MFTWR Chp2 Planning the Multimedia Website. Flashcards
Web site development is…?
a project based process.
There are three parts to the project…?
planning, development, and implementation.
Planning phase is the …?
most important phase in developing a multimedia website.
The more complex and interactive your Web site becomes, the more…?
important the planning phase becomes. (Resist the urge to delve into a project without developing the plan first.
Successful multimedia websites are built from…?
a plan (they are successful because of the plan.)
Time spent planning and preparing will…?
pay off in the long run.
A well-developed plan will save you…?
time, money, and lots of potential agony.
The rule of thumb for multimedia development is…?
80% planning and 20% production.
Following a well-defined development process that places the actual production in perspective helps…?
ensure a successful project.
A plan provides the structure for…?
the other phases of the project.
Within the Web development industry, this plan is often called…?
Web architecture. (site architecture or information architecture)
In essence, the plan is…?
the blueprint around which consistent and functional Web site is developed.
(This blueprint includes the purpose, the target audience, the organizational and navigational structures, the multimedia elements, the user interface, the layout, and the design. It insures the user knows where to go and what to do, and it helps guarantee that the user’s experience is positive so that he or she will want to return to the Web site).
Development Phases of a Multimedia Web Site:
Phase 1…?
Planning the Website (Includes…)
- Develop the design strategy
- State the purpose
- Identify the target audience
- Develop the specifications
- Create the wireframes and storyboards.
- Determine the organizational structure.
- Design the navigational structure and user interface.
- Register the domain name.
- Obtain a Web Host
- Prepare to register with search engines.
Development Phases of a Multimedia Web Site:
Phase 2…?
Develop the Web site. (Includes….)
- Develop the structure behind the site
- Create multimedia elements: text, graphics, animation, sound, video.
- Add the content.
- Write additional scripts.
Development Phases of a Multimedia Web Site:
Phase 3…?
Implement the Web sites. (includes…)
- Post the Web site
- Test the Web site
- Make adjustments
- Retest
- Register the Web site with search engines.
To ensure the success of a website, all of the people involved should collectively develop a…?
Design strategy.
Design strategy will ensure that your website evolves into a …?
product that effectively achieves its purpose for the intended audience.
At the onset of a project, the multimedia team should meet with the client to develop a sense of …?
shared vision surrounding the project.
(Together, the multimedia team and the client should clarify the purpose of the Web site and identify the target audience)
Before building a website, what should be clearly stated and pervade the planning documents…?
Web site’s purpose. (The multimedia team and the client must have a clear understanding of the multimedia Web site’s purpose. Without a clear statement of purpose the project may wander off course. A succinct purpose is crucial to the success of the Web site.)
The purpose is defined further by…?
goals and objectives. (Goals support the purpose, Objectives, which must be clear, measurable, and obtainable, are developed from the goals. Writing the goals and objectives of a multimedia Web site is perhaps the most critical step in Web-based multimedia planning because they guide the development process.. The goals and objectives provide a way to evaluate the Web site both during and after its development. Because multimedia development is a team process, goals and objectives are necessary to keep the team focused, on track, on budget and on time.)
To determine what the purpose of a multimedia site, the development team should ask questions such as…?
- How will the users be using this Web site?
- Why will users want to visit this Web site?
- What will users gain from this Web site?
- Which browser and platform will users likely use to access this website?
- What types of features will be most useful to users of this Web site?
If the website is being designed for a client, the development team must…?
work with the client to understand the website’s purpose. (Although there are no guarantees that what you perceive to be the purpose of the website will be identical to what your client perceives, your chance of being successful is greater if you ask your client lost of questions and listen carefully to your client’s answers. There is nothing worse than spending many hours working on a Web site only to discover that it is not what your client wanted. It is imperative that you found out what your client wants in advance)
Feature creep is when…?
You haven’t asked the client enough questions and they keep continually asking for changes or additions to the website. (or they are just annoying clients that want more than what they already asked for) it can add time and cost to the development process.
To ensure the development team understands the client’s purpose, goals, and objectives for the Web site, as the client to answer questions such as….?
- What do you want your Website to do?
- Is there anything special that you want to be included in your Web site?
- Do you want to sell something on this website, and if so, what?
- How do you plan to handle secured transactions?
- How do you plan to advertise, market and support this website?
- What is the primary action you wish your target audience to take after viewing your site?
- Do you have a domain name in mind? Is it already registered?
- Do you have a budget for this Web site? What are the limitations of the budget?
Part of your job in planning the Web site is to educate your clients about what is…?
Practical, possible, and eyecatching. (There will be times when your best efforts to educate your client fail, and you will perceive their decisions as illogical. If this happens, you will need to continue to work with the client to reach a shared understanding of the point in question. If you do not do this, your implementation may fall short of the client’s expectations. In essence, the client is the visionary of the Web site. If the client is struggling with the vision, the multimedia team can help by providing concrete examples the client can use to help articulate the vision. In the end, everyone should have a definitive picture of the vision, and the vision should be articulated into a well-stated purpose.)
A website must always be designed with…
the target audience in mind. (When designing Web sites, you absolutely must make it your goal to create a product that represents what the audience wants and needs. It is more important to focus on the user and what the user wants than it is to focus on what you, as a designer, think is cool.)
Always take a user _______ approach when you are establishing the purpose and objective of the multimedia Web site.
Centered.
As a Web designer, you should attempt to…?
visualize and understand the target audience. (The more you know about the target audience, the better you can design a multimedia Web site that appeals to its unique interests, beliefs, and goals. Your users are the key to your project’s success.)
The more you can define the target audience, the more you can…?
tailor your Web site to meet its needs and wants.
In the Web world, there are different ways to create a…?
User profile. (User profile creates a picture about the people who will using the Web site - their offline and online habits.)
The best way to design and develop a multimedia Web site is to…?
survey potential users to determine how they will use your Web site.
(Find out where (e.g. home or office) they access the Web, how often they go online, and why they go online. Discover what they do in their spare time when they are not online.)
There are different ways to survey potential users like…?
Online surveys, in-person interviews, focus groups, or even observations from office or home visits.
In order, to define the target audience, that is, to find out who the target audience is, you need to find answers to questions such as…?
- What are the demographics of the target audience?
- How computer savvy is the target audience?
- What interests, beliefs, and values does the target audience have in common?
- For what purpose does the target audience use the Web?
- What type of Web sites does the target audience frequent?
- How does the target audience spend its time, both online and when not online?
The more clearly you can see your Web site through the eyes of your users, the more…?
successful your Web site will be. (This becomes even more crucial when designing interactive multimedia Web sites. Because your users will be interacting with your Web site as well as viewing it, use information from the user profile to understand how your target audience expects to use your Web site, and then design the Web site to exceed those expectations. If you do this, your multimedia Web site will be a success!)
When visiting a Web site, users like to feel…?
they are in control. (Give your users the opportunity to choose or create their own experience by designing your multimedia Web site to give them the control they want. One option is to design multiple Web sits so that your users can then choose how they want to experience the website. For example if your website contains streaming media, you might provide users links to indicate how they want to view the media - via a dial-up connection, a broadband connection, or a wireless mobile connection. Once the user makes the selection, the Web page will adapt to accommodate that choice.)
One area of target audience that is often difficult to determine is…?
the technology that the target audience will have available for viewing your Web site. (If your Web site is designed to reach a very broad target market, then make sure that the technology needed to experience the Web site is minimal or provide options so the user can match the Web site experience to his or her available technology.)
If your target audience is technologically astue, then you can include more…?
cutting-edge multimedia elements and technologies on your Web site based on the assumption that your user will have the most up-to-date hardware, browsers, and plug-ins.
Many of your potential users may rely on adaptive technologies. Blind and vision-impaired people have made extensive use of the web because…?
it gives them freedom and ability to access information that was not previously available to them or that would be available only after being converted to Braille. (A screen reader is an adaptive technology that synthesizes text and sound included on Web sites. Unfortunately, more multimedia elements including any graphics, animation, and movies are useless as far as this particular audience is concerned unless “alternate text” is associated with each of these elements.)
If your target audience includes people with special needs, be sure to…?
design your Web site with features that make it accessible to them.
The purpose and the target audience largely determine…?
the look and feel of the Web site. More specifically, the determine the tone, approach, metaphor, and emphasis of the site.
Tone….?
The tone of a website, might be humorous, serious, light, heavy, formal, or informal. It can often be used to”make a statement” for example, projecting a progressive, high-tech, well-funded corporate image.
Approach…?
What approach will be taken? How much direction will be provided to the user? Some multimedia Web sites, especially children’s games, focus on exploration. Other multimedia Web sites provide a great deal of direction in the form of menu choices or a “guide” that is available to assist the user. Other Web sites simply have a help button that can be used to display a help screen.
Metaphor…?
Will a metaphor or a theme be used to provide interest or aid in understanding the web site? For example, providing a shopping cart in which users place items they want to purchase.
Emphasis…?
How much emphasis will be placed on the multimedia elements? For example, a company may want to develop an informational Web site that shows the features of its new product line, including video clip demonstrations of how each product works. The budget might not allow for creating the video segments, so the emphasis would shift to still images with text descriptions that might already be available for use via the company’s printed catalogs.
Because it is important to analyze your audience not only from a demographic perspective but also from the…?
perspective of the technology it will use to access the Web, specifications are written as part of the technology analysis.
The specifications of a multimedia web site state what will appear on each web page, including the…?
Arrangement of each element and the functionality of each object (for example, what happens when you click the button labeled next).
Playback system specifications should always include…?
the OS, bandwidth speed,s, and the browsers for which the Web site is to be developed.
Multimedia elements to be included specifications should include…?
details about the elements to be included in the Web site. What fonts, font sizes, and type styles will be used? What are the colors for the various elements on the site. At what speed should sound be recorded (44 MHz, 16-bit, stereo)? At what resolution should the graphics be designed? What should the playback speed be for video? Questions such as these need to be addressed so that all members of the development team are creating elements of comparable quality.
Functionality specifications should describe…?
the functionality - how the program reacts to an action, such as a mouse click, by the user. For example, clicking a door (object) might cause the door to open (an animation) or a door bell to ring (sound). In addition, the specifications should indicate how the object itself changes based on a user action, such as how a button changes when a user clicks it.
User interface involves designing…?
the appearance - how each object is arranged on screen - and the interactivity - how the user navigates through the multimedia Web site.
In determining whether your web site will be technologically appropriate for your target audience and the specifications you should have outlined can be met, you should ask questions such as…?
- Which OS is the target audience most likely to use?
- Which browser is the target audience most likely to use?
- What type of hardware is the target audience likely to own?
- What bandwidth is the target audience most likely to use?
- Are there any specific adaptive technologies that might be utilized?
Designing a website for an intranet is generally much easier than designing a Web site for the Internet. Because …?
an Intranet is a network set up to be used by employees within the same organization, the client will be able to tell you which browsers the company supports as well as the minimum and maximum hardware, software, and bandwidth issues that your Web site will need to endorse. In addition, the client can answer many questions regarding the target audience. When designing a Web site for the Internet, however, you will need to rely heavily on the user profile to better define the target audience.
After the purpose, goals, objectives, and specifications of the Web site have been thoroughly analyzed and a target audience based on a user profile has been established, a document called ______ _____ should be prepared.
creative brief.
Creative brief can be called different names like…?
document summary, design brief, or design summary.
Creative brief in essence is..?
a summary of the design strategy and it should be available at all times as well as reference for the multimedia team as well as the client. At any point and at any stage, it may be necessary to revisit the creative brief if the multimedia team or client is uncertain about some aspect of the Web site, or if the general direction of the Web site appears to be off track or off target.
From the Creative brief, the multimedia team should be…?
able to identify the most appropriate type of Web site to fulfill the client’s vision.
Today’s Web sites can be divided into two broad categories…?
Static and Dynamic. (Each with increasing scope and sophistication. Determining the category of the Web site will give you a better understanding of the project’s depth.)
Static Web site serve the purpose of…?
self-branding. (They are most often designed to promote or provide info about a department, a business, a corporation, an organization, an idea, or a belief.)
Static Web sites convert existing information to…?
Web pages and are an electronic copy of ta company brochure. There is generally little or no interactivity. Because they are quite passive, they require few design or technology changes. although content will need to be updated as new info becomes available.
Static Web sites are often a point of departure for a …?
future project that will incorporate interactivity.
Dynamic Web sites provide information and offer some form of…?
interactivity such as e-mail, searches, questionnaires, and order processing. In addition, users are often able to customize the Web site to meet their own personal needs.
Dynamic Web sites can be …?
complex.
Dynamic Web sites should answer questions such as….?
- Are search features available to locate information on a particular topic.
- How do I purchase products/services through the Web site?
- Are forms available for data exchange?
More advanced dynamic Web sites are developed so that…?
the interaction between the user and the Website is fully automated. For example, when an order is placed from a menu of products via an e-commerce website , an invoice is generated, the inventory is adjusted, and the item is pulled and shipped - the entire process is automated.
The user access features that make the features that make a Web site dynamic…?
(such as selecting the item to be purchased and paying for it online), while other features are implemented behind the scenes based on user input (such as generating and updating the invoice).
E-commerce websites can be used to distribute goods to fill supplier and customer orders and will answer questions such as…?
- What is the status of my order?
- How much is the invoice?
- When will I receive the shipment?
Planning documents including flowcharts, site maps, link maps, wireframes, and storyboards - are key to …?
the creation and maintenance of a successful multimedia Web site. (Although these documents may need to be altered as work on the project progresses, they serve as a point of departure for the multimedia team.