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What are the "must see" pages or links?
Research at Sun Microsystems indicates that the typical Web surfer reads
only 5 or 6 pages per site before they are diverted. One of the
advantages of WebCD is the ability to attract and maintain a reader's focus
while avoiding the delays and distractions of the WWW.
Users can bypass all the traffic and clutter of the live WWW, increasing the
odds that they will examine more of your site since their CD-ROM
displays pages far faster than a typical Net connection.
At the same time, some Web sites are so large that it makes sense to add bookmarks in advance to guide users to specific content. What 5 pages do you want all your end-users to see? Can the list be tuned for different events or audiences?
WebCD includes a Bookmarks View that you can set within the WebCD Packager, before the CD is actually created. For example, you may want to bookmark a page describing an event or create a folder full of pages related to a topic of special interest. Users will appreciate these short cuts to valuable information. To make it easy to link back to your live Web site, to drive up visits, and to encourage electronic commerce, you can set bookmarks for forms or "What's New" pages.
Can you include non-Web content, such as videos or presentations?
WebCD is the first software that lets users navigate your Web site PLUS
other content such as video clips, multimedia corporate presentations,
even Microsoft Office documents. You can launch just about any application
from within Netscape Navigator or Microsoft's Internet Explorer, instead of
relying on home-grown, proprietary interfaces. WebCD provides a way to
unify diverse content within a common user interface that millions of users
will recognize and instantly understand. You deliver a self-contained,
content-rich, hybrid Web/CD-ROM.
You can "repurpose" your current videos to be viewed from your WebCD by converting them to the QuickTime format. Our Solution Partners can provide conversion services or multimedia content development. The QuickTime viewer can be included on your WebCD, so your users don't have to spend precious time downloading plug-ins over the Web. And when users finish watching your introductory video, they can click instantly to fact sheets, application stories, product specifications or software demos without leaving the Web browser environment.
With WebCD, you can easily create and economically deliver a truly Multi-Media information kit. And while it is easy to convert content into HTML, with WebCD you don't need to. Many applications, such as Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, plus traditional multimedia tools such as Macromedia Director, provide on-line viewers, which you can bundle with your WebCD to deliver content in its native format. Imagine the power of one WebCD delivering your messages in a variety of ways!
Create a hybrid Web/CD-ROM application
Connectivity back to your Web site (or one of your partners or
advertisers) makes the WebCD more than a CD-ROM solution--you deliver a
Web-connected application! Consider the type of information that
appropriately resides on your Web server: database connectivity, order
processing, "what's new", etc. Highlight these external links with WebCD
bookmarks, which people with Net access can use to connect live to the WWW.
To provide added motivation to review the WebCD and then see your live Web
site, perhaps you could have a treasure hunt or contest? Users gather facts and
answer puzzles that can only be solved by examining the information on your
WebCD. When they are ready to submit their name and prove they have
reviewed the CD, they hit a Live-LinkTM back to your Web site. They have
seen your messages without wasting time downloading each individual page,
and you generate a hit back to your Web site from a well-informed visitor.
WebCD combines the benefits of off-line browsing while putting you -- the content creator -- in control of delivery. And since the number of people with CD-ROM drives is five to ten times larger than the number of people with convenient Web access, you can deliver your information to far more people. And the millions who are already Net enthusiasts see the interface and hyperlinked environment with which they are accustomed, with connectivity to the Web to keep current.
Optimize graphics and videos for higher delivery speed
Since retrieval of images off of CD-ROM is so much faster than the
typical Net connection, consider adding more color or larger images to the
"Web site on a disc". You can make your WebCD more entertaining if you
include bigger graphics and animated video or presentation material. You
still must keep in mind the end-user's target hardware because processor
and CD-ROM speed become the next bottleneck after Net bandwidth limitations
are lifted. For example, if your audience is equipped with Pentium 130
multimedia computers with 6x CD-ROM drives, you can use larger QuickTime
movies than would be acceptable on a 486 with a 2x CD-ROM drive.
If you can provide a set of videos designed for new, super-fast machines plus a set for typical desktops you will give each user as much as their machine can take. Otherwise, you need to decide who you are going to disappoint--the user with the slow machine who sees some video skipping (if you choose large formats) or the user with the turbo-charged machine who says, "Why give me a postage-stamp-sized video when my machine can handle a big screen motion!" Our advice: review sample videos on your target platform and when in doubt, go smaller, so no one sees poor video reproduction.
You can put the larger images on your actual Web site with comments that hide the images from anyone but the person retrieving your Web site with the WebCD Packager. In other words, the WebCD Packager will see and get the larger images and use them on the WebCD, but no Web surfer will be bogged down by displaying them over the Web. The Web site remains the source code reservoir with "if WebCD" tags. Of course you could also create a special Web site, whether public or private, and publish it on CD-ROM using WebCD.
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