What is a multimedia website and how to build one

Building a Multimedia Website

Great websites require not only great content, but also great multimedia. Whether you’re showing multimedia demos of products for your company or music for your band, using multimedia is the best way to show off this content. For a great example of the use of multimedia, check out Blendtec, which uses multimedia and humor to increase its high-end blender sales. This project covers how to use some common types of multimedia files on a website: podcasts, audio files, video files, and Flash files. With the skills learned in this project, you’ll be able to create a dynamic, vibrant website that looks as if you spent a fortune on it.

Best Practices for Multimedia

There are some best practices you should keep in mind as you build your multimedia website. These tips will help you avoid common mistakes that people make when using multimedia on their sites. If you’ve spent any time browsing the web, you’ve probably seen many sites that make some of these mistakes.

■ Do not make multimedia elements play automatically - This is a big no-no. Don’t you hate it when you visit a website and it immediately blares music or video at you? It is the equivalent of inviting someone into your house and then shouting at them when they arrive. Make playing any multimedia file the visitor’s choice.

■ Metatag your multimedia elements - If you use meta tags with your multimedia, search engines will pick up your content.

■ Link to browser plug - in sites - If your multimedia files use browser plug-ins to play, add a link to a site where people can download that plug-in.

■ If the file is large, warn people - If any of your multimedia files are downloadable, warn people about the ones that are large. Better yet, tell them the size of the files. No one likes starting a download of a multimedia file only to find out it is going to take all night. You may want to add estimated download times.

■ Not every site needs multimedia elements - Make an honest assessment as to whether the multimedia elements you are planning actually benefit the visitor. I have been to many websites with needless multimedia.

■ Don’t assume everyone has a super - computer and a high-speed connection - Just because you have a fast computer, don’t assume everyone else does. Keep your multimedia elements simple so that people with slower computers and slower download speeds can still enjoy your site.

■ Choose standard formats - If at all possible, keep to the formats mentioned. These file formats work on the largest number of computers and will cause the fewest problems for your visitors. If you can, provide more than one format for your multimedia files and let visitors choose what works best for them.

■ Never depend on multimedia to communicate your message - Always back up important information in multimedia with text. That way if the multimedia doesn’t work correctly the visitor still has access to the important information contained in the multimedia file.

■ Clearly label adult content - If your multimedia files contain images or audio that might not be for everyone, it is a good idea to label that content. No one wants something coming out of their speakers at work they weren’t ready for.

■ Test Test Test - Testing is important for your website. Testing a multimedia website is even more important.

Using Multimedia

You can provide multimedia in either of two types: downloadable and streaming. With downloadable files, you save the multimedia file to your web server and then place a link on one of your web pages. When someone visits your site and clicks on the link, the file is downloaded to the visitor’s computer. The visitor then uses a media player to play that web file. The drawback of using downloadable files is that the visitor has to leave your website to experience your multimedia file. Also, after the file is downloaded you lose control over it. Users who download your multimedia files now have their very own copies of it. If you are making your living from these multimedia files, you might not want to share them with everyone. With streaming files, visitors to your website click on a multimedia link and a media player runs within their browser (usually a browser plug-in) to play the multimedia file. Streaming files are more difficult to set up than downloadable files, but have the advantage of keeping visitors at your site and also keeps them from downloading your multimedia files. You can also use the method of using another server with many video websites, such as YouTube.com.

Storing Multimedia Files

You can store your multimedia files in one of two places: on your server or on someone else’s. Which location you choose is dependent on your needs and resources. If you store your multimedia files on your server, you first must make sure you have the space and bandwidth available to store these files. Multimedia files can be quite large, and large files require a great deal of bandwidth. You also can store multimedia files on someone else’s server. For example, when you put a video file up on YouTube, you are storing that file on their web server. There are certain advantages and disadvantages to doing this. If you use YouTube to post a video file, their wealth of server space and bandwidth makes that file easily available, but they also might have a policy that limits file sizes. Regardless of where you post your files, you’ll always be at the mercy of the server, which can go down for periods of time and make your files inaccessible. Now that you understand how to use and store multimedia files, let’s explore how to download and stream them. It’s best to be familiar with using both downloadable and streaming files, so the following partss explain each method in detail. The first parts explains how to link to multimedia files, and the second parts explains how to use an embedded player in a browser to play your multimedia files.

Downloading Audio and Video Files

To allow people to download a file, you just need to create a link to that file and allow visitors to save it to their computers or play it immediately in the player associated with that file type. The first thing to do is create an audio file and put it on your web server. Then create a web page that links to that file. When someone visits your page and then clicks on the link, the browser asks visitors whether to save the file or play it. If they choose “download,” the file is saved on the visitor’s hard drive and any compatible player can be used to play it. If the visitor chooses to play the file, the browser starts the associated application and the visitor hears the audio after it is downloaded. To create a link to an audio file, follow these steps:

1. Create your audio file and save it to your hard drive.

2. Move that audio file to your web server.

3. Create a page with the following code:

<html>
   <title>Link To Audio File</title>
   <body>
   Use this <A href=”audio.wav”>link</A> to download an audio
   file.
   </body>
   </html>

4. Save the HTML code as audio.html in the same folder as the audio file.

5. Test!

As you can see, downloading audio and video has the advantage of being simple to set up and use.