Sounds, Images & Other Objects Website Production

Browsers Most browsers can handle basics types of objects, but not all Helper applications and Plug-ins are used to extend the functionality of browsers

Helper Apps & Plug-ins Helper applications are stand-alone, separate programs that browsers call upon to “handle” specific types of files –Example: Microsoft Media Player Plug-ins are software modules that allow for handling of different file types within a webpage –Example: Quicktime Plug-in

Common Object Types Sound –Wave files (.WAV) Sound format developed jointly by Microsoft and IBM Support built into Windows 95; de facto standard for PCs –.AU Short for audio Common format for UNIX machines Standard audio file format for Java

Common Object Types Sound –Midi: Musical instrument digital interface (.MID) Standard adopted by the electronic music industry for controlling devices, such as synthesizers and sound cards Includes values note's pitch, length, and volume, as well as attack and delay time

Common Object Types Images –GIF: graphics interchange format (.GIF) Bit-mapped graphics file format Supports color and various resolutions Includes data compression –JPEG: Joint Photographic Experts Group (.JPG) Can reduce files sizes to about 5% of their normal size Some detail is lost in the compression

Common Object Types Animations/Video –QuickTime movie (.MOV) Developed by Apple Computer Built into the Macintosh operating system PCs run QuickTime files using a special driver Supports Cinepak, JPEG, and MPEG encoding –Audio Video Interleave (.AVI) Developed by Microsoft Corporation Limited to 320 x 240 resolution, and 30 frames per second Does not require any special hardware; lowest common denominator for multimedia applications

Common Object Types Animations/Video –MPEG: Moving Picture Experts Group (MPG) Family of digital video compression standards and file formats developed by the group Generally produces better-quality video than competing formats Stores only the changes from one frame to another Use DCT encoding and a type of lossy compression

Common Object Types Animations/Video –Flash Known as FutureSplash until 1997, when Macromedia Inc. bought the company that developed it Bandwidth friendly, browser independent vector- graphic animation technology Using the necessary plug-ins, Flash animations look the same regardless of browser Users can draw their own animations or import other vector-based images Can only be created using the Flash animation application from Macromedia Inc.

Common Object Types Streaming –Technique for transferring data such that is processed as a steady and continuous stream –Client browser or plug-in can start displaying the data before the entire file has been transmitted

Common Object Types Streaming –RealAudio (.RAM,.RM) De facto standard for streaming audio data over the World Wide Web Developed by RealNetworks Supports FM-stereo-quality sound Requires RealAudio player or plug-in (freeware) –RealVideo Developed by RealNetworks For transmitting live video over the Internet Uses a variety of data compression techniques

Adding Objects Objects can be added by … Including a link to a specific file (resource) Embedding the object within a webpage

Embedded Objects _url_ is the object’s address