1.3.2. Processing

Finally, we are able to start with the processing phase of the application. The processing phase differs depending on the planned application and its content.

Because the realisation of an application is too time-consuming, we cannot realise an exemplary application as part of this lesson. But we want to give you a list of items that have to be executed during the realisation phase of an arbitrary application:

• Realisation of layout with the chosen technique (Flash, SVG, etc.),
• Implementation of content components (e.g. navigation, buttons, legend, etc.),
• Programming of interaction parts.

This list is very short and perhaps gives the impression that the realisation part of a project is the easiest one. But do not let yourself be fooled of this impression. The implementation of content components and the programming of interactions are the most difficult and time consuming parts of the project, especially when you are developing your first application.

In the following section, we present you a few exemplary applications. For each example we specify the time that was invested to realise the application and the programming skills that the author had. All the applications are made with SVG and JavaScript (the third application uses PHP as well). The listed skills refer to the standard of knowledge at the beginning of the project. The estimated time includes also the data preparation.

Authors: 1 student with no skills in SVG and Javascript Needed time: 16 hours Small project (Neumann 2003)

Authors: 2 students with no skills in SVG and Javascript Needed time: 14 weeks, 3 hours a week Student project (Burger et al. 2005)

Author: 1 student with little skills in SVG and Javascript Needed time: 2 1/2 months, 8 hours a day Diploma thesis (Sigrist 2007)

Author: 1 expert with good skills in SVG and Javascript Needed time: 2 weeks, 8 hours a day Large Project (Neumann 2002)

The realisation phase is not yet finished as you will see in the next chapter.