Teacher training - Primary school

1. Teacher training - Primary school
2. Fronter - a first meeting
3. My Today Page
4. Where do we write in Fronter - the built in text editor
5. Create a new room
6. Room
7. The room is ready
8. Case study: Working with Unit 4 - Autobiography
9. Case study - From Pages to Learning paths
10. Booking a resource
11. Parent / Carer Login
12. Handy Hints
13. Version control

Where do we write in Fronter - the built in text editor

Before we proceed we should have a look at how information is distributed in Fronter. If you have files that are already created (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Adobe, pictures etc) these can be uploaded in Fronter. This means that the files are transferred from your PC to an archive (often in a separate folder) in Fronter. Pupils/students can then click on this file and it will open in a browser. Consequently the file can be read there and then, printed out or saved on the individuals' PC.

You often have messages or news that need to be communicated. Furthermore, there is a separate writing tool, Fronterdocument that is particularly well designed for use on the Internet: It is always accessible when you are in Fronter, it is fast and nobody will need any extra software to write or read this type of document. In addition you can create documents (Office, Open Office) directly in Fronter. This is described a bit later in this document.

When you write messages etc you use a separate editor (wordprocessor) that is built into Fronter. It bears a great resemblance to Word, but it has a somewhat different functionality in some areas. Below we have described some of the most important options.

As you will see this is a picture you will recognise from other programmes, but you will notice there are some special buttons here. You will also find that you can display/hide the toolbars so that you can choose whether you want to just keep on writing (in as big a window as possible) or whether you want to make use of some of the extra possibilities that lie in the toolbars. Here is a more in-depth description of each of the tools:

	This editor is a so-called html-editor. It means that it uses a set of codes ("tags") that will be interpreted by your net reader. Those who are a bit more advanced in this area will from time to time need to change these codes manually, and for this they have this button that switches between normal view and code view - in other words a tool for the advanced user.
	This is preview - you will see how text, pictures, tables etc will appear in the net reader.
	Copy and Paste - we presume this is familiar?
	Paste as a clean text: In this case the text you have highlighted and copied will be pasted without colour, underlines etc., and all text will be given the same font size (10).
	If you highlight text that has been written in Word and want to paste it into the Fronter editor, you ought to choose this option. This is because copying from Word will throw up a number of unwanted codes, which will be removed by using this tool. Font colour, underlines etc will be copied.
	Undo, Redo - familiar?
	Insert picture. Here we presume that the picture has already been uploaded in Fronter.
	Add Flash (animation etc.). Here we presume that the file has already been uploaded in Fronter.
	By highlighting a text you can attach it to a hyperlink (external link) by entering the URL.
	Insert internal link: You can create a pointer/ shortcut to a document etc. in Fronter, a function frequently used.
	Insert a mathematical formula. This is an Equation Editor that resembles the one you will find in Word.
	Insert various Smiley-symbols.
	Shortcut keys for raising and lowering text. You no longer have to type in CO2!
	Here you can choose font and background colours.

	This is where you select the font. Research has shown that Arial and Verdana are amongst those best suited for reading directly off the screen.
	The font size is entered in a slightly different format to what you may be used to: x-small is equivalent to font size 10, whilst small is equivalent to 12.
	Bold, Italic, underline, line through: familiar!
	Insert various symbols, like Copyright etc.
	Alignments, indentations, and bullets - these will also be familiar.
	Insert table.
	By right clicking on a table you will get a built in menu for further customising of the table.
	Find and Find/Replace - familiar icons.
	Spell check.

For Primary Schools there is also an option to use a simple editor which may be more suited to younger users.

A screenshot of this simple 'child editor' is seen below:

Your administrator will be able to assist you if you wish to use this with groups of younger primary students.