Preparing and publishing applications.

Stuart Matthews
Multimedia Technology
Part 2 – Distribution
Preparing and publishing applications.

Before a multimedia application is ready for distribution and publishing it must be prepared. Preparing the application for distribution requires optimizing files, pictures, sound and video for use either on the internet or other medium. The main difference in between publishing to CD/DVD and the internet is that particular attention must be paid to file size when publishing on the internet. CDs hold up to 700mb and DVDs up to 7 GB whereas on the internet any files must be downloaded as they are needed.

When using the internet as the distribution medium file sizes are very important as large files can take a long time to be downloaded and displayed in a browser. Most applications used for creating multimedia components have built-in functions for optimizing pictures, video and sound. Drawing applications like Fireworks, Photoshop and Paint.net have options that allow the user to reduce the size of the file by reducing the quality of the picture. Different file types can also be used to reduce the size. Options for .gif files allow the user to select the number of colours in the picture and add transparency. Jpg options allow the user to reduce the quality of the picture and remove any unused colours meaning the user can find a balance between picture quality and file size. Files like .jpg and .png can be very large and would take a long time to download; this can affect the look of the page while the browser downloads the image. If there are too many large files to be viewed on a web page the page can take a long time to load and there is every possibility that the user will get fed up waiting and leave the page. Files like .jpg and .png can be very large and would take a long time to download; this can affect the look of the page while the browser downloads the image. If there are too many large files to be viewed on a web page the page can take a long time to load and there is every possibility that the user will get fed up waiting and leave the page.

Sound editing applications allow the user to record sound for a multimedia presentation and export the recording in a variety of file types including .mp3 and .wav. Mp3s allow the use of CD quality sound without the large file sizes.

Video and animation applications like Flash and Windows Movie Maker allow the user to select the quality and size of the video and sound. Some programs allow the user to set a size and the program publishes the file to meet the set size.

When publishing to CD or DVD file sizes are not as important as files are already on the system on the CD or DVD and do not need to be downloaded. On a CD or DVD instead of size like when publishing to the internet the user can focus on quality.