Advanced site design involves
the latest internet technology, from streaming (continuous-feed) audio
and video, to Quicktime VR movies, FLASH animation and Shockwave interactive
sites that behave more like CD ROM titles. For more information on, and
examples of, streaming audio and video, click on the Audio/Video button.
Below is an example
of a Quicktime VR panorama from one of our realtor sites. To pan the interior
of this house 360 degrees, click anywhere in the picture and, holding
down the left mouse button, drag to left or right. To zoom in or out,
click on the plus (+) or minus (-) sign in the lower-left corner of the
picture. If you don't have Quicktime (version 3.0 or 4.0 required), you
can download it free at: www.apple.com/quicktime.
To
turn the sound up or down click the speaker icon.
To turn off the sound click the pause icon.
Advanced
site design also includes database development, which allows
interactive ordering and collection of data from visitors
to your site. This allows you to both transact sales and compile
customer profiles for mailing lists.
FLASH
Macromedia
Flash allows us to integrate animation, video, text, audio,
and graphics into immersive, rich experiences that deliver
superior results for interactive marketing and presentations,
e-learning, and application user interfaces. Flash is the
world’s most pervasive software platform, used by over
one million professionals and reaching more than 97% of Internet-enabled
desktops worldwide, as well as a wide range of devices.
If you have the FLASH player installed on your computer you
should see a short animation below. If not, go to http://www.macromedia.com/software/flashplayer/
and download the correct version of the program for your operating
system now. Just follow the directions on the FLASH download
site, it's free and an invaluable web application.
AUDIO
/ VIDEO
Until recently
audio and video on the web have been mere novelties. Quality
has been spotty due to the bandwidth limitations of most internet
dial-up connections. With the advent of cable modems, DSL,
and Wireless, however, high-quality web audio and video are
right around the corner. But what about today?
VIDEO:
Real Video can be streamed (fed continuously) to 56k modems
today, but the picture is quite limited. Quicktime 4.0 is
an increasingly popular audio/video player which also supports
streaming. Its file sizes are larger than those produced by
Real Video, but the picture quality must be seen to be believed.
AUDIO:
Real Audio at 56k sounds quite good. For even higher quality audio, however,
the format of choice is MP3. MP3 files can be embedded in the background
of a web page, or a "player" with an on/off/play switch can be placed
on the page.
MIDI
is a totally different way to deliver music to an end user's
computer. Instead of delivering the actual digitized sound,
MIDI files contain the instructions for a sound card to produce
sounds. As a result, MIDI files are extremely small and download
quickly over even the slowest lines. The downside is that
sound quality is determined by the user's sound card. An older,
16-bit card will sound like a cheap radio, while a newer 32-bit
pro audio card will sound as if the orchestra is in the computer.
New computers usually contain decent sound cards, but most
PC's bought before 1997 won't cut it. The same can be said
of "bargain PC's" that go for $900 or less.
TEST MIDI YOURSELF
Click the play buttons below to hear how your well your system plays MIDI
files. Enjoy.
