TOPIC 2 – TEXT

Overview

• Importance of text in a multimedia presentation.

• Understanding fonts and typefaces.

• Using text elements in a multimedia presentation.

• Computers and text.

• Font editing and design tools.

• Multimedia and hypertext.

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Introduction To Text

• Using text and symbols for communication began about 6,000 years ago in Mediterranean Fertile Crescent: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Sumeria and Babylonia.

• In some former eras, not all people were allowed to learn writing and reading.

• Today, text and ability to read it are doorways to power and knowledge.

• Since the explosion of the Internet and the World Wide Web(WWW), text has become more important than ever.

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Importance of Text in a Multimedia Presentation

• Words and symbols in any form, spoken or written, are the most common means of communication.

• Text is a vital element of multimedia menus, navigation systems, and content.

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• A single word may be cloaked in many meanings, so it is important to cultivate accuracy and conciseness in the specific words you choose.

• It is important to design labels for title screens, menus, buttons or tabs using words that have the most precise and powerful meaningsto express what you need to say

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(cont.) Importance of Text in a Multimedia Presentation

• Factors affecting legibility of text:

– Size.

– Background and foreground color.

– Style.

– Leading.

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Understanding Fonts and Typefaces

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(cont.) Understanding Fonts and Typefaces

• The study of fonts and typefaces includes the following:

– Font styles.

– Font sizes.

– Cases.

– Serif versus Sans Serif.

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Font Styles

Font styles include:

– Boldface

– Italic

– Underlining

– Outlining

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Font Sizes

• Font size is measured in points. (pt)

– 1 point = 0.0138 inch(1/72)

• Character metrics are the general measurements applied to individual characters.

• Kerning is the spacing between character pairs.

• Leading is the space between lines.

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Kerning vs Leading

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Kerning is the spacing between character pairs.

Leading is the space between lines.

Cases

• A capitalized letter is referred to as ‘UPPERCASE', while a small letter is referred to as 'lowercase.'

• Placing an uppercase letter in the middle of a word is referred to as intercap.

• Example : LibraryBox,

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Two classes of fonts: Serif or Sans

Serif

Serif Sans Serif

little decoration at the end of a letter stroke.

do not have a serif at the end of a letter stroke.

used for body text These fonts are used for headlines and bold statements.

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Types of Fonts

• For computer displays, Sans Serif fonts considered better because of the sharper contrast.

Example of Serif fonts Example of Sans Serif

Times New Roman Bookman Rockwell Light Courier New

Century

Century Gothic

Arial

Comic Sans MS

Impact

Tahoma

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Text Characteristics

• This example shows the Times New Roman font

FD xhp Descender

Capital Height

Point size

Ascender

Serif

x-Height

p -Height

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Tracking, Kerning and Leading

Av v A Unkerned Kerned

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Tracking, Kerning and Leading

Reading Line One

Reading Line One Leading

o Ascender : an upstroke on a character (h)

o Descender : the down stroke below the baseline of a character(p)

o Leading : spacing above and below a font or Line spacing

o Tracking : spacing between characters

o Kerning : space between pairs of characters, usually as an overlap for improvement appearance

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Bitmapped and vector fonts

• Fonts can either be stored as bitmapped or vector graphics

• Bitmaps font depend to the size and the pixel numbers - File size increases as more sizes are added

• Vector fonts can draw any size by scaling the vector drawing primitives mathematically

– File size is much smaller than bitmaps

– TrueType and PostScript are vector font formats

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Bitmapped and vector fonts

A bitmapped font A vector font

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Jaggies and Antialiasing

• Jaggies are the jagged edges you see when a bitmapped image is resized – It is a consequence of the underlying array of pixels

from which the image is composed

• Antialiasing is a technique that can be used to

eliminate jagged edges – It substitutes additional pixels in other colours to fool

the brain into thinking it is seeing continuous lines – The technique is used to blend the font into the

background by transitioning the colour from the font colour to background.

– This technique minimizes the jagged edges making for a smoother overall appearance.

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Jaggies and Antialiasing

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Using Text Elements in a Multimedia Presentation

• Anti-aliased text must be used when a gentle and blended look for titles and headlines is needed.

• Ideas and concepts can be highlighted by making the text bold or by emphasizing text.

• A pleasant look can be created by experimenting with different font faces, sizes, leadings, and kerning.

• The text elements used in multimedia are: – Menus for navigation. – Interactive buttons. – Fields for reading. – HTML documents. – Symbols and icons.

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Menus for Navigation

• A user navigates through content using a menu.

• A simple menu consists of a text list of topics.

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Interactive Buttons

• A button is a clickable object that executes a command when activated.

• Users can create their own buttons from bitmaps and graphics.

• The design and labeling

of the buttons should be

treated as an industrial

art project.

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Fields for Reading

• Reading a hard copy is easier and faster than reading from the computer screen.

• A document can be printed in one of two orientations - portrait or landscape.

• The taller-than-wide orientation used for printing documents is called portrait.

• The wider-than-tall orientation that is normal to monitors is called landscape.

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HTML Documents

• HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language.

• It is the standard document format used for Web pages.

• HTML documents are marked using tags.

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HTML Documents

• An advanced form of HTML is DHTML.

• DHTML stands for Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language.

• DHTML uses Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).

• Some of the commonly used tags are:

– The <B> tag for making text bold faced.

– The <OL> tag for creating an ordered list.

– The <IMG> tag for inserting images.

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Symbols and Icons

• Symbols are concentrated text in the form of stand-alone graphic constructs.

• They are used to convey meaningful messages.

• Symbols used to convey human emotions are called emoticons.

• Icons are symbolic representations of objects and processes.

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• Mapping across platforms:

• Fonts and characters are not cross-platform compatible [ between Windows and Macintosh platforms ]

• They must be mapped to the other machine using font substitution.

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Computers and Text

• The font wars.

– PostScript

– TrueType

• Character sets.

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PostScript

• PostScript is a method of describing an image in terms of mathematical constructs.

• PostScript characters are scalable and can be drawn much faster.

• The two types of PostScript fonts are Type 3 and Type 1.

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TrueType

• Apple and Microsoft developed the TrueType methodology.

• TrueType is a system of scalable outline fonts, and can draw characters at low resolution.

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Character Sets

• The American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) is a 7-bit coding system.

• The extended character set is commonly filled with ANSI standard characters.

• The ISO-Latin-1 character set is used while programming the text of HTML pages.

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Character Sets

• Unicode is a 16-bit architecture for multilingual text and character encoding.

• The shared symbols of each character set are unified into collections of symbols called scripts.

• Mapping across platforms:

– Fonts and characters are not cross-platform compatible.

– They must be mapped to the other machine using font substitution.

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Font Editing and Design Tools

• Macromedia Fontographer. – Fontographer is a specialized graphics editor. – It is compatible with both Macintosh and Windows

platform. – It can be used to develop PostScript, TrueType, and

bitmapped fonts. – It can also modify existing typefaces and incorporate

PostScript artwork.

• Creating attractive texts.

– Applications that are used to enhance texts and images include: Adobe Photoshop, TypeStyler, COOL 3D, HotTEXT and TypeCaster

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Fontographer

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Multimedia and Hypertext

• Multimedia.

• Hypertext system.

• Using hypertext systems.

• Searching for words.

• Hypermedia structures.

• Hypertext tools.

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Multimedia

• Multimedia is defined as the combination of text, graphics, and audio elements into a single presentation.

• When the user have control over the presentation, it is called interactive multimedia.

• Interactive multimedia becomes hypermedia when a structure of linked elements is provided to the user for navigation and interaction.

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Hypertext System

• Hypertext is defined as the organized cross-linking of words, images, and other Web elements.

• A system in which words are keyed or indexed to other words is referred to as a hypertext system.

• A hypertext system enables the user to navigate through text in a non-linear way.

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Using Hypertext Systems

• Information management and hypertext programs present electronic text, images, and other elements in a database fashion.

• Software robots visit Web pages and index entire Web sites.

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(cont.) Using Hypertext Systems

• Hypertext databases make use of proprietary indexing systems.

• Server-based hypertext and database engines are widely available.

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Searching for Words

• Typical methods for word searching in hypermedia systems are: – Categorical search

• Selecting or limiting the documents, pages, or fields of text within which to search for a word or words

– Word relationship • Searching for the words according to their general proximity and order. Example :

“birthday party” and “cake”.

– Adjacency • Searching for words occurring next to one another

– Alternates • Applying an OR criterion to search for two or more words. Example: “meat”

or “egg”

– Association • Applying AND criterion to search for two or more words.

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(cont.) Searching for Words

• (cont.) Typical methods for word searching in hypermedia systems are: – Negation

• Applying a NOT criterion

– Truncation

• Searching for word with any of its possible suffixes. Example : geo# (geology, geometry)

– Intermediate words

• Searching for words that occur between what might normally be adjacent words, such as a middle name.

– Frequency

• Searching for words based on how often they appear

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Hypermedia Structures

• Links.

• Nodes.

• Anchors.

• Navigating hypermedia structures.

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Links

• Links are connections between conceptual elements.

• Links are the navigation pathways and menus.

NODES

Nodes are accessible topics, documents, messages, and content elements.

Nodes and links form the backbone of a knowledge access system.

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Anchor

• Anchor is defined as the reference from one document to another document, image, sound, or file on the Web.

• The source node linked to the anchor is referred to as a link anchor.

• The destination node linked to the anchor is referred to as a link end.

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Navigating Hypermedia Structures

• The simplest way to navigate hypermedia structures is via buttons.

• Location markers must be provided to make navigation user-friendly.

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Hypertext Tools

• Two functions common to most hypermedia text management systems are building (authoring) and reading.

• The functions of ‘builder’ are: – Creating links. – Identifying nodes. – Generating an index of words.

• Hypertext systems are used for: – Electronic publishing and reference works. – Technical documentation. – Educational courseware. – Interactive kiosks. – Electronic catalogs.

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Summary

• Text is one of the most important elements of multimedia.

• The standard document format used for Web pages is called HTML.

• Multimedia is the combination of text, graphics, and audio elements into a single presentation.

• A hypertext system enables the user to navigate through text in a non-linear way

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