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Video via the Web

Posted on 20 Dec 2005 at 12:24

Kevin Partner explains how best to broadcast your video to the world

Question Writer's real flaw is that, in making it so simple to use, creating assessments has become long-winded, with properties that would normally be brought together into a single dialog box spread across multiple icons. Once a single question has been put together, it's possible to copy and paste as many questions as required and then make the appropriate pages, which does accelerate things a bit, but it remains sometimes frustrating. Central Question plans to develop a wider range of examples than currently supplied with the product, and this should ease the problem by making it more likely that there'll be an example close enough to what you're looking to copy. It's a promising product that currently suffers a little from version 1 blues.

Looking Professional

It's immediately obvious if an application has been 'designed', by which I mean that someone has really thought about the look and feel. Just compare Flix Pro and SWiSH Video to see what I mean. Too many applications are thrown together by programmers whose only concern is the underlying code. The skills of a good designer and a good programmer can rarely be held within the same brain, and so those of us without the designer gene need to follow consistent guidelines to avoid hotch-potch syndrome.

I've been developing a heavyweight application in REALbasic that will be released into schools and it's therefore essential that it looks professional. Matters like using a consistent width, height and spacing for standard buttons, spin buttons and icons can have a huge impact on the conscious and subconscious impression a user forms of your work. With just the smallest effort, you can transform the impact your work has on your user, how they see you and your company. The problem is that user-interface design is a specialist area and developers can't expect to become UI experts overnight. However, we have two major resources at our disposal.

The first is Windows XP itself and the range of Microsoft applications - it makes sense for you to consult Windows XP's own applets as examples of best practice, not least because it's these and the major applications such as Word that your customer uses on a regular basis and so is comparing your work to (however unaware they may be of the fact). Just remember to refer to recent Windows applications: I got very confused by the inconsistencies between different versions of Word and the operating system. The second resource to refer to is Microsoft's own guidelines for Windows XP development. Browse www.microsoft.com and download the Windows XP Design Guidelines as a self-extracting executable. These design guidelines include suggestions for button sizes, font choice and sizes, colour palette and the complete list of Windows controls. While your development system will handle some of this for you, it's a major relief to know that buttons should typically be 75 x 23 pixels in size, and therefore not have to think about it every time. Frankly, there's enough to be thinking about when creating an application without having to worry about such seemingly trivial details.

This is all very well when it comes to development tools such as REALbasic or Visual Studio .NET, but how does it affect Flash development? Well, that's up to you as a developer. There'll be times when you want to mimic the Windows OS, but more usually you'll want something distinctive, not least because Flash buttons, to take one example, aren't genuine OS buttons and therefore won't change colour if the user changes their Windows theme. It's often best, therefore, to steer clear of looking too 'windows-alike' when working in Flash. The other principles still apply, though - look at well-designed Flash applications (you'll know them when you see them) and learn lessons about layout and components from them. Then create your own unique look and feel. The key is to be consistent. This doesn't stifle creativity, but provides a structure through which creativity can express itself without being undermined by an ill-thought-out user interface.