Dateline: 10/15/99

Overview | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday

Wednesday
Wednesday was my last day, but not the last day of the conference. The morning keynote was titled "A Sea World of Opportunity: CorelDRAW meets Orlando". Robert Harris of RWHDesigns, along with C.W. Dolgner and Amy Wilkinson, showed us how they use Corel software to design and create sets, scenic backdrops, and more for Universal Studios and Sea World theme parks. Robert told us how the use of computers and Corel software in particular has sometimes frustrated, but ultimately aided him in the design process. C.W. and Amy explained how the use of Corel software made the production aspect of creating these massive backdrops and sets much easier.

The morning workshop I chose this time was "Bob's Bodacious CorelDRAW Tips", presented by Bob van Duuren. Bob has translated the CorelDRAW program into Dutch, as well as authoring a Dutch book on VENTURA which happens to be the only book on the product anywhere. Bob's tips came fast and furious and it's a good thing this was my last day, because I'm not sure if my brain could take much more learning after this session. In an hour's time I learned about more shortcuts, handy features, new tools, and timesaving tricks than I ever thought I could.

The next set of workshops didn't have anything I was dying to see, but I decided to sit in on the Cascading Style Sheets lesson by Foster Coburn since it was a topic I didn't know the first thing about. I learned just how easy it is to create style sheets for Web pages, and how to reference the CSS files in Web pages. Foster also showed us how a style editor could simplify style sheet creation, and how DRAW and VENTURA use styles sheets when exporting to HTML format. Most of all, I learned that style sheets were easier to use than I imagined and this lesson gave me the fundamentals I needed to begin using them in my own projects.

After lunch, I chose the "Wish List for Version 2000" session which, surprisingly, was rather sparsely attended. This session was staffed with several Corel representatives and was basically an open forum for users to request the features they'd like to see in upcoming versions. The staff was very responsive and took lots of notes. Several of the issues brought up during this session were resolved right there on the spot. One comment made by an attendee of this same session at last year's conference was that each and every enhancement that was requested from last year's session had been incorporated into the version 9 products. Pretty impressive, I thought.

Wednesday closed with the Expo where many exhibitors were on-hand to display and demonstrate their products and services. It was time for me to head home, however, so I said good-bye to my newly-found friends and hit the road.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It was a pleasure to get aquatinted with some new friends and to finally meet many of the people I have learned from over the years. I'm sure there's still a lot more learning to come as I find the time to delve into the Conference Guide and CD.

CorelWORLD 2000 is scheduled for September 10-15, 2000 in San Diego, California. If you have the opportunity to attend... no matter what your skill level... GO! I can assure you, you won't regret it!

Overview | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday

~ Sue Chastain
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