Interview with Tiiu-Imbi Miller, new Media user.

Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview. Would you like to start by telling us a little about yourself? Where would you class yourself as a programmer?

Completely naive! I started out by working through some video tutorials. I did very much like the fact that they were video tutorials and I didn't have to just read, they were audio visual. I would find written tutorials much harder. It suddenly struck me that there were two buttons in this program, the little arrow and the other little arrow with a plus attached... the Edit and Browse mode buttons! Using these buttons allowed me to actually create new programs! This was a very exciting discovery. I started to experiment with creating something.

What was the first thing you created?

Well, the first and only really complete project I have created is a slideshow, using the Media slideshow template. The slideshow shows a method of agriculture used in rainforest areas to prevent degradation of the environment. The slides move in and out, and have backgrounds and various nice refinements.

If you want to download the whole slideshow you can do so here(9.4MB).

Tell us about your project, how easy was it to make? Did it take you long?

It was really quite easy and fun to do. It took me a while to get into it, perhaps a few hours to understand how to use the program. The most important piece of advice I'd like to offer to a fellow beginner would be to spend time setting up your images beforehand - get them all into one folder, at the right size, resolution and so forth. Planning is important. I found that the most difficult thing to do was to make changes after the stack was completed - in fact it would probably be quicker and easier for a novice like myself to just start again rather than try to insert new slides.

Did you spend much time reading the manual?

Er, no, I didn't in fact read the manual at all... people don't do they... I found the program to be quite intuitive and I'm afraid I still haven't read the manual.

Did you need any help and if so where did you get it?

I'd like to say a few words in praise of the support I received. Whilst my stacks run flawlessly on Mac OS X and Windows, I had an issue with the Mac Classic version. I wrote to support, and Elanor Buchanan took pains to find and resolve the issue, in a timely manner. I was very impressed with how kind and helpful she was.

Have you any other advice you'd like to offer to new users of Media?

I'd suggest that its a good idea to make a few practice projects first. Play about with just a few cards, click all the buttons, and throw it away and make a new one if that one gets too tangled up. I found this to be the easiest way to work out what all the buttons do.

So what's next?

I am planning to create a slideshow to illustrate my craft business, perhaps a form of catalogue for my clients. I will take it to craft fairs and link to it from my website. I'm looking forward to it, I found the whole process very satisfying, and of course it will be a benefit for my business. One of the first things I made with Revolution was a small button that linked to and opened my website.

Would you recommend Media to other non-programmers?

Yes indeed! I'm 67 years old, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Media as an excellent gift for people of my age. It makes a change from doing the crossword and I got an immense sense of achievement from completing this project. Media would be ideal for Granny to put photos in and show off to friends at a coffee morning for example, with some neat video effects and backdrops.

Thank you very much for your time!

In coming issues we will be profiling Studio and Enterprise customers. If you would like to be interviewed for this series please email editor@runrev.com.