Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by GarlicClove on January 18, 2011 at 12:20pm

You can actually add borders and things that are not found in the standard clip art folder in MS word. If you have word 2007, then you just have to click the Insert tab and click on pictures and you can browse for files you have saved. I find it's actually easier to work with clipart and images in Powerpoint though. It's also better for manipulating text boxes.

Photoshop is also great, but it's pricey. If you can get your hand on a student edition, those are a bit cheper. But unless you plan on making your own graphics, you can probubly just get away with using Powerpoint or Word.

Deviantart.com has a lot of stock, fonts, borders, and clipart resources. I know that there is at least one group dedicated to accumulating pagan oriented resources. Just make sure that you click the resources and stock images link on the left because not everything on the site is free for public use.

Permalink Reply by Marissa Pulaski on February 24, 2011 at 8:12pm

I am making a digital BOS, and I am using Powerpoint. I find it easy to work with, and I am able to customize my pages as far as where text and graphics go.

Good luck with yours.

Permalink Reply by Selina on March 2, 2011 at 11:15pm

Some people use MS Publisher for their pages, and the suggestion of Powerpoint makes sense. I will say, however, that I exclusively use Photoshop for my digital pages, but I'm sure that is just because I am a bit of a Photoshop junkie. Photoshop really gives me the freedom to be as creative or simple as i want with my pages.

A good open source (FREE) program to use that is very similar to photoshop is GIMP. As with any image editing program, there is a learning curve, but you can YouTube GIMP tutorials and be well on your way.< br />
Good Luck!

Permalink Reply by Sormira Fox on October 20, 2011 at 11:52pm

Thanks for the info on how to do things similar to what you do.

I'm always regretting that I didn't study graphic arts in school and sometimes when I try to learn things myself, I just don't know where to starte.

;)

Permalink Reply by Carrie Craig on May 16, 2011 at 7:37pm

For a true, digital only, BOS, I have been using Microsoft Office OneNote and I love it. It allows me to organize everything really easy, moving things around as needed. It also has the ease of Publisher, and Word. Wherever you click in the page, you can start typing or insert something. You can move your text around super easy. Formatting is such a breeze. Also, you can insert images, video, and audio file, as well as attach files (such as PDF) to the pages. I have included a graphic of my outline. Under each major section, such as Special Days, are the sections, such as Sabbats, and then under that section are pages, and you can even have sub pages. It gives a great amount of freedom in organization, and is easy to reorganize as needed. You can also use stationery with the pages to customize them even more. My BOS is completely digital, and I also keep a copy online on my SkyDrive so that if anything ever happens to my computer, I always have a backup. The perk to this too is that wherever I can access the internet, I can access my BOS, even on my iPhone. If you do decide to print, it will let you create a PDF version of each page in the notebook, or just the one you want to print. Oh, and you can password protect your sections or notebook as well!

I know it's not handwritten, but I have very bad arthritis in my hands and writing by hand is very painful...so this works for me.

I am also a info hoarder, so I add lots of info to my BOS that I find on the net. The great thing is it allows me to take screenshots, and then cites where I took them from automatically. If there are links in the page, they stay active as well. This allows me to give credit where credit is due and not accidentally take someone else's work as my own. I can always go back to the page where I originally found the info as well. Boy do I wish I had this capability years ago as there are pages that were really important to me that I have bookmarked over the years, and have gone back to them just to find they have disappeared. One in particular was a really cool pattern for a crocheted beret type hat with a pentacle in the middle of it. I lost the original pattern forever, but if I had had this program I would still have it.

I looked for a program that could organize my things for many years. I tried creating my own intranet for myself with HTML, organizing text files, using MasterCook, all kinds of things. I found this program by accident when I purchased MS Office Suite for my son for school. If you have a school aged child or a college student you can purchase the educational version of MS Office, which is not as expensive, but is still the full version.

I hope this helps!

Bright Blessings,

Carrie

Attachments:

• bos_all.png, 128 KB

Permalink Reply by Saboinia Greywolf on October 26, 2011 at 4:59pm

my f irst digital bos was donw with site spinner pro avaliable from http://virtualmechanics.com it is a drag and drop web page bulider it costs about 100 bucks and there is a feature with in the program that will allow you to preview your site as if it were hosted even though it may not be hosted to me it was worth it to say the least

now i use m-files express it is a document database it is free but the downside is it take 100 gigs of space on your hard drive and you would only need to use like 10-20 i also have a dvd rom of all the document that are going to go into my bos when i am finally able to make my binder which will be about 5 volumes they are laughter, magickal, medisonal, religious and of course spells

Permalink Reply by Amanda Manick on November 7, 2012 at 6:43pm

I started using a program called Gimp to make my bos pages. It's a free art program. Now I use a combination of Photoshop and Paintshop, which can be fairly pricey programs I guess. I find art programs to be better than MS word. You can customize your pages easier in art programs and get into more detail with them. Basically, it's whatever program works for you though. Some are easier to use then others, but some are also more limited then others on what you can do with your pages.

Permalink Reply by Michelle Warren on March 1, 2013 at 9:17pm

Along with GIMP as an image program, there is Open Office for a writing program, which is free. You can find it at openoffice.org. They also have a drawing program, etc. It can open any MS Office file, and it can save files in MS office formats. Give it a try. I love it. :)

Permalink Reply by Amanda Manick on March 1, 2013 at 11:14pm

I use open office myself. Never tried their drawing program, but I write a lot of short stories and fan-fiction with their writing program.