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An outhoring program is the sotnvare used to integrate Indlvidual media (text, sound,
graphics, video. animations) and build the user interface (rnenus. hyperlinks video
controllers etc.). Authoring applications such as Director, Authorvrare, or PowerPoint
provide several ways for developers to incorporate text. These include direct entry, copy
and paste, and file Importing.
In direct entry, the developer simply types the desired text in the authoring program.
Editable text is generally typed into an area defined for this purpose, a text box or text
feild. Text boxes or fields may have different properties depending upon the authoring
program and the purpose of the application being developed Some may be intended
simply to display text information to the user. Others provide areas for users to enter
information of their own such as responses to questions or search queries. Graphics text
is ooften simply typed onto any area of the screen and then positioned or further
rnanlpulated by rotating, stretching, filling with color and so on, like any other graphic.
Copy and paste allows developers to select text from anarhet source. copy it to the cons
puters'clipboard,'and paste it directly into their project. Copyand paste is an essential.
time-saving tool for the muhinnedia developer that is used not only for text, but also for
all media.
Fibe Import
Finally, text can be entered by file import. In this case the text to be incorporated already
exists as a file, having been previously typed, scanned, or converted from speech. The
authoring application will typically provide a dialogue box in which the developer selects
the file to be imported. File import is particularly useful for larger amounts of text since it
is much faster than re-entering text and more direct than copy and paste.
Scanning and OCR
Developers open need to Incorporate text that exists only in its traditional format, the
printed page. Scanning and optical character recognition ICCR) produce a computer text
file from printed sources.
Scanning text for use in multimedia applications is a three~stage process. First, the text
15 scanned using one of several different types ot devices (hand scanner, flatbed scanner,
etc.L In this process light and photoreceptors are used tO produce, In effect, a plaure of
the page. Like the graphics text described above, the scan only records the shapes that
make up the text and not the identity of the individual characters.
In the second stage, specialized software is used to identify the characters repress sensed
by the scanned shapes. This is called optical charact r r cognition, or OCR. The accuracy
of OCR varies because, with so many different typefaces available, significantly
d;FFrrent shapes may represent a particular letter, number, or symbol. In addition,
imperfecuons on the printed page complicate accurate character recognition. OCR
progrants have continually improved and the best among them correctly identify a high
pencentage Or characters. Some mistakes are nearly inevitable, however. This leads to
the final str go of the process, proofing the text file produced by OCR.
Proofing is usually expedited by first using a spell checker on the text file. Characters that
have been misidentified (a 't' for an 'i,' for instance) will often show up as sparing errors
Spell-checkers will not catch all errors, however. Scanned files should always be
carefully proofread.
on screen or on paper. Conversely. poor word choices, spelling mistakes, and grammar
eaors rapidly undermine user confidence in the content of a multimedia application.
Multimedia also raises writing challenges and opportunities of its own. Some of the more
important of these are addressed in the following guidelines
1. Eve selective. Use ten where it conveys Infommation more effectively than other
media: To present facts and abstract concepts To label unfamiliar icons . To solicit or
respond to user input
Z. Be beef. Reading large amounts of text on a r omputer sr reed soon tires the
user.
· Eliminateunn^ffessarywords.
· Preserve open space. f.'ion't crowd the screen with too much ted
· Avoid small fonts on tr^Ktun^!d backgrounds—the texture will obscure letter shapes.
· Umit the number of fonts. Too many fonts Transom note typography wivill
4. Be con5isternt.
casual or humorous.
· Use the same fonts for each of the major categories of text page heading$
menus, body teak buttons etc. Font consistency helps to orient users.
. Use a grid to consistently locate different types of text Iheadlngss body text,
5. Becareful.
6. isle respectful.
· Use humor with care. What is funny to one person may be offensive to another,
· Umittheuseofanimatedtextand worrJ art. Thesecaneasllybecomedistrac~ lions shihting
the user s focus away Frv ^T^l the meaning or message of the text.
7. Combine text with other media Use sound graphics video or animation to
8. Moth text interactive. Much of the power of multimedia derh es from interactiv
ity. Try to engage users with ten.
· Soi;cituserinput
5.7 Summary
Multimedla text is built on a long standing text tradition and on the powerful erJiting
tools of computengenerated text. but it has also made its own contributions to the
expanding uses of the written word. These include many dynamic elements. Multimedia
text can be animated, morphed, linked to any other medium, and automatically generated
from speech. Like all written communication, multimedia text should be clears
grammatically confect, and delivered in a style appropriate to its audience.
Text is effectively combined with other media through a variety of resources includlng
RTML and XHTML for web pages, PDF files for consistent delivery of highly formatted
multimedia documents, and a wide range of authoring programs. Scanning and file
Import complement direct entry techniques to expedite the Inclusion of text in rnulffme
Review Quesffons
1. What are the maln text propert es derived frc nn the print indust^ly7
6. What is one limitation of graphics text? 7. What is the rosin d st Art ion between
ASCII and RTF text lilac 8. When should a person save a file created in Word as an RIF
flk7
9. What is hypertext?
10. What is one benef t and one limitation of OCR text input?
12. What is the problem of installed hunts'? How can multimedia developers ret this
problem?
14. Identify and define the two principal uses of combining text and speech.
15. What are four methods to add text into a multimedia authoring application?
Discussion Questions
1. The characteristics of typography have their origins in the manual print industry.
Identify and explain three features Or typography that began in the print trade.
1. When should you consider using graphics text in a muhirnedia applications Why7
3. locate and print the first page of your campus webslte. Circle two exannples oi graphks
text and highlight two examples of editable text. i xplain why these spe ciflc text
elements were presented as graphics or editable text.
A. As the text editor of a multimedia tutorial, explain why you will only accr pt file
formats that are ,rti,
5. As the text editor d a multimedia book why will you convert your final chapters to a
.pdl format7
6. Provide three guidelines you would follow to create the text based content in A
PowerPoin^l multimedia Wosi^i to announce your campus events.