Student Name:����Heng Chong Chee
Student Number:����S0046546
In this assignment, the main objective is to select a theme not more than six words from Reading 3. Thereafter, an animated Graphics Interchange Format web banner of dimension 468 pixels width by 60 pixels height would be used to represent the theme (as shown above). This essay describes the steps I have taken to build the webpage.
After reading through Reading 3, I came up with a few themes for the article. However I eventually chose to use the theme "Cyberspace - More Addictive than Drugs". The theme describes the part where Blair, a former classic drugs addict, began to get hooked onto the WELL. He discovered over time that the WELL more insidiously addictive than what cocaine had been to him.
As for the theme "Cyberspace - More Addictive than Drugs", I shall proceed to explain the presentation of the wordings through an analysis of each individual word. The word "Cyberspace" represents the WELL, which is the virtual community. As a result, the font used herein is more serious and formal. The word "Cyber" refers to the scientific world or virtual space, whereas the word "Space" is used here to describe an area or a place other than Earth that is dark. Hence I choose to use the colour black to represent the whole word. The background colour of the word "Cyberspace" is yellow. My purpose of choosing the colour yellow is to make it brighter, more eye-catching and attractive. In a way, this symbolises that "Cyberspace" is more attractive and addictive.
The word "Cyberspace" then disappears into the background, letting the spacecraft flies past, revealing the word "More Addictive". I choose to use yellow as the background colour for the second batch of wordings to make them more eye-catching and attractive. The colour also represents, again, that cyberspace is more addictive. The spacecraft that flies past is to signify the escape from the cyberspace into another location. The colour of cool blue is used on these words to bring out the contrast so the words "More Addictive" will look more outstanding and attractive hence it would capture the surfers? attention and curiosity, and prompt them to explore further.
The word ?drugs? is used in this essay to refer to the cocaine mention in Reading 3. The dropping in of the words "Than Drugs" is to represent the impact of drugs to drug addicts' life as if it is pushing their health down. And a very dark green coloured background is used to give a dull feeling as drugs have a negative impact on everyone life. The wordings for "Than Drugs" are designed in red, as drugs are dangerous and harmful to health. People who consume drugs are often caught in their drug addiction. Thus the checked boxes on the side of the banner of the word "Than Drugs" symbolises the walls that enclose people who consume drugs, giving the impression that they are caught in their addiction.
In order to complete the assignment, I have read and understand Reading 3 before I proceeded to consider a theme which can be easily represented and yet be very meaningful to the readers. I have also done some finding on how to use Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) animation software, and made comparisons to decide which software is better in designing animated GIF. Initially I have derived at a few themes but then finalised as the above used because of the impression it had given me was very deep. When I started on the GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) animation, I came across the "web palette" (also known as a "Netscape palette", "Browser Safe Palette" or the "Non-Dithering Palette"). Web Palette contains 216 colours that both Netscape and Internet Explorer on personal computers (PCs) and Macintoshes (Macs) that have 256 colours can supports (remaining 40 colours vary on PCs and Macs) [Stevemd, 2003]. The Adobe ImageReady software was used to create the GIF animation as the software allows transparency and lossy GIF feature, which helps saving between 5% to 40% over conventional GIF optimisation software [Jupitermedia, 2003].
From the first lesson, I had some research on how to do animated GIF and source for the software needed for this assignment. I had done reading on how to use the software and also some practices to familiarise with it. It was not easy to design the flow of the animation, as everything had to be self-created. Without any illustration tools or software, it was almost impossible but with the user friendly tools and instructions that was provided in the Adobe ImageReady software, I manage to get a text animated web banner. The whole process of completing the assignment took me about five weeks. I had tried to understand Anti-aliased, which is the process of smoothing the edges making the picture edges appear rounded between solid colour by adding intermediate coulors.[Central Queensland University, 2003] and also dithering. Dithering is the attempt of matching a colour from a mixture of the other colours by the computer when the needed colour is not available. This happens on browser that an Operating System (OS) does not support. The graphic designer may or may not accept the result [Eric, 2003].
After completing the assignment, I have learned how to create GIF animation and implement it into Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) web page and upload it onto the server. Other than the primary objective, I also learned the different characteristics and the limitation of a GIF file formats. I have also acquired a new skill like make full use of Adobe ImageReady program and also using Files Transfer Protocol (FTP) program to upload files to the servers.
In conclusion, I think that this assignment is very interesting and very useful in encourage students to explore the different characteristics and the limitation of an animated GIF file formats and the different software to create the animated GIF file formats. It also encourages students to get register a web server and upload their work onto the web site and explore the different software that they can use to facilitate them to achieve the goal.
REFERENCES
Adobe Systems Incorporated, 2002, Adobe� Photoshop� 7.0 User Guide for Windows� and Macintosh, Adobe Systems Incorporated
Central Queensland University, 2003, Images, animation and colour, Central Queensland University, Edition: June 2003.
Jupitermedia Corporation, 2003, Optimizing Animated GIFs: The Envelop Please, URL: http://www.webreference.com/dev/gifanim/results.html, (accessed 26th Nov 2003).
Rheingold, H. 1993, The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier, MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, pp. 1-24.
Stevemd, 2003, Stevemd's GIF Animation instruction, URL: http://www.home.eznet.net/~stevemd/aniread.html, (accessed 26th Nov 2003).