Hi Everybody,
Okay, less than one more week to go before you must have your mid-term projects completed to give to me next Monday. For a few of you, I'm rather comfortable in the states that your projects are in; for most of you, however, I am seriously concerned.
As is always the case, if you do not do your homework, it comes back to you in the end; and here we are nearing the end, and as I saw in class Monday, a number of you still seem to have no idea what you're doing. Doing homework does three things:
- It gives you practice,
- Prepares you for the mid-term and final projects, and
- Shows you where your weak points lie, and therefore for what you require extra help.
I wonder why none of you have asked me for help before yesterday. There are others of you who seem to understand, more or less, but who just hadn't done anything. Both cases are sad.
For all of you in particular who didn't have much to show me yesterday (but this is for EVERYONE), I highly recommend that you find me this week and show me your work to get my input one last time before you give me your project on Monday. I say this because DESIGN IS 30% OF THE GRADE, not just if it functions properly.
Nonetheless, the most important part of this project is to get the ACTIONSCRIPT to work. As you can see, design is very important, but should take a backseat if you have to make a choice.
WEEK 6
- Syllabus
- Classwork
- LINK These are the same as last week's class files because there are no NEW files for this week;
- Homework—There are two small things that you must complete for the project next week for it to be wholly complete.
- exercise 1:
You must make the initial page load up AUTOMATICALLY, before the user clicks on a button. The reason we want this is so that the user doesn't see a blank page when the site starts up. You must do the same thing for your gallery pages so that when the user goes to those pages, there is already the FIRST image there showing up large. The code below is something like what you should have in your own index file right now, BEFORE you make any additions:
- // below is the variable that is converted into a request object;
- var oneRequest:URLRequest = new URLRequest("one.swf");
- var twoRequest:URLRequest = new URLRequest("two.swf");
- var threeRequest:URLRequest = new URLRequest("three.swf");
- var fourRequest:URLRequest = new URLRequest("four.swf");
- // below is the variable that is converted into a loader;
- var myLoader:Loader = new Loader();
- myLoader.load(oneRequest);
- // below is the function named loadOne & its contents are between the { }
- function loadOne(event:MouseEvent): void {
- myLoader.load(oneRequest);
- bg_mc.addChild(myLoader);
- };
- function loadTwo(event:MouseEvent): void {
- myLoader.load(twoRequest);
- bg_mc.addChild(myLoader);
- };
- function loadThree(event:MouseEvent): void {
- myLoader.load(threeRequest);
- bg_mc.addChild(myLoader);
- };
- function loadFour(event:MouseEvent): void {
- myLoader.load(fourRequest);
- bg_mc.addChild(myLoader);
- };
- /* below is the listener which is waiting for the user to click on the button named one_btn;
and, when he/she does,
the function named loadOne is activated).*/
- one_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, loadOne);
- two_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, loadTwo);
- three_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, loadThree);
- four_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, loadFour);
As it is right now if everything functions properly, your projects load up the content from the external .swf files only when you click on a button. Clicking on the buttons activates one of the functions that loads the external file into the index file. The code in the function only runs when the function is called. This means that we need to run that same code, but without using a function because the function keeps it from running automatically, and only allows it to run when the function is called. See the code below for a function as it currently is:
- function loadOne(event:MouseEvent): void {
- myLoader.load(oneRequest);
- bg_mc.addChild(myLoader);
- };
Those two lines of code inside of the function are what we are looking for. They are the two lines that are actually responsible for loading the first external .swf file into the index. This means that you must not only have those two lines here inside the function, but also OUTSIDE OF THE FUNCTION as well. This will cause the first page to load automatically AND also when the user clicks on its button.
- exercise 2:
Do the same thing for your gallery files so that the first image in each loads up automatically as well as when the button for it is clicked by the user.
- Midterm Requirements:
- page size: 1000px X 700px
- page number: 5 pages
- bio:
this page is about the artist and should include sufficient text, and then enough accompanying images to help explain or demonstrate the text.
- art:
this page is about the art, and should, like the bio page, contain sufficient text and images to accompany the text for us to have a basic understanding of the art.
- gallery 1 & 2:
these pages should contain thumbnail images which, when clicked on, cause a larger image to show up with a caption below it—the best way to do this is to place the large image in a separate Flash file and type some text below or beside it. Each page must have at least 4 images and each should show up with a unique caption to go with it.
- bibliography:
this page contains a list of links and a brief description of at least 10 online resources that have information or images. Also, list some recent books or films about the artist and/or his/her work. This should include who wrote it and when it was published it if is a book; or who directed it and when it was released if it is a film.
- index:
although not technically a page, you will still need a primary file which will load all of the external "pages" or .swf files.
- img01_index & img02_index:
although not technically pages, you will still need two primary image files which will load all of the external "images" or .swf files for your two gallery pages
- Midterm Grading:
- topic: 10pts—
this is a giveaway of points (10% - a whole letter grade - of the final grade) if you all follow the topics you chose;
- color: 5pts—
this has to do with whether you've seriously chosen your color scheme: if you choose too many colors or if they simply don't go together, points will be taken off; so, if you're not sure, keep it really minimal, or use the COLOR INDEX;
- images: 5pts—
another point giveaway if you use enough images AND if you DO NOT DISTORT THEM; and also if you don't use images more than once in such a small website;
- text: 5pts—
once again, another giveaway of points if you use enough text and if you spend a little time formatting it: a couple suggestions are that you should NOTstretch text all the way across the page, but break it up into a couple columns instead; also, like color, make sure you do not use too many fonts, especially multiple decorative fonts together;
- layout: 10pts—
you should carefully consider the organization of each of your pages and, especially, keep in mind that consistency from page to page is very important;
- title: 5pts—
make certain that there is a title and that it is present (in the same spot) no matter what the user does;
- buttons: 5pts—
buttons should be fully functional, should have 4 frames in which the hit frame is a simple gray rectangle, and they should be designed well&#a hint here: students often make their buttons too large;
- content: 5pts—
yet another point giveaway and it is simply points to determine whether you have enough content in each page;
- movie-clip container: 5pts—do you use a movieclip container (box_mc for the index and bigImg_mc for the gallery, for example)?;
- initial load: 15pts—
when the user first opens up your site using the index, does content AUTOMATICALLY LOAD as it should, or does the user have to click on a button to make something appear when the page loads up initially?—this also pertains to the gallery pages;
- button loading: 20pts—
this simply refers to the functions connected to the buttons on the stage: does content load when you click on all your buttons?
- folder organization: 5pts—
the folder that you give me next week should be organized, meaning that images should be in one folder. Also, right before you give me your project, put your .fla files into a separate folder as well. You should also remove any images or other files that are not being used.
