| Developed For: |
Myself, Distributed Systems,
& Multimedia Programming Classes |
|
Completed In: |
3 weeks |
| Technologies: |
Flash, Director, XML |
|
Website Link: |
click here |
First, I would like to say that the reason for making this site was to showcase my computer that I built since
I put a lot of hours into customizing it. It wasn't a project where I said "Let me get the pieces of hardware, put them
in a case, and call it a computer." No, instead, I wanted it to be unique so I customized some of the parts to show off
the colors of the Intel Pentium 4 Processor
(Blue and Orange).
Ok, enough about the computer, lets talk about the site.
I came up with the idea when we had an assignment in Distributed Systems class to build a simple website. The website had to relate to ourselves,
either a hobby that we enjoyed, or about our family or job. In the end, the site had to incorporate a Flash animation and the use of XML.
I started to build the site with the intention that I wanted to show some of the pieces of hardware that I used for the computer, a section
that would demonstrate how to build a computer, and of course a links page to all the sites that I bought my pieces through. At first, I wasn't
sure how I was going to show how to build a computer on the web so I decided to put that on hold. I finished the layout of the pieces of hardware
that I used to build the computer and I incorporated XML into the links
page. All I needed was a Flash animation and then maybe some simple way of describing how to build a computer.
When I first started thinking of how I was going to use Flash in my site, the only thing that I could come up with was a simple banner ad on the
main page as many businesses use Flash in this way. But my problem was what was I going to advertise? The more I thought about it, I didn't
think it would be a good idea to do an ad since I would always know that I could have done better. After some more thinking, I came up with the idea
of a Flash intro to my site. This would be something to help excite the user about my site before they even entered it - that is if everything was
executed nicely.
Now that I had the Flash intro and XML integrated into my site, I was finally finished with the assignment; or was I?
Yes, the site met all the requirements for
the assignment but I still didn't have the section on building a comptuer completed. Luckily, while I was taking
this class, I was also enrolled in
Multimedia Programming class. At the same time I was working on this site, I was also working on a project
for Multimedia Programming. The assignment
had to use Macromedia's Director program to make an animation that taught the user something. Wow, I couldn't have
planned it
any better - I'll make an animation that teaches how to build a computer, that way I'll kill two birds with one
stone! The animation turned
out to be a great addition to the site - the only problem is that it is a 16 meg Shockwave file so it does
take some time to load.
In the end, I think the website turned out better than I had
planned. I hope you like it just as much as I do!
|
