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Technical guide1401 Numbers Toolbox

Construction, Plumbing and Services Integrated FrameworkCertificates II in Construction and III in Carpentry and Joinery

25/5/2011: Version 1.0

flexiblelearning.net.au/toolbox

Numbers Toolbox Technical guide

© Commonwealth of Australia 2010

The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of the Commonwealth of Australia. This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from the Commonwealth. Requests and enquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to Training Copyright, Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, GPO Box 9880 Canberra City ACT 2601 or email [email protected].

mailto:[email protected]


ContentsLIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES...................................................................III

INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................4

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS.............................................................................5Client hardware and software (for learners)........................................................................................5Server hardware and software (for RTO).............................................................................................5Developer hardware and software (for customising)...........................................................................6Toolbox Help Desk and support services...............................................................................................6

CUSTOMISING TOOLBOX CONTENT...........................................................7What features can be customised?.........................................................................................................7Basic editing............................................................................................................................................10Customising a Toolbox for single unit delivery...................................................................................10Keeping to the standards.......................................................................................................................11Visual design...........................................................................................................................................11Navigation...............................................................................................................................................12File structure..........................................................................................................................................12Accessibility............................................................................................................................................12

TECHNICAL SUPPORT................................................................................14Installation on a web server..................................................................................................................14Installing into a SCORM compliant LMS...........................................................................................14Producing CD-ROMs for distribution.................................................................................................14Known issues..........................................................................................................................................15Troubleshooting.....................................................................................................................................15Frequently asked questions - FAQs.....................................................................................................15The Toolbox Help Desk.........................................................................................................................15

References.....................................................................................................17

List of tables and figures

Table 1: Criteria checklist of features to include in the Technical guide...................................ivTable 2: Customisable elements.............................................................................................11Table 3: CSS style list.............................................................................................................14Table 4: CSS file list................................................................................................................15

Australian Flexible Learning Framework iii

IntroductionThis Technical guide has been developed to support you in delivering the Numbers Toolbox.

This Technical guide explains the technical features and file structure of the Toolbox to assist technical staff in its installation and customisation. (For information on how to use the Toolbox to deliver training, please see the accompanying Teacher guide.)

This Technical guide is divided into three sections:

System requirements

Customising Toolbox content

Technical support (FAQs, troubleshooting, help desk).

flexiblelearning.net.au/toolbox


System requirements

Client hardware and software (for learners)

HardwareTo use the learning material in this unit, learners will need a computer with the following features:

IBM® compatible with a 1GHz processor running Windows XP, or Vista, or

Apple Macintosh® PowerPC with a 800MHz processor or Intel Core Duo 1.33GGHz running OSX v10.5

with: o 512 MB of RAM

o 1024 x 768 pixel display

o CD-ROM drive

o Internet access

o Sound card

SoftwareLearners will also need the following software/plug-ins installed on their computer:

Internet Explorer 7.0 or 8.0 (http://www.microsoft.com/ )-- OR --

Firefox 3.0 or above (http://www.mozilla.com/ )-- OR --

Safari 3 or above (http://www.apple.com/ )

Microsoft® Word 97-2003 or a similar word processing program to open and use downloadable forms, checklists and worksheets.

Adobe® Flash Player 10. If you haven’t got this plug-in, you can download and install the latest free version from: www.adobe.com

Adobe® PDF Reader 8.0. If you haven’t got this plug-in, you can download and install the latest free version from: www.adobe.com

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

Server hardware and software (for RTO) IBM compatible computer with a 1GHz processor (OR Unix equivalent)

512 MB of RAM

4 Gb hard disk space free

CD-ROM drive

2xISDN (128k), T1 preferred

Internet server software

Australian Flexible Learning Framework 5

http://www.adobe.com/

http://www.adobe.com/

http://www.apple.com/

http://www.mozilla.com/

http://www.microsoft.com/


Developer hardware and software (for customising)Same as client hardware and software above, with the addition of:

An HTML text editor such as Homesite®, BBEdit® or Adobe® Dreamweaver.

A word processor such as Microsoft® Word to edit documents.

If customisation of multimedia interactions is required, then the following applications may be necessary:

o Flash CS4

o XML SPY or equivalent XML editing tool

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

o SoundEdit16 (or equivalent) for editing sound content

Toolbox Help Desk and support servicesThe Toolbox website provides support at http://toolboxes.flexiblelearning.net.au/support/patches.htm. This site offers help desk details, frequently asked questions, installation and configuration advice and patches for any products that are found to have minor errors or discrepancies. If you are unable to find what you are looking for on this site, please email the Toolbox Help Desk at [email protected] or phone 1300 736 710.



http://toolboxes.flexiblelearning.net.au/support/patches.htm


Customising Toolbox contentIn most cases Toolboxes are able to 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: http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/toolbox/license.htm

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.

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 the Toolboxes. However, before embarking on any modifications or customisation, we suggest that you:

check the licensing details of the Toolboxes to ensure that any customisation does not contravene the conditions of the licence

have the required trained personnel

remember to retain the original files in the CD-ROM format as a backup (should you require them at a later stage).

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.


http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/toolbox/license.htm


Table 1: Customisable elements

Element To CustomiseDescription Location

All web pages, excluding some nn_text_version.htm pages.

Formatted in HTML, edit text on page with Dreamweaver. Use templates to update elements in the header, menu and footer where needed.

Note: Many pages contain Flash objects editing is outlined below.

any.htm

nn_text_version.htm Some text alternatives contain a degradable experience for users. There is a basic question and answer set up using JavaScript.

The format follows:<a href="correctFeedback.htm" id="pincorrectFeedback.htm" name="CorrectValue" class="submitLink" target="_blank">

When JavaScript is enabled the user is given feedback relative to their input. If their input matches the CorrectValue they will be shown the correctFeedback.htm file, if they are not they will receive the incorrectFeedback.htm file.

When JavaScript is disabled the user is shown the correctFeedback.htm file

Updating the question and answer on this page will require changing the information in the xxxx-feedback pages.

nn_text_version.htm

Flash interactions Flash interactions can be edited in the Flash authoring tool.

The flash based video layer has a captions xml file that is an xml folder next to the web page containing the video player.

To find the correct XML file: locate the web page in Finder/My

Computer and note it’s name open the folder called xml inside you

will find an XML file related to the video name.

Text inside the XML can be edited with any text editor from Notepad to Dreamweaver.

shared\media\flash\learninator.swf

Other Flash applications

There are three other Flash applications all contained within popup windows. These are not editable and there are no Flash authoring files included. The only changes that can be made to these files are their removal.

measure.swf, scale.swf, ratio_both.swf,angles.swf



Basic editingThere 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 (MS FrontPage or Adobe Dreamweaver).

2. Using a straight text editor (MS 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 (ie MS FrontPage or Adobe Dreamweaver) and make appropriate changes.

Save each file.

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

Text editor (ie MS Notepad) 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 (ie MS Notepad)

Make appropriate changes, following the CSS styles, some of which are:

o <h1> (Main Headings) larger grey font in caps

o <h2> (Sub headings)

o <p> (main content ie paragraphs) black text.

Save each file.

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

Customising a Toolbox for single unit deliveryYou may only want to offer one or two units from the Toolbox, or limit access to certain units and/or streams.

To disable access to units, open the home.htm file in the content folder in Dreamweaver, and edit the link target for the unit you wish to disable to point to disabled.htm.

If you want to distribute a smaller version by pruning the unnecessary content, you will need to follow the above process and, in addition, delete the appropriate folders in the content directory.



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

Any changes you make should be conformant with the following standards:

WCAG 2.0, level AA Success Criteria See http://e-standards.flexiblelearning.net.au/topics/accessibility.htm

XHTML 1.0 Transitional – http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/

CSS 2 – http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/.

Visual designThis Toolbox uses:

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS1 and CSS2) for visual layout

only relative font sizes, compatible with the user specified ‘text size’ option.

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 CSSThis Toolbox has been created with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). This will enable you to make global changes to the look and feel of this Toolbox. If you don’t have a good understanding of HTML and at least a beginner’s level understanding of CSS you should get somebody with this knowledge to help you.

The main CSS file is located at: shared\styles\stylesheet.css

CSS style descriptionsTable 2: CSS style list

Style Name Font Size Description

body Verdana 100% Main body font

h1 Verdana 1.8em Heading Level 1 – Should only ever appear once per page

h2 Verdana 1.3em Heading Level 2

p Verdana 1em Page content text

link Verdana 1em Indicates a hyperlink – Initially Blue, but will turn purple when visited

You can find out more about CSS at: http://www.htmlhelp.com/reference/css/.


http://www.htmlhelp.com/reference/css/

http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/

http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/

http://e-standards.flexiblelearning.net.au/topics/accessibility.htm


Table 4: CSS file list

CSS file Description

main.css Styles for Toolbox web pages see file for comments regarding individual styles.

print.css Print related styles, only comes into effect when pages are printed from the browsers print functionality.

learninator.css Styles for the interactive Flash activities only. Only basic styling can be used here, Flash understands only basic CSS1 standards. Example – the current web standard is to use relatively sized fonts such as % and em, Flash does not understand this, a pixel size must be used.

NavigationNavigation within a competency is embedded in every page of that competency. Modification of navigation within a unit is best undertaken (by experienced Dreamweaver users) using the Dreamweaver template files located in the Templates folder. Otherwise each page in a competency will need to be modified to adjust the navigation consistently. It is important to ensure that the links (in the navigation) remain accessible to all users. Care should be taken to make sure that, when altering the text on a link, any title attributes that may confuse a user who is reliant on a screen reader are also altered.

File structureThe root folder has the following sub-folders:

shared which includes all scripts, styles etc that are used in the Toolbox – it must be on every CD-ROM or server copy of the Toolbox.

source_files which contain Flash files.

templates which contain templates used to control the header, footer and menu regions of the web pages.

content which contain all unit content (and related images and media files), Toolbox homepage and top level web pages accessed from the global navigation located in the header – it must be on every CD-ROM or server copy of the Toolbox.

resources which contain supporting material web pages for learners – it must be on every CD-ROM or server copy of the Toolbox.

AccessibilityThe site is compliant with W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines v2.0 (WCAG 2.0) level AA conformance, which means that the web content satisfies all the Level A and Level AA success criteria, or a Level AA conforming alternate version is provided. See http://e-standards.flexiblelearning.net.au/topics/accessibility.htm

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 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 CSS.

Each Flash interaction can be controlled using a keyboard. Using the Arrow keys will allow you to move the focus from one interface element to another. A focussed interface element can be activated by selecting the Enter key.

If you modify any of this Flash content, remember to modify the content in the alternative version as well. The alternative version name follows the name of the HTML on which it is embedded. If the HTML file is called 01_page.htm, the alternative would be found in text_version/01_text_version.htm.

Text equivalents of rich elementsAll content images used in this site include descriptive ALT attributes. Purely decorative graphics include null ALT attributes. If you replace any image with another, it is important that you update the Alt tag appropriately.

Text alternatives to Flash movies are also provided via a link – this linked page will require updating if you update the Flash content.

LinksLinks have been written so users with screen-readers can make sense of them out of context. For example: Linked documents are provided using the full document name as well as file type and size. Such as: Official document (Word – 34KB)



Technical supportTechnical 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, or available on the support pages at www.flexiblelearning.net.au/toolbox/support.

Installation on a web serverCopy the entire contents (except for autorun.inf, autorun.exe and the source_files 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 the entire shared folder is also copied.

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

Installing into a SCORM compliant LMSIf 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 (LOs) by using the following process:

1. Go to the Toolbox Repository at http://toolboxes.flexiblelearning.net.au/repository/index.htm.

2. 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. The file format will be .zip and must stay this way to be uploaded to your LMS.

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

Be aware that not all LMSs are SCORM compliant, and that some claiming to be compliant cannot process IMS content packages so probably aren’t.

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 distributionBefore burning copies of the Toolbox it’s important to identify files that are not required for student use such as the ‘Teacher guide’ and remove any links in the HTML to these files. 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_files directory).

4. For student CD-ROMs you may wish to omit the ‘Teacher guide.doc’ and ‘Technical guide.doc’.

5. Burn the CD-ROM.

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


http://toolboxes.flexiblelearning.net.au/repository/index.htm

http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/toolbox/support


Known issuesThe following are known technical issues that users may experience when using this Toolbox:

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 (Version x.x) Lotus Notes based training environments don’t allow pop-ups issues with pop-up blocking by Windows XP SP2, and others (ie Google) issues trying to use Dreamweaver templates inside FrontPage.

TroubleshootingThe 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 ‘Client hardware and software (for learners)’ section for information on the required browser and OS versions.

If Flash elements do not appear or behave erratically, check that you have the required Flash player plugin. See the ‘System requirements’ section for information on the required software versions.

Make sure that the folder structure matches that on the CD when experiencing problems with links or other items that don’t work as expected.

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.

Frequently asked questions – FAQsThere are currently no FAQs.

The Toolbox Help DeskThe Toolbox Help Desk is here to help you with installing Toolboxes and solving technical issues and a single help desk call is all that is needed. However, 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 at http://toolboxes.flexiblelearning.net.au/support/index.htm.

Check the section relating to patches and fixes on the Toolbox website at http://toolboxes.flexiblelearning.net.au/support/patches.htm.

If you don’t find the assistance you need on these pages:Email: [email protected] Phone: 1300 736 710

Please provide: o the Toolbox name and series number, eg: Construction, Plumbing and Services

Integrated Framework – Certificates II in Construction and III in Carpentry and Joinery

o your name, phone number and email address o the problem you need help with.

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



http://toolboxes.flexiblelearning.net.au/support/patches.htm

http://toolboxes.flexiblelearning.net.au/support/index.htm


ReferencesLave, J. (1988) Cognition in Practice, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.W3C (1998). Cascading Style Sheets, level 2, http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/.


http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/


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Toolbox contact details:Flexible Learning Toolbox Help Desk

Phone: 1300 736 710Email: [email protected]

Website: flexiblelearning.net.au/toolbox

For more information contact:Australian Flexible Learning Framework

Phone: (07) 3307 4700Fax: (07) 3259 4371

Email: [email protected] Website: flexiblelearning.net.au

GPO Box 1326Brisbane QLD 4001




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