A lot of debates (dvice, digital trends, tfts) have taken place over the announcement made by Steve Jobs that Flash sucks (I’m paraphrasing, but really, that’s what he said). As always, on one side (HTML5/jQuery) we have the “open” systems camp raising issues like usability, eye-candy is useless, etc. On the other side (Flash) we have the “closed” systems camp arguing that HTML5 and jQuery cannot do what Flash can. To some extent, both sides are right, and wrong. But what does the actual data show about trends in using these technologies? Looking at the results, some things are confirmed, others become obvious, and new questions surface.

Adobe Flash, jQuery, WordPress, PHP, or ActionScript?

I started off with the idea, and assumption, that Flash and jQuery are direct competitors as a deployment platform. Although jQuery is only a framework, it has so far proven to be in direct competition with Flash in terms of its ability to reproduce most things built in Flash. Considering all the jQuery buzz that has been going around for a while now, I also assumed that it would be rapidly rising higher, while Flash would either be stagnating or having a downward trend. As it turns out (see screenshot above), jQuery is experiencing a slow and steady rise, while Flash has had a temporary slowdown, and is currently sitting at same levels as in first half of 2009. But overall, Flash appears to be trending upwards at a higher rate than jQuery.

This was an unexpected find, considering what we’ve all been hearing lately. It seems that the Flash platform is growing. Could it be that Steve Jobs got it wrong? Let’s dig deeper and find out.
(For scale comparison, I added WordPress, PHP, and ActionScript. Surprised to see WordPress at a level lower than Flash. Baffled as to why PHP is having such a downward trend for years now).

ActionScript vs jQuery

Realizing that a comparison of Flash vs jQuery is unfair – one is a platform, the other one a framework, I decided to compare ActionScript to jQuery. Although still not technically a perfect comparison, I do believe it provides a better insight into where developers are going.

Looking at the diagram, it becomes obvious: ActionScript in decline since mid-2008, while jQuery has been growing at a rapid rate for over two years. For scale reference, AJAX is trending downward, and has been overtaken by jQuery since mid-2009.

Considering the earlier diagram, two conclusions can be drawn so far:

1. Flash, as a platform, is growing at the moment. This is probably driven by a user-base, rather than production base. There is a lot of Flash content out there that is driving the demand for the Flash Player. In fact, most of the searches in the previous diagram were related to the Flash Player.
2. ActionScript is on the decline, as developers are losing interest in the language and moving towards jQuery, iPhone, and HTML, along with everyone else.

The slight downward trend that ActionScript is experiencing could also be due to a lower uptake of the language by new developers. Looking at the PHP trend, it does not necessarily show that PHP is a dying language. It could mean that the uptake is lower and that there are enough competent and experienced developers who don’t need to search for references and tutorials online anymore.

As an interesting sidenote, I ran a search on PHP, Java, HTML, Ruby on Rails and MySQL and all of them appear to be trending downward. I would really like to understand why this is – can anyone offer a theory?

ActionScript 2 vs ActionScript 3

AS2 and AS3 being overshadowed by the much more popular technologies in the previous comparison, makes it difficult to really see what it going on, on a much deeper level. Looking at the data, it looks like the interest in AS3 is past its peak. By now developers are mostly at an expert level, or have given up on it altogether. AS2 is keeping ground, for mysterious reasons – holding on to what we know perhaps?

iPhone developer vs Flash developer

If you’re asking yourself should you should stick to Flash, or move to iPhone development – just look at the graph. The iPhone developer term is so massively popular, it is headed for the web designer. Obviously over-hyped, driven by a lot of curiosity at the moment, iPhone development will level off. In the same way that web designer has. But it is very clear that it is more popular than flash developer and flash designer, although interesting to note that flash designer is still doing well, although at a consistently declining rate for the last 4 years.

Overall conclusions?

If we’re to judge on popularity alone, it can easily be concluded that developers should be taking the time and effort to up skill in iPhone development. Supplementary to that, a good working knowledge of JavaScript, AJAX, and jQuery for front-end development seems to be the way to go.

Looks like Steve Jobs’ announcement on Flash was what many people were thinking, but didn’t dare to say. Now that it’s out in the open, it is creating a lot of uncertainty and defensiveness from the Flash camp – which is to be expected. The HTML camp on the other hand is moving in strong, using the announcement as a weapon and reason for attack. The truth is, as always, in the middle. However, jQuery and HTML5 are clearly closing the gap in rich interactivity between them and Flash, and unless Flash introduces radical new ways of interactivity (or production benefits) that HTML is unable to even get close to, it will become more and more difficult to justify its widespread use.

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There are a few reasons why one could get this error code. The most annoying of them all – declaring but not initializing variables. Here’s an example:

Incorrect:

var myNumber:Number;

Correct:

var muNumber:Number=0;

Always declare and initialize all variables. And while at it, have a look at all the error codes with description here: http://livedocs.adobe.com/flex/201/langref/runtimeErrors.html

Related posts:

1. ActionScript 3 APIs: YouTube

Some time ago I had the bad luck of having to look into integrating a YouTube video into Flash, using ActionScript 2. I quickly realized that this process was painful – even though unlike Vimeo, it was at least possible. Imagine my joy when I had to look into this again, this time using AS3. Only this time, it was a pleasure integrating YouTube into Flash. The process is extremely well documented on Google Code. The process and result I got, below:

//taking care of security
Security.allowDomain("www.youtube.com");

//declaring and initializing objects
var player:Object = new Object();
var thisVideo:String="_7aJ2dw06q8";
var videoLoaded:Number=0;
var videoPlayed:Number=0;
var playOn:Boolean=false;

//loading the chromeless youtube player (no controls)
var loader:Loader = new Loader();
loader.contentLoaderInfo.addEventListener(Event.INIT, onLoaderInit);
loader.load(new URLRequest("http://www.youtube.com/apiplayer?version=3"));

//adding object to stage
function onLoaderInit(event:Event):void {
	addChild(loader);
	loader.content.addEventListener("onReady", onPlayerReady);
}

//adding listeners
mcControls.btnPlay.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN, btnPlayDown);
addEventListener(Event.ENTER_FRAME, loaded);

//initial states
mcControls.movieLoader.x=60;
mcControls.movieLoader.moviePreloaded.width=0;
mcControls.movieLoader.moviePlayed.width=0;
mcControls.btnPlay.icon_mc.gotoAndStop(1);

//loading video content
function onPlayerReady(event:Event):void {
	player=loader.content;
	player.loadVideoById(thisVideo, 0, "medium");
	player.setSize(640, 360);
	player.x=0;
	player.y=30;
}

//incomplete video control functionality
function btnPlayDown(e:Event):void {
	if (! playOn) {
		mcControls.btnPlay.icon_mc.gotoAndStop(2);
		playOn=true;
		player.pauseVideo();
	} else if (player.getCurrentTime == player.getDuration) {
		mcControls.btnPlay.icon_mc.gotoAndStop(2);
		playOn=false;
		player.playVideo();
	} else {
		mcControls.btnPlay.icon_mc.gotoAndStop(1);
		playOn=false;
		player.playVideo();
	}
}

//updating the UI with video data
function loaded(event:Event) {
	videoLoaded=player.getVideoBytesLoaded()/player.getVideoBytesTotal()*100;
	mcControls.movieLoader.moviePreloaded.scaleX=videoLoaded/100;

	videoPlayed=player.getCurrentTime()/player.getDuration()*100;
	mcControls.movieLoader.moviePlayed.scaleX=videoPlayed/100;

	mcControls.sound_time_mc.time_txt.text=formatTime(player.getCurrentTime())+" / "+formatTime(player.getDuration());
}

//formatting the time
function formatTime( time:Number ):String {
	var remainder:Number=0;
	var hours:Number=0;
	var minutes:Number=0;
	var seconds:Number=0;
	var hString:String="";
	var mString:String="";
	var sString:String="";

	hours= time / ( 60 * 60 );
	remainder = hours - (Math.floor ( hours ));
	hours=Math.floor(hours);
	minutes=remainder*60;
	remainder = minutes - (Math.floor ( minutes ));
	minutes=Math.floor(minutes);
	seconds=remainder*60;
	remainder = seconds - (Math.floor ( seconds ));
	seconds=Math.floor(seconds);
	hString=hours<10?"0"+hours:""+hours;
	mString=minutes<10?"0"+minutes:""+minutes;
	sString=seconds<10?"0"+seconds:""+seconds;

	if (time<0||isNaN(time)) {
		return "00:00";
	}

	if (hours>0) {
		return hString + ":" + mString + ":" + sString;
	} else {
		return mString + ":" + sString;
	}
}

Related posts:

1. ActionScript 3 Error Codes – Error #1009: Cannot access a property or method of a null object reference

Folder structure organization is one of the most important and critical steps to success.You are at your computer, scrambling to find the right file to work on. You keep opening files, but it’s not the right one that you need. You need to find that file now – you have a deadline but you are stuck looking through a pile of files, not knowing which one is the one you need.

On top of that, many different people have worked on the project before you. They have all used different ways to name each file, and to store files in non-related locations. You need: The Ultimate Guide to Organized Folder Structure for Multimedia Projects.

We are faced with three problems:

1. We need a universal folder structure to store all our project work that is the same across all projects
2. We want it to be easy enough for newcomers to be able to use the system without training
3. A variety of people in a variety of roles and responsibilities are working on each project and they all want access to an area where they can store documents and files

Worry not – there is a cure! And yes, you can have it.

Roles

As in every production environment, there are two roles at a high level:

1. Management – deals with organizing the work and resources
2. Production - applies skills to produce the required output as specified by management

Management in this case refers to Project Management. This role needs to store documents that are generated at each phase of the project, for easy retrieval and reference. Production refers to everything from doing analysis, to creating and delivering graphics and interactive functionality.

Although there are varying levels of management in each business and production environment (e.g. Technical Management), for the purposes of clarity we are only assuming the role of the Project Manager (PM) under the management role. At the same time, since analysis and generating content are more related to the business side of a multimedia project, we group them together with the PM under a single title and directory area – Planning.

On the technical side, we want to maintain an area for two separate activities – building the project, and delivering the project.

High-level Project Directory Structure

At the highest level we maintain 3 directories:

• 01_planning
• 02_production
• 03_release

This satisfies the requirements in that it provides separate areas for separate responsibilities; it only contains three folders with some indication about which directory belongs to which role; and (this is a freebie) it follows a simplified project process.

You will notice that most folders have a number in front of the name. This is to ensure that the order of the structure remains the same.

01 Planning Directory Structure

This area is assigned to the Project Manager and Instructional Designers (content developers). The directories available under this area are:

• 01_project_management
• 02_content
• 03_proposal
• 04_DSD

Project Management Structure

This area is reserved for the Project Manager. The structure satisfies all the requirements as set out at the beginning of the article as it is relatively self-explanatory. It contains all the bare minimum items that a PM will need in the course of delivering a multimedia project. The added bonus being that any PM can access this structure in the future and be able to locate all files without much effort. Very important and useful feature if a client comes back 6 months down the track and claims some deliverable wasn’t completed, and the PM is no longer available.

Content, Proposal, and DSD Structure

These are areas that each assigned person working in these areas can use. Content can be used to store documents related to content research; proposal is self-explanatory; DSD for the delivery of the Document Strategy document.

Naming Conventions

In order to make sure that everyone in a production team is speaking the same language, some kind of a standard language is needed. This is why every manufactured part has a unique identifier, part number, or serial number. One of the most important aspects of a functioning and organized directory structure in any kind of digital or software project is – a naming convention. As far as digital production goes, naming convention can be seen as the equivalent of part serial number. Each page, across all projects in an organization, should have a unique id that carries a lot of useful information about the file. This kind of meta-data needs to be compressed so that it can be used as a file name, but at the same time contain enough information about itself so that it can immediately be located. This serial number is also used for change requests, coming from the client all the way down to production.

There can be many ways to approach this, depending on specific requirements for each company. One way is to ignore the requirement for absolute uniqueness across all projects. Although not my preference, a file can be named as: m010_s010_p010. This standard adds extra information in front of each number for m = module, s = submodule, and p = page. The letters can be omitted and the name takes the shape of: 010_010_010.

Another feature that is noticeable is the increment of 10. In this example the second page from module 1, submodule 1 would be: 010_010_020. This provides for unexpected additions in content in between established pages, after content has already been developed. Imagine having 10 pages: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. What if you want to add a page between 5 and 6? You can make the new page 6, and then you would have to rename all pages past the new 6. Imagine if you have 50 pages, and you need to add a new second page? That is some serious time wasted. With an increment of 10, you can simply add page as 15 e.g. 010_010_015.

For a more unique approach, one that more closely resembles the manufacturing serial part idea, a file can have the name: bmw_promo201005_000010. This name contains the client (BMW) and project id (promo201005), along with a page id (000010).

02 Production Directory Structure

In the five folders that make up the production structure, the most important one is 04_build. In the 00_tools folder, we store all minor software tools, and specific project tools. You may have default system tools that you use for each project e.g. file movers, rename tools, etc. and you can place these in your default structure thereby delivering them to each new project automatically. The 01_Process_documents_and_checklists contains all files and documents in the order in which the development process follows, and this is in fact explained in detail in the 3-part series posted earlier on here as the Multimedia Development Process.

In the 02_design_standards we store all guidelines and associated files e.g. fonts, graphics, brand guidelines, and any other standards as supplied by the client. Next one is the prototype directory, and you will notice that this one has the same structure as the build directory, for obvious reasons.

04_build folder is where we store all the production files. The source directory contains the fla and actionscript files. It also provides for some discretionary structure decisions on this level. This is due to the variety of projects that the structure needs to be able to provide for. We also assume here that there is a central code repository that all projects share, and which sits on a higher / global level. The course folder is where all the deliverable content sits, or in other words, where all the files needed to run the project in the target platform are. The rest of the folders are self-explanatory and support the normal development process. An example of this is that the Instructional Designer supplies a complete storyboard in the 02_storyboard folder prior to build commencing.

03 Release Structure

As reviews by the client are a necessary part of the process, the folder structure provides a nice view of exactly what was delivered at each stage. Although we are able to roll-back file and directory changes, it is useful to have an overview of exactly what was delivered at each stage – without loading previous revisions from SVN or server backup. Four major versions are supported (Alpha, Beta, Final, Delivery), although in reality these are usually compressed to as little as two.

You are now organized

And there you have it. Hopefully, if the presented folder structure is not best suited to your projects or circumstances, you gained at least some ideas on how you can go about organizing your work and becoming more efficient. In my experience, folder structure and naming conventions are the easiest and cheapest way of reducing production time and increasing job satisfaction when working with multimedia and interactive projects. And at the same time, coming from an unorganized or inefficient structure, they provide for the biggest initial gain in productivity.

Share your experience

Did you find the post useful? Have an opposing view, or suggestions? Please comment below.

Another solution to this problem was posted by BLITZ Digital Studios some 5 years ago.

No related posts.

If you need a personal development plan template, or a career development plan, read on. A few years ago I stumbled upon a well known success principle of setting goals. I never developed a habit of writing goals down, having targets, and all of that fancy pudding – so this really wasn’t my strength. I always thought there is something endlessly uncool about writing my dreams and desires on a piece of paper.

After a long pursuit of understanding this principle, I realised that the issue was not in my belief that writing down goals was uncool. It was in the hidden fear that once I do – I will have to commit to them. Not achieving what I would write down would mean admitting to myself that I have failed. Luckily for me, I eventually understood that the simple act of writing a goal down increases the chances of success by 1000%! (NB. scientifically researched figure of 1000% was discovered after looking out the window for 2 seconds and thinking about it). Further to that, failure is a dirty word that most people hate to even utter. But, reading quotes and thoughts from the most successful people it becomes very apparent, very quickly, that in their eyes failure is nothing more than a lesson – a stepping stone if you will.

So, how did I finally break that plateau in self-development and started using this very awesome technique? Three steps:

1. I researched about goals
2. I discovered Brian Tracy
3. I used the principles in the programme

By the way, you can use the above 3 steps to learn about any subject and overcome any obstacle you may have in your life today.

If you haven’t heard of Brian Tracy before, it’s time you did. And now you have. If at this point you’re still skeptical or unsure about all this goal setting business, let me just say this: a whole lot of scientific and academic knowledge and research has proof that this works. There is even a very simple explanation of why it works. But I’ll get to that in another post about another very clever guy who wrote a great book, once, and then wrote a 2nd edition of that same book and released it with a really cool cover which I own.

It amazes me the number of people I meet that say they have goals and desires, but are not prepared to pursue them. Even after they hear all the proven principles and methods that will help them to achieve their goals, they do nothing about it. Yes – you! Get going – do something about it! Sheesh, honestly. Nah you’re ok. I like you. But you and I both know that we must set, pursue, and achieve goals. We must also strive to improve ourselves and better align our thoughts and skills with our goals.

What do goals have to do with learning and development?

So wait – what’s all this goals stuff have to do with putting together a learning and development plan? Well, as it turns out – a learning and development plan is essentially a list of goals – for learning and development! Amazing. If you are a creative or a developer, you understand that continuous learning and development is essential to staying on top of the game and keeping those contracts coming. You do – but I didn’t. Don’t make the same mistake of having to catch up to many new technologies and feeling overwhelmed. But if you don’t know how to set goals – this task will prove to be all the more difficult. But don’t worry – most of us have not been taught to set goals. Schools don’t seem to mind. Neither do most universities. So just like with new technologies, this is one area that we need to catch up on, before moving on.

Resource

Another thing that helps, is having a nice structure – a framework that will help you put everything neatly in boxes and look at it for motivation. I found a document a while back that helped me to achieve just that. There was some (a lot) customisation involved, and after all that – I am sharing it with you – you lucky person. Use it wisely.

Personal development plan template (a word document .doc file)

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Building new teams is an often required activity in today’s organization. A lot of research points to teams being the most basic building block of companies. There are several reasons for this: teams are more productive, they make better decisions, and they create better products providing better services. Ultimately, team membership leads to more engaged and productive staff. But none of the positive aspects that teams can bring to an organization can be realized if the conditions are not right. So how do we build new teams? More importantly – how do we create the right conditions for teams to thrive and perform at their best?

Latest research (Morgeson et al., 2010) suggests that there are two phases to team building and management:

• Transition phase
• Action phase

Transition phase occurs when new teams are established or old teams are re-established, in the case that they never were properly formed. Action phase comes about during team performance, after all the setup and formation tasks have been completed.

Transition phase

It is important to initiate teams correctly using a complete set of steps, to make sure that the basic requirements are covered. For example, if a team does not have a shared mission, it is likely that individual members will define their own mission for their team based on their observations. At the same time, each team member needs to understand what exactly is expected of them and their team. With that in mind, the following leadership functions are defined for the Transition phase:

• Compose team – get the best people on board
• Define mission – determine and communicate what is the purpose of the team, in a broader organizational context
• Establish expectations and goals – performance expectations and goals are created as targets, with the mission directing this effort
• Structure and plan – develop processes for optimal team performance
• Train and develop team – make sure that everyone can perform their task with sufficient competence
• Sensemaking – help the team understand and cope with changes and events that affect its performance (e.g. change in team leadership, changes in team size, etc.)
• Provide feedback – essential to keeping the team aligned and on track

Action phase

During the Action phase, the leadership role is to ensure that the team is performing at their optimum, solve any internal or external issues, get involved with the work of the team, help team members grow and improve, get resources for the team, and foster a positive social climate. The functions that are carried out in this phase are:

• Monitor team – ensure team is performing and following established processes
• Manage team boundaries – manage the relationship between the team and the organization
• Challenge the team – forcing the team to rethink the established ways of doing the work
• Perform team tasks – take a more active role in the work of the team
• Solve problems – help the team overcome obstacles
• Provide resources – get the resources needed to carry out the work. Also indicates that the team is supported.
• Encourage team self-management – help the team manage itself
• Support social climate – it’s not all about the work. Although helping the team members become good friends will improve team performance and collaboration.

Leadership functions are important to ensure that the team is operating under the right conditions which would help the team, and by extension the organization, achieve its goals. There are always many different approaches to establishing and managing teams. These functions provide a good list of steps and functions needed to establish and manage a creative and / or technical team. It would be the team leader’s role to establish and maintain these functions; and all research points to teams and team leaders as the optimal basic structure for a successful operation.

What’s your view?

Do you have a different experience in team building and management? Leave a comment.

No related posts.

The crucial steps in multimedia development that will provide you with a road map to successful multimedia projects have been outlined in the first two parts. In this last part of the 6-phase multimedia development process, we look at delivery and project closure phases in more detail. At this stage most of the work has been completed and we are concerned only with making sure that the correct people have access to the work we have produced. Once all is said and done, we look into what we have learned delivering another award-winning multimedia project.

04 Delivery Phase

Delivery phase is pretty straightforward – but very important. After all, there is no point putting all your energy into producing an outstanding multimedia piece that will absolutely stun the world and change our lives forever, if the client can’t see it and comment on it. Yes, there will be changes! Yes, some of them will drive you mad. But it’s ok, it is now time to deliver the version for review.

The items that we would need to capture here are mostly related to FTP access, if delivery is online. Otherwise, if you are still using CDs or other primitive old skool media, you may want to capture the delivery address. I did say simple – but important.

Two supporting document that should cover all delivery details:

• 04-01 Delivery Details – FTP details
• 04-02 Delivery Details – Delivery Specifications

05 Project Closure

So it all went incredibly well, client is happy, invoice has been paid and it’s time to party. Before you kill all those precious braincells of experience, perhaps you should document what you’ve learned working on this project. Capturing those precious experiences will help you in resolving similar situations and issues in the future, which in turn will help you deliver consistently great projects. Not good. Great. Get it? Ahhh never mind.

One support document for this phase to help you stay focused on the task:

• 05-01 Project Closure – Lessons Learned

Download all at once!

Get all the process documents in Word 2007 format, and a supporting interactive pdf technical specification file, as one zip file: multimedia development process (~1 Mb).

That concludes the multimedia development process series. Please let me know if you find it useful or if you have any suggestions for improvement.

What other steps would you list?

Do you have a process you use for your interactive / multimedia development? Have insights to share? Post a comment and let me know!

Related posts:

1. Multimedia Process – Part 1 of 3
2. Multimedia Process – Part 2 of 3

Now that we’ve covered the setup and requirements phases, time to move on to the actual work. This involves the design and development phases in which we make design decisions and carry out the planned work.

02 Design Phase

During the design phase we work to produce three deliverables:

• Course / Presentation map
• Wireframes
• Prototype

Coursemap / Presentation map

Same thing as a sitemap for a website. Create a diagram to capture the flow and interactions between all pages, applications, etc. Make sure that all pages have a unique id that can be used as a reference in communication for change requests (e.g. mod010_sub060_p140).

Wireframes

A lot has been said about wireframing over the last decade. But in short, it is the de-facto standard for creating user interfaces for web and multimedia. If you are not using wireframes to layout the logical structure of the user interface you are working on, you are probably not outputting the best result. Wireframes are the blueprints of a UI – and here’s a unique analogy – building a user interface without a wireframe is the equivalent to building a house without a blueprint(!). And we all know that’s just mad. Mad!

Unfortunately, wireframes have their background in IT, while a lot of graphic designers are asked to design the whole user interface for a multimedia project. Most graphic designers don’t have IT training, so it all gets lost in translation. We have to distinguish here between user interface design and visual design. User interface design is mostly scientific and is linked to psychology and usability. Visual design is mostly talent and trend watching mixed together skillfully. Following that, the development of a UI should not be assigned to a graphic designer – ideally. The visual design that is built on top of the UI wireframe is the area where a graphic designer will shine. You’ve been warned so you know what to do.

Wireframing resources will be added soon…

Prototype

Goes without saying, to create a prototype you ideally need some sort of content to use as a base. But as we all know, clients want to see the house built before they have decided how many rooms, bathrooms, floors, and where the house is to be located. Sometimes there is content, sometimes there isn’t. In which case we make up dummy content as placeholders. I hate dummy content with a vengeance, but such is life.

And there you have it. You have magically produced a well-planned prototype that conforms to requirements and does what the client wants. Celebrate with these two supporting documents:

• 02-01 Wireframing Checklist
• 02-02 Prototype Checklist

03 Development Phase

So you’ve survived this far. And you’re still here? I admire your commitment…and madness. But I like you – you remind me of myself. And that’s always a good thing.

Anyway, in this part we get down to what is sometimes referred to as integration - but I prefer the term build. You’ve made the plans, you’ve built the logic, during development you only repeat, tweak functionality, and add all the content and interactions.

Another couple of documents to support and guide your well-organised effort:

• 03-01 Build Checklist
• 03-02 Page Breakdown Sheet

In the next part I will discuss the delivery and project closure phases. See you then.

What other steps would you list?

Do you have a process you use for your interactive / multimedia development? Have insights to share? Post a comment and let me know!

Related posts:

1. Multimedia Process – Part 1 of 3
2. Multimedia Process – Part 3 of 3

Multimedia process is a process that helps you to deliver consistent quality to your interactive multimedia projects. Once you’ve gone through the same (or at least similar) steps in producing a multimedia project, you start to realise that you could probably put a step-by-step process that will help you guide your next project.

Why would you want to do that? I’ve heard many complaints about multimedia processes: they don’t work, our projects are too varied to have a process, it slows us down, etc. Well, the truth is – written processes do work! Really. And although multimedia projects do vary somewhat, guess what – so do all projects. By definition all projects are “one-off” and therefore unique. But we can capture the similarities in a multimedia process.

So, what are the benefits of having a multimedia process:

1. identify unnecessary steps
2. streamline and compress delivery timelines
3. standardise output
4. maintain quality

All of this translates to: save time, make more money, be happier. And who doesn’t want to have more time, make more money, or be happier?

The Big Picture

This multimedia process comes largely from experience and answers questions such as “where do I start?” and “what am I forgetting to ask?”. Hopefully, nothing – forgetting to ask the right questions from the client at the very beginning of a project can lead to costs blowing up, delivery being delayed, and another client that wonders why is this all so complicated.

What are the steps in a multimedia process?

The multimedia process consists of 6 phases:

1. Setup Phase
2. Requirements Phase
3. Design Phase
4. Development Phase
5. Delivery Phase
6. Project Closure Phase

These 6 phases are supported by a set of documents:

• Wireframe & Site-map templates
• Technical Specification Interactive PDF template
• Weekly Individual Progress reports (for teams)

It’s important to note that this process is related to development only. If you or your team are a part of a larger process, you need to ensure that some of the Setup, Requirements, and Design phases are completed together with your sales and design teams (depending on the type of your organisation, “design” team can be: Information Architects, Instructional Designers, etc.).

00 Setup Phase

Setup phase commences once a project contract has been signed. In this phase all the documents are printed out and a project diary is put together. At this stage we don’t know much about the project, but we do know that we have the contract and at some time in the future we will need to commence the next phase.

The Setup Phase contains two documents:

• 00-01 Project Notebook Cover Page
• 00-02 Project Notebook Contents

01 Requirements Phase

Requirements phase starts when either the client or your design team have the specifics of the business requirement. We are interested in capturing and understanding those to the best of our ability so that we can translate those requirements into a creative and technical solution.

This phase is supported by two documents:

• 01-01 Project Setup Checklist
• 01-02 Requirements Gathering Interview document

In the next part I will look at the design and development phases in more detail.

What other steps would you list?

Do you have a process you use for your interactive / multimedia development? Have insights to share? Post a comment and let me know!

Related posts:

1. Multimedia Process – Part 3 of 3
2. Multimedia Process – Part 2 of 3

Healthy Thinking Institute were developing an online eLearning course as part of their programme to help people cope with stress. Part of the course required that the users store their results they have captured through interactions throughout the course. At the same time, they should be able to store their own thoughts and feelings in an application for later review.

Client: Healthy Thinking Institute (via RWD Technologies NZ)
Sector: Health
Service Category: Rich Internet Application Development
On the web: N/A

The Challenge: Creating a database-driven Flash application that is completely integrated with another application, interacts and retrieves data from the host application, and interacts with another (non-standardised) system for getting user credentials required some planning. At the same time, the sub-project had to be carefully co-ordinated with the rest of the development effort.

Another competing requirement was coming from the vendor (RWD) as they wanted to be able to reuse the application on other projects, so re-usability and quick integration into other projects had to be considered at the same time. And finally, the current skill-set of the development team had to be considered as well, since they were comfortable with Actionscript 2 only.

The Solution: All the requirements were met after many revisions, and the result was a Flash-based, database-driven application that is integrated with the Healthy Thinking course. The application is made of a user interface for input and retrieval of data; a php middleware that transfers data between the application and the database; and a MySQL database that resides on the client’s servers. Application can be easily re-used and deployed in other courses quickly and with minimal effort. The logic being completely separate from the data, changing the user interface of the diary application should only take the effort of creating a new interface design. Overall, a relatively complex application with many competing requirements deployed successfully.

Services Provided:

• RIA Development
• UI analysis, design, and development
• Requirements Analysis and Design
• Production Management

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