latest design spec - March 2009

Jim Ready's detailed brief including technical spec is as follows, with my notes (x1,2,3 etc) at bottom of page.

'GENARRATOR' PROJECT DEVELOPMENT BRIEF 09/03/09

Aims and Objectives

· To produce an online application allowing users to create and view interactive narratives.

Target Audience

· The project is aimed at anyone wishing to create an interactive narrative, without any prior experience.

Design

· Should be as simple and easy to use as possible
· Should fit on 1024 x 768 resolution with as little scrolling needed as possible.[X1]
· A suitable colour scheme should be used.

Registration [X2]

· Users should register with the site in order to create interactive narratives.
· Registration will require them to enter the following information:
◦ Name
◦ Age
◦ Email Address (should be verified)
◦ Password (entered twice for verification)

Creating Narratives

Users should register in order to create narratives.
Users should be able to add:
Sound
Video Files
Images
Text[X3]
Hyperlinks
Links to other pages in the narrative.
An optional sidebar with links to all pages.
New pages
Page Names (for creation use and use in the sitemap)
A site map should also be created showing the way in which pages are linked:
[X4]
A drag and drop system should be used to allow users to add these items as it is easy to use and will be familiar to most users.
An upload form for images, sound and video will be outside of the flash application (as flash does not have upload options).
A list of uploaded files will be displayed in flash, allowing them to be dragged into the narrative.
Options to resize and rotate images should be included. (Images can also be resized on upload to reduce file size as many users will not be able to resize them prior to upload)
Could be developed to allow users to change the background image.

Viewing Narratives

· Video and sound should have options to fast forward, pause and play.
· Mute button should be included and mute all sounds when pressed.
· Should display optional sidebar with links to all pages of the narrative (to the left of the narrative at first.. if different templates are introduced, the bar can be moved accordingly).
· Previously visited pages should be marked to inform users.

Front Page[X5]

· Displays the latest narratives viewable by the public (name, author, creation date and description, with a link to view the narrative)
· Has options to register/login or link to view/edit your narratives if already logged in.
· Possibility to search narratives.

My Narratives[X6]

· Has list of all narratives user has created with options to edit/delete them.
· Has options to edit user account information.

Technical Spec

· Should run in flash with PHP4 (xml feeds bringing data into flash)[X7]
· A mysql database will be used to store data, images, sounds and video will be stored in appropriate folders on the server


User Levels[X8]

· Admin
◦ Can delete all narratives
◦ Can modify user accounts

· Author
◦ Can edit and delete only narratives that they've created

· User
◦ Can view narratives.[X9]

[X1]No scrolling?

[X2]Tom and I like this

[X3]And images.
Question – what range of file types can be uploaded?
Elements need to be ‘ordered’ ie front to back, control which element lies I background, which element overlays.

[X4]Site map needs to be moveable. ie visually re-arranged to suit the writers’ conception of narrative structure. Also needs to show hyper-linked elements within a page, not page-to-page links

[X5]We like this v much

[X6]Good!

[X7]Good – Tom Ok’s this but Tom will check RackSpace host (php5 used?)

[X8]Maybe call this ‘Permissions’ ?

[X9]Maybe add a comment/discussion facility for readers later