The Multimedia

Development Process

Level 200/Top 300-Semester 1

• In this lecture, we will cover
– Stages of a Multimedia
•
ProjectPlanning and Costing
– Target Audience
– Flowcharts
– Storyboards
– Organizational Structures
– Site Maps
– Link Maps
– Navigational Structure
• Design and Production
• Testing
– Alpha Testing
– Beta
• Testing
Delivery

2
 Introduction
• Multimedia development is a project-based
process.
• Well-developed plan for multimedia product will
save
– time
– money
– multiple modifications
• The rule of thumb for
development is 80%
planning and 20%
production.
8
0
%

p 3
Stages of a Multimedia Project

Stage
Stage11
Planning
Planningand
andCosting
Costing

Stage
Stage22
Design
Designand
andProduction
Production

Stage
Stage33
Testing
Testing

Stage
Stage44 Four stages of a
Delivery multimedia project
Delivery
4
 Stages of a Multimedia
Project: Overview
• Planning and costing
– Determine the messages and objectives of the project
– Identify how each message and objective may work
within the authoring system
– Before begin developing, plan what writing skills,
graphic art, music, video, and other multimedia
expertise will be required
– Develop a creative graphic look and feel, as well as a
structure and navigation system that will let the user
visit the messages and content
– Estimate the time needed to do all elements
– Prepare a budget

5
 Stages of a Multimedia
Project: Overview
• Designing and producing
– Perform each of the planned tasks to create a finished
product
– There may be many feedback cycles with a client until
the client is happy
• Testing
– Always test the programs / applications to ensure they
meet the objectives of the project, they work properly
on the intended delivery platforms, and they meet the
needs of the client or end user
• Delivering
– Package and deliver the project to the end user

6
 Planning and Costing
• To determine objectives / purposes of a project,
we may ask:
– How will users be using this product?
– What will users gain from this product?
– What types of features will be most useful to the
users?
– Why will users visit this web site (if the product is a
web site)?
– Which browser / platform will users use to access this
web site (if the product is a web site)?

7
 Planning and Costing
• Target audience
– The designers should always focus on the user and
tailor product to meet the user’s needs and wants.
– The designer needs to get a clear picture about how
the target audience will use the product. This can
be accomplished through in-person interviews,
online surveys, and various focus groups.
– Users like to feel in control; give users opportunity to
choose or create their own experience.
– Categorization on audience might be useful. Examples:
age, gender, income range, language, nationality,
disability, computer literacy

8
 Planning and Costing
• A plan that outlines the required multimedia
expertise is prepared.
• A graphic template, the organizational
structure
• and the navigational system are developed.
A time estimate, a manpower estimate and a
• budget are prepared.
Time, money, and people are the three
elements that can vary in project estimates.

9
 Planning and Costing
• Critical Path Method (CPM) is used to calculate
the total duration of a project based upon each
identified task.
• Critical tasks are also identified using CPM.
• Critical tasks, if lengthened, will result in a
delay in project completion.
• CPM scheduling functions are usually included
in project management software.

10
 Planning and Costing
• Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT)
charts are used to show task relationships.
Prerequisites for each task can be observed
easily.
• A Gantt chart is used to illustrate the project
schedule by depicting all the tasks along a
timeline.
• Example of project
management software:
Microsoft Project

11
 Planning and Costing
• Flowcharts
– provide a graphical
representation of how
the information within the
application is organized
and flows
– are used to illustrate
interactivity
– can be modified as the
application evolves

12
 Planning and Costing
• Storyboards
– are diagrams showing the layouts of all screens
– describe the content and sequence of each screen
– specify how multimedia elements are positioned on
each screen

13
 Planning and Costing
• Organizational structure is the way in which
information is organized.
• Four main types of organizational structure:
– Hierarchical organizational structure
– Nonlinear organizational structure
– Linear organizational structure
– Database-driven organizational structure

14
 Planning and Costing
• Hierarchical organizational structure
– Top-down approach
– Sets and subsets of information form a hierarchy.
– Information is chunked down from most important or
general to least important.
– Can be “broad and shallow” or
“deep and narrow”

15
 Planning and Costing
• A deep and narrow
hierarchical
organizational
structure provides
deep knowledge on
a few topics.

16
 Planning and Costing
• A broad and shallow hierarchical organizational
structure provides a little information on many
topics.

17
 Planning and Costing
• Nonlinear organizational structure:
– No prescribed or sequential path
– Information
is linked from
one discrete
piece of
information
to another.

Most information on the Web is read

nonsequentially, so most web sites use a nonlinear
organizational structure.

18
 Planning and Costing
• Linear organizational structure:
– Traditional method of navigation with a set sequence
– Organizes information sequentially
– Examples: training sites, online slide shows

The linear organizational structure is an uncommon method

for organizing information on the Web because most web
sites have no set path or sequence that must be followed.

22
 Planning and Costing
• Database-driven organizational structure
– Increasingly popular
– Large volume of short bits of information
– Sites that use internal search engines use databases.
– Examples: library, research, and e-commerce sites

Any web site that includes an

internal search engine uses a
database-driven organizational
structure.

Containers
20
 Planning and Costing
• Discrete and short bits of information are
appropriate for online viewing because very few
users will spend time reading long passages of
text onscreen.
• Inclusions of site maps and link maps are helpful
to users.

21
 Planning and Costing
• Site Maps
– provide an overview of the organizational structure of
a multimedia application / web site
– can be used at the planning stage to help the designer
see the big picture
– are often included in the final products so users can
view the overall structure
– may be graphical in nature, or in a text-based menu
format
– Many web-authoring programs will generate site
maps.

22
 Planning and Costing

A site map provides an overview of the web site’s structure.

26
 Planning and Costing
• Link Maps
– illustrate the interconnectivity of web pages within the
web site as well as the links to external sites and all of
the multimedia elements included within the web site

A link map provides

an overview of the
web site’s links.
2
7
 Planning and Costing
• Navigational Structure
– The navigational structure is the means through which
the users will know where they are, where they have
been, and where they want to go.
– It’s imperative to offer simple, consistent navigation
available from every page.
– Frames divide the screen / page into multiple
regions.
Normally, one region of the screen / page remains
constant.
– Navigational bars are found on many multimedia
applications / web sites.

28
 Planning and Costing
• Navigational Structure
– Hub and spokes is a cumbersome navigation method,
which relies too heavily on the browser’s back button,
as the users must return to the home page to go to the
other pages of web site.
– With a search feature, users navigate directly to their
content of interest. The user can enter specific search
terms.
– The directed navigational structure is efficient because
the site becomes tailored to the user. The user is
asked to provide information when entering the site,
and then information is available to the user based on
their initial input.

29
 Planning and Costing

This frame-based web

site uses the left frame to
establish a consistent
navigational structure that
remains constant from
screen to screen.

30
 Planning and Costing

There are many different types of navigation bars, including text only, buttons, and
tabs.

The hub and spokes navigational structure should be avoided because it forces the
user to rely too heavily on the browser’s Back button.

31
Planning and Costing

Directed navigation makes choices

for the user based on the user’s
input.

32
 Design and Production
• The structure and user interface are designed,
implemented and continuously refined.
• Multimedia elements (text, graphics, animation,
sound, video) are created.
• Content is added.
• Scripts are added.
• The product is revised, based on the continuous
feedback received from the client.

30
 Testing
• It is important to test and review a project to
ensure that:
– the product is bug-free, accurate, and operationally
and visually on target.
– the client's requirements have been met.
– the reputation of the developer/company is not
damaged by a premature or erroneous release.

31
 Testing
• Alpha testing
– An alpha release is the first working draft of a project
and is only for internal circulation.
–
Alpha testing is usually done “in-house” by team
members.
–
Alpha releases are expected to have problems or to
be incomplete.

32
 Testing
• Beta testing
– Beta testing is done with a wider array of testers.
– Beta testers should be representative of real users
and who were not involved with the actual production.
– Beta level bugs are typically less virulent than alpha
bugs.
– Managing beta test feedback is critical.

33
 Testing
• Terms that are used to indicate the version
status of the project:
– Bronze: close to being finished
– Release candidate: approach a gold master
– Gold master: nothing is left to change or correct; ready
for mass production

34
 Delivery
• The final project is packaged and delivered to
the end user.
• Delivering the project on an optical disc (e.g.:
CD-ROM, DVD-ROM) is the most popular
method among multimedia developers.
• Multimedia can also be delivered on the Web by
hosting the pages on a web server.

35
 Delivery
• Issues about delivery on the Web:
– Every web site on the Web has a numeric address
called an IP (Internet Protocol) address.
IP address example: 134.39.42.57
– The domain name system allows people to use easy-
to-remember names instead of long sequences of
numbers to get to specific web sites.
Domain name example: hkuspace.hku.hk
– A domain name is a powerful marketing tool. We
should select one that is easy to use and easy
to remember.

36
 Delivery
• Issues about delivery on the Web:
– Once designed and named, the web site must be
uploaded to a web server.
– We can buy a web server and host our site in-house,
or outsource to a web hosting company.
– There are some free web hosting sites available, but
many have limitations.

37
 Delivery
• Some considerations for web hosting:
– Storage space for web site
– Connection bandwidth
– Scripts and software to use to add features to the site
– Technical support
– Site administration
– Security keeps data secure from hackers
– Search engine registration service

38
 Reference
• Part of this slide set is prepared or/and extracted
from the following book:
– Multimedia For The Web Revealed, Calleen Coorough & Jim
Shuman, Thomson Learning, 2006, ISBN:1-4188-3953-1

39