Unit 43 - M3

Unit 28 - M3 + D3

Unit 28 - D2

Possible Improvments to My Site

Accessibility - The website is very easy to access, the links are in obvious places and are large enough to be noticed, allowing people to get around the site with ease.

Ease of Use - Although the site is very easy to use, certain areas could be changed to improve the site. For example, the 'buttons' to reach other pages are currently just hyperlinked text, it would be better if they were proper buttons, as this would make their purpose more obvious.

Functionality - The website functions well, but it is very simplistic, it could be improved by adding more text or pictures related to the film club to make the site more appealing.

User Environments, Links, Navigation - The only links on the site are the hyperlinks used for navigation, as mentioned earlier, these could be improved by making them look more professional.

Content - The site does contain trailers from films with an age rating of 12 and 15, this may be inappropriate for some users and could be solved by changing the films on offer to suit a younger audience. The site could be improved with the addition of pictures as there is currently a lot of empty space on some of the pages.

Check against user requirements - Currently, there is no system in place that checks that the user is old enough to join the film club, the site could be improved by adding coding that will prevent people below or above a certain age threshold from joining.

Unit 28 - D1

TCP/IP protocols map to four layers. These four layers are; application, transport, internet and network interface. Each layer in the model links to one or more layers of the seven layer open systems interconnection model. The seven layers are the; application layer, presentation layer, session layer, transport layer, network layer, data-link layer and physical layer.

Internet Layer - This is responsible for addressing, packaging and routing functions. The protocols for the Internet layer are IP, ARP, ICMP and IGMP.

The Internet Protocol (IP) - This is the routable protocol responsible for IP addressing, routing and the breaking up and reassembly of packets.

The Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) - This is the resolution of the internet layer address to the network interface layer address such as a hardware address.

The Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) - This provides problem solves and reporting errors due to the unsuccessful delivery of IP packets.

The Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) - This is for the management of IP multicast groups.


Transport Layer
This provides the application layer with session and datagram communication services. The protocols of the transport layer are Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP).

TCP
This provides a connection oriented and reliable communications service. The sequencing and acknowledgment of packets sent, and the recovery of packets lost during transmission.

UDP
This provides many connectionless and unreliable communications service. UDP is used when only small amounts of data are transferred. When the overhead of establishing a TCP connection is not wanted or when the upper layer protocols provide good delivery.

Application Layer
This gives applications the ability to access other layers and defines the protocols that applications use to exchange data. There are many application layer protocols and new protocols are always being created. The most popular application layer protocols are those used for exchanging user information. These are HTTP, FTP and SMPT.

The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
This is used to transfer files that make web pages for the internet.

The File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
This is used for the interactive file transfer.

The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMPT)
This is used so the transfer of mail messages and attachments work.

Unit 28 - M2

Navigation

I used hyperlinks to allow users to navigate around my site, I hyperlinked certain text so that when it was clicked it would take the user to another page on the site.

HTML

I used HTML coding when creating my website, I used it when copying the embed codes for YouTube videos and using the code feature of Dreamweaver to add these videos to my website so that users are able to see the trailers for the films on offer.

Audio and Visual Elements

The film trailers I embedded from YouTube are the only audio elements of the website, these are also visual elements. Another visual element is the logo that I created in illustrator, this is used on every page of the website.

Hierarchy

This separates the page in the order of importance; it is done through the size, colour, shape or font.

Unit 28 - P5

Unit 28 - P4

Unit 28 - P2 + P3

The functionality of a website can be affected by server and user side factors, the website may run slower if the user's computer has a poor processor, or if their internet connection and download speed are slow. The server side problems include the number of hits on the site and the capacity of the web server.

User Side Factors:

• Download Speed - If the user has a slow download speed, the web page will take much longer to load and things such as videos or images may not load at all if the download speeds are too slow.

• Browser - Different browsers may not always support certain file types used in website, such as flash videos, this can be fixed by either using a different browser, or downloading a flash player.

• Cache Memory - The cache memory helps to load pages that are frequently visited more quickly, if a user visits a lot of pages very frequently, it is advisable to configure a higher cache memory capacity in the browser settings.

• Processor Speed - If the user does not have a good processor, the web page will take longer to load and display content due to the amount of calculations made per second. A better processor would typically make website pages load quicker especially if they contain images and videos.

Server Side Factors:

• Available Bandwidth - Bandwidth determines how much the user can download through their ISP, it is usually measured in seconds. A higher bandwidth means that the user can download more data in the same amount of time. Even if a user had high speed internet but low bandwidth they would still be restricted to a slow download speed.

• Executions to be Performed before Page Load - Before the web page is fully loaded, certain aspects of the page must be loaded first; for example, the head, which hosts the CSS and JavaScript, and then the body and so forth. This is why a web page that loads slowly will only display the background and other colours at first, then the structure, followed by the body which holds information.

• Number of Hits - The number of hits on a web page is the number of requests sent by a user's computer to the server hosting the web page. While it does not indicate the number of people visiting the site, it does give a rough estimate.

• File Types - As mentioned earlier, certain browsers will not be able to display certain file formats, whilst problems with not being able to view images/videos/audio may be down to the browser of the user, it is also a server side factor as the web page creators have chosen to use those certain file types.

Data Protection Act:

This was designed to protect the personal information of living and identifiable people, anonymous data is not protected under the act. It only applies to information held on computers or a relevant filing system, including sales diaries and paper databases. The act states that any personal information that is held in a lawful manner must keep that information to themselves and may only use it for the purposes they require it for. 

Security Risks:

• Hacking - Hacking is illegally gaining access to another computer for any reason, it is most commonly done to steal or delete certain data but can also be done for the purpose of downloading viruses onto the computer. Hacking involves re-programming the system so that it will perform functions that were not previously authorised by the owner.

• Identity Theft - Stealing another person's personal information over the internet normally done by use of hacking or false websites; e.g. Bank Details, Name and Address, Phone Number etc. Identity theft over the internet is very common, as many people will happily enter their details into a form on the internet without checking that it is a secure site.

• Viruses - Programs specially designed to corrupt or steal data from another computer, they are commonly disguised in files downloaded from the internet, or in email attachments, viruses compromise the security of a computer by performing actions such as shutting down anti-virus software and even stopping a computer from performing basic actions. A virus on a website can spread to the computer of everyone that uses the site, not just the computer hosting the website.

Security Protection Mechanisms:

There are several ways of protecting information on a website, these include; Firewalls, Strong Passwords and Secure Socket Layers (SSL).

• Firewalls - A firewall is part of a network that is designed to prevent unauthorised access. It will permit or deny network transmissions based on set rules. There are two types of firewall, software and hardware. Hardware firewalls can be included as part of a router, software firewalls are programs that are on the computer, such as the Windows Firewall. Firewalls also help to prevent the spread of viruses, so if your computer is infected, there is far less chance that the virus can be transferred to other computers.

• Passwords - Password strength defines how easy a password would be to work out, passwords containing a combination of randomised numbers and both lower and upper case letters will be the hardest to guess as there are far more combinations than just using one of the three.

• SSL - The secure socket layer provides communications security over the internet, SSL encrypts the data of network connections above the transport layer and at a lower sub-layer of its application layer using a keyed message authentication code for message integrity. Websites with SSL will have a certificate to show that they are secure websites, this will make people far more likely to use the website. 

This is a screenshot of Tesco.com's Terms and Conditions.

Unit 28 - P1 + M1

How Websites Move Information for Communication:

• Web 2.0 - Social Networking sites, Blogs, Wikis, Video Sharing sites and Web Applications all fall under this category. Web 2.0 uses JavaScript to upload and download new data from the web server without undergoing a full page reload, this allows users to continue to interact with the page by separating communications such as data requests going to the server, and data coming back to the page. Examples of this are the News Feed on Facebook, which will continue to refresh itself even if the user does not refresh the page, or the comments section on YouTube, which will also continue to refresh whilst a user watches a video.

• Cloud Computing - Hardware and software programs are delivered over a network as a service, instead of being stored on the user's computer, they are stored on a network at a separate location, this means less storage space is used up on the user's computer, it also reduces the number of performance-intensive actions the user's computer must execute. The user simply has to log in to the service to gain access to the programs they need to use.

Unit 43 - D2

After making the recommended changes to my project it looks far more professional and now contains everything that it should do. I have added the pulse effect to all of my buttons to make the effect consistent throughout the whole product. Increasing the size of the headings and some of the text has ensured that everything will be easy to read. With the addition of the virtual tour video, the product is fully complete and provides a much better user experience, allowing those that use the product to get a good look at the facilities the P.E. department provides, without just briefly reading about them in the information section.

An area of my product that could be developed further would be the virtual tour, it is currently just a video that plays from start to finish, but with more development it could become more interactive, allowing users to select which facility in the P.E. department they wish to look at and the inclusion of pause and rewind buttons etc. This would vastly enhance the user experience, currently, if a user is watching the virtual tour video, and sees something that they may want to have a better look at, they cannot pause the video and focus on it. 

Unit 43 - P6

Multimedia Product Review – Glen Fultz

The product is fit for purpose as it gives information on the media department, and showcases some of the projects that students will be creating. All the media used in the product, such as photos and videos is appropriate as everything is related to the media department and it is all Glen’s own creation. The links to the ‘Gallery’ and ‘Information’ sections of the product both work well, however, when I clicked the ‘Music Video’ button, the video would not play because it was linked to Glen’s personal area, and that video was not in my area.

This is a screenshot of the error with the music video.

Glen’s product is professional in the sense that everything does what it is supposed to do (animations work etc.) and that it contains information relevant to the department. The colours in the product look good together; however it could look more professional aesthetically, with the use of more creative buttons and a more vibrant background instead of the plain black one he currently has. There is also quite a lot of empty space.

Recommendations for Improvement:

•          Create some more professional-looking buttons, instead          of just using text.
•          Add more pictures/text to fill up empty space.
•          More information about the department.
•          Add more pictures to the gallery section.
•          Fix issue with music video section.

Unit 43 - P3 & P5