Building Web Sites All-in-One For Dummies® (12 page)
Read Building Web Sites All-in-One For Dummies® Online
Authors: Claudia Snell
Figure 1-4:
A Flash jukebox delivering music files.
Making a decision about what types of multimedia to use (if any) is an involved process. You must think about the pros and cons: Essentially, you're weighing functionality against the technological constraints of your audience and your own ability to build and maintain the piece. You have to consider your individual situation on each project. To help you decide, consider the following:
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Your current resources:
Do you have software to create multimedia elements? Can you purchase the software? After you purchase software, do you, or anyone on your team, know how to use the software well enough to create your project? Is it feasible to call in a specialist if you don't have the software and skill set available to you?
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Target audience:
You must know whether the site's visitors appreciate multimedia elements or find them annoying. Are you targeting individuals with newer machines and good connections to the Web, or are you trying to target a more general audience? Targeting broader audiences generally means that you should stay more conservative in your multimedia methods and deliveries and pay special attention to file sizes and download speeds.
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User preferences:
Everyone benefits from different types of experiences âdifferently. Some people get a lot out of charts. Others prefer text. Some users appreciate graphics or video to help them understand the content. Not all users are the same. Sometimes your best bet is to make your information available through a variety of methods. For example, post a video for those who appreciate visual and audio information, but also include a text version for those who prefer written text or aren't able to use the video content.
In general, users appreciate your site more if you create navigation that allows them to move freely through the content as much as possible. The Web offers users the unique opportunity to experience your content their own way. No two users will take the same path, and any user can choose different paths on return visits.
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The speed of multimedia evolution:
Make sure that if you're trying to target an audience that generally has older machines, you create multimedia that uses older versions of browser plug-ins. This also helps you make sure that the piece won't require too much processor power or provide alternate content for those visitors like a nice graphic and some text. It won't be as fancy, but at least your visitors won't be left out entirely. Just remember, if you use the latest and greatest in multimedia on your site, older machines may have a difficult time with it or won't be able to display your multimedia at all. That results in a bad experience for visitors and ultimately is not good for your site either.
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Number of versions of the project you can create:
You must decide whether the benefits of offering pieces with different specifications are worth the extra time and effort required to build and maintain sites that have more than one version of multimedia elements. You go through the initial process of creating the project only once, but then you have to
export
(publish) different versions of the project. Creating the different versions can be time consuming because creating each version is a process of trial and error, to a degree. You can develop some good starting points (as far as settings to make), but each project is a little different and the results are a little different. You have to work at it until you get the right balance between quality and performance.
To provide different versions, export versions with different plug-in and compression settings. The basics of compression are
the more you compress a file, the smaller it gets and the faster it downloads
. The down side of that is that you also lose quality in the file. Compression is always a game of balancing quality and performance.
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Server space:
Multimedia files are typically larger than other files. Make sure that the server you're storing them on has enough room. If you're hosting your site remotely, make sure you have enough monthly bandwidth to support the amount of traffic you expect. Each time users view your files, they use up some of your bandwidth. Hosting plans typically allow a certain amount of bandwidth per month. If you exceed the amount of bandwidth, you can incur extra charges. Make sure you have enough bandwidth to handle the amount of traffic you expect, and find out how much it will cost if you go over.
If you opt for multiple versions of multimedia files, you have to upload those different versions to the server. That uses up more server space. You'll also have to provide ways to navigate to the alternate versions of the multimedia elements. Each version needs an HTML document so that it can play in visitors' browsers. You want to make the user's experience as seamless as possible. Plan navigation elements in advance, not as an afterthought.
Making multimedia elements available to all users
A target audience using older machines or slower connections doesn't mean that you can't use multimedia elements. It does mean, though, that you have to consider how you can make your content work for them. If you need to make your multimedia more efficient, consider these options:
Use a photograph instead of video.
You can slowly move the photograph to give the impression of a video element (the Ken Burns effect).
Use vector graphics in your animations.
If you use Flash to create animated elements, make sure you take advantage of vector elements and their ability to reuse elements. See Book V, Chapters 1â3 for more information about using Flash.
Download only parts of your multimedia as they're needed.
You can use Flash to download only the pieces of your multimedia that are needed. You can also plan your files so that they play parts of the presentation while more is still downloading
(progressively downloading).
Publish your files to an older version of the player.
For example, instead of using the latest features of QuickTime, opt for fewer bells and whistles and publish the file so that older versions of the player can use it. This also works in Flash; publish to Flash Player version 6 or 7 to accommodate users that might not have updated machines.
If you know that a larger number of your audience has updated machines and better connections, feel free to create content that plays best using the latest technologies. Another option is to make multiple versions available. As always, weigh the benefits against how much work it will take to create and maintain multiple versions.
Choosing the Right Delivery Method
You can create Web sites made up of all static pages, a few templates created to work with dynamic information, or a combination of the two. You can use multimedia elements throughout the site on either static or dynamic pages. Figure 1-5 shows a page that has multimedia elements on a static page.
Knowing when static pages suit your purpose
Static HTML works well for information such as directions to your facility and general contact information. If you intend to post a large number of contact people, consider a dynamic solution.
Pages with content that doesn't need to change very often are also good candidates for static HTML. Make sure that the content appears in only a couple of places. Because the content is embedded directly in the HTML, you have to update each file separately to make sure they're consistent. If you use a
WYSIWYG
(what you see is what you get) editor to create pages, you can use a Find and Replace feature.
Figure 1-5:
Static HTML and multimedia work together to create a total experience for your users.
Using dynamic pages to manage complex information
Manage large amounts of information that the Web team or visitors will need to search by using databases and dynamic pages. Sites with content that changes often also are good candidates for dynamic pages.
Using a database and dynamic pages to deliver your content also makes content easier to repurpose. With static pages, the content is embedded directly in the code. Dynamic sites hold all their content in databases; therefore, more than one location can use the same content at the same time. You can have more than one site using the database, or you can enable more than one section of your site to display the same information. Because the information is all coming from one source, it's consistent. Static pages run the risk of becoming out of synch with each other if information is updated on one page but not on another.
You have several choices for delivering multimedia elements on your site. The most common ones are Flash, QuickTime, Windows Media Player, and Shockwave. The right choice depends on the content you're delivering and the target audience. Each option can deliver video, audio, and animations to your users. We discuss things to consider when choosing what type of multimedia to use in the next section.
Using Find and Replace in Dreamweaver
The Dreamweaver Find and Replace feature is a very useful tool when updating pages on your site. This tool allows you to simply locate instances of a specific piece of text or code and replace it with something else. (In Book III, Chapters 5 and 6 contain information about using Dreamweaver.) To use the Find and Replace feature in Dreamweaver, follow these steps:
1. In the Code view window, select the piece of text or code you want to find in another place in the document.
2. Choose Edit
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Find and Replace.
The Find and Replace dialog box opens. It has your selected text and/or code in the Find field.
You can decide to search just the selected text, the current document, the whole site, all open documents, selected files, or a selected folder of the site. You have the choice of doing a
Find
(Dreamweaver searches for the term) or a
Find and Replace
(Dreamweaver replaces the found term with the term you enter in the Replace field).
3. Enter the text and/or code that you'd like to replace the current selection with in the Replace field.
4. Click the button to the right that represents the function you'd like to perform.
Your choices are
Find Next:
Moves the cursor to the next instance of the term you're looking for.
Find All:
Finds all instances of the term you're looking for and displays a list in the Results box, which launches automatically when needed.
Replace:
Moves the cursor to the next instance of the term you're looking for, deletes it, and replaces it with the term you typed in the Replace field. Then it hops to the next instance and awaits your next instruction.
Replace All:
Replaces all instances of the Find term with the Replace term.
Close:
Closes the dialog box when you're done.
Warning:
Before you do a Find and Replace All, you should be very sure that you really want to make the change. This is especially true if you choose to do a Find and Replace that involves files that aren't open. You can't undo the changes you make to those files.
Remember that global Find and Replace operations can sometimes create undesirable results. In cases where the selected text to be replaced occurs in locations that you hadn't thought of, you can damage your content or your code.
If you're unsure about the impact of a Find and Replace action, use Find All first, and then individually select the instances from the list that you want to change.