Once CALI Author has launched you will see the following screen (the options you see may differ):
What Do You Want To Do?
Once you've started CALI Author, you will see the "Welcome to CALI Author" prompt. You can create a new book, open a lesson that you've already worked on or find another book to open. Creating a new book creates a new lesson template that you can edit and expand (see below). Selecting "Open an existing CALI Author book" opens a lesson on your computer (on hard disk, floppy disk, or CD-ROM). CALI Author also keeps track of the last few books you've worked on which appear both under the "Open a recently used book" button and on the menu bar under the File menu.
To Open An Existing Lesson
To open a lesson click on the "Open an existing CALI Author book" option or select your lesson from the "Open a recently used book" list. Alternately, go to the File menu and select Open to open a CALI Author lesson (CBK extension). CALI Author lessons may also be opened and run from a windows shortcut or command line with the syntax: CALIAuthor.exe lesson_name.cbk (where lesson_name is the filename of the lesson to be opened).
To Create A New Lesson
To Create a new lesson, click the "Create a new book" button. You may also create a book by clicking on the File menu and selecting New Book. This will create a new lesson with a basic framework all ready for use. Once a new lesson has been created you will see the following screen.
Enter the title of your lesson, the subject area (Category), copyright information, and the catalog description. Often the catalog description mirrors the opening "Introduction" page of your lesson. For a lesson distributed through CALI, the catalog description is automatically displayed on the CALI website. So, for many students, this is the description that they use to determine whether this lesson will be helpful to their studies. You may modify this material at anytime in the authoring process. Lastly, enter the approximate completion time. Authors generally find it easier to estimate the completion time after they have completed writing the lesson. Select the Authors tab.
If your name is not listed in the "Authors" section click New to create an entry for yourself (screen image below). In the example above CALI Author remembers your name from previous use.
Author Information
Enter your information (all information is optional, but important to the student) and select OK. This will return you to the Lesson Info dialog box. If two or more authors are writing this lesson, you must select New for each author and enter the information. Completing an Author information form for each author ensures that all the authors are listed in CALI's database.
Once the basic lesson information has been entered, a lesson information box will display the lesson information you just entered. Closing the information box by clicking OK will display the CALI Author table of contents page as illustrated below.
Congratulations! You've just created a lesson!