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Topic 4: Text( i )

Topic 4: Text( i ). INTRODUCTION TO MULTIMEDIA. Lecture Objectives. Understand the importance of text in a multimedia presentation Understand the attributes of a block of text, for example, font tracking, kerning, leading, bold, underline, and color List the attributes of a font

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Topic 4: Text( i )

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  1. Topic 4: Text(i) INTRODUCTION TO MULTIMEDIA

  2. Lecture Objectives Understand the importance of text in a multimedia presentation Understand the attributes of a block of text, for example, font tracking, kerning, leading, bold, underline, and color List the attributes of a font Describe the difference between a font and a typeface

  3. Why would course designers like text? The most inexpensive media to develop Least overhead in storage/transmission But text creation requires skill: Good writing and effective use of fonts Text in multimedia

  4. Concise: why? Precise and powerful: “That answer is correct” vs. “Terrific!” “quit” vs. “close” vs “out” Write for your audience What background knowledge can you assume? Informal, casual or formal, business-like style? Why is a project’s title important? Good multimedia writing

  5. Say it in active voice, not passive: “Genetic algorithms were invented by John Holland in the 1970’s.” “John Holland invented genetic algorithms in the 1970's.” Avoid wordiness: “computer algorithm” vs. just “algorithm” Avoid high-falutin’ phrases: “Appropriate incorporated” vs. “using” Write and rewrite Bear in mind that users won’t read as much on a screen The Elements of Style

  6. An introductory screen: “Within a program that aims to educate you on all aspects of networking, it seems most logical that we begin with the broadest definition of the subject matter itself. What is a network? More specifically, what is a computer network? These answers are not so difficult as you may believe.” I propose rewriting it as: “What is a computer network?” Why? An example:

  7. A typeface is a family of graphic characters including many type sizes and styles Times, Courier and Arial are typefaces, each of which include many sizes & styles A font is a collection of characters of a single size & style, belong to a typeface family Typical font styles are boldface, italic, bold italic, and underlined Times is a typeface; Times 12-point italic is a font In computerese, however, people say font when typeface would be more accurate Fonts

  8. Parts of graphic characters Serif is decoration at end of letter strokes Times Romans is serif font; Arial is sans serif Font sizes are expressed in terms of points, where one point is .0138 or 1/72 inch, and size is the distance from top of ascenders to the bottom of descenders

  9. Leading is the space between lines of text Lopuck recommends increasing the leading to improve readability of text on a screen Character metricsare measurements of individual characters Vector-based fonts permit changes to character metrics for interesting effects; bit-based fonts do not Kerning is the spacing between character pairs Some fonts have variable kerning (e.g., Times), so have fixed kerning (e.g., Courier) When is fixed kerning more desirable? What about variable kerning? Spacing between characters

  10. Print: serif fonts traditionally used for body text help guide the reader’s eyes along the line of text Headlines use sans serif No need to guide reader’s eyes What about on computer screens? Don’t provide as much resolution as print Sans serif is a little more legible, esp. in smaller sizes Serif or sans serif?

  11. Apple spearheaded desktop publishing by adopting Adobe’s PostScript Page description language for printing to Apple’s LaserWriter Characters were stored in a bitmap table representing every character at every size PostScript is vector-based: describes characters in terms of mathematical constructs (e.g., Bezier curves) Facilitates scaling, drawing characters at various sizes and in various resolutions Postscript

  12. But PostScript represents fonts for printer and screen separately Adobe Type Manager accesses a font’s outline in the printer font Scales it to display to the right size on a screen Apple introduces TrueType circa 1989 Only one file per font, for printer & screen, no need for ATM utility to do mapping Both PostScript and TrueType universally available TrueType

  13. Anti-aliasing • Both PostScript and TrueType fonts allow text to be drawn on any size without jaggies • (jagged edges on the outlines of a character) • Anti-aliasing exploits color by blending (dithering) colors along the edges of letter

  14. Avoid decorative (serif) fonts for small sizes Be consistent: standardize on a few fonts Possible exception: attention-grabbing headlines Surround headlines with plenty of white space Use different colors and backgrounds Use ample leading (space between lines) Avoid scrolling text (contiguity principle) Keep lines short (Lopuck recommends 3”) Help user transition from line to line End lines with end of sentence or phrase Convert non-standard fonts to graphics Tips for fonts

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