2. CGMB113/ CITB 123: MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGY CHAPTER FIVE MULTIMEDIA BUILDING BLOCKS I TEXT 1 SARASWATHY SHAMINI Adapted from Notes Prepared by: Noor Fardela Zainal Abidin © UNITEN 2004/2005

3. 22222 Objectives At the end of this chapter, students should be able to: Understand the history and development of text Understand the importance and significance of text in multimedia Identify the terms and concept related to text Describe the application of text in multimedia systems

4. 3 Text in History Text came into use about 6,000 years ago Ramesses the IVth offering Maat to Amon and Khonsou It was mainly used for vital information at the time (politics, taxes etc.)

5. 4 Text in History Originated from Mesopotamia, Egypt, Sumeria and Babylonia Initially text was written in symbols such as pictographic signs and cuneiforms Johann Gensfleisch zum Gutenberg’s printing press revolutionized text in the 15 th century

6. Importance of Text in a Multimedia Presentation Words and symbols in any form, spoken or written, are the most common means of communication. Text is a vital element of multimedia menus, navigation systems, and content. Factors affecting legibility of text: ▫ Size ▫ Background and foreground color ▫ Style ▫ Leading 5

7. The power of meaning… Word must be chosen carefully ▫ Precise and accurate meaning to describe what you mean ▫ Word must be chosen to illustrate to a few meaning Word appears in titles, menus and navigational aids. Test the words that you plan to use on several users and observe their reaction. 6

8. Understanding Fonts and Typefaces Typeface: a family of similar characters that may include many sizes and styles  ARIAL  Courier  Times Font: characters of a single size and style, which are part of the same font face family ▫ Arial – Arial Italic – Arial size 28 ▫ Arial Narrow ▫ Times – Times extra – Times bold shadow Style: attributes of a font, such as italic, bold, underline, shadow etc. 7

9. Understanding Fonts and Typefaces The study of fonts and typefaces includes the following: ▫ Font styles ▫ Font sizes ▫ Cases. ▫ Serif versus Sans Serif Font styles include: ▫ Boldface ▫ Italic ▫ Underlining ▫ Outlining 8

10. Understanding Fonts and Typefaces Font size is measured in points. Character metrics are the general measurements applied to individual characters. Kerning is the spacing between character pairs. Leading is the space between lines. 9 Line 1 Line 2 Leading

11. Understanding Fonts and Typefaces Cases ▫ A capitalized letter is referred to as 'uppercase', while a small letter is referred to as 'lowercase.' ▫ Placing an uppercase letter in the middle of a word is referred to as intercap. 10

12. Understanding Fonts and Typefaces Serif Vs Sans Serif ▫ Serif is the little decoration at the end of a letter stroke. ▫ Serif fonts are used for body text. ▫ Sans serif fonts do not have a serif at the end of a letter stroke. ▫ These fonts are used for headlines and bold statements. 11

13. Understanding Fonts and Typefaces Verdana is a sans serif type Times Roman is a serif type 12 E E Serif Sans serif Verdana Times New Romans

14. Monospaced vs propotional fonts. In a monospaced font, every character occupies the same amount of space horizontally, regardless of its shape. Text in monospaced font looks as if it was produced on a typewriter. ▫ Lucida typewrite is an example for monospaced font. In a proportional font, the space each letter occupies depends on the width of the letter shape. This produce a more even appearance, and you can fit more words in one line. ▫ Tahoma is an example for proportional font. 13

15. 14 Measurement of Type The height of characters in a font is measured in points. One point being approximately 1/72 inch. The width is measured by pitch, which refers to how many characters can fit in an inch. Common pitch values are 10 and 12.

16. Distinguish between display fonts and text fonts ▫ Display fonts:  are designed for short pieces of text, such as headings, slogan or signs. They are not intended for use in lengthy passages.  Are designed in fancy style. ( This is the example ) ▫ Text fonts:  must be unobtrusive, so they do not intrude on the reader and interfere with the primary message of the text.  Must easy to read, so they do not cause fatigue when they are read for hours at a time.  Usually are fonts which are familiar to the users.  (This is the example) 15 Issues when designing with text

17. Boldface is intrusive, so reserve it for headings or similar use. Italic text, because of its slant, often render badly at low resolution, making it hard to read Consider legibility when choosing font can you read this? Or this word ? Is this too small? Or is this readable ? Avoid too many different faces 16 Issues when designing with text

18. Strike the density balance Minimize lines of centered text Distinguish text link with colours and underlining Explore text colours and backgrounds Use distorted layout to grab attention 17 Issues when designing with text

19. Adjust leading and kerning for readability. ▫ In text blocks, adjust the leading for the most pleasing spacing. Lines too tightly packed are difficult to read. Vary the size of the font in proportion to the importance of the message you are delivering. Remember that long continuous texts covering multiple pages are tiring to read. Always breakdown information into smaller chunk, and summaries them. 18 Issues when designing with text

20. Use anti-aliased text: ▫ anti-aliasing blends the colours along the edges of the letters (called dithering) to create a soft transition between letter and its background. ▫ Anti-aliasing also smoothes jaggies at the edge of characters. 19 Issues when designing with text

21. True type font: the same font will be used on the printer and the screen (as oppose to scalable printer resident font) ▫ True type : Arial, Times New Roman ▫ Scalable printer resident: Antique olive, CG Omega 20 Issues when designing with text

22. Font compatibility: not all font is available on every operating system. Choose regularly used fonts such as Arial, Times New Roman, Courier If you want to use your own font, that font must be first installed. 21

23. Designing menu and icon Menu: choose word with precise meaning Icon/symbols : choose icon which has very few meaning for interpretation, or go for something which is globally understood. Can be useful if language barrier is an issue Consider using text label together with icons. 22

24. Animating text Animated text can grab attention Do not overdo it. ▫ Too many animation and attention grabbers will distract users attention. 23

25. Hypertext and Hypermedia Hypermedia provides a structure of links through which a user can navigate and interact. Hypermedia structure: ▫ Hypermedia elements are called nodes ▫ Nodes are connected using links ▫ A linked points is called an anchor Hypertext words are linked to other elements Hypertext is usually searchable. 24

26. The final rule… Experiment your work by try and error. Test your work with users – accept critique and improvise. 25

27. Reference Vaughan Tay, Multimedia: Making It work. 7 th Edition. McGraw Hill 26