[Go to http://www.eastgate.com/storyspace/Download.html and download a free copy of the demo version]
1. To open and start up a Storyspace web, (a) double-click the icon representing it or (b) start the Storyspace software and go to the "File" menu and open the individual document or "web" from there.
2. Once the web opens, (a) Choose "web view" (if it's not already open) and then (b) go to Preferences and choose the "keep windows open" option if it is not already active.
3. NOTE: Storyspace lexias ("spaces" in Eastgate System's terminology) are hybrid document forms. The header can contain text, images, and other media. The space below it acts as a folder. One can place (nest) an indefinite number of documents in any one space, one inside another. To open individual document in Storyspace, click on the small rectangle at the top of the square. Opening the white space takes one "down" a level in the document structure. [The most trouble beginners have is accidentally clicking the larger white space and opening the folder when they want the text.]
4. The web should start up with an overview to help you orient yourself. For example, Hypertext Classroom and the various student hypertexts I'll distribute open with 1 or more overviews. If you do not encounter one, find the overview (generally indentified a title in upper case letters) in the large area with the title of the entire web (e.g. "Contents," "Hypertext OV") and open the overview by clicking upon its title bar.
5. Webs are read most easily with several windows open at the same time. This arrangement prevents one from getting lost in a cascade of open documents and windows, since one can always return to overviews that act as transient centers for these materials. Once the overview opens, you are ready to begin exploring.
6. When you have opened a lexia or "space," hold down option and apple keys at the same time to locate linked text. To follow links, click ONCE upon linked words or phrases and then click upon the double-headed arrow in the palette (usually at upper screen left).
7. Hint: if a box appears with the message "Select a current space," click upon the large area or Storyspace view representing the entire web (a corner of which might apear sticking out from beneath the overview). Click again anywhere in the white area within the box. Everything should now work properly now when you try to follow links. [This is a decade-old bug that I don't believe exists any more. . . . but, just in case. . . ]
8. Retracing your steps. Go to "Views" in the menu bar, chose "History." picking the title of any lexia indicated there will bring it forward .
9. You can search a Storyspace web in three ways.
(a) Go to the menu and chose "Edit," and then choose "Locate Space." (Or hold down the apple key and choose "l.") This action produces a full list of all spaces (lexias, documents) in the web. Clicking on any brings you to it and highlights its title bar. If you wish to open it, you must double-click upon the title bar.
b) When inside any space or lexia, pressing the apple key + "f" allows you to search for words or phrases in the individual lexia, in a set of them created by a path, or in the entire web.
(c) Choose (i) "Find Text" from the "Edit" menu, or or (ii) hold down the apple key and hit "f." Typing in a word or string instantly produces a list of all spaces containing that word. Clicking on a space opens it.
Use the lab and time during the next week to explore as many Storyspace webs as you can. Read both academic ones and more experimental ones (usually created by students).
[Note: anyone can have the free Demonstration version of Storyspace. This demo version has all the features of Storyspace's author environment except that it will not permit you to (1) print or (2) save changes. For this reason when you change Preferences in step 2, you cannot save any new settings and will have to repeat this step each time you use the demo version.
Last updated 19 February 2008