On the Web
When you place your training resources online, your written materials gain the ability to be dynamic. You'll also have the ability to update your materials to reflect changes in your organization. Using a sequence of screen saves and annotations, you can create an animated GIF showing the steps of a procedure. If you create an animation loop, it would be a good idea to use a frame that clearly marks the start of the loop or add a sequence number to each frame as it's displayed. Also, be sure to create a long enough delay between frames.

While using animated GIFs can show the various steps of an operation, they can be very time consuming to put together. An alternative to rolling your own animations frame by frame is to use ViewletBuilder2 from Qarbon.com. It's a free program supported by banner advertising, and it can be found at http://www.qarbon.com.

ViewletBuilder2 is designed for demonstrating Windows applications, not Palm applications, but POSE is just another Windows application as far as ViewletBuilder2 is concerned. A sample viewlet that shows how to add a contact to your address book can be seen at http://www.viewhow2.com/viewlets/skxqjai/Palm_add_a_contact_viewlet.html.

The program takes a series of screen captures and allows you to add annotations to the various frames. These viewlets can then be viewed over the Web. Your trainees will just have to put up with the banner ads while they work. Versions of the ViewletBuilder2's predecessor, Leelou, are available for the MacOS, Linux, and Solaris operating systems at the same site.

Conclusion
Whether you're training your users on the basic operations of Palm devices or on a new custom application, using POSE can make your job easier by allowing you to use some of the same training techniques you've used with desktop applications. You'll probably end up discovering some new techniques as well.

Ed Crandell is a computer science professor at Spring Arbor College. When off campus, he runs a Web site for developers using the Waba programming language, an open source language for handhelds at http://www.wabaworkbench.com.