drag & drop

image clippings

To collect an image clipping in your information composition, click on an image in a web page, and hold. Drag it to a good place in InfoComposer, and release the mouse.

text clippings

To collect a text clipping in your composition, select text on a web page by clicking and dragging on top of that text. The text will be highlighted. Drag the highlighted text into InfoComposer, and release the mouse.

Sometimes drag and drop will automatically link the source web page to the clipping in the information composition, forming a rich bookmark. However, sometimes automatic linking fails. If it does, this icon will appear in the top right corner of a clipping.

link source to make clippings into rich bookmarks

To link a source web page to text or image clipping that did not get linked automatically, or to add a new link, we can drag the source document location from the browser.

Dragging the favicon from the web page over the clipping highlights in yellow a field(s) within in-context metadata. Releasing the mouse over the clipping converts it to a rich bookmark, and in many cases, gives you extra information about the page. The icon showing a missing source in the top right is removed on successful creation of a rich bookmark.

The above shows the metadata of the page we just linked.

editing

The primary way of interacting with the composition space and specific elements is with through the pie menu.

activating the menu

The pie menu can be activated by three different methods:

• right mouse button
• right mouse button + CTRL key
• left mouse button + CTRL key

using the menu

• novice mode

  If you press and release the activation button or button combination then the menu will enter novice mode. In novice mdoe the commands are performed by clicking their button. The menu can be closed by clicking anywhere other than one of the pie sections.
  
  
  
  
  
  The user activates the menu then clicks the Cut button.
  

• expert mode

  If you press and hold the activation button or button combination then the menu will be in expert mode. Expert modes uses simple flicks to perform the commands. While continuing to hold the button down, move the cursor onto or past the desired command and then release the button.
  
  resizing - the resize command becomes automatically activated when the cursors moves past the resize icon. To end the resize action release the button.
  
  

  The user activates the menu, flicks the cursor downward to select Cut then releases mouse button to perform the command.
  

composition menu

The composition menu is accessed by activating the menu while the cursors is over an empty section of the composition space.

create text Creates as new text annotation which is given the keyboard focus. Also places the cursor in text edit mode which allows you to edit the text of other elements. paste Pastes in an object from the clipboard. You can paste in text or images. undo Undoes the last action performed. redo Redoes the last action that was undone.

element menu

The element menu is accessed by activating while the cursor is over the target image or text chunk.

navigate to Opens a web browser window to the soucre page of the element. edit / blending Opens the edit palette for text editing. For images it modifies the radius and magnitude of translucence. resize You can dynamic resize the element. This resizing is aspect constrained. cut Removes the element from the composition. move up Places the element on top of the composition. move forward Places the element at the bottom of the composition.

blending images

Like resize, blending is activated and modified by dragging. In novice mode you must press and hold down the mouse on the Blending button to activate blending. In expert mode simply crossing over the button with the mouse will activate blending. Once activated continue holding down the mouse key while you move the cursor in the x and y plane. Changes in the x-position will change the radius. Changes in the y-position will change the amount of blending.

The user activates the menu, presses and holds down the cursor on the blending button. The user can change the radius of the gradient by moving the mouse in the x-axis and the amount of blending by moving the mouse in the y-axis.

editing annotations

You can interact with text in addition to images. These actions include adjusting the size of the text, changing the color and font of text, changing the shape of the text, and changing the style of the text.

The text editing menu can be activated using the pie interface. Simply right-click on the clipping that you would like to edit and select "Edit".

From the edit menu, you can change the color, font, size, style (bold, italic, or underline) alignment (right, left, center, or justified), or the background style.

in context metadata

When mousing over an element, a window displaying metadata information about where the element is from and a small toolbar to help you interact with an element will appear on the bottom side (or top side if against the bottom of the screen) of the element. The metadata includes information about the webpage source, while the design tools include starting a new search, navigating to a source website, removing the element, and latching the element.

Metadata Details


This box presents information about the location where the element was found. It also displays additional information such as the query that was sent to the search engine, the title of the source webpage, the captions of images, and the text context that surrounds a clipping in its source document. Use this to quickly learn about the source of an element.

save and open

You can save your composition space using the Save or Save As from items in the menu bar. When you save the space, you will get an Information Composition file (with extension .icom). You can save this file for future use, or share this file with people so that they can relaunch the same composition from S.IM.PL Info Composer.

To relaunch your composition, once inside S.IM.PL Info Composer, select File, then Open from the menu and then select the Information Composition (.icom) file for your saved composition.

export

You can also export a composition as a HTML web page for browsing or quick view. To do that, inside S.IM.PL Info Composer select File, Export as Web Page, and then choose the location and file name. After that, you can open the saved HTML from the Windows Explorer or Macintosh Finder by double-clicking. Notice the links are navigable from here, but you can't edit yet. To go further, click the launch in S.IM.PL Info Composer link. This will bring you to an Internet launch page, from which you can launch your saved .icom file (if you have) in S.IM.PL Info Composer.

You can also export the metadata from each of your clippings using the Export menu item. When you use this functionality, an HTML file will be made containing the metadata from each clipping in your composition. This file can be opened using Windows Explorer or Macintosh Finder by double-clicking. Notice the links are navigable and that items can be expanded using the "+" button.