Entry by npit006

SOFTENG 250: CREATIVE ACTIVITY

PLANS

I have never done much web programming and the only experience I have is learning HTML and a bit of Javascript/CSS about 7 years ago. So on the technical front, I plan to read the Javascript primers on htmlgoodies.com to refresh my knowledge.

For this assignment, my idea is to use onMouseOver effects (Javascript) so that each line of Emily Dickinson's poem shows different pictures in the background when the mouse cursor is hovered over them. These pictures will reflect themes/ideas central to each line. The main background picture will be holistically relevant to the poem, and I plan to assign the onMouseOver pictures for each component/line to a smaller frame.

I am not exactly sure how I will portray the variants in the original fascicle. Some of them will change the theme/idea in particular lines which will then affect the picture for those lines whereas other variants will not much affect the meaning. Nevertheless, I want to figure out a way in which I could preserve and portray the variants, regardless of their triviality - it must be easily visible but also innocuous (i.e. no obnoxious popups or message boxes). I imagine I'll be able to think of a way to do this after I read more into Javascript. This will most likely involve some kind of text effect.

ANTICIPATED CHALLENGES

Javascript Limitations: I don't think I'll have much trouble learning Javascript in a small frame of time. However, if Javascript itself has limitations which hamper my plans, then I'll have to perhaps move onto a different language for the job.

Pictures: I will endeavour to find pictures suitable for each line of the poem, but if I can't, I'll have to try to make my own. This could be quite time-consuming, especially if it requires me to learn to use PhotoShop. If this proves to be a major problem, I could assign a picture to a verse rather than to a line.

Picture Frames: I don't think it will be very easy to create an arbitrary picture frame anywhere on the page for use with onMouseOver. I could possibly implement HTML frames and allow the Javascript onMouseOver event to alter the picture (background) in a particular frame. I really don't think this will be much of a problem to be honest. And if it is, that will be a limitation of Javascript which I can work around.

FURTHER THOUGHTS

I'll have a hunt around the net for some additional ideas and I might look into learning some XML too. I don't think I need to look into the poem much more than I already have because I'm fairly comfortable with my current interpretation of it - and the groups of words (themes) will help to determine my picture usage.