I was going to say I could die happy, now. But no. I have a lot of printing to do, first. ;-) You may remember I blogged some time ago about finding this print manager, ClickBook, and that I wanted to try it out. Being the genetic procrastinator that I am, it is now six months later, and I gave it a shot.
I just printed out the first three chapters of The Baldwin Project's Stories of Beowulf Told to the Children, using ClickBook -- and
I have a perfect little book in my hands!
The first three chapters, including front matter and all the images (a total of 26 pages, with my settings) printed out using 7 sheets of paper. Seven! The best I could do before that would have been 13 sheets! Do you *know* how delightful that is?
And I can have it bound at Staples for about $2.00!!
And it fits in the boys' backpacks! Or, in my backpack. Oh. Oh. This is delightful.
I can make workbooks based on our reading (because I have those offbeat children who clamor for workbooks, as fate would have it).
I can make the church booklets in the blink of an eye! No more brain-straining formatting for me! Hee hee!
Ooooooo, I can make my own day planners! (Alright, now I'm just feeding the monkey. But let me bask, okay?)
Now that I've listed a pro (or three), there are a few quirks:
1) The little second side printing instruction sheet that comes out with your print job? It LIES. Don't believe it, unless you want to print your pages upside down. So, do it the way it says not to do it (at least on my Brother HL-2070N, anyway.)
2) I downloaded the free trial copy, and it prints with an annoying banner in the header and footer of EVERY PAGE. "Blue Squirrel * www.bluesquirrel.com" at the top, and "ClickBook Trial Version * Sales: etc. etc. etc." It seems obvious that the "trial version" footer will not print if I buy the software. I need to confirm that the "blue squirrel" header won't print, either, because it's annoying.
3) Staples is not, for some silly reason, OPEN at one in the morning, and so I cannot toodle on down there right-stinkin'-now to have something bound.
But you know, truly, I can live with most of that. Staples has to open eventually. And if this continues to work this easily, I'm most definitely going to buy the full version. (I have seven days left to figure it out.) And, eh, ignore directions? Not. A. Problem.
Our school year just got a whole lot more affordable. Life is good.
Kiss those babies!
~Dy
5 comments:
That looks like fun, and I love Beowulf. (T. thinks it looks "cool" because he saw an ad on a Netflix envelope for a new Beowulf Movie. That is the ONly thing I don't like about Netflix -- the ads on their envelopes!) I have a Brother MFC 7820N, so I suppose my printing will go the same way -- I can hardly wait to play with it!
You know, I was wondering about that old post the other day. Thank you for finishing the investigation. Now, how does Staples bind books? Is it a ring or comb binding? Or something nicer?
Oh, Melora, can you imagine our little guys watching something like that!?!? ACK. I think it's so much better to let them create the worlds in their own minds. Then these stoopid ads pop up all over the place, and the kids think, "I read the book, why can't I watch the movie?" Hmm. No. :-S
Jennie, they have three binding options: comb, spiral, and a glued spine thing w/ a clear vinyl cover. If you print an attractive front page, you'd have a nice looking book on the front w/ the glue binding. I've got one like that, and it's actually not bad for $2.99.
I think I'm going to test run the spiral and comb, but I think I'll need heavier paper or I'd just end up with an empty binding and torn pages all about the house.
I completely agree that there is a Big difference between reading about battles and monsters and watching them on film. And I think they will have to change the story around quite a bit to make it "Hollywood-y," as I don't remember any female characters at all (except Grendel's mom.).
O.k, O.K, I am going to check it out. You make it sound SO good!
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