Photography and Graphics
Getting Familiar with Photoshop
Photoshop is an excellent tool to create new graphics that can range from elaborate illustrations to what appear to be simple text headlines. It's available as a full version for about $600 (considerably less if you are a student) or a stripped-down version...
Getting Familiar with Photoshop, Part II
Foreground and Background Colors
The foreground color (the box shown in black in the toolbar screenshot) is used by the current drawing tool – it's the active tool. The background color is used to fill in erased areas and to create gradient fills.
To s...
Working with Layers
If you have ever drawn an illustration with pencil and paper, you're familiar with the limitations of drawing an object on top of another object. When you change your mind later about it's placement, the "topmost" object must be erased – and when you e...
Creating Web-formatted Images
If your image is at 72 dpi and you've made all your edits (color correction, cropping, resizing), you're ready to save it as a JPEG or GIF.
Go to File > Save For Web . A window will open that lets you preview different GIF and JPEG settings ...
Creating Transparent Images
All digital images must be rectangular in shape, but sometimes you may want to create the effect of an irregular outline. You can do this by matching the background color of your image to the background color of the web page it is displayed in or by creating...
How to Take Pictures for Online Use
These days smartphones have made quality picture taking easy and convenient. A few snaps on your phone and a couple of video recordings later, you will have all the multimedia content you need. Although the technology may change the basic principles ...
Getting Familiar with Web Graphics
Photoshop is an excellent tool to create new graphics that can range from elaborate illustrations to what appear to be simple text headlines.
Preparing Images and Photos for the Web
Here are some guidelines for making your images download quickly and display correctly.
Preparing Images
To prepare images for presentation on the Web, follow these steps:
Begin a new file. If it's a photo or original artwork, use 300 dpi as the...
Checking and Changing Resolution
The resolution of an image or graphic refers to the pixel density. For example, a high-resolution image for use in a glossy magazine is usually 300 pixels per inch in resolution. But computer monitors don't display higher resolution than 72 pixels per...
Editing Photographs
Most digital cameras take photographs that can be put onto your Web site just as they are — without being touched up. Some photos, however, will be greatly improved if their color and contrast are tweaked.
While photo-editing tools can dramatically i...
Using Photoshop Slices
When Web design became a significant part of a Photoshop user's job, Adobe added Slices to its arsenal of design tools. Slices can be used to save changes as you create graphics for the Web. Essentially, you will use Slices to divide up a Photoshop document....
Creating Animated GIFS with Image Ready
Small animations can be created directly in Photoshop by using animation tools provided in Image Ready, a tool created by Adobe so Web designers can create animated GIFs. But be warned: animated GIFs are to be use sparingly. Inappropriate use of animations on...
Creating Photo Galleries and Slideshows
Even if you are just starting out with digital photography, you should consider publishing slideshows and photo galleries when one or two photos just won't do justice to the subject.
While there aren't any hard-and-fast rules about how many images...
Audio
How to Record Audio for the Web
Recording audio isn't rocket science, but it's definitely a skill that requires practice and attention to detail. There's no doubt you'll get the cleanest, quietest, best recording in a sound-proof studio using high-quality microphones. But studios are...
Digitizing Audio
Digital sound is created by a process called "sampling." Most digital sounds, whether on a CD or from the Web, were created by recording hundreds of very small snapshots of sounds as they were played. These snapshots build the waveform that is a digital...
Editing Audio
To begin a new Audacity project, open the program and then click File > Preferences . Under theAudio I/O tab, select the recording device you would like to use. Under the Quality tab, select the sample rate you want to make your recording in. Whe...
Delivering Audio Online
Upload audio files in the same way you upload any other file using an FTP (file transfer protocol) program. You may find it useful to create a folder on your Web server to store all audio files. This keeps your media organized on the server.
Standalone...
Video
How to Shoot Video for the Web
As you set about shooting video, you may want to consider hiring an expert if you don't already have one in-house. With patience and creativity, a novice videographer can shoot like a professional, but you must invest the time to develop the expertise....
Using Adobe Premiere
In the next sections, you will get a look at digitizing and editing video using Adobe Premiere Pro, which includes most of the editing tools you need and has good integration with digital video - the best type of video for the web. The ideas and concepts...
Digitizing Video
Start a new project and save it (File > New Project... and File > Save). If you want, at this stage you can also specify where your video captures will be saved, if necessary, by going to Edit > Preferences > Scratch Disks . If you don't ...
Editing Video
If you have other files - such as graphics, still photos or audio files - to add to this project, use File > Import to bring up the Import window and select the file(s).
Video Alphabet Soup
AVI: Audio Video Interleave. It is currently the m...
Adding and Editing Audio
If you want to bring in music or a voiceover, you have some choices. You can import music from a CD or from a digital file on your computer. You can record a voiceover using audio editing software, or you can simply record your voiceover onto the...
Adding Titles and Other Graphics
Titles are often text elements overlaid on black video or actual video. You can use a title to place the title of the clip on the screen or to add names, locations or credits. To create a title:
Choose File > New Title . Premiere opens the Adobe T...
Delivering Video Online
Video on the web used to have one major problem: video files are huge. Delivering large video files online is a problem because people can't download them quickly enough to make them usable. But, with the advent of the Flash video format, services that...
Animation
Getting Familiar with SWiSHmax
Macromedia Flash is the weapon of choice for serious interactive animators, but the outstanding application SWiSHmax may be a better choice for those who need to get the job done with a minimum of fuss – or for those who like its $99.95 price tag bett...
Creating a Basic SWiSHmax Animation
Begin experimenting with SWiSHmax by creating a simple animation:
Run SWiSHmax and start a new movie by selecting File > New.
Use the Movie panel to set the desired height and width for your movie. In this example, the movie is 300 pixels by...
Applying Effects in SWiSHmax
There are more than 300 effects you can apply to objects in your movie. Some of these are quite simple – zooms and fades – and others are fun, pre-designed effects you’ll enjoy applying. Effects that are already created for you are divided into sever...
Creating Buttons with SWiSHmax
Many animations are created around interactivity, and the most common interface to begin an animation or cause an action is a button. In this section we look at how to create a button in SWiSHmax.
Before doing the tutorial, understand that an interactive...
Saving an SWF using SWiSHmax
Once you have created an animation you want to use on a Web page, you need to export an SWF file from SWiSHmax. SWF is the format supported by Web browsers that can be placed into any HTML page.
Here’s how to save an SWF:
With your movie open, s...
Creating a Simple Slide Show with SWiSHmax
You can use a program like SWiSHmax to create attractive photo slide shows. Begin by preparing your images at the size you want them to be in the slide show using a graphics program. For this example, the images have been sized to a maximum of 400 p...
Getting More Help with SWiSHmax
You’ve gotten started, but there is plenty more to learn. Here are a few good SWiSHmax resources:
SWiSHmax Help: There is a good manual and several excellent tutorials that come installed with your SWiSHmax program. You can access these from the H...
Reporting Community Data
Forums and Feedback
Your website is not only a tool allowing you to communicate with your readers, it's also a good way to allow your readers to communicate with you and with one another.
If you have a background in traditional media, this two-way exchange can be a bit...
Polls and E-mail Surveys
Some years ago, the Myrtle Beach Sun News was looking for a way to tap what was on the minds of residents in that fast-growing resort community but couldn't afford a formal community survey.
The Internet, with its survey tools and polling software,...
Searchable Databases
There are many kinds of community data available. Much of it exists in electronic format. With a little work, you can turn these into interesting interactive tools and news exercises for your readers.
Let's pick an easy searchable database, such as...
Visualizing Data
If you've worked with computers for any length of time, you know how easy it is to collect data, and yet how hard it can be to make the best use of that data. In this section, we're going to suggest some ways you can help your audience understand the...
Blogs
Understanding Blogs
The blog is a simple publishing method that has moved from controversial to essential at most news organizations. It has changed forever the way information is disseminated in our society.
But a "blog" is simply a different way to publish content....
Writing and Editing a Blog
Writing a blog isn't rocket science, but it also may not be quite as easy as it looks. A successful blog's conversational style either comes naturally or it doesn't. So does that sense of what topics will hit the mark with the blog's audience.
Writing...
Choosing Blog Software
There are many software options available for blogging. First, you must determine where the blog should live.
Hosted blogs are blogs that, along with the publishing interface, live on the web server of a blog company. You can also get blog software...
Managing Blog Comments
Blogs come with their own set of problems. You can expect to have to deal with comment spam, Trackback spam and trolls.
Spam and Trolls
Sadly, blogs aren't free of the universal Internet malady: spam. On blogs, spam takes the form of commercial messages...
Quick overview: Wordpress and Blogger
Thankfully, most blog systems are so easy to use, you won't need any help. But here’s a quick overview of how to get started.
Let me Google that for you: Like most anything you want to do on the Internet, you can find out how to do something you’ve neve...