4.13 Performance
Interaction time
Learning content will be frequently used over limited bandwidth connections. For this reason, a restriction is placed on user interaction time with the learning content.
The learning content must have an interaction time of less than 10 seconds over a dedicated 64 kbit/s connection1. Interaction time is defined as the time between a user making a request to the learning content, such as a mouse click or keyboard press, and the user actively and continuously interacting with the requested component of the learning content. The user must be able to continuously interact with the learning content at 10 second intervals.
1 Where 'dedicated' means only one user is using the connection.
See also: Techniques for creating valid XHTML pages for information on streaming Flash content in XHTML.
Overall size
The learning content will be downloaded and replicated over limited bandwidth connections. For this reason, developers should endeavour to minimise the overall size of the learning content. Additionally, large learning content should be divided into small components in order to maximise load efficiency.
As a guide, the maximum size of TLF content should be 5 MB.
Ordering interactivity
Components of a learning task must load in the correct sequence for the user to accomplish that task.
Example:
- If an introduction to an activity includes text instructions, an image and an enter button, then the enter button should not be available before the text and image appear onscreen or there is a risk that the student may progress without sufficient information.
- If a task includes text instructions, a video and an interactive quiz dependent upon the user viewing the video, then the video should completely load before the user is required to complete the quiz.
Interactivity order must be maintained over varying bandwidth connections. That is, components of the task must load in the same order over both low bandwidth and high bandwidth connections.
