Multimedia, New Media And Your Website
Added on: November 20. 2005
Over the years a number of my clients have requested audio, video and other multi-media to spice up their Web sites. My feeling had always been that the average visitor to their site didn’t have the patience for these huge files to download. That their visitors were looking for a clean, attractive site where they could quickly find the information they were looking for. That developing huge multi-media files was best left to the major entertainment companies and adult Web sites that charged per-minute fees.
However, recent changes have made me reconsider this position. Mainly, I’ve sunk a freaking lot of time and money into a wide variety of multi-media authoring platforms. So I can say without bias that you all need these options on your Web sites…immediately.
Well, maybe a little bias.
The truth is, things are changing. More and more people have faster access to the Internet, whether it’s cable modems, DSL (Digital Subscriber Lines,) or LANs (Local Access Networks) at the workplace. Computers are also getting more powerful; new models ship with 400MHz processors and up to better handle these large files once they reach our homes. The Phantom Menace trailer was downloaded over 23 million times and counting with most people choosing to download the highest-quality version at around 25MB.
Does this mean that you all need to add Flash movies or MP3 songs to your Web sites? Of course not. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. What it does mean is that you can add some audio or video to your sites—when appropriate—and not turn off visitors.
For example, a Web site for a professional speaker might include testimonial letters and the topics she speaks on. Adding some flashy graphic to her site that does cool things with the letters in her name probably won’t increase her business. It might even turn off prospective organizations for trés gauche. However, adding a video clip of a speech she gave may give a decision-maker the information he needs to choose her over someone else. That video clip would be configured so that it would only download if requested; not everyone will have the need or the desire to view the file.
There are just too many multi-media options to mention every one here, nor is there time to get into any one in great depth. The purpose of this column is to touch on a few of the platforms that are most prevalent on the Web today.
All of these multi-media and new media options need some sort of plug-in or player to work in someone’s browser. In other words: No Player, No Play. However, all the players are free and you can create links to the free downloads on your site.
QuickTime Movies and QTVR
I’m grouping these two items together because they require the same player, the QuickTime Player. (Seems like an obvious name, doesn’t it? However, until the most recent release, the movie player for QuickTime movies was called…Movie Player.)
QuickTime (QT) Movies are standard movies that play within the QT Player. Many movie trailers are delivered via QT. The reason why The Phantom Menace is only available via QT instead of RealPlayer or Windows Media Player is because of Lucas Arts’ focus on quality; none of the other platforms provide the quality that QT delivers.
QTVR, or QuickTime Virtual Reality takes two forms. The first is a QTVR Panorama. When you come upon these panoramas on the Web they appear to be simple photographs. But by clicking and dragging your mouse within the photograph you can change the direction of your view 360 degrees! You can also look up, down, and zoom in or out. A panorama is also known as a "node". Different "nodes" can be linked together so you could give a visitor a full tour of a new house, a museum, a ballpark or any three-dimensional space. Ambient sounds can also be added so that different sound effects or tracks can be heard depending on the direction a visitor is "facing."
The other form of QTVR is called an Object Movie. Instead of spinning around on a node, an object movie gives many perspectives on one object. A visitor to your site can "pick up" an object and turn it around in their hands. Different versions of this Object Movie can be stitched together so that when a visitor is rotating an Object Movie of a model car in their browser the trunk and hood might open or the headlights turn on and off.
RealPlayer
RealPlayer plays both streaming audio and video over the Web. "Streaming" media refers to media files that begin to play before they fully download by using a buffer. Personally, I feel the video component is currently below acceptable standards; it’s the size of a stamp and often the image is so murky as to make it impossible to see what’s going on. While the audio is nowhere near the quality of MP3 files—the current choice of college students trading pirated music—it’s ubiquitous nature gives it a leg up on the competition. If you want to share audio files with your visitors RealPlayer may be for you.
Flash Movies
Flash is a product by Macromedia, a company that creates a number of products for graphic designers and Web developers. It manipulates vector graphics which are often much smaller (in byte size) than traditional bitmapped graphics for quicker download over the Web. It also allows for a much more interactive experience for your visitors. Entire sites can be built using Flash technology or it can be used in smaller doses to add, well, flash to a site. By visiting http://www.flytemedia.com you can see a small Flash Movie [Defunct] for flyte new media and/or download the Flash Movie Player if you don’t have it. Graphic designers who are looking to add some spark to their sites should really take a closer look at this technology.
Adobe Acrobat
Although the Web is fairly "cross-platform" inconsistencies do exist. Also, different browsers and computer settings can change the way a Web page or other document is seen by prospective clients. If you have forms you want people to be able to view, download and print, but you’re concerned about how they are going to look once they get to that person’s computer, Adobe Acrobat could be your answer.
Acrobat can convert any document to a PDF file (Adobe’s Portable Document Format) which is cross-platform. Anybody with the free Acrobat reader will be able to view or print your document as it was intended. Simple brochures and entire software manuals are moved across the Internet using this format. Chances are you already have the reader on your computer.
Multi-media can enhance a Web site when used correctly and strengthen the message you’re trying to get across. The trick is in choosing the right format to best present your material and using it judiciously. |
Sg Web Designer 
