Web documentaries

One of the critical and timely elements in the development of the Tower Web doc is the design of the home page and secondary page. The template team is responsible for creating the global navigation and, logo/banner, and layout which will be used throughout the site by all other teams. To do this they need to create Dreamweaver templates for all types of pages. The content teams are dependent on the template team to get the templates done in a timely manner so they can create the pages for their sections of the Web site.

Unfortunately, the template team has not met their deadlines and have made limited progress in the design of the site. Earlier in the semester they showed three layout ideas in class and received direction on other ideas to be explored. Since that time, however, no progress was made on the card sort to prioritize the global navigation, the logo/banner or the layout.

In order to get things back on track specific directions have been prepared with new deadlines for the team. Assignment directions for template team.

On Monday, April 4, the class period will be devoted to working on the Web documentary and the template team is to finalize their layout design and graphics. The template files are due on April 6. One way or another, the templates will be done by April 8 even if it means that the professor and her student assistant take over the design and template creation process. The time available to get the site produced continues to shorten, with only 6 weeks left before the site is to be posted, so this step needs to be completed.

Work Teams
Students in the MCJ 131 class have been divided up among several work teams. These include:

• Four content teams - each working on a section of the site.
• Template team - creating the design, navigation and page templates

In addition, students also are on one other team, either the usability team or the promotions team

• Usability team - Those content team members not assigned to the promotions team
• Promotions team - The team is made up of one representative from each of the content teams and the template team.

Promotions Team Report
Last night the promotions team reported on their plan for getting the word out about the Tower District Web documentary. Ideas include press releases to the campus newspaper and local media, fliers posted in the Tower District, and a launch party in the Tower District.

The team members are working on getting permission to host the launch party at the Tower Theater. Backup locations were suggested by classmates such as the Starline club. Team members are also working on getting refreshments donated and the program for presenting the Web site at the launch.

This week the content teams gave status reports to the class. This consisted of an overview of the topic they are covering and a rough diagram of the content elements. Topics are:

• The Tower Theater
• Day and Night Life
• Tower District Architecture
• Virtual Tour

The reports helped the teams picture what other teams were doing. In several instances overlaps became apparent and their was discussion of how this would be handled. For example, the Architecture group wants to include information about the Tower Theater. It was decided that the theater group would link to the arhcitecture section on the theater. In another instance the Virtual Tour group wanted to include the theater in their tour, but decided to leave that content to the theater group and link to it.

The content groups also began turning in the content maps for their sections. These were based on the card sort usability tests they completed and turned in last week. Some groups are still working on their maps. Finished copies of the maps go to the template team to combine into a master content map. The template team will then develop the global navigation based on the master map.

Tonight, the template team will present their sketched ideas for the layout and logo for the site.