Chapter 9. Interactive Sound Design with Flash and Shockwave
Two of the most popular tools for delivering interactive multimedia on the Web are Macromedia Flash and Shockwave. Both technologies offer superior control over multimedia creation and playback across various browsers and platforms. If you are developing interactive content with motion graphics and sound, using Flash and Shockwave should be your first choice.
While RealAudio was instrumental in bringing the radio broadcasting experience to the Web, Macromedia’s influence on interactive media began with the launch of Shockwave in 1995, a technology that converted Macromedia Director presentations into a compressed format for web delivery. About a year after Shockwave’s release, Macromedia acquired the technology that has become Flash, which uses efficient vector graphics and compressed audio to create web multimedia. While the two tools have some similar capabilities, they’re aimed at different types of projects. Shockwave takes advantage of Director’s scripting language, Lingo, to create complex presentations and games. Flash, on the other hand, is handy for simple button rollovers, presentations with basic branching logic, and situations where download speed is critical. Both formats provide the software components and authoring capabilities necessary to build advanced interactive soundtracks and customized media.
Flash and Shockwave allow you to create an immersive multimedia experience on your web site. Despite the ...
Get Designing Web Audio & CD-ROM now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
