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MULTIMEDIA
March 22, 2007
On page 189 McCraken and Wolfe describe Multimedia as the combination of two or more media. One thought on a personal note as to the use of multimedia in interface design is that animations can be very effective in attracting the attention of the viewer, if the animations aren't repetitive and the file sizes are optimzed for quicker downloads. The interactivity allows the user to feel as if they are part of the interface, because immediate feedback is displayed. In animation as noted on page194 McCraken and Wolfe, you receive a richer set of interactivity than video. Video files might display some wonderful animations but they tend to be large files. However, with the newer software and Plug-ins, these large video files can be compressed or streamed from a server to a Web site. It is important to be mindful of your audience when using video in your interface, since there are those who are not tech savvy regarding all the numerous video formats and plug-ins.
A second thought is that the best kind of animated graphics are vector based graphics since the file sizes are extremely small with low-bandwidth. Vector graphics are graphics that use Mathematical expression rather than Bitmaps. Bitmaps are pixel based graphics as illustrated on page 198 in McCraken and Wolfe. These vector based animations can be scripted with Java, JavaScript, or ActionScript for effective interactivity with an interface designed for multimedia, and can be played on a Flash or ShockWave player, which are free to download.
A good example of a multimedia site that supports my views is Mankanoy Visiuals.
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