Multimedia Authoring Systems

Authoring tools are used to create multimedia presentations. These tools enable you to specify which multimedia objects to use (such as text, pictures, videos, or animations), how to display them in relation to each other, how long to display them, and how to enable the user to interact with the presentation. To take full advantage of an authoring tool’s capabilities, it’s often necessary to learn a scripting language (a simple programming language). A leading authoring package is Macromedia Director. Commercial authoring tools such as Macromedia Director save output in proprietary file formats. To view Macromedia presentations on a Web site, it’s necessary to download and install a plug-in program (software that extends a browser’s capabilities). Some users do not like to download viewers, so the Web’s standards setting body, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), recently approved the Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL), a simple multimedia scripting language designed for Web pages. Once SMIL, is supported by Web browsers, Internet users will be able to enjoy enhanced multimedia without having to download plug-in programs.