The Truth

Things we thought "U Shud No" about Website Design, Development and Implementaion

• Like typos and spelling mistakes are unforgivable by some people and an instant turn-off rejection.
• Like having pages that say "under construction" is a message that you don't really care about your site, and probably don't care about converting a viewer into a customer.
• You should always "own" your domain name and host account. Don't risk being held to ransom by some unscrupulous web designer who tells you he will take care of all of that and not to worry about it. Make sure you are the one signing up, registering, and paying for it. If we become your web designer, we will help with setting it up but you will be the "owner".
• People will decide if a company is any good or not within a second or 2 of visiting their website. It's almost instant. You probably do the same when you surf the web. Think about what that critical decision is based on. You haven't read any of the text or clicked to any other pages. All you have done is received an impression based on design and colours and images.
• Not having a website is like telling everyone you are not in business anymore.
• Having a bad or old website is almost as destructive.

The Video Side of Things

• Shorter is Better. Don't risk viewer boredom with long and tedious introductions or information they might already know or don't care about.
• For marketing/sales videos the magic time window is up to 5 1/2 minutes. Anything longer than that risks losing the interest and emotion a good video production can create.
• Training videos can find their own timing. It should be as long as it takes to teach the topic. Don't forget to repeat the important points to increase memorability.
• Graphics, text-on-screen, and animations will also make the lasting impressions you need.
• Don't make your own videos. Anyone who watches will know you aren't really committed to the product or concept you are trying to communicate. If it is not as good as TV, don't show it (except maybe at the company Xmas party).
• The soundtrack is at least 50% of a great video. It will guide the emotions of the viewer, add credibility with a convincing and enthusiastic read from the voice or presenter, and provide the story details without making the viewer work for it.

What’s the difference between Full screen & Wide Screen?

Movies on DVD and in the past on VHS are often available in two screen formats: full screen and wide screen. The full screen is where a movie is modified to fit a television screen. If you have watched a video release, you have probably seen the message: “This film has been modified from its original version.”

The wide screen version maintains the same size and shape of the original theatrical version. The reason for the different versions is aspect ratio. Since the mid 1950's motion picture screens have had a different aspect ratio than a television screen.

The aspect ratio (a ratio of width to height) of a television screen is 1.33:1. This means the screen is 1.33 times wide as it is tall. The most common aspect ratio for movie screens is 1.85:1 to 2.35:1. While a television screen is almost square a movie screen is rectangle.

Therefore, a video release must fit the rectangle movie screen onto the square television screen. The wide screen version displays an image with black bars at the top and bottom of the screen. Some people find this disturbing. Movie buffs and die hard artists prefer the wide screen because it captures the essence of the filmmakers’ vision.

The full screen actually removes the far left and right side of the movie image in order to fit the movie within the television screen aspect ratio. So the full screen, although appearing to be the whole movie, is actually missing information.

Knowing the difference can help you choose the format you prefer. If you don't know, just ask. We'll help you get the format that is best for your application.

What’s the difference between Standard Definition TV & High Definition?

What we call high definition TV is just one type of digital television. All HDTV is digital, but not all digital TV is high definition. In fact, there are three primary types of digital television: standard definition (SDTV), enhanced definition (EDTV) and high definition (HDTV). And within HDTV, there are several variations, each with a different picture resolution. It's all a bit confusing, so settle back for a quick explanation.

Analog vs. Digital

Until very recently, all television broadcasts were analog. With analog transmission, programming is transmitted in a continuous signal that varies in amplitude, depending on the information contained in the picture. This signal can easily deteriorate over distance or suffer interference from other sources, which produces a lower-quality picture than the original.

The primary advantage of digital transmission is that it slices the traditional analog television signal into a series of digital bits, which are then recombined to reproduce an exact copy of the original broadcast. These digital signals don't weaken with distance, as analog signals do. As long as the signal can be received, the picture is perfect, with no degradation. Since digital signals are comprised of binary bits, a 1 is always a 1 and a 0 is always a 0. Because of this exact end-to-end reproduction, digital means better picture and sound quality, no matter what is broadcast.

Different Types of Digital TV

Digital programming comes in many shapes and sizes. Not all digital broadcasts have the same resolution

• SDTV - Standard definition digital television has the same resolution and 4:3 aspect ratio as traditional analog television but is transmitted in digital fashion. The SDTV picture is 640 x 480 pixels, with interlaced scanning.
• EDTV - Enhanced definition television was a transition format and has the same resolution as SDTV but with progressive scanning instead of interlaced scanning, which creates a smoother overall picture. EDTV can be in either the 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio, for a resolution of either 640 x 480 or 720 x 480 pixels.
• HDTV (720p) - The first of the three current high definition television formats features 1280 x 720 pixel resolution with progressive scanning. This format is ideal for programming with lots of movement, such as sporting events. The aspect ratio is 16:9.
• HDTV (1080i) - The second current high definition format features greater resolution than 720p (1920 x 1080 pixels), but with interlaced scanning. Like 720p, the aspect ratio is 16:9
• HDTV (1080p) - The third current high definition format, with 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution (in the 16:9 ratio) and progressive scanning. Because of the high bandwidth requirements, this format is not yet used for television broadcasts, although Blu-ray high-definition format is be capable of a 1080p picture.
• 4K Ultra HD - The future of high definition video. Available at a resolution of 3840 pixels × 2160 pixels or 8.3 megapixels (in the 16:9 ratio) this video display is 4 times the size of current 1080p displays. Expect video game consoles to be the first to offer content at 4K with hollywood following soon after.

Which Format Should You Buy?

Not all widescreen displays are high definition. Some low-cost plasma and LCD TVs offer an enhanced definition 480p picture -- not HDTV. While EDTV offers a better picture than what you get with an SDTV set, it's not as sharp as true high definition. EDTV sets aside, most flat panel, rear projection and front projection TVs today are compatible with at least some forms of HDTV. Most sets can reproduce both 720p and 1080i programming, and some high-end sets have a true 1080p display. Any of these sets are what you want if you're interested in the best quality picture today.

Remember, the greater the number of scan lines (from 480 to 720 to 1080), the more pixels are onscreen, which results in a sharper picture. And when comparing similar resolution, progressive scan delivers a smoother picture than interlaced scan. So look for the set in your price range that delivers the highest resolution -- and that looks best to your eyes.

How do I stop the clock from blinking 12:00 on my VCR?

Send that relic out for recycling and buy a PVR.

What are the common computer resolutions and how do they affect what I see on the Internet?

Screen resolution can be defined as the amount of information shown on a screen. Usually the more information on a screen, whether it is digital pixels or analog lines will cause an increase in the quality of the image. The higher the screen resolution will usually mean the better the picture quality.

When talking about screen resolution, most people tend to be talking about either analog screen resolution found on most standard TV's or digital screen resolution found on newer computer monitors and HDTV sets.

Computer Screen Resolution Information & Statistics
Statistics for 2012
January 2012
w3schools.com's statistics

What is a vector based image?

To understand what a vector based image is, we must first understand what a vector is. A vector is a point in space. It consists of an "X" variable, a "Y" variable and a "Z" variable. These points represent our 3 dimensions.

The "X" variable would be a point on a horizontal plane, while "Y" is a point on the vertical plane, and finally "Z" represents a point of depth. To put this into practice, let's say we have a cube. It measures 4 cm in width, 4 cm in height and 4 cm in depth. For this example our width is our horizontal plane, while our height is our vertical plane. If we begin at the bottom left corner of the cube and wanted to get to the dead center, our starting vector would be X=0, Y=0, and Z=0. Our ending vector would be X=2, Y=2, and Z=2. It is pretty simple to understand.

A vector based image on the other hand only needs two points of reference, "X" and "Y" or 2 dimensions. This is because our images are all on a flat surface or on a depth equal to 0. Actually we just explained the difference between 2D and 3D imaging.

A vector based image is an image created by connecting vectors on a horizontal and vertical plane in a 2 dimensional space.

A feature of vector images is that because they are created by mathematical points, enlarging or decreasing the image size has no effect on the image resolution.

Waxworks logo Vector based Image

Vector vs Rastor Images

A simple explanation of a rastor based image is a digital image represented by pixels. Each pixel holds a color value and is spaced evenly on a video display.

Above we have two examples of the same image, a raster based image on top and a vector based image below. As you can see they are both exactly the same.

Well not really.

At the resolution the raster image was created in, it looks sharp and clean. It is not until we magnify or increase the resolution that we see a difference. The raster based image begins to fall apart and we can actually see the pixels that were used to create the image to start with.

The vector based image on the other hand stays clean and sharp. For this reason, vector based images are preffered when creating any sort of marketing material.

Always demand a vector based image when having graphical elements created for your company.

The Truth … About PowerPoint Slides.

What would a conference be without a PowerPoint presentation? For the business world it’s a "must have" tool for sharing ideas, images and information to large crowds. But generally speaking the presentation tend to not be very pretty or stylish and the information on the screen is not always the most readable.

If you are planning to insert your PowerPoint slides into a video chances are they won’t translate very well. Why? For the first part there’s usually TOO MUCH text. When you transfer a PowerPoint to video you are taking a screen size that will be generally about 25 feet wide and squishing it down to about a 5 inch image on your desktop. Video is not as high of resolution as your computer monitor either. In order to keep things legible allow for 4 to 6 lines of text per page. If your video is destined for DVD try to keep a 1 inch border around the edges clear of any text. This point isn’t so important anymore but this space is called the safe area, so just to be safe don’t put any text there and everyone will be sure to see it.

So after you insert text into your first page sit back … WAY BACK, about 10 feet. Is the text easily readable and friendly? Is it bold enough? Once it is, use this as a guide to create the rest of your pages.

Secondly, how many times have you seen a chart or graph being projected and you hear the presenter apologize that it might not be clear to the audience? In this situation there’s too much detail being displayed on-screen and that won’t appear nicely on video either. Graphs and charts need to be over simplified if you want the viewer to see and quickly understand the content.

Keeping these ideas in mind will not only help the slides as they appear in your video but it will also help at the conference for those people who are sitting in the back row.