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1. about 1 2 micron wide and 1 10 micron deep By comparison a human hair is about 18 microns in diameter A CD can contain as many as three miles of these tiny pits wound in a spiral pattern from the hub to the edge A layer of lacquer is applied to protect the surface and 430 Multimedia Making It Work artwork from the disc s author or publisher is usually silk screened on the back side Compact discs are made in what is generally referred to as a family process The glass master is made using the well developed photo lithographic techniques created by the microchip industry First an opti cally ground glass disc is coated with a layer of photo resistant material 1 10 micron thick A laser then exposes writes a pattern of pits onto the surface of the chemical layer of material The disc is developed the exposed areas are washed away and is silvered resulting in the actual pit structure of the finished master disc The master is then electroplated with layers of nickel one molecule thick one layer at a time until the desired thickness is reached The nickel layer is separated from the glass disc and forms a metal negative or father In cases where low runs of just a few discs are required the father is used to make the actual discs Most projects though require several mothers or positives to be made by plating the surface of the father In a third plating stage sons or stampers are made from the mother and these are the
2. Bug Apache hitpd 2 hittps issues apache org bugzilla enter_bug cgi product Apache httpd 2 ASF Bugzilla Enter Bug Apache httpd 2 Home New Search My Bugs Before reporting a bug please read the bug writing guidelines please look at the list of most frequently reported bugs and please search for the bug Find Reports My Votes Preferences Help Log out Show Advanced Fields Product Apache httpd 2 Reporter tay timestream com Component All t Component Description i mersi Select a component to read its description Documentation Event MPM mod_access mod_actions rj Version 2 2 12 Severity normal E 2 2 13 gt 22 14 Hardware PC 2 2 15 2 3 HEAD OS MacOsx106 We ve made a guess at your operating system and platform Please check them and make any corrections if necessary Summary Description Do not paste patches in this field see above for more Attachment Add an attachment Commit This is ASF Bugzilla the Apache Software Foundation bug system In case of problems with the functioning of ASF Bugzilla please contact admin apache org Please Note this e mail address is only for reporting problems with ASF Bugzilla Mail about any other subject will be silently phin Home New Search find Reports My Votes Preferences Help Log out tay umestream com My Bugs TIP Look for testers from a broad range of users novice to expert You
3. On the Mac these files typically carry the filename exten sion sea On Windows platforms these archives are executable files with an exe filename extender With self extracting archives the user simply runs the executable archive and the compressed files are automatically decompressed and placed into a folder on the hard disk Chapter 14 Delivering 429 TIP Keep a copy of your project archive off site in case of fire or flood First Person Delivering on CD ROM Many multimedia projects are delivered on CD ROM or DVD While the very first users of CD ROMs were owners of large databases like library catalogs reference systems and parts lists today most computers are shipped with a CD DVD drive and software that is not downloaded from the Internet is typically packaged on a disc Compact Disc Technology A compact disc or CD is a thin wafer of clear polycarbonate plastic and metal measuring 4 75 inches 120 mm in diameter with a small hole or hub in its center The metal layer is usually pure aluminum sputtered onto the polycarbonate surface in a thickness measurable in molecules As the disc spins in the CD player the metal reflects light from a tiny infrared laser into a light sensitive receiver diode These reflections are transformed into an electrical signal and then further converted to meaningful bits and bytes for use in digital equipment Pits on the CD where the information is stored are 1 to 3 microns long
4. a manila envelope that would never see an airport X ray machine water we packed it up and got it to Often a file named README TXT or Read Me is a useful thing to include on the distribution disc of your project This file can be a simple ASCII text file accessible by any text editor or word processing applica tion It should contain a description of changes or bugs reported since the documentation was printed and may also contain a detailed description of the installation process If your project will be deployed on the Web provide special directions in a FAQ or Help page where you can describe required plug ins and browser compatibility and other issues You can often do much dynami cally using JavaScript sniffer routines to alert users when their browser is not compatible and you can even serve a different version of your project tailored to that user s system or browser The clearer and more detailed your installation instructions are the fewer frustrated queries you will receive from your project s users If your project is designed for wide distribution installation problems can cause you many headaches and a great deal of time and expense in providing answers and service over the telephone Set up a product related web site with pages for software registration bug reporting technical support and program upgrades Chapter 14 Delivering 427 From Christopher Yavelow lt Christopher yav com gt Subject The case
5. demonstrated to me how one might use the Web to generate profits at a time when many doubted it was easy to do Working for the publisher she was assigned the job of marketing a book for college students She did her research and discovered how advertising in the search engines works by buying the word college on a few of them she was able to place an ad on search results that were related to colleges visi tors who clicked on her ad were linked to the publisher s web site where they could purchase the book online While explaining the process she checked the online sales of her book over 5 000 copies had been sold online within a month of publication eight of them during the last hour Panagiotis Takis Metaxas Associate Professor of Computer Science Wellesley College Painter was at one time shipped in a metal paint can with a colorful paper wrapper and Eye Candy special effects for After Effects came in a metal movie reel case see Figure 14 5 But package size and shape options are more often than not limited by the common constraints of the floor and shelf space found in retailing out lets and by the expense of fabricating a nonstan dard container Most industrial cities boast more than one packaging specialist with whom you can con sult These outfits can supply cardboard and plastic boxes printing cutting folding and wrapping services Environmentally respon sible packaging especially for co
6. parts that are used in the injection molding machines Plastic pellets are heated and injected into the mold or stamper forming the disc with the pits in it The plastic disc is coated with a thin aluminum layer for reflectance and lacquer for protection given a silk screened label for marketing and packaged for delivery Most of these activities occur in a particle free clean room because one speck of dust larger than a pit can ruin many hours of work The mastering process alone takes around 12 hours CD R CD R compact disc recordable is an excellent method for distributing multimedia projects CD R writers and blank CD R discs are inexpen sive and for short runs of a product it is more cost effective to burn your work onto CD Rs and custom label them with your own printer than to have the discs mastered and pressed using the expensive father and son method described previously Many services with auto loading equipment and 24 hour turnarounds can make short runs CD R blanks that can hold as much as 84 minutes of Red Book sound see the next section or more than 700MB of data are made of a poly carbonate core coated with layers of reflective metals and special photo sensitive organic dyes see Figure 14 3 During the burning process laser light hits the layer of dye bakes it and forms a pit A 74 minute CD R disc contains 333 000 sectors 2048 bytes sector for a capacity of 650 4MB An 80 minute disc contains 360 000 sectors
7. server But if your project is headed for wider distribution within a large company or organization or into retail channels you will need to think about packaging If your project is destined to be sold into the consumer retail chan nel then you have made a title Software titles are most often distributed on CD ROM or DVD The software itself may indeed be only one item the most important one in a package that includes a user s manual a registration card quick reference guides hardware adapters and collat eral marketing material from you or other parties with whom you have arrangements Retailers claim that consumers typically relate the finish of a package to quality and price of the product inside The fancier bigger and heavier the package is the higher its perceived value Software manufacturers jug gle the elements of this equation when they determine the cost of goods and shipping freight add ons and set the product s price point Many big software boxes are shipped with plenty of sailboat fuel inside and with cardboard or open cell foam to hold the thin disc and manuals in place In fact the manuals may not be printed but included on the distribution disc as PDF files The art for your cover should reflect the content and function of the enclosed product it should also follow normal rules for good design layout Your company s logo should be prominent and if this is one of a series of titles the artwork should con
8. thank the people in our tech support depart ment for their help in calling all the members of the Beta test team and alerting them to this problem If they didn t get hold of you it was certainly not for lack of trying Ben Calica letter author and a product manager who claims this product shortened his life span by two years 424 Multimedia Making It Work Figure 14 1 This page from a web based bug reporting system seeks precise and reproducible descriptions of problems In testing complex applications thousands of bug reports may be received anda dedicated quality control team may be tasked to deal with them commentary and reports in exchange for getting to play with the latest software and for recognition as part of this inside process Managing beta test feedback is critical If you ignore or overlook tes ters comments the testing effort is a waste Ask your beta testers to include a detailed description of the hardware and software configuration at the time the problem occurred and a step by step recounting of the prob lem so that you can recreate it analyze it and repair it You should also solicit general comments and suggestions Figure 14 1 presents the search page from a web based bug reporting system that is database driven and capable of managing thousands of reports about a complicated application in a meaningful way Apache is the most widely used HTTP daemon for serving web pages Enter
9. that the software may contain errors and bugs is the The final release of a product when there is nothing left to change or correct and it is ready to be reproduced is the The test release of a product with a version number as the developers continue to refine the product and approach a final version is called a n A program that saves all necessary run time files to the user s hard drive is called a n Many projects include a plain text file containing a description of changes or bugs reported since the documentation was printed and a detailed description of the installation process This file is often named When several files are compressed into a single file it is usually called a n Compressed files can be saved with the ability to automatically decompress themselves and place the files on the built in hard disk Such files are called A CD ROM that contains both Macintosh files and PC files on the same CD is a n A CD R can have several separate images on it each recorded at different times Each of these is called a n E Multiple Choice Quiz _ hS When delivering a project you should d extensions a not bother testing it ll probably work e headers b test once on your development computer i y P le 3 The files used by Windows to store configuration c test on a couple of other computers E information and settings is called the a settings file b parameters list c registry database d te
10. the bugs tumble out of the program Every time a bug appeared we killed it As we pounded and tested fewer and fewer bugs fell out until none appeared for about six hours straight under every condition we could dream up As the deadline for the courier s airport facility neared 426 Multimedia Making It Work we were ready to apply the finishing touches to the product and stamp it gold One of the guys waited in his car with engine running ready for the sprint through commuter traffic to the airport We were saving the program every three minutes and nervously back ing it up on different media about every ten minutes We had built in a hidden software routine for debugging this project and when the product manager clicked Save for the last time he forgot to reset the program for normal use we didn t know the master was flawed Handling the disc like a uranium fuel rod traveling through heavy the waiting car An hour later our postpartum celebration was inter rupted by a painful cry from down the hall someone had discovered the flaw By then the courier flight had departed We fixed it Faced with the appalling possibility of 40 000 bad discs being invoiced to us instead of the client we sent the exhausted product manager out on the midnight flight without a chance even to go home and clean up He had a golden master disc in his briefcase one in his shirt pocket one in his pants pocket and one in
11. ve been through the program hundreds of times and you know what s supposed to happen A new or novice user may get stuck in a place where you thought all is clearly obvious Polishing to Gold As you move through alpha and beta testing and then through the debug ging process toward a final release you may want to use terms that indi cate the current version status of your project For example bronze when you are close to being finished gold when you have determined there is nothing left to change or correct and are ready to reproduce copies from your golden master Some software developers also use the term release candidate with a version number as they continue to refine the product and approach a golden master Going gold or announcing that the job is finished and then shipping can be a scary thing Indeed if you examine the file creation time and date for many software programs you will discover that many went gold at two oclock in the morning Preparing for Delivery If your completed multimedia project will be delivered to consumers or to a client who will install the project on many computers you will need to prepare your files so they can be easily transferred from your media to the user s platform Simply copying a project s files to the user s hard disk is often not enough for proper installation frequently you will also need to install special system and run time files So that end users can easily and automatic
12. 2048 bytes sector for a data capacity of 703 1MB Laser light Compact Disc Standards In 1979 Philips and Sony together launched CD technology as a digital method of delivering sound and music audio to consumers This collabo ration resulted in the Red Book standard named for the color of the document s jacket officially called the Compact Disc Digital Audio Standard The Red Book standard defines the audio format for CDs avail able in music stores today later the Yellow Book covered CD ROM the Green Book covered CD I Interactive the Orange Book covered write once read only WORM CD ROMs and the White Book covered Video CD Karaoke CD The Red Book Red Book remains the basis for standards that define more elaborate digital data formats for computers and other digital devices Audio CDs can provide up to 80 minutes of playing time which is enough for a slow tempo rendition of Beethoven s Ninth Symphony This was reported to be Philips and Sony s actual criterion during research and development for determining the size of sectors and ultimately the physical size of the CD itself A CD may contain one or more tracks These are areas normally allocated for storing a single song in the Red Book format CDs also Chapter 14 Delivering 431 Figure 14 3 As a CD or DVD disc spins laser light is beamed along a groove or track of lands high points and pits low points The difference in reflected l
13. ECC and timing control data A CD actually requires then 3 234 bytes to store 2 352 bytes of data EDC and ECC allow a scratched or dirty data sector to be reconstructed by software fast enough to avoid dropout of music Timing codes are used to display song playing time on an audio CD player TIP Because there is built in error correction on CDs small scratches may not affect playback particularly when the scratch runs in a straight line from center to edge To really wreck a CD scratch it in an easy arc from the center to the rim error correction won t keep up The disc spins at a constant linear velocity CLV so data can be read at a constant density and spacing This means the rotational speed of the disc may vary from about 200 rpm when the read head is at the outer edge to 530 rpm when it is reading near the hub This translates to about 1 3 meters 51 inches of travel along the data track each second CD play ers use very sensitive motors so that no matter where the read head is on the disc approximately the same amount of data is read in each second The CD s rotational speed and the density of the pits and lands on the CD allow data to be read at a sustained rate of 150 Kbps in a single speed reader This is sufficient for good audio but it is very slow for large image files motion video and other multimedia resources especially when com pared to the high data transfer rates of hard disk drives New drives that spin many ti
14. In this chapter you will learn how to m List the steps a project should go through as part of the testing process and describe their significance m Determine what steps you need to take for preparing your project for delivery in the marketplace m Discuss CD ROM technol ogy and standards as they apply to multimedia m Discuss DVD standards and capacities as they apply to multimedia Determine the type of pack aging needed for different multimedia projects m Assess the technical consid erations of project delivery on the World Wide Web CHAPTER 14 Delivering EST it and then test it again that s the unavoidable rule You must test and review your project or web site to ensure that it is bug free accurate operationally and visually on target and ready to meet the client s requirements even if that client is you Do this before the work is finalized and released for public or client consumption A bad reputation earned by premature product release can destroy an otherwise excellent piece of work representing thousands of hours of effort If you need to delay the release of the work to be sure that it is as good as possible It s critical that you take the time to thoroughly exercise your project and fix both big and little problems in the end you will save yourself a great deal of agony One of the major difficulties you face in testing the operation of your multimedia project is that its performance ma
15. ally set up your project or application on their own computers you may need to provide a single pro gram that acts as an installer WARNING The task of writing a proper installation routine is not a trivial one Be sure you set aside adequate time in your schedule and money in your programming budget for writing and testing the installation program for your project platforms It is important to provide well written documentation about the instal lation process so that users have a clear step by step procedure to follow That documentation must include a discussion of potential problems and constraints related to the full range of your target platforms Because you likely will not have control over the specification and configuration of the user s platform it is critical that you include appropriate warnings in your installation document like these examples m Must have at least 1GB of RAM Will not run unless QuickTime is installed 3MB available disk drive space Disable all screen savers before running Back up older versions before installing this update Chapter 14 Delivering 425 We beat on the bronze version of the program right up to the last day when we had to send a golden master to the duplicator by over night courier They were prepared to make 40 000 discs in a matter of hours and then hand carry them directly to a trade show Like kids with sticks at a pi ata birthday party we did everything we could to make all
16. ce unauthorized bootleg copies e for a more professional look 15 Which of the following is not a benefit of hosting your own web server for product delivery site on the Web a ability to specify and install any special software you need b better security control c ability to fine tune the server s configuration parameters d easy access to technical support e ability to provide secure commerce services 443 E Essay Quiz 1 List the testing stages involved in preparing a project for delivery What type of testers should be part of each stage s testing team 2 List the benefits and capabilities of file compression and archiving software 3 Describe the two methods of copying CD ROMs and discuss the benefits and drawbacks of each method 4 Cite the two primary methods for delivering a project and discuss the benefits and drawbacks of each method 5 List the various DVD formats and summarize their purposes and capabilities Lab Projects E Project 14 1 Visit the web sites of three CD duplication companies Do they all offer both duplication mastering and replica tion burning CD Rs What quantities are available What options for labeling are available What options for packaging are included Document your findings by creating a table that briefly compares prices and options m Project 14 2 Create a form that beta testers can return after testing and be sure to include information regarding the con
17. developers can program the low frequency doom and gloom music popular with Hollywood DVD also supports Dolby Pro Logic Surround Sound standard stereo and mono audio Users can randomly access any section of the disc and use the slow motion and freeze frame features during movies Audio tracks can be programmed for as many as 8 different lan guages with graphic subtitles in 32 languages Some manufacturers such as Toshiba are providing parental control features in their players True to marketing principles DVD manufacturers express DVD capac ities in billion byte quantities where billion or Giga means the vernacular 1000 x 1000 x 1000 not the more precise binary definition of 1024 x 1024 x 1024 bytes used by your computer This makes the advertised capacity of a DVD disc sound about seven percent bigger than it really is you will not be able to record more than 4 37GB onto a blank disc Wrapping It Up Packaging is an important area where sales and marketing issues extend the process of making multimedia into the real world of end users Like the cover of a book people will judge your work based upon the impres sion it makes If your project is for your own use you may not need the pretty cover cardboard box and shrink wrap that is required for over the counter soft ware sold to consumers If your project is for a client or for the Web you may simply need to deliver it on any sufficient storage media or upload it to a
18. di tions surrounding bugs m Project 14 3 Use a shareware or freeware compression utility to compress five files for example a text file a JPEG image an executable file an application What percentage compression can you achieve Repeat the compression saving the files as self extracting archives Document your findings by creating a table that compares original size compressed and size compressed as self extracting file m Project 14 4 Locate five computer systems and compare their configurations Document your findings by creating a table with the following information m What operating system and version is installed m What is the processor and what is its speed m How much RAM is installed m How much hard drive space is available 444 m Is QuickTime installed m What is the CD ROM drive s speed m What is the video card monitor s resolution and color depth m What are the system s sound capabilities m Project 14 5 Locate five CD ROMs DVDs or downloaded programs that include readme files Read each of the files and observe what each one includes Document your findings by summarizing the contents of each one 445
19. f project delivery on the World Wide Web E Delivering multimedia projects built for the World Wide Web can be as simple as renaming a directory or transferring a group of files to a web server On the other hand hosting your own server for delivering your project means tackling a variety of issues including security server side configu ration and access E Key Terms activation 438 alpha release 23 archive 427 beta release 423 bronze 425 burn 430 CD I Interactive 437 CD ROM XA Extended Architecture 434 Compact Disc Digital Audio Standard 437 Digital Versatile Disc DVD 434 extension 728 family process 430 father 430 golden master 425 Green Book 433 Hierarchical File System HFS 432 hybrid format 434 installer 425 ISO 9660 433 Karaoke CD 431 mother 430 Orange Book 433 PhotoCD 432 pressed 430 README TXT Read Me 426 Red Book standard 437 release candidate 25 sector 432 self extracting archive 428 session 433 son stamper 430 title 437 track 431 Video CD 431 White Book 437 write once read only WORM 433 Yellow Book 433 441 E Key Term Quiz 1 Le g 10 The test release of a product that is typically for internal circulation only and is passed among a select group of mock users is the The test release of a product that is sent to a select group of external users with the understanding
20. form to the coordinated look or style you are using throughout that series or product line When your product reaches the retail channel it may be displayed on shelves or racks in kiosks or it may be hung on brackets You should be sure to put the name of your title on the front face and on the spine of the package Use photo quality images and high caliber artwork for the front because this is the most visible face of your package Many packages are shrink wrapped with thin plastic to protect them from fingerprints and pilferage at the retail outlet Even after the shrink wrap is on your pack age there is room for additional artwork bright stickers can be effective eye catchers And some vendors apply specially made holographic stickers to identify their product and to prevent unauthorized bootleg copies from reaching the marketplace Some vendors have developed unique or special solutions to make their product stand out Authorware for example was once shipped in a custom designed briefcase with carry handle An expensive software pack age this briefcase was easily absorbed in the purchase price Fractal Design Chapter 14 Delivering 437 438 Multimedia Making It Work Figure 14 5 Some software comes in interesting packages A few years ago I taught a student of mine about HTML just before she went off to a summer internship working on a traditional book publisher s web site She returned to school three months later and
21. h caution Here there are many technical considerations that while outside the topic of multimedia per se should be understood if you want your project to be a success If you own or host the delivery web server yourself you will have better security control better integration of your project into your internal LAN or intranet and you can fine tune the servers configuration parameters and specify and install any special software you need On the other hand you will likely need a full time webmaster and you will pay for a high bandwidth connection directly to the Internet When you have control of the server you can provide secure commerce services for credit card trans actions encryption and passwords special databases and custom CGI programming For multimedia projects requiring streaming technologies such as RealAudio or video conferencing you can purchase and install the necessary software on the server If your project will reside at a site hosted by an Internet service pro vider ISP or on a company s own internal intranet you must discover during the planning phase of your project what the host s limitations might be and design your project within those limitations It does no good to include PhotoCD image pacs ToolVox meta voice files or complex Java scripts in your web pages only to find that your ISP does not or will not support the MIME type or purchase and install the necessary server soft ware for you Internet d
22. ible and amenable to changes in both the design and the behavior of your project as you review the comments of your alpha testers Beware of alpha testing groups made up of kindly friends who can provide positive criticism Rather you need to include aggressive people who will attack all aspects of your work The meaner and nastier they are the more likely they will sweat out errors or uncertainties in your product s design or navigation system In the testing arena learn to skillfully utilize friend and enemy alike You will undoubtedly discover aspects of your work that despite even the most insightful planning you have overlooked Beta Testing The beta testing group should be representative of real users and should not include persons who have been involved in the project s production Beta testers must have no preconceived ideas You want them to provide Chapter 14 Delivering 423 From a letter with enclosed software delivered by over night courier to 240 testers around the world We had a bit of a scare on this Beta Here is the replacement copy for the infected B5 program For your info the virus that got past me was a strain of nVir It was dormant and fooled Virus Detective Virex and Interferon Virex 1 1 listed it as a harmless Stub that was left over from a previous cleanup It wasn t until late yesterday that we discovered that it was real I must apolo gize for letting this slip past me and
23. ight as the beam passes over these tiny spots is interpreted as binary data 432 Multimedia Making It Work Figure 14 4 CD track layouts contain lead in information and a table of contents Each track on the CD may use a different format this allows you to create a mixed mode disc that combines for example high quality CD Audio with Macintosh Hierarchical File System HFS CD ROM or ISO 9660 data formats Figure 14 4 illustrates the track layouts for Red Book Yellow Book Green Book mixed mode and for Kodak s PhotoCD Orange Book lay out Both Macintosh and Windows support commands to access both Red Book Audio and the data tracks on a CD but you cannot access both at the same time Red Book Track Layout I sectors of 1 75th second Mixed Mode Track Layout I Lead In amp Table of Contents Mode 1 Data Lead Out Track 1 Track 2 Track 2 ri Yellow Book Yellow Book Red Book Orange Book Track Layout Write Once Multi session Hybrid Disc Layout Can write sectors in Red Yellow and Green Book Lead In amp TOC Lead Lead In amp TOC Data Tracks Lead Out Session 1 _ gt lt Session 2 Though a CD contains tracks the primary logical unit for data stor age on a CD isa sector which is 1 75 second in length Each sector of a CD contains 2 352 bytes of data After every sector are another 882 bytes consisting of two layers of error detecting and error correcting informa tion EDC and
24. irectories like Yahoo and search engines like Google are important components of the Web s how to find it functionality and power using meta tags be sure your project will register with the search engines and can be easily found TIP The following are informative URLs for web site promotion and search engine submission www allaboutyourownwebsite com web_site_promotion php3 www insideoutmarketing com index php p pages amp pid 4 Chapter 14 Delivering 439 Chapter 14 Review E Chapter Summary For your review here s a summary of the important concepts discussed in this chapter List the steps a project should go through as part of the testing process and describe their significance Alpha releases are typically circulated among a select group of mock internal users for testing Beta releases are sent to a wider but still select audience with the understanding that the software may contain errors or bugs Beta testers should include a detailed description of the hardware and software configuration and a step by step recounting of the problem so that you can re create it Fully test your project on as many platforms as possible including heavily loaded highly expanded systems Any element of a computer s configuration may be the cause of a problem or a bug so plan to spend lots of time configuring and testing various platforms and reproducing and fixing bugs Budget for obtaining the hardware test pla
25. mes faster when reading computer data and slower for Red Book Audio have been designed specifically for computers In any case CD access speed and transfer rate from CD ROM is much slower than from a hard disk The Yellow Green Orange and White Books Philips and Sony developed the Yellow Book to provide an established standard for data storage and retrieval The Yellow Book adds yet another layer of error checking to accommodate the greater reliability required of computer data and it provides two modes one for computer data and the other for compressed audio and video picture data The most common standard currently used for CD ROM produc tion evolved from the Yellow Book with Microsoft joining the collabo ration and it was approved by the International Standards Organization as ISO 9660 WARNING Itis possible to damage your speakers if you play the digital track of a CD ROM on your audio CD player The digital data is decoded as full volume noise by players that do not check for a data flag in the control field of the Q subchannel Later other standards were developed to deal with specific user require ments such as synchronized interleaving of compressed audio and visual data in interactive digital movies Green Book and with formats for write once read only WORM and magneto optical CD technologies Orange Book A CD R can have several separate images or sessions on it each recorded at different times The Red Yello
26. mpact discs is popular and special sleeves and cardboard containers are available Be sure to consider the weight and bulk of your package an ounce of extra weight that pushes you over a zone or destination boundary might increase your shipping costs significantly The outside wrap for shipping should be plain because pilferage especially for international destina tions and customs zones can be a problem Look for volume discounts and price breaks The current trend in software packaging is toward simplifi cation Indeed as the information revolution takes hold more software and documentation will be available for purchase and downloading directly from the Web and today s boxes and bright packages will become quaint collector s items Delivering on the World Wide Web Delivering multimedia projects built for the World Wide Web can be as simple as renaming a directory or transferring a group of files to a web server Servers and networked systems are discussed in Chapter 7 On the face of it the mechanics of actually putting a project on the Web are trivial particularly because you have likely been designing building and testing within web space throughout the development of your project anyway But delivery of your project and activation of your pages by making them available to your intended audience on the Web whether to the general public or to an intranet of select users behind a firewall should be approached wit
27. ng 435 436 Multimedia Making It Work DVD Standards Different formats are used to write DVD video discs and DVD data storage discs DVD video discs use a variant of MPEG2 and were designed for set top boxes connected to televisions DVD video is authored by mastering software that allows rudimentary scripting and branching for menu structures chapter markers and slide shows but the format only allows for basic logic and relies on a simple handheld remote control input device Using a DVD disc as a storage medium you can create a complex mul timedia title using any authoring or programming system and distribute it on a DVD ROM disc Most computers can read or play both DVD ROM and DVD video discs Set top DVD players are limited to playing DVD video There are three competing sets of standards for data recording on DVD DVD R DVD RW DVD R DVD RW and DVD RAM The R and RW stand for recordable and rewritable respectively DVD standards are supported by the DVD Forum www dvdforum com DVD standards are supported by the DVD RW Alliance www dvdrw com DVD RAM has better recording features but requires more specialized playback hard ware DVD R DVD RW and DVD R DVD RW are similar and can be played back on most DVD players and drives With Dolby AC 3 Digital Surround Sound as part of the DVD specifications six discrete audio channels can be programmed for digi tal surround sound and with a separate subwoofer channel
28. of it WARNING _ Noteveryone can test software It takes a special personality to slog through this process Every feature and function must be exercised every button clicked Then the same tests must be repeated again and again with different hardware and under various conditions The terms alpha and beta are used by software developers to describe levels of product development when testing is done and feedback is sought Alpha releases are typically for internal circulation only and are passed among a select group of mock users often just the team working on the project These versions of a product are often the first working drafts of your project and you can expect them to have problems or to be incom plete Beta releases on the other hand are sent to a wider but still select audience with the same caveat this software may contain errors bugs and unknown alligators that slither out of the swamp at day s end to bite star tled designers from behind Because your product is now being shown and used outside the privacy of its birth nest its reputation will begin to take form during beta phase Thankfully though beta level bugs are typically less virulent than alpha bugs TIP If your project is a web site there are a number of online tools that will validate your code and indicate where you need to make tweaks or repairs Do a search for HTML validation or CSS validation tools Alpha Testing You should remain flex
29. of the keyboardless kiosk About ten days ago I posted an announcement to the list about our interactive kiosk installation at the new Netherlands Museum of Science and Technology Now I ve discovered that science museums at this level are the target of bands of teenage hackers that try to crash all the exhibits Our exhibit fell prey to such a band last Friday Although the software is running inside of a kiosk built into a larger The Music is the Message exhibit housing AND the museum visitor has only a trackball and single push button to operate the exhibit AND there is no way to quit the software without issuing a command Q from a keyboard which is double locked inside the guts of the exhibit housing some kids were able to get back to the desktop and delete the 60 MB of files associated with the exhibit and they did so in such a way that Norton Utils 3 5 could not find them for un erasing I had to bring over a CD ROM version and re install the entire exhibit How did they do it Is there a way to get back to the desktop in such a scenario a for all practical purposes keyboardless kiosk with only a trackball and single button interface and no on screen option to quit the application There are no menus the menubar is hidden there are no quit buttons AllowInterrupts is set to false etc etc Christopher Yavelow YAV Interactive Media Brederodestraat 47 2042 BB Zandvoort The Netherlands eMail Christopher ya
30. ook standard defines the CD audio format Yellow Book is for CD ROM Green Book is for CD I Interactive Orange Book is for write once read only WORM CD ROMs and White Book is for Video CD Karaoke CD m A single speed reader allows data to be read at a sustained rate of 150 Kbps much slower than from a hard disk m Although you can access all files on the CD from either platform a PC executable program will not run on a Macintosh and vice versa m A hybrid format places both Macintosh files and PC files on the same CD with both PC and Macintosh executable programs The ISO 9660 standard is the most widely used digital data file format for CDs ISO 9660 follows the MS DOS file naming conventions directory names are limited to eight characters and directories may not be nested more than eight deep Discuss DVD standards and capacities as they apply to multimedia Digital Versatile Discs DVDs are made with a multilayer high density manufacturing process that provides 4 7 gigabytes of storage Set top DVD players for movie viewing at home do not play data formatted DVDs Determine the type of packaging needed for different multimedia projects m Packaging is an important consideration in marketing your project Although users often equate quality with large boxes high caliber artwork and fancy packaging the current trend in software packaging is toward simplification Assess the technical considerations o
31. ry sector are another 882 bytes used for a copyright information b encryption key storage c file directory indexing and linking d writing additional information e error detection and correction 9 What is the maximum amount of data that a CD R compact disc recordable can hold a 44MB b 128MB c 256MB d 700MB e 4 7GB 10 The Compact Disc Digital Audio Standard used for consumer audio CDs available in music stores today is also known as the a ISO 9660 standard b Red Book standard c Orange Book standard d High Sierra standard e CD ROM XA standard 11 The most widely used format for storing digital data in files on CDs is the a ISO 9660 standard b Yellow Book standard c White Book standard d CD ROM XA standard e DVD ROM standard 12 The compact disc standard that allows both computer data and compressed audio data and video image information to be read and played back apparently simultaneously is called the a Red Book standard b Yellow Book standard c Green Book standard d DVD ROM standard e CD ROM XA standard 13 The CD I Interactive standard is proprietary to a Apple b High Sierra e IVC d Kodak e Philips 14 CD ROM packages are shrink wrapped with thin plastic a to prevent outgassing of harmful chemicals used in the manufacturing process b to inhibit oxidation of the CD ROM surface c to protect them from fingerprints and pilferage at the retail outlet d to redu
32. st on several other computers at least once e test on as many different computers as many times as you can d profile typesheet The pre OS X Macintosh environment is e system configuration file well known for its sensitivity to certain drivers 4 The beta testing group is best composed of and other parts of system software that conflict a the internal development team with some software applications These are b users typical of the target group for the software known as c a cross section of the computer using public a DLLs d computer neophytes b plug ins e other programmers who are familiar with c sectors the authoring system used 442 5 Which of the following is an extension for a Macintosh file compressed as a self extracting archive exe hqx Zip kea P apr foit 6 Which of the following is ot an option for delivering a project a Burn CD Rs of the project b Use a father disc to press CDs c Use a mother disc to press CDs d Use a son disc to press CDs e Deliver the project via the Web 7 Compact discs are manufactured by etching a negative master then pressing a positive imprint of that master and then using a third generation negative imprint from the positive to stamp out production discs This process is called the a etching process b stamper process c milling process d positive negative process e family process 8 Each sector of a CD contains 2 352 bytes of data After eve
33. tforms as well as for the many hours of effort that testing will require Your contract should clearly specify the intended delivery platform and its hardware and software configuration and provide a clause that you will test only to that platform Determine what steps you need to take for preparing your project for delivery in the marketplace You may need to provide a single program that acts as an installation routine which is not a trivial task Provide well written documentation about the installation process so that users have a clear step by step procedure to follow 440 E The clearer and more detailed your installation instructions are the fewer frustrated users queries you will receive m Use a shareware or commercial compression utility for creating program archives that can then be decompressed and reconstituted into the original file structure E Self extracting files allow the user to run the executable archive compressed files are automatically decompressed and placed on the hard disk Discuss CD ROM technology and standards as they apply to multimedia m The majority of multimedia products sold into retail and business channels are delivered on CD ROM or DVD m CD R writers and blank CD R discs are an inexpensive way to distribute multimedia projects m For short runs of a product it is cheaper to burn your work onto CD Rs and custom label them with your own printer m The Red B
34. the user a flexible recording experience DVD R RW offers the user flexibility and a rich feature set without sacrificing compat ibility With DVD R RW there is no need to buy expensive dedicated players to allow playback of recorded discs as the record ings can be played on the majority of the 100s of millions of DVD Video players and DVD ROM drives available today Furthermore also on a physical level DVD RW and DVD R are closer to the DVD format than competing formats as they do not need special pre pits on the disc that could affect compatibility All in all DVD R RW is the most real recordable DVD format around From a DVD RW Alliance FAQ_ Is RW a DVD Format RW is not the DVD Format created and authorized by the DVD Forum Likewise although strikingly similar in appearance to the DVD RW there is no DVD Format called DVD RW or RW among the Formats created and authorized by the DVD Forum There is No Verification Process for RW or DVD RW products authorized by the DVD Forum There is No Verification Labora tory authorized by the DVD Forum to test RW or DVD RW products There are No Test Specifications for RW or DVD RW products authorized by the DVD Forum and available at DVD FLLC Also there is no guarantee for compatibility between the products employing the DVD Forum approved Formats and the products employing the RW or DVD RW technology From a DVD Format Logo Licensing Corporation FAQ_ Chapter 14 Deliveri
35. v com wSite http www yav com Scary message found at an Internet newsgroup for multimedia programmers File Archives One or more of the files in your project can be compressed or packed into a single file called an archive When that archive is then decompressed or the files are expanded or extracted each file in the archive is recon stituted Figure 14 2 shows the menu of a zipped archive Archives are 428 Multimedia Making It Work usually identified by filename extensions representing the compression software that was used as shown in Table 14 1 Compression Software Extension Platform Table 14 1 Common Filename Extensions for Compressed File Archives Ii O BLA WinZip Pro CoolFiles zipx A Home Backup Tools Settings Layout Help ie J Include A FTP Upload a E Unzip and Instali 2 aA x Delete aha Y Fiter Bum covo a 7 gt Unzip Options B Rename 1 Click Unzip Open Select Unzip Unzip Entire WinZip File with iw New Folder Decompress View to N vV Encrypt E mail B Convert Zip File Compress Address Editing ad zi Elek D Folders DD CoolFiles zipx wi gt ry gt jb Web_Content L TMM_edits door 2010_Sales_Marketing_ Market_Readiness_Che Figure 14 2 A file archive can contain many compressed files VALUE B Total 8 files 926KB Self extracting archives are useful for delivering projects in com pressed form
36. w Green and Orange books describe the types of com pact discs listed in Table 14 2 Chapter 14 Delivering 433 434 Multimedia Making It Work Name Description Comment CD Audio or CD DA Digital audio Consumer audio discs CD ROM High Sierra Read only memory Vestigial standard seldom used CD ROM ISO 9660 Read only memory MS DOS and Macintosh files CD ROM HFS Read only memory Macintosh HFS files CD ROM XA Read only memory Extended Architecture CD I or CD RTOS Interactive Philips Interactive motion video CD I Ready Interactive Ready Audio CD with features for CD I player CD Bridge Bridge Allows XA track to play on CD I player CD MO Magneto optical Premastered area readable on any CD player CD WO or CD R Write once recordable May use multiple sessions to fill disc CD G Mixed mode CD Graphics MTV on disc CDTV ISO 9660 variant Commodore proprietary system PhotoCD Compressed images Kodak multisession XA system Video CD or Karaoke CD Bridge Karaoke full motion MPEG video Table 14 2 Compact Disc Formats Many multimedia developers place both Macintosh files and PC files on the same CD in a hybrid format letting the user launch the proper applications for the appropriate platform You can selectively hide the files of either platform when you create a hybrid so that Windows users will not be confused by odd looking Macintosh files in their directories and vice versa Graphics text and data files
37. written in common formats such as DOC TIF PIC DBF and WKS can be read from an ISO 9660 CD and imported into your application whether the file was generated on a Macintosh or a PC Delivering on DVD Digital Versatile Discs DVDs employ a different multilayer high density manufacturing process than audio and data CDs and this tech nology provides as much as 15 9GB of storage on a single disc in the Double Sided Dual Layered format DVD 18 More common and readily available are Single Sided Single Layered discs offering 4 37GB of storage DVD 5 often called 4 7GB Media In December 1995 nine major electronics companies Toshiba Matsushita Sony Philips Time Warner Pioneer JVC Hitachi and Mitsubishi Electric agreed to promote a new optical disc technology for distribution of multimedia and feature length movies called DVD With this medium capable not only of gigabyte storage capacity but also full motion video MPEG2 and high quality audio in surround sound the bar was raised for multimedia developers commercial multi media projects become more expensive to produce as consumers perfor mance expectations rise Is DVD R RW a real DVD format DVD R RW recorders are the only DVD recorders that use just one operating mode which always creates DVD Video compatible discs Whereas other formats have different physical disc types or different logical formats methods used to record video on a disc to offer
38. y depend on specific hard ware and system configurations and in the case of the Internet on end users connection speeds If you cannot control the end user s platform or if the project is designed to be shown in many different environments you must fully test your project on as many platforms as possible including heavily loaded complicated systems TIP Remember to budget for obtaining the hardware test platforms as well as for the many hours of effort that testing will require If you are working for a client clearly specify the intended delivery platform as well as its hardware and software configuration and provide a clause in your agreement or contract that you will test only to that platform Few computer configurations are identical Even identical hardware configurations may be running dissimilar software that can interact with your program in unexpected ways Because any element of a computer s configuration may be the cause of a problem or a bug you will spend a good portion of testing time configuring platforms and additional time reproducing reported problems and curing them It is not possible for even a well equipped developer to test every possible configuration of computer software and third party add ons Services are available to test your proj ect for a fee Such companies for example uTest www utest com will run your project through its paces and try to identify all the bugs and problems they can wring out

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