Large-scale eLearning Site Built in Hype

That’s great John. Well done!

1 Like

This is outstanding. I would be interested in learning about your process. Did you build this completely in Hype?

1 Like

I looked at the page source code and it looks like it's all done in Hype.

Yes, @dgoss2 - Tony - it’s completely in Hype. The text in the Text Box at the bottom of the screens is external and is read in as you advance to each “page.” Likewise, the audio files are external and triggered as you advance to new pages. There’s a good bit of JavaScript mixed in with native Hype features so that each section is fairly modular.

As for process, It was drawn out over the 4 months it took to build it, but essentially I built Section 1 first and programmed all the features into it, then duplicated it and used it as a template to build sections 2 - 6. Similarly, we will release the Spanish version in a week or two, and it only took about 20% of the effort of the English version because of the modularity of Hype and the JavaScript.

I’d share the Hype source files but they are partially owned by the client. If you have any specific questions, though, I’m more than happy to give more details.

2 Likes

Thanks for the information, John. I would like to do something similar with Hype. I have been using Articulate Storyline, but the problem is that it is difficult to integrate the elearning so that it feels as if it is part of the site. I have a limited knowledge of Javascript, so I am not sure where to start. Are there some resources you could recommend?

Well, there are about as many places to learn JavaScript as there are opinions among developers! :wink: My recommendation is to actually lean Hype in detail through the tutorials posted on this forum, and use Hype as much as you can. The good people at Team Tumult have done a great job of trying to allow us developers to use Hype’s native features for a great deal of our needs, but then to supplement it with JavaScript when needed. My project happened to need a fair amount of JS.

The only site I can think of off the top of my head for learning JS is one that some purists look down on - http://www.w3schools.com - it’s not perfect, but I use it sometimes as a quick reference. And http://stackoverflow.com is not a learning site, but it’s a great place to go when you have those “how do I do X” kind of questions.

If you want to contact me offline with specific questions, shoot me an email at the address shown in my profile. All the best! … John

2 Likes

Great job John. It works like a charm and it’s encouraging others as me who like to use Hype for big projects, lets root for a site manager and shared libraries in future versions!

1 Like

Great, shows what can be done!

1 Like

UPDATE: We’ve now launched this site with a Spanish version as well as the original English. Same location:

http://mysmartmoneydecisions.com/

For the Spanish version, I duplicated the English sections and replaced on-screen English text with Spanish. Because I had used JavaScript to load the audio files and text box text, all that was needed for those elements to be in Spanish was to change a variable called languageID. The Spanish audio was longer so I had to adjust the animation timelines accordingly.

If you are thinking about a multi-language Hype project, you might check out the English version then go back to the Home page and jump to the Spanish version to see the corresponding elements.

Also, thanks for all the kind words and encouragement!

2 Likes

This is all very well done! The animation, though simple, is very nicely done as well. Great work!

Thanks, Dave. I wish there had been more detailed content to do more animations with - concepts like “dreams, values, student loans, savings plans” - these aren’t as easy to illustrate and animate as say a tutorial on how a car engine works! But it was still an interesting project.

Late to this conversation but equally blown away by this elegant use of Hype.
Well done John :wink: Very inspiring and informative!

1 Like

Thanks, @peter_bright! I’ll take the kind words no matter when they’re posted. :slight_smile:

1 Like

you'e right @peter_bright this is one of the most read topic in HypeDock. great work

1 Like

John; do you have any feel yet for how a complete Hype site like yours is picked up by Google and other SEO? Since its not aimed at the general public, does it really matter to you.

My preference is to go Hype only, but I have 4 sites where SEO is important.

@TKDblackbelt Ken…

First, I’m not an SEO expert so others may have better info about this. But I will say that for this project, we didn’t worry too much about SEO. The course was promoted to it’s intended audience through other means (emails, web links, print pieces, etc.).

That being said, it IS possible to build Hype sites and leverage SEO. You might do that through HTML SEO techniques in the HTML file that houses the Hype div. And… Hype has some ways to include text within it in the exported HTML file.

There are several forum posts about how to leverage SEO in Hype. Also, @Daniel may have better info than I can provide.

Best… John

Right, thats what I was thinking also. It’s aimed to school systems, not something that someone is going to casually sit down and search for. They are already well established. It’s potentially a huge project, and have to be honest, I’ve got the jitters, as in “Do I want that kind of commitment, betting the whole farm, so to speak.” Will find out soon what they really want, if all they really need is something to provide a sense of organization on the front end, could be good.

And for my other sites that need SEO, I have not yet taken the time to go through the resources that Google has. Not that I like them, I think they know way too much about all of us, but…

Thanks for the reply.

1 Like

You’re right - huge projects require a lot of organization up front and when done in Hype, it pays to look at all the ways you can make things modular and re-use components.

We basically built Module 1 and worked out all the bugs, then duplicated it to build the other five. When the Spanish translations were ready, we duplicated the final English version and switched out text and audio where needed. The project took about 4 months with a team of 3 people plus a few contractors here and there. It had its challenges but was well worth it in the end!

If I can be of any help on your project when you know more, let me know. You can message me privately via my profile.

Best… John

1 Like