Keeping up with the times – QR Codes in Yearbooks!

Our team was inspired this morning, after reading a story about a Texas high school bringing their yearbooks a leap forward using modern technology.

The changes sparked by new Apple mobile devices on campuses can already be seen in a long-cherished print product, the McAllen High School Yearbook. The first page of the 2012 edition sports a QR code — a kind of barcode that can be scanned with a cellphone, often to pick up website URLs.

Each QR code in the yearbook takes readers to a video of a different club or sports team, all shot with iPads distributed last year.

Check out the full story here!

So, interested in using this innovative idea for your own yearbook?  We thought so, so we put together a short tech note outlining the whole process, from shooting the video to adding the QR code to your yearbook.

Happy Halloween!! Got your Halloween clipart?

We want to wish all of you a great Halloween, and send a quick reminder to be extra careful when driving tonight!  The kids tonight are going to be focused on candy, and not road safety.  We all know how unpredictable they can become when they have sugar on their minds, so watch out!

Looking to spruce up your yearbook pages with some Halloween clipart?  Yearbooks Desktop allows you to import any clipart you find on the web.  Just download it, import it to your images section, and away you go!   Having trouble finding clipart?  Here are some suggestions:

Openclipart.org has a great selection of clipart.  Here is a sampling of their Halloween clipart selection!

CLKER.com – A clipart repository where all the images have been released by their author into the public domain. Similar to openclipart.org, CLKER offers a few extra choices to round things out. (Halloween clipart on CLKER)

Clipart.com claims to be the largest collection of royalty-free clipart offered by subscription on the Web.  They have a Halloween clipart section as well!

Have you found another great source for Halloween clipart?  We invite you to share it in the comments!

Themed banners are all the rage

Banners are easily becoming the most talked about new feature in Yearbooks Desktop.  If you don’t already know, banners are themed header and footer packages that can be added to your pages.

We offer several sets of banners.  Each set contains standard headers for grades, activities, field trips, autographs, etc, as well as matching footers.  A ‘Blank’ header is also available so you can insert your own page title.

Learn how to add banners using our online help videos!  Banners can be added to one page at a time, or they can be added to multiple pages using the auto flow banners function.

Change your banner theme at any time, and watch as all of your pages are updated with the new theme automatically.