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Inspiration

Inspiration Tutorial
Inspiration Tips

 

This is a basic tutorial for Inspiration.  It can be adapted to any topic.
(by Philip Holt. All rights reserved.)

1. Double click on Mac hard drive
2. Double click on Inspiration folder
3. Double click on Inspiration icon
4. Type in "Earth" in the circle provided - press shift return
5. Go to file - save as - find your folder on the network. Save as "Earth".
6. Click on the down arrow of the create icon on the top toolbar
7.  Type in "Oceans" - click on the edge of the oval
8.  Go up to the toolbar to create click on  left arrow
9. Type in the name of one of the oceans
10. Keep adding ovals and typing in the names of different oceans.
11. Click on the title oval
12. Go up to toolbar to create  pick an arrow
13. Type in "Continents"
14. Click on edge of the Continents oval
15. Go up to toolbar to create  and pick an arrow
16. Type in the name of the continents, 
17. Go back to Earth oval and click on it
18. Go up to toolbar and pick an arrow (make sure it is a direction you haven't already used).
19. Type in "Atmosphere"
20. Go up to toolbar and click on Rapid Fire
21. Now type in "Troposphere" then press return and see what happens
22. Type in "Stratosphere" press return
23. Type in "Ionosphere" press return

24. Now turn off Rapid Fire (by clicking on it).
25. Click on the Atmosphere oval
26. Go to the Picture Toolbar and click on the rain cloud (see what happens)
27. Make the rain cloud smaller by clicking on the bottom right corner - hold down the mouse and resize it.
28. At the top of the picture toolbar are three arrows (pointers) - explore and add pictures to your web.
29. Always select the oval first before you choose a picture
30. Bonus - click on the outline on the toolbar
31. Click on diagram

 

Inspiration Tips

(Source:  http://scnc.mcps.k12.mi.us/~helpdesk/Publish3/index.html)
Reformatted by Philip Holt

Contents:

Opening Inspiration and getting your ideas down
Changing the view scale
Moving the diagram around in the window
Adding a specific symbol
Adding unconnected ideas and linking them
Adding text to the link
Moving, deleting, changing, resizing idea symbols
Using color
Inserting a hypertext link
Arranging the diagram into various kinds of charts
Organizing ideas in Outline view
Working with templates

What is Inspiration
Inspiration is a tool to develop ideas and organize thinking.  It  helps you to think and learn visually. Inspiration has two views:  diagram view and outline view. The diagram view arranges thoughts as a collection of symbols, text, and drawing components. The outline view arranges thoughts in written form as a collection of main ideas, topics, and subtopics. The program is a very easy program to use. The following is basic information to get you started using Inspiration; instruction manuals are available for more advanced techniques.   

Opening Inspiration and getting your ideas down

1. Click the Start button, point to Programs, point to Inspiration, and then click Inspiration.
2. Inspiration opens and a new, untitled diagram appears on the screen.
3. The Main Idea symbol appears in the center of the screen.  The Main Idea is already selected.  All you do is type.
4. Press Shift + Enter to end text entry and select the symbol.
5. To add a related idea, on the Diagram toolbar at the top of the screen, position the pointer at an arrow on the Create button.  It is highlighted to show the direction in which the new idea symbol will be created.  When clicked, the new symbol appears connected to selected symbol.  As soon as you create a new symbol, you can enter text in it.
6. Ideas may also be added by using the Rapidfire button on the Diagram toolbar. Using this allows you to capture ideas quickly without worrying about their order. When the Rapidfire button is clicked, the Rapidfire icon appears in the symbol to show you the tool is turned on.  Begin typing ideas, then press Enter; a connected symbol with what was typed will appear.  When finished adding symbols, click the Rapidfire button to turn it off.
7. If mistakes have been made or you wish to insert text, double click the text in the symbol, select the words that need to be changed and type over them or insert the text where the correction is to be made.

Changing the view scale

1. To make symbols smaller and give more room to work on the entire diagram, click the Zoom Out button on the scroll bar at the bottom left of the window.
2. To make symbols larger and easy to read, click the Zoom In button.
3. To zoom to an exact percentage, click the percentage box to the left of the zoom buttons and select the percentage that is desired from the submenu.

Moving the diagram around in the window

1. The Position tool on the Diagram toolbar allows the diagram to be repositioned in the window.  To do this click the Position button, then click and drag the diagram.
2. Click the Position button again to turn it off.

Adding a specific symbol

1. Inspiration has hundreds of symbols that can be used in a diagram.  The Symbol Palette appears automatically when you open Inspiration.
2. To scroll through the different libraries, click the Next Library button or the Previous Library button at the top of the palette.
3. To go directly to a specific library, click the Select Library button at the top of the Symbol Palette, choose a symbol category, and then choose a symbol library.
4. Select the symbol you want to add from the symbol library and drag the symbol to the place in your diagram where you want it to appear.
5.  Click in the text box below the image and type text for the symbol.

Adding unconnected ideas and linking them

1. Click in an open area on the diagram and type; a symbol appears that isn't linked to any other symbol.
2. Click away from the symbol to deselect it.
3. To link the symbol to another symbol, click on the Link button on the Diagram Toolbar.  The cursor becomes a two-headed arrow.
4. Click the symbol from where you want to draw the link and then click the symbol that you want to link to.  The link appears.
5. Links may also be made by clicking on a symbol, pointing and clicking at any diamond-shaped and dragging to any gray connection point on another symbol.

Adding text to the link

1. You can add text to describe the relationship between the linked ideas by selecting the link.
2. When the link is selected, a text box appears that can be typed in

Moving, deleting, changing, resizing idea symbols

1. Select the symbol you want to move.
2. Drag the symbol to a new location.  The link remains attached and moves with the symbol.
3. To delete, select the symbol and press the Delete key.
4. To change the symbol style, select the symbol; and on the Symbol Palette, click the symbol you want to use.  The original symbol is replaced with the new symbol.
5. To resize a symbol, select the symbol, drag the red corner sizing handle to increase or reduce the size of the graphic.  When the graphic is the desired size, release the mouse button.

Using color

1. The fill color, line color multicolor, and text color can be changed by clicking on what you want to change and then clicking on the proper button on the Draw toolbar and choosing the color you want.
2. Colors can also be changed by using the commands on the Effect menu.

Inserting a hypertext link

1. To add a hyperlink, make sure Hyperlink Auto-detection is turned on by choosing  Internet from the Utility menu and finding it in the submenu.
2. Type the Internet address (URL) where it is to appear.  After the typing is finished, the hyperlink turns blue indicating it is a live link.

Arranging the diagram into various kinds of charts

1. To arrange the whole diagram, click the Arrange button on the Diagram toolbar. To arrange part of the diagram, select the symbol from which you want to start the arrangement before clicking on the Arrange.
2. In the Arrange Diagram dialog box, select the type of chart you want.  Deselect the Entire Diagram checkbox to arrange only part of the diagram.  To retain a cluster arrangement, select Cluster.
3. Select Clean Up Arrange to preserve the left-to-right order between idea symbols and make any minor adjustments to the arrangement.
4. Select Size By Level to size the symbols on your diagram by level.
5. Click OK.

Organizing ideas in Outline view

1. On the diagram toolbar, click the Outline button.  The diagram appears as an outline.  The ideas symbols added in the diagram appear as topics and subtopics.
2. To add a subtopic, select the topic; a selection rectangle will appear around it. On the Outline toolbar, click the Add Sub button.  A new subtopic is created below; it is indented one level in the outline.
3. To add a topic, select the main idea to which a new topic is to be added by clicking to the left of the prefix in front of the text.  Click the Add Topic button on the Outline toolbar.  A new topic is inserted below the selected topic and automatically assigns a prefix.  Enter the topic text.
4. Notes can be added to any topic or subtopic by selecting the topic, clicking the Add Note button on the Outline toolbar.  Enter the notes.
5. Topics and its subtopics may be moved by selecting the topic and dragging it to a new location in the outline.

  Working with templates

1. Inspiration comes with a variety of templates appropriate for many kinds of application.  To open a template, choose Template from the File menu.
2. Scroll through the template choices, click to select one, then click Open. The template opens as new, untitled document.  You must use the Save As command to name this file and save all changes;  the original template will not be changed.