WEB DESIGN LECTURE NOTES  back to
WEEK 5: ANIMATION/MULTIMEDIA ON THE WEB  

 

java, plug-ins, and flash
in week 3, we had a short look at the multimedia capabilities of dhtml, and we discussed the compatibility problems it has (especially in version 4 of netscape and internet explorer). this week we'll consider the alternatives: java and browser plug-ins. since learning java is beyond the scope of this course, we'll focus primarily on plug-ins, and since macromedia's flash is probably the most popular current plug-in, after today's lecture on multimedia we'll spend the rest of the course learning to create content for flash. (we'll start this week by going through the lessons that come with the flash authoring tool.)

java
java is a full-featured programming language (similar in many ways to c or c++) used to create a wide variety of software and programs. while it is capable of handling applications as complex as word processors, spreadsheets, and graphics programs java was created for the networked environment of the internet: it is meant to be distributed easily, and usable on any platform without conversion. netscape and internet explorer can both display small programs (or "applets") written in java. applets rarely push the limits of the java's capabilities, rather, they offer a way for programmers to add simple multimedia and animation to web pages without requiring the user to install plugins (see below). however, java's scope is much broader than moving things around the screen. web-based applications like real-time timesheet tracking or complex games are well within java's capabilities. for most web builders, the downside to java is that it requires legitimate programming skills. also, java applets in browsers run slowly on the macintosh.

here are a few examples of java in action:

plug-ins
plug-ins are external software applications that work with or inside of web browsers to provide functionality that is beyond the browser's built-in capabilities. plug-ins are normally free applications that can be downloaded by users who want to enhance their browser--something like buying a cd player for your car so you can listen to cd's while you drive. of course, just as some cars come with cd players installed, some browsers (especially recent ones) include some plug-ins as standard options. in netscape, you can check which plug-ins are installed in the browser by selecting "about plug-ins" in the help menu. on windows, internet explorer uses microsoft's modular programming tool "activex" to add plugins to the browser. here are some popular plug- ins:

built-in animation
starting with version 3.0, browsers began addressing the need to display animation and sound without the use of plug-ins. version 3 of both netscape and ie supported small animations in the .gif image format. and version 4 of both browsers allowed any content on the page (including text) to be treated as objects which could be animated or manipulated interactively. broadly, that animation and interactivity is known as "dhtml" or "dynamic html". with version 4, microsoft also began integrating the web browser into the windows operating system, allowing the browser to play native windows video and audio formats (such as .avi and .wav) within the browser. eventually, most web animation may be viewed without the use of plug-ins, but progress towards that end is slow due to incompatibilities between netscape and ie. in version 4, each browser implemented animation and interactivity in slightly (or greatly in a few cases) different ways. as a result, web designers are often faced with producing 2 different versions of sites that use dhtml techniques. the higher cost of production associated with creating multiple versions of a site has greatly slowed the adoption of dhtml as an animation or interactivity tool. in addition, dhtml requires the use of javascript, which is notoriously buggy, and css, which has a relatively immature implementation in netscape 4.0. hence, most web designers are currently opting for the stability and wider compatibility of plug-ins when producing animation or multimedia on the web.

let's learn flash!
i'll walk you through the basic flash tools and workspace in class. once that's done, launch flash 4 on your systems and start going through the tutorials found under "help>>lessons". once you've finished all the tutorials, i'll show you how to put your flash movie on your web pages. all in class time from this point forward will be used to work on your final assignment. i'll be around to help you figure out how to do things and to fix problems with you.

if you want another perspective on learning flash, try michael kay's tutorial on webmonkey. and for lots of demos, samples, and instructions, visit flashzone. finally, here's a sample object/embed tag to use to place your movie on a page.

 

(copyright colin moock, fall 1999)