LanguageTeach

LANGUAGETEACH

Technologies

If a web developer inserts any media file into a web page, he/she also must insert a special statement which instructs a browser to call a proper Media Player to play a media file in this particular format. The point is that there are a lot of media formats and there is no media player which can play all of them. That's why a browser needs to be instructed. At the present time most users have one or several media players on their computers. The most popular and widely used players are:

5.1. Media Players

Windows Media Player is a universal player, which accepts many media formats. Every Windows OS user has this player on his/her computer because it is a part of the operation system's package. The big disadvantage of this player is the fact that it is incompatible with Netscape Navigator.

QuickTime is also a universal media player developed by Apple Computer which accepts many media formats and has first class quality and an excellent user interface.

RealOne is the third universal media player on our list. It's developed by RealNetworks(tm) Inc. and it accepts the "RealPlayer" media format ( files with RA, RM, RAM extensions ), which is very popular and widespread over the Internet. In fact, this format is native for the player.

Flash is a relatively new but very popular media technology. Files in Flash format are very compact and effective. Unfortunately creating files in the flash format isn't as easy as recording sound files. You need to have special software and the basic skills to use it.

WAV, MPEG, MP3

You can use one of three media scripts.

One of the most universal scripts,media_basic.js -, covers all users who have at least one of the first three media players. If a user is working with Internet Explorer, this script calls Windows Media Player (as it can always be found on any Windows OS). If a user is working with Netscape, this script first checks the computer to find out what kind of media player the user has and depending on the result it calls either QuickTime (if QuickTime is found) or RealOne Player (if RealOne is found).
Restrictions:
doesn't work inside a Popup Window.

media_real.js - always calls RealOne Player for both Internet Explorer and Netscape browsers. Since it calls only one particular player, it covers only part of media_basic's audience. But it doesn't have the problem with Popup Windows. Another advantage of the script is the fact that you can use WAV, MPEG, MP3 as well as RA, RM, RAM files.

media_qt.js - always calls QuickTime Player for both Internet Explorer and Netscape browsers. Since it calls only one particular player, it covers only part of media_basic's audience. The advantage of the script is the fact that you can use WAV, MPEG, MP3 as well as Flash files.
Restrictions:
1. Doesn't work with development environment.
2. Doesn't work with Popup Windows.

Tip: When you develop a topic, use media_basic.js for development and then substitute it with media_qt.js.

RA, RM, RAM

You can use only one script - media_real.js . All other players don't accept this format.

FLASH

You can use two media scripts of your choice.

media_flash.js is the native player for this format.
media_qt.js can be used if you want to play Flash as well as MPEG / MP3 files. This script is described above in this section.

How to install Media Player

Open Config Project Dialog, click "Media" button and select proper script in the file-dialog box. Click on "Activate" button.

Two media players: Flash and QuickTime should be initialized with media file at the moment page is loading in the browser. If they are not initialized, instead of the normal Media player view the user will see just a white square. Technically speaking, there is nothing wrong. The normal player's view will appear as soon as the user calls any media file. But it is a source of confusion. That's why the media script initializes the QuickTime player with the file "initial.mp3" and the Flash player with the file "initial.swf". Both of them are located in the main folder (the folder where the executable file is located) and both of them are duplicated in the templates folder. You can substitute these files with your own, but the names of your own files must be the same as those of the original files.

Dynamic player is invisible and appears when the pointer is placed on the LT media object (media icon, media button, media text) and disappears as soon as the pointer is moved off the object. If you set the pointer on the Dynamic player, the player switches into Pseudo-Static mode, which means it remains visible as long as you need it and disappears only if you place the pointer or move it over any LT media object. In other words:

To insert an index link execute command: Menu -> Project -> Make Index The Index is placed at the top of each page. This operation creates an index link to all items in the topic. If you delete any item, the Index becomes invalid because there is a link to an item that has been deleted, so you should repeat the "Make Index" command again.

To delete an index link execute command Menu -> Project -> Delete Index

Depending on Windows OS versions, certain applications such as Internet Explorer are installed in different locations. The LanguageTeach application recognizes the current OS and starts looking for these applications in their normal locations. But sometimes for some reason they may be installed in another place. In this case, the error message appears. To resolve this problem open Menu -> Tools ->Location and click the corresponding button on the dialog box. It brings you to a standard file-dialog window. Within this file-dialog window go to that file which is shown in the error message.
It's a good idea at first to find the file with the standard Windows method: Start Button -> Find -> Files or Folders (Sometimes: Start -> Search -> For Files or Folders ). Then go to the file in the opened file dialog window.

You can use the same technique to substitute the default text editor for an alternate editor; just open Menu -> Tools ->Location and click the corresponding button and find the relevant file .

5. Media

5.1. Media Players

5.2. Media formats and Media Scripts

5.3. Media Player Size and Style

6. Publishing Topic

Configuration

7. Adjustment