See Ryan Reynold’s Yearbook Photo – Yearbooks Desktop
Posted by: In: Celebrities, Yearbook Photos 27 Sep 2013 Comments: 0 Tags: , , , ,

Actor Ryan Reynolds is one of Canada’s most well-known young celebrities.  Born in Vancouver and beginning his career on TV on programs such as “Hillside”, “Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place” he made the transition to movies and has landed a handful of superhero roles including Hannibal King in Blade: Trinity, Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and the Green Lantern.  He’s also starred or co-starred in over 25 different Hollywood films including 2013’s “R.I.P.D” with actors Jeff Bridges and Kevin Bacon.  Ryan has two older brothers in Vancouver, both of whom are employed as police officers for the RCMP.

Here’s Ryan Reynold’s tenth grade Yearbook photo from the 1992 Kitsilano Secondary School Yearbook.

Ryan Reynolds' 1992 Yearbook Photo

Ryan Reynolds’ 1992 Yearbook Photo

 

Check out the rest of our Celebrity Yearbook Photos.

Yearbooks Desktop v14.02 Update for Windows – Now Available
Posted by: In: Help and Tips, Press Release, Tech Support, Updates, Yearbooks Desktop 24 Sep 2013 Comments: 0 Tags: , , , , ,

We are pleased to announce that our first update to Yearbooks Desktop has been published today, September 24, 2013.  This is for both Mac OS and Windows – if you are looking for the Windows OS update click here.

Click the button below to begin your download.

 

Download “Yearbooks Desktop Update for Windows” Update_Yearbooks_201402_Windows.zip – Downloaded 850 times – 17 MB

 

windows_8Installation Instructions:

  1. Begin by shutting down your copy of Yearbooks.
  2. Download the file by clicking the blue button above.
  3. The update is zipped, so you will need to view the contents of the .zip folder.
  4. Inside the zip file you will find  “Update_Yearbooks_1402_Windows.exe“, double-click to launch the installer.
  5. Read the instructions carefully and wait for it to finish (approx. 20 seconds).
  6. That’s it!  You have updated your copy of Yearbooks to the latest version available.  You may now restart Yearbooks.

Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns with this update.

Release Notes, Yearbooks Desktop v14.02:

-Corrected a minor registration issue, should not affect any existing licences.

-Minor cosmetic corrections to Cover Sheet form.

Yearbooks Desktop v14.02 Update for Mac OS – Now Available
Posted by: In: Help and Tips, Press Release, Tech Support, Updates, Yearbooks Desktop 24 Sep 2013 Comments: 0 Tags: , , , , ,

We are pleased to announce that our first update to Yearbooks Desktop has been published today, September 24, 2013.  The update is for both Mac OS and Windows – if you are looking for the Windows OS update click here.

Click the button below to begin your download.

 

Download “Yearbooks Desktop Update for Mac OS” Update_Yearbooks_1402_MAC.zip – Downloaded 847 times – 116 MB

 

mac_osxInstallation Instructions:

  1. Shut down your copy of Yearbooks.
  2. Download the update (click the button above).
  3. Mac OS should automatically extract the .APP file from the .Zip file.
  4. Move the update to your existing Yearbooks folder, replacing and overwriting the existing file.
  5. That’s it!  You may restart Yearbooks

If you were not prompted to overwrite a file in Step 4, you may have moved the file to the wrong folder.  If you are having difficulties, please feel free to contact us for further assistance.

 

Release Notes, Yearbooks Desktop v14.02:

-Corrected a minor registration issue, should not affect any existing licences.

-Minor cosmetic corrections to Cover Sheet form.

Yearbooks Desktop Help Videos – New Content Coming Soon
Posted by: In: Help and Tips, Tech Support, Tutorials, Videos 24 Sep 2013 Comments: 0 Tags: , , , , , , , ,

If you are brand new to our software and are looking for some instruction on how to get started, or an overview of the major features of the program, you should definitely visit our YouTube channel.  We’ve created tutorial videos of how to Import Students from your PSPA File, Generate PDF files, Auto-Flow your Panels, and over a dozen more helpful videos for Yearbooks Desktop.

Each year we review our video archives to share new best practices, highlight new features and promote our software around the net.   This year we have decided to create some new videos, and the production will start immediately!  Dave and Simon are setting up the recording studio space and will be adding new videos to our channel very soon.  We don’t have a voice actor this year, so it’s likely we’ll hear one of their voices on the audio track.  This year we are recording the videos with CamStudio and editing them with Sony Vegas Pro and Photoshop (our previous videos were mostly created with CamTasia).

Do you have any suggestions or topics you’d like discussed or demonstrated in a video ?  Leave us a comment below.   Here is our current Yearbooks Desktop YouTube playlist, which you can also get to by clicking the ‘Videos’ button on the Registration Screen.

 

See Martha Stewart’s Yearbook Photo – Yearbooks Desktop
Posted by: In: Celebrities, Yearbook Photos 23 Sep 2013 Comments: 0 Tags: , , ,

In 2013, Martha Stewart is a household name, business magnate, author, television personality, publisher, and an industry unto herself.   But back in the mid 50’s when she was known as Martha Kostrya, she was far from your average New Jersey high school student.  She was a babysitter for such famous Baseball players as Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra, she was a model at age 15, and appeared in many commercials throughout her teenage and college career.

Here’s Martha Stewart’s high school photo, from the 1957 Nutley High School Yearbook in Nutley, New Jersey.

Martha Stewart's 1957 Yearbook Photo

Martha Stewart’s 1957 Yearbook Photo

 

Check out the rest of our Celebrity Yearbook Photos.

Yearbook Flashback – Looking Back at 100 Years of SAIT Polytechnic
Posted by: In: Flashback, Yearbook Photos, Yearbook Samples 20 Sep 2013 Comments: 0 Tags: , , , ,

This week’s Yearbook Flashback features Canada’s oldest technical college, SAIT Polytechnic, or Southern Alberta Institute of Technology.

Established in 1916 in Calgary, Alberta, SAIT was also Canada’s first publicly funded technical institute and has won dozens of internationally recognized awards for it’s commitment to higher education standards.  With over 73,000 students registered in 2013, producing a Yearbook can be a massive undertaking, in terms of financial, technological and in human resources.

Flashback to SAIT Yearbook from 1946

SAIT Yearbook from 1946 shows an early version of Alberta’s provincial flag.

In recent years, they have created a fantastic online library to promote and preserve their school memories.   Available on the SAIT archive website are digitally preserved copies of their annual Yearbook for public viewing.  Their first Yearbook was published in 1918, and currently over 50 editions dating back to that first edition can be viewed online, with more Yearbooks being added as they are rediscovered.  Some of the editions are over 300 pages in size!  One can easily imagine that this book could be larger than some of the engineering textbooks that the students read.  In addition to the Yearbook archive, one can also view over 20,000 historic photographs from the campus and of the city of Calgary.

If you are a Yearbook designer or adviser, or are seeking out new ideas to incorporate into your Yearbook project, then archives like these are a great source for inspiration.  We highly recommend that you take some time to browse books from years past, and take screen shots or printout any pages or designs that catch your eye.  Watch this blog for more flashbacks and examples of Yearbooks from our distant and recent past.

The trend in archiving Yearbooks is quite popular at the college level, it’s hoped that more and more high schools can find the time and budget to start preserving their Yearbooks in a digital form online.  Our Yearbooks Desktop software creates a high resolution, digital PDF output of your Yearbook, which is the perfect format for archiving online.

 

 

High School Spells Own Name Wrong on Yearbook Cover
Posted by: In: Covers, Help and Tips, proofing, Yearbook Blunders, Yearbooks Desktop 19 Sep 2013 Comments: 2 Tags: , , , , , ,

Here’s some commentary from vlogger Richard Fowler, of The Richard Fowler Show, on a school in Moorhead, MN that has discovered a quite unfortunate spelling mistake on the front cover of their 2013 Yearbook. They have spelled the school name wrong. The cost to reprint the book is over $19,000 dollars, which means that the 2013 edition of the Yearbook will remain the way it is, misspellings and all.

The front cover of Moorhead HS's 2013 Yearbook.

The front cover of Moorhead HS’s 2013 Yearbook.

This is a perfect example of why the proofreading stage must not be rushed, and your yearbook design project should always be proofread by at least one other person. Often times you can make a simple mistake, like this school, and not notice the error until it is too late. A printing error, especially on the cover, can run into the thousands of dollars to correct and as such, most schools would choose to not reprint the book.  We have written a large number of articles for our Yearbooks Desktop help guide to help you through the proofing stage, which you can browse here.  Unfortunately, no software or article is going to be able to detect when you spell a name incorrectly, so our best practice is once again to take as much time as you can in the proofing stage.

As Mr. Fowler says, “Always proofread.  When you’re done proofreading, PROOFREAD AGAIN!”

 

Here’s a Preview of the New Backgrounds in Yearbooks Desktop
Posted by: In: Backgrounds, Help and Tips, Media Library, Yearbooks Desktop 19 Sep 2013 Comments: 0 Tags: , , ,

The new edition of Yearbooks Desktop (v14.00 – Download Here!) has an all-new media library pre-loaded into the software.  We have gone to great lengths to find fresh and exciting new images for you to add to your Yearbook designs, including over 150 new backgrounds and clip-art images.   Each month we will be adding brand new images to our collection, available through our brand new 2013 website.

If you prefer to use some of our classic backgrounds and clip-art, don’t worry – our old media library will be available online shortly, along with a tutorial video on how to download and import them into Yearbooks Desktop with just a few clicks.

Here is a preview of the bright and beautiful new background images that we have collected over the summer.   To add these images to your Yearbook pages, follow these instructions provided in our user guide on our support portal.

Backgrounds-Preview-#1

Backgrounds-Preview-#2

Backgrounds-Preview-#3

Backgrounds-Preview-#4

Backgrounds-Preview-#5

Backgrounds-Preview-#6

Which ones are your favorites?   Feel free to leave a comment below.

See Yearbook Photos of the 2013 Emmy Award Nominees
Posted by: In: Celebrities, Yearbook Photos 18 Sep 2013 Comments: 0 Tags: , , , , ,

Long before your favorite celebrities became famous, many of them were once very typical high school students with awkward yearbook photos, just like you and I.  Many of them with fascinating and terrible hairdos that should be long forgotten, some of them wearing clothes that the fashion world has left behind.  Far, far behind.

Here’s a look at some of the nominees for the upcoming 2013 Emmy awards.

 

MelissaMcCarthy

AlecBaldwin

JonHamm

janelynch

tinafey

kerrywashington

bryancranston

Which one is your favorite so far?  Leave us a comment below.

Contact the Yearbooks Desktop Support Teams
Posted by: In: Sales, Tech Support, Yearbooks Desktop 17 Sep 2013 Comments: 0 Tags: , , , , , , ,

Yearbooks Desktop is developed and supported by Northwestern Support Professionals Inc., of Nanaimo, BC, Canada.   We are a small independent software publishing studio and are 100% proudly Canadian owned and operated.   Please visit our corporate website at NWSP.ca.

Sales & Product Inquiries and to Request a Demo
Our sales team is available at your convenience to provide you and your team with a 30-minute online demo.  Click here to send us a meeting request, the online form is on the right side of the Download page.

You may also send an email to support@yearbooksdesktop.com to reach our sales department, or call us directly at 1-877-661-9990.

Technical Support and Software Development Inquiries
Click here to send us a support ticket request.   You may also send an email to support@yearbooksdesktop.com, or call us directly at 1-877-661-9990.

Technical Support is available between the hours of 8:00 AM PST and 3:30 PM PST, Monday to Friday (excluding Canadian holidays).

Yearbooks Product Manual and Tutorials
Our documentation for Tallys can be found online at support.yearbooksdesktop.com and is updated frequently throughout the year.

Online Training Videos
We have gone to great lengths to create many online training videos to help you through common problems and to demonstrate some of the more powerful features.  Check out our YouTube channel by clicking here.

Knowledge Base and Support Forums
Solutions to many common problems can be quickly found in our knowledge base and forums.  Please visit support.yearbooksdesktop.com and register a free account.

Please contact us if you have any questions.

Please contact us if you have any questions.

Contact us by Email or Phone
You may send an email to support@yearbooksdesktop.com to reach our sales department, or call us directly at 1-877-661-9990.

Connect with us on Social Media
Like us on Facebook and Follow us on Twitter!

Contact us by Mail or in Person
We are located at 549 Haliburton Street, Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada, V9R 4W4.