Multi – many; much; multiple MULTIMEDIA APPLICATIONS

Medium – a substance regarded as the means of • Computer Based Training

transmission of a force or effect; • Teaching Aid
– a channel or system of communication, • References
information, or entertainment • Entertainment
– means for distribution and presentation of • Information Kiosk
information. • Simulation
– classification based on perception (text, • Virtual Reality
audio, video) is appropriate for defining multimedia. • Virtual Surgery

Criteria for the classification of medium: ADVANTAGES OF MULTIMEDIA

Presentation, Perception, Representation, Storage, 1. Is easy to use
Information Exchange, Transmission 2. Enhancement of Text Only Messages
3. Improves over Traditional Audio-Video
Multimedia – computer information can be Presentations
represented through audio, video, and animation in 4. Gains and Holds
addition to traditional media. 5. Good for “computer-phobics”
– it is interactive when the end-user is 6. Multimedia is Entertaining as Well as
allowed to control what and when the elements are Educational
delivered. 7. Cost-effective
• Multimedia is linear, when it is not interactive 8. Trendy
and the users just sit and watch as if it is a DISADVANTAGES OF MULTIMEDIA
movie. 1. Expensive
• Multimedia is nonlinear, when the users are 2. Not always easy to configure
given the navigational control and can browse 3. Requires special hardware
the contents at will. 4. Not always compatible
➢ Interactive Multimedia is Hypermedia, when
the end-user is provided with the structure of BASIC ELEMENTS OF MULTIMEDIA
linked elements through which he/she can Text, Graphics, Animation, Video and Audio
navigate.
➢ TEXT
Multimedia Authoring Tools – are those programs that - Characters that are used to create words,
provide the capability for creating a complete sentences, and paragraphs.
multimedia presentation by linking together objects - It can be use for:
such as paragraph of text (song), an illustration, an *Heading/Title
audio, with appropriate interactive user control. (Adobe *Bullet/List
Photoshop, Adobe Flash, Maya, Unity 3D) *Paragraph
*Multimedia elements are composed into a project *Scrolling text
using authoring tools. *Navigation
Authors – (those who use authoring tools) can produce *Text as graphics
attractive and useful graphical applications. Text Element:
Multimedia platform or environment – The hardware Alphabet characters: A-Z, Number: 0-9, Special
and the software that govern the limits of what can characters, Symbols @ #$&*
happen.
Multimedia System – is any system that supports more ➢ GRAPHICS
than a single kind of media. (any processing text and - Graphics are digital representation of non-
image || The definition is quantitative. A qualitative text information, such as a drawing, chart,
definition would be more appropriate.) or photograph.
– is characterized by computer- - Graphics are use to:
controlled, integrated production, manipulation, storage *To add emphasis
and communication of independent information, which *Direct attention
is encoded at least through a continuous(time- *Illustrate concepts
dependent) and a discrete (time-independent) medium. *Provide background content
ADVANTAGES OF GRAPHICS IN MULTIMEDIA
1. Convey information more quickly than when
using text
2. Make complex information simple
3. Enhance online teaching and learning
4. Enhance communication with some disabled
groups, particularly those with learning
difficulties or cognitive impairments
DISADVANTAGES OF GRAPHICS IN MULTIMEDIA
1. Take longer to download
2. Require the use of plug-ins that the user may
not have or be able to install
3. Create accessibility barriers for some users
Graphics Categories: Vector & Bitmap
Vector Graphics
- Images created with software that uses
geometrical formulas to represent images.
- Composed of individual elements (arc, line,
polygon, with their own attributes that can
be individually edited).
- Can be created using any drawing software
VG – Advantages
1. The ability to resize and rotate a
graphics without distortions a major
advantage of vector graphics.
2. Another advantage is their smaller file
size.
VG-Disadvantages
1. The more complex they are, the larger
the file size and the longer they take to
appear on the screen.
2. They cannot display photorealistic
quality
Bitmap Graphics
- Also called as raster graphics
- It represents the image as an array of dots,
called pixels.
- Resolution-dependent and generate large
file sizes.
BM – Advantages
1. The bitmap can be more photorealistic
2. We can set color of every individual
pixel in the image.
BM – Disadvantages
1. Bitmaps are memory intensive, and the
higher resolution, the larger the file size
2. When an image is enlarged, the
individual colored squares become
visible and the illusion of a smooth
images is lost to the viewer.
➢ SOUND
- Sound is the best way to attract attention.
- Often audio provides the only effective way
to convey an idea, elicit an emotion, or
dramatize point.
- It can also be combined in a multimedia
presentation to provide information and
enhance the other media being presented.
The use of sound:
Music: Background, Attention grabber, Sound
effect
Speech: Narration, Instruction
➢ ANIMATION
- It is a series of graphics that create an
illusion of motion.
- Entertainment multimedia titles in general,
and children’s titles specifically, rely heavily
on animation.
The use of animation:
To attract attention, To inform about the state of
process, Demonstrations, Interactive simulations
➢ VIDEO
- Is the technology of electronically capturing,
recording, processing, storing, transmitting,
and reconstructing a sequence of still
images representing scenes in motion.
The use of Video:
1. The embedding of video in multimedia
applications is a powerful way to convey
information which can incorporate a personal
element which other media lacks.
2. Promoting television shows, films, or other non-
computer media that traditionally have used
trailers in their advertising.
3. Giving users an impression of a speaker’s
personality.
4. Showing things that move. (e.g., a clip from a
motion picture, product demos of physical
products are also well suited for video).
DV ADVANTAGES
1. It can be easily edited.
2. Video is stored as a standard computer
file.
3. Software motion video does not require
specialized hardware for playback.
4. Digital video requires neither a video
board in the computer nor an external
device (which adds extra costs and
complexity) such as a videodisc player.
5. Long-lasting
 DV DISADVANTAGES ➢ Formatted Text (Rich Text)
1. Requires large storage capacity Comprise strings of characters of
devices. different styles, sizes and shape together with tables,
2. Copies can be made illegally. graphics, and image inserted at appropriate point. (e.g.,
3. Need fast computer system for Rich Text Format (RTF), HTML, .doc)
playback and capture. An example of formatted text is that
4. Requires knowledge of digital produced by most word processing packages. It enables
compression technology. documents to be created that consists of characters of
different styles and variable size and shape, each of
TEXT ELEMENT<<< which can be plain, bold, or italicized.
In addition, a variety of document
TEXT – Is obviously the simplest of data types and formatting options are supported to enable an author
requires the least amount of storage. to structure a document into chapters, sections and
– in the form of words, sentences, and paragraphs paragraphs, each of which with different headings and
is used to communicate thoughts, ideas, and facts in with tables, graphics and pictures inserted at
daily life. appropriate points.
– may not be visually exciting as some of the other
media types, but it often conveys essential and precise ➢ Hypertext
information. It enables the integrated set of
– is probably the most common form of documents (each comprising formatted text) to be
information delivery created which have defined linkages between them.
It can be captured in ff ways: it is a type of formatted text that
Keyboard enables a related set of documents, normally referred
Mouse to as pages, to be created which have defined linkage
Scanner (OCR) – Optical Character Recognition points, referred to as hyperlinks, between each other.
: designed to translate images of
handwritten or typewritten text (usually capture by a scanner) into *Multimedia applications depend on text for many things including:
Page Titles
machine-editable text.
Delivering information in form of multiple sentences/
Types of Text paragraphs
➢ Unformatted Text (Plain text) Labels for pictures
Comprise strings of fixed-sized Instructions for operating the application
characters form a limited character set.
FONTS & TYPEFACES
ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Font – Collection o characters of different sizes and
Interchange) – one of the most widely used character styles of a typeface.
sets and the table includes the binary code word used Typeface – Graphic representation or the shape of
to represent each character. characters. It is a family of related fonts.
ASCII Code – Each character is represented by a unique
7-bit binary code word, meaning that there are FONT TERMINOLOGY
128(2^7) alternative characters. • Baseline – the line on which the bases of
– In addition to all normal alphabetic, characters are arranged.
numeric and punctuation character, the total ASCII • Leading – the distance between successive
character set also includes control characters such as: baselines.
backspace, delete, etc. • X-height – the distance between the baseline
Extended Character Set (ISO Latin-1) and the top of a lowercase letter x.
Extra 1 bit in ASCII is filled with ANSI (American National Standards
Institution) characters (256 characters) • Ascenders/descenders – strokes that rise above
Unicode: the x-height/drop below the baseline.
• Unicode is the universal standard for multi-language characters
published by Unicode Consortium. • Kerning – adjustment of space between certain
• Unicode 4.0 standard covers 96,382 characters using 16 bits uniform pairs of letters to make them look more
encoding. uniform.
• Unicode can support a wide variety of non-Roman alphabets including
Han Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Korean, Bengali, and so on. • Tracking – Spacing between characters.
• Serif – Flag or decoration at the end of a char
stroke.
CLASSIFICATION OF FONTS
• Spacing: monospaced (fixed
width)/proportional
• Serifs: serif/sans serif
: serifs are the small strokes added to the
ends of character
: shapes in conventional book fonts.
• Shape: upright/italic/slanted
: slant is a vertical shear effect, italic uses
glyph shapes
: with a slant
• Weight: bold/normal/light
SERIF AND SANS SERIF FONTS
• Fonts can be broadly be said to be of one of two
types: serif or sans serif
• A serif is the decorative ‘bit’ at the end of a
letter stroke
• Serif fonts have them and sans serif fonts don’t
(‘sans’ being French for ‘without’)
• Serif fonts are usually used for printed media or
documents that have large quantities of text.
• This is because the serif helps guide the reader’s
eye along the line
• San Serifs fonts are considered better for
computer displays because of the sharper
contrast.
Serif fonts: Times New Roman, Bookman Old Style,
Monotype Corsiva, Courier New
Sans Serif fonts: Arial, Tahoma, Impact, Verdana
FONT STYLES
• Bold, Italic, Underline, Strikethrough,
superscript or subscript, embossed or shadow
• Colours
• Some common fonts used today include:
: Arial (or Helvetica): A sans serif font
: Times New Roman: A serif font
: Courier New: A monospaced font (all
characters have the same width)
Postscript – Page Description Language
– Uses mathematical construct
– Allows the character to be scaled
bigger/smaller; able to be finely printed.
– Needs special software to display
– Needs licensing
Example: Adobe’s PostScript
TrueType – Page Description Language
– is joint effort by Apple & Microsoft
– uses mathematical construct
– In addition to printing smooth chars, it
allows chars displayed on low-resolution monitors
– No special software needed to display
– No licensing needed
Bitmap – Images of characters
– Requires a lot of memory
Bitmapped and Vector Fonts
• Fonts can either be stored as bitmapped or
vector
• Bitmap require one bitmap for each size
- File size increases as more sizes are added
- Require a lot of memory
• Vector fonts can draw any size by scaling the
vector drawing primitives mathematically
- File size is much smaller than bitmaps
- TrueType and PostScript are vector font
formats
Font Appearance
Rasterization – Font is drawn on the screen one pixel at
a time
Jaggies – are the jagged edges you see when a
bitmapped image is resized. It is a consequence of the
underlying array of pixels from which the image is
composed.
Anti-Aliasing – blend the font into the background color
– This technique minimizes the jagged
edges making font smoother overall appearance.
– It substitutes additional pixels in other
colors to fool the brain into thinking it is seeing
continuous lines.
Meaningful Words:
Text is used for titles and headlines, menus, navigation,
and content.
Too much text – crowded or busy screen. Too little text
– too many pages. Words must be chosen carefully.
Guidelines for Choosing Fonts:
➢ For small type, do not use decorative fonts because
in small size they are unreadable.
➢ Use as few typefaces as possible but you can vary
the size and style using italic or bold.
➢ Adjust the leading or line spacing where you have a
lot of text for easier reading.
➢ Vary the size of a font according to the importance
of the message you are delivering
➢ Use bold or emphasize text to highlight ideas or
concept
➢ For small type, do not use decorative fonts because
in small size they are unreadable.
➢ Adjust the leading or line spacing where you have a
lot of text for easier reading.
➢ Vary the size of a font according to the importance
of the message you are delivering.
➢ Use bold or emphasize text to highlight ideas or
concept.
➢ In large headlines, adjust the spacing between
letters (kerning) so that the spacing feels right.
➢ Use anti-aliasing for big fonts but turn off anti-
aliasing for small fonts.
➢ Surround headlines with white space
➢ Distinguish text links with colors and underlining
➢ Use drop caps and initial caps
- That is making choice in an easier way and
limited according to the system’s
capabilities
- Choosing may lead to another page with
text or may retrieve info from database
4. Scroll Bars
- Usually not a good practice to use scroll
bars
- Mostly irritates the user
- Important messages should not be posted
using scrollbars, since the user may not
notice it.
5. Buttons for interaction
- The concept of hyperlinking remains the
same
- Chane in appearance by using a button with
text to glow on it rather than using a
hypertext.
6. Symbols & Icons
- Using symbols or icons in-order to express a meaning
- e.g., a floppy icon in MS Word represents “Save”,
expressing to save the document.

Efficient use of Text

Positive ways to communicate message by less text and
other ways are:
1. Hypertext
- Linking a hypertext or hot word / hotspot to
another part of the title that displays more
text
- Very effectively used to retrieve info from
databases
- Helps user in decision making
- User can process information faster and
strategically
2. Pop-up Messages
- Another type of Hot word used to save
space
- Click on a hot word or a text, a small
message pops up explaining in brief about
the hot word
- Remains for some time and vanishes after
programmed duration or by a mouse click
3. Drop-down boxes
- Gives the user a set of choices and reduces
his strain of decision making