Entering your main idea
When you start Inspiration, you're in Diagram view. We'll begin this
tutorial as you begin any Inspiration diagram, by entering text in the
Main Idea symbol. The Main Idea symbol placeholder text, Main Idea, is
already selected. All you do is type.
|
| 1. |
Type your main idea - Family Vacation. |
| 2. |
Press Shift+Return (Shift+Enter) to end text entry and select the
symbol. |
Adding ideas to your
diagram
As part of our planning, we're going to enter what each family member
wants to do on vacation. First, we'll add the idea symbol What we want
to do. Then we'll add an idea symbol for Mom. |
Use the Create tool
to add an idea
|
| 1. |
With Family Vacation selected, on the Diagram
toolbar, position the pointer over the Down arrow on the horizontal and
vertical Create button. When you point to an arrow on the Create button,
it is highlighted to show you the direction in which the new idea symbol
will be created. |
|
|
| 2. |
Click the Down arrow. The new symbol appears
connected to and below the Family Vacation symbol.
|
| 3. |
Type What we want to do.
|
| 4. |
Now add a symbol for Mom. On the Diagram toolbar,
position the pointer over the Lower Right Diagonal arrow on the diagonal
Create button. |
|
|
| 5. |
Click the Lower Right Diagonal arrow. The new symbol
appears connected to and diagonally below the What we want to do symbol.
|
| 6. |
Type Mom.
|
| 7. |
Press Shift+Return (Shift+Enter) to end text entry.
|
| 8. |
Select What we want to do again.
|
| 9. |
Click the Lower Left Diagonal arrow. |
|
| 10. |
Type Dad.
|
| 11. |
Press Shift+Return (Shift+Enter) to end text entry.
|
Let's take a look at what you've created
so far:
|
|
| Tip: You can use the Position tool to
reposition your diagram in the window. It's useful when you want some
space where you can add more symbols. Just click the Position button,
then click and drag the diagram until it's positioned where you want it.
Click the Position button again to turn it off. |
|
Using the
RapidFire™ tool
We're going to use Inspiration's RapidFire tool to enter the things Mom
wants to do while on vacation. You use RapidFire when you want to
brainstorm, to capture your ideas quickly without worrying about their
order. You add ideas right into the selected symbol, letting Inspiration
create new symbols for your ideas.
|
| 1. |
Click the Mom symbol to select it. On the Diagram
toolbar, click the RapidFire button. |
|
The RapidFire icon appears in the symbol
to show you the tool is turned on. You're ready to begin typing ideas.
|
| 2. |
Type Sun, then press Return (Enter). Once you
start working in RapidFire, you use the Return (Enter) key to separate
your ideas.
|
| 3. |
Type Scuba.
|
| 4. |
Click the RapidFire button to turn it off.
|
Now let's add Dad's preferences
|
| 1. |
First, select Dad and drag him to the left two
inches to give yourself more space to work with.
|
| 2. |
With Dad selected, on the Diagram toolbar,
click the RapidFire button. |
|
|
The RapidFire icon appears in the symbol
to show you the tool is turned on. You're ready to begin typing ideas.
|
| 3. |
Type Play golf, and then press Return (Enter).
|
| 4. |
Type Fish.
|
| 5. |
Click the RapidFire button to turn it off.
|
| Now let's take a look at your work.
Here's what your diagram looks like so far: |
|
RapidFire places your ideas in a freeform
structure. You don't need to think about organizing your ideas yet -
you're still getting them down so you can "see" what you think. We'll
learn about organizing the diagram later in this tutorial.
Aside: If you see that you've made a mistake while typing text in a
symbol, don't worry. It's easy to fix. Double-click the text in the
symbol, then select the words you want to change and type over them. You
can also insert text by clicking where you want to make the correction
and entering the new text.
Changing the view scale
It's helpful to zoom in and out when you're working on your diagram.
Sometimes you want to take a closer look at a section; at other times,
you want to see more of your diagram in the window.
1. On the scroll bar at the bottom left of the window, click the Zoom
Out button. |
|
Drag and drop to add
symbols
Inspiration has over 1,300 symbols you can use in your diagram. Here,
we'll add one of the six basic symbols, the rounded rectangle, to the
diagram using drag and drop.
|
| 1. |
On the Symbol palette, locate the rounded symbol.
|
|
| 2. |
Click and drag the symbol until it's positioned below
the Fish symbol and slightly to the left, then release the mouse
button.
|
| When you add a symbol using drag and
drop, the symbol is not connected to any other symbols. You can link it
later using the Link tool on the Diagram toolbar. |
|
| 3. |
Type Marlin in the new rounded rectangle
symbol.
|
Adding unconnected
ideas
Sometimes when you're working you want to add an idea, but you're not
sure right away where it fits. You can easily add an unconnected idea
anywhere on the diagram with Inspiration's point and type method.
For now, let's add an idea symbol on the diagram to represent Sarah,
another member of the family.
|
| 1. |
Click in the open area on your diagram under the
Scuba symbol, then type Sarah. A symbol pops up to hold the
Sarah text. The symbol isn't linked to any other symbol.
|
| 2. |
Click away from the Sarah symbol to deselect
it.
|
|
Link the
unconnected symbols to show how they relate to other ideas
We'll link the What we want to do symbol to the Sarah
symbol so that we can include Sarah's ideas in our planning. To show
that Fish and Marlin are related, we're also going to draw
a link that connects those two idea symbols.
On the Diagram toolbar, click the Link button. |
|
The cursor becomes a two-headed arrow.
|
| 2. |
Click the What we want to do symbol to tell
Inspiration where you want to draw the link from (the primary symbol).
|
| 3. |
Click the Sarah symbol to indicate where you
want to draw the link to (the secondary symbol).
|
The link appears, connecting the primary
to the secondary symbol. The arrowhead points to Sarah to show that it's
an offshoot of the What we want to do idea symbol.
|
Now let's link the other unconnected
symbol, Marlin, with the idea, Fish.
|
| 4. |
Click the Fish symbol to tell Inspiration from
where you want to draw the link from (the primary symbol).
|
| 5. |
Click the Marlin symbol to indicate to where
you want to draw the link to (the secondary symbol).
|
The link appears, connecting the primary
to the secondary symbol.
|
| 6. |
Click the Link button again to turn it off.
|
Add text on the
link
You can add text on a link to describe the relationship between the
linked ideas. Here, you will add the word for so it's clear that the
connection is that Dad wants to fish for marlin.
|
| 1. |
Select the link that connects Fish and
Marlin, if it isn't already selected.
|
When the link is selected, you see the
outline of the text box area on the link. It's ready for you to begin
typing.
|
| 2. |
Type for, then click outside of the diagram to
deselect the link.
|
Move idea symbols
around
Moving symbols is easy. Here, you will reposition the Marlin
symbol so that it's a bit lower on the diagram.
|
| 1. |
Click and drag the Marlin symbol down about
one inch and release the mouse button, then click outside of the diagram
to deselect the symbol. If you need to move the symbol again to position
it to your satisfaction, just click and drag it again until it's where
you want it.
|
Notice how Inspiration keeps the link
connected for you as you move the symbol. That way, you don't lose the
connection between ideas when you move them around on your diagram.
Changing symbol shapes
Here, we'll make a section of the diagram stand out by changing the
shape of the symbols. In this case, we're going to select Dad and his
vacation preferences and change these symbols all at the same time to
make them easy to identify.
|
| 1. |
To select the symbols, hold down the Shift key and
click Dad, Fish, and Play golf.
|
| 2. |
On the Symbol palette, click the rounded rectangle
symbol.
|
The selected symbols take on the new
shape.
Working in Outline view
Inspiration has two views or environments in which you can work, a
Diagram view and an Outline view. While you have been working in Diagram
view creating a visual diagram, Inspiration has been building an outline
of your work.
Switch to Outline view
|
| 1. |
On the Diagram toolbar, click the Outline button. |
|
Your diagram appears as an outline. The
idea symbols you added in Diagram view appear as topics and subtopics.
Your link text does not appear as part of your outline, but it is
available in Diagram view.
The + next to the Mom topic indicates the topic has subtopics. The -
next to the Sarah topic indicates the topic has no subtopics.
Add a subtopic
Adding ideas in the Outline view is as simple as adding an idea symbol
in Diagram view.
|
| 1. |
Select the topic Mom by clicking to the left
of the topic prefix. |
|
| 2. |
On the Outline toolbar, click the Add Sub button. |
|
A new subtopic is created below Mom.
It's indented one level in your outline.
|
| 3. |
Type Swim . |
|
Add a topic
Now we're going to add snorkeling, another favorite thing to do.
|
| 1. |
Select the topic Sarah by clicking to the left
of the topic prefix.
|
| 2. |
On the Outline toolbar, click the Add Topic button. |
|
| Inspiration inserts a new topic and the
cursor moves to the next line so you're ready to type. |
|
| 3. |
Type Snorkeling .
|
Change the
level of a topic
In Outline view, you can move a topic to the right or to the left,
changing its level of importance. Snorkeling is something Sarah really
wants to do, so let's change the Snorkeling topic to a subtopic
under Sarah.
|
| 1. |
On the Outline toolbar, click the Right button. |
|
| The topic, Snorkeling, moves to
the right, so that it's now a subtopic of Sarah. |
|
Add notes text to
a topic
Adding notes text is a good way to elaborate upon your ideas. As you add
more notes, you develop your outline into a complete written document.
Let's add a note to the topic Snorkeling. |
|
| 1. |
With Snorkeling selected, press Return
(Enter).
|
The cursor moves to a new line so you can
type in your notes.
|
| 2. |
Type Sarah would like to go out in a boat to do
this.
|
Each topic can have notes that extend
from one line to many paragraphs of information. If you add notes to
your topics, you will end up with a written report when you finish.
Whenever you add notes text to a topic, Inspiration puts an outline
around the + or - in front of the prefix. It looks like this: |
|
Tip: You can also add notes text by
selecting a topic and clicking the Add Note button on the Outline
toolbar.
Hiding subtopics
When you're working with a complex outline, you'll want to hide and show
subtopics. Hiding the detail in your outline makes it easier to see its
overall structure. We'll hide the subtopics for the Dad topic.
|
| 1. |
Click to the left of Dad to select the topic.
|
| 2. |
On the Outline toolbar, click the Show/Hide Sub
button. |
|
Inspiration hides the subtopics for the
selected topic, so there's less detail showing on your outline.
|
| 3. |
On the Outline toolbar, click the Show/Hide Sub
button again or double-click to the left of the topic prefix to show the
subtopics.
|
Note: Just as you can hide and show
subtopics, you can hide and show notes text. Just click on the Show/Hide
Note button or double-click the outlined + or - next to the topic.
Moving topics around
Inspiration has lots of ways to organize your topics. One of the easiest
is to drag topics and place them where you want them. Here, you will
move Sarah so that it appears above Mom.
|
| 1. |
Select the topic Sarah by clicking to the left
of the topic prefix.
|
| 2. |
Hold the mouse button down and drag the topic,
Sarah, up in your outline until it covers the topic Mom. |
|
| 3. |
When the dotted rectangle covers the topic above
which you want to insert Sarah, release the mouse button.
|
Sarah and its subtopic and notes
appear above Mom and below What we want to do on the
outline.
Changing the prefixes in your outline
Everyone has preferences about how things look. For example, you may
want to change the kind of prefixes that appear in front of the topics
on your outline. It is easy to do. Here we'll change from Roman Numeral
(the way prefixes are when you first start Inspiration) to an
alphanumeric set of prefixes.
|
| 1. |
On the Outline toolbar, click the Prefix button, then
choose AlphaNumerals. |
|
Inspiration changes all the prefixes in
your outline.
Aside: You can globally change topic fonts and styles as well as set
margins, headers and footers using Outline Properties. You can access
Outline Properties by choosing Outline Properties on the File menu.
Printing your outline
When you print your outline, Inspiration automatically includes all
topics, subtopics and notes text. Inspiration also prints a header at
the top of each page. Of course, you can change what is to appear in the
header or choose to print no header by changing the settings in the
Outline Properties dialog box. You can preview what your outline is
going to look like, and then print it.
|
| 1. |
On the File menu, choose Print Preview.
|
Your outline appears onscreen so you can
see how it will look on the page.
|
| 2. |
To print your outline, click Print. If you do not
want to print your outline, click Cancel to return to the Outline view.
|
| 3. |
When the Print dialog box appears, click Print (OK).
|
Your outline prints.
Return to Diagram view
Now let's return to Diagram view so you can embellish what you've
created. When you return to Diagram view, you will find that the symbols
have changed to reflect the work you did in Outline view.
|
| 1. |
While you're still in Outline view, select the topic
Snorkeling so that it will be selected and you can find it
quickly when you return to Diagram view.
|
If the Snorkeling topic isn't
showing on the screen, press Command+M (Ctrl+M) to select the main idea
and show the top portion of your outline in the window. You can then
select Snorkeling.
|
| 2. |
To return to Diagram view, click the Diagram button
on the Outline toolbar. |
|
You can see that the new topics you added
in Outline view, like Snorkeling, appear as idea symbols.
Working with notes text in Diagram view
In Diagram view, notes text is stored in separate notes windows attached
to idea symbols. Every idea symbol can have notes text. You can open a
notes window at any time to write, to modify your notes and to read what
you've written. |
|
| 1. |
To display the notes text for Snorkeling, on
the Diagram toolbar, click the Add Note button. |
|
The notes window opens and the note you
wrote earlier appears.
At this point, you can add to or edit your notes, if you want. Just
click in the notes text window where you want to begin and start typing,
or select the words you want to replace and type over them.
|
| 2. |
When you're ready to close the notes text window,
click the Close box on the notes text window or, on the File menu,
choose Close.
|
Changing the
font used for your idea symbols
You will want to use your favorite font in your idea symbols. Let's
select all the symbols and change the font.
|
| 1. |
To select all the symbols on your diagram, on the
Edit menu, choose Select, then choose Symbols.
|
| 2. |
On the Format menu, choose Font, then select the font
you'd like to use.
|
The text in all the idea symbols changes
to the new font.
Setting up the default look for new symbols
Now that we have changed the way your idea symbols look, we can tell
Inspiration to use this look for all new symbols we create.
Let's start by selecting the idea symbol Play golf. It already
has the shape and the new font we want to use. Then we'll set that as
the new look so that the symbol's characteristics will appear
automatically whenever we create a new symbol.
|
| 1. |
Click the idea symbol Play golf to select it.
|
| 2. |
On the Diagram toolbar, click the New Look button. |
|
Inspiration sets the new look and shows
you a preview.
Add a new symbol with the new default look
We will add a new symbol off the main idea symbol Family Vacation.
First we'll select the main idea symbol, then create the symbol.
|
| 1. |
On the keyboard, press Command+M (Ctrl+M) to select
the main idea symbol, Family Vacation.
|
| 2. |
On the Diagram toolbar, position the pointer over the
Left arrow on the Horizontal and Vertical Create button.
|
| 3. |
Click the Left arrow to create a new symbol to the
left of Family Vacation.
|
| 4. |
Type Possible places and click outside the
symbol to deselect it.
|
You will notice the new symbol has the
new default Attributes.
Arranging your diagram into a tree chart
The Arrange tool lets you change your diagram into various kinds of tree
charts. We'll use the Arrange tool to change the format of the diagram
from a cluster to a top down tree chart.
|
| 1. |
On the Diagram toolbar, click the Arrange button.
|
The Arrange dialog box appears.
|
| 2. |
Review the selections in the dialog box.
|
You're going to use these default
settings:
 |
Under Diagram Type, Top Down Tree is selected. |
|
Entire Diagram is selected. |
|
In the Links drop-down list, Auto-90 is selected. |
|
Under Lowest Level Stacking Models, No Stack is selected. |
|
| 3. |
Click OK.
|
Inspiration arranges the diagram with the
main idea symbol at the top, and the remaining idea symbols in order
beneath it.
Resize the diagram so it fits in the window
Let's change the view scale so that we can see the entire diagram in the
window.
|
| 1. |
On the scroll bar at the bottom left of the window,
click the Percentage box to the left of the Zoom buttons, then select
Fit To Window.
|
Using color
You can further customize your diagram by changing the color of symbols,
links and text. Just select the item whose color you want to change,
then click the appropriate color button on the Draw toolbar: Fill Color,
Line Color or Text Color.
Change a symbol to a multicolor symbol
shape
|
| 1. |
Click the Sun symbol to select it.
|
| 2. |
On the Symbol palette, click the sun symbol in the
Basic library. |
|
|
The Sun symbol on your diagram changes to
the sun shape.
Change the colors of the multicolor
symbol
|
| 1. |
Click the Sun symbol to select it.
|
| 2. |
Click the Multicolor button on the Draw toolbar, and
then choose colors you want from the palette. |
|
|
Try changing the black areas of the sun
to a light orange to give the sun a warm glow.
You've finished your diagram!
Congratulations. You've finished creating your Family Vacation
diagram. Let's take one more look at how your diagram appears on the
screen. |
|
|
Previewing and printing your diagram
|
| 1. |
First preview your diagram. On the File menu, choose
Print Preview.
|
Inspiration shows you what your printed
page will look like so you can return to your diagram and make
adjustments if you wish.
|
| 2. |
In the Print Preview window, click Print.
|
| 3. |
In the printer dialog box for your printer, make your
choices, then click Print (OK). When you print diagram, the notes text
for your diagram prints as a separate document after your diagram
prints.
|
Close Inspiration
You've now had a quick introduction to some of Inspiration's features.
You can create a diagram and work on your outline, change the look, move
things around, and lots more.
|
| 1. |
On the File menu, choose Quit (Exit). Inspiration
asks whether you want to save your changes.
|
| 2. |
Click Yes to save the sample document or No to close
Inspiration without saving the document. |
