Evaluation

I am happy with how my site as turned out because when I started this project I wasn't that confident in using flash. I now feel more confident after completing this project in using flash because I have pushed myself and learnt to do things I didn't know how to do before. I have learnt how to add sounds using action script and how to create games and a live paint as well as creating a print out button. I have also learnt how to animate a character to get the character to wave these are all things I didn't know how to do before I started this project. So this project as been a good learning curve for me and I have enjoyed working on it. I did have help along the way from people on flash forums when I was stuck on something I would post a question up and they would respond telling me how to do something or giving me a tutorial to watch on how to do it. However apart from that I have created the site on my own and I just asked for help when I got stuck I didn't know how to do something.

I like the overall look and feel of my site and most of all my target audience like it. The Children and staff at Croxby Primary School in Cottingham liked it when I went in and presented to them. They are now using my site on their server for the children to use during their computer classes. So I have achieved the goal I set myself at the beginning of this project to create a website that would appeal to primary school children because it does. I also wanted the site to go live before the Easter Holidays so it was up months in advance of the olympics which it was.


However I had to change the name of my site from olympics for kids to alympics for kids this was due to the fact that I found out I couldn’t use the name olympics because it is a trademark. So I purchased the domain alympicsforkids.co.uk and copied my files across from the olympicsforkids website. I read the brand guidelines and Rule 13 on the brand website states that I am ok to use the olympic brand on my university project but I can't use it in any commercial way. So I just changed the name olympics to alympics after my character Ali. Below is a link to the guidelines and rule 13.


http://www.london2012.com/about-us/our-brand/using-the-brand/index.html


13. Can I use the Games' Marks in my school project? 


We encourage all schools and students to get excited about and involved in the Games. Pupils and students in their classroom activities can use the Games’ Marks. The only thing we ask is that you do not use the Games Marks in any commercial way. So, if you are doing a business studies project that involves creating and actually marketing/selling a product (whether to your fellow students or to the public) do not use the Games’ Marks on the product or for promotional purposes


What could be improved?


Other than adding more games and information on all the events that take place at the Olympics I don't think there's much that needs improving. Maybe I could have added some para olympic events and tell the children about them and who the stars are. Also I could have added information on the Olympic torch and bit about the history of the Olympics. However for time I've had on this project I think I've done the best I could considering I wasn't confident in using flash before I started this project. Could the site be improved?


Finished site http://www.alympicsforkids.co.uk

Croxby School

I arranged to go back into Croxby School and show the teachers and children the improvements I had made to the site since my last visit. I went into Mrs Harris's class which is my nephews class and showed them the improvements I had made to the site. I showed them the live paint game and demonstrated how they could colour the character in on the big screen. I got the children involved by asking them to shout out the colours they wanted me to use to colour Ali in. So the children shouted out the colours they wanted me to colour him in and I coloured him in those colours. I then showed them the improvements I had made to the games and how you exited the games. I then opened the jigsaws one at a time and asked the children to tell me where each piece would fit which they did and they enjoyed doing. After my demonstration on the big screen the children all went on a laptop and had a play on the live paint and the games themselves. I then went round the class and helped the children colour in Ali and play the games which they all seemed to enjoy. Once they had all had ago Mrs Harris asked them if they liked the live paint and the other games and the children all said yes and that it was easy to colour in Ali.


So I got the reaction and feedback I wanted from the class and their teacher Mrs Harris. They all liked my website and that was my aim when I started this project that children would enjoy it and learn about the Olympics at the same time. In fact the school are using my site on their school programs now so the children have a choice to go on my site or on one of the school programs.  Below are photo's the school took of me talking to the children and helping them play the games.

Creating the exit game button

I found a way of exiting the games so the user returned to the site. I made a Exit Games button and added a instance name of btnUnload. Then I created a function, called unload SWF, whenever the button is Clicked. I then copied the loader variables from each game button so for instance the bolt jigsaw button as a loader of 5 as per code below:

boltjigsaw_button.addEventListener(

MouseEvent.CLICK, boltjigsawGame);

function boltjigsawGame(e:MouseEvent):void

{

var request5:URLRequest = new URLRequest("usainboltjigsaw.swf");

Jigsaw2Sound1.play();

loader5.load(request5);

loader5.x = 70;

loader5.y = 150;

loader5.scaleX = .7; // 1 is 100%; .5 is 50%, 2 is 200% and so on

loader5.scaleY = .7;

addChild(loader5);

}

and the other games are 4, 6 and 7 I added the loader variables so that the unloadSWF function can access them. Then for every loader there is a swf file that loads the games so for instance in the code above the swf is

("usainboltjigsaw.swf");. Then I added the function .load() and addChild() as you can see in the action script above which loads that particular game. Then finally to exit the games on the Exit Games button I added the following code so the user can exit the games when the button is pressed.

btnUnload.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,unloadSwf);

function unloadSwf(e:MouseEvent):void {

loader4.unload();

loader5.unload();

loader6.unload();

loader7.unload();

//loader.unloadAndStop();

}

So to exit the usain bolt jigsaw game I added loader5.unload(); to the function above and did the same for the other games but just changed the number to 4, 6 and 7.

Below is how it looks on screen so the game is open then when the user wants to exit the game they just click on the Exit Games button.

Making the games open in the same window as the website

One thing that popped up in the results of my user testing was people would like the games to open in the same window as the website. So I will see if I can find a way to do this. I looked for ways I could do this online and asked in flash forums and I got a reply from someone who told me how I could do it. They said all I need to do was add this code to my games and then they would open in the same window as the site.

This is the code they sent me:

var myLoader:Loader = new Loader(); // create a new instance of the Loader class

var url:URLRequest = new URLRequest("ExternalSWF.swf"); // in this case both SWFs are in the same folder

myLoader.load(url); // load the SWF file

addChild(myLoader); // add that instance to the display list, adding it to the Stage at 0,0

And this is how I added it to my games so for the usain bolt jigsaw this is how I used the action script I was given.

boltjigsaw_button.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, boltjigsawGame);

function boltjigsawGame(e:MouseEvent):void

{

var request5:URLRequest = new URLRequest("usainboltjigsaw.swf");

Jigsaw2Sound1.play();

loader5.load(request5);

loader5.x = 70;

loader5.y = 150;

loader5.scaleX = .7; // 1 is 100%; .5 is 50%, 2 is 200% and so on

loader5.scaleY = .7;

addChild(loader5);

}

So to load the game in the same window as the website I added the code this code

var request5:URLRequest = new URLRequest("usainboltjigsaw.swf");

loader5.load(request5);

Then I added the addChild code because this opens the movieclip/game on stage. So to make the usain bolt jigsaw open I added the following code:

addChild(loader5);

The loader5.x = 70; and loader5.y = 150; this is where the game will be placed on screen and the loader5.scaleX = .7; and loader5.scaleY = .7; is the scale of the game so this game is .7 = 70%. So if I wanted the game bigger 1 is 100% 2 is 200% and if I wanted it smaller .5 is 50%.

Once this code was added to all the games they opened in the same window as the website. However the only problem I had was I couldn't close the games down. So once again I asked people if they had a solution for this so I could close the games down and return to the site. I got a few answers back but none of them seemed to work apart from one which was to add a Exit Games button on the Games and Colour In pages. So this is what I did and it now works. So to exit the games the user clicks on the exit games button and this closes the games and returns them to the website.

Meta Tags

Description and Keywords

Description describes the content of your site and helps it get on Google. Below is my description I added in my head tag in my index.html:

title olympics for kids

meta name="description" content="This website is aimed at promoting this summers Olympics in London to Primary School Children and describing to them what the Olympics is and telling them about some of the events that take place at the Olympics. It features games for the children to play that include a word search, two jigsaws and an Olympic Quiz. It also features a Colour In page for the children to colour in their own picture of Ali the Gator on screen then print it out. This is my

final major project for my web design degree"

Keywords

Keywords are words and phrases that describe the content of each page on your site you want to promote. They should describe your sites content and subject which will help your site get promoted in Google. I added keywords to my site to help improve my SEO.

Here's a list of the keywords I added in my head tag in my index.html:

"keywords" content="olympics, kids, 2012, london, velodrome, medals, running, cycling, basketball, swimming, aqua centre, stadium, uk, country, games, jigsaw, word search, quiz, colour in, venues, children, ali, gold, silver, bronze"

And this is what it looks like in Google when you search for olympics for kids or olympics for kids.co.uk

Google Analytics Continued

The Bounce Rate

The bounce rate shows the percentage of visitors who visited the site but didn't stay on it. Between March 5th and April 4th 2012 the Bounce Rate of my site is 80.31%

Visitors

Visits for all visitors shows the percentage of visitors who visited the site. Between March 5th and April 4th 2012 I've had 193 visitors to my site. The graph below shows it peaked on March 12th 2012 when I had 28 visitors or 14.51% visit my site. Since then it has gone up and down and on the 4th April 2012 I only had 3 visitors or 1.55% visit my site.

New and Returning Visitors

In total between March 5th - April 4th 2012 I've had 193 visitors to my site. Of those 193 visitors 139 or 72.02% are New Visitors to my site and 54 or 27.98% are Returning Visitors to my site. So I have had more people viewing my site for the first time then people who have looked at my site before.

Google Analytics Map Overlay

The map overlay is a map of the world that shows you where the visitors to your site are looking at it from around the world. Looking at the map overlay for my site I can see I have had visitors from all over the UK and from Spain, Romania, Australia, The Philippines and the USA.

This can then be broken down to see for instance which cities my site was viewed in the UK.

Looking at the table above I can see I had 91 visitors from Hull and 29 in Beverley, 16 in London, 13 in Edinburgh, 4 in Sheffield, 2 in York and Lincoln and 1 in Crewe and Reading.