30/11/07 - 6/12/07

In the lecture this week the topic was design techniques for multimedia. We looked at the use of structure charts, flowcharts, wire frames and storyboards. It basically consisted of looking at each of the topics mentioned and giving them a definition and describing what they are used for. For example; a structure chart would be used for "describing the way content is organised within an application and consists of two basic elements" which are screens indicated by boxes and links indicated by lines. We were given a web-site address to take a look at examples of flowcharts which I found on this website:
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/authoring/studio/index.html

I also looked at a website which allows you to create flowcharts:
www.pacestar.com

The tutorial again followed on from last weeks; as we looked at how one symbol communicates with another in Flash and when one symbol is placed within another it is called nesting.
The tutorial notes also went through basic principles of Flash such as the Library and the main stage. We had to create a movie with nested symbols and I used the same ones given in the example (web and flash). The stages we went through included creating web and flash, then combining them, creating the instance, naming the instance and finally creating the buttons (web stop and web play) as we had already learned how to create the play button last week.

I had already come across flow charts and structure charts at a-level but hadn't previously looked at wire frames or storyboards so I found learning about these in the lecture helpful. The tutorial again helped me build on what I'd learned from the previous week, helping me become more confident in using Flash. So overall I found both the lecture and tutorial benefitial this week, as I learned something new in each. However I find that cometimes the tutorials are easier to link together simply because each week seems to build on the precious week, but the lectures are just as easy to follow.