u10d1 ColdFusion
Discuss how data-driven Web pages can enhance your Web site development and productivity.

_____In order for a site to be interactive it is necessary to have data driven information that can be updated regularly, especially in areas involving news or product updates, from the website's end. Also, it is necessary for the website viewer to be able to respond via input data through CGI script. Input text fields allow for the website viewer or end user to send and access information over the Internet. Dynamic text fields can show a changing information source as it occurs, such as in ticker tape type displays and as is used in a preloader's progress bar dynamic text field that shows the changing percentage of loaded information and in breaking news announcements. Static text can also be changed by entering information on a regular basis. With all of these methods the end user and website developers can keep abreast of changing information, news stories, and other information relevant to their purposes.

_____As I progress through the information in Flash and the other software, I hope to make use of ColdFusion since it is a useful skill to have and I have installed the related software on my computer from the Flash software package. Richard

u10d2 Final Project
Post your final course project, including your FLA file and a link to your site.

Please discuss other learners' final projects, making observations and comments.

Access to my final course project is found at the url: http://rbloodworth.com/5514/Splash1New2AAA.htm

u10d2 follow up posting:

Below are some of the Flash files that are connected to the main gameboard page:.

ColorWheelRollTS.fla AboutThisTS5514A.fla AbstractStrokes.fla ShapeMetamorphosis2.fla BeijingOperaLadySingerQ03.swf BettyBoopPigsOrganBlowingPipes.fla BocaRatonTraceBitmap50.fla BoopNewSellingTickets.fla ButterflyTS.fla ChinaBeijingOperaIntroNoSound.fla ClipBirdGelFlyingTS.fla DiceThrowMovie.fla ExpandingSpectrum.fla FrankensteinBrideHisEntrance.fla GameBoardTS5514SitePlan.fla HubbleSlidesTS.fla NuclearBomb2.fla Splash1New2AAA.fla tracker_oce.fla YangziSlides2TS.fla PiecesVectorBaby4.fla

Quick question: I've been making pop up announcements all session (sent out 18-20) and I am wondering if anyone is getting them. Please let me know here ... if you get a chance. I am curious, because I am supposed to be getting them and I have not receive any. Thanks for your feedback!

Yes, all of your pop-ups have made it through my Google pop-up blocker. Perhaps it is able to tell if the pop-ups are advertisements or not J . Your pop-ups only occur once (but they stay in the announcement section) but whenever I enter either of the two CourseRooms (School of Technology and Education), and when I enter each discussion area, I am greeted with a barrage of pop-up advertisements -- mostly from on-line institutions or diet plans and I have not been able to make those stop. Richard

u10d3 Summary

Write a one-page summary of the course. Please summarize key course concepts. Explain how they could benefit your future multimedia projects.

Discuss the course and summarize your experience with your project.

_____The first unit (Introduction to Vector Graphics Animation and Multimedia) laid the groundwork for the course and served as an introduction to the course material and to the other learners and served as a forum in which to express course expectations. In the second unit (Planning Interactive and Pleasing Multimedia Products) we discussed our general plans and intended audience for our project. In Unit 3 (Theory of Vector Graphics and Multimedia) we imported and traced, as vector graphics, raster images. In Unit 4 (Application of Advanced Vector Graphic Techniques) we discussed vector images and the software programs that produce them and we began our conceptualizing of our splash pages. Unit 5 (Advanced Functions and Applications of Multimedia) involved discussions and experiments in importing audio and video as well as embedding video into our Flash projects. Unit 6 (Actions, Events, and Timelines) involved action scripting and the basic actions in Flash of goto , play , stop , stopALLsounds, and getURL and the unit covered using movie clips and scenes. Unit 7 (Interactivity) concerned using action scripting and we all scripted the MX movie clip handler to cause a selected object to follow the cursor. In Unit 8 ( Multimedia Productivity Tools) application interactivity, other programs that can interact with Flash such as Illustrator, Freehand, Photoshop, and Fireworks, recommended useful Internet sites, and presented progress reports of our projects. In Unit 9 (Final Preparations and Publishing Flash Movies) we tackled the daunting challenge of adding a preloader to our movies and posted our preliminary project. In the final Unit 10 (ColdFusion, Final Project and Course Summary) we discussed and the use and importance of interactivity in our projects, summarized the course and course experiences, and posted our final projects.

_____I think of the course TS5514 as a continuation of the information learned in TS5506 and a chance to experience and experiment with the various techniques and principles learned in the course using Flash MX 2004 technology all of which should be very beneficial to future multimedia projects. My course project involves experimenting with a way of sequentially walking the website viewer through a website and additionally displaying the various techniques learned during the course.

Richard

u10d4 Final Project Critique

Your instructor will assign you one classmate's project to critique. Write a one-page critique. List the successful elements, and point out areas that could use further improvement. Post your final critique

TS5514 Advanced Graphics and Multimedia -- Summer 2004 -- Capella University

Critique of the Website by Brandi Williams for the
2005 Reunion of the Spelman College Class of 2000

These are comments about the Spelman College class of 2000 website for the year 2005 class reunion. The website is designed by Brandi Williams and is found at this URL address:

http://vle1.capella.edu/126622/advanced/project/final/index.html

Upon entering the above Internet address, the website visitor first is presented with the splash/introduction page which shows a series of scenes of the Spelman campus, with the images screened to give a soft muted background effect, moving from the right to the left side of the upper area of the screen all within a light blue background color. When the site visitor clicks on the enter button they arrive at the main home page.

Within the site, the navigation is easy to follow to enter each of the categories of the site which includes the titles of Home, Class Events, Support Your Class, Memories, and Contact Us. When on a particular page, each section name is indicated in large white letters in the upper letterhead area so that each visitor to the site can easily check to see which page they are on. Each section lists the pertinent information for that section.

The Home page explains the purpose of the site and has a pleasant muted, screened view of the main campus buildings in the background with pleasant background music that has an on and off button which appears on every page in the site. It also has a link to the official Spelman College site which is indicated by a button with the Spelman logo.

The Class Events section shows the schedule for the upcoming reunion and even has a link to the companion college for male students, Morehouse College (Spelman is for female students). The Support Your Class section has an explanation of the section and a request for donations that can be made by clicking on to the link provided on the page.

The Memories section has a nice interactive feature to it that causes each of the snapshots of the former students to enlarge when the cursor moves over it which gives that section an effective element of motion and involvement. Also that page has the lyrics to the Spelman hymn within a scrolling field of dynamic text. There is a button on the page in the form of a television set that when clicked shows a video with sound of graduates singing the school song. The video has a surprisingly short loading time for a two and a half minute long video clip. The song is presented on a draggable television screen with an on and off button in addition to a close screen button.

The Contact Us section consists of an input text form for the site visitor to put their contact information such as name, address, phone, and e-mail. Radio buttons are included to indicate whether or not the former student is going to attend the reunion. There is also an expandable input text field area that will accommodate multiple lines of text for the site visitor to make additional comments. When the form information is completed there is a submit button to send the information in to the event coordinator.

I think perhaps it might be a good idea to have a section with a directory of all of the graduates and their current situation and addresses and this information could be supplied by each of those former students themselves though I realize that could be quite a time consuming project.

The intended audience is mainly limited to the Spelman graduating class of the year 2000 but I think her skills could be used for other similar Spelman projects. Though I imagine it would be a full time assignment, perhaps Spelman could have Brandi do a site for every graduating class that does not already have one. That would generate a lot of interest in Spellman in addition to potential additional income for the college which is something that every college or university is interested in. These Spelman yearly graduate websites could perhaps be done with something like a Cascading Style Sheets pattern or a master plan of some sort. She could supply the structural stencil for the websites and material that she and the school had available for each graduating class (from school, school newspaper, and yearbook sources) and then a webmaster could be elected or appointed from each of the yearly graduating classes to contribute more information, additional, and updated information and photographs could be sent in from the fellow former students. All of these websites might in fact already exist, but I think some of the graduates from many years back would get enjoyment from such a site for their class and would be able to continue to communicate with their former fellow students and could also, as a result of the websites, make cultural and financial contributions to Spellman. They could keep in contact with each other and also keep abreast of the current activities at Spellman by linking to the main Spelman College website through a link in their own alumni website.

This website has pleasant colors, images, and sounds and informational content relevant to the purpose of the site. Overall, I think it is an effective and successful interface design and concept.

Richard Bloodworth
P.O.Box 78123
Atlanta , GA 30357
RBloodworth99@yahoo.com
Dr. Amar Almasude