Evaluation

Before I had started with this assignment I didn’t know how to use Flash, never mind be able to make a website. In my previous course I tried to make a small animation but I didn’t complete the animation, since then I have wanted to learnt Flash but I knew it would take a while to get my head around some of the things. With me not be very interested in coding I wasn’t looking forward to learning ActionScript but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, there is some really good tutorials that helped and the books I got had good explanations starting with terms and then going to the basics skills.

In the SMLP (Self Managed Learning Plan) plan I put as my first task to complete an essay about Flash and ActionScript in the Interactive Media industry, I kept editing the essay throughout the assignment because I kept thinking of things to add. When it came to putting the essay in the template I had to cut it down as I had wrote more than the maximum word count, I found it difficult to choose which parts to take out, in the end I took bits of detail and other parts I didn’t think her linked to the topic.

I did a web plan before I built the website, I always find it useful to have a web plan to refer back during the build. This web plan was a bit different to the others I have done as this website was Flash base, meaning that was no CSS but there is HTML page to upload the website but I couldn’t get it to work. I went for a simple and clean look for the website, as that was what the websites I researched for the competitive analysis were like. The focus should be on the work and making it look good and that is what I have tried to do with my website.

Before I started the build I read books about Flash and ActionScript and did some tutorials. I started by doing tutorials that were basic and easy to do then I tried hard ones, some took a couple of hours to complete. I used the tutorials I had done to make the website, things like the slideshow and photo gallery I altered the code to meet what I wanted for the website. When altering the code I had to make sure I got the object names same as the name in the code, this took me a while to figure out as it was a simple thing like having capital letters in the code not for the name. The website took more time than I thought to build it and it was hard when I got a problem, with like HTML and CSS I know I couple of things to try if something goes wrong, but with not having a lot of experience with Flash it wasn’t as easy to find solutions. By the end of make the website I had a better idea of what to check if there was a problem and then could find a solution to fix it.

I did create photo gallery for the portfolio webpage that I liked and thought looked good on for that page but I couldn’t get the gallery to disappear when I had been on the page it was on. I tried loads of different codes and changes to the code, tried adding things to the flash documents and then finally looked though the books and internet but couldn’t find anything to match the solution I wanted. I think I know what is wrong with it but I just don’t know this solution, so if I had more time on this assignment or had to redo it I could try and find a solution it make the gallery work.

Throughout this assignment have been keep a blog, it does help when it comes to writing the evaluation. I have been saving the blog entries in the drafts till the hand in date day, as I always did them on a Monday night with it being late after work, I like to have time to check over them so I ended up just saving them all in the drafts and reading thought before completing the evaluation, which refreshed by mind. The blog URL is http://victorialouisefishera10.blogspot.com/ , this will be my final blog entry for the SMLP blog.

Started building Flash website

I have started building the website which is going ok at the moment, but not excellent as I have experienced some problems, especially when it came to making the buttons and trying to link the pages. What was happening was the pages were playing as if they were a movie which they weren’t meant to, they were only meant to change when a button was clicked. In the end I worked out it was because some of my ActionScript was wrong, I had different name for my button to what I had put in the ActionScript. Now I have that sorted my pages work and they go to the correct page.

Web plan

This week I have completed my web plan so that I can start building the website when I am ready to. Using the information I collected for the web plan especially the completive analysis, all the websites add a certain look to them which was a simple and clean look. It was quiet strange writing the delivery requirement as I am use to writing about HTML and CSS and the website this time is Flash based and using ActionScript. The web is just going to have four pages, which are a Home page which will have a slideshow, about page which will have information about the photographer, Portfolio which will have a photo gallery and a contact page which will have the photographs contact details. The website will have a colour scheme of blue, black and white as that is what Jo (photographer) wants.

Completed essay and research

I have completes the essay which was analysing Flash and ActionScript in the industry. I am happy with the essay but I had to cut it down in the end because I wrote 956 words and my maximum word count was 825words. It was hard cutting the words out as I didn’t which things would be most important but in the end I cut out some bits I thought wasn’t linked to the industry topic.

This week’s research I am still reading the books and doing some tutorials. The tutorials I have been doing are ones that I think would helpful when it comes to making the website, such as navigation and photo galleries. It can be frustrating using Flash when things don’t work the way I want them to work, with me still being new to Flash I don’t know how to solve problems straight way so I have to research ways to fix problems which takes a lot of time up. Once I had fixing a few problems on one of my tutorials I kind of got an idea of the problems could be, so I can tell that I am improving using Flash and ActionScript.

Start of essay

I have started writing the essay now which is going along slowly I keep doing bits of it, I should really just sit down and finish it and put it in the template so it’s completed and out of the way. I do like to do different tasks so as well as writing the essay I have started the research. I like to break up my time so I am not stuck on one task for too long and lose concentration.

The researching about ActionScript and Flash is going good at the moment I am understanding all what I am reading. ActionScript seems quiet complicated so I am not looking forward to doing it for the website. I know that I am going to have to do the navigation using ActionScript and some of the other elements might need to use it as well. I have been having a go at doing a few small things in Flash, including basic things like getting to know the tools and the workspace and then going on to learning about tweening and making little animations/moving images.

The start

This is my new journal for keeping record for how I am doing with the self managed learning plan. I am looking forward to learning flash not as much for action script as it’s more coding. From this assignment I hope to be able to understand more about flash and action script and be able to create a web site. I want to start from the very basics and learn details about what Flash and ActionScript is and what is used for before I start learning how to use the program and code.

I am going to using a lot more books than before for this assignment unlike other assignments. I have a few problems understanding the CSS and for that assignment I used tutorial websites, so I thought I would try a different approach and use books more. I am going to use the tutorial website after I have learnt the basic, I suppose books are more trust worthy than websites because anyone can create a website and put it online but with a book it’s a long process and if it’s been sold it should be the correct information.

This week I completed the SMLP plan, I think it’s a good idea to have a plan to work with, so each week I know what I have to do and the tasks I have to complete. I have also started the creative brief, it was hard than I thought to write the brief I wasn’t sure what to put in it, I researched a few on the internet and used some of their ideas but a lot of them were a lot like web plans instead of just a brief. What I have done so far is write what the client wants from the site and things them want on the site.

Overall I think I have got a good start to this assignment and I think to the best out of this assignment is to have good time management, so task get done with plenty of time left to check what I have done is spell and grammar checked or working right.