Task 1

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Provide a critical evaluation of your prototype coursework 1 animation, based on underlying theory, and identify planned changes to be made for improvement. You should reference texts and other researched sources used to demonstrate your knowledge of hypermedia animation as applied to your software design. Show evidence of independent research and provide a bibliography and list of references, all of which should be cited in the provided answer to this question. The final software implementation should be produced as a result of reflective understanding. (Note: Your artifacts should be created as engineered pieces of work, showing correspondence between theory and practice).

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In my coursework 1, generally I make the main fault that I misunderstand the questions since I ignore the hypermedia functions and theories.  I design my coursework 1 by general web design base and cannot satisfy the requirements from the questions.  Moreover, I have not yet finished for my coursework 1. 

There are several theories for development hypermedia application.  One of the theories is to match between system and the real world.  This Hypermedia theory bases itself around the idea that the product that is created should always follow real world conventions. Users of the system may come from diverse backgrounds, so a universal language must be implemented to maintain a high level of usability. Within the ten heuristics that were designed as guidelines for effective design, this theory is described as ensuring that the system speaks the users language and avoids the use of system orientated terms. Information should also appear in natural and logical order.  Referring to my coursework 1, I can instantly find that I have not conformed to this hypermedia theory.  When I introduce the type of tickets, the design is not used by this theory.  It just likes ordinary web site design and it cannot reflect the real world.  Almost no any animation can be found in my coursework 1.  Moreover, lack of sound and dynamic graphics are seen in my work.  For my second coursework I plan to make both of the systems that I have been asked to design as realistic and as close as possible to the real world. I will implement better graphics and realistic sound effects that will further the experience for the user and push the narrative with a universal language that will be able to be understood by all. I will also ensure that I avoid any system orientated terms and be sure to place each scene in a natural and logical order.

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CourseWork 1	CourseWork 2

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Another theory is exploring interface.  This Hypermedia theory bases itself around the idea that the system should provide an effective interface for navigation and also give the user a certain degree of freedom, avoiding a frustrating single path through the product. Navigation design is in fact one of the trickiest areas of development because it is so subjective and everyone has a different opinion of what works. This theory can also be described as the heuristic of user control and freedom where it is stated that if a user chooses a system function by mistake they should have a facility available to allow them to leave the unwanted state. Research has shown that in the absence of such dialogs, people work a lot slower through the system.  Looking back at my coursework 1, I can see that I can satisfy the theory since my coursework is presented in simple navigation.  I design in my coursework 1 that users can dynamically select what the movie they want to see by buttons with labels.  But, really, it does not cover any navigation within one movie or movies interaction.  Strictly speaking, I fail to apply this theory.   For my second coursework I plan to design an effective navigational system for movies. I will include a back button so that users can start again if they did not fully understand the process in a particular scene and a home button so that users can start the movie over if required to do so.

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CourseWork 1	CourseWork 2

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Next, it is the theory of Help And Documentation.  This Hypermedia theory bases itself around the fact that it is useful to provide a system with help and documentation. This information should be easy to access, focused on the user task, and not be too large. Many products include complicated tasks and some form of help is required to assist users understanding of these tasks. Help can either be placed in its own area with a link from the main section and vice versa, or it can be integrated into each page so that users feel that assistance is never too far away.  Looking back at my coursework 1, it is plain to see that I have not fully included any specific help area or documentation in my system. Users progress through each process without any real direction of what is required from them.  What they can do are to guess only.  For my second coursework I plan to implement indirect help and documentation within both systems. I will implement this feature by including a speech to indicate what steps follow the next.

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CourseWork 1	CourseWork 2

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Visibility Of System Status is also one of the main theories.  This Hypermedia theory bases itself on the idea that the system should always keep the user informed of what stage of the product they are currently at and where they can go next. The user should be able to know about what is going on at the present moment in time through appropriate feedback within reasonable time. Each page of the system should be branded with an indication of what section it belongs to and links to other pages should be clearly marked. Since users could be guided through any part of the system, it is essential to include status information on every page. This is also sometimes referred to as autonomy, which states that status information should be kept up to date and within easy view.  Referring to my coursework 1, I have not applied this theory.  I have not designed the system status for when the movie starts and when it ends.  User does not know and he must guess only.  For my second coursework I plan to include the system status on each and every page of both systems. The status will be included at the start of the movie and at the end of the movie.  This can tell users that the when the movie starts and the movie ends. 

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CourseWork 1	CourseWork 2

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Next, it is the theory of Recognition Rather Than Recall. This Hypermedia theory bases itself around the idea of making objects, actions, and options clear and easily understood. Users of the system should not be expected to remember information from one part of the dialog to another and also should not be expected to realize what elements of the system are interactive and what are not.  Good labels and descriptive links can remedy such a problem and are considered crucial for recognition within the system. Any graphical interface should be understandable, self-consistent, and stable.  Referring to my coursework 1, it is obvious that at times the action to be taken is very unclear and not easily understood. This is mainly due to the fact that the rollover areas in the system were not clear due to a lack of some form of label or descriptive link. Users of the system are pretty much expected to know what action to take without being informed, which is not good practice within the kind of environment they are placed in.  A positive element of the design is that I did implement a feature whereby the cursor changes appearance once placed a clicking area, although the user is still required to search around the stage until this event is triggered.  For my second coursework I plan to make objects, actions, and options a lot clearer and easier to understand for the users. I do not expect users to know what action to take so I will create "click here" labels to put over items in the movie that can be interacted with. This will make it immediately obvious to the user as to what action is required from them to progress to the next stage of the system. I believe that the labels will assist the user in getting through the system much quicker and also help their understanding of the system in general.

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CourseWork 1	CourseWork 2

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The theory of Organisation Of Information must not be ignored.  This Hypermedia theory bases itself on the fact that the text within the system plays an important role in sending passive messages to the user. Text is useful for defining the theme for a product and font style, size, and colour should be chosen with consideration to the overall design. It is important that font styles are kept consistent throughout the design and alterations to size indicates different degrees of importance with larger fonts usually indicating that the text contains important information. If text fields are to be used, only implement them where needed and ensure that the size of the field is big enough to accommodate the text within.  Referring to my coursework 1, it can be seen that wholly I used text effectively, applying appropriate styles, sizes, and colors, but, it can be argued that the font size were too small.  For my second coursework I plan to include a relatively large piece of text for the help section, although I will implement this in a separate page as recommended by the theory so that it does not interfere with the data on the stage. 

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CourseWork 1	CourseWork 2

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Basically, Consistent Design must be implemented.  This Hypermedia theory bases itself around the idea that both the design and the information within the design of the system should stay consistent and familiar to the user. Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, and actions mean the same thing as this can lead to confusion and users who think they ended up in the wrong place because the destination page had a title that differed vastly from the link that took them there. Platform conventions should be followed, meaning that if you are to implement back and forward buttons, use a similar design as for example, a web browser. This will ensure that users understand the functionality of such a button. With this said, it is just important to be visually inconsistent when things must act differently as it is to be visually consistent when things act the same.  Referring to my coursework 1, it can be seen that I have been very successful in following the underpinning theory of consistency. The design of each page is identical, with frames at the top and bottom holding features that are present throughout each stage of the system. The use of colour in also very consistent giving the system a unique feel, as does the consistent formatting of the text. Features such as the back and forward buttons and the mouse cursor changing over clickable objects ensure that platform conventions are met, the chance being that the user will immediately recognize these features from another system that they have used.  For the second coursework I plan to organise the flow of the movie logically and more consistent.

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CourseWork 1	CourseWork 2

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One the other hand, the theory is Flexibility And Efficiency Of Use: This Hypermedia theory bases itself on the idea of accelerators which can often speed up the interaction of the system for the user. Also explained as the concept of latency, this problem can be dealt with through multi-tasking techniques, letting the user continue with their work while transmission and computation take place in the background. The user should not have to wait around for pages to load and events to occur so the designer must be ruthless and eliminate any element of the application that is slowing the system down. A method of dealing with the problem is providing an animated progress indicator so at least the user knows how long they must wait.  Referring to my coursework, my score design is not expected to well and the images are not yet been compressed so it makes the movie file size bigger.  For my second coursework I plan to attempt to keep the size of my Director files as small as possible. I will do this by compressing images before importing them into my Director movies and also using sound files with small file sizes. Organising the score and ensuring that there are not cast members in the cast that are not being used are also effective ways of reducing the file size and thus increasing the efficiency of the system. Director already provides an animated progress indicator when loading a movie on the Internet so in that aspect I am lucky in that the software has done the hard work for me.

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CourseWork 1	CourseWork 2

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Lastly, error must be omitted and prevented.  This Hypermedia theory bases itself on the notion of a fully functional system, free of any bugs and errors which may hinder the users progress. The initial heuristic states that whenever an error is discovered, ask if that error could have been prevented, although now this heuristic has been updated. Error prevention stems from careful design, which prevents problems from occurring in the first place, although if errors do occur, error messages should be expressed in plain language. Errors will happen so it is the job of the designer to lessen their effect and present the user with a solution.  Referring to my coursework 1, it can be seen that the system features a good level of error prevention although the volume of my coursework is very small . The most impressive feature has got to be the fact that when an object has got to be clicked to progress to the next scene, the other objects all become non-clickable until it is them that needs to be clicked, then they become active. This prevents the user from clicking on the wrong item and being led to an incorrect scene. To be truthful, the system is not complicated so the chances of errors occurring are quite remote.  For the second coursework I plan to design a system that is free of any bugs and errors. I will design both systems carefully, regularly testing the functionality and looking for any errors which may occur. If I happen to discover an error that I cannot seem to put right, I will then implement some form of error message.

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