Multimedia development platforms Robert Munro 2005

Development platforms  There are a number of platforms for developing multimedia products:  none of them were designed with language documentation in mind  We’ll offer support for two in this course:  HTML  Macromedia director

HTML – history  Originally designed for hyperlinked text:  Non-linear pages  Interactive  Linear layout of text and objects  By default, HTML still follows this model

HTML – elements  Each page is a linear sequence of text and objects:  Text  Pictures  Tables (of text, pictures…)

HTML – layout and formatting  The formatting and layout is controlled by tags:  based on the same principle you’ve seen with XML: “the quick brown fox” will be displayed as: “the quick brown fox”  WYSIWYG editors are common:  Only approximate: will depend on the users’ browsers  Will typically feel similar to MS Word  Automatically converts your design to the correct tags

HTML development  Traditionally, tables are/were used for non-linear layouts of text and graphics:  Re-use typically involves cutting and pasting across the pages  More recently, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) have been used:  A separate page (unseen by the user), with a list of formatting options

Cascading style sheets  For example:  “make all paragraphs indented”  “make all images centered”  “make all images within a table aligned right”  All the pages of a website can reference the same formatting instructions:  Standardises the formatting across a website  Gives a single point of change

HTML – graphics and sound  Graphics (called images in HTML)  Animated graphics may be used  Video:  Most common formats will be accepted  Sound:  Most common formats will be accepted  Animations:  HTML is static - difficult to move objects within a page

HTML – navigation  By default, navigation is non-linear:  Hyperlinks on texts and/or images to other pages  It is also easy to support a linear structure:  “next page”, “previous page” links,  Menus:  It is common to create a standard set of links common to all pages

Macromedia Director – history  Originally designed for games:  Uses theatre metaphor  Supports extreme interactivity through to linear movie  Fully programmable multimedia objects

Director – elements  Each screen is a floating set of objects:  Text  Pictures

Director – layout  Coordinates:  free ‘floating’ positioning  Timeline:  scheduling  used to achieve the feel of separate screens/pages

Director development  Called “movie” – each moment determined by:  Stage (window space)  Sprites (actors)  Behaviours (scripts/programs)  Event driven, for example:  “on mouse-click on object A, go to screen N”  “on completion of sound, present option-list L”

Director – graphics and sound  Graphics  Animated graphics may be used  Video:  Most common formats will be accepted  Sound:  Most common formats will be accepted  Animations:  Sprites can be animated on stage, or by programming

Director – navigation  Varies from linear (eg movie), to anything imaginable  Default is linear, frame by frame  Generally implemented by scripts:  requires some programming