Working with Multimedia

As we all know, the web is much more than text and pictures; it’s also multimedia. Multimedia is the combination of multiple forms of digitized media, including video and audio files. For example, a song from a band’s website and the trailer of an independent film are both forms of multimedia. When used properly, multimedia adds to the user’s experience. When not used properly, multimedia can ruin a website.

One important consideration when dealing with multimedia files is file size. Multimedia files are usually quite large, and there is a constant battle between keeping the file size small and maintaining high quality. Even though broadband access is becoming common, there are still numerous people who use slower internet connections. Do not assume that everyone will have lightning fast connections to down load your large movie files.

Another consideration is that media files can be specific to operating systems. Having a web page that tries to play a file that doesn’t work on most operating systems is just going to annoy some of your visitors. When making choices, make sure you consider different operating systems and choose file types that run on the most operating systems.

In addition, not all visitors to your site may have the hardware to use multimedia effectively. They may not have speakers or graphics cards that allow all multimedia to play effectively. Don’t leave these folks out in the cold. Make multimedia an enhancement on your website, not a requirement.

Finally, multimedia files can be available for download or streaming. A down loaded multimedia file is transferred to a computer where a media player can play it. Streamed media files are played while downloading, usually through a browser. What you use depends on the size and content of your multimedia files.