p r o b l e m s

This is a hard time now as there is so much to do during assessment time. Nonetheless I am working diligently on the website. I have done a few swf files- they're ready to be placed in Dreamweaver!:)

I must admit that I had severe problems with defining how the website should be structured. I was struggling with the technological constraints. What I mean by this is that I did not know how to make sense of the pros and cons of Dreamweaver and Flash and how to make the most of it. I started to feel that I will have to find a compromise between the effect I want to achieve and what I can really make using the software. There was a problem for me considering the linking of the pages. I did not know if it's better to place a chunky swf which would include the most of the website content or to split it into several swfs which would be placed on separate pages. Both ideas had positive and negative sides and I did several tests... which showed that both ideas fail at some point... I wanted to use swf files as objects that could be linked to the other parts of the website, but Dreamweaver did not work the way I supposed it to do. I imported an invisible gif file as I thought I could place it in front of swf and use it as a link to the rest of the content. It worked when I tested it in safari browser on a MAC but it failed in Mozilla Firefox... I don't know why. What is more, I tested my website draft on a PC using the Internet Explorer and it was a disaster... And I entirely don't know WHY!!!


However, at the moment I think that the structure will be as follows
- index: the entrance. swf and a rollover underneath that will be linked with the menu page
- the menu page: a swf starting with the motive of leaves which will be linked to the rest of the composition
underneath the swf file there will be a rollover that will be linked to the "get me out of here" section with the sort of conclusion of the theme (what to do to change the status quo of the gender relations and representations) and a short presentations of the authors of music (MASSKOTKI& PESZEK) and my friend Ewa who made pictures I used in the compositions.


I already see limitation of such structure. As my composition should be in a landscape orientation, I will not be able to use the images I spent so much time on as they are in the portrait orientation! That's such a shame! This is the reason I am still considering splitting the swf into separate bits which would be placed on separate pages and linked. The leaves image (the menu) would be in a jpg format and treated with hotspots that would be linked to the pages with swf files. As my idea of placing the gif images on the swf file failed (and it is impossible to place hotspots on the swf too!), I am thinking of placing several rollovers underneath the swf file which would say for instance "go right", "go left", "jump", "go back" and each of these rollovers would take the audience somewhere else, to another page with another swf file. This would make sense and would be consistent with the design of the index page. It is far from what I wanted to achieve though... It is too late to cry over a spilt milk though!

Thus, it seems to me that I will have to compromise. The final decision which of these two ways I would follow will be probably made today when I get down to production.

I must criticise myself again- why did I left everything till the last minute? I clearly see that I have to develop time management skills. New Year's resolution?.... :)