SIGs Espresso

SIGs
Espresso
The Magic of SIGs
01

W H A T I S A S I G ?
W h a t i s a S I G S e c ?
A S I G i s a S p e c i a l
I n t e r e s t G r o u p
A SIG Sec keeps in touch with members
and presents their contributions on their
special subject in a newsletter or
forum, or by other means such as email
group, or BLOG, or website etc.
02

C O N T E N T S
S I G s E s p r e s s o
b l a c k b o o k o f t r i c k s
06
SIG Secs Need to Know
07
Word Software
08
PDF Portable Document Format
09
PDF Software 1
10
PDF Software 2
11
Mailer Newsletters
12
Create Free Website
03

13
Layout and Design
14
Graphic Resources
15
Canva Design
16
Templates
17
Graphics Editors
18
Goals and Targets
19
One Page Call for Action
20
Additional Resources
21
Conclusion
22
Credits
04

F O R W A R D
T h e R e a s o n f o r t h i s B o o k
This e-book gives an outline of what is
available to a SIG Sec who does not know
much about Use of Computers.
It is an open-ended book.
Please improve on the contents.
Comments so far ..
Three people have looked over the first
draft and advised additional materials.
The risk, to my mind, is overwhelming
newbies with info. You learn as you go
along from others who are further down
the road. Perhaps a SIG devoted to such
matters might help? If you have a
problem, first look at the Help Files and
search on the internet; only then ask for
further advice.
Steve Mongkut
05

W H A T D O E S A S I G S E C
N E E D T O K N O W ?
A basic grasp of Word Processing and Desktop
Publishing is essential to a SIG Sec's job.
Word processing software is focused on line-by-line
creation of text documents.
Desktop publishing software allows complex pages of
text and graphics to be laid out for publications such
as newsletters, magazines, brochures and books.
Click Link
06

S O F T W A R E
Free and Paid Applications
MS Word is probably the bestknown
word processing program
and it is capable of imitating a
desktop publishing program such
as MS Publisher.
Free Microsoft Office Online | Word, Excel, PowerPoint
Search online for an offer or for the full Microsoft 365
Open Source and Free
Download
07

P O R T A B L E D O C U M E N T
F O R M A T
PDF is an Open Standard
PDF was originally a
proprietary format
controlled by Adobe
Systems, but it is now
governed by the ISO or
International Organization
for Standardization. Many
software programs can
manipulate pdf.
Reasons for using PDF
You do not need Adobe to create and read a pdf. The
big browsers can read the format directly. It has these
advantages:
1. Compact: the file sizes are smaller than Word;
2. Searchable - you can copy and paste text;
3. Hyperlinks within the text can take you to other
document, to URLs, to videos and audio files;
4. Securable - security includes password protection;
5. It looks good on screen and on paper: the P stands
for PORTABLE but it is also PRINTABLE.
08

S O F T W A R E T O
C O N S I D E R
More Free and Paid Software
Most of the following products have a free Starter
version as well as a paid Pro version. They give you the
opportunity to sample the program and see if you
want to spend money. They are not presented in any
order of preference. Up2U
https://www.pdfescape.com/
There is an online version and a desktop version,
and they are not the same. You can ...
edit pdfs
fill out pdf forms
create simple pdf forms
password protect pdfs
merge pdfs
convert pdfs to other file formats
watermark pdfs and generate page numbers
compress pdfs
09

P D F S O F T W A R E
C O N T I N U E D
https://www.pdffiller.com/
pdfFiller is a more professional app aimed at
businesses. You can join for a 30-day free trial and
then you have to pay.
https://smallpdf.com/
smallpdf has a different tempting carrot: you can
create one small pdf in one day, every day; then, if you
want more, you need to pay.
All the above do much the same thing and are far
cheaper than Adobe. So, you can create several
small pdfs then combine them into a big pdf.
10

A L T E R N A T I V E S T O P D F S
D E L I V E R E D B Y E M A I L
Create Email Newsletters
Mailer Newsletters
With Analytics
Please take a look
at this.
https://www.mailerlite.com/
Mailerlite works in a similar way to the more famous
Mailchimp. You can send up to 1000 (one thousand)
mails to your mail list for free. First, of course, you need a
mail list of members - and you must have something to
say to them. The attraction of this app is that you know
who opens the mails and who doesn't.
11

T O W A R D S L A N D I N G
P A G E S A N D B L O G S
Website Solutions
Surely it costs an arm and a leg to set up a
website and you need arcane knowledge to
achieve it. It's not for the likes of us!
Watch this Video
Click Here
12

L A Y O U T A N D D E S I G N
What Looks Good?
Text/Typography
Image/Position
Colour
Why Would You Look Twice?
13

G R A P H I C R E S O U R C E S
https://pixabay.com/
straw hat
Free Images
https://unsplash.com/
the bread of the future is won in battle
14

C A N V A D E S I G N
What is Canva?
Canva is an online design and publishing tool that
allows anyone to design anything and publish
anywhere online and in print.
https://www.canva.com/
15

T E M P L A T E S
You are limited only by
imagination
NO, this is not all off-the-shelf drag and drop IKEA
graphics and text. You still need graphic editing skills
and the ability to write in the language of your target
audience. Templates are a basic scaffolding on which
to build.
16

G R A P H I C S E D I T O R S
The Top 10 Graphics Editors ?
Adobe Photoshop
https://www.adobe.com/
Inkscape
https://inkscape.org/
Sketchbook
https://www.sketchbook.com/
GIMP
https://www.gimp.org/
Krita
https://krita.org/en/
Clip Studio Paint
https://www.clipstudio.net/en/
Procreate
https://procreate.art/
Medibang Paint
https://medibangpaint.com/en/
FireAlpaca
https://firealpaca.com/
PaintTool SAI
https://www.systemax.jp/en/sai/
17

G O A L S A N D T A R G E T S
What is your aim and who are your targets?
Only Connect: a SIG Sec is a mixture of conductor
and commentator and encourager and recruiter -
as well as a secretary and record keeper. It is a
voluntary job and can be thankless. Members may
need reminding from time to time that a SIG is a
collaborative venture which depends on input
from members of the group. In these days of asmany-as-you-like
SIGs, how many muggles click the
join button and then forget about it?
Landing Page and Call to Action
These terms come from online marketing but the root
idea is a single page with a single purpose - to gain a
response. SIG Secs can regard such a page as a gentle
reminder, and, hopefully, a graphic appeal might gain
more attention than a simple note. Overleaf is an
example which I wrote for Italia SIG when the Sec
opined that she never heard from any of her
members.
To be more effective, you need a mail merge list to
address the members individually.
18

I T A L I A S I G
V O L A N T I N O P R O M O Z I O N A L E
T O U C H B A S E
w i t h y o u r S I G S e c
Contributions,
however small,
are needed for the
Newsletter. Gillian
Western, SIG Sec
Italia
Your SIG needs you.
Please write
click
gillywestern@hotmail.com
19

A D D I T I O N A L R E S O U R C E S
https://www.pinterest.com/
a huge visual collection of subjects from
members and subscribers
https://www.qrstuff.com/
create your own QR codes for free; the paid
subscription offers more fancy stuff
https://bitly.com/
shorten a long URL
https://vimeo.com/
make videos of your onscreen activity
https://pdfcandy.com/
anolther free pdf editor
Please add suggestions
20

C O N C L U S I O N
If any of these references are useful to
you, please get in touch.
What else can we add to this e-book?
You may want to know how to create
such a book yourself. This one is
constructed in Canva.
There is a need for an email group and
website forum to share SIGSec
information. Please contact Steve
Mongkut if you are interested.
Steve Mongkut
loblollyman@hotmail.com
21

C R E D I T S
This is a work in progress.
Please get in touch if you can correct
or add to any of the information that
this e-book contains.
You can see your name in virtual print.
0-o-0
Thanks so far to Anne Ruston, Alex
McKenzie, Dave Bolton, (and more to
come) ...
Steve Mongkut
July 2022
22