Scripting Matters, a company that specializes in AppleScript solutions, is offering two Mac automation seminars in Louisville, Kentucky, next week on Thursday, April 18.
“Automating Your Mac With AppleScript” explores what seminar leader Ray Robertson describes as “one of the best-kept secrets on the Macintosh”: the AppleScript scripting environment that comes free with every Mac. Professional users with no programming experience can turn tasks that take weeks into automated processes, and hobbyists can use AppleScript to simplify everyday tasks, even build applications, he added.
Attendees at “Automating Your Mac With AppleScript” will learn the basics of getting started with AppleScript and find out about freely available resources. Products supporting AppleScript include the Finder, iTunes, iPhoto, FileMaker Pro, Outlook Express, QuarkXPress, Illustrator and many others. The class will explore using scripts in both Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X.
The second course, “Automating Publishing in InDesign and QuarkXPress,” focuses on using a variety of tools and plug-ins to automate work in these desktop publishing programs. Participants will learn tips and tricks for working with complex publications, and information about XTensions and plug-ins that will automatically create documents and update information. The seminar also covers the basics of using AppleScript with these programs, as well as advanced techniques for sophisticated search and replace, database publishing, and catalog management, Robertson said.
The seminars are US$125 each or $200 for both. They’ll be held at the Publishers Press complex 15 miles south of the Louisville airport. Besides its various seminars, Scripting Matters is also offering its annual AppleScript Pro Sessions, five days of beginning and advanced training held May 13-17 in Monterey, CA. Go to the company’s Web site for details.