with the good, must come some bad

OK, so a few days ago I mentioned that I was nearing completion of the interactive site.
Needless to say, the perfecting I mentioned has resulted in some good (the final piece), and some bad (namely errors).

And these errors just don't make sense, which is frustrating!

I had a count down clock to use in the MINI section. In my test runs on a seperate Flash file it all worked with no problems. Bring that code over to the main project, insert the dynamic text box and what do ya know, it doesn't work. There were no compiler errors whilst exporting the movie, but it didn't work. Why? I don't know.

The solution I've had to implement to deal with this is probably the worst of them all - leave it out. Grrr!

Elsewhere in the troubled land of Flash CS3 AS3 is frame rate at which the videos are played back. I initially paid no attention to what fps they were imported and embedded with, but on watching and finding clips cut short, or sped up considerably I investigated and updated all the files.

Still though, I can't quite seem to get the fps exactly right. 25fps you think would do? What about 24.9? What about just play as original? I've tried them all and I still can't decide which is as it should be!!

The whole reason for this post is because with the evaluation approaching, it's good to get some cons down. And a few more days down the line, I'd no doubt forget this stuff and wear my rosetinted glasses, praising every pixel! lol

So reassurance for all, Flash doesn't always play nice. Suggestion: don't play back nice either, give it a lot of stuff to process and see it suffer! Ha ha

--

Meanwhile user testing is underway, and I'm finding it very useful. Having sat with this work for hours and hours and hours upon end, I unknowingly see over what's not so obvious or what doesn't do what you'd expect. And here is where user testing reveals it's wonders.

The questionnaire was pretty simple enough to make, I have done enough myself to know what's worthwhile asking.

Once I gather in the last few questionnaires (obviously the more you do the better), 'Unwravel the Mystery' will be given one last polish and then published for good. Oh and then there's the evaluation report which wants to know about part one and two, and all in under 1500 words. Oh dear. Limited wordcounts pose problems for me!

@