Design
March 8 , 2010
The immediate concern is the future of the Flash authoring tool. Apple's dismissal of the tool is bad for business. It seems likely there will be several years of decreasing viewers on this website as other programs and delivery systems take over what has been a virtual monopoly of a cross platform tool by the Flash player. It is still the only tool I can use for quick sketch-ups and design layouts and will remain useful for some time. The issue of delivery to mobile devices has not been finalized yet but it seems mostly the province of programmers and there is little I can do except try to optimize content for the new versions of browsers and Flash Player.
July 24, 2009
The general design objective, especially with the current math is a self teaching, step-by-step tool. Video lectures of first class math and science teachers now available world wide seems a step of higher order. For the moment, an ox in gratitude would not be asking too much...well, perhaps in some cultures, spare the ox, gratitude nontheless.
May 25, 2009
New animation Symbols - the Greek letters and a number of other scientific notation symbols were located in Flash software since at least Flash 8 but I had never located them before. They and a few other design ideas are noted here in a rather rough sketch for the purpose of getting the information out quickly to anyone else who was unaware of the "Symbols" character set.
May 21, 2009
Continuing the current concern with designing for school size mini-laptops:
Added "Integration 1 Modification" (May 17, 2009) (renamed to Design Ideas and modified again on May 20, 2009) originally to addresses some design problems of legible exponent numbers on mini-laptops. That problem was solved by using larger non-default superscripts. That may cause other problems eventually by changing text baselines so I will change to using movieclips with multiple layers of numbers for image labeling in the future.
The animation contains some AS 1&2 tutorials (with URL's) from Kirupa and Senocular - generally chosen for potential use on the smaller screens of mini-laptops. My current computer is too old to handle AS3 programming nor is it worth upgrading, and tutorials for some of these things have not been written into the newer language. Also, as of yesterday Google search indicates 25% of computers worldwide do not yet have Flash Player 10.
Scripting and programming is difficult for me in any event, in any version, but maybe they can be put in a form that someone else may see value in. There are so many conflicts between competing browsers, operating systems and program versions that it is difficult to maintain this website consistantly by programming unless you have a very good background in it. I think the math is the more fundamental prerequisite for me and I fit the scripting in when I have to. Took another AS2-3 one day class yesterday to little enough, but not to no avail. Good teacher, some ideas gleaned. The movies played in the class anyway - home is a different story.
May 2, 2009
Some more notes on designing for school size mini-laptops:
1. Some see-through backgrounds changed to enhance printing,
2. One step buttons (round with double arrow) this method of navigation will run through the pages quicker, skipping some or all of the animation, to speed up the confirmation and reinforcement process.
3. Some recent testing on 9" screens indicates the figures (particularly the exponents) in the musemath integration animations might be made a bit larger. Now that some time has passed since I designed them, I find I don't recognize the smaller figures as quickly as I would like when viewed afresh at less than full screen.
I like the 10" laptops much more than the 9" ones but the price goes up rather quickly. With both using native resolutions of roughly 1024x600 (variable) the 10" is very much easier for me. I do not have to strain to see the figures as often and am therefore less likely to make useless mistakes (especially the dangerous kind that get imprinted at an early stage of learning and never corrected thereafter). Durability, battery life, keyboard size, connectivity, repairability, and storage needs (internal and external) are important. Connectivity varies considerably on the wireless network during a busy day. At its best, it worked fine and the mathtutor video started off at least very well.
I've been visiting the local retail store since last November to check out my designs on these mini-laptops. Some comments: In early February I tested these animations in a U.S. retail store selling a perfectly functionable 9" 4GB SSD, 1GB RAM model for $200 - the lowest retail price seen yet, possibly a "floor model?" In late April (and several times in between and since - salespeople hardly give me a second glance anymore) I checked out a few more, the high cost models ($600-800) I will ignore, they don't do any better job of showing Musemath animations than the low cost ($300) models. Reliability has to be factored in and may be worth some extra cost (to some) but I cannot test that myself. So far as 5 minutes time would allow me to tell, a new model 10" Acer (about $350) provided the best standard of comparison for what I would like in my own school computer.
The wireless connection was as good as I get at home (slow DSL) though it had varied in past tests on other higher priced machines - seems more a function of how many users online than the cost of the machine?
I will have to keep an eye on touchscreen technology (as opposed to keyboards, the mouse, and touchpads) though I suspect designing for it will be beyond my capabilities. I am curious about its limitations as an input device. At the moment, a new flu virus is going about and I don't want to touch anything I don't have to.
March 1, 2009
1. One new design problem, possibly serious. I have put "Full Screen - F11" at the top of my animations to get full screen, primarilly on the 9" mini-laptop screen which seems a likely 'schoolbook' format for the immediate future. I have also put the buttons for my animations at the top to maximize available space. At last check in the store (but never previously), the menu bars slid down over the animation when I touchpadded my way up toward the buttons - the menus interfered with the buttons (... why this did not happen previously I don't know...chance perhaps). (May 1, 2009 - the problem still exists but has not proven inconvenient on most machines, in practical use a bit of care in touchpadding quickly proves worthwhile, the words however have been removed from the new animations - users will figure these things out for themselves - and lately, on some machines, a modified navigation bar which doesn't take up too much space has appeared on Internet Explorer at Full Screen giving some extra tolerance.)
Will keep an eye on this. I don't want anything interfering with the buttons
The goal on these animations is always instant recognition of the symbols and relationships on each page. It is rarely achieveable in complex explanations where some form of step by step process is needed, during which various meanings have to be learned and kept in short term memory until some unforeseeable combination of steps turns the key of understanding.
I think it important to remove all excuses and unnecessary obstacles such as drop down menus interfering with buttons. The back and forth manipulation of short modules is the principle design feature here.
Delay in recognizing the screen content is critically damaging to the process and with a diverse audience, that which speeds things up for one individual is rather likely to slow another down. The balance is difficult; the art, I think, is one's best efforts to strike that balance.
I'll work with this a bit more to get a better feel for how "F11" may be used on the small screen and to see if there is some common correction setting (rClick >lock/unlock the toolbars didn't help). Looks like I'm just going to have to remove the "Full Screen - F11" from the animations and design the graphics larger - no sympathy from browser programmers - I'm sure they are doing everything they can considering the possibilities of these small netbooks.
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Possible solution:
Physics AccuDesigns
(May 1, 2009 - some weeks ago, I opted against this javascripted method of design because of significant wireless reception delays - everybody's flash animations downloaded normally except for these - apparently it doesn't always happen (The store allows pretty complete customer testing - maybe someone disabled something, (I verified javascript enabled) but the same result occurred on several machines and I am concerned that it may be a function of overburdened networks - which I assume to be a condition to be expected in many parts of the world - at times throughout the world.) The fundamental design priorities are universally reliable, rapid reception of legible documents. Since I have no idea why or when I will avoid the issue for now and design for normal browser windows. I should look into this further since it does seem to provide the largest possible image on each machine.)
http://www.accudesigns.com/waves.html
Standing Waves on a Guitar String
This one looks like it
opens with some javascripted way to get more of a full screen - may not have to
change dimensions to something relative?? -
javascript:openNewWindow('../collection/ropeP.swf', 'ch15b',
'height=400,width=600,toolbar=no,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes')
I've seen this for a long time but prior to these mini-laptop screens, never needed to use it. I've tried a few quick cutAndPaste ideas to no immediate help.
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For general Flash design consideration; the following URLs link to the animations to the companion page to a physics text w/Flash interactive modules: ... the pace seemed slow at first, then too quick to me...but people learn differently...The navigation has audio and audio replay and some other nice features.
Cutnell, Johnson: Physics, 7th Edition
Interactive Learning
Ware
http://he-cda.wiley.com/WileyCDA/
Wiley Higher Education
A
Division of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Copy and Paste - Two specific reference
pages
http://bcs.wiley.com/he-bcs/Books?action=resource&bcsId=3138&itemId=0471663158&resourceId=8057
http://bcs.wiley.com/he-bcs/Books?action=mininav&bcsId=3138&itemId=0471663158&assetId=93637&resourceId=8057&newwindow=true
January 7 , 2009
1. For the last month or more, the principle effort has been on the design of math animations for small laptops. There is some reason to believe these computers will foster reasonably economical equal educational opportunities. No guarantees of course but a decent enough goal for the next few years. The design is for a small size wider screen, good for the longer formulas encountered, which is still useful for desktops of varying display dimensions.
2. My principle consideration is the simultaneous visibility and comprehension of both the formula and the diagram on the small screen. Comprehension of algebra is a desired result but to my knowledge no one has ever gained that without at least some geometric diagram or another and the Flash movies can emulate somewhat the rather sketch-like step by step proceedures of a whiteboard with the additional value of the viewer's ability to review and control the steps, both backward and forward from any point in the proceedure, as often as may be needed.
Both Dedikind and Descartes appear to have had some success with this kind of geometric approach, and to paraphrase Dedikind it is "necessary if you don't want to waste too much time."
So far, this seems possible at least for the introductory material. The animation is currently titled Integration 5 (May 10, 2009 - now renamed Integration 2 - this contains the formula which takes up the most space so design had to start here) based principally upon the mathtutor video and pdf documentation linked in the animation. The idea is to combine available internet material into something useful into the forseeable future (say 3-5 years).
3. The stated goal is a reasonably comprehensible "fourier" animation demonstrating the harmonic content of the guitar strings. I've done one already but it is not very convincing. Much of the material here is probably more technical than will be used in the final animation but is challenging enough and serves to experiment with and demonstrate internet communication techniques.
A number of the choices made really should be tested for their ability to communicate the ideas and inspire the necessary effort, I have no means of doing this and there is no reason to suppose that every button links to precisely the best explanation. The guiding principle I use is not the classroom but the courtroom, wherin a jury of otherwise unprepared individuals needs to be quickly convinced of the truth of expert witness testimony. For that, I must first gain some technical knowledge myself.
May 30, 2008
1. Greater reliance on Tabs which were not available when the site was first created and is expected to make navigation a bit easier.
September 23, 2007
1. High Display DPI (PPI) as well as new wide screen monitors is and apparently will be a continuing problem - distortion and small text. There are no simple solutions. My last research is on a separate page Monitor Resolution.html
Combined with browser differences, I really have no ideas about what to do next. Will probably try to streamline the site a bit, minimize the problems and work on organization.
November 13, 2006
To keep an eye on:
Microsoft is making its own entry into the field. (launched April, 2007 - as Expression Studio. - Silverlight, their plug-in competition for Flash Player has also launched - but it, like the new Flash CS3 requires a larger computer than I have so I will not be keeping up with these developements.)
http://www.publish.com/article2/0,1895,1914880,00.asp
Interactive Designer - Sparkle - WPF/E Windows Presentation
Foundation /Everywhere (old name-Avalon?)
... an alternative to Adobe's
popular Flash...Sparkle builds complete programs that have the potential to
access anything within the Windows operating system...
(So far), apparently, for professionals...(is this code only?)
not the occasional novice user.
(ror - i.e. - not me)
http://www.blink-media.com/jeffjoneslive/Expression-interactive-designer.asp
jeff jones...Over all...If your want to build something people
can use in the next five years use Flash...
____________
Flash versus Ajax
(ror - Ajax, as a programming language, is
essentilly beyond my capabilities in any event.)
Flash is better for creating... software demonstrations including audio and animated user interaction, (and...eye candy attention...animated cartoons and impressive personal websites.)
AJAX is better then Flash for creating the over all Rich Internet Applications...( web applications that have the features and functionality of traditional desktop applications)
July 7, 2006
Some alternatives to Flash are noted here: My conclusions so far, I'm staying with Flash but may want to take a closer look at Cinderella and Geometer's Sketchpad.
As I understand it, Flash is an artistic drawing program, it takes shortcuts with the math and physics for the sake of making appealing presentations, suitable for use on the internet. Game developers are emphatic that such shortcuts are needed, that you cannot get bogged down in details if you want to hold interest and make things "look right".
The drawings and animations involving time are a nice mechanical proceedure for learning some of the principles - some of which are not understood without this process. Flash does this better than anything else I've seen so far but it now does many other things and it's drawing tools have become more difficult through Flash 8. A new version "CSR" is now out (May 2007) and if I can get myself a newer computer I'll see what Adobe is a now up to.
Some understanding of Flash's limitations is necessary - perhaps from the geometry programs noted .
The geometry program "Cinderella" may be a practical solution for students to create such animations.
My thinking again, a principle method of learning is to create such animations - at as early an age as may be found practical.
http://cinderella.de/tiki-index.php
Geometer's Sketchpad and Cabri Geometry and a number of other programs and discussion forums etc. may be found at http://mathforum.org/dynamic.html
Sketchpad
http://www.keypress.com/sketchpad/
The following example may take a while to download:
http://www.keypress.com/sketchpad/javasketchpad/gallery/pages/sine_waver.php
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A GoogleSearch on May 14, 2006 has discouraged me from seeking immediate help from SVG technology.
http://gilbane.com/gilbane_report.pl/80/SVG__The_Future_of_Web_Rendering.html
A 2002 article...
"PDF and Flash are the only serious survivors here, and they both allow for more graphically sophisticated content."
April 5. 2005
I have spent some time experimenting with various color combinations and alternatives to solid colors, this has proven surprisingly difficult and no improvements have yet been discovered. I'll take a look at more flash sites for ideas. Some people may not be able to distinguish the colors used.
Sound - sometime maybe, there is a lot out there already and I am placing the visuals for complex motion of an air molecule ahead of everything else. Images of simple harmonic motion are commonplace - images of complex harmonic motion and the change from one pattern to the next are pretty much nonexistant but that is what happens when music is played. That is the nature of 'chord progression'. Some people cannot hear either but may appreciate the visual animations.
February 1, 2005
1. The design of the website is important, I chose the content long ago because of its fundamental educational significance and because I was interested enough to study it for some time. When the web came along it became the fundamental means of communication for the content so, how to use the web became the study.
2. I have tried to address 'Conceptual Problems' that might
benefit from the interactive, animated medium; if not actually solved, hopefully
they have not been made worse.
3. I have used mostly drawing techniques to date, verifying
my math with paper, pencil and calculator. It has some advantages in sketching
out design ideas and it allows "virtual experiments" to verify the math - up to
a point. The Tutorials page (Update>Tutorials) and the Links page show what
others are doing.
4. I think of the animations as supplements to lectures and treatises in the areas of Math, Science, and Music. They are experiments on how technology might be used, somewhat speculative, and subject to review by more qualified experts in those fields.
5. Ideally, they would appear so obvious, the viewer
wouldn't think he or she was learning anything. and yet be interested enough to
continue through the sequence stopping only occasionally to repeat a point or
two.
6. I would expect to address official educational standards
when I can be reasonably certain the math is sufficient and accurate enough for
the topic. Partial Differential Equations is the goal right now.
7. They follow some order in that as one concept was dealt
with, it raised another question and the next animation was undertaken. The
original animations are centered about "Wave Sums 2" - the very first animation
was "Travelling Waves 2" included in it.
8. A bit more organization of the Contents page seems needed
and some titles may be changed. The current titles are little more than working
filenames and they could be a little more descriptive. I would like the contents
page to guide the viewer - better than it does now. Some of these titles were
dreamed up on the spur of the moment, very late at night and may mean very
little to others.
9. The alphabetical index is ok - I dont want people to bog
down in detail here - the quicker they get on, get the idea, then get to the
actual work the more successful the animations are.
10. The largest file size allowed so far is about 65 kb,
< 25kb is preferred, fast download is essential. A single long movie is not
possible due to continuous updates and overly long download times.
11. (Feb 01, 2005) - The Source File Download may be
abandoned at some point, it is abridged to avoid copyright infringement issues
and it is difficult to update and upload.
12. I have followed the copyright requirements to the best
of my ability. The law however relies on tradition and precedent (even when
interpreting statutes).Such things are notably hard to pin down in cyberspace,
which reinvents itself by the nanosecond. For a non-comercial website, this one
should be OK.
13. Pop-up Blockers! I just want multiple images to be
viewable side by side for comparison. Blockers weren't around much when I
started and I didn't realize they might be a problem. I may need to reprogram
and retest a lot of buttons - not before I am ready to reorganize the Contents
page. It must be assumed that some people will not get through to the animations
until the change is made. With all the pop-up blockers, anti-virus, firewalls,
security keys, etc., surfing the net seems more like dragging on a suit of armor
and going out for a joust. In the meantime, turn off the blocker and keep an eye
on the taskbar.
14. The original idea of possible use on a PDA screen can be
seen by resizing the images. I am not pursuing that goal right now; too much
explanatory text has been used and I don't see how to work it into PDA
formatting.
15. Screen size had been restricted to the Flash default
(550x400) for the possible PDA use, therefore, there is some overcrowding and
considerable screen space is available for expansion of each of the animations.
It will no doubt be filled up all too quickly on some future update.
16. The ideal is one idea, one screenview. Difficult
sometimes but worthwhile - I don't even like the scrolling text bars and prefer
to shorten my text if possible.
17. The string, as the generator of the sound, is the
central focus in most of the animations.
18. I think of the string as a number continuum and all the
various tunings and segmentation as denumerations thereof. I do not know how far
this idea will get me or anyone else.
19. The guitar image itself is something of a modified,
simplified classical guitar. It is designed to be the principle stationary image
unifying all the motion around it. The fret spacings themselves are as accurate
as I could draw them - I will have to see if that cannot be improved with
actionscript.
20. The color background has been changed from yellow to
grey. This is not quite as "inviting" but involves less eye strain and
distracting "residual image" from the animation. Eye strain is a problem with
all colors, possibly less with gray. Hopefully flat panels will reduce the
strain and will become inexpensive enough to reduce the strain on our bank
accounts.
I am considering the possible use of alternate background colors one for use in bright lighting and one for surfing in a dimly lit enviornment. Contrast with the object colors causes considerable problems though -what is dimly lit in front of one color becomes glaringly bright with another
My thinking right now is that colors should have as little contrast as is necessary to distinguish the objects in the animation. the main object highlighted with a bit more contrast.I am experimenting with various cross-hatching and plaid combinations to replace solid colors which may be difficult to distinguish by color-blind viewers. Nothing has worked out very well so far.
21. The web pages titled "Literature" and "Math" contain
some citations to authority and small screen sized quotations I hope to work
cleverly into future animations.
22. Links to other sites do a lot of the explaining.
23. There is a considerable learning curve with Flash;
hardly any of the animations would be done the same way again. I believe file
size can be reduced 10-15% and more interactivity can be introduced at the same
time. Creative action scripting may increase speed and performance.
24. I have an idea for the buttons I would like to try - a
circle format with a combined on/off button in the center. This would take less
real estate and require less mouse movement for the interactivity features. The
next and previous buttons would remain as they are. I might learn something from
the computer gamers and will spend some time there.(Feb. 2005 - I have the
on/off button but no time for the redesign, yet.)