Chapter 11 Adding Media and Interactivity

Flash is a software program that allows you to create low-bandwidth, high-quality animations and interactive elements that you can place on your web pages. Adding and Modifying Flash Objects

Website based on Flash Adding and Modifying Flash Objects

Low-bandwidth animations are animations that don’t require a fast connection to work properly. These animations use a series of vector-based graphics that load quickly and merge with other graphics and sounds to create short movies. Adding and Modifying Flash Objects

Vector-based graphics are scalable graphics that are built using mathematical formulas, rather than built with pixels. Adding and Modifying Flash Objects

Flash movies require Flash Player, a plug-in that is included in the latest versions of Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, and Opera, to view them. Adding and Modifying Flash Objects

Flash movie playing in the browser Adding and Modifying Flash Objects

The original Flash file is stored as a separate file in the website root folder. Adding and Modifying Flash Objects

Selecting the crab.fla file The path for your site root folder The crabdance.fla file is selected Adding and Modifying Flash Objects

A Flash button is a button made from a small, predefined Flash movie that you can insert on a web page to provide site navigation, either in place of or in addition to other types of hyperlinks, such as plain text links. Adding and Modifying Flash Objects

You can assign Flash buttons a variety of behaviors in response to user actions, such as opening a different page in the browser when the mouse pointer is placed over it. Adding and Modifying Flash Objects

Like all Flash objects, Flash buttons have the.swf file extension. Adding and Modifying Flash Objects

You can use Flash to: – create Flash movies that include multimedia elements, such as audio files (both music and voiceovers) Adding and Modifying Flash Objects

Flash movie playing in Dreamweaver Flash movie playing Click to stop movie Adding and Modifying Flash Objects

You can use Flash to: – animated objects, scripted objects, clickable links, and just about any other animated or clickable object imaginable. – add content to your existing website or to create an entire website. Adding and Modifying Flash Objects

A rollover image is an image that changes its appearance when the mouse pointer is placed over it in a browser. Adding Rollover Images

Walton Arts Center website using rollover images to display menus Menu opens when mouse rolls over menu name Adding Rollover Images

A rollover image consists of two images: – the first image is the one that appears when the mouse pointer is not positioned over it. – the second image is the one that appears when the mouse pointer is positioned over it. Adding Rollover Images

A rollover image can use Flash to: – animated objects, scripted objects, clickable links, and just about any other animated or clickable object imaginable. – add content to your existing website or to create an entire website. Adding Rollover Images

Viewing the rollover image in the browser Image is swapped when the mouse rolls over it Adding Rollover Images Image is swapped when the mouse rolls over it

Rollover images are often used to help create a feeling of action and excitement on a web page. You can add rollover images to a web page using the Rollover Image command on the Images menu in the Common category. Adding Rollover Images

Another way for you to create a rollover image, button, or menu bar is to insert it as a Fireworks HTML file. You can also use rollover images to display an image associated with a text link. Adding Rollover Images

Images menu on the Insert panel Images menu Rollover Image command Fireworks HTML command Adding Rollover Images

When a rollover image is inserted onto a page, Dreamweaver adds two behaviors; – Swap Image behavior has JavaScript code that directs the browser to display a different image when the mouse is rolled over an image on the page. Adding Rollover Images

When a rollover image is inserted onto a page, Dreamweaver adds two behaviors; – Swap Image Restore behavior restores the swapped image back to the original image. Adding Rollover Images

Behaviors are sets of instructions that you can attach to page elements that tell the page element to respond in a specific way when an event occurs, such as when the mouse pointer is positioned over the element. Adding Behaviors

When you attach a behavior to an element, Dreamweaver generates the JavaScript code for the behavior and inserts it into your page code. Adding Behaviors

You can use the Behaviors panel located in the Tag panel group to insert a variety of JavaScript-based behaviors on a page. Adding Behaviors

Behaviors panel with the Actions menu displayed Adding behavior button Actions menu Adding Behaviors

Actions are triggered by events. If you want the user to see a page element slide across the page when the element is clicked, you hey would attach the Slide action using the onClick event to trigger the action. Adding Behaviors

Viewing the edited behavior onMouseOver action Adding Behaviors

Some of the behaviors that you can add to web pages use a JavaScript library called the Spry framework for AJAX. Adding Behaviors

Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX) is a method for developing interactive web pages that respond quickly to user input, such as clicking a map. Adding Behaviors

In the library, you will find: – spry widgets, which are prebuilt components for adding interactivity to pages. – spry effects, which are screen effects such as fading and enlarging page elements. Adding Behaviors

When you add a spry effect to a page element, Dreamweaver automatically adds a SpryAssets folder to the site root folder with the supporting files inside the folder. Adding Behaviors

Another way to add rich media content to your web pages is to insert video files. Of the several available video formats, one of the most popular is the MP4 format. Adding Video

Viewing a video in a browser Video window Sound control Controls for video Closed caption option Script for video is displayed when Closed caption option is selected Adding Video

You can insert a video in Dreamweaver with the Insert, Media, Plugin command, but HTML5 introduced another way to add video with the tag. Adding Video

Inserting a video on the about_us page Video placeholder inserted on page Adding Video

The advantages of this method are numerous: – it supports video in native formats. – it is compatible with all browsers. – You can access the video controls using a keyboard. Adding Video

You can include code to link multiple video formats to provide access for all browsers and make your videos searchable by search engines. Adding Video

A buffer is a temporary storage area on your hard drive that acts as a holding area for the video content as it is being played. Adding Video

Other video formats that you can link or embed on a web page include AVI, FLV, WebM, MOV, Ogg. Currently, the MP4, WebM, and Ogg formats support the HTML5 tag. Adding Video

Not all browsers support all three formats, so it is a good idea to provide multiple file formats for your users files. Adding Video

Viewing the video in a browser Play button becomes pause button while video is playing Adding Video

Users access playback controls with a controller. A controller appears as a graphic element called a skin placed over or below a video. Adding Video

Controls include buttons or sliders to stop, start, and pause the video, control the sound level or mute the sound, or display a script of the video. Adding Video

Controllers can be coded to customize both the appearance of the skin and the controls that will be included. Adding Video

To incorporate sound into a website you can: – embed them as background sounds. – embed them on a page with visible sound controls – link them to a page. – add them to a page with the new tags introduced with HTML5. Adding Sound

Playing an audio file on a web page List of audio files available Blue bar indicates how much of the file has been downloaded Pause/play button Playhead indicates playback position Volume control Adding Sound

The following are a few questions you should ask yourselves before you decide to add a sound to a page. – What is the purpose you have in mind? – Will the sound add to the rich media experience for your users? Adding Sound

The following are a few questions you should ask yourselves before you decide to add a sound to a page. – What devices will the users use to play the sound? – Have you tested the audio file to make sure the sound quality is excellent? Adding Sound

Dreamweaver has a generic controller that you will see when you add a sound file in the following steps. Adding Sound

You can use CSS3 to change the appearance of a controller, but all controllers will have the basic play and pause buttons and a way to control the volume. Adding Sound