMaker box appears, you can add your own information below the already established concept.

2. For the purposes of this tutorial, we will first add a focus question to the Vee Diagram. Double click on the "Focus Question" concept box. You will see the ConceptMaker box appear on the screen. (Figure 36)




Figure 36. ConceptMaker Box

3. Under the "Focus Question" Concept, type in the focus question for our tutorial--"How well does the Daily Food Plan link food choices to health?" and click the redraw oval near the bottom of the ConceptMaker Box. (Figure 37)




Figure 37. ConceptMaker box with added concept

4. The computer will regenerate the concept with our focus question inserted beneath the template concept "Focus Question" (Figure 38).


Figure 38. Vee Diagram with Focus Question

5. Continue to add information beneath the appropriate template concepts by double clicking on the template concept and adding in the information we wish to beneath the already established template concept. When you are finished filling in the information, click on the redraw oval at the bottom of the ConceptMaker Box. Repeat this process until all the necessary information has been entered onto the Vee Diagram. Add the following bits of information onto the diagram:

World View:Nutrition
Philosophy: None
Theory:None
Principles: 1. Vitamin A is essential to health.
2. Fats are essential.
Concepts: Health
Essential nutrients
Nutrients
Event:None
Records:None
Knowledge Claims: 1. The minimum number of servings listed forms a foundation for a good diet.
Transformations: None
Value Claims: 1. It is not difficult to obtain the nutrients needed if the types of foods listed (in the Daily Food Plan) are eaten daily in the amounts suggested.

When you are finished, the Vee Diagram will look like the one in Figure 39.




Figure 39. Finished Vee Diagram

When you have finished entering this information you can readjust the concepts to the Vee by opening the Vee Diagram Maker and clicking on the oval that says "Align Vee Concepts to Vee Graphic."

Note: If the concepts you have entered are too large for the "V" that was scaled originally, you can change the shape of the "V" so that it is wider or thinner depending on your preferences. To change the shape of the "V" double click on the "V" at any point. You should see a number of small boxes on the "V" at various locations. Click on one of those boxes and continue to hold down the mouse button as you drag the box to a new location. You will see that the shape and size of the "V" will also change to your desired specifications.

You can also alter the size of the category boxes by clicking on the category box until it is highlighted with small boxes in the corners. You can realign the size of the boxes by clicking on the little box in the corner and dragging it to a new position to change the size of the box, or hold down the shift key while dragging the little box to change the shape of the box.

If you wish to move the V-diagram to another location on the page, simply click once on the "V" and drag it to the desired location. Only the black "V" will move. In order to align the concepts to the new position of the "V", you have to click on "Align concepts "Align Concepts to Vee graphic" in the Vee diagram Maker Box. Some of these changes have been made to the sample Vee diagram pictured. If your diagram does not look exactly like the one pictured, do not worry. Take some time to play around with the features. The style of the map is simply a matter of preference.

Now that you have been led through the most simple type of map that you can construct, there are a few features which allow you to customize the cateogories you choose to use in the Vee diagram. In the example map that we constructed, we did not have any use for the categories: Philosophy, Theory, Event, and Records. Instead of writing "NONE" for these cateogires, we could have eliminated them from the map before we began filling in the concepts. In order to eliminate those cateogires which you do not wish to use, double click on the boxes that containthe unwanted categories and hit delete. For example, we would want to delete the following categories in our sample map: Events, Records, Philosophy, Transformation and Theory. Click on these five boxes and then hit delete. (Remember, to highlight more than one box at the same time you must hold down the shift key while clicking on the boxes you wish to remove.) Your diagram will look like the one below (Figure 40):




Figure 40. Vee Diagram with deleted concepts.

Since we do not want spaces in our Vee diagram, we will want to rearrange the concepts. In the Vee diagram Maker box, click on the oval that says "Align Concepts to Vee graphic." If you have deleted any concepts, the computer will ask you if you wish to remove these concepts or add them in at this time (Figure 41). Since we are interested in removing them, click the oval that says "Remove them."




Figure 41. Dialog box to create or remove concepts

The concepts will realign to the "V" and your diagram should now look like the one in Figure 42.




Figure 42. Finished Vee map with realigned concepts.

You have now completed the Vee Diagram. If you wish to see those categories which are currently being displayed on you Vee diagram, click on the "Load Existing Vee categories" oval in the Vee Diagram Maker Dialog box.

If at any point, you wish to return to the original categories that are presented when the Vee Diagram Maker box is opened, click on the "Use Default Categories" and the original categories will appear in the Dialog box.

NEW FEATURES FOR CONCEPT MAPPING AND VEE DIAGRAMMING

A few new features have been added to LifeMap to enhance your mapping capabilities. The first feature allows you to adjust the size of a large number of concepts so they are equal in size. The second feature allows you to assign a theme (i.e. Biology or Physics) and a color associated with the chosen themes to the concepts you have created. Both features are described in more detail below.

Adjust size of selected concept

This feature listed under the Concepts Menu will allow you to resize a number of concepts to the same dimensions. It is most useful if you have a large number of different sized concepts that you would like to scale to equal sizes. In order to use this feature, select all of the concepts that you would like to scale to size by shift-clicking on each concept. (For more information on how to select concepts, please refer to the User's Manual for LifeMap 3.7.1.) After the concepts have been selected, choose the "Adjust Size of Selected Concepts" listed under the "Concepts" menu. This application will then ask you the desired width of the concept box. Enter the number you desire. The numbers entered are in pixels (approximately 72 pixels equals 1 inch.) Click OK. The computer will then ask you for the desired height of the concept box. Enter this number and click "OK" All of the concepts that you had previously selected will now be redrawn according to the specifications you entered.

Note: It is still possible to resize concepts by using the mouse. (See the User's Manual for more information.)

Themes

Assign Theme to Concept

The assign theme to Concept Tool located under the Concepts Menu allows the user to assign a theme to the concepts that have been entered. When you have determined the general themes that you would like to assign to your concepts, open Edit Themes located under the Concepts Menu. You will see the Edit Themes Box on your screen (Figure 43).




Figure 43. Edit Themes Box

Type in the themes that you would like to use. When you have finished entering in themes, close the Edit Themes box by clicking on the small box in the upper left hand corner of the Edit Themes Box.

In order to assign themes to the concepts you have entered on the diagram, click on the concepts you want to assign a theme to. When the concept or concepts have been highlighted with four small boxes in the corners, click on the "Assign theme to Concept" under the Concepts box (Figure 44).




Figure 44. Dialog Box to Select a Theme

> The Themes dialog box will appear and ask you to select the theme that you wish to assign to the selected concept. The third option, "Remove Theme" allows you to remove a previously established theme from a selected concept.

Activating Themes

Once you have assigned themes to the concepts you wish to, you can activate the themes by selecting the "Activate Themes" tool under the "Concepts" menu box. (Figure 45) Choose the theme you wish to activate and click "OK"




Figure 45. Dialog Box to Activate a Theme

The computer will then remind you to use the black pixels to set the theme color (Figure 46.)




Figure 46. Reminder box

Click on "OK" You will then see a color chart that will allow you to assign a color to the theme you wish to activate. Click on the color square of the color that you wish to assign to the theme you are going to activate. You will see the dots surrounding the word "Done" become the color you have chosen. When you are finished selecting a color, click on the word done. All of the concepts that you have selected for a particular theme will now be color-blocked with the color that corresponds to the chosen theme.

Editing Links

"Editing Links" provides you with many features for customizing the links you wish to create. To customize a link that has already been created, click on the link you wish to customize and open the "LinkMaker Box" from the Links Menu. (Figures 47 and 48 respectively.)




Figure 47. LinkMaker Box




Figure 48. Links Menu

There are many features that you can use to customize your links. The first feature allows you to remove or add an arrowhead to the linkline. To do this, click on the small circle next to the word "arrow." The picture beneath the word arrow, is an example of the link that you are creating. If your link currently does not have an arrow and you would like to add one to it, also click on the small box next to the word "arrow." You should see and arrow appear on the sample concept line below the word. You can also select the size of the arrowhead that you would like. To do this, select "Set Arrowhead Defaults" under the "Edit" Menu. This feature is further explained in the User's Manual.

There are also a number of features that you can choose pertaining to the linkline. For one, you can choose not to have a linkline at all, by clicking on the small circle next to the word "line." If you choose to have a line and do not have one at the moment, you can also click on the circle next to the word "line." If you choose to have a linkline connecting the concepts, you can also change the width of the line by clicking on either the up or down arrow under the words "line size" or by selecting the size of the line you which in the box underneath "line size."

Changing Patterns

Another feature allows you to change the color and/or the pattern of the linkline. If you would only like to change the color and/or pattern of a particular line, first click on that particular linkline. When it is highlighted, you should see two small boxes at either endpoint of the line. Then proceed with the directions below.

To change the color and/or pattern of the link, click on the multi-colored set of boxes that appear above the world "patterns." You will then be asked if you would like to customize your linkline for a pattern or a color (Figure 49).




Figure 49. Edit Colors and/or Patterns box

If you wish to customize for a particular pattern, click on the word pattern. The pattern box will appear (Figure 50). Click on the square of the pattern that you would like to use and then click on "DONE." 


Figure 50. Pattern Box

If you do not wish to add a color, then click on the word "UPDATE" in the LinkMaker box ) and then click on the "REDRAW" oval. The changes you have made should be entered onto the map.

Changing Color

If you wish to change the color of the linkline, click on the color oval when the computer asks you whether you would like to change the color or the pattern Click on the oval that says "COLOR." The color selection box will appear (Figure 22). Using the color selection box, you can change the color for both white pixels and the black pixels. If the circle next to the words "Black Pixels" is darkened, you can select the colors for the black pixels, by clicking on the color square of your choice. To change the color of the white pixels, click on the small white circle next to the words "White Pixels" and the click on the color square of your choice. You will see the color choices you have made surrounding the word "Done" near the bottom of the box. When you are finished making your selections, click on the word "DONE" Once again, click on the "UPDATE" oval in the LinkMaker Box and then click on "REDRAW" The changes you have made will now be applied to the correct link.




Figure 51. Color Selection Box

Set Backdrop

Another new feature can be found under the "Edits Menu." and is called "Set Backdrop." This feature allows you to set up a backdrop behind the current mapping window you are working in, so that you can not see the other items that are open in the finder. This feature is mainly for those who do not wish to see the other applications that are in the finder while they are trying to create a concept map. To set a backdrop, chose "Set Backdrop" under the "Edits Menu." You will see a dialog box that asks you which color backdrop you would prefer (Figure 52). Click on either the color black or white.




Figure 52. Backdrop dialog box

The backdrop that you have chosen will now appear.

DESCRIPTIONS OF MENU ITEMS AND WHAT THEY DO

APPLE MENU




.c9.Figure 53. ECCE!'s Apple Menu.

"About ECCE!..."
takes you to the opening screen.

"More About ECCE!..."
takes you to information about subscribing, copyright, and so on.

"Hide Main Control Window"
hides the main control window, and shows it when it is hidden.

"Show Card Name + Number"
shows and hides a small floating window which displays the name and number of the current card. This feature is not as useful in LifeMap as it is elsewhere in ECCE!.

"Turn Short Help On"
When Short Help is on, short explanations of buttons and menu items appear when they are clicked on or chosen. This feature is not implemented for all features.

"Guided Tour"
opens a guided tour to ECCE!

"User's Manual"
opens ECCE!'s user manual.

"Technical Support..."
shows how to contact us for technical support.

"About concept mapping..."
brings you to a short description of the philosophy behind concept mapping

"More LifeMap Help"
opens the LifeMap section of the ECCE! user manual.

FILE MENU




Figure 54. File Menu.

"Open Project..."
opens files which can be used with ECCE!. This item can be used to open concept map files created with LifeMap. Note: Projects, Files, and Documents refer to the same thing.

"Close Project"
closes the project of the topmost window. Note: floating windows do not count as the topmost window, unless there are no regular windows open.

"Close Top Window"
closes the topmost window without closing the entire project.

"Save All"
saves all open project to disk. Note: ECCE! saves changes every time you move to a new card, and when you quit.

"Save a Copy As..."
copies all concepts and links of the current concept map and saves a new file. Use this feature if you want to create a record of what your concept map looked like at various stages of creation.

"Print Card..."
prints the entire current card. If the card is larger than one printer page, the printout will be tiled. Use this item to print out concept maps.

"Print Selected Text..."
allows you to select some text and print it out. The print engine supports a variety of formatting commands. WYSIWIG formatting is ignored.

"Open Print Construction Utility..."
opens a section of "The Exporter" which makes constructing print jobs with formatting commands easier.

"Export Card as PICT..."
exports the entire current card to a PICT file. You could use this option to save a copy of a concept map that you would then import into a word processor.

"Export Clipboard as PICT..."
This item saves whatever you have copied to the clipboard as a PICT file.

"Export Selected Text..."
creates a text file with any text you have selected.

"Install..."
allows you to decompress Stuffed files from within ECCE! The Stuffit Engine must be installed for this to work.

"Decompress and Open..."
does the same job as "Install..." but works on one file at a time and opens the file after it has been UnStuffed.

"Quit"
closes all open windows and quits ECCE!.

EDIT MENU 


Figure 55. Edit Menu.

"Cut"
cuts whatever has been selected and places it on the clipboard.

"Copy"
copies whatever has been selected and places it on the clipboard.

"Paste"
pastes whatever is on the clipboard.

"Select All"
selects everything. What is selected depends on what tool is active. For instance, if the text tool is active, all of the text in the currently selected field will be selected. If the concept tool is selected, all concepts, lines and other graphic elements of the current concept map will be selected.

"Revert"
restores the current card to the last version saved to disk. This command is undoable, so use it with caution.

"Choose Concept Selector Tool"
LifeMap uses a variety of tools as it types text, draws graphics, and so on. Usually, it will default back to the concept selector tool (the standard upward pointing black arrow). However, sometimes it does not. If you find that you can't select concepts (the tool will probably look like a pointing hand), simply select this item.

"Browse Tool"
this tool sets the cursor to the Browse tool. The Browse tool is the primary tool in the Library section of ECCE!. In contrast, in LifeMap, the concept tool is the primary tool (the standard upward pointing arrow). The main reason you would need to switch to the Browse tool in LifeMap is if you had a concept map with nested concept maps, and wanted to have a menu of nested maps pop-up at the concepts in which they have been nested.

"Preferences..."
allows you to change the Auto-save frequency (a move is the creation of a new concept, or the redrawing of links), determine when clicking in the Preview window hides or shows that window after it scrolls the concept map, determine whether changes to the Fancy Border offsets (the position of the Fancy Border relative to the concept it is attached to) are automatically permanent, or whether to give you a choice of permanent or temporary, and whether the "Create a Link..." menu item uses the default settings (1 point line with an arrowhead) or uses the current LinkMaker settings. You can also set how many minutes the {Puzzler waits before she comes to ask you a question. The Puzzler started out life as a humorous copy protection system. Its primary purpose at the moment if to remind you of how long you have been working. It is recommended that in order to avoid carpel tunnel syndrome, a repetitive motion injury often contracted by people who type a lot, you take 15 minutes break doing something that rests your hands every two hours or so. Consult your doctor of physical trainer to find out what kind of work pattern is best for you.


 Figure 56. LifeMap Preferences Window

CONCEPTS MENU 


Figure 57. Concepts Window

"Create New Concept..."
opens ConceptMaker so that you can create a new concept. Note: to edit a concept, double click on the concept you want to edit. Also note that LifeMap treats concepts and linking words as the same kind of object, in contrast to CMAP which treats them as different kinds of objects.

"Create Multiple Concepts..."
opens MultiConceptMaker so that you can create several concepts all at once. If you have a large number of concepts you know you will need, and you don't need to give each one a different font et al, this is the fastest way to produce concepts.

"Open Vee Diagram Maker..."
opens the Vee Diagram Maker Dialog Box which allows you to create the basic Vee template and create/delete categories for the Vee diagram.

"Open ConceptSpreader..."
opens the ConceptSpreader window. Clicking "Spread Concepts" will spread any selected concepts by the horizontal and vertical spread factors. Spread factors can be negative. "Remove Overlap" moves concepts until they do not overlap. You can choose to enlarge the page size if concepts would go off of the current page, or you can let concepts bunch up on the edges of the page.




Figure 58. ConceptSpreader Window.

"Open ConceptGrouper..."
Select concepts that you want to reposition. Choose this item. When the list is locked, double-clicking a line will allow you to set absolute or relative coordinates for the concept. Relative coordinates are relative to the previous concept in the list. Selecting a line and clicking "Set Anchor Point" will prevent the concept from being moved when concepts are repositioned. Clicking "Set Anchor Point" when an anchored concept is selected will make it free. Select concepts in the map and then click "Add" to add them to the list. Finally, click "Reposition Concepts" to move the concepts to their new positions. ConceptGrouper repositions concepts to the Absolute coordinates when Absolute is hilighted, and to Relative coordinates when the button says Relative.




Figure 59. ConceptGrouper Window.

"Adjust Size of Selected Concepts..."
This feature allows you to resize a number of concepts to the same dimensions. This feature is most useful if you have a number of different sized concepts that you owuld like to scale to equal sizes.

"Assign Draw-Special to Concept..."
Concepts can now have special properties which are called Draw-Specials. A concept can be an HBAR, or a VBAR. Select one or more concepts. Choose "Assign Draw-Special to Concept..." under the Concepts menu. You will be given a list of available Draw-Special options.

HBAR is short for Horizontal Bar. A concept which has been turned into an HBAR will do two special tricks when it is redrawn. First, all links from that concept will be drawn as vertical straight lines. Second, the width of the concept will automatically adjust so that it starts at the left most link line, and ends at the right most link line.

VBAR is short for Vertical Bar. A concept which has been turned into a VBAR will respond similarly to an HBAR, except that link lines from a VBAR will be horizontal straight lines, and the height of the concept will automatically adjust so that it starts at the top most link line, and ends at the bottom most link line.

To remove a Draw-Special, follow the same procedure as for creating them: select a concept, choose "Assign Draw-Special to Concept...", and then choose "Remove Draw Special" from the list.

"Add/Remove Scroll Bar to Concept"
Are you the sort of person who just can't fit all of your ideas into a short pithy phrase? Well, version 3.6.7 has a feature you might put to good use. You can now add scroll bars to concepts, thus allowing a reader of the map to read long tomes (though you have to be in Browse mode for this to work). Simply select one or more concepts, and choose "Add/Remove Scroll Bar from Concept" from the Concepts menu. This is a toggle option, so if a selected concept has a scroll bar, the menu item will remove it, and if it does not have one, it will add one.

"Edit Themes..."
allows you to enter in the themes that you wish assign to the concepts in either the Concept Map or the Vee Diagram.




Figure 60. Edit Themes Dialog Box

"Assign Theme to Concept"
allows you to assign themes to concepts that have previously been entered.




Figure 61. Assign Theme to Concept

"Activate Themes"
this tool allowss you to decide which themes you wish to activate and will also allow you to assign a color to each of the themes you wish to actiate.




Figure 62. Activating Themes

LINKS MENU




Figure 63. Links Menu Window

"Create a Link..."
creates one link from the concept that was selected first, to the concept that is selected after you choose this item. The kind of link this produces can be controlled from the LifeMap Preferences window.

"Create Multiple Links..."
creates one or more links which all originate from a central concept. To use this item, select two or more concepts. Select "Create Multiple Links...". You will see a dialog box which asks you to designate which concept is the origin concept (the concept from which the new links will originate).

"Link 2 with LinkWord..."
creates a link between two existing concepts and creates a link word between them. Select two concepts. Choose "Link 2 with LinkWord...". You will see the window below.




Figure 64. The Link 2 with LinkWord window.

Type a link word in the middle field. Select which direction you want the link to go. Click Insert LinkWord and Create Links.

"Edit Links..."
To use this, select an origin concept, or select the line between two concepts. Choose this item. The origin concept will be placed in the first field. A list of concepts to which this concept is linked appears in the Active Links field. To edit a link, double click on it in the Active Links field. Then set the characteristics of the link. Then click "Update". You will see the characteristics update in the Active Links field. To remove a link, option-double-click on it in the Active Links field. To restore a link, option-double-click on it in the Eliminated Links field. To create a new link, select one or more concepts, and then click "Add". Repeat the above steps to update their characteristics. When you are done, click "Redraw". This saves the new link information and redraws the concept map. Until you click "Redraw", you can close the LinkMaker window and none of the links will have been changed.

VIEWS MENU




Figure 65. Views Menu Window

"Preview Current Map"
opens a scalable window which shows a reduced view of the current concept map. This is useful for getting an overview of a large map. Clicking once in the preview window will scroll the concept map to the point you clicked.

"Follow All Links..."
Select a concept. Choose this item. The top field of the Follow All Links window shows you the name or ID of the card, the name of the window, and the name of the project to which the selected concept belongs. The Links field lists all concepts the selected concept is linked to. The Paths field lists all cards, concepts, or documents to which the selected concept contains PathPointers. Clicking on the first field will bring that window to the top. Double-clicking on a line in the Links field will select that concept. Double-clicking on a line in the Paths field will bring the card which is pointed to the top.




Figure 66. Follow All Links Window.

"List All Concepts..."
displays an alphabetical list of all of the concepts in the current concept map. Double clicking on a concept in the list will scroll the map to that concept and select it. Clicking on the map name will bring the map to the front of your screen.




Figure 67. List All Concepts Window.

"Save Position Set"
records the positions of the concepts in the current concept map.




Figure 68. Save Position Set Window.

"Read Position Set..."
allows you to choose a position set you have saved. When you select one, such as in the window below, the positions of the concepts will be restored to their positions when you saved the position set.




Figure 69. Read Position Set Window.

"New Map in Current File"
creates a new concept map in the current (i.e. topmost) concept map. If you create such a new map, you will need to use the card navigation menu items under the "Go" menu to get to and from the multiple concept maps in the same file.

"Name Current Map..."
gives the current card of the current LifeMap file a name. This is not strictly necessary, but it is a nice touch, especially if you are constructing nested maps which you intend others to browse.

"Set Page Size..."
allows you to change the size of your concept map. Change the measurements in the "Total Page" fields. Then, click "Update Map Size". When you are done, click "Cancel". "Set Defaults" stores the current settings as default values. "Use Defaults" replaces with the current values with the stored defaults. If "Show Page Breaks" is hilighted, special divider lines will be drawn at the horizontal and vertical intervals specified in the "Printer Page" fields. Unfortunately, ECCE! has no way of knowing what size paper you are using to print on, but the Page Breaks will show you where one page of the specified size stops and the next begins. This makes it easier to avoid printing half of one concept on one page and half on another. You may need to experiment a little to find the right Printer Page size. Concept maps can be as small as 1 inch by 1 inch, and as large as 34 feet by 34 feet.




Figure 70. Set Map Size Window.

STYLE MENU




Figure 71. Style Menu Window

"Font"
is a menu that allows you to change the font of any concepts you have selected without having to open them up in ConceptMaker. This will change the entire text of the selected concepts to that font. To use concepts with more than one font in each, you must use ConceptMaker. This menu does not automatically resize concepts, so you may have to resize them by hand.

"Size"
performs the same function as the "Font" menu, but for text sizes.

"Styles"
performs the same function as the "Font" menu, but for text styles.

"Alignment"
performs the same function as the "Font" menu, but for text alignment.

"BorderSize"
performs the same function as the "Font" menu, but for border sizes.

SPECIAL MENU




Figure 72. Special Menu Window

"Place Picture in Fancy Border..."
Select a Fancy Border. Choose this item. A dialog box will appear which will allow you to select a PICT file. The chosen PICT file will then be inserted into the Fancy Border.

"Rotate Fancy Border"
Select a Fancy Border. Choose this item. The Fancy Border will then go into rotate mode. Click and drag on one of the handles to rotate it.

"Change Object Depth"
allows you to move a concept, line or other graphic element up or down in the graphic depth order. LifeMap generally places graphic elements where you would want them, but if you want something different, you can use this menu. NOTE: this is a temporary property: it is not saved when the map redraws, so it is usually best to use this feature at the very end of concept map creation.

"Open ChainMaker..."
opens the ChainMaker window. Any concepts which were selected when this item is chosen will be added to the list. The "New Concept..." button will add a word to the list, marked either as a Concept, LinkWord, or BreakPoint, depending on which radio button is selected. Very Important: the BreakPoints in ChainMaker are NOT the same as the BreakPoints in LinkMaker and BreakPointSetter. ChainMaker BreakPoints are transparent concepts which are used to create non-straight lines. This is an older feature which has been superseded by the LinkMaker BreakPoints, where a single line can be non-straight. The list can be edited by hand by deselecting the "List is Locked" button. You can select additional concepts in your map, and click "Add" to add them to the list. You can produce new concepts for concepts which already exist by adding ",NEW" at the end of a line in the list. When the list is locked, you can change the concept/linkword status of a word by changing the radio buttons and then double-clicking the word in the list. When you are done creating concepts, click "Create Chain". This will create new concepts as needed, and then create a chain of links. All links to a LinkWord will end without an arrowhead. All links to a Concept will end with an arrowhead.




Figure 73. ChainMaker Window.

"Open PathMaker..."
Select a concept. Choose this item. PathMaker will open and the selected concept (the Origin Concept in the Figure below) will be placed in the top field. The second field contains the card name or ID, the window name, and the project name in which that concept is located. Clicking on this field brings this window to the top. You have two ways of adding a PathPointer to the list. Clicking "to Old Map" will create a PathPointer for the current card (the one just below the PathMaker window). For instance, if you wanted to create a Pointer to an existing concept map, bring that map to the top, and THEN click "to Old Map". This button also creates PathPointers for non-concept map sections of ECCE!. "to New Map" creates a new concept map, and then creates a PathPointer to it. "to Document" allows you to select a non-ECCE! document and create a PathPointer to it. "Save Updated Paths" stores the list of Active Paths in the selected concept, and removes any Paths in the Eliminated Paths field. It adds a drop shadow to the selected concept so that you know which concepts contain PathPointers. When the Active Paths field is locked, double clicking on a line will take you to that card. When the Active Paths field is unlocked, you can cut, copy, paste, and otherwise edit PathPointers by hand. To move a PathPointer from the Active to the Eliminated Paths field, option-double-click on the line. Option-double-clicking in the Eliminated Paths field will move that PathPointer back to the Active Paths field.




Figure 74. PathMaker Window.

GO MENU




Figure 75 Go Menu.

"First Card"
This item and the next 4 are primarily useful in the Library section of ECCE!. They are only useful in LifeMap if you have created more than one concept map in the same file. ECCE! operates on the stack of index cards metaphor. If you are familiar with HyperCard, an ECCE! window, like a HyperCard stack, contains a series of cards. Unlike HyperCard, an ECCE! project can contain more than one window. This item takes you to the first card in the topmost window.

"Prev Card"
takes you to the previous card in the topmost window.

"Next Card"
takes you to the next card in the topmost window.

"Last Card"
takes you to the last card in the topmost window.

"Scan Cards"
quickly flips through all of the cards in the topmost window until you click the mouse or until it reaches the card you started from.

"Go Back"
ECCE! maintains a list of the cards you have visited. This item steps you back through this list.

"Go Forth"
If you have stepped back through the list of cards visited, you can use this item to step forward through the list.

"Find"
allows you to do simple text searches through all of the fields of the topmost window. The first time you use this option, you will go to the first instance of the text searched for. To find the next instance, just hit .

"Super Find..."
allows you to do more complicated searches across more than one project. This produces a list of all occurrences of the text searched for.

"WorkSpace Extensions"
doesn't do anything. It is just a title for the remaining items in this menu.

"The Library"
opens a project which gives you access to the many information resources which have been developed for ECCE!.

"CorrChannel"
opens a note organizing tool.

"LifeMap"
opens LifeMap if you didn't open it when ECCE! started up.

"To Do"
opens a To Do project. This is a relatively undeveloped section of ECCE!.

"EarthPhone"
opens an integrated communications program.

"Map Navigator"
opens a set of county outlines of the lower 48 US states at a scale of 1:Two Million.

PATHWAY MENU




Figure 76. Pathway Menu.

"Interpret PathPointer"
PathPointers are text based codes which allow ECCE! to open any card. To use a PathPointer, select the text and choose this item.

"Insert Record/View Menu"
inserts a menu (from the PathWay project) which allows you to record a PathPointer for the current card. You can construct PathPointers by hand, but this method is easier.

"Record Attached Document"
creates a PathPointer for a document that was not created by ECCE!. For instance, if you wanted to create a PathPointer to a WordPerfect document, you would use this item.

"(Recent PathPointer)"
types the most recently created PathPointer into the Message Box. The Message Box is that little floating window that the basic Find command appears in.

"(Paste)"
is the same as "Paste" from the Edit menu, except that it adds parentheses around the text you are pasting.

"Rename PathWay Card"
changes the name of the current Pathway card, if the Pathway project is open. It also changes the name of this card in the Record/View PathPointer menu.

"New PathWay Card"
creates a new card and menu item in the Pathway project.

"Cut PathWay Card"
cuts the current card and menu item in the Pathway project.

"Export PathWays"
exports all of the PathPointers you have saved in the Pathway project to a text file. This text file is formatted in a special way so that you can use the "Import Pathway" item to reformat them into a Pathway project later.

"Import PathWays"
opens the text file created by "Export Pathways" and formats the text as part of the Pathway project.

"Open Pathway"
opens the first card of the pathway project.

"Record/View PathPointer"
is the menu that is inserted as described above. When you select an item in this menu, the PathPointer for the current card is placed at the end of the Pathway card which corresponds the menu item you chose. If you select an item from this menu, it will open that Pathway card without recording a PathPointer. CorrChannel automatically creates an index to each CorrChannel window by creating a PathPointer each time you move to a new card in CorrChannel. Because of this feature, you can't record PathPointer into CorrChannel Autoindex Pathway cards. Instead, if you select a CorrChannel option in this menu, the PathPointer will be placed in a special field on the first card of that CorrChannel project.

WINDOWS MENU




Figure 77. Windows Menu.

"Test Map" of project "Test Map"
The primary function of this menu is to show you which windows are open. This menu dynamically adjusts as you open or close windows. Each item shows the name of the window and the name of the project it belongs to. Choosing an item will bring that window to the top.

"Center All Open Windows"
moves all of the open windows to the center of the screen. This item, and the one below, are included to solve a problem that is very rare, but is very annoying when it happens. Suppose that you are using ECCE! on a computer with a really big screen. You then try to use the same copy of ECCE! on a computer with a smaller screen. If you do this, some of your open windows may be invisible because their last location was a location which exists on the large screen, but does not on the small screen. Choosing this item quickly and easily brings all open windows into view.

"Set Top Window to Default window size"
restores the topmost window to its default size. Not all windows have default sizes.

Troubleshooting

The arrowhead is drawn in the wrong place. You are probably using a link line with a breakpoint, and the breakpoint is located under the concept box. To solve this problem, double click on the link line and move the break point out of the destination concept box. Then click "Save Breakpoints" in the BreakPointSetter window.

Technical Support

For more information, please contact the Misconceptions Seminar (which is currently handling ordering and technical support for Vantage Commons):

by phone -> 408-459-3122
by e-mail -> rhabrams@cats.ucsc.edu
by mail -> Robert Abrams
California Consortium for Teacher Development
Crown College/Education Department
University of California, Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, CA 95064

Late Breaking Feature

There is a new item in the File menu which allows you to export your concept map as an interactive World Wide Web Map. This item produces a PICT which you then can convert to a GIF, HTML code and PERL code. When you use the item, it generates its own instructions for how to assemble the output.


User manual addendum for LifeMap 3.8g

NOTE: This is an advance version, which means we are giving it to you for evaluation purposes. Also, the network access feature in the NetData will not work without Marionet. If you are interested in doing true networked concept mapping, let us know and we will work with you to make LifeMap meet your needs in this area.

There are two major new features and a couple of minor changes.

1) Under the "Special" menu, there is an item called "Open NetData Utility..." This tool allows you to convert concept maps to a special text-only format (hereafter referred to as the NetData format). You can post a concept map in the NetData format to the Meaningful Learning web site. You can also retrieve concept maps from the web site, and then convert them into the regular format.

To retrieve concept maps from the web,

Click on the "Default URL button"

Click on the "Get NetData" button. (Choose "Body")

Edit the resulting list so that you have only the concepts and links you want.

Click "Add NetData to current concept map"

To post concept maps to the web,

Click "Convert current concept map to NetData"

Click "Upload NetData to Web"

2) Under the "Special" menu, there is an item called "View Current Map in Standard Hierarchy..." This tool allows you to select a concept to be the main concept. The concept map is then redrawn so that concept is at the top, and all other concepts are repositioned based upon how they are linked. You can have a "left" hierarchy, which means that each row of concepts is lined up on the left hand side of the page, or you can have a "Center" hierarchy, which means that each row is centered on the page.

Minor Changes

3) In LinkMaker, you now click the "Set Angle" button to switch between the default arrowhead setting and the custom arrowhead setting.

4) In "Link 2 with LinkWord", you can now choose to have the final link end in an arrowhead or not. The first link now always does not have an arrowhead. You can also choose whether or not the inserted concept is created if a concept with the same name already exists.

5) Both the Redraw Defaults window and the Arrowhead Default window contain a "Fast Arrowheads" option. When this is selected, arrowheads are drawn at the center of the destination concept, rather than at the intersection of the destination concept and the link line. This option makes redrawing much faster. We recommend that you create your concept maps with "Fast Arrowheads" turned on, and then redraw the map with it off when you are done.


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