website critique

Before writing this blog, i decided to read all the questions i was asked to answer(as my mom use to tell me: always read everything before you start your assignment). The first question was, 1) Feedback and visibility: What happens when you make an error? How do you know it’s an error? Depending on the site, how you do you know are using it successfully or not?

The website that i use most often is definitley ESPN.com. As a sports aficionado, i visit this site every day, and very rarely do i come across errors or any type of problem. When I do, i already have the knowledge to know that ESPN.com is a very solid website and is run to perfection, so any error i come across is due to connection problems or because of lag due to to much access to the site.  When i do recieve an error while on ESPN.com, it is when i am trying to move to a different page than the one I am already at. Most of the time this comes when I am within ESPN.com’s fantasy sports area. In the fall, when i was part of the NFL fantasy football league, there were a couple of times when i would try to pick up or drop a player from my team, and an error would pop up, ussually indicating that the site i was trying to access was not available.

As a loyal supporter of ESPN and ESPN.com, this did not bother me, and i would come back to my computer and try again. I do believe this might be a reason i have stayed so loyal to ESPN.com. Userability on the website is very smooth, and almost every page on their site is accessable.

In terms of the site’s constraints, ESPN.com imployes vast ammounts of people for the sole purpose of writing and controlling the site, so there is always available content. The one constraint that the site has is when you try to access in-depth stats and analysis.  ESPN.com offers an “insiders package”. If you pay a certain ammount a year, or if you subscribe to ESPN “the Magazine” then you can access these links. usually the”insiders Package” allows the user to access special articles devoted to evaluating a draft class, or rating the best position players in the NBA or so forth.

Up until about 4 months ago, i wasnt able to access this, until i realized i was a subscirber to the magaine, so i was capable to acess these special links. And again, as a huge sports fan, these articles and analysis definatly make the site better, and provide more interest into probing ESPN.com

The mapping of ESPN.com is basically straight forward. As an avid ESPN watcher, the expectations of what i think the webstie should look like and the acutal look of the site are quite the same. Are there minor changes i would make if i were in charge? obviosuly, but as for my expectations of the site. They are all met.

The site does use some metaphors to emulate everyday life, but most of these are used in the titles of the main story on the opening page,such as: “Will The Sun Set on Phoenix?” (referring to the Phoenix Suns(a NBA championship competitor) playoff game tonight. If the Suns lose, they will be eliminated from the playoffs.)

 

The consistancy of ESPN.com is there every day. I always knwo what to expect when i acess the main page. THere will be a main story or article on the left hand side, and next to that will be 9 to 10 links to other important sports stories within ESPN.com. Next to the story links is the video panel, where there are 5 or 6 video packages that are availble to watch. I have been accessing ESPN.com for about 8 or 9 years now, and the consistancy has stayed about the same. (minus visual changes the site has improved on)

 ESPN.com is one of the most complete websites that i have ever used or been a part of. Thats the reason I go back to it every day for my sports information, becuase i trust them. And i belive trusting a website is the most important aspect of website control. Being able to go back to the site every day, expecting the same format and layout makes the information you access much easier to digest.

…So are We Living in “First Life”?

Second Life is probably one of the most puzzling computer programs I have ever used. Not puzzling in the sense that i don’t know what to do in the program, rather Puzzling, meaning; What the hell is the point of this program??

It seems like it is a online RPG for sophisticated adults/young adults. Visually, this game/program looks like the Sims, and after wandering through the 2nd universe i have still little to no understanding of the programs point.

I created my character, Boaggrius Boksernbaum. (Boaggrius is the name of the giant that Achilles slays in the beginning of the movie, Troy)

When you sar SecondLife, it places you on orientation island,  place where you feel out all the concepts of secondlife. I was so lost, the tutorials probably took me a hour before i was free to roam the Second Life.

Just trying to change my characters outfit was daunting. The program ran extremely slow, and doesn’t give very many different clothing options, even though i saw other characters wearing ridiculous items. However, as I continued, i realized thtin Second Life, just like in real life, you need money to do anything fun. However, how do you make money in Second Life?

I felt like alot of interaction between my character and the surroundings is extremely difficult. Not every item in Second Life is tangible, what can i pick up, and what cant I?

The biggest problems I found in second life is the usability of the program, movement is shaky, graphics are poor, it was difficult to control my characters movement. In real life people know how to do things based on situations they have encountered or things they watched on TV and so forth. But in Second life, I have no idea how do do anything other that walk, fly, and teleport to other areas. I feel like  second life’ platform is way to large to have any sort of uniformity and continuity.

It is a fun program to mess around with, but i see no real productive reason for its existence.

Testing Adobe Captivate – screen capture program

I have been working with a demo version of Adobe Captivate, which is a screen capture program used to show demonstrations and other things on the computer.

I have been using this program on a PC, and I do think it would work alot better on a MAC if the program is available for MACs.

The program is pretty easy it use, but there are alot of different options you can use, so I definitly reccomend watching the tutorials for each part of the program to get a good understanding/walk-thru. I tried creating a file without watching the tutorials, and I was very lost. the program interface is pretty intimidating if you havent used it before, so again, I reccomend the tutorial videos.

The captivate demo that I downloaded for my PC from CNET.com is a 30-day demo. the program can be purchased for $699.99.

The features that come with the program are pretty good, lots of different effects that you can use such as zoom, and different tools that enhance teaching and demo files. One of the eaiser parts of Captivate is the aduio recording part.

Once you have captured all the video you want, and you are ready to record, Captivate replays thefile you just made, so you can record your voice over the correct spots on the screen capture file. The program reccomends that you use a microphone plug-in on the computer.

Captivate lets you import content from a variety of formats, including SWF, FLA, FLV with metatags, MP3, and image file types (such as GIF, JPG, PNG, BMP, ICO, EMF, WMF, and POT).

The only file format that I could save my project as was a adobe Captivate project file (.cp)

The file output is relativly large. My example file has 12 slides and no audio and was 60.3MB. The more effect, slides, and audio you use, the larger the output will be.

Overall, I like captivate. On a fast computer, it will work very well. After working with the program for an entire weekend, I have learned alot about the program, it is pretty easy to use. for screen capture for PCs I would say tht this program is probably one of the best.

here is the link for my example file

I just tried to add my file using the “add video” button above, and it said that the file did not meet the requirements. This is the one problem i have had with Captivate. It wont let you save a a quicktime file or a flash file, so i am not sure how toget the file onto webpages. But I know there has to be a way to do this, but I have not figured it out yet.