Webcasting refers to the process of broadcasting the web content to the internet users regularly. For this purpose the Channel Definition Files, popularly known as CDF are used. These files are very important while creating the Active Desktop components. The type of content, its update interval and the amount of content to be uploaded and downloaded is specified in the CDF file.
Channel designing is a very important task. A properly designed channel is easy to manage, user friendly and have lots of exciting features.
Below are some tips and guidelines which can be followed in order to create a captivating online channel:
- If the channel contains large amount of content then it must be managed in a hierarchy and the Top Level should be very attractive yet simple. There should not be too much content at the top level. It should only contain the logo and main information about the channel.
- Keep the navigation between different levels as simple as possible because if it is complicated and uneven then the user will get confused and will not be able to find out particular information.
- In order to make the channel look more attractive you can make use of Dynamic Hyper Text Markup Language (DHTML) tools.
- One of the most important features which should be included while designing the channels is offline browsing. There may be chances when the user tries to browse the web page offline. During this phase many Java applets and Active X controls don’t work properly, especially the dynamically loaded images. Therefore the channel must be tested completely for offline browsing.
- Instead of stuffing a single page with loads of information provide the content in small chunks distributed over different pages. There are two main reasons behind this. First is that while surfing the internet the users browse one page after another very quickly and do not take interest in reading those web pages which are poorly designed and contains lots of textual information. Secondly, if the channel contains lots of information it will take more time to get loaded in the web browser. Therefore the channels should be as slim as possible so that they can be loaded with a snap otherwise the user will not wait for it and switch over to some another channel.
- In order to ensure scalability, uniformity and style it is recommended to use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) while designing the webcast channels.
- To make channels arrest the viewer’s attention at the first glance it should be rich in multimedia. Apart from the textual data pictures, animations, videos, sound effects etc. should be used. Again it should be noted that the multimedia elements should not be used too frequently as it will make the web page heavier to load. The channel developer should intellectually balance the technical qualities and the visual quality of the channels.
Once the channel is properly designed it can be made more interactive and real time component with the help of CDF files. CDF files trigger the regular updates. The developer can also use the CDF files to log the hits to his channel.