Interactive Media

Interactive media is a method of communication in which the program’s outputs depend on the user’s inputs. Interactive media engage the user and interact with him or her in a way that non-interactive media do not. Website and video games are two common types of interactive media. Movies and the most TV shows are generally not considered interactive media, however it shows that required audience participation could be considered interactive media. Social networking websites are an example of interactive media. The sites use graphics and text to allow users to share photos and information about themselves, chat and play games. Video games are another type of interactive media. Players use controllers to respond to visual and sound cues on the screen that are generated by a computer program.

Macromedia Flash

Adobe Flash (formerly called Macromedia Flash and Shockwave Flash) is a multimedia and software platform used for creating graphics, animation, browser games, Internet applications, desktop applications, mobile applications and mobile games. Flash displays text, vector and raster graphics to provide animations, video games and applications. It allows streaming of audio and video, and can capture mouse, keyboard, microphone and camera input. Flash graphics and animation are designed using the Flash editor, and may be viewed by end-users using Flash Player. Adobe Flash Player enables end-users to view Flash content using web browsers, and is supported on Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

On flash you can also save any of your creator content to the software’s own library, to do so you will firstly need to click on of your assets that you created, when selected you then press the hotkey F8 and then choose whether you want to be a movie clip, button or graphic, when you have selected then you press OK, this will then save to your animations library where you can access through clicking F11 and then all you have to do is simply select and drag your desired asset that you have save on the library, and finally to keep it organised you have also got the option of naming that symbol so that you are able to locate it and use it when needed.
Flash toolbox has many tools to draw graphic, fill colour, gradient colour and modify the shape of the drawn by the tools. Some tools have hidden tool that is indicated by a little black triangle shape that is situated right bottom corner of the tools. Some tools that I personally have used to create an animation of a simple graphic on Flash are.

Selection Tool: Selection tool helps to select and modify the object shape. We can move any object which we have imported and drawn. We can delete any part of any formatted picture. Sub selection Tool: When we need modification to make different shape of the drawn graphic in the document, we need a tool that is Sub selection tool. It highlights the anchor point of the graphic by clicking on that to arrange point and get different shape as required.

Free Transform tool: Free Transform tool is very important tool, this tool helps us to scale, reflect of the picture and we can rotate the object from the particular point. Gradient Transform Tool: With the help of this tool you can scale and rotate of the Gradient. When you fill the Gradient on object. Select the Gradient Transform tool or press F. As you click on Gradient Transform tool a bounding box will appear on the objects. Then you can work this bounding box.

Rectangle Tool: This section has different types of shape tools to draw shape on the document like Rectangle, Oval, Rectangle Primitive, Oval primitive and polyStar shapes. You can also modify the tools property to get different type of shapes.

Pencil Tool: This is a freehand tool that's used to drawing. When you click on the pencil tool more options will appear bottom of the tool pallet. You can create those shapes also.
Eraser Tool: This tool allows us to erase the object and unwanted area in the document by five different way, the list is given on the screenshot.

Microsoft Expression

Microsoft Expression Web, is an HTML editor and general web design software product by Microsoft. Expression Web can design and develop web pages using HTML5, CSS 3, and JavaScript. Expression Web Designer is Microsoft's tool for building and enhancing Web sites with design elements such as cascading style sheets, personalized task panes and compatibility with non-Microsoft Web browsers like Firefox. Expression Web Designer is one of three products in Microsoft's Expression suite of tools for Web designers. The other tools are the Expression Interactive Designer, which lets designers combine 2D images with multimedia content and 3D images, and the Expression Graphic Designer , which creates both vector and bitmap images for use in applications.

Once you have the program running, you can choose from a variety of templates to get started with a personal or professional Web site. I like that Expression Web includes templates for CSS designs. Expression Web will also open an existing Web site or import one via FrontPage extensions, HTTP. However, Dreamweaver CS3 does offer more template choices.

The interface of Expression Web looks significantly similar to that of Dreamweaver. You can view code or design, or both. Page views, folders, tools and other elements are divided into panes that you can dock and drag and drop nearly anywhere on the screen. Anyone moving from Dreamweaver should be able to jump right in and use Expression Web without much effort. If you love Web design, then Expression Web offers solid features for managing XHTML, Cascading Style Sheets, and XML. Expression Web is even less cluttered than Dreamweaver in this regard. We found it easy to move the same Web pages between both programs without causing problems in the code. Plus, Expression Web supports W3C accessibility standards for designing pages for people with disabilities a must have for those creating business Web sites.

Conceptualisation/Planning – The ability to invent or formulate an idea or concept. The conceptualization phase of a project occurs in the initial design activity when the scope of the project is drafted and a list of the desired design features and requirements is created. So for the documents were under the category of planning would be the Proposal where decisions are made in terms of colour scheme, title and layout of the entire of the animation/product, also other documents like mood boards and timeline.

Design – Realisation of an idea into a drawing, model, mould, pattern, plan or specification on which the actual or commercial production of an item is based on and which helps achieve the item's designated objective(s). This includes documents like logos, banners, buttons and other assets such as the layout of the template of the product and/or the layout of the pages (if you are creating a presentation/website.

Creation – Creation is simply making or producing something that did not exist before. This could creating a new product, although it can be similar to co-existent products but it is created differently via new methods or it has its own purpose and personal and specific objectives, for example for me this would include the creation of my product or even the smallest of things like the creation of assets that are being then implement on my product.

Implementation – Implementation is the carrying out, execution, or practice of a plan, a method, or any design, idea, model, specification, standard or policy for doing something. This means that any assets that you created are then going to be implemented on your product, this is where you will be putting those assets to use and actually give them a purpose and use.

Testing – In general, testing is finding out how well something works. In computer hardware and software development, testing is used at key checkpoints in the overall process to determine whether objectives are being met. For example, in product development, product objectives are sometimes tested by the products target market.

Review and Evaluation – Review and Evaluation is a vital process of performance improvement. They help you understand how you are performing, whether you are reaching your goals, and they inform your decisions about what to do next. To review you would get a number of representatives from your target group and use them to obviously review your product (the good and the bad). Afterwards come the Evaluation which will require the creator of the animation (me) to assess how he/she performed on creating the product, there will be a number of factors such as time management, work efficiency and organisation.

Benefits and Drawbacks

To connect to a website you will need vital elements starting with a device which enables you to have an internet connection and then allowing you to access your desired websites. However, more importantly you need an Internet service provider (ISP) and some hardware to connect to the Internet. An ISP provides access to the Internet. You sign up for an account with an ISP just as you do for telephone service or utilities. For a broadband connection, such as Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) or cable, you need a DSL or cable modem. This might be included as part of the start-up hardware from your ISP when you sign up for a broadband account.

Website

Benefit – The first and perhaps most obvious advantage of a website is the potential for reaching a wider audience. The internet is used by literally millions of people, all of them are looking for something and some of them might be looking for you. Creating a website will means that you could potentially reach these otherwise unreachable customers. Today, technology has allowed us to provide, give and receive all kinds of details and information, these interactive websites which incorporate colour, sound, movement and hyperlinks has made information available to be accessed by anyone, anywhere and anytime. The information within a site can be quickly accessed. There is no need to click through several pages. The site can be updated to always provide the latest information. The site creator/author doesn’t need to be present when someone is retrieving information. The author can usually be contacted through an emailing address or a message board connected to the site. There is no need to carry a hard copy of information with you. You can look at more than one page or source at the one time by having numerous windows. Information is easy to gather and print selectively. Easy to use the information to create your own resource.
Today there are endless choices of web browsers known around the globe. When a web site is totally cross browser compatible, it will look the same way in all the popular web browsers without distortions and errors. There are various products in which websites need to be compatible with, for example consoles, consoles are worldwide craze which are in endless use by gamers and having the ability to make your website compatible with such electronics increases the viewership and use of your website. However, consoles are not designed to do so, luckily there are devices which do allow you, which obviously are phones, tablets and computers

Drawbacks – The drawbacks of using a website are the information on your website might be unreliable if not updated on a regular basis. You need to ensure that changes are made when necessary. A website that crashes is no good to anyone. This is a serious disadvantage because if your website is constantly crashing or unavailable then people will not be able to find information about your product. It may be difficult for researchers to locate, especially if there are many similar sites. Because it is not “published” or authorized by a reputable source, the site may be disregarded as inaccurate. Information may be interpreted incorrectly or used inappropriately. A connection to the web is needed to access the information, which will be impossible if a computer and connection is not available. It may be difficult to reach your target audience. Because the author is not present when others are retrieving information there is no opportunity to ask questions or have things explained in greater detail etc. Site may be difficult to use if experience with the internet is limited.
Despite having web standards all these browsers work slightly differently. This is where the web designers have to implement their projects in a way that they are cross browser compatible. The most widely used web browsers today are Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera. Each browser puts HTML, HTML5, JavaScript and CSS into use a little bit differently. Some of the difference can slightly distort the website appearance, the others can easily break the entire website. The situation gets worse with a variety of operating systems people use.