Authoring Interactive Media Resources

Concepts and Topics

Review Compression

Compression is covered in DID, but provide a brief review.

Algorithms

1. lossless 2. lossy

File formats

1. .jpg 2. .gif 3. .png

Review resolution (covered in DID)

a. DPI

Using Media

a. Importance of students using own media b. Alternative Sources 1. Creative Commons 2. Open Source 3. Crediting sources c. Copyright Issues

About the Web

a. Brief history of the Internet b. Internet vs. WWW c. Evolution of markup - where it came from, where it is going. d. Broad context of HTML/XHTML/CSS/XML (how the languages are related and which are used together)

Standards

a. Why it is important to author using standard specifications b. Creators of the standards 1. W3C (XHTML, XML, and CSS) c. Validating 1. DTD d. Well-formed

Authoring in the current recommended markup language specification (XHTML)

a. WYSIWYG editors (such as Dreamweaver) vs. using a text editor b. Syntax - Basic syntax form <element attribute="value"> </element>, and <element attribute="value" /> 1. entities 2. attributes 3. values 4. Block level vs. in-line 1. DIVs vs. Spans 5. Container (“non-empty”) vs. Non-container (“empty”) tags

Structure vs. Presentation

a. XHTML – structure (and what that means) b. CSS – presentation (and what that means) c. Reasons why presentation should be separated from structure

Interactivity in a browser

a. ECMAscript/JavaScript

Forms

a. What they are and how to use them b. Elements 1. Input boxes 2. Check boxes 3. Radio boxes 4. Textarea 5. Select 6. Standard Buttons 1. Submit 2. Reset 7. Graphic Buttons c. Action d. Method 1. Get 2. Post e. adf

Linking

a. Anchor tags 1. Linking to an external page 2. Linking within a page b. Absolute vs. relative paths c. Opening a link in a new window or the same window using the target attribute

Organizing files

a. File naming (and naming conventions) b. Directory structures (examples of ways in which to structure a directory)

Introduction to server-side scripting (using PHP)

a. Server-side vs. client-side scripting

CSS

a. Ways in which CSS can be used 1. In-line 2. Embedded 3. Linked (External) 4. Import* (support issues still remain with Import) b. Style Rules 1. Selector 2. Declaration 1. Property 2. Value c. IDs vs. classes d. Box Model 1. content 2. padding 3. border 4. margin e. Positioning 1. Normal Flow 2. Static 3. Relative 4. Absolute 5. Float 6. Multiple columns (2 and 3 column layouts) 7. Clear 8. Z-index 9. Overlapping elements

XML

a. XML declaration b. Comment c. Root element d. Node e. Child node

ECMAScript/JavaScript

a. Rollovers

Information Architecture

a. Definition b. Components 1. Organization 2. Labeling 3. Navigation Systems 1. Global Navigation 2. Local Navigation 3. Contextual Navigation 4. Searching c. Orientation 1. Where am I? 2. Where can I go? 3. Where have I been? d. User Centered Design 1. Basic steps in user centered design 2. Rapid prototyping with paper 3. User testing e. Supplemental Navigation Systems 1. Sitemaps 2. Indexes 3. Guides f. Iterative Design (Paper > Functional > Version 1 > Version 2 > etc) g. Wayfinding

Interaction Design

a. Levels of Interactivity 1. Access to content 2. Chooosing path through content 3. Environmental changes b. Design strategies

Design and development strategies

a. Scope b. Research c. Proposals d. Documentation e. Project management f. Asset management g. Time management h. Prototypes (paper mockups, sketches, models) i. Iterative design (versioning) j. Goal Oriented Media

Example Projects and Asssignments

Example class structures, projects and assignments: http://imamp.colum.edu/mediawiki/index.php/Authoring_Interactive_Media

Vocabulary

Vocabulary is at: http://imamp.colum.edu/mediawiki/index.php/Authoring_Interactive_Media_Vocabulary