Reflection

Picture Life was an interesting project I took on, venturing in to php and jquery was a main thought to progress further than static sites and also to gain more knowledge in to them. The overall design at the end was what i wanted to achieve and I would not change it. Userbility is very limited and something i will be addressing for the 3rd year. PHP script is on going for my own education and its use is vast and is an integral part of a web site, static sites are more like a cork board you have in your kitchen for information only. Owners of sites realise that to get the customer/user to interact and find an interest in their site then dynamic site it will be.

My reasurch was not as varied as I intended, I joined 3 flash forums putting questions regarding flash V jQuery and the response was poor. Several Photographers I emailed never replyed, So with this in mind I will be looking at gaining reasurch from a different angle, I never did 1 to 1 meets with photographers or flash users so this was an error on my behalf.

Userbility was missing crop tool and more freedom for the user to custom therre account and images, missing where delete and update options which gave the user limited use of the site.

Overall the project was a success with a far better understanding of the structor of php within a gallery and also the introduction to jQuery to my works.

Issues

I realise that i have not put to good use php in several areas that i can think of, this is due to time and inexperiance in php. Validation in several areas are missing..crop tool not part of the userbility aspect...image fime validation is another, im sure there are a few more but my knowledge in php is not to a high standard but i aim to carry on and persue php as it is a vital tool to have experiance in using for web design.

User testing

Due to extra time to finish the project and not giving myself enough time I did not manage to get a good response to feed back in regards to the gallery. this is something that will not happen in the 3rd year as user testing is vital to amend problems and issues.

update

Having added a register form followed by login, this was due to the user having there own page to upload there pictures. They go through a sequence of signing in clicking on there account then uploading images to there gallery. They can also add a description to the picture and have a drop down menu for 3 categorys at the moment. i did also decide to change the templete as I felt it was too block and bold/bare the colour scheme didnt feel write, so i stook with the blue of the logo, dropped the black for a cool grey and all sub headings where colourd blue, this feel gave it a smoother finish. i also separated the images on the index page to give them there own identity also with sub heading of theme.

Blog update

Still need to decide on user access with signing in, what are the pros and cons of this in this current project...

Upload landscape, people and nature images, and identify the home page themes in association to the image layout, this can include colour scheme in relation to colour highlight of lanscapes, people and nature links.

site in near to finish with amendmants due to make the site uniformal with a simple visual eliment.

Latest Update:Jquery

I have installed jquery with some interest... still work to be done on templete due to it's positioning on the templete, my design has moved in places not to my liking. Navigation on gallery at top can play or pause carousel, arrows either side can move to next image, thumbs numbered can open image once clicked, info bar is a transparent effect to view info regrads to image and can also be closed to have full view of image.

Contact page

Updated contact page, the page will be a servey to get the option of the user in Interactivity and usability of the gallery.Form is still to be added.

About us page

Updated about us page but need to decide on the right information to make the site more appealing.

Templete Update

Today I placed new images on the home page in association with Lanscapes-People-Nature. I also added a sub nav Categories.Logo is in place and the site will be called "Picture Life".

Home page update

Recent work on Gallery has been looking in to several themes to use and came to agree on three which will be Nature-people and Landscapes. Home page will consist of several images covering verious topics, with a global navigation: Gallery-About-Submit_Contact.
The Sub Navigation will be categories / Nature / people / Landscapes. Still working on the templete and php to do.The actual gallerys will be JQuery Carousel gallerys.

Social Flicker

Flicker is a social network site bringing together a community of visual imagery and video artist in showcasing there work to the professionals and novices of the visual age.

Flicker has relations with Yahoo which brings in the Yahoo audiance to a new way to communicate to family and friends. Groups can be made up on the site and if its landscapes you like then join landscape group, the list of groups in endless and you can make your own.

Flicker has all the applications like most other networking sites from email, groups, contacts, uploads and contact details/info and gifts.

Flicker Image discription

Once you have uploaded an image, a page appears to add information in relation to the image.
These consist of:

• Add Tag
• Title
• Discription

On the photo strem you can mouse over the text and change then save, but the image goes to a different page for editing.

Flicker

Before you upload an image it does state that a video can be no longer then 90secs in lengh or 150mb file size.

On uploading an image you can choose settings to:

• Set Privacy - Private - Friends or Family or Public
• Set Safety - Safe - Moderate or Restricted
• Set Content Type - Photo/Video - Screenshots/Screencasts or CGI/Art/Animation

They also offer a desk top app for windows and mac to upload images and videos quicker.

Mouse over Example

With mouse over the thumb is enlarged by 200-200 with a frame and space below to add info in relation to the image.

Gallery_example

Simple layout with templete to enhance image stage, thumb nails 100-100 with black border.

Draft - Example 3

Simlar to previous example but with a themed image navigation below, click on a theme and that theme will appear as thumbs and the same process will apply with a larger image and information.

Draft - Example 2

Example 2 shows thumb images to the right, mouse over without the need to click and the thumb is enlarged to the left with information in a a few lines.

Drafts - Example 1

Idea to bring the Old Photo Album on to the screen.

Colour Schemes

Visual Design

Global Navigation

The global navigation will include links on the Home page and all sub pages. The global navigation will be throughout the gallery site.

Project Structure

Project Content

Home page: The home page will have a short Introduction with basic information about what the site has to offer and how to use the site.

About us: Has information from home page as well as more information regarding galleries online.

Gallery Page 1, 2, 3: The gallery page will be clear and visually appealing to the eye with easy to use navigation to view the images.

Links page: External links to photography sites and other interesting sites regarding galleries and imagery.

Contact Page: The contact page will be for the project only and for the viewer to forward their comments on usability, visual appeal and any other comments that may improve the gallery.
Admin: This will consist of log on to upload images to the CMS.

USER EXPERIANCE

They will be 3 audience groups that will be using this gallery:

Beginner: is a frequent computer user who can navigate through a computer's operating system in order to open, edit and create files. However, the beginner is generally slower at these tasks.

Intermediate: is a daily computer user who feels at ease with the keyboard and mouse. The intermediate user can quickly and easily navigate through the computer's operating system as well as open, edit and create files. The intermediate user is willing to explore the use of computer technology.

Advanced: user is a daily computer user who can quickly and easily navigate through a computer's operating system as well as open, edit and create files. The "advanced computer user" already has a solid foundation in a particular program about which he or she is attempting to learn more.

GOALS

I aim to raise awareness that a simple CSS designed gallery can have the same effect visually as most free easy to download templates and have simple to use actions that anyone can access with ease. I intend to achieve a broader perspective on the use of CSS then just building web pages and a clearer understanding with images, dimensions and colour schemes.

ABSTRACT

Online Galleries were originally designed to display art work on a web site. The online gallery is either part of a run business or images to display the artists work or an Individuals personal photography or art work. Although many advances have been made with software to make the appearance and feel of the gallery more appealing, I feel there are too many gallery templates to choose from with scroll bars to special effects to bring the gallery to an interactive state, however, this I feel is moving away from the original use of a simple interface with simple functions to show case ones work or even the most recent holiday snaps. There is a social aspect to galleries where people from all walks of life use this interface to keep in touch with family and friends. This is important for business and communities all over the world.

Dream Weaver or Flash Gallery? You Decide !