Sympathy for the Plug-in

If Flash is indeed a cancer on the Web, how come so many artists (and viewers) adore it? The much-maligned multimedia plug-in bites back, with help from Flash artist Peter Balogh.

Balogh, Peter. List Apart, A (2000). Articles>Web Design>Multimedia>Flash

Tips For Optimizing Flash Movies

When you're ready to deliver your Flash movie to your audience, use the Publish Settings or Export Movie option to export the Flash FLA file to a format for the Web.

Berg, Debbie. WebDeb (2001). Design>Web Design>Multimedia>Flash

Use Gradients to Give Objects a 3- Dimensional Appearance

Flash is a two-dimensional program. Using a gradient in Flash can give a two-dimensional object a third dimension. In this example, let's create a series of circular outlines, then add one of Flash's preset gradients to give the outlines a three-dimensional appearance.

Berg, Debbie. WebDeb (2002). Design>Web Design>Multimedia>Flash

Why Flash Will Never Die

In this article we will look at the strengths and weaknesses of one of the most controversial products in the web development world, Macromedia Flash. We will take a close look at what Flash can do and what Flash can't or shouldn't do. And while in the process we will be comparing Flash to its counterparts HTML and CSS.

Angeletti, Mark. Search-This (2003). Design>Web Design>Multimedia>Flash

XHTML+SMIL Profile

This page was made to help others and myself, become more familiarized with the features under consideration, for the next version of XHTML+SMIL.

Ramirez, Jose. EmpireNet (2002). Design>Web Design>Multimedia>SMIL

Pushing the Boundaries of Traditional Heritage Policy: Maintaining Long-Term Access to Multimedia Content    

This paper will address the direction chosen by the Audiovisual Department of the Bibliotheque nationale de France (BnF) in order to maintain access to a comprehensive collection of multimedia and electronic documents. It will describe several experimental technical solutions for preservation, emphasizing the consequences of a requirement for future users to be able to use these documents for research purposes. These result in the use of emulation solutions as well as new practices of collection development policy with regard to the specific structure of information within a multimedia context.

Miura, Gregory. IFLA Journal (2007). Design>Web Design>Information Design>Multimedia

Why Text Remains King of the Web

I am starting to believe that despite all the hype around online video, text remains King of the Web. Why text? There are at least five reasons.

Micro Persuasion (2009). Articles>Web Design>Multimedia>Writing

The 'Video' Element

The 'video' element is brand new in HTML 5 and allows you to, get this, play a movie in your website! The data of this element is supposed to be video but it might also have audio or images associated with it. Of course, this will only work in a few browsers: Safari 3.1+, Firefox 3.5+, and latest builds of Opera (oh, and potentially the next release of Chrome).

HTML 5 Doctor (2009). Articles>Web Design>Multimedia>HTML5

Twitter for the Social Media Fledgling

New media should be accessible to everyone, not just marketing, public relations and web professionals. Here, I aim to help all people navigate the new media landscape.

Devlin, Emma L. New Media For Everyone (2009). Articles>Web Design>Multimedia>Social Networking

New Media, Networking and Phatic Culture    

This article will demonstrate how the notion of ‘phatic communion’ has become an increasingly significant part of digital media culture alongside the rise of online networking practices. Through a consideration of the new media objects of blogs, social networking profiles and microblogs, along with their associated practices, I will argue, that the social contexts of ‘individualization’ and ‘network sociality’, alongside the technological developments associated with pervasive communication and ‘connected presence’ has led to an online media culture increasingly dominated by phatic communications. That is, communications which have purely social (networking) and not informational or dialogic intents. I conclude with a discussion of the potential nihilistic consequences of such a culture.

Miller, Vincent. Convergence (2009). Articles>Web Design>Multimedia>Social Networking

Ten Common Mistakes When Building AIR Applications

Adobe AIR has grown immensely popular over the past months. With its popularity, many new applications have been released. During this period, the following 10 issues have been the mistakes I have seen most often among developers. Hopefully, this list can help you avoid the same mistakes when building your next AIR application.

Tucker, David. Adobe Captivate Blog (2009). Articles>Web Design>Multimedia>Flash

Best Practices: Six AIR Features that May Annoy Your Users

I get to see and play with a lot of really cool AIR applications (even when they’re still being developed). Every now and then I come across an app that totally ignores any best practices or usability rules. AIR provides developers with a lot of features that could potentially annoy users if not used wisely. I thought it was a good idea to write this article. I’m not saying you shouldn’t use these features, I just want you to think about them before you add them to your application.

Jespers, Serge. Web Kitchen (2008). Articles>Web Design>Multimedia>Flash

Silverlight versus Flash 

Recently I looked at how Adobe is reworking Flash in preparation for the coming battle with Microsoft over the Rich Internet Application (RIA) space and, with it, the likely future of computer-based design. In this article we finally get to see just what forces Microsoft has assembled – and its three staged launches at the MIX 07 conference in Las Vegas effectively amounted to a declaration of all-out war.

Arah, Tom. Designer Info (2007). Articles>Web Design>Multimedia>Silverlight