Main Folder

AUTHOR™ is installed in the Program Files folder in the Microcraft folder.a folder of the users choice - by default this is:

C:\Program Files\Microcraft\AUTHOR

The main application programs - AUTHORDOTNET.EXE is stored in this folder.





Development 
















Action Libraries



Lesson Templates 


Read/Write/Create/Delete Access

AUTHOR™ lessons are stored in separate folders in the Documents\Microcraft AUTHOR\Development folder. An AUTHOR™  lesson consists of the following files. Let’s assume the lesson is called Radiation Hazards. In a Radiation Hazards folder under the Develop folder we would have:

Radiation Hazards.LES

The lesson structure file for AUTHOR™ Development

Radiation Hazards.MDB

Lesson data file. Standard MS Access database. Contains all the text and logic for the lesson

Resource files such as MP4, MP3, JPG, PDF, RTF etc.


Backups




HTML Publish


Resources


Source Materials

All graphics, audio, video and documents for opening or printing will be stored in the Resources folder under the lesson folder. If only these files need updating in a lesson then they may be directly edited or replaced without the need to edit the lesson.



Read/Write/Create/Delete Access

AUTHOR™ maintains the last 10 versions of any lesson being currently developed in this folder. It only saves the lesson structure (.les) file and the lesson data (.MDB) file not resources such as graphics or audio. The Backup is saved in compressed ZIP format. You may restore previous versions of a lesson from the File Menu.


The HTMl folder under the lesson folder is used to store the published HTML lesson


All graphics, audio, video and documents for opening or printing will be stored in the Resources folder


A folder for storing various media materials that may be used in the lesson

Read/Write/Create/Delete Access

AUTHOR™ allows the developer to store and retrieve customised sequences of Actions from Information, Feedback and Interaction lists. These actions are stored in named folders underneath the Library folder.


Any lesson templates will be stored in folders underneath this folder.


AUTHOR™

While resource folders such as Audio, Video etc. may be located on a server for multiple users, an AUTHOR™ lesson can only be opened for editing by a single user. If you try and edit a lesson that is currently in use (either editing or being run by other users) you will receive an error message.

AUTHOR™ lessons should be created and edited on a local workstation and transferred when completed to a folder on the network server. If the original version on the workstation is lost, then the lesson may be copied back from the server to the workstation for editing.

AUTHOR™ folders may be changed to point to network drives using the Paths menu option.


Team Development

An AUTHOR™ lesson has three basic structures - Menus, Sequences and Random Sequences. Any of these components may be developed separately and then Imported into the Main Lesson.

Normal team development would design a Main lesson structure and then assign development of the menu options/sub menu options to various authors who would create simple Sequential or Random lessons for later Import into the Main lesson

Libraries are also used for the storage of standard headings, buttons, feedback boxes, text fonts etc. Libraries can be kept on a network server for access by a team of developers.





Copy Protection

AUTHOR™ incorporates a serial number/code method of copy protection. When installed, AUTHOR™ will be in trial mode until a licence is purchased..


Network and online 

AUTHOR™ lessons may be run over a network, from DVD-ROM/USB and from a Web site (either Internet or Intranet). As these lessons will include multimedia some care should be taken to ensure that the lesson requirements will not exceed the available bandwidth or cause too much network traffic.

When an AUTHOR™  lesson runs from a local network server, it opens in a browser. Any resources such as graphics, audio and video will be opened on the server when the lesson requires them.

Network load is likely to be greatest when a number of users are running lessons which have voice-over audio and video or large graphic files. Developers should try to use the best compression formats for resources to minimise the amount of data needed to be transmitted over the network.

JPEG graphics

We suggest that graphics be stored in JPG format with the quality adjusted to create acceptable graphics at minimum file size.

MP4 video

MP4 is used for videos in AUTHOR™ which  good quality video with small file sizes. Quality can also be adjusted to minimise data rate.

MP3 audio

While audio may be created in WAV format it must be converted to MP3 format for AUTHOR™ to use it.  Use the lowest acceptable bit rate to reduce network load.