THEMES

Hi Alex

I teach science to pupils ranging in age from about 11 - 16, and would like some themes relating to the three sciences: Chemistry, Biology and Physics if possible? If these could contain animations, then so much the better. In fact one with and one without animations for each may be a good idea.

A chemistry one might have a periodic table as a background e.g. or chemical equations, test tubes or a collection of glass apparatus etc.

Biology plants, animals, cells, microscope, the Heart/Heart beat etc.

Physics an atom showing the nucleus and orbiting electrons nuclear fission or fusion, gold foil alpha particle scattering experiment etc.

TIA
QWA

Hi Qwack,

Thanks for the suggestions. You should be able to find one Chemistry theme among the 20 provided at the moment. For the physics and biology, I'll keep your request in mind as subjects for new themes,

Alex.

Thanks Alex

hi , i have downloaded Question writer software, and find it very usefull, we are thinking of buying the proffesional version.

Before we do it , i need to know if we can use our own flash/still themes for background ?
Can it be created by us, and with what tool ?
thanks

Hi Ilan,

The Professional version allows tou to use any .jpg/.gif file as a background image. You can also use any Flash image/animation (upto Flash version 6) as a background too. The option is

Quiz Settings -> Advanced Settings -> Theme Images -> Override Background

You can use Photoshop/Paintshop to create the images and Flash Studio to create Flash files.

Hi Alex,

What are the specs for optimum background design (resolution, height, width in pixels, etc.)?

Thanks,

Scott

Hi Scott,

The theme sizes do vary - the most common one is 800x600.

You might be best to choose which theme you are going to use (for the buttons/placements/fonts etc), then deselect the web setting 'maximize in the browser', then publish and have a look at html code . . . there will be a line like,

writeFlash("v"+rand(10)+"italy.swf","800","600"

this has the exact dimensions that the theme uses.

You can also look at the .qws or .qwz files directly with notepad to find the values . . . they look like

<pair name="flashmoviewidth" value="800" />
<pair name="flashmovieheight" value="600" />

I'd say also that higher resolution is generally better - but often a jpeg/bitmap style background won't look so good when it is resized for the browser.

Instead - switch off the 'maximize in browser' or even better, use vector images inside a Flash file for the best results.

Thanks Alex,

I am running the Academic version and can't find the:

"Quiz Settings -> Advanced Settings -> Theme Images -> Override Background"

You reference above...

Thanks again for your assistance.

Hi Scott,

You might have the Standard version which doesn't include the background customization feature.
[www.questionwriter.com]

Also, I've added the info to the manual, here,
[en.wikibooks.org]

Ahh.. yep, that would be the reason....darn it.