Page 246 - DCAP303_MULTIMEDIA_SYSTEMS

Multimedia Systems

notes Visitors’ eyes are naturally drawn to photos of people. An absolute necessity to showcase
products on certain e-commerce sites.
All graphic images on your Website should match in colour, typeface and special effects. For
example, the text in all of your navigation buttons should use the same typeface and have the
same special effects on them (such as a drop shadow). Your navigation buttons, mastheads, bullet
points and divider lines look best if they are designed using one of the colours in your logo.

CompuServe introduced the GIF format in 1987 to provide a color image
format.

Select an image and compress it in gif format then upload on Web.

14.4 sound

Sound on Web pages is a very contentious subject. Many people hate sound of any kind on Web
pages, and even people who do not mind sound tend to hate automatic background music—
especially if there are no controls to turn it off.
14.4.1 When to use sound

Before you dismiss sound on Web pages out of hand, keep in mind that there are some legitimate
uses for sound:
• Musician and artists pages

Any Website for a musician or video artist will need sound to showcase their work. These
sites do best with links to the music and videos rather than having them autoplay.

• Game Websites
Most online games incorporate sound in some fashion. Sound provides interactivity and
makes games more fun. But you should have a home page that does not have sound
and perhaps a warning if the sounds are loud or start automatically without any muting
available.
• forms, especially ajax forms
Sound can enhance Ajax and Web 2.0 pages by letting customers know that something has
happened. For example, buttons can make a click sound when they are pressed and subtle
timer sounds can help let the customer know that the Website is processing something.
Be careful not to overdo this—keep it simple and use the sounds to enhance rather than
overwhelm.

• Web pages aimed at Children
Websites designed for children might use sound to make the site more stimulating and
engaging for an audience that has a shorter attention span. Sounds and background music
can make pages more engaging and interesting. Remember that children have parents, and
they may be annoyed by sound that cannot be turned off, or is too loud, even if the kids
love it.

14.4.2 When not to use sound
You should always be careful when you use sound on Web pages. After intrusive advertising,
sound that turns on automatically and cannot be turned off is one of the most annoying aspects
of poorly designed Web pages.

240 LoveLy professionaL University