Unit 3

Text
Origins of Written Communication:

Began around 6,000 years ago in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Babylonia.

Early forms included pictographic signs and cuneiform writing.

Used by ruling classes and priests for political and taxation purposes.

Power of Writing:

Allowed messages to persist over time, unlike oral communication.

Played a crucial role in governance and record-keeping.

Gutenberg's Printing Press (15th Century):

Introduced movable type, revolutionizing information distribution.

Initially focused on religious texts, such as the Bible.

Enabled mass production of text, increasing public access to

information.

Gutenberg faced financial challenges, losing his press to his backer

after legal disputes.

Internet and Text:

Text remains foundational, forming the backbone of the web via HTML.

The web is a rich, interactive medium, distinct from television.

Provides vast amounts of information accessible through hypertext

links.

Literacy and navigation skills are essential for leveraging the internet
effectively.

The Power of Meaning

Single words can have multiple meanings, so accuracy and conciseness
are essential when choosing words in multimedia content.

Unit 3 1
 Poets, songwriters, and advertisers use condensed language, distilling
complex meanings into few words, logos, or taglines.

Multimedia creators blend words with symbols, sounds, and images to

build interfaces for communication.

Words like "Barbie," "green," or "lite" evoke different meanings for different
people, based on their personal experiences.

Multimedia often overlooks the importance of narrative, which can have a

clear beginning, middle, and end.

Using precise and powerful words for labels, menus, and navigation aids
improves communication and user experience.

Experimenting with word choices and testing them with users ensures
clarity and effectiveness.

Words and symbols are fundamental to multimedia, delivering detailed and

widely understood messages.

Taking the time to choose impactful words will enhance the overall
multimedia experience.

The Power and Irregularity of English

By the early 2000s, about one billion people spoke English as a first,
second, or foreign language.

English is the official or joint official language in over 75 countries, and is

used widely in business, science, and technology.

80% of the world’s information stored on computers is in English, and two-

thirds of the world's scientists read English.

English learners face challenges with irregular verbs and plurals, and
English spelling is considered the most difficult of languages using the Latin
alphabet.

Technology, particularly SMS and social media, has influenced changes in

English spelling and language shortcuts to fit character limits.

English has become the common language in international business and

technical meetings, facilitating communication across different nationalities.

Unit 3 2
 Shortcuts and acronyms in SMS and online messaging (like "XOXO" or "U")
are common, but may fade with the increased capacity of MMS.

About Fonts and Faces

1. Typeface: A family of graphic characters that includes various type sizes
and styles.

2. Font: A collection of characters of a single size and style belonging to a

specific typeface family (e.g., Times 12-point italic).

3. Font Styles: Variations of a font, such as boldface and italic, which may
include other attributes like underlining and outlining.

4. Point: A unit of measurement for font size, where one point is equal to
0.0138 inch (approximately 1/72 of an inch).

5. Font Size: The measurement from the top of the capital letters to the
bottom of descenders in letters such as "g" and "y."

6. x-height: The height of the lowercase letter "x," which can vary between
fonts and affects the perceived size of the font.

7. Leading: The space between lines of text, which can be adjusted in most
software programs to improve readability.

8. Character Metrics: The general measurements applied to individual

characters within a font.

9. Kerning: The adjustment of space between specific pairs of characters to

improve visual appeal and readability.

10. Tracking: The overall spacing adjustment between characters in a block of

text.

11. Rasterizing: The process by which a letter is converted from a

mathematical representation into a recognizable symbol using tiny square
pixels (dots) for display on screens or in printed output.

12. dpi (dots per inch): A measurement that indicates the resolution of a
monitor or printer, affecting the clarity of displayed or printed characters.

13. Free Fonts: Fonts that are available without charge, often found through
online searches.

Unit 3 3
 14. Typeface Variety: The ability for the same letter to look different when
using different fonts and faces, providing options for design and
presentation.

Cases
In traditional typesetting, characters were stored in two trays: the upper tray
for capital letters (uppercase) and the lower tray for small letters
(lowercase).

Uppercase refers to capital letters, while lowercase refers to small letters.

Mixed uppercase and lowercase letters are generally easier to read than
text in all uppercase.

Uppercase letters can convey importance or urgency; overuse in online

messaging can be perceived as "shouting" or "yelling," which can be
annoying or offensive.

Case sensitivity means some situations (like passwords) require exact

matching of uppercase and lowercase letters for recognition.

Case insensitivity means most keyboard inputs treat uppercase and

lowercase characters as equivalent.

Directory names and filenames in URLs are case sensitive, meaning that
different combinations of uppercase and lowercase letters can lead to
different locations (e.g., bioTay vs. biotay ).

Other parts of URLs, like the protocol (HTTP) and domain names, are
typically case insensitive.

The practice of placing an uppercase letter in the middle of a word

(intercap) emerged from the programming community, aiding in word
recognition among coders.

Definitions:

Uppercase: Capital letters used in writing, typically stored in the upper tray
in traditional typesetting.

Lowercase: Small letters used in writing, typically stored in the lower tray in
traditional typesetting.

Case Sensitive: A condition where the system distinguishes between

uppercase and lowercase letters, requiring an exact match.

Unit 3 4
 Case Insensitive: A condition where the system does not distinguish
between uppercase and lowercase letters, treating them as the same.

Intercap: The use of an uppercase letter in the middle of a word, often used
in product names or programming to enhance readability.

Serif VS Sans Serif

Typefaces can be categorized based on mechanical and historical
properties, primarily using the terms serif (with decorations) and sans serif
(without decorations).

A serif is a small decorative stroke at the end of a letter's main strokes.

Examples of serif fonts include Times, New Century Schoolbook,

Bookman, and Palatino.

Examples of sans serif fonts include Helvetica, Verdana, Arial, Optima, and
Avant Garde.

Serif fonts are traditionally used for body text because they are believed to
guide the reader's eye along the line of text.

Sans serif fonts are often used for headlines and bold statements.

On digital screens, sans serif fonts may be more legible and attractive,
especially in smaller sizes, compared to serif fonts.

Fonts like Tahoma and Verdana are designed to be legible at small sizes on
screens, making them suitable for substantial text.

The Times font at 9-point size may appear busy and can be tiring to read
on a screen.

Large, bold serif fonts can convey elegance and character, making them
suitable for titles or headlines.

The choice of font should consider the delivery medium, as what works for
print may differ from what works on a screen.

WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) emphasizes that the
appearance on a screen may not always reflect the printed output
accurately.

Using Text in Multimedia

Unit 3 5
 Text is crucial in multimedia projects:

Projects without text are limited in complexity and rely heavily on visual
elements for navigation.

Text is easier to comprehend than voice and sound guidance.

Menu text paired with simple actions (like clicks or touches) is user-
friendly and requires minimal training.

Key uses of text in multimedia:

Titles and headlines: Convey the main topic.

Menus: Indicate navigation options.

Navigation: Explain how to access different sections.

Content: Provide information about each section.

Designing with Text:

Computer screens offer limited space for conveying complex ideas,
necessitating high-impact and concise text messages.

The choice of font size and the number of headlines should correlate with
the message's complexity and the presentation venue.

In interactive projects or websites where users actively seek information:

Dense text can be effective as users are willing to scroll through

relevant material.

It's essential to maintain a balance: too little text results in excessive

navigation actions, while too much text can overcrowd the screen.

For presentation slides intended for public speaking:

Use large fonts and bulleted points with minimal text to highlight the
main message.

Ensure ample white space to allow the audience to focus on the

speaker rather than reading extensive content on the screen.

Choosing Text Fonts

Choosing fonts involves a mix of creativity and understanding user
reactions; think like a poet, psychologist, and graphic designer.

Unit 3 6
 Use highly legible fonts for small text; avoid decorative fonts that hinder
readability.

Limit the number of different font faces; use variations in weight and size,
such as italic and bold, to create emphasis without overcrowding the
design.

Adjust leading (line spacing) in text blocks for optimal readability; tightly
packed lines can be difficult to read.

Vary font size according to the importance of the message.

For large headlines, adjust letter spacing (kerning) for a balanced

appearance; avoid excessive gaps that diminish impact.

Experiment with colors and backgrounds to enhance text visibility; consider

using reverse type (white on black) for striking contrasts.

Use anti-aliased text for a smoother, more professional look by blending

colors at the edges of letters.

Implement drop caps and initial caps for accentuation, which can be
created using word processors or CSS for web pages.

Keep centered text blocks concise; limit the number of lines and their width.

Use graphical effects to distort text creatively for single words or short
phrases, such as wrapping it around shapes or applying color gradients.

Try drop shadows to enhance text legibility and visual impact; use a slight
offset and color adjustments for depth.

Maintain white space around text elements for better clarity; avoid cluttered
designs.

Choose fonts that resonate with your message, but seek feedback and be
open to criticism.

Use descriptive words for links and menu items; ensure consistency in
color and style for text links on web pages.

Emphasize key ideas using bold or highlighted text, but avoid making non-
link text resemble buttons.

Place vital text elements and menus within the top 320 pixels of a web
page, as most users do not scroll.

Unit 3 7
 Be aware that fonts may display differently across platforms (Mac vs.
Windows) and visually test your text to ensure consistency.

Install necessary fonts on your system; commonly used fonts on Windows

include Tahoma and Verdana, while Macs typically use Helvetica and
Lucida Grande.

Use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) for precise font styling and to specify
properties like color, line height, and text alignment.

Provide fallback font options in your CSS to account for uninstalled fonts on
users' systems; use a generic font family as a backup.

Popular screen-friendly fonts designed by Matthew Carter include Georgia

(serif) and Verdana (sans serif), available for free.

Animate text creatively to maintain viewer attention, but avoid excessive

effects that could distract from the message.

Symbols and icons

Symbols are visual representations that convey meaningful messages,
often used as stand-alone graphic constructs.

Icons are symbolic representations of objects and processes, commonly

found in graphical user interfaces, like the trash can and hourglass cursor.

Text is more precise for delivering specific messages, but icons, images,
and sounds are easier for users to recall.

Combining text with icons in multimedia enhances clarity and impact, as

symbols alone often need accompanying text for understanding.

Symbols and icons must be learned, similar to a foreign language, as their

meanings are not universally known.

Historically, there have been attempts to replace text with purely symbolic
navigation systems, but these often frustrated users who needed to learn
unfamiliar symbols.

It's safer in design to combine symbols with text to ensure clarity and user
understanding.

Even well-known symbols may need text labels to avoid confusion, such as
the Macintosh trash can icon being used for both file deletion and disk
ejection.

Unit 3 8
 A set of commonly recognized symbols has emerged for multimedia
navigation, though many still use accompanying text for clarity.

The floppy disk icon remains a standard symbol for "Save," even though the
physical medium is obsolete.

Menus for Navigation

Interactive multimedia projects or websites often consist of a body of
information navigated by clicking, touching, or pressing a key.

Menus can be simple text lists where users click on items to go to different
sections.

Intuitive user actions, such as clicking on words or icons, are becoming

widely learned in multimedia and graphical interfaces.

Menu items are sometimes shortened to save space, while still allowing
users to deduce their function.

Persistent textual cues help users understand their location within the
content and avoid feeling lost.

Complex navigation trees can confuse users if they don't have cues or
maps guiding their path.

A continuously displayed navigation list or "breadcrumbs" can help users

return to previous locations or skip steps.

Web designers often include a main menu or breadcrumbs on each page to

aid navigation and provide a handhold for users.

Avoid excessive "GO BACK" or "RETURN" levels without a navigation map,

as it can frustrate users. Keep a clear, perpetual menu to help users
navigate easily.

Buttons for Interaction

In multimedia, buttons are objects that trigger actions when clicked, similar
to a doorbell.

Buttons can be text blocks, icons, or images, and they should manifest
effects (highlighting, sound) to indicate interaction.

Buttons and their design must follow the same rules as headlines and other
text elements in multimedia projects.

Unit 3 9
 Authoring systems offer default button-making tools, but they often limit
fine-tuning options.

Common button styles and labels improve user understanding and

interaction.

Button fonts should prioritize legibility with appropriate text size and
spacing from the rim.

Custom buttons made from bitmaps or drawn objects provide design

flexibility and can be scripted for effects like highlighting when hovered
over.

Implementing rollovers on web pages can be done using JavaScript to

replace images on hover or click.

Treat button design as an industrial art project, as buttons are the

interactive elements that users "touch."

Fields for Reading

Reading text on a computer screen is slower and more difficult than reading
the same text on paper.

Many users prefer printing out reports and emails to read them on paper, as
hard copy is more comfortable.

People blink less frequently (3 to 5 times per minute) when reading on a

screen compared to reading on paper (20 to 25 times per minute), leading
to dryness and eye fatigue.

Monitors should be placed lower than eye level to reduce eye strain.

Avoid displaying large blocks of text unless it is the project's main focus;
present only a few paragraphs per page.

Use easy-to-read fonts, prioritizing legibility over aesthetic appeal.

Try to display entire paragraphs on one screen to avoid forcing users to flip
between pages.

Portrait vs. Landscape

Printed documents are typically in a taller-than-wide (portrait) orientation,
but most monitors have a wider-than-tall (landscape) aspect ratio.

Unit 3 10
 Shrinking portrait-oriented pages to fit on a landscape monitor often results
in text that is too small to read.

Four possible solutions for displaying taller blocks of text on a monitor are:

Put the text into a scrolling field. This is the solution used by web
browsers.

Put the text into a single field or graphic image in a project window, and
let the user move the whole window up or down upon command. This is
most appropriate when you need to present text with page breaks and
formatting identical to the printed document. This is used by Adobe’s
popular Acrobat Reader for displaying PDF files.

Break the text into fields that fit on monitor-sized pages, and design
control buttons to flip through these pages.

Design your multimedia project for a special monitor that is taller than it
is wide (portrait) or a normal monitor rotated onto its side. Dedicated
“page view” monitors are expensive; they are used for commercial
print-based typesetting and layout. Video controllers can rotate the text
display for you.

eBooks, E-Readers, and Tablet Computers

eBooks are digitized books formatted to be read using an eReader.

eReaders display text, graphics, and multimedia, often using E Ink screens
sized between five and ten inches.

Some eReaders feature touch screens, wi-fi, and 3G connectivity, with

varying input formats.

Examples of eBook devices include the Apple iPad, Kindle, Sony Reader,
and Barnes & Noble Nook, among others.

E Ink is a technology designed to mimic the appearance of ordinary ink on

paper and is usable in direct sunlight with long battery life.

EBooks can also be read on computers, PDAs, and mobile phones using
software like Adobe Digital Editions for format conversion.

Common eBook formats include .txt, .html, .pdf, .epub, .mobi, .azw, .lit, and
others (see Table 2-2 for format extensions).

Unit 3 11
 HTML Documents
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the standard format used for
displaying text pages on the Web.

HTML allows you to specify typefaces, sizes, colors, and other properties
using tags.

Tags like <B>, <STRONG> make text bold, <H1> is used for headers, and
<OL> is used for ordered lists.

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) work with HTML to provide better control
over text and layout.

HTML’s original design, focused on text formatting, is evolving due to the

growth of multimedia on the Web.

HTML Version 5 introduces multimedia features, such as the <canvas>

element for 2D graphics and support for audio/video playback.

HTML lacks flexibility for designing pretty text, often relying on graphical
bitmaps or Flash files.

The fonts used in HTML documents depend on the viewer's browser and
system settings, making text appearance inconsistent across devices.

Computers and Text

The Font Wars Are Over
In 1985, Apple and the Macintosh revolutionized desktop publishing with
word processing and page layout software, along with a 300 dpi laser
printer.

Adobe PostScript was key to this revolution, allowing characters to be

drawn using a mathematical description (Bézier curves) instead of bitmap
tables.

PostScript scales fonts easily, maintaining quality across different sizes and
printer resolutions, making it an industry standard.

PostScript fonts come in two types: Type 3 (rarely used) and Type 1, with
over 6,000 available typefaces. Type 1 fonts also include "hints" to improve
resolution.

Unit 3 12
 In 1989, Apple and Microsoft developed TrueType as a scalable font
alternative that worked for both printers and low-resolution monitors.

OpenType, a system combining the best of PostScript and TrueType,

became an international standard by 2007, marking the end of the "font
wars."

Font Foundries
Today, fonts can be purchased through retail channels or directly from their
manufacturers.

Fonts are created in a "foundry," a term carried over from the days of
casting lead letterforms.

Enthusiasts share and download custom-designed fonts through special

interest groups, such as on America Online, where many creative fonts are
available.

Fonts with creative names like Evil of Frankenstein, CocaCola, and TreeFrog
are available for download.

Some software applications, like CorelDraw or Adobe Illustrator, include

extra fonts for free.

Websites like typequarry.com, oldfonts.com, myfonts.com, and

bitstream.com provide commercial font collections and discussions about
fonts.

Will Harris’s Esperfonto tool helps users make font decisions based on
criteria like Casual vs. Formal or Modern vs. Traditional.

Character Sets and Alphabets

A wide selection of characters is available on computers, including special
and custom-made characters.

Understanding how to create and use these characters enhances creativity

when designing and building multimedia projects.

The ASCII Character Set

ASCII is a 7-bit character coding system commonly used in the U.S. and
internationally.

Unit 3 13
 It assigns numeric values to 128 characters, including letters, punctuation,
numbers, and math symbols.

ASCII includes 32 control characters for device commands like carriage

return, line feed, and tab.

Computers and printers use ASCII to represent letters or symbols

numerically, such as 65 representing the uppercase letter "A."

ASCII was originally designed for analog teletype communication but

remains widely used due to its integration into millions of devices.

Despite technological advancements, ASCII’s widespread use makes it

difficult to adopt new text standards without replacing existing hardware.

The Extended Character Set

A byte consists of eight bits and is a fundamental building block for
computer processing.

ASCII uses seven bits, allowing for 128 characters, with the eighth bit left
unused.

The extra bit enables the encoding of an additional 128 characters, forming
an extended character set.

The extended character set commonly includes ANSI standard characters,

such as ¢ and ∞, and international diacritics like ä and ñ.

This set of 255 characters is known as the ISO-Latin-1 character set and is
used in programming the text of HTML web pages.

Unicode
As the global computer market expanded, handling various international
language alphabets became difficult, especially when translating between
scripts like Latin (Roman) and Japanese kanji.

In 1989, linguists, engineers, and information professionals developed

Unicode, a 16-bit architecture for multilingual text and character encoding.

The original Unicode standard supports up to 65,000 characters, covering

all known languages and alphabets.

Shared symbols across languages are grouped into "scripts," where one
script can serve many languages (e.g., the Latin script for English and

Unit 3 14
 European languages), while some languages, like Korean, use unique
scripts.

Unicode includes more than 18,000 Han characters (used in Japanese,

Chinese, and Korean), as well as obsolete alphabets like cuneiform and
hieroglyphs.

Unicode allows room for custom scripts, which can be created for specific
industries or applications.

HTML provides access to Unicode characters via numeric reference, such

as using 水 to represent the Chinese character for "water."
Mapping Text Across Platforms
When building a multimedia project on one platform (Windows or Mac) and
playing it on another, differences such as font handling arise.

Fonts are a major cross-platform issue; if a specified font is unavailable on

the target machine, font substitution occurs.

In many applications, font mappings between platforms can be explicitly

defined, such as mapping Mac's Helvetica to Windows' Arial or vice versa.

Cross-platform font mappings are necessary for consistent text display. For
example, Macmaps to WinNew Roman, with size adjustments.

Font substitution can cause ill-suited replacements like Courier if the

chosen font isn’t available on the target machine.

Always ensure fonts travel with the application or convert key text (titles,
headlines, etc.) into bitmaps to avoid display problems on different
platforms.

Character mapping is also a concern, ensuring special characters like

bullets or accented letters display correctly across platforms.

Curly quotation marks often fail to map successfully between Mac and
Windows systems.

Languages in the World of Computers

Western languages use symbols or letters to represent sounds, while
Eastern languages like Chinese and Japanese often use symbols to
represent whole concepts.

Unit 3 15
 Alphabets are the collection of symbols for a language. English uses 26
Roman letters, while Japanese kanji uses over 3,000 characters.

Cyrillic, used in Russian, is based on the Greek alphabet and has a similar
number of letters to Roman.

Unicode, introduced in 1989, allows the encoding of about 65,000

characters to accommodate all known languages and alphabets.

Localization involves adapting multimedia projects for different languages,

considering elements like date formats and special characters.

Special characters and accents, such as German umlauts (¨), French

accents (é), or Spanish tildes (ñ), are typically part of a font's extended
character set.

The Arabic numeral system (0-9) is widely adopted globally for its
simplicity, though Roman and other numeral systems are still used in
specific contexts.

Translating computer-based material into other languages often involves

not just text changes but adapting graphics, symbols, and even input
methods for various languages.

Special Characters in HTML

In HTML, character entities based on the ISO-Latin-1 standard are
recognized by web browsers.

The standard includes all usual characters from an English keyboard (the 7-
bit ASCII set).

For extended characters (like tildes, umlauts, accents, and special

symbols), escape sequences must be used in an ISO-Latin-1 HTML
document.

A character entity is represented by either a number or a word, always

prefixed by an ampersand (&) and followed by a semicolon (;).

For instance, the copyright symbol can be inserted as &copy; or &#169; ,

both generating the © character in the browser.

The list of standard HTML character entities is expanding to include

mathematical symbols and icons for objects like trash cans, clocks, and
disk drives.

Unit 3 16
 Many word processors for languages other than English can automatically
insert the necessary character entities when saving documents in HTML
format.

Multilanguage Web Pages

When creating web projects in multiple languages, consider translating
languages that use Roman fonts and displaying them normally in the
browser.

Languages other than English may have numerous escaped characters.

For Chinese, Japanese, or Arabic, translate the Roman text on a computer

using the corresponding native operating system.

After translation, the translator can capture a screen image of the translated
text to embed in the web page.

This process requires precise coordination among designers, content

providers, and translators.

Careful labeling of components is essential for a smooth workflow.

Font Editing and Design Tools

Fontlab
Fontlab, Ltd. offers font editors for both Macintosh and Windows platforms,
available at www.fontlab.com.

The software enables users to develop PostScript, TrueType, and

OpenType fonts for various systems, including Macintosh, Windows, and
Sun workstations.

Users can modify existing typefaces, incorporate PostScript artwork, and

automatically trace scanned images.

Fontographer features a freehand drawing tool for creating professional

inline and outline drawings of calligraphic and script characters, utilizing
input methods like a mouse or pressure-sensitive pen.

The software allows the creation of multiple font designs from two existing
typefaces and enables users to adjust the weight of an entire typeface to
create lighter or heavier fonts.

Unit 3 17
 Making Pretty Text
Creating visually appealing text requires a variety of fonts and graphics
applications to enhance, manipulate, and stylize words into artistic designs.

Pretty text is often found in bitmapped drawings where characters are

customized and blended into graphic images.

While many designers prefer using ready-made fonts, some opt to create
their own custom fonts using font editing tools.

With the right tools and creativity, designers can create endless variations
of text, choosing and customizing styles to fit specific design needs.

Most image-editing and painting applications enable users to create text

using installed fonts, allowing for colorization, stretching, squeezing,
rotation, and the application of various graphic filters.

Multimedia developers may prioritize how fonts appear on screens rather

than printed materials, although high-quality printing is essential for
documents like proposals, bids, and reports.

TrueType, OpenType, and PostScript outline fonts can be scaled to any size
without loss of quality, avoiding jagged edges (known as "jaggies").

Anti-aliasing is used to smooth the edges of text characters, enhancing

their appearance. For instance, anti-aliased letters look significantly better
than non-anti-aliased letters.

When pasting anti-aliased images onto darker backgrounds, halos may

appear due to blending pixels along the edges, requiring pixel-by-pixel
editing to correct.

Macintosh and PCs have different methods of handling anti-aliasing, with

authoring programs like Adobe Flash offering options to fine-tune anti-
aliasing settings for static versus animated text.

Hypermedia and Hypertext

Multimedia combines text, graphics, and audio into a unified presentation,
becoming interactive multimedia when users have control over what and
when to view.

It turns into hypermedia when the designer provides a structure of linked

elements for user navigation.

Unit 3 18
 Hypermedia projects with substantial text can be indexed for rapid retrieval
and linking of content.

Hypertext allows nonlinear navigation through indexed words, which is

fundamental to the World Wide Web.

Hypertext systems enable electronic searches through digital documents,

allowing users to locate references or perform complex searches for related
terms.

Links can be created between words, buttons, or images, providing

pathways to additional information.

Hypertext not only links words to each other but also to associated
multimedia elements, enhancing overall design.

Vannevar Bush's 1945 article "As We May Think" laid the groundwork for
hypertext experimentation.

Critics argue that while hypertext offers freedom, users may prefer linear
structures, risking confusion without proper navigation aids.

The Power of Hypertext

In a fully indexed hypertext system, users can quickly search for words,
yielding numerous references; for example, a search for “boats” could
return 1,623 hits.

Narrowing searches by combining keywords can reduce results

significantly; searching “boats” and “water” might yield 286 hits, while
adding “storms” reduces it to 37.

Despite narrowing down to a single hit, finding relevant information can still
be challenging, as shown in a fictional excerpt about a storm and a boat.

The power of search-and-retrieval systems is immense, but information

must be organized meaningfully to avoid confusion.

Effective linking of words and information clusters requires thoughtful

design, considering relationships between data points.

The organization of vast data sets depends on the perspectives and biases
of those who create the access system.

Concerns arise about how designers shape the lenses through which
information is accessed, maintaining a balance between freedom and

Unit 3 19
 authority.

The influence of advertising and marketing can distort meanings and

impact public knowledge and history, raising ethical questions.

Multimedia designers control filtering mechanisms within their projects,

which can present information biased toward specific goals, such as selling
products.

When bias in information presentation is not transparent, it can lead to

significant negative effects on understanding and culture.

Using Hypertext
Special programs for information management and hypertext enable the
presentation of electronic text, images, and other elements in a database
format.

Commercial systems are used for complex mixtures of text and images,
such as repair manuals for aircraft, parts catalogs, and reference libraries in
legal environments.

Searchable database engines are common on the web, using software

robots to index millions of web pages.

Hypertext databases utilize proprietary indexing systems to scan text and

create fast cross-referencing indexes, with indexes potentially being 50%
to 100% the size of the original document.

Speed is crucial, as demonstrated by Google’s ability to generate over 1.2

billion hits in under a quarter of a second.

Commercial hypertext systems were historically developed to manage vast

amounts of information but can be expensive to license and require
significant storage capabilities.

Simpler hypertext indexing tools are available for both Macintosh and
Windows, often integrated with multimedia authoring systems.

Server-based hypertext and database engines for the web are now
competitively priced and widely accessible.

A practical tip is to “hardwire” links between key terms in your text, allowing
users to click and access specific topic menus, which helps control
navigation without constraining user perception.

Unit 3 20
 Searching for Word
Although the designer of a hypermedia database makes assumptions, they also
present users with tools and a meaningful interface to exercise these
assumptions. Employing this interface, users can tailor word searches to find
very specific combinations. Following are typical methods for word searching in
hypermedia systems:

Categories: Selecting or limiting the documents, pages, or fields of text

within which to search for a word or words.

Word relationships: Searching for words according to their general

proximity and order. For example, you might search for "party" and "beer"
only when they occur on the same page or in the same paragraph.

Adjacency: Searching for words occurring next to one another, usually in

phrases and proper names. For instance, find "widow" only when "black" is
the preceding adjacent word.

Alternates: Applying an OR criterion to search for two or more words, such

as "bacon" or "eggs."

Association: Applying an AND criterion to search for two or more words,

such as "skiff," "tender," "dinghy," and "rowboat."

Negation: Applying a NOT criterion to search exclusively for references to a

word that are not associated with the word. For example, find all
occurrences of "paste" when "library" is not present in the same sentence.

Truncation: Searching for a word with any of its possible suffixes. For
example, to find all occurrences of "girl" and "girls," you may need to
specify something like girl#. Multiple character suffixes can be managed
with another specifier, so geo* might yield "geo," "geology," and
"geometry," as well as "George."

Intermediate words: Searching for words that occur between what might
normally be adjacent words, such as a middle name or initial in a proper
name.

Frequency: Searching for words based on how often they appear: the more
times a term is mentioned in a document, the more relevant the document is
to this term.

Hypermedia Structures

Unit 3 21
 Links are connections between nodes, which may include text, graphics,
sounds, or related information, forming a knowledge base (e.g., connecting
Caesar Augustus with Rome).

Nodes are the accessible topics or content elements within the hypermedia
system.

Link anchors refer to the starting point, while link ends denote the
destination node connected to the anchor.

Navigation can be unidirectional (one-way) or bidirectional (allowing a

return pathway).

Basic navigation typically uses buttons to access linked information

contained at the nodes, allowing users to return to the starting location after
viewing.

More complex navigation may involve associative links, connecting

elements not directly in a sequence or hierarchy, increasing the chance of
users getting lost.

Providing location markers is essential to help users navigate and avoid

confusion within the system.

Full-text search allows for linking between numerous items at the current
node and other nodes based on relationship criteria.

Users can experience a nonlinear browsing approach, leading to potential

disorientation in the associative content structure, which some argue can
provide valuable learning experiences in "hyperspace."

Hypertext Tools
Most hypermedia text management systems have two primary functions:
building (or authoring) and reading.

The builder function creates links, identifies nodes, and generates the
essential index of words for the system.

Index methodologies and search algorithms are often proprietary, optimized

for high performance to quickly find search terms among tens of thousands
of words.

Hypertext systems are utilized in various applications, including electronic

publishing, technical documentation, educational courseware, interactive

Unit 3 22
 kiosks, electronic catalogs, interactive fiction, and text/image databases.

Currently, these tools are frequently used with information presented in a

linear fashion.

There may be a delay before users fully adapt to nonlinear hypertext and
hypermedia systems, potentially altering the methodology of human
thought and conceptual management.

Digital Audio
Digital audio is created when you represent the characteristics of a sound
wave using numbers—a process referred to as digitizing.

You can digitize sound from a microphone, a synthesizer, existing

recordings, live radio and television broadcasts, and popular CD and DVDs.

In fact, you can digitize sounds from any natural or prerecorded source

Making Digital Audio Files

Creating digital audio files is simple on most computers by plugging a
microphone into the microphone jack or using the "Line-Out" from an
analog source into the "Line-In" jack on the computer.

Audio digitizing software like Audacity can help capture and digitize sound
from different sources.

Two critical factors in preparing digital audio files:

Balancing the need for sound quality against file size: Higher quality
usually means larger files, requiring longer download times on the
Internet and more storage space on a CD or DVD.

Setting proper recording levels to get a good, clean recording.

Setting proper recording levels

Distorted recordings occur when the signal is too strong, causing
unpleasant crackling or noise.

Unit 3 23
 Low-level recordings can result in poor quality due to insufficient sound
levels above the residual noise.

Use digital meters in recording software to monitor sound levels and avoid
distortion.

Avoid crossing the peak limit on digital meters to prevent distortion. Keep
levels between –3 and –10.

Lower volume if peaks are too high, either by adjusting the input level of
the recording device or the output level of the source.

Editing digital Recordings

Once a recording has been made, it will almost certainly need to be edited.

Audacity is a free open-source sound editing application for Windows,

Macintosh, and Linux (http://audacity.sourceforge.net).

With such a tool you can create sound tracks and digital mixes.

The basic sound editing operations that most multimedia producers need
are described in the paragraphs that follow

Trimming: Remove dead air or unnecessary sections to reduce file size.

Splicing and Assembly: Cut and paste sections to remove noise or join
shorter recordings.

Volume Adjustments: Ensure consistent volume across recordings by

normalizing the file to 80-90% of the maximum.

Format Conversion: Convert audio files between formats as needed,

with potential data loss in the process.

Resampling/Downsampling: Lower the file’s sampling rate to save disk

space if required.

Fade-ins/Fade-outs: Smooth out audio transitions by fading at the

beginning or end.

Equalization (EQ): Adjust frequency content to modify the brightness or

darkness of the sound.

Time Stretching: Change the length of the audio without altering pitch,
but avoid excessive stretching to prevent audio degradation.

Unit 3 24
 Digital Signal Processing (DSP): Add effects like reverb or chorus to
enhance sound, but use effects sparingly.

Reversing Sounds: Create surreal effects by reversing portions of the

audio.

Multiple Tracks: Combine and edit multiple audio tracks before merging
into a final mix.

File Size Vs Quality

Sampling rate determines the frequency at which sound is captured.

Higher sampling rates capture high frequencies more accurately but

increase file size.

Lower sampling rates reduce file size but result in poorer sound quality.

Bit depth (audio resolution) affects the accuracy of sound digitization.

More bits (e.g., 16-bit) produce higher quality sound but require more
storage space.

Stereo recordings sound more immersive but require double the space of
mono recordings.

Mono recordings are simpler and use less space but sound less lifelike
compared to stereo.

Higher quality means larger files; balancing quality and file size is essential
for efficient storage and playback.

Archiving high-quality originals is useful for future playback as technology

improves.

Adding sound to your multimedia project

Adding Sound to Multimedia Projects:

1. Determine the file formats that are compatible with your multimedia
authoring software and the delivery medium(s) you will be using (for file
storage and bandwidth capacity).

2. Determine the sound playback capabilities (codecs and plug-ins) that the
end user's system offers.

Unit 3 25
 3. Decide what kind of sound is needed (such as background music, special
sound effects, and spoken dialog). Decide where these audio events will
occur in the flow of your project. Fit the sound cues into your storyboard
(see Chapter 10), or make up a cue sheet.

4. Decide where and when you want to use either digital audio or MIDI data.

5. Acquire source material by creating it from scratch or purchasing it.

6. Edit the sounds to fit your project.

7. Test the sounds to be sure they are timed properly with the project's
images. This may involve repeating steps 1 through 4 until everything is in
sync.

Space Considerations
High-quality sound takes up significant storage space, especially for two-
channel stereo (e.g., 1.94MB for 11 seconds of uncompressed stereo
sound).

Using monaural sound can halve storage requirements or double the

playing time.

Compression codecs can reduce storage space by up to one-eighth but

may affect sound quality.

Downsampling (reducing the number of sample slices per second)

conserves space; many use 8-bit at 22.05 kHz for adequate sound quality
similar to AM radio.

Use the formula for estimating file size:(sampling rate * bits per sample) / 8
= bytes per secondorsample rate * sample size / 8 * # seconds * 2 (if
stereo) = file size in KB

Example: 60 seconds of stereo in Red Book Audio requires around

10.59MB.

Key trade-offs include sound quality vs. storage space, compression

choices, and compatibility with your authoring platform.

MP3s at 128 Kbps are generally adequate for music, while 192 Kbps offers
better quality. Speech can be sampled at 96 Kbps or even 64 Kbps.

Audio Recording

Unit 3 26
 CD-quality sound recording (44.1 kHz, 16 bits) often requires professional
studios due to the need for high-end equipment and expertise.

For lower quality (e.g., 22.05 kHz), consumer-grade recorders are

sufficient, especially for simpler projects like voice recordings or phone
conversations.

Noise reduction circuits and metal tapes can help reduce hiss in recordings.

Digital Audio Tape (DAT) systems provide high-fidelity recordings but may
be unnecessarily precise for most multimedia projects, capturing unwanted
noise and imperfections.

Mobile phones and USB/flash memory recorders offer varying recording

qualities, from voice-grade to CD-quality stereo, and can easily transfer
digital files.

External microphones and file transfer applications are available for mobile
devices, enhancing recording capabilities.

Keeping track of your sounds

In complex projects with many sounds, it's crucial to maintain a good
database for tracking your original sound files.

A well-organized database helps in case of issues like disk drive crashes or

accidental file deletion.

Sound files may have confusing names (e.g., janesEyesOpenWide.aiff or

Chapter11inSpanish03.wav), so cross-referencing them with more
descriptive labels is helpful.

A database prevents the need to load and play multiple files to find the one
you're looking for.

Audio CDs
The digital encoding method for consumer CD music is based on the ISO
10149 standard, also known as the Red Book Audio standard, which uses a
sample size of 16 bits at a sampling rate of 44.1 kHz.

This standard is designed to reproduce all audible sounds accurately.

While dedicated professional equipment was once necessary for high-

fidelity recording, most modern computers can now record and play sound

Unit 3 27
 at these specifications.

Software like Toast and CD-Creator can convert Red Book Audio files from
CDs into formats like MP3 or WAV.

Unlike DVDs, audio CDs do not store information about artists, titles, or
tracklists.

Music player software (e.g., Apple iTunes, AOL Winamp) can link to an
online database when a music CD is inserted, matching the CD's Table of
Contents (TOC) with a database of over five million CDs and 60 million
songs.

This database, known as the Compact Disc Database (CDDB), was created
through contributions from music fans and is now maintained by Gracenote
Media Recognition Service

Sound for your mobile

Ringtones are among the most commonly heard sounds today, played by
digital mobile phones instead of traditional bells.

When a call is received, the phone’s software plays a user-selected

ringtone, generated by internal MIDI software or from a stored sound file.

Ringtones are designed to play on small speakers, often in noisy

environments, making sound clarity important.

There are various types of tones associated with mobile phones, including
answertones, ringbacktones, truetones, realtones, sintones, videotones,
and "ringles."

These tones are available for purchase from various businesses worldwide.

Most mobile phones support MP3 file playback; users should consult their
phone’s manual for compatibility.

Sound for the internet

Digital or MIDI sound on web pages is stored as separate files with their
own addresses and embedded in the page.

Web browsers handle sound files using associated applications and plug-
ins, as configured in browser preferences.

Unit 3 28
 The simplest method to embed a sound file in a web page is through an
HTML anchor tag: <a href="mysound.wav"> Click here to play MySound! </a> .

When the link is clicked, the browser finds and downloads the specified
sound file, playing it based on the user's browser settings.

Media players begin playback when enough data is cached in the buffer,
allowing for smooth streaming without pauses.

Streaming file performance is influenced by connection speed, with dial-up

connections experiencing longer latency compared to high-speed DSL.

HTML5 provides the <AUDIO> tag, which enables sound playback directly on
web pages without needing special players.

Adobe Flash integrates sound tracks into web-based multimedia

presentations, handling both event sounds and background music.

Flash supports MP3 files, balancing high-quality sound with efficient file
sizes for faster downloads.

To maintain audio quality, it's best to import uncompressed audio clips into
Flash, allowing it to handle compression.

Testing and Evaluation

Testing and evaluating multimedia projects can be challenging, especially
for complex live presentations or commercial applications.

Problems often arise during testing if they are not anticipated during the
planning phase.

Regularly test sound-and-image synchronization during editing and

authoring processes.

If delivering sound on the Web, test across various browsers and

connection speeds.

Evaluate the sound storage medium for sufficient RAM to ensure effective
project performance.

Some authoring and delivery packages stream sound directly from the hard
disk or CD-ROM, while others require loading sounds into memory first.

Consider breaking sound or music files into smaller parts for better
management.

Unit 3 29
 MIDI files may sound different depending on the playback device, so quality
can vary between development and end-user environments.

In professional film and video production, sound is added during post-

production, which is equally important for multimedia projects.

Prioritize sound quality, as it can significantly impact the overall success of

the project.

copyright Issues
Ownership rights are crucial for multimedia producers when considering
the use of copyrighted music.

Many producers prefer to create their own custom music or use sounds
with clear ownership and permission.

Using popular songs or classical pieces without proper permissions can

lead to legal issues.

Some developers may take risks by using copyrighted material without

authorization, which is against the law.

Unit 3 30