Authorware Navigation Tutorial

You can print this tutorial and refer to it when you use Authorware. Rather than overload your mind reading this in a vacuum it is better to print it and use it as you Navigate in Authorware.

If you are familiar with computer and web navigation, perhaps all you have to do is look this tutorial over quickly.

The course content is broken in Lectures. Each Lecture (e.g., Basic Probability) corresponds to an Authorware presentation along with printable web text.

Authorware uses menus. So each Lecture has a menu of the main ideas in that Lecture.

But these are complex ideas, so sometimes they need to be broken down into smaller chunks. Authorware therefore can have menus within menus as you can see in the graphic below. When you open a menu you may see another menu with the lecture content chunked down into smaller parts.

For complex ideas this may continue down several LEVELS, as shown in the graphic. When you are studying, this is very convenient because it breaks up the material into small, digestible chunks.

This is the Authorware Navigation Panel.

This button takes you back up from a lower level to a higher level. We'll call it the Up Level Button

Use the Up Level button to go back to the previous menu.

Let's look at another button on the upper row of the Navigation Panel

Look at the button that has binoculars and two pages on it. It is the Search button.

The search button does a good job searching for text in Authorware. But it usually screws up navigation so that you have to close Authorware and restart it to navigate. We don't recommend you use unless you really need to find an idea.

The two farthest left buttons on the top row of the Navigation Panel have no functionality and we will not discuss them.

The Continue button is not always on the screen. When it is, be sure to press it. It will take you toward the completion of the idea you are studying.

You learn more deeply if you solve problems for yourself and and afterwards see the answer.

Next page button

The Next button will move you to the next page, which shows the results of the research.

As you can see, there is a continue button, so you should click it and continue on in the idea.

			You can print this tutorial and refer to it when you use Authorware. Rather than overload your mind reading this in a vacuum it is better to print it and use it as you Navigate in Authorware. If you are familiar with computer and web navigation, perhaps all you have to do is look this tutorial over quickly. The course content is broken in Lectures. Each Lecture (e.g., Basic Probability) corresponds to an Authorware presentation along with printable web text. Authorware uses menus. So each Lecture has a menu of the main ideas in that Lecture. But these are complex ideas, so sometimes they need to be broken down into smaller chunks. Authorware therefore can have menus within menus as you can see in the graphic below. When you open a menu you may see another menu with the lecture content chunked down into smaller parts. For complex ideas this may continue down several LEVELS, as shown in the graphic. When you are studying, this is very convenient because it breaks up the material into small, digestible chunks.
		This is an example of a Lecture with lots of levels (more than is typical).
		This is the Authorware Navigation Panel.
		This button takes you back up from a lower level to a higher level. We'll call it the Up Level Button	Use the Up Level button to go back to the previous menu.
			Let's look at another button on the upper row of the Navigation Panel
		Look at the button that has binoculars and two pages on it. It is the Search button.	The search button does a good job searching for text in Authorware. But it usually screws up navigation so that you have to close Authorware and restart it to navigate. We don't recommend you use unless you really need to find an idea.
			The two farthest left buttons on the top row of the Navigation Panel have no functionality and we will not discuss them.
			Before we go on to the lower row of the Navigation Panel, we will discuss Content Pages and the Continue button.
		Eventually, as you press menu buttons, you will come to Content Pages. The graphic shows a content page from Basic Probability.
			Notice that this content page has a Continue button in the upper right corner.
		Many ideas take several pages to develop. The Continue button takes you to the next page in the development of an idea.	The Continue button is not always on the screen. When it is, be sure to press it. It will take you toward the completion of the idea you are studying.
		When you press Continue on the previous page this page comes up. Notice that it has the answer to the question asked on the previous page. The Authorware program generally gives you a chance to solve a problem on your own before you see the answer.	You learn more deeply if you solve problems for yourself and and afterwards see the answer.
			Now let's go back and look at the lower row of the Navigation Panel
		Sometimes (not always) the final menu looks like this. This example shows a sequence of pages (or screens) having to do with t-tests.	Sometimes we have a special Menu showing a whole sequence of screens (or pages). The lower row of the Navigation Panel is very useful when you a sequence of screens Menu like the one above. Notice that the Menu above has navigation instructions right on it.
		If you clicked on the first button on the Menu above, you would see this Psychotherapy Example page.
		When you have read and taken notes about the Psychotherapy page, press the Next button.	Next page button
		The Next button will move you to the next page, which shows the results of the research. As you can see, there is a continue button, so you should click it and continue on in the idea.
		When no Continue button is present, use the Next button to go on to the next page	Use the Next button on the Navigation Panel to keep moving from page to page.
			Look at the bottom row of the Navigation Panel. Starting from the left, the first button (First Screen)takes you back to the first page in a sequence. The second button (Previous) takes you back one page, the third button (Next) takes you forward one page. The fourth button (Last Screen) takes you to the last page.

			Summary
			Authorware breaks up large Lectures into understandable chunks with menus imbedded within menus. Sometimes the lowest menu takes you right into the material. Sometimes the last menu is a special "Sequence of Screens" menu as is shown in the graphic below.
			Think of it in three dimensions. The Up button takes up to the next higher menu. The Previous and Next buttons move you back and forth from page to page. The Continue button takes you deeper into a page until the idea is fully developed.