Thursday, July 12, 2012

Get Your Charts on Your Smartphone! Or Your iPad.

It's been a long, long time since I've been able to write my own stuff because I've been doing the tech writer thing. No more! I'm currently writing an interactive book, along with a sock book I'll publish on Ravelry.

So now we'll get back to knitting tech every week! Yeah! This week's post is going to teach you how to put your knitting charts on your smartphone or iPad so you'll have them with you everywhere, sans paper.

Here's how you do it.

1.  If your chart is in a magazine or book, scan it and  save it as a graphic file--.jpg or .png are the best formats. Most printers these days have a scanning feature. If you have a charting app, do the same thing.
2. Create a new document in your word processing app (I presume you're using either Microsoft Office for PC or Mac, or Mac iWork).
3. Insert your chart graphic file into the document.
4. Save (or Print if you have Office 2003) the document as a .pdf.
5. E-mail the chart .pdf to yourself. You must have your e-mail available on your phone or tablet.
6. Make sure you have a .pdf reader on your smartphone or tablet so that you can download the file.

There are plenty of smartphone.pdf readers out there. I have ThinkFree on my Android. If you have Windows, there is PDF Reader Mobile for $4.99. You can get PDF Reader Pro for your iPhone and iPad via the Apple App Store for $5.99. You can also place your .pdf into your iPad Library. That's what I do. And yes, you can dump your .pdf onto your iPod Touch too.

Next week's topic will be charting apps. If you're a designer or want to be, it's good to know what's out there and what kind of features the apps offer. I've tested a bunch of them, so you'll get my thoughts on their capabilities. If you have a charting app that you like, let me know.