5. Image Hotspot Work

Viewed Here
For this hotspot project I went with something a little different than a simple photo with hotspots. I first started coming up with various things by playing around with the language. Things such as homophones, alliterations, and sentences with assonance. I the drew, albeit badly (I'm not a very good drawer), various pictures on an A4 page, pictures that correspond with the sentences I had created. I then scanned the A4 page in, edited it in photoshop, (such as removing the paper colour, and cropping the image) and then added all the text into the hotspots.

First off, the two images actually correspond and tie in to each other. One is meant to be sorta the 'question' page, while the other is more the 'answer' page, and you can switch in between the two by clicking on the hotspot. In this, Image 1 has the sentence, while Image 2 has the sentence, along with the 'language play' that is included in this sentence. (They're the same image, but the text is different.)

So what? This was merely an experiment, and is meant to be an interactive way to learn. (So if kids were learning about alliteration and assonance, a page like this could be created. Although not this one, this page does mention sex, among other things.) An example of how this style of project could be used in the learning environment, would be with learning a second language, take an English speaker learning Spanish. One might have an image, which is a drawing filled with animals. On the Image 1 page, this image would be displayed and when the cursor is over an animal(all animals will be hotspots), a drop down box would give the name of the animal in English. The viewer then goes around the image and tests himself on the language (in this case, nouns, specifically animals). (For example when s/he puts his cursor of a dog, s/he can then say 'perro' to himself, which is the Spanish word for dog.) If the viewer doesn't know the Spanish word for the animal, s/he can can click on the hotspot, where he will be lead to 'Image 2' - which is page with the same image, but instead, the animals names are in Spanish - and find out the Spanish word for the animal) Hence, it can be used as a interactive way for someone learning a second language to test themselves.

Technical Jib-Jab
I used over 40 hotspots in this image, and had a lot of code. But each drop down menu didn't have much text in it, so it evens out with the 4-6 hotspots/couple of sentences in each menu guideline that you gave us. Unfortunately, this guideline was given to us after I had been working on the project for a week, and hence couldn't really change it.
You also said that we should change the part of the image where a hotspot is. Due to a similar problem (me working on it for a week), I didn't really do this. I did however replace the background colour with a plain white in Photoshop. So essentially, it's a white canvas, and wherever there is 'ink', there is a hotspot. So the hotspots aren't actually hard to find.

In the hotspots I used all three methods: Circle, Rectangle and Polygon(crazy boat thingy). I also changed the width and colours of the boxes, although I stuck with the same colour for most of the boxes. I did however think that this assignment was rather tedious work. Trying to get the boxes to the right size, as well as making sure I had all the sentences with the right hotspot, and hence, right drawing, was really annoying. This hotspot thing isn't something I would want to use to regularly, as it (well to me at least) was rather tedious.

I do however, (as with the learning a second language idea I provided above) think that it does have some rather interesting practical applications. For artist, It would be a good way to imbed your artwork into education, and is a rather sly way to get people to view your drawing. Unfortunately, as you would have figured out from my drawings, I'm not much of an artist. I am however, learning Spanish, and have been trying to find interactive ways to test myself. For me, the Spanish example I proved would be very useful. :)