4   Content model requirements

Learning objects procured by The Le@rning Federation must only contain resources of the types listed in this section of the Technical Specification.
Other resource types will be considered, based on negotiation with The Le@rning Federation.

4.2   Summary

Area	Specifications
XML mark-up	UTF-8 character set DOM Level 2 XHTML 1.1 SVG 1.0 SMIL 2.0 MathML 2.0 QTI 1.2
Style sheets	CSS 1, CSS 2.1
Images and graphics	PNG / MNG 1.0 JPEG SVG 1.0 (where appropriate)
Audio and video	MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 (MP3) QuickTime video, playable in QuickTime Player v6.5 MPEG-4 Video
Colours	Do not rely on colour to convey information Provide sufficient contrast between foreground and background colours
Device independence	Support both keyboard and mouse access Keyboard navigation via TAB, ENTER and ARROW keys
Document formats	Text files for simple data (.txt) PDF Acceptable alternatives subject to approval: MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint
Client-side scripting	ECMAScript Revision 3 (JavaScript) ActionScript Lingo
Web applications	XHTML and SVG with ECMAScript Flash, playable in Flash Player 8 Shockwave, playable in Shockwave Player v10 Java applets (J2SE Runtime Environment (JRE) 5.0) QuickTime VR, playable in QuickTime Player v6.5
Bandwidth	Interaction time of less then 10 seconds over dedicated 64kbit/s connection Maximum size guideline: 1 MB.
Persistence	State must not be maintained across learning object or browser sessions.
Screen layout	Scalable objects, optimised for screen resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels
Start file	index.html as starting point
File and directory names	RFC 2396 acceptable characters
Rights information	The copyright statement must be placed in the XHTML start file of each leanring object and digital resource, digital resources may also incorporate rights information for partner institutions: Copyright TLF: The printable output footer must be placed on all printable outputs: Copyright TLF and partner institutions:
Fonts	Windows 2000 and XP: default installation fonts plus East Asian fonts. OS X: default installation fonts.
Client software requirements	Mozilla Firefox 1.0 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 on Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP Apple Safari 1.2 on Apple OS X See also Client hardware requirements

4.2   XML

XML is a key technology for separating structure and presentation. XML should be used to represent structured information and technologies such as style sheets should be used to present that information.

XML that conforms to a published schema enhances the stated principle of interoperability by allowing automated validation of information structure.

XML enhances the stated principle of durability by conveying some of the information's purpose within the XML elements and schemas used to represent the structure.

Structured information as XML

Structured information should be represented using XML.
XML element and attribute names should represent the semantics of the data they describe.

UTF-8

XML documents, including XHTML documents, must be encoded using the UTF-8 character set.

XML Document Object Model

The use of the XML Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 is permitted.

XHTML

Web page mark-up must conform to the XHTML 1.1 specification; refer to the W3C website at http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/.

Learning objects embedded within XHTML

To conform to the XHTML specification, the object element must be used to embed external web applications such as Flash, Director within XHTML web pages. The object element must also be used to embed external audio and video in XHTML web pages.

Standalone web applications should scale and be centred (see section 4.25 'Screen layout').

Menus must be disabled within Flash and Director players.

The syntax for embedding a Flash interactive within a web page is:

<div id="divcenter">
  <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="loader.swf" width="100%" height="100%" id="object">
    <param name="movie" value="loader.swf" />
    <param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff" />
    <param name="quality" value="high" />
    <param name="scale" value="showall" />
    <param name="menu" value="false" />
    <param name="seamlesstabbing" value="false" />
  </object>
</div>

This should be styled with the following CSS:

The syntax for embedding a Shockwave interactive within a web page is:

<div id="divcenter">
  <object type="application/x-director" data="index.dcr" width="760" height="570" id="object">
    <param name="src" value="index.dcr" />
    <param name="swStretchStyle" value="none" />
    <param name="swRemote" 
      value="swSaveEnabled='true'
      swVolume='false' swRestart='false'
      swPausePlay='false' 
      swFastForward='false' 
      swTitle='My object'
      swContextMenu='false'" />
    <param name="bgColor" value="#FFFFFF" />
  </object>
</div>

SVG

Where appropriate, graphics should be represented in Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) version 1.0 format (http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG/). SVG is a language for describing two-dimensional graphics in XML.

SMIL

Where appropriate, the structure of simple interactive audiovisual presentations should be represented using Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) version 2.0 (http://www.w3.org/TR/smil20/). SMIL is used for synchronising simple multimedia presentations which integrate streaming audio and video with images, text or any other media type.

MathML

Where appropriate, mathematics should be represented in MathML version 2.0. (http://www.w3.org/TR/MathML2/). It facilitates creation of mathematical expressions within web pages and use of those expressions by other applications such as voice synthesis.

QTI

Activities for evaluating and supporting student understanding may be represented using the IMS Question & Test Interoperability (QTI) specification XML binding, version 1.2. Refer to the IMS Global Learning Consortium, Inc. website at (http://www.imsglobal.org/question/). QTI describes an XML structure for the representation of basic question (item) and test (assessment) data and their corresponding results reports.

4.3   Style sheets

CSS

Document presentation must be defined using Cascading Style Sheets CSS1 and/or CSS2.1. Refer to 'Cascading Style Sheets', W3C website at http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/.

Linking style sheets

Styles should be contained in an external linked .css file, using the <link> element.

For example:

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/mystyle.css" />

4.4   Images and graphics

To support the stated principle of durability, the Learning Federation may require supply of nominated images in high-resolution formats and supply of graphics in SVG format.

Images

Images must be specified in one of the following formats:

• PNG / MNG version 1.0 format - refer to 'PNG', W3C website at http://www.w3.org/Graphics/PNG/

• JPEG format - refer to the JPEG website at http://www.jpeg.org/.

Images must not be represented in GIF format.

Graphics

Graphics must be represented in either:

• Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) version 1.0 format - refer to 'Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), XML graphics for the web', W3C website at http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/

• PNG / MNG version 1.0 format - refer to 'PNG', W3C website at (http://www.w3.org/Graphics/PNG/)

• JPEG format - refer to the JPEG website at http://www.jpeg.org/

4.5   Audio

Audio must be supplied in MPEG Audio Layer 3 (MP3) format. Refer to 'Coding of moving pictures and audio', the International Organisation for Standardisation website at http://www.chiariglione.org/mpeg/standards/mpeg-1/mpeg-1.htm

To support the stated principle of durability, The Le@rning Federation may require supply of nominated audio in a high quality, uncompressed format.

4.6   Video

Video must be supplied in either:

• QuickTime (v6.5) format - refer to http://www.apple.com/quicktime/
• MPEG-4 video format (ISO/IEC 13818) - refer to 'MPEG standards', the International Orgainisation for Standardisation website at http://www.chiariglione.org/mpeg/standards.htm

To support the stated principle of durability, The Le@rning Federation may require supply of nominated video in a high-resolution, uncompressed format.

4.7   Colours

Colour independence

Do not rely on colour alone to convey information.

If colour alone is used to convey information, people who cannot differentiate between certain colours and users with devices that have non-colour or non-visual displays will not receive the information.

Examples:

• An instruction on a screen that states: 'Select the blue button for yes' may not be perceived by a colour-blind user. In this case, the button should also contain the word 'yes' so that the instruction is clear and understandable.

• If a button changes from red to green when it is activated, a colour-blind user may not be able to perceive that it has been activated. In this case, activation could also be indicated using a button offset, resizing the button, or movement surrounding the button.

Contrast

Foreground and background colour combinations must provide sufficient contrast when viewed by someone having colour deficits or when viewed on a black-and-white screen or when printed.

4.8   Device independence

All content should be designed to be device independent. In other words, a user should be able to interact with the content with their preferred input (or output) device.

Generally, interactive content that allows keyboard interaction is also accessible through speech input or a command line interface. Where learning objects include sophisticated interactivity such as a timed game activity, keyboard access and tab order may not be appropriate.

To avoid confusion, this section uses the following definitions of user interface events :

Gain focus
An interactive element gains focus when a pointing device is moved onto the element or tabbing navigation moves onto the element.

Lose focus
An interactive element loses focus when a pointing device is moved off the element or when tabbing navigation moves out of the element.

Activated
An interactive element is activated when it has focus and a mouse is clicked or key is pressed.

Keyboard and pointing device access

Every interactive element, script and applet should be able to gain focus, lose focus and be activated with both a keyboard and a pointing device (mouse, interactive whiteboard pen or other device).

Available interactive elements must show a clear change of state when they gain focus, lose focus and are activated. There must be a discernable difference between the unfocused, focused, and activated states.

Disabled or unavailable interactive elements must be clearly unavailable, for example masked but visible, and should not show any change of state.
Focus areas must be clearly defined and must not obscure other elements.

Default keyboard interaction

Keyboard navigation should consist of logical keyboard interaction with all interactive elements.

The following keyboard interaction must be supported:

The SPACE BAR must not be used as the only mechanism to activate interactive elements. It may be used to provide an alternative to the ENTER key but the ENTER key must always operate.

Grouping interactive elements

Where appropriate, related interactive elements should be grouped and identified. Provide a way to bypass interaction with the group of elements. When element grouping is supported, the following keyboard interaction must be supported in additional to the default keyboard interaction:

Pop-up windows

Users must be informed before a child browser window (HTML pop-up) is opened over the top of the parent window. This is not necessary for Flash/Shockwave pop-up windows.

HTML and Flash/Shockwave pop-up windows must include a mechanism (such as a button) to close the child window and return to the parent window. Focus must return to the parent window after a child window has been closed.

Data input

Data input fields (such as text boxes) must be accessible with both a keyboard and a mouse.

Content must indicate when invalid data has been entered into a data input field.

Data output

Where a print function is included in the learning object, the output must be printer independent and legible.

4.9   Content delivery considerations

All presentation formats must be able to be retrieved via a standard http connection using a standard HTTP/1.1 server.

Content must not rely on:

• a streaming server
• client or server-side caching.

4.10   Document formats

Text documents

Text files may be used to store simple data, such as the value of a configuration variable. When more than a few bytes of information are being stored in a text file, or when the information contains detailed structure, consideration should be given to storing the information as XML.

PDF

Documents used in offline activities, such as activity sheets or templates, should be represented in PDF.

Other document formats

The Le@rning Federation will consider the following alternatives to PDF. Approval of these formats will be considered on a case-by-case basis:

• Microsoft Word
• Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft PowerPoint

To support the stated principle of durability, the Learning Federation may require supply of nominated documents in an accompanying RTF format version.

4.11   Scripts

ECMAScript (JavaScript)

ECMAScript is a scripting programming language, JavaScript is an extension of the ECMA-262 standard. It should be used to add functionality to web pages, SVG and SMIL resources.

Client-side ECMAScript must conform to ECMA Standard-262, ECMAScript Language Specification, Revision 3 - refer to Ecma International website at http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-262.htm.

Client-side ECMAScript must be contained in an external linked .js file, using the XHTML <script> element.

Example:

<script type="text/javascript" src="js/script.js"></script>

See also Techniques for using ECMAScript, JavaScript and JScript

ActionScript

ActionScript should be used to add functionality to Flash objects.

Lingo

Lingo should be used to add functionality to Shockwave objects.

4.12   Web applications

Server independence

All web applications must operate as standalone objects that do not require interaction with a server.

Allowed application formats

Web applications must be supplied in one of the following formats:

• Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) version 1.0 format, W3C website at http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/, using ECMAScript to implement interactive functionality
• Flash, using ActionScript, playable in Flash Player 8
• Shockwave using Lingo, playable in Shockwave Player v10 (full installer)
• Java applets that run with version 1.4.2 (and higher) of the Java Virtual Machine
• QuickTime VR, playable in QuickTime Player v6.5.

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.

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 1 MB.

Ordering interactivity

Components of a learning task must load in the correct sequence for the user to accomplish that task. For example, 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.

4.14   Persistence

Learning objects may remember state accumulated during interaction with a user. For example, a learning object may remember a user's name so that screen text can include the user's name.

For privacy reasons, state must expire when the user has completed a learning object (that does not give the user the option to 'restart') or at the end of a browser session. State must not be maintained across learning object or browser sessions.

4.15   Screen layout

Dimensions

Learning content should be optimised to display in a screen resolution of 1024x768 pixels.

As many factors will ultimately determine the final dimensions of the available area, the following should be used as a guide.

• Where a web page contains standalone embedded objects, each object should be completely visible and operate successfully when it is display in an area of 760 x 570 pixels. This represents a 4:3 aspect ratio on a monitor with a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels less header and navigation areas.

Scaling

Resources should scale to fill available space gracefully when a browser is resized. Techniques for graceful scaling include using relative rather than absolute size definitions within XHTML and use of scalable vector graphics within Flash objects.

When a standalone object does not have the ability to scale, the recommended fixed size of the object is 760 x 570 pixels. The fixed size of the learning object may be smaller but no larger than 760 x 570 pixels.

Centre standalone objects

Where a web page has a single standalone object embedded (eg SVG, Flash, Shockwave, QuickTime object) the object must be centred vertically and horizontally in the page.

4.16   Directory structure

Learning objects must be delivered to The Le@rning Federation as a directory structure containing resources.

XHTML start file

The top level of the directory structure must contain an XHTML file named index.html that represents a common starting point for interacting with the learning object.

Flash and Director files

Flash and Shockwave applications must have a Flash or Director file named index.swf or index.dcr in the top level of the directory structure.

These files are crucial because Flash and Director applications cannot resolve relative paths on some platforms.

The top level of the directory structure for Flash and Director learning objects must also contain a container/loader.swf to combat a known interoperability issue related to streaming and the <object> element with certain browsers.

Shockwave applications must have all '.dcr' files located within the top level of the directory structure of the learning object and external assets located within a sub-folder under a dswmedia directory. This is required for Shockwave to load external assets from local disks.

File and directory names

File and directory names must use the following:

• lower case alphanumeric characters (a to z, 0 to 9)
• the characters - (dash) and _ (underscore).
• the slash character / to separate hierarchical parts of a file path.

File and directory names must not use the space character.

These requirements ensure that file and directory names can be easily referenced in URLs and are portable between operating systems.

4.17   Rights information

Copyright statement

The Le@rning Federation copyright statement must be placed in the XHTML start file of each learning object and digital resource, digital resources may also incorporate rights information for partner institutions:

The standard statement should read:

• The year date refers to the year in which the majority of the development occurred.
• The copyright statement must be coded in the XHTML start file and styled using CSS stylesheet as follows:
  1. Arial 8 point font.
  2. High contrast should be provided between foreground and background colours.
  3. The statement footer should be centred.

Note: The statement may be varied to include partner institutions.

Printable outputs

The printable output footer must be placed on all printable outputs.

The footer should read:

• The year date refers to the year in which the majority of the development occurred.
• The printable output footer should be styled as follows:
  1. Onscreen appearance of Arial 8 point font.
  2. High contrast should be provided between foreground and background colours.
  3. The statement footer should be left aligned.

4.18   Fonts

In order for a font to display correctly on a user's computer, the computer should have access to that font. The content gains access to fonts by the following:

• accessing a font outline embedded within the content
• referencing the font from within the content and assuming that the font has been installed on the user's computer.

For reasons related to guaranteed presentation and layout, developers should use embedded font outlines rather than using device fonts (referencing fonts).

If with agreement of TLF fonts are referenced, developers must assume that only the following fonts are available on the user's computer:

4.19   Client software requirements

The Le@rning Federation content is viewed within Learning Management Systems (LMS) and web browsers. At the time of publication, no LMS or web browser supports all the content model requirements described in this document.

Minimum browser and operating system requirements

The Le@rning Federation tests all content in the following environments:

• Mozilla Firefox 1.0 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 on Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP
• Apple Safari 1.2 on Apple OS X.

The operating systems must also have the fonts described in Section 4.18 'Fonts' installed.

Until software supports the standards and specifications defined in this document, content metadata should include information about the environments in which the content has successfully been tested. The metadata must also include information about any extensions to these environments needed to operate the content.

Latest browsers

Content should also be tested and operate in the latest versions of Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer on Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP, and Safari on Apple OS X.

Browser plug-ins

The following browser plug-ins are commonly used to render Le@rning Federation content. Content containing resources with the following formats must be tested and operate with the plug-ins listed in the table.

Format	Plug-in
SVG	Adobe SVG Viewer Plug-in http://www.adobe.com/svg/
QuickTime	QuickTime 6.5 Player http://www.apple.com/support/quicktime/
PDF	Adobe Acrobat Reader 5 http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html
Flash MX	Macromedia Flash Player 8 http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash
Shockwave	Macromedia Shockwave Player 10 (full installer) http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/alternates/
Java applets	Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 1.4.2 or higher http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/download.html

4.20   Client hardware requirements

Content must at least operate on systems configured according to the minimum hardware requirements as specified by the nominated browser and plug-in manufacturers:

• Internet Explorer
  http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/evaluation/sysreqs/default.asp
• Mozilla Firefox
  http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/
• Flash
  http://www.macromedia.com/support/flash/releasenotes/mx/rn_mx.html#systemrequirements
• Shockwave
  http://www.macromedia.com/software/shockwaveplayer/productinfo/systemreqs/