Bloom 3 Session 1

Bloom Session 1

Introduction

Bloom is a computer program. It was made so that making books can be easier. Bloom was designed with new computer users in mind. It has special features to guide them. People need less training when compared to other programs.

Because of this, Bloom can help more people get involved in building a large collection books in the local language. Later, other people can use Bloom to translate those books into other languages.

We know that it takes many books to make reading worthwhile and fun. True literacy also takes many books. Otherwise, readers do not get enough practice. The problem has been who will make all those books? How will we find the time? Where will we get the content?

That is why Bloom was created.

In Bloom, a collection is a group of books, shell books or templates. There are two kinds of collections.

• A vernacular collection is a collection that is translated into a particular vernacular language.
• A source collection is a collection that uses a national or regional language. The books and shell books made here are intended to be books that will be translated in vernacular collections. That is, they are one of the sources of books..

Getting started

In Bloom, the term book includes books as normally understood. Book also can include other publications such as a wall calendar. In this session, we will focus on making a regular book.

The installers are in the subfolder Installers.  Install Bloom version 3.  Install Art of Reading.  Verify that Microsoft .Net Framework 4. 5 has been installed.

The data files for this session are found in the subfolder Data\Lizard and Hyena.

Start Bloom. 

To Create a Collection

When Bloom is first opened, you see only the  Collections tab. Otherwise you see the standard toolbar.

1. Click the Other Collection button.
   
   The Open/Create Collections dialog box opens
    
2. Click Create New Collection.
   
   The Create New Bloom Collection dialog box opens.
   
   Click Vernacular/Local Language Collection.  Then click Next.
   
   Select English as the main language for this collection.  Then click Next.
   
   Enter country and then click Next.
   
   Enter English Books as the project name and click Next.
   
   Click Finish.
    
3. The Main window appears.  At the top of the window, the name of your new collection  and the version number of  Bloom appears.  Now you are ready to add a book to your collection.

To Add a basic book to a Collection

1. In the Main window, under the Collections icon, you have the collection name along with a list of all the books in this collection. You have several pre-defined templates in the Sources for New Books pane.
   
   In the Sources for New Books pane, click Basic Book.
   
   Click Make a book using this source.
    
2. The Book window appears.  Bloom makes a book from the template. It opens to the Front Cover page. Notice that the book appears in the Edit tab. The left pane is called Pages. It shows the pages that are in your book.  The highlighted page in the Pages pane is displayed in the center.
   
   The Front Cover page should be displayed. The top text box should hold the book title.
   
   Edit Front Cover as follows: Enter The Lizard and the Hyena as the title. Click Change Image in the picture frame, then click File and select Pic3.jpg.  Click Set up metadata to add metadata information about the picture.  Explain the Credit, Copyright & License dialog box and then exit. Click OK.
   
   Edit Credits Page by clicking Click to edit Copyright & License.  Then enter the  contents of TCredits.txt into the appropriate textboxes. Then click OK.
   
   Edit Title Page as appropriate.
   
   Now we are ready to add content to our book. Click AddPage. The Add Page dialog box appears.  It shows templates you can use to add more pages to your book. The name of each template describes the page layout for that page. For example, the Picture On Bottom template lets you put words at the top of the page, while the picture is below the words. Basic Text & Picture puts the picture on the top of the words. Select Basic Text & Picture. Then click Add this Page.   The new page appears. Insert picture Pic1.jpg.   For more infomation about inserting picture/images into a picture frame.
   
   Insert the contents of Text.txt – first section into textbox.  Click the Gear icon to change font and size of the text.      For more information about inserting content into a textbox.
   
   Click Add Page.  The Add Page dialog box appears.  Here you choose the template page you want. Select Picture on Bottom. Then click Add this Page.  Insert picture Pic2.jpg.   Insert the contents of Text.txt – second section into textbox.
   
   Add a Basic Text & Picture.  Insert picture Pic3.jpg.   Insert the contents of Text.txt – third section into textbox.
   
   Add a Picture on Bottom.  Insert picture Pic4.jpg.   Insert the contents of Text.txt – fourth section into textbox.
   
   Add a Basic Text & Picture.  Insert picture Pic5.jpg.   Insert the contents of Text.txt – third section into textbox.
   
   Have the participants add the next four pages.
   
   Show how to reorder the pages of the book.
   
   Show how to remove a page from a book.
   
   Click on the Question Mark for one of the pictures to add license information for all the pictures.

To publish a Basic book

Now we are ready to publish this book by creating a pdf file which can be taken to a printer for printing.

1. Click the Publish icon 
   
   Select each option and review.
   
   Click Save PDF
    
2. Go to the folder where you saved the pdf file.  Display pdf file.

Exercise

To practice creating a basic book using Bloom, do the following:

1. Create a basic book using the pictures and text in the Data\Lion and Fox.  Create it in the English Book collection.  Use the Basic Book template.
2. Fill in the front cover page, the credit page and the title page.
3. Create the necessary pages for the story, trying different template pages.
4. Add any copyright information required
5. Create a pdf  booklet of the story
6. Display the pdf  booklet.