Technical guide - Furnishing Toolbox



Technical Guide

Furnishing Series 8 Flexible Learning Toolbox

Supports competencies from the LMF02 Furnishing Training Package:

• LMFFM3005A Fabricate custom furniture

• LMFGN3002A Estimate and cost job

• BSBCMN310A Deliver and monitor a service to customers

• LMFFT4006A Construct prototypes and samples

30 November 2005: Version 1.0

© Commonwealth of Australia 2005

The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of the Commonwealth of Australia.

This work is copyright. It may be reproduced in whole or in part for study or training purposes, subject to the inclusion of an acknowledgement of the source and it is not used for commercial use or sale.

Reproduction for purposes other than those indicated above requires the prior written permission from the Commonwealth. Requests and enquiries concerning reproduction and copyright should be addressed to the Branch Manager, Technology and Information Services Branch, Industry Skills Development Group, Department of Education, Science and Training, GPO Box 9880 Canberra City, ACT, 2601.

Contents

List of tables and figures ii

Introduction 1

System requirements 2

To play 2

To customise 2

To serve 2

Local machine (Offline delivery) 3

Customising Toolbox content 4

What features can be customised? 4

Basic editing 5

Advanced editing (with Dreamweaver) 6

Customising a Toolbox for single unit delivery 6

Keeping to the standards 7

Visual design 7

Navigation 7

File structure 8

Accessibility 8

Technical support 10

Installation on a web server 10

Installing into a SCORM compliant LMS 10

Producing CD-ROMs for distribution 10

Known issues 11

Troubleshooting 11

The Toolbox Help Desk 11

Manually configuring Flash 8 12

List of tables and figures

Table 1: Toolbox structure (High level) 1

Table 2: Customisable elements 4

Table 2: Folder/file structure 8

Introduction

Welcome to the Technical Guide for the Furnishing Series 8 Flexible Learning Toolbox. This guide explains the technical features and file structure of the Toolbox to assist technical staff in the installation and customisation of the Toolbox. (For information on how to use the Toolbox to deliver training in the custom furniture industry, please see the accompanying Trainer Guide.)

This Technical Guide is divided into three sections:

• System requirements

• Customising Toolbox content

• Technical support (FAQs, troubleshooting, Help Desk).

The Toolbox offers resources and activities to cover the underpinning knowledge for the following units of competency from the LMF02 Furnishing Training Package. The design of the Furnishing Toolbox and its file structure are arranged holistically to support authentic delivery via stages and tasks across two distinct custom furniture construction projects and related resources.

Table 1: Toolbox structure (High level)

|Units of competency |Project 1 |Project 2 |Resources |

|LMFFM3005A Fabricate custom furniture |[pic] |[pic] |[pic] |

|LMFGN3002A Estimate and cost job |[pic] |[pic] |[pic] |

|BSBCMN310A Deliver and monitor a service to |[pic] |[pic] |[pic] |

|customers | | | |

|LMFFT4006A Construct prototypes and samples |[pic] |[pic] |[pic] |

(For more information about the learning design of the Furnishing Toolbox and the features of each project, please see the accompanying Trainer Guide.)

System requirements

1 To play

• 600 MHz or Pentium III or equivalent running Windows 2000/ME/XP, or

Macintosh PowerPC 500 MHz or above running OS9 or OSX

• 128 MB RAM

• 800 x 600 screen resolution with minimum 16 bit colour

• Internet Explorer 6.0+ or Netscape 6.2+

• CD-ROM

• Internet access 28.8 Kbps or above (to follow links).

Learners will also need the following software/plug-ins installed in their computer:

• Microsoft Word 97, or a similar word processing program, to open and use downloadable forms, checklists and worksheets.

• Macromedia Flash 6 Player – You can download and install the latest free version of this plug-in from Macromedia’s website: .

• Adobe PDF Reader – Download at . Read the terms and conditions for distributing Adobe Reader on your CD from .

Incorrect versions of these applications could result in information being shown in an unreadable form, or not shown at all.

2 To customise

• 600 MHz or Pentium III or equivalent processor

• Macromedia Dreamweaver (or equivalent HTML editor)

• Flash MX/MX2004 development software

• XML SPY (or equivalent XML editing tool)

• Photoshop/Fireworks (or equivalent) for editing still images

3 To serve

There are no special server requirements to serve the Furnishing Toolbox. The Toolbox is best delivered through a web service. A server will require the following specifications:

• IBM compatible computer with a 600 MHz processor (or Unix equivalent)

• 128 MB of RAM

• 50 MB hard disk space free

• CD-ROM drive

• 2 x ISDN (128k), T1 preferred.

To make the materials available for delivery to learners, you need to copy the entire contents of the ‘furnishing’ directory on the CD into a directory on your Internet server and make a link available that will point to the Toolbox’s index.htm page. This will provide a direct link to the site.

The index.htm page provides an entry point for teachers and administrators

and briefly describes the resource. This page also provides links to:

• an Acknowledgements page which includes disclaimer and copyright information

• a System requirements page

• the Trainer Guide

• the Technical Guide

• a ‘First time user’ section which describes the various sections and features of the Toolbox.

It may be preferable to direct learners and trainers to the index.htm page.

4 Local machine (Offline delivery)

If you are planning to use the Furnishing Toolbox offline, simply load the Furnishing Toolbox CD-ROM into your computer’s CD-ROM drive. The Furnishing Toolbox CD-ROM includes an auto-run (Windows) function.

For systems that cannot utilise the auto-run function, simply navigate to the index.htm file in the root directory and open it in your preferred browser.

If you have been directed to use the Toolbox through the Internet or an intranet, simply open your preferred browser and enter the address (URL) that you have been provided.

Customising Toolbox content

In most cases, Toolbox products can be modified and redistributed with minimal licensing or copyright encumbrance. However, before commencing any modifications we recommend that you check the license details of the Toolbox, to ensure that any customisation undertaken does not contravene the conditions of that license.

For licensing conditions visit .

Remember to retain the original files in their CD-ROM format so that you always have an original copy of the Toolbox as a backup, should you require them at a later stage.

It is also suggested you have access to appropriately trained personnel to perform any customisation work.

What features can be customised?

Toolboxes can be customised by users under the flexible licensing arrangements, as long as they are not on-sold. You are therefore encouraged to customise this Toolbox.

Some design aspects of the Toolboxes can be easily customised, however, there are other aspects of the Toolboxes that are more difficult. For this complex customisation we recommend that you proceed only if you have the relevant trained technical personnel.

Table 2: Customisable elements

|Element |To customise |

|Name |Description |Location |

|Acknowledgements page |Formatted entirely in XHTML, edit with Dreamweaver. |acknowledgements.htm |

|Main entry screen |Formatted in XHTML, edit with Dreamweaver. |index.htm |

|HTML pages |Introductory text to the various projects, tasks and |Eg project_01_\stage_01\ |

|(eg introductory text) |activities is contained in standard XHTML. Browse to the |begin\fset.htm |

| |location in the Toolbox, take note of the URL and use that| |

| |to find the appropriate file in the Toolbox’s | |

| |directory/file structure. | |

| |Open the file in Dreamweaver (or a text editor) and make | |

| |the changes. | |

| |Changes to styles should be made via the CSS style sheets.| |

|Flash text |Flash interactions in this Toolbox often pull in external | |

| |data (eg text) from an XML file. | |

| |Text located within Flash can be customised by locating | |

| |the corresponding .xml file and editing the appropriate | |

| |content. This can be achieved using a simple editing tool | |

| |such as MS Notepad. | |

|Element |To Customise |

|Name |Description |Location |

|Flash interactions |Flash interactions can be customised by anyone with the |Eg |

| |required Macromedia Flash skills. Some interactions are |\page_01_p1.swf |

| |more complex and require Flash ActionScript knowledge. |and |

| |To customise, open the page in Dreamweaver and select the |\source\…page_1\ |

| |Flash object that you wish to change. Under the properties|task_01\part1\part1.fla |

| |of the object, you will see a filename such as | |

| |page_01_p1.swf. You cannot change this directly, but must | |

| |rebuild it from the source code. | |

| |Using Flash MX2004 authoring software, browse to the | |

| |source directory and locate the corresponding folder. | |

| |Within this folder you will find the .fla source file(s) | |

| |for the .swf. | |

| |This is the file you will need to edit. | |

Basic editing

There are numerous ways of editing the content of this Toolbox. The approach is similar to editing pages that might be found on any website.

The two simplest ways are:

1. Using a web development package (FrontPage or Dreamweaver).

2. Using a straight text editor (Notepad or your favourite text editor).

A basic understanding of HTML and the software package is useful.

Web development software package

• Download the complete Toolbox contents onto your machine.

• Identify the pages you would like to edit (these are displayed in the address bar at the top of the browser page when viewing).

• Locate these files in the downloaded files, following the paths displayed in the browser.

• Open each file in your web editing software package (eg FrontPage or Dreamweaver) and make appropriate changes.

• Save each file.

• Check your edits in a web browser to see if it displays properly.

Text editor

• Download complete Toolbox contents onto your machine.

• Locate the file you wish to edit, following the paths displayed in the browser.

• Open the file using a text editor (eg Notepad) and make appropriate changes. (To keep changes consistent with current styles, please use the supplied style sheets.)

• Save each file.

• Check your edits in a web browser to see if it displays properly.

Advanced editing (with Dreamweaver)

If you need to alter the templates and certain major structural elements (eg headings, link and button text, etc) within the Toolbox, you will need to access the ‘Templates’ and ‘Library’ folders located in the source files.

Before you mount a Dreamweaver site to alter any of the files in the Toolbox, you will need to copy the ‘Templates’ and ‘Library’ folders over to the root of the Toolbox folder.

Customising a Toolbox for single unit delivery

You may want to limit learner access to certain sections (eg projects, stages or tasks). To disable access to certain sections, you may wish to first create a disabled.htm page that you can use to communicate the reasons for limiting access to the various sections.

Secondly, locate the relevant .htm file (eg at either the project, stage or task level) and edit the link target for the unit you wish to disable to point to disabled.htm. Now when users click these buttons they will receive a message saying that this content is not available at this time. You can modify this message by changing disabled.htm.

If you want to distribute a smaller version (eg at the task level) simply locate the relevant task (eg task1 of stage1 in project1 is located in: content/project_01/stage_01/task_01) and copy and distribute this folder and its contents.

The folders and filenames conform to an explicit naming convention that follows the hierarchical order of the content, ie projects, then stages, then tasks.

To remove a complete stage or project simply remove the respective folder

(eg project_01 or stage_01)

You may wish to modify the menu.htm file (or respective stage related files) so as to remove the missing project from view, or you may wish to create an entirely new one using the existing file as a reference.

Customising or modification of Flash elements

Customisation of Flash elements will require expertise in Flash development. All Flash navigation is contained within a root .swf file that calls in other .swf files, content from parsed .xml files and links to supporting documentation.

Keeping to the standards

This Toolbox has been developed in accordance with a number of internal conventions and international standards. These standards may be related to accessibility, cross-browser compatibility or just to enable the easy location and customisation of content.

Keep this in mind when you are customising as whatever you produce will need to be accessible, cross-browser compatible and able to be further customised.

Try to ensure that any changes you make are conformant with the following standards.

• W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Priority One – .

• XHTML 1.0 Transitional – .

• CSS 1 – .

Visual design

This Toolbox uses:

• cascading style sheets (CSS1) for visual layout of html pages

• only relative font sizes compatible with the user specified ‘text size’ option have been specified.

If your browser or browsing device does not support style sheets at all, the content and menu structure of each page is still readable.

Global formatting with CSS

This Toolbox has been created with cascading style sheets (CSS). This will enable you to make global changes to the look and feel of the HTML pages in this Toolbox. If you do not have a good understanding of HTML and at least a beginner’s level understanding of CSS you should seek assistance with this task.

The main CSS files are located in the scripts\css\folder.

You can find out more about CSS at .

Navigation

Navigation in the Furnishing Toolbox is achieved through hyperlinks, Flash navigation and occasional use of JavaScript.

Please ensure that you maintain all accessibility features of the Toolbox when customising. Where JavaScript may be turned off or in browsers that do not support JavaScript, the JavaScript used allows graceful transformation of navigation so that content remains accessible.

JavaScript has also been separated out into an include file which is located at \scripts\javascript.

To modify any Flash navigation across activities, you will need to locate the Flash source files, make the necessary modifications and replace the Flash activity with your new one. Customisation of Flash elements will require expertise in Flash development.

File structure

The files and directories have been organised in a logical directory structure to make it easier to extract, modify and deliver individual components of this Toolbox.

File naming conventions used are as follows:

• A two digit prefix such as ‘01’ is used to designate a content page’s order in a content sequence, eg, 01_workout.htm.

• An underscore used as a prefix indicates a page that is not a content page, such as a frameset page, eg, _fset.htm.

The following table outlines the directory structure and explains the main folders and files.

Table 2: Folder/file structure

|Root directory |Description |

|index.htm |Entry page for the entire Toolbox. This page includes links to the acknowledgements |

| |page, the system requirements page, the Trainer Guide, the Technical Guide and the |

| |First time user section. |

|content |The ‘content’ folder contains all the learning content. |

|content\lo |The ‘learning resources’, containing the folders for each of the resources |

|content\project_01 |The ‘project_01’ folder, contains folders for each stage in the project (Each stage |

| |folder also contains the HTML pages for each task in the stage.) |

|content\project_02 |The ‘project_02’ folder, contains folders for each stage in the project (Each stage |

| |folder also contains the HTML pages for each task in the stage.) |

|content\project_01\stage_01 |Each stage folder contains: |

| |the HTML pages for each task in the stage |

| |all the downloadable documents for the stage (these documents are located at the |

| |relevant task level). |

|images |This folder contains all of the graphical content. |

|scripts |This folder contains subfolders containing all CSS and external JavaScript files. |

|Library |The ‘Templates’ and ‘Library’ folders contain Dreamweaver templates and library items |

| |used in customisation. These items do not need to be deployed. |

|Templates | |

|first_time_user |This folder contains the files for the First time user section, which provides a guide |

| |to the Toolbox for first time users. |

Accessibility

The Furnishing Toolbox has been designed to meet the requirements of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Priority 1 Guidelines. Measures employed to facilitate equitable use include the following:

• Relevant images have the appropriate ALT arguments, meaning they have an equivalent when read by speech synthesisers such as JAWS.

• Navigation elements have been included as text without ALT arguments to facilitate faster reading in speech synthesisers.

• Where JavaScripted popups appear, an alternative mechanism has been provided. This may mean that a popup will appear as a new window if JavaScript is turned off.

• Rich media assets such as Flash elements are supported by text equivalents (in RTF format) for use by magnification or speech synthesis software.

• Text and paragraph elements within HTML pages have been deployed in a way that supports both text size change within the supported browser and local cascading style sheets (CSS).

If you modify any Flash content, remember to modify the content in the text alternative version as well. The alternative version names follow the name of the Flash file. If the Flash file is called page_01.swf then the text alternative (ta) is titled page_01_ta.rtf.

Text equivalents of rich elements

All content images used in this site include descriptive ALT attributes. Purely decorative graphics include null ALT attributes.

Media rich content in Flash movies is provided in Rich Text Format as text alternatives.

If you replace any Flash movie or image with another, it is important that you update the ALT tag or text alternatives appropriately.

Links

Title attributes have been used on links to describe the link in greater detail. Links have been written so users with screen-readers can make sense of them when taken out of context.

Technical support

Technical support is available from the Toolbox Help Desk, which is detailed at the end of this section. However, before calling or emailing, please make sure that the answer you seek is not located elsewhere in this section.

Installation on a web server

Copy the entire contents (except for Autorun.inf, Autorun.exe, Desktop DF, Desktop DB and the source directory) from the CD-ROM to the appropriate directory on your web server. If you are only copying selected units to your server or CD-ROM, you must make sure any shared files and the associated structure(s) are also copied.

There are no server side technologies utilised by this Toolbox, so no server configuration will be necessary.

Installing into a SCORM compliant LMS

If you wish to make content from this Toolbox available through your LMS and your LMS is SCORM compliant, then you can install the relevant learning objects by using the following process:

1. Browse to the Toolbox Repository at .

2. Conduct a search on the name of this Toolbox. You will find a number of learning objects, each relating to a section of the Toolbox CD-ROM.

3. Download each object that you wish to place on your LMS. They will be delivered as IMS content packages which look exactly like .zip files.

4. Follow your LMS’s specific instructions for uploading these IMS content packages.

Be aware that not all LMSs are SCORM compliant and that some claiming to be compliant cannot process IMS content packages.

Please refer issues with the uploading of content to your LMS administrator, not the Toolbox Help Desk. The administrator or LMS vendor will contact us if necessary.

Producing CD-ROMs for distribution

Whether producing one-off copies of CD-ROMs or class sets, use the following procedure:

1. Start up your favourite CD-ROM burning software.

2. Select the data option (don’t simply copy the whole CD-ROM).

3. Drag and drop all files (except the source directory).

4. You may wish to delete the Trainer Guide and Technical Guide.

5. Burn the CD.

Before you burn a class set, it might be wise to test that the first one works as expected.

Known issues

The following are known technical issues that users may experience when using a Toolbox product.

• IIS 6.0 will not serve content of unknown MIME type.

• Pages display strangely on IE 5.5 due to incompatibilities with its implementation of the CSS standard.

• Flash detection issues in WebCT.

• Lotus Notes based training environments do not allow popups.

• Issues with popup blocking by Windows XP SP2 and others (ie Google).

• Browser printing (right hand edge of page may be cut off).

• Issues trying to use Dreamweaver templates inside FrontPage.

Troubleshooting

The following checks may be of use if you are experiencing technical difficulties with your Toolbox product.

• If text, images and page layout appear out of alignment check that you have the required browser versions and operating system requirements. See the ‘To play’ section for information on the required browser and OS versions.

• If Flash elements do not appear or behaviour is erratic, check that you have the required Flash player plug-in. See the ‘System requirements’ section for information on the required software versions.

• If you are experiencing broken links or misplaced image files, check to ensure that you have kept the necessary folder/file structure intact when moving, deleting or modifying any files.

The Toolbox Help Desk

If you need technical assistance with a Toolbox please contact the Help Desk on:

• email: toolboxhelp@.au

• telephone: 1300 736 710.

Before contacting the Toolbox Help Desk

The Toolbox Help Desk is here to help you with installing Toolboxes and solving technical issues. Before contacting the help desk please assist us by following these steps:

• Check if your question has already been answered in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section of the Toolbox website.

• Check the section relating to patches and fixes on the ATP website at .

• Find the Toolbox stock code that identifies the Toolbox, eg atp9107.

• Please provide:

– the Toolbox name, series number and product code

– your name, phone number and email address

– the problem you need help with.

The Flexible Learning Toolbox Help Desk will contact you as soon as possible.

Manually configuring Flash 8

By default, version 8 of the Flash player/plugin/Active-X control restricts you from accessing certain types of content from your local file system.

To enable access, you must configure the Flash player/plugin/Active-X control manually. This can be done using a tool available on the Macromedia web site, as outlined below.

• Go to: .

• Click on the link ‘Global Security Settings Panel’.

• Click on ‘Edit locations...’.

• Click on ‘Add location...’.

[pic]

• Click on ‘Browse for folder’ and select the folder where your Toolbox resides.

• Click on ‘OK’.

• Your Toolbox folder should now be listed in the section ‘Always trust files in these locations:’.

[pic]

• Restart your browser. You should now be able to access all Flash-based content within the Toolbox.

Toolbox contact details:

Flexible Learning Toolbox Help Desk

Phone: 1300 736 710

Email: toolboxhelp@.au

Website: .au/toolbox

For more information contact:

2005 Australian Flexible Learning Framework

National Communication

Phone: (07) 3247 5511

Fax: (07) 3237 0419

Email: enquiries@.au

Website: .au

Locked Mail Bag 527 GPO

Brisbane QLD 4001

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