Week Seven

OBJECTIVES

Complete weekly blogs, add them into a word document so that they are all together and submit online to EIT on Monday 14/09/2015 before 17.00 hrs..

Start making the second interactive eBook, Wise Up, the choice is yours using Adobe InDesign.

PROJECT 

The project I have been tasked to do is for New Zealand Fire Service, in this part I shall be making an interactive eBook from the Wise up, the choice is yours booklet which the Fire Service has given me.

TASKS

Create a sixteen page document using Adobe InDesign

Insert text boxes

Insert text

Insert graphics

Insert page number

Insert colour

Insert shapes

DAILY LOG

Monday

Opened a word document, formatted it (looked at a past document for progress report from Project Management course) and then opened up week one of my blog. I formatted the blog to match the headings on my Word document (wish I had thought to do this on week one as it would have been so much easier) and added more details (still not enough apparently - finding this so hard to do BUT I will add more details during the weekend). Once I had formatted week one I copied the text and added it into the Progress Report (Word document) and then I had to highlight the text I had just copied and format that to match the font and layout. I then proceeded to do this for the following six weeks worth of blogs and it took all day (especially as I was looking back over my notes to see if there was extra things I could write about.

Tuesday

This week in eBusiness we helped a fellow international student with her assignment (assignment two) instead of having our lecture. This really helped me to understand what I have to do as well so I really appreciated the lesson. The class formed four different groups and each group wrote their ideas on a large sheet of paper - these were placed round the classroom and each group talked about their ideas (a good brainstorming session). It helped to show the whole class how to promote a company using eBuiness and some of the aspects you need to think about when doing this. The four sections that were covered were:

• Mission Statement (including B2B, B2C, stand along etc)
• Keywords Generated
• Budget (Daily) - No of campaigns
• Impressions and CTR
• Advertising

Wednesday

Continued reading the books that I got from EIT library for the research project and I did some searching on the internet. You have to be so specific in what you write as 

Thursday

To be added
eBusiness - made pages on fb, twitter and linkedin - write up about these and how much fun it was now I know what I am doing after Tuesdays lesson. Spoke to another student who knows about Google Adware and he talked me through that and about click rates and what that means (maybe explain abit about this later)

Friday

Today I concentrated on my research topic as I feel as if I am behind and should already have something written down (saw and spoke to Kathryn and Emry who both said I was fine where I was up to - relief on that one). Still I managed to do some research on-line.  which was good. I logged on and looked in Google Scholar writing first the words "Jakob Nielsen Usability Criteria". This gave me a good starting base and I looked at various sites and wrote some notes. I also did screen shots of the results.

As I can not add these I have added a link to one of the result pages.
https://www.google.co.nz/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=jakob%20nielsen%20usability%20criteria 

I also did searches using the words 'Interactive eBook software usability criteria', 'Criteria for evaluating eBook creator', 'Creating interactive eBooks' and 'Evaluating eBook development software'. This gave me a broad range of what I required and will give me a good bases of what to look at and read to start writing about my special topic (Interactive eBooks).


PROBLEMS

Blog formatting
Keeping detailed records of daily tasks.

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

Decide a format one the first blog and copy and paste into a draft copy before using in other blogs.
Write down each day in the blog what has been achieved.

LEARNING EXPERIENCE

STATUS OF PROJECT

The objectives for this week were to start the second interactive eBook, Wise up, the choice is yours within Adobe InDesign. This was achieved using all the tasks stated above.

REFLECTION ON ISSUES

I wish I had formatted the blog posts to be under the same heading each week then I would not have had to spend the whole day doing this. Saying that I was pleased with the results but wish I had more time to add a summary of what I had achieved to-date. After doing this it was easier to copy and paste into the word document ready for submission.

Week Six

OBJECTIVES

Create the rest of the pages required for the interactive eBook Be Fire Safe using Adobe InDesign.

PROJECT 

The project I have been tasked to do is for New Zealand Fire Service. They wish to have two books (Be Fire Safe activity book and Wise Up, the choice is yours) which are published made into interactive eBooks which can be used with an Android device which will allow greater accessibility to children within the school environment.

TASKS

Create five pages using Adobe InDesign

Insert text boxes

Insert text

Insert graphics

Insert page number

Insert colour

Insert shapes

DAILY LOG

Monday

Had to restart all over again as the graphics and text were slightly blurry. To do this I made each page a PDF file, made sure it was 100%, took a snapshot and added it into a Word document (no margins) then saved each page as a PDF file. On checking each page was alot clearer and easier to read. I followed the following process:

• Select Adobe InDesign
• Select File
• Select New
• Select required amount of pages and select book
• Change margins and gutter to 0
• Set page to 45% ( having the pages like this enabled me to use the rectangular frame tool to fit a frame onto the whole page, (the rectangular tool has to cover the whole page (white space)
• Select File
• Select Place
• Select page one
• Select Open
• Click on image in centre of page (do this process for each of the 16 pages)
• SAVE
• • Within Export to Interactive PDF window
  • Select Pages as All Pages
  • Select View after exporting
  • Select Forms and Media to Include All
  • Select JPEG Quality as Maximum
  • Select OK

The images are compressed as a JPEG (Lossy) and you can save the quality as either medium, high or maximum. I saved mine as maximum.

Tuesday

Meeting with client (Mark Fowler, New Zealand Fire Service) today at 10am at EIT.

We discussed where I was up to, what software I was using (we also discussed the fact that we had both looked for free software on-line which could make interactive eBooks) and how it was going so far. Mark had a look at the book and was happy with the progress to date. However, he did ask if I could add a sound button on page 10 so that the poem could be read and a drag and drop facility on page 12 instead of drawing a line from one object to another. These I will have to look into and play with the software to see if this can be done. Mark also talked about what the Fire Service use at the moment, they use the Citrix System which provides servers, applications (Intranet) and networking. They use SMS - Station Management System and Training Management System and because there are servers all over the place nothing 'talks' to anything. At the moment the security system they use is Knox which is from Samsung. Next year there is going to be a large IT roll out for the whole of the fire service, each fire truck will use Samsung tablets.

I managed to insert all the text boxes, naming them for pages that required them and saved the document on my drive and laptop (so I have a copy in case something happens to the drive - or laptop).

Wednesday

As several of the things I am trying to do I can't and I am getting frustrated and annoyed I have been watching videos on YouTube and reading the books (from the library). 

Thursday

Saw the hand specialist today about my left index finger as I broke in February and I do not have full movement yet which is annoying as it is hard to type. The specialist sent me to see the physio who was in the same building to make an appointment. As he was there he quickly saw me, giving me some exercises and he strapped my fingers together. I didn't get home until late so that was a day not working on the eBook.

Friday

Today I needed to discuss with client what he requires in regards to drag and drop, as he was away I sent an email. I sat and read part of Multimedia Literacy 3rd ed. by F. T. Hofstetter, this was in regards to my research project. I have also been reading Graphic Design Essentials: Skills, Software and Creative Solutions by J. W. Macanio for the same reason. Within this book is a chapter on InDesign so I made lots of notes today and typed some out for my assignment. 

PROBLEMS

Time out to see specialist. Work not 100% clear.

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

Don't break fingers. Get somebody to check work for clarity before you get too far into it.

LEARNING EXPERIENCE

My learning experience this week was good in one way. I recreated several pages of the interactive eBook and I am feeling good about that. Not so good about it not being so clear in the first place.

STATUS OF PROJECT

The objectives for this week was to add the rest of the pages to complete the first interactive eBook. Although all the pages have been included not all of the functions that I wanted to do have been done so I am slightly behind.

REFLECTION ON ISSUES

What a hard lesson to swallow when friends saw the book and made comments that it was not 100% clear (graphics and text). I could see what they meant and the pages were only slightly off - say at 98% but that was not good enough. Spent a frustrating Sunday and Monday sorting out how to correct this and get back up to where I had previously been. On a good note the client's feedback was good. He asked for a couple of additional features which will be included within the eBook.

Week Five

OBJECTIVES

Create at least five pages for the interactive eBook Be Fire Safe using Adobe InDesign. Complete each page to the standard set out in the printed version of the book. Make sure that each object is inserted into the correct place, make sure the colour is the same as that of the book. Insert text boxes into the correct space provided and name each text box in accordance to the function it is connected with. Make sure that the page turning facility is available.

PROJECT 

The project I have been tasked to do is for New Zealand Fire Service. They wish to have two books (Be Fire Safe activity book and Wise Up, the choice is yours) which are published made into interactive eBooks which can be used with an Android device which will allow greater accessibility to children within the school environment.

TASKS

Create five pages using Adobe InDesign

Insert text boxes

Insert text

Insert graphics

Insert page number

Insert colour

Insert shapes
Name each field accordingly

DAILY LOG

Monday

Today I started working on page four of Book One, Be Fire Safe Activity Book. This page has several different sections but the main things that need to be included on this page will be a text field and tick boxes The tick boxes will have to be check boxes to allow the person using the eBook to place a tick in the correct circle.

At the weekend I managed to get up to date with the required progress reports. These I have been doing as a weekly blog, however all I feel as if I am doing is updating the blog all the time as what I have written is not enough. You, the reader will want to know not that I started working on page four but how I was working on it. What I did and how I did it. This to me is time consuming and feels like it takes longer to write down what I have been doing than the actual doing (if you know what I mean).  However, I will try to remember to write down each stage so you, the reader can follow what I have been doing.

This is how it went:

• Opened laptop
• Started laptop
• Got a cuppa as laptop takes forever loading
• Selected Adobe InDesign - open
• Plugged in external hard drive (copies of what I have done so far saved on device)
• Selected file manager
• Selected Microsoft Word - open
• In Adobe InDesign select File
• Select Open
• Select required file from drive
• Select blank page you want to work on
• Select File
• Select place
• Select page from device you wish to insert (I always op[en this within Microsoft Word to make sure that I have added the correct one)
• Select open
• Click on 'placed' insert
• Rearrange the size to fit the page (lots of fiddling about)
• Select Window from InDesign Drop Down Tabs
• Select Interactive
• Select Buttons and Forms
• On the tools (left hand side of page) select Type Tool
• Move to correct position
• Drag to the required size
• Select Selection Tool, place over type field created
• Within Buttons and Forms select Type
• Select the required type required (Text field in this case)
• Select Name
• Write appropriate name (I always write which page and which question number)
• Select event
• Select hidden until triggered so that it is 'ticked'
• Select PDF Options
• Select Printable 
• Select Scrollable
• Make sure font size is 12
• SAVE

This has to be done for each section that I work on and seems a bit much for (a) me to keep writing it out and (b) for you to keep reading the same thing.

After I had made the text boxes and named them I proceeded to make check boxes for the other fields required.

Emailed contact to set up date for meeting and had a break.

When I came back laptop had lost power so I made sure that it was plugged in and proceeded to start the process all over again. To make pages five and six I opened up Adobe InDesign and opened my previously save document for this project (Book One). I scrolled down to the empty page five (set up ready to insert page five). I went back to file manager and selected my external hard drive (this has the copied book saved on it). I selected Book One and opened in Microsoft. I then proceeded to copy page five and then went back to Adobe InDesign and inserted the copy I had done. As it didn't fit the page correctly (went out of the margin lines) I proceeded to change the size until it fitted correctly. There is a lot of fiddling about doing it this way and I am sure there must be an easier way. I did use the icons on Adobe InDesign which if selected say that you can do an 'auto fit' however this did not work as I expected it to so I tried some of the other buttons that are used for auto fit, these were called:

• Align left edges
• Align right edges
• Align Top edges
• Align bottom edges
• Align horizontal centers
• Align vertical centers

Whet ever I tried the page would not fit into the space it was supposed to go which was very frustrating. I ended up deleting the page and starting all over again which worked - maybe I messed about with it too much in the first place I don't know...

Finally when the page was correctly inserted I thought as I was on a roll so I did the same process as I previously talked about and inserted page six from the copy I had made as a Word document. With the two pages inserted I remembered to save (in the event that the internet went down or I did something accidental and lost the work). Having looked at the two pages I decided that I would work first on page five first as that was the easiest one to do. Why? it only need me to add five text boxes. I did this by selecting the text tool, placing it where I wanted the text box and added it by using the mouse to drag it to the size required. As the first one was not quite right I used my arrow keys to position it in the correct place (I did this with the following text boxes which were required).

After inserting all the text boxes I remembered to go back to the first one I had made on page five so I could name it. Once I had selected the text box I selected the Window tab and clicked on Interactive, this brought another pop up list and I selected buttons and forms. With the first text box highlighted I selected Type (on buttons and forms) and selected Text Field. I then selected the name option and typed in Page_5_Question_1. For the event I elected On Release or Tap and left the Actions button as it was. I then proceeded to select Hidden Until Triggered (a tick appeared next to the comment) and made sure that only printable and scrollable were selected in the PDF Options. There was a facility to write something in the Description area but as I had already named the field I thought that this would just be duplicating what I had written earlier. Font size was left at the standard 12 points.

I did this same process for all the text fields, naming them:

• Page_5_Question_2
• Page_5_Question_3
• Page_5_Question_4
• Page_5_Question_5

Just checked this last field and saw that I had inserted the wrong field so changed it to a text field and renamed it (so glad that I was looking at what I had done whilst writing this blog). Although it does not seem I have done much (I don't think I have) it takes me forever to do what seems to be the simplest things.

Tuesday

e-Business lecture this morning in which we discussed things to do with our assignment two. It was quite interesting to learn about other companies and how they operate within the eBusiness commerce field (Tesco and Amazon).

After the lesson I tucked myself away in the Multimedia room (third floor up in the computer block at EIT) and started working on page 6. I had to take my laptop into college (heavy bag) as the software I am using (Adobe InDesign) is not on the college computers. Once I had set up and opened Adobe InDesign I had to select my drive from the File Manager and open up the saved Book One before I could start. I also opened up Microsoft Word so I could use later to open up the pages I had saved (one by one) of the book Be Fire Safe Activity Book. As I was still finding it hard to place things in certain positions I had a look at a video on YouTube which refreshed my memory and helped a lot. However, placing something into a document is not easy, you can not just copy and paste it into Adobe InDesign. You have to:

• Select file
• Select place
• Select the drive your work is saved on
• Select what it is you wish to insert
• Select open

Once you have done this the item you selected appears on your page in Adobe InDesign but it is small. You have to select the 'placed' item and it enlarges it to the size it should (or thinks it should) be. You then have to position the 'placed' item into the correct place where you want it. On this page instead of the six fields being text boxes they have to be a check box to enable the person using the book to place a tick or a cross into the box. This part is really complicated for me because I will have to learn how to do layers in which to hid the tick or cross if the answer is wrong (will have to find another video to watch how to do this). What I did do was to insert all the text boxes and name them accordingly but in the Type Field I selected Check Box. At least I achieved something today but by the time I had completed this it was time to go home and pick the children up from school. I remembered to save (file, export etc.).

I had a telephone conversation with my client today, he is excited to see the interactive eBooks and we have arranged a meeting for next Tuesday at EIT at 10am.

After the children were asleep I set up the laptop and added page seven. I completed the same process as page six, naming the fields and selecting the check box as the type required. 

Wednesday

Worked at home today as the laptop is so heavy to keep carrying around.
Today I need to try to find out how to do a drag and drop facility within InDesign as so far I can not find it within the book I got from the EIT Library (Adobe InDesign CS6 Digital Classroom. This is required for the user to complete pages eight and nine. This is taking longer to try to find and set up than I anticipated and it is time consuming and frustrating. I looked how to do this on YouTube as reading the book (from the library) didn't help much. Watching a video and making notes was more helpful but it still did not fully explain how to do this. What I want to do is to be able to drag items ABCDEFGH from page 8 to the correct boxes (Tool Box or Toy Box) on page 9. Also if the item from page 8 was placed into the wrong box I need it to go back to the original place on page 8. This is going to require several different layers and lots of thought. To make sure I don't fall behind I have left it as it is for now.

Thursday

e-Business class working on assignment two. After the lesson I again went and hid myself in the Multimedia room on level 3 of the computer block at EIT. I powered up the machine and proceeded to open up Google Chrome. I search for drag and  drop in Adobe InDesign CS6 which came up with lots of different things. Some were tutorials within Adobe, others were on YouTube, including some from people who work for Adobe and call themselves The Gurus. There were no drag and drop facilities that I had previously used in other software but things to do with anchoring objects etc, Left feeling more frustrated and lost than ever.

Friday

Hope today is better. going to get started on page ten. This page is a poem with graphics and should be easy to complete.

Powered up laptop (cuppa time) opened Adobe InDesign, selected my drive from the File Manager and open up the saved Book One before I could start. I also opened up Microsoft Word so I could use later to open up the pages I had saved (one by one) of the book Be Fire Safe Activity Book.

I then followed the normal process:

Select file

Select place

Select the drive your work is saved on

Select what it is you wish to insert

Select open

PROBLEMS

Graphic placement - not correct sometimes so had to do them several times. Drag and drop facility.

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

Watch video on how to place graphics within a document and read book, Adobe InDesign CS6 Digital Classroom. Find out how to do layers and how to 'hide' until I get the correct look I am after.

LEARNING EXPERIENCE

My learning experience this week was good but really frustrating and time consuming. Although I created several pages of the interactive eBook none of it has been easy. Trying to do things which I have done using other software and can't using this software is not only frustrating but annoying because it is not so easy to do as I want it to be.

STATUS OF PROJECT

The objectives for this week were to add five pages into the interactive eBook using Adobe InDesign. This I managed to do.

REFLECTION ON ISSUES

This week was hard as I could not get the graphics quite right and was getting frustrated so rather than getting more frustrated and leaving the eBook I looked at YouTube videos and wrote some notes with which I can refer back to when required. I found just reading the book on how to do something didn't really work for me and I needed something visual to see and something written in my own words so I could understand and refer back to when required much more useful. I need to learn how not to get so frustrated when the software does not do what I want it to do and to find an easier way around the problems I keep getting.  I am also finding it hard to convey in words what I am reflecting upon as I do the work and not really reflect on it. I just make sure that it looks exactly like the page in the book and that all the features that are required on that page are set up correctly. When I get frustrated that I can't find something online to show me how to do something, or I can't read it in a book I realise that it is time to make a cuppa and sit quietly. Quite often it gives me an idea of how I can tackle this problem differently (try something else). If nothing springs to mind all I do is go onto the next page and write down what I have missed (have to do later). 

Week Three

WEEK THREE

This week (and for the next few weeks) I shall be working on the interactive eBooks, assignments for eBusiness and my Special Topic (this is a research paper on Interactive Software for eBooks).

OBJECTIVES

Start creating pages for the Be Fire Safe interactive activity book using Adobe InDesign CC.

PROJECT 

Producing two interactive eBooks for New Zealand Fire Service. These books are aimed at different aged children and are called Be Fire Safe activity book and Wise Up, the choice is yours. At present these are in printed form and are taken into schools by the Fire Awareness Intervention Practitioner to help show the children the dangers of fire and their consequences and the difference between good and bad fires.

TASKS

Create a 16 page document using Adobe InDesign
Add graphics, text and colours for the cover page
Insert New Zealand Fire Service Logo

DAILY LOG

Monday

Today I watched several videos on YouTube about how to make an interactive eBook using Adobe InDeisgn. I also watched some videos on the same subject within Adobe (on their website are tutorials). I wrote notes as I watched to allow me to refer back to them, when and if required, whilst I am making the interactive eBook.

Tuesday

eBusiness lecture today - discussed assignment and worked on that. This week it was in regards to Logistics for e-Commerce companies and what was offered by these companies. I went into the multimedia room up in the computer block (3rd floor) and went online and looked up several different large companies (which we have previously looked at) and had a look at their logistics. What they do, from where and how they do it (themselves or outsourcing). This also included how many different distribution centres the company has, if they delivered all the products, how many products and how many shops the company has.

I later worked on page two of the first interactive eBook. The first page only had colour, shapes, graphic and a logo, this page has has all of those (except for the logo) and it has additional text boxes which have to be included and named (something I forgot to do for the first two text boxes). This is where the child adds their name and address and telephone number. It also has the objectives of what the book hopes to achieve.

To add a text box you have to:

• Open InDesgn
• Select file
• Select the file you are working on
• Select the rectangle tool (not the frame tool) 
• Move the cursor to the position you wish (see it is now a cross) hold the right side of the mouse down and drag the  frame to make the size you wish. If you want the frame to be a certain size then go view, show rulers. To make a text box a certain size you right click anywhere on the ruler and choose the measurement you require

Name each box as you go. To do this I inserted the text box then I went to Window and selected interactive then buttons and forms. Once selected there is a box that will appear. This is what it looked like when I was working on it.

Once I did this another box appeared which is this one which I then used to name the text field and select the options I required.

As you can see I have already selected the box that I am going to name. I did this with all the text boxes I have made. It is time consuming but well worth doing.

Wednesday

Today I started working on page three of the interactive eBook. This page has good or bad tick boxes, I had a problem trying to get the tick to disappear if it was placed in the wrong box. Also on this page are text boxes in which the child has to add text by answering the questions and a number box where they have to add the fire service phone number. If this is entered incorrectly then a box will show on the screen for a few seconds asking them to try again.

Thursday
eBusiness class today (2 hours). I went home and worked on page three of the Be Fire Safe interactive eBook. I managed to add all the graphics, text and text boxes. I had a few issues on how to do the tick boxes and make them disappear if they were incorrectly placed. I am leaving this part to do at a later date.

Friday
Worked at home today on page four of the Be Safe interactive eBook. Page four has several graphics, two tick boxes and text. I will have to discuss with Mark, my contact at NZFS, as to the drop down boxes with possible answers for one section (what answers do he want added).

Presentation to Taradale Fire Service Monday evening next week so started to make a PowerPoint presentation - this was to do with interactive eBooks and what I hope achieve for the Fire Service.

PROBLEMS
Trying to remember how to do things within Adobe InDesign Software and finding a simple solution on how to insert pages correctly.

POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
Watch the videos again on YouTube.

LEARNING EXPERIENCE

My learning experience this week had been learning how to use new software and how to insert different things and naming them.

STATUS OF PROJECT
The objectives for this week were to install Adobe InDesign and to start to make an Interactive eBook. This has been achieved.

REFLECTION ON ISSUES
I am feeling quite isolated doing this project, I do talk to others who are doing an internship but it does not help as they are doing several different things within their companies and can not understand working alone on a project. However, I do feel a bit more positive about this project as I have been able to complete several pages and that has given me an incentive to progress and learn more about the software and find out what I can create with it. My issues were trying to get the pages set correctly and naming text boxes. I forgot to name the first two and found that I couldn't go back and name these as I needed to have them in the correct order so I had to delete them all and start adding and naming them all over again. It also took me a little bit of time to find out (after doing a screenshot) was how to save the shot as a PNG file to enable me to put it into the blog - I know it is easy but it was so long since I had to do this that I forgot so it was good to revisit something that I will use again.