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Yearbooks: getting started 1. How do we order a yearbook? Before you begin using Magic Boomerang you need to order your yearbook with Boomerang. The easiest way to do this is to contact us and we can either arrange a visit to your school or discuss your requirements over the phone. To select the format of your yearbook you need to decide the type of cover you want, how many pages you’ll need and when you want your books to be delivered. We can help you make decisions on all these things. 2. How do we plan our yearbook project? Use the tips below to help properly plan your yearbook project, this will save you time, keep your project organised and give your book a more consistent and polished final appearance. - What should we include in our yearbook? Think of all the great things you’ll want to remember about your school, your teachers and your friends – this is what you want to include in your yearbook! If you need extra inspiration we can show you examples of what other schools have created. It is often helpful to spend some time planning out your yearbook in a hard copy format. Use this as a master copy to keep everyone on track as you are designing the pages. - Who should do what? The most effective way to decide this is to assign each member of the yearbook committee with their own area of responsibility. Ensure you cover the main areas of writing text into Word documents, gathering images from different sources (students, activity clubs etc), promoting your book to the year group and collecting payments. - How much time do we have? The most effective way to decide this is to assign each member of the yearbook committee with their own area of responsibility. Ensure you cover the main areas of writing text into Word documents, gathering images from different sources (students, activity clubs etc), promoting your book to the year group and collecting payments. - What technology standard is required? In order for all of the Magic Boomerang yearbook editor features to function as they should do, there is a minimum recommended I.T. requirement that must be in place on any computer from which you intend to run the editor. The requirement is as follows: Browsers: Preferably Firefox 3.5 but minimum Firefox 3 or Internet Explorer 7 Browser Plug-Ins: Preferably Flash 10 but minimum Flash 9.0.45 Browsers must have cookies and Javascript enabled. If you are not sure whether the computers that you intend to use are up to specification then you will need to ask an I.T. professional to confirm. If you have any questions then please feel free to contact us. 3. How do I login to access the yearbook? Once you’ve ordered your yearbooks, Boomerang will email you the login details of all your Premium Users and the Staff User. Make sure you keep these details safe. We’ll also create a yearbook template to get you started, complete with covers and the correct number of (blank) pages. If anyone forgets their password at any stage, you can request an email with your password on it. You’re now ready to read the Yearbooks step by step guide. Yearbooks: step by step guide Once you have ordered and planned out your yearbook you can get to the fun bit – designing the pages! 1. How do I upload photos & create albums? To easily upload photos into secure albums, go to ‘My Photos’ and type the name of your album in either the ‘My Albums’ or ‘Group Albums’ field (depending on whether or not you want the photos to be shared with those in your yearbook group) and then click ‘create album’. You have now made a new album. To add images to this album simply click the ‘upload photos’ button and follow this onscreen instructions. 2. Can I share my uploaded photos? You can share photos with friends in a safe, private environment by inviting people via email to view them or by posting a link to various social networking sites, for example, Facebook. Simply click the ‘share’ button below any of your albums to bring up the sharing options box. Choose a sharing method (you can choose from a variety of social networking sites or and email options. To send a link via your standard / default email program - when the sharing options box appears, click on the 'Email' tab and then under the 'Send from any other e-mail address or e-mail program:' heading, choose the right hand button. Your email will open up with a link already placed in the body of your email. Choose your recipients (as normal), add a supporting message and send. Recipients will be required to click on the link to view your album. If the invitee is already registered on Magic Boomerang (or if the recipient creates themselves an account), they will be able to add images to their own selections to use in photo products that they are working on. This is a great way for those who are not members of the Yearbook Committee to submit photos to be included in the yearbook. 3. How do I add photos to my yearbook? The best way to do this is to first create an album from the ‘My Photos’ section of Magic Boomerang as this will allow you to share images with others and keep them for longer. Once you have done this, open an album and click ‘add to my selection’ (located above the relevant photo) for any photo you may want to include in your yearbook. This will hold the image in your selection and when you go into your yearbook project, you will automatically be able to view and edit all the images in your selection. You can add new images to your selection at any time as you are editing your pages. 4. What is multi-user function? This is a great tool that lets several people edit different sections of your yearbook at the same time. If someone is working on a page it is shown as locked for the other people in the group logged in, but they can continue to edit other parts of the book. Once there has been inactivity on a page for over ten minutes the page automatically unlocks.
5. How do I edit my yearbook?
- Sticker Art Creating & sharing photo albums 1. How do I upload photos? To easily upload photos into secure albums, go to ‘My Photos’ and type the name of your album in either the ‘My Albums’ field and then click ‘create album’. You have now made a new album. To add images to this album simply click the ‘upload photos’ button and follow this onscreen instructions. 2. Can I share photos? You can share photos with friends in a safe, private environment by inviting people via email to view them or by posting a link to various social networking sites, for example, your facebook profile. Simply click the ‘share’ button at the bottom of any album and then follow the onscreen instructions. The invitee will be required to click on an email link, enter their email address and choose a password. They will then be able to view your album. If the invitee is already registered on Magic Boomerang, they merely need to use their existing login and password to view your album. 3. Can invitees share my photos with others? No, only the creator of an album has the right to share it with others. 4. Why do I need to register with Magic Boomerang? You are required to sign up to create and share albums and to design your own photo products (coming soon). By asking everyone to register you can be confident that those using Magic Boomerang have agreed to the terms and conditions and will use the site for sharing appropriate content. 5. How many photos can I upload? The upload system allows you to upload 50 images at a time, although there are no limits on how many images you can have in your account or how many albums you may create.
6. Is there a maximum image size? Trouble shooting 1. How do I re-arrange my page order? Open up your project from the 'My Projects' screen. Once the editor opens you will see your book laid out in thumbnail view on the right hand side of the screen. Decide which page you wish to move and simply drag it to a new position in the book. The page will change position (remember that if you move a page further along in your book all of the pages will shift up by one so pages may appear in a position that you didn't expect). 2. Can I see a guide for positioning cover elements? If you are trying to centre elements on your cover or you would like to see where the spine of your book is then you can use a guide to help you position things correctly. Simply choose the guide background from the list of background options (it is the white one with thin lines on it). Once you have selected this you can layout all of your cover elements and when you are happy with how they are positioned, swap the background out for the one that you wish to appear on your final product. 3. Can I add / delete pages? If you are working on an individual project then you can add or delete pages as you wish using the add / delete pages buttons on the right hand side of the editor. Please be aware that your final price will increase as your page count increases. If you are working on a group project then you must ask your staff representative to contact us before adding or deleting pages so that Boomerang can amend your order. Once Boomerang have given your staff representative the all clear, you can use the add / delete pages buttons on the right hand side of the editor to make your changes. Please note, pages are added / deleted in sets of 4 and will always be added to / deleted from the end of your book. 4. Can I lay an image accross 2 facing pages? The re-arranged pages function prevents you from being able to lay an image accross 2 facing pages however, with a bit of tinkering the same effect can be created. Drag and drop your image onto your left hand page and resize the image box to be the size that you want the left half of your image to appear (make sure that your box extends all the way to the right hand edge of your page - you will get a warning about being in the bleed area but this does not matter on this occasion). Click on the image cog symbol (top left of image) to bring up the edit image options. Use the zoom slider and positional arrows to zoom in and nudge your image to the right until only the left half of your image remains visible. Drag and drop a new version of the same image onto your right hand page. Align and resize the image box with your left hand image and again use the zoom and nudge tools (this time nudging to the left) until only the right hand side of the image is visible. Make sure that both images are zoomed in by the same amount and ensure that you allow an extra 'overlap' piece of the image on the spine edge of both pages (so that the same slither of image appears on the inside of both the left and right hand page) - this is done because the edge of the page will be trimmed slightly and will also dissapear down the spine of the book a bit when printed. |