Multimedia website design is the use of video, sound and animation. Traditionally website designs have contained very
little multimedia animations due to slow download speeds and large file sizes. The increased spped of broadband
internet access and faster modem speeds, coupled with advances in multimedia technologies have opened the
door to website designs with an increased level of multimedia content.
There are several multimedia website design technologies used to achieve this,
however the most common are Flash, Shockwave, RealMedia & Java.
Each of the main multimedia website design technologies are explained below:
Shockwave:
This was the first multimedia website design technology and was brought out by
Macromedia who created Flash. It is a technology adapted from the most popular program
used in traditional multimedia - Macromedia Director. This is the program used by advertising and
multimedia agencies to create multimedia presentations and promotional CD's.
Shockwave Player displays destination web content such as interactive multimedia product demos and training,
e-merchandising applications, and rich-media multi-user games.
While Shockwave is an excellent multimedia website design technology, it is not as good as Flash.
The file sizes are generally larger and hence take longer to download and only 55% of web users have a shockwave player.
Flash:
Macromedia Flash Video lets you easily put video on a web page in a format that almost anyone can view.
Since the 2002 introduction of Flash Video, Macromedia Flash Player has become the most widely installed Internet video client,
running on over 94% of all Internet-connected personal computers.
Also, Flash Player runs on a wide variety of platforms and operating systems.
The ubiquity of Flash Player ensures that most visitors can view Flash Video
without downloading additional plug-ins, so you can reach more people with lower development,
testing, and support costs.
Another reason why it is so popular is that it is able to compress animations into
extremely small files that look very impressive.
Macromedia flash has developed to such an extent that entire website designs can now be created using just this technology.
Real Media:
This encompasses Real Video and Real Audio and allows videos, music and sound to be played on the web.
What makes Real Media superior to other products is its streaming technology.
This means the file can start playing almost immediately, before the full file has downloaded.
It does this by playing the file as it downloads.
It is useful for showing video presentations and is a better choice than Shockwave.
Java:
Java technology is a groundbreaking computing platform released by Sun Microsystems in 1995.
Originally called OAK, it was renamed as the Java programming language in 1995
This is the exception to the rule, in that it is the only multimedia website design technology
that doesn't require a plug-in. It is a full cross platform programming language and as most
browsers support the Java language, it can be viewed by anyone.
You can find Java technology in cell phones, on laptop computers, on the Web, and even trackside at Formula One Grand Prix races.
The fact is today, you can find Java technology just about everywhere!