UNIT 28 D2

Overall when concluding the overall effectiveness of my website it came to my attention that there were a few areas of which it could be improved as to make it more beneficial to the film club itself.

If I was to have the chance to once again improve the film clubs website again to make it benefit the film club I would do things like making it more accessible, such as making the links to access the rest of my site more obvious by making them bigger and putting an Ephesus on them thus making them a lot more visible to the user. By adding a sub-heading on the side panel and placing it with my buttons it can add to the user friendly interface and help those with limited I.T skills and make it more accessible.

On my trailer page I have put a trailer for each movie to make the users experience better allowing them to see a general look of a films style and critical response. This would allow the users to not need to use sites like YouTube to locate film trailers or related content. I could have also made the thumbnails of the films more visible and larger, as currently I use period movie posters. This would more clearly show what was on offer and help to create a more user-friendly environment. Within the reviews page I could have actually added reviews instead of simply adding links to sites that contained them, this would overall create a more professional site and a better experience for the user as they don’t have to site hop to get info.

For the films page I could of added pictures around the time table as in finished view it was a simple list and did not look professional or nice. This would allow the users to be more interested in each of the films on show. I could put more information on my home page allowing the user to know more about the film club. Making the first impression of the site a good one.

The way my page is set up allows it to be easily expanded upon and is simple to modify and add to, encase the website takes off and need to expand the option to edit and change things which would still allow it to function as it could allow the website to have a function which allows the user to search the movies by genre allowing it to be easily used or a simple drop down  menu which would act as a filter, this would be a great improvement if the website was to expand and be able to show more than 11 movies and make a better site with a plethora of useful information for users to access.  

UNIT 18 D2

for this task I will be concluding and the effectiveness of y database this will be in comparison to its original intention.

Some of the features that I have included in my database are simple queries, macros, reports,task dedicated forms like the payments form the registration form and able to create a new member into the database as these are the major aspects of a database. 

Also this includes validations which basically stops people from accessing data if they had spelt critical information incorrectly and an error message will appear, saying a phrase to the effect of "your too young to enter" these are present in most aspects of my database.

http://milney95.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/unit-18-p7.html, this link takes you to a page where I tasted all aspects of my database and shows the effective testing of various components like the macros and input masks. 

one of the features in my database was a query, this is basically when you can search manually for a film or review. Then all of films or star ratings that you have searched will appear in a single table with all of the available data like the title, star rating, comments,particular film/ star rating. It is like the search engine of the database.
The screenshot below shows an Query in action and the overall process, that someone uses it to search for aspects of a film.

Macros have been induced into my database. A macro is basically to stop a potential member from missing out any fields in the registration form and therefore making an error message appear saying to fill out the empty fields. Basically adding a macro helps to get all of the potential information that is necessary to create a new member like their first-name, last-name which will generate an automatic username with a few numbers and 3 letters from your first name and 2 letters of your last name, your address, town, county, postcode and your date of birth and all of these are essential for creating an account and the macro helps to stop any necessary fields being missed out. This helps to stop false inforation being produced and to stop members being created for illegitimate reasons.          

The screenshot above shows the macro in use and how it stops users leaving critical fields out in the signing up process. 

It was noted that the addition of a simple switchboard would greatly help so that a new member can navigate the database more easily, this includes a payments form for when a member wished to get a film. 

The above screenshot shows an switchboard into the database which is integrated to a database and these are just some of the improvements that I could make to my database 

The screen shot above that shows my payments table and it shows that I have created a payments form and it also indicates the payments I have included an append query and this basically allows the members to purchase certain items and it basically links with the members table that I was given to import into the database allowing an overall smoother transaction.  

Overall, my database works effectively because I have imported and exported data into tables such as when new members are being added to the system. I am adding in new members into the members table then when a new member is created then it would add to the members table, also when there is a registration the correct input masks and protocols are properly in place so that no information can be left out and that the correct error messages show up. so to round it off overall my database is effective and shows a correct way of operating and runs to spec 

UNIT 28 M2

When creating my website there were many techniques I used to create my website and make it interactive.

For navigation, I have linked all of my pages together by using hyperlinks, also I have made sure that all of text that I have written is easily legible and easy to get to as well as the easily visible buttons on the left side which are ised to navigate each of the hyperlinks.  

Hierarchy is a tool that separates every part of the page from each other and from the most important parts of the page; this will include Text, Size, Font or Shape. For example using the “FILMS” button and this image is a focus point and it will go on the home page and all the other pages this is a critical section as it itself Is hyperlinked. This will help the user understand what the website is for sure and it should be bigger than the rest of the text because it is the main banner and it will try to get other users attention  it itself is a very important and critical to the user’s experience. This separates Headings from Sub-Headings because of the size, shape and colour of the heading and with the sub-heading such as the background colour and the heading colour on my page, these help to ensure that it is easier to navigate around the website if there are sub-headings and therefore acknowledging the hierarchy structure and also making the side buttons easier to distinguish and therefore easier to tell as more important.

The HTML Forms are mainly used for making the language barrier between pages while on the internet, also it is used for every website that is on the internet and while I was creating my website I used this language to embed links to specialist review sites and the actual trailers used on my website as well as a PAYPAL button to my payments page of my website for users to pay with.
For the video and sound elements included within my website ,as in the trailers  for my website I have used a high quality of sound and video.

UNIT 28 P2

When considering how my website will operate there are many factors that will effect a user’s use of my website, these are not issues with the site it’s self but issues with the user’s actual personal computer system or landline connection, a summary of potential issues are listed below.

-Web server capacity
A Web server is a program that, using the client internet provider which connects to the World Wide Web's Hypertext Transfer Protocol, this then serves the files that form Web pages to Web users (whose computers contain HTTP clients that forward their requests). Every computer on the Internet that contains a Web site must have a Web server program. The leading Web server is Microsoft's Internet Information Server it is the most widely installed and used server. A common way that you could increase the capacity of the web server is to upgrade your server to a better server, this is a common debate with most tech savvy people on which is best as most people hate internet explorer so must switch to servers like Google Chrome or Firefox.
-Bandwidth 
Bandwidth or the other term Data Bandwidth are common terms that are used to refer to measures and they represent the available or consumed data in the communication resources such as your internet or download speed and they are expressed in Bits Per Second, like for example:, kbit/s, Mbit/s, Gbit/s. The size of the bandwidth can affect the connection speed of the internet so the higher the bandwidth the better the performance and often the higher the cost.

-Executions 
Executions within computers and software programs are simply the process by which a person’s computer or any machine can carry out certain instructions of a computer program.

When the instructions are given by the user by typing or other means they trigger in the program a sequences of actions on the machine and those actions produces effects that are according to the instruction and the semantics of the instructions in the program this could be running Google or opening a Word document. In some cases programs for a computer may be executed in a Batch Process without someone interacting with that program or a user with type commands into an interactive session of an interpreter such as start-up actions or Auto functions.

-Download Speed 
Download speed form the User side is how long it would the selected webpage to load, photos to load or things to download once requested. The measurements for the time it would take to load the page and the speed of the page are completely different issues as some webpages have more content than others like pictures and videos. For example having slow internet connection or having a computer that has a lot of information stored on it is more likely for it to run more slowly than it should and maybe causing the webpage to time out or crash, and so it’s best to get the best connection possible and even if it has to cost more to run but it is more likely to give you much more, quicker and stronger download speed making a better use of the computer. If the download speed is running slowly because you have be downloading too much you can make this better by getting a new processor or a better connection.

-Cache Memory 

Cache Memory is in the short term used for the RAM that the CPU can access easier and quicker than it would with a normal RAM chip.  The CPU will use the Cache Memory to store the instructions that will be required to the run the applications/programs the user wishes to use. You can find larger caches and that will operate at higher specific speeds, also these are now considered to be the core of the CPU your pc uses. Other caches on the other hand can be simpler and differ and also they will be slower when used. Your computer will start to run more slowly because the cache memory is getting too full like trying to stuff a suitcase, you can improve this by simply gaining a better cache memory bank.

-Processor Speed 

Processor speed is the speed of which the microprocessor gives out instructions to the rest of the system. The CPU has got a fixed number of ticks (basically time) in which it has to operate the instructions, so the faster the clock the better, this leads as the more instruction it gets and can be executed in good time. For example 2 CPU's may have the same clock speed but it may not perform the same as some will run faster than others and some will have faster microprocessor like the differences between computer systems, which means that a single calculation can be performed in just 1 tick, but when the technology advances some of the Microprocessors are not even what is known as Superscalers, which means that they can produce more than one instruction per clock cycle. If you wish to increase the speed of the processor then you can upgrade your processor and you could clean out the history that is on your computer for processors a simple way of looking at this is like instead of using an Intel i3 processor you can upgrade to an Intel i7 for overall increased processing speed.

UNIT 28 D3

Following on from the excellent work creating the database for Kingswood School’s media department, you have been asked to plan, design and create a website for all the film reviews to be displayed. There is also a need for film trailers to be displayed on the site so the user can view and select the film prior to purchasing the ticket. The website also needs the functionality to be able to allow users to pay for films and add reviews after they have watched the particular film.  The website needs to feature two-way interactivity as well as being multi-age.

-BELOW ARE SCREEN SHOTS OF MY WEBSITE AND DESCRIPTIONS OF HOW THEY FIT THE TASK-

 This page fits the defined purpose as it shows the correct dates and information about films and showings. It provides a correct and age friendly easy to navigate home page with easily visible buttons it is as the brief says "interactive" and "multi-age" as the house style is appealing to all age groups and follows the schools own uniform colour scheme.

 the payments page I designed and created was as the brief stated "functional" and easy to use when paying for a movie rental, the design follows my house style and creates a professional look. It features the design critical "two-way interactivity" and is simple to use.

 My review page was in line with my house style and was eye-catching as well as fully interactive and was able to link to other sites for comparing reviews and allowed users to give feed back on the professional reviews on the films being shown.

 This "film" page show effectively and clearly the information about times, dates and locations of viewing for films and shows in a manner which users of all age could understand and easily extract regardless of technological understanding

In this "trailer page" it shows as the brief states a full page of film trailers which are featured in the site. As with all other pages it allows a varying degree of quality in video for some older systems and a easy to use "two-way interface", which is age friendly 

UNIT 28 M3

After completing my website, I allows several of my target audience use the website and test it out and give user feedback and critical evaluations on the overall effectiveness of the system and its pros and cons.
From this data I was able to come to the conclusion that there were 2 areas my website could adapt and change to become a more appealing system to my target audience.
1. The color constancy on the pages, that it doesn't follow a house style.
2. The reviews page has a click to view button which lacks functionality.

 PROBLEM NO.1

PROBLEM NO.2

UNIT 28 P5

PAYMENTS

                                                                    HOME PAGE

                                                                         FILMS

                                                                        REVIEWS

FILMS

UNIT 28 P4

UNIT 28 P3

                                                                                                                                    

UNIT 28 P1, M1, D1

UNIT 28 P1, M1, D1

This is a simple diagram of how we as independent users connect and use the internet. Below the diagram is an explanation of some of the features on the diagram and some features critical to internet usage.

ISP
ISP (Internet Service Provider) is an business such as Sky, BT or Talk talk that provides and installs a way to access the internet and this is directly connected with the clients that subscribe to these business by using copper wiring, wireless or by fiber-optic wire installation. Different businesses of the Internet Service Providers may be an Non- profit organization such as county councils or profit organizations like Virgin media.

Web Hosting Services

This allows people or organizations to make and design their own website on the internet. All web host companies provide space on servers that is owned or leased for use by the clients. As well as providing internet connections. This is what they call a "Data Centre", web hosts also provide data spaces and connectivity for other services that are located in the Data Centre, and they may also maintain the day-to-day running of the website.

Domain Structure
a domain structure is a group of computers which maintains its own security and accounts management on a local level, for example the primary domain controller. All logins for local accounts are done within the domain, and it has its own servers for locally logged on users much like our local school network.

Domain Name Registrars
domain name registrar is an organization that manages the reservation of internet domain names. A domain name registrar must be authorized by a high-level domain registry agency. The management is done in accordance with the guidelines of the designated domain name registries and to offer such services to the public as well as in combination to online laws and laws of the country which it originates.

Worldwide Web

The World Wide Web is a system of linked hypertext documents that are accessed through the Internet. With a browser such as Google or Internet explorer, one can view web pages that may contain text, images, videos, and other multimedia, and navigate between them through hyperlinks.

Mail Clients

Mail Clients is a computer program that is used for accessing a user’s email and allows them to manage their email inbox. Clients can refer to any system that is capable of handling the users email and regardless of it being a mail user agent, a relaying server or a person typing manually on a terminal. Also a web application that provides message management, composition and reception functions is sometimes considered an email client but is more commonly known as webmail.  An example of this would be Gmail.

Components

-Hardware

Web browsers are more commonly known as Browsers, and it is a software application gaining access to information resources on the Worldwide Web. An information source will be identified as a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) and this maybe a webpage, image, video or any other piece of informational content available on the web. Hyperlinks are also presented into resources and enable the users to easily navigate their selected browsers to the online resource. Also a web browser can also be defined as a program that is designed to enable easy access for the users to get, send and view information or any other resources that come from the internet such as a user friendly interface that is simple and easy to use, very much like Google chromes.

-Web Server 

Web Servers can also be referred as hardware on a computer or a software application on a computer. This helps to deliver web content to the user and it can be accessed through the internet, and the most common used of the web servers are called websites like Facebook but other web servers that offer that same as website and they are applications such as 'gaming', 'data storage'. The primary function of a web server is to deliver web pages on the request of the user using the HTTP. This means that the delivery of the HTML documents and any additional content that may be included by a document, such as images or any other content the website produces.

-Web 2.0

Created in 1999 and it was a way of describing next generation websites. Although it suggests that the updated version of the Worldwide Web this is a common misconception it doesn't refer to an update to any of the technical specification but they will have changed by the software developers and the users that use the web. A Web 2.0 site allows users to interact and collaborate with others in social networking sites, such as Facebook, such as Youtube which allows users to link and share with many other sites seamlessly.

-Blogs

Blogs are discussions or informational online sites that get published on the internet and that these documents consist of entries or posts. Also these are posted in the typically displayed way of being in reverse chronological order meaning the most recent will appear first. Up-till 2009 these posts were posted individually or on occasion in small groups of 3/4 and often covered by the same subject and even more recently 'multi-author blogs', 'MAB's' have been developed and with posts that were written in large numbers of authors and that it professionally edited.  MAB's from newspapers, other media outlets, universities, and think tanks and similar accounts of ever increasing number of blogs being released onto the internet. The rise of Social Networking sites like Facebook helps to migrate the MAB's and single bloggers into societal mainstreams. A blog is comparable to an online biography.

-Online Applications 

Online Applications or a Web Applications is an application that is accessed by the user that is on a network such as the internet. A Web Application may also mean a computer software application that is coded in a web-browser-supported program language very much like JavaScript and combined with rendering-browsers like HTML. A majority is interactive, allowing users to leave comments and even message each other via GUI widgets on the blogs or by special boxes around the page, and it is this interactivity that distinguishes them from other static websites; also blogging can be seen as a form of social networking. Many blogs provide commentary on a particular subject, others function like personal online diaries, and others function more as online brand advertising.

-Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing is the use of computer resources both hardware and software that is delivered as services over networks such as the internet. Also the name comes from the use of the Cloud-Shaped symbol as an abstraction for a complex infrastructure that contains it in the system diagram and Cloud Computing trusts any remote services with the user’s data and software. Users access cloud-based applications through a web browser or a light-weight desktop or mobile app while the business software and user's data are stored on servers at a remote location this is like X-box 360 online cloud data service which allows users to monitor their accounts anywhere.

Protocols
Internet Protocol or IP Addresses are the universally-used form of addressing on a TCP/IP network. These Network-layer Addresses are uniquely eidetic from each of the networks interfaces, these sever as the mechanics by which the data is routed to the corresponding network on the internet, and there will be the correct device on that network to ensure correct operational function. Most people do not realize that there is an additional level of addressing that will occur at the point of the transport layer which is called TCP/IP set above is the IP address. Both of the TCP/IP transport protocols TCPs and the UDP use concepts of ports and sockets for the virtual software addressing and that enable the different functions of many different applications simultaneously on an IP device to work properly as a result it is very critical to the working and operation of the World Wide Web.

SMTP

Short for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, a protocol for sending e-mail messages between servers. Most e-mail systems that send mail over the Internet use SMTP to send messages from one server to another; the messages can then be retrieved with an e-mail client using either POP (Post office protocol)  or IMAP (Internet messaging access protocol). In addition, SMTP is generally used to send messages from a client to a mail server. This is why you need to specify both the POP or IMAP server and the SMTP server when you configure your e-mail application or else it will not work effectively.

HTTPS

Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is a communications protocol for secure communication over a computer network, with especially wide deployment on the Internet. Technically, it is not a protocol in and of itself; rather, it is the result of simply layering the HTTP on top of the SSL/TLS protocol, thus adding the security capabilities of SSL/TLS to standard HTTP communication.

In its popular deployment on the internet, HTTPS provides authentication of the web site and associated web server that one is communicating with, which protects against man-in-the-middle attacks. Additionally, it provides bidirectional encryption of communications between a client and server, which protects againsteavesdropping and tampering with and/or forging the contents of the communication. In practice, this provides a reasonable guarantee that one is communicating with precisely the web site that one intended to communicate with (as opposed to an imposter), as well as ensuring that the contents of communications between the user and site cannot be read or forged by any third party.

TCP/IP

Short for Transmission control protocol/ internet protocol , the suite of communications protocols used to connect hosts on the Internet. TCP/IP uses several protocols, the two main ones being TCP and IP. TCP/IP is built into the UNIX operating system and is used by the Internet, making it the de facto standard for transmitting data overnetworks. Even network operating systems that have their own protocols, such as Netware, also supportTCP/IP. Overall making it a pivotal protocol.

UNIT 48 P6

TASK 6 EVALUATIONS
WORK EVALUATED: Multimedia product designed for Btec ICT course
ASSESSOR: CJ Milne (Peer)
WORK CREATED BY: Aiden Clark (Student)
Aiden’s multimedia project features an innovative design which
features a book layout featuring his chosen department of science.
The opening of his project has an interactive map of the department
which then leads toward the individual subjects the school teaches;
Physics, Biology and Chemistry. The project then shows highlights of
the curriculum and the interesting things one can learn from studying
it.
The project was fit for the purpose of presenting his department to
prospective parents and students, it featured simple language and easy
to see pictures which crossed the barriers a disability might cause
such as lack of sight of long/short sight. Aiden’s project includes a
massive amount of information detailing the units a student studies
whilst at the Kingswood school throughout the years. The video
included is both eye-catching and informative towards the subject. The
interactive features are suitable and fit the design specification.
The elements of media Aiden features are appropriate toward his
specification as they are workable and easy to identify especially for
younger viewers. They feature easily recognizable colour schemes and
all the images are simple and useful towards his goal. The video
placed into the used easy to understanding language and contained no
swear words or inappropriate moments. Overall Aiden’s media within his
project is very suitable and appropriate for his target audience.
Aiden’s project worked at the time I assessed it and had no broken
links or faulty videos all of his content worked and was at a good
pixel quality with all of them running at no less than 340p.
The project overall sets a professional theme as its good quality of
design and media contents run flawless within the project the colour
scheme fits well and the transitions are used correctly and are well
employed towards a professional setting being produced. I believe that
Aiden has put a massive amount of energy and effort into this project
with the goal of producing high-level professional work fit for
viewing.
Although Aiden’s work is of a high standard there are some
improvements that can be made towards the work to improve it the
little that it’s needs to become a professional and higher level of
work needed to reach better grades.
1.       A larger logo which actively shows the science feature of the school.
2.       The addition of more colours on most screens as it is mostly
white and lacks colour on pages.
3.       The lines used to draw the book are wonky and not smooth at most points
4.       The tabs used to turn the pages need to be annotated to show
they are to turn pages and to coloured accordingly.
5.       The text on the ‘book’ pages does not fit and is not warped
to the ‘book’  and appear unprofessional and tacky.

UNIT 48 D2

UNIT 48 D2

Within my project I could have if I had more time could have been developed to further enhance the experience the user receives and by adding photos of members of staff to the staff page. By doing this I could have installed a sense of knowledge to the viewer and a sense of familiarity. I could have done this by taking photos of members of staff at their discretion and inserting it into the project, and then added effects to make a seamless transition.

During the course of making and publishing my project I was given 4 amendments to make to my project and these were:

1. Keep layout consistent rather than opening the navigation menu all over the pages

2. Put the logo you made on every page

3. One of the logos ‘jumps’ slightly, find some way of stopping this

4. Make the logo look less like it was just a re-skinned history channel logo 

First amendment was to keep a constant layout of my project. This was very beneficial as before my layout was different on every page and was generally confusing to a viewer and would have annoyed most and most of all it make the overall design appear unprofessional and shoddy. By keeping constant layout it makes the design look professional and keeps it simple to use and easy for I.T illiterate users to operate.

Second was the issue of the lack of the Kingswood logo on the lags of my project and the concern it only appeared once on the overall project. This would cause confusion if the project was mistaken by parents and could even be viewed as another school by those who have no knowledge of the school like many perspective parents do. To combat this I installed the commonly associated ‘Crown’ logo onto every slide in the corner of the newly modified common layout. By adding this it helps to develop the sense of professionalism I hope to achieve and it also helps to brand the project as related to the Kingswood school.

Next was a slight design error, as one of the ‘Crowns’ jumped slightly and enlarged, overall this was a minor oversight and one that damaged the professionalism the project is to install and is annoying when viewing the project in motion. To fix this all was needed was a simple resize of the faulty ‘Crown’ and a re-move to make it seamless. By doing this it has restored the professionalism the project has and also adds to the common design and keeps it all similar.

Lastly was the use of myself made logo and at first it was the History channel logo that was re-skinned, to my peers and to prospective parents would be seen as unprofessional and just a copy and paste making the school seem like it had low standards and would be seen as parents as inapproitate for their child to attend. So I took the logo back to the design phase and I added a different set of colours and re-designed certain features to give it a unique feel and one that could easily be associated with the History department. By doing this I increased the professional quality and the standard the project has and overall setting a good example of the school to potential parents and students.