Making An Award Certificate
With Using Make-A-Cert

The Make-A-Cert engine, coupled with its Personal Watermark module, is the most powerful and flexible award creation system available. It is also very easy to use once you get the hang of how it works. Below is a quick tutorial in how to create awards with this one-of-a-kind technology.

When you visit one of the Make-A-Cert pages you are presented with a form in which you either enter text or make a selection with your mouse. The first section allows you to enter between 1 and 10 Recipient Names. If it's an award for a single individual simply type their name into the field. If multiple people are going to receive an award for the same accomplishment (for example if a class of students is graduating) type in each name, separating them with a semi-color. The next field is for the Award Description. This is not the award title, but the description of the achievement for which the award is being presented.

In the next section you select the Font Style, Font Color and Font Size. These selections will affect how the Award Title (or Header), Recipient Name, Award Description and Quote or Optional Description text will appear in the final certificate.

Next you can choose whether you would like to use one of the available Header Graphics as an Award Title, or if you would rather have a text Award Title. If you type something in the lower field to have a text award title the system will automatically use it instead of a graphic.

Next you will be able to choose a Frame graphic for your award. Make-A-Cert is pre-loaded with several choices so that you can create awards with any feel you may need for your event. As long as your browser allows Javascript interaction you will see a smaller thumbnail of each frame graphic appear to the right of the selection field when you have made a selection. Or you may use the Preview link to review all of the frame choices. Next up is choosing a Watermark graphic for your award. Each version of the Make-A-Cert is pre-loaded with watermarks suitable for that section. And of course you can use the Personal Watermarks module to upload your own logo, photo or practically any other graphic, which will then appear as a choice for you in the Watermark list.

Now comes the Presentation line of your award certificate. This is the line of text that immediately preceeds the Recipient name in the final certificate. Again, you may choose from one of the pre-packaged choices or type in your own wording. Anything you type into the lower field will override the pre-configured choices. The next field is the For line. This text will appear between the Recipient's Name field and the Award Description field that we entered in steps 1 and 2. It ties together the recipient and the reason they're getting an award.

Coming to the end now we have the Signature and Date lines. If these are left blank the system will automatically insert the words "Signature" and "Date" in the appropriate areas. Or you may personalize them or change them. For instance, you could change Signature so that it displays the signers name. Or you could change the Date so that you effectively have two signature lines.

Next you'll set the information for the 2nd font to use in your award. Again you can choose from among several different Font Styles, Font Colors and control the Font Size. These selections control the Formal Text, Signature and Date fields.

Lastly, you have the option of including an inspirational quotation or message in your awards, or include some additional descriptive text. We have included a few dozen quotations you may choose from among, or you can supply your own text in this field. As before, if you type something into the lower field it will automatically override the stock quotes.

There you have the basics of how to create an award certificate using the Make-A-Cert technology. The process is quite easy and makes creating customized awards a snap. The real beauty of Make-A-Cert is its flexibility. You can literally create an award certificate for any event or to recognize any achievement.

If you would like to get a first hand look at how easy Make-A-Cert is to use, first make sure you have a reasonably recent copy of reasonably recent, fully functional copy of Adobe's Acrobat Reader (the free version) installed on your computer, then head over to our Make-A-Cert Public Preview area. Realize that this public preview is limited in its capabilities and that it also automatically adds an indentification mark to maintain our copyright that isn't there in the Members version, however it can give you a quick feel for just how easy Make-A-Cert is to use.

To make it even easier, the system will remember the last award you created and pre-fill the forms for you between one visit and the next if you allow our site to set a cookie on your computer. There is no security risk to any information we store. It is simply the information you provided for each of the text fields.

If you have any problems using the Make-A-Cert, or the pre-made award templates for that matter, the first thing to check is what version of the free Acrobat Reader software you have installed on your computer. Some older versions of Acrobat and some limited-functionality versions that are pre-installed by computer manufacturers do not support everything we do with the awards. So if you run into any issues the first thing to do is make sure you're running the most current version of this free software. We provide a link directly to the download area for Acrobat on Adobe's site on our Frequently Asked Questions page.