MSEC Multimedia Elective, Fall 2002, Homework 8

Multimedia Web Site with Images, Sound, Animation and Video

Due December 15, 2002

Assignment Requirements

This final assignment for the course is due Sunday, Dec. 15. It can not be late (as the grades must be turned in!); assignments not found on Dec. 16 will be graded based on what does exist at your web site for the multimedia elective course.

You should create a web site, i.e., a series of three or more html pages, which contain at least the following items:

• a unifying theme: web pages look like they belong together through consistent color, layout and style and contribute to a shared purpose (i.e., not a single front door html file with a list of links to MM Homework 1, Homework 2, etc.)
• ten image files
• an audio file
• a video file
• two different formats of animations, e.g., one Flash animation and one HTML+TIME IE 5.5 animation; other animation formats include SMIL and animated gifs but there are numerous possibilities
• one html file validated to be either HTML 4.01 Strict or one of the XHTML 1.0 types. See http://validator.w3.org for information. You must include the "validator" graphic and link somewhere on the validated page, as is done with Mike Christel's home page
• one html file that has its meta tags checked by a non-Carnegie Mellon (i.e., outside source) meta tag utility; one example is Meta Medic; again you must include the "meta tags checked" graphic and link somewhere on the validated page; you can use an alternative service rather than MetaMedic if you find another one more to your liking
• a single front page into your homework 8 assignment (this multimedia web site assignment), i.e., the "front door" to your web site; any restriction on the browser needed to access your web site should be enforced on this page; half-credit given for simply noting that the contents are "best viewed in XXX"; full-credit is given if user is redirected to appropriate content. For example, if your site only runs under IE 5.5+, you can use JavaScript to sniff the browser type and version, redirect IE users to a page describing where to download the latest version, redirect non-IE browsers to a "Sorry..." page, and let all others through to your IE 5.5+ web site. Browser sniffers are discussed in many, many JavaScript libraries (e.g., webmonkey.com).
• a separate single html file describing the purpose and intended audience of your web site, its contents in terms of pages and size, permissions for reusing material produced by others, and the two different formats of animations used and their urls (or urls to the pages which contain those animations). Also, add commentary on any special features your web site offers that should entitle you to the final 10 percent of this homework's grade. That is, to earn above a 90% for this assignment, you need to include some special feature and brag about it in this description page. A few examples are verifying accessibility by the disabled through use of the "Bobby" validation service; being 100% XHTML 1.0 compliant throughout all your web site; having a great volume of information; tying in a database to your work; tying in interesting script with your pages; having lots of original graphics; doing a superb job at synchronization to deliver a particular message; etc. NOTE: For security reasons I will not be downloading nor grading any ActiveX controls or plug-ins for your pages. You can use Macromedia Flash and the other tools we have provided for the other homeworks for this class. Your strength of argument and comparative merit of your special features with respect to the rest of the class will be used to grade this final 10%.