Week 11 - Interface completetion

Finally the coding of the interface has been completed.

The container is what we wanted it to be infact.
A Director container with a pananorama/Virtual tour with a cross section 3D map of the location and other navigation links, plus access to other modules.

This is something interesting that we've discovered so far. We set of to create a proof of concept that to create a container with a QTVR and Director base VR tour.
However the more we do and tested it out, it seems that this container is just a toll to help facilitate naivgation among the "attached" modules and QTVR tours.

Look of completed interface. With VR tour in screen for navigation, a 3D cutout map at bottom with "markers"(blue balls for hotspot, yellow ball for current location) to identify position, and additional modules by the side.
Current modules are QTVR, Wecam, and Recorded lecture


"Content is king. Even though I was often testing sites to evaluate their interaction design, the test users were far more focused on the actual page content. Most users don’t go to the Web to “have an experience” or to enjoy the site designs: the UI is the barrier through which they reach for the content they want."
Nielsen, J. Guidelines for multimedia on the Web. (1995);

With this we've decided to focus more on the content in which we can add in now, the modules and option available.
Instead of just a QTVR panorama, let allow the user to zoom in/out of the panorama to allow them to see more detail, intead of have just blind hotspots, lets give them a bit of notification so that they know that there is extra content on that particular place/node.

QTVR panel with additional controls at the bottom to allow users to zoom in/out and wonder around at free will.


Information screen panel; inofrmation panel now includes he location of the place, a rough description and photos or images of the facilities and type of work being done in the room.


All the above screen and and modules will appear in a new window, as since content is what most web users want, we've decided that content should stand alone individually and not be all mixed up on the same screen, this will allow users to focus on the content they want and not get distracted by whatever is going on in the main screen.

With all this done, we've now left with out webcam module, with the focus on providing content and user interaction(for this particular module) we've decided that it should not be just a webcam, as there would always be the question "How is this better/different from something like MSN?"
We've decided not just a webcam plus chat room, but a net meeting room, something that enables more than 1 source of webcam feeds, a chat area, and also a place where students can post things like lecture slides and be able to see it and go through it with each other.
the next function of this webcam was also so that external students can attend lectures that are on campus, now with the addition of such a function of though, they not only can see and hear the lecturer, but will be able to see the lecture slides as the same time.

This concept with really bring the university to those who cannot ceom to it.