Development of Multimedia
Multimedia technology is becoming increasingly popular in the field of education. Interactive multimedia courseware in particular, developed on a CD is adding a new and interesting dimension to both teaching and learning. This new approach can effectively complement the conventional methods of learning and teaching. The multi-sensory input of this media provides possibilities for higher performance ratings and higher retention. With effective feedback, this method makes learning and teaching more meaningful. Students with different learning abilities can work at their own place, time and pace; and with interactivity and self-assessment it can make learning a highly personalized, independent and a rewarding experience. The learner can also set her/his own “view” of the information available to him/her. A significant aspect of multimedia in education is related to authoring or developing multimedia. Multimedia authoring as a form of computing has made it possible for students and teachers to construct knowledge and discover worlds which do not exist in conventional methods of learning or teaching. Above all, this new experience has defined a new concept of edutainment -- a combination of education and entertainment.
In this section, we will discuss some aspects of the 'how' of developing the multimedia, especially the components of multimedia, and the good practices in preparing text, graphics, audio, video, graphics, etc. for including in a multimedia programme.
Text in Multimedia
Text is the most common medium of presenting information. It is also used to communicate a concept or an idea. It should effectively complement the other media. Factors that influence the textual communication are typeface, font and style, kerning, antialiasing, animation, special effects, special characters and hypertext. While dealing with text in multimedia it is very important to note that it is not the only means of communication. In multimedia, text is most often used for titles, headlines, menus, navigation and content. Overcrowding of text on a single page should be avoided.
It is recommended that text should be presented in combination with graphics.
Typefaces
Typefaces are broadly categorized into two types - 'serif' and “sans-serif”.
Serif is the small decoration at the end of the letter stroke while sans serif is the letter without a decoration. Serif fonts are commonly used in the body of the text, while sans-serif fonts are used for headlines and bold statements
Font
A font is a collection of characters of single size belonging to particular typeface family. Style and size are the main attributes of a font. Common font styles are bold and italic. Font sizes are expressed in points. A point is approximately 1/72of an inch.
In the usage of fonts, it is recommended to vary as few number fonts as possible on the same page. The style, size and kerning may be adjusted as and when necessary.
Anti-aliased text may be used for titles and headlines. Bold text may be more suitable to convey an idea or a concept. Text can be made attractive and pleasing to the eye by choosing the combination of colors for the font and background. Care should be taken for selecting the appropriate type of fonts on menus and buttons, symbols and special characters.
Text animation
Presentation of text can be more fun and interesting through animation. A wide variety of methods are available to animate the text. Some of the methods are: scrolling (vertical and horizontal), zoom-in and zoom-out, fade-in and fade-out, dissolve etc. 3D text also has an impressive look. Care should be taken to introduce animation only at selected places where the presentation is most impressive. Authoring Programmes like Macromedia's Director have built in tools to animate text.
Kerning
It refers to adjustment of the space between two characters. Kerning makes certain combinations of letters, such as WA, MW, TA, and VA, look better. Only the most sophisticated word processors and desktop publishing systems perform kerning. Normally, you can activate or deactivate kerning for particular fonts.
Anti- aliasing
Aliasing is the well-known effect on computer screens, in fact, on all pixel devices where distortions occur at the edges of letters, in the case of text presentation. Anti-aliasing is the technique of making the edges smooth. Anti-aliased text is often called "grey scale"text. Certain adaptations of anti-aliasing have enhanced both the legibility and aesthetics of on-screen type.
Hypertext
The function of hypertext is to build links and generate an index of words.
The index helps to find and group words as per user's search criteria. Hypertext systems are very useful in multimedia interactive education courseware. Hypertext systems provide both unidirectional and bi-directional navigation. Navigations can be through buttons or through simple, plain text. The simple and easy navigation is through linear hypertext where information is organized in linear fashion. Non-linear hypertext, however, is the ultimate goal of effective navigation.
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