Adding Media Files

Adding media files (image, video and audio)

The Multimedia button in the insert panel will allow you to add images, video and flash media files. Audio files can also be added by following the instructions below for adding video files.

Adding Images

Images need to be in jpeg, png or gif format to be compatible in LifeGuide; bitmap images (those with .bmp extension) will not show correctly. Tip: To keep the height/width ratio of a picture the same and to avoid the image becoming distorted in LifeGuide, it is better to resize the image to the size you want before you add it to your Workspace folder. There are two steps to inserting an image into LifeGuide: (i) Adding the image to your workspace folder, and (ii) Adding the image into the intervention.

(i) Adding the image to your workspace folder

First of all, you need to save the image that you want to use into the workspace folder in LifeGuide:

• Go to the folder where you have saved your image.
• Copy and paste it into the workspace of the authoring tool (by right-clicking on it and selecting Copy then choosing Paste, this can also be done by dragging it from one folder to the other). The workspace is found in the LifeGuide folder in the C drive of your computer (see chapter 3).
• You will then need to click on your project folder in the Project Explorer area of the authoring tool and press the F5 button on your keyboard or close the authoring tool and open it again to refresh the tool so that you are able to see the image in the project explorer.

Alternatively, you can drag the image file from its original folder to the project name in the Project Explorer of the intervention. A copy of the image will then be saved in the project and still be saved in its original folder.

(ii) Adding an image into your intervention

• Click on the Multimedia button and select Image.
• A default image which says Change Me will be displayed on the top left hand side of the page.
• Move this to wherever you want the image to be positioned on the page.
• Click on Browse in the Image Properties area and select the file from the drop-down menu which appears in a pop-up box.
• Click on ok and you will see that the default image has been replaced with the image you selected.

Tip: If you change the size of the image by dragging the resize handles, you can set it back to its original size by clicking on the Reset Image Size button in Image Properties.

Two important considerations when adding images to your intervention

• It is important, for ethical reasons, that you give your image a meaningful title in the image title field. This is because a person with visual impairments using your intervention will use this name to help identify what the image is. The default title for each image added to the intervention is Change me and this is the name that will be presented to end-users unless this is changed. This name can include spaces and capital letters.

• If using images from the web, rather than ones you have sourced yourself, it is important to check the copyright of the image. There are a number of royalty-free sites online including http://sxc.hu or http://www.istockphoto.com, however many of them need to be paid for and you may want to consider this in your research budget.

Adding Audio Files

Save your audio file as an MP3 and insert it into LifeGuide in the same way as a video.

Adding Video Files

Videos in LifeGuide must be in flash video format to be compatible with LifeGuide.

There are 3 steps to inserting a video into LifeGuide:

(i) Check that the video is a Flash video; (ii) Add the video to your workspace; (iii) Add the video to the page.

(i) Check that the video is a Flash video

• Check that your video is a Flash video file by looking at the file extension (the last 3 letters of the file name).
• The file extension needs to say .flv to be a Flash file. If does not you will need to convert it.

Converting Videos into Flash

To convert a video file into flash you can download Any Video Converter. This is free software which can be found at the following web address: http://www.any-video-converter.com/products/for_video_free/

• Click on Download and follow the simple on screen instructions.
• Click on Add Video on the top left-hand side to add video clips
• Select the video you want and click on Open.
• Select the profile by clicking on the white box on the top right-hand side
• Choose Flash Video Movie (*.flv) from the list.
• Click Convert to convert the video to Flash.
• When the conversion has been completed, click on Output Folder on the bottom left to view the location of the Flash video

(ii) Adding the video to your Workspace

First of all, you need to save the video that you want to use into the workspace folder in LifeGuide. Follow the instructions above for saving images into the workspace.

(iii) Adding a video to the page

Videos can be added by clicking on the Multimedia button and selecting Video.

• Click on the Multimedia button and select Video.
• a black video screen will be displayed on the top left hand side of the editing area of the page author.
• Move this to wherever you want the image to be positioned on the page.
• Enter the name of the file (e.g. welcome_video.flv) into Video Location in the Video Properties area.
• To view your video, you will need to Preview or Export your intervention.

Image or video type

If you want an image or video to be presented as a feedback object (only to some users but not others) or as an error object (when the end-user clicks the next button but hasn’t filled in required information in the interactions) you will need to choose the corresponding option in the Other Properties section of the properties menu. More details of these different types can be found in on the textbox page.