1b. Digital media terminology

—— WORLD WIDE WEB —— 

CMS – Content management system such as WordPress created by a combination of a database application (usually mySql) and a programming language (usually php).   CMS applications include: WordPress, Drupal, ZenCart, Shopify, Joomla.

LMS – Learning management systems such as Brightspace D2L (crufty),  Blackboard (expensive), and the popular, open-source, free application  Moodle

HTTP – Hyper Text Transfer Protocol – The first part of a link command in html.  Usually today we use https…

HTTPS – This is the secure version of HTTP, and its greatly preferred.  Web hosting companies sell add-on certificates for secure sites.
(ex: https://www.revolutionsincommunication.com/viscomm )

HTML – Hyper Text Markup Language – The system using carats  “<” and “>” to set off commands for links, images, video references and text formatting.

Top level domain – The last part of a URL (ex:  edu or  gov )

URL – Uniform Resource Locator (ex: www.radford.edu)  Also called Domain Name. These are for sale through web hosts or other similar services.

World Wide Web — Invented and developed by Tim Berners Lee at CERN in Geneva around 1989 – 1992.  A major application operating inside the larger “Internet”   (developed in the 1960s – 80s) with standardized protocols for computer-to-computer communication through web and/or internet servers.

—— CMS / WORDPRESS —— 

Dashboard —  After logging in to a WordPress site, the dashboard is the place where all the commands are found.

Appearance / Themes — Every wordpress page is based around a theme. This site uses Coreline.  You select them or search for new ones under Appearance / Themes.

Warning: Do NOT pay for anything at this point. This should all be free.

Appearance / Customize — Here you’ll see a menu that lets you set up the basics of your site, including header image, tagline and menus.  Be sure to switch your “homepage settings” to “your latest posts.”

Warning: Do NOT push the big blue button and “create a new menu.”  You want to work with the existing main menu or Menu 1.

Post and pages — These are almost the same thing, but typically, posts are used for immediate short-term content, and pages are used for long term permanent content.  Posts can stack on the front page.  Both pages and posts can be organized through Appearance / Menus

Media library — This is where you upload the images you want to display on a web site. You can use one uploaded image from your media library as many times as you like.

Plugins — When you buy hosting from major companies,  you can add features like security or newsletter mailing systems.  There are also LMS plugins.

———  IMAGING APPLICATIONS —— 

  • Adobe Photoshop is the standard. It is essential for pre-press work for print publication (esp. color profile matching), but it is expensive.  Other imaging applications  for photo touch-up and web publication work just as well.
  • Gimp (image editor, free,  same basic processing as Photoshop)
  • Google NIK photo editor (free)
  • PhotoSphere iPhone (creates Panoramic 360 degree images)

———  VIDEO & AUDIO  STREAMING   ———–

  • Social media now has video streaming capabilities:  Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc.  Usually there is an intermediary application like Zoom that allows you to export into these public streaming applications.
  • Wirecast / Telestream 
  • Periscope  
  • Netcast streaming services
  • Gear for reporters – Rob Montgomery

——— AUDIO EDITING —— 

———  VIDEO  EDITING  ———–

  • Adobe Premier – Fairly good quality digital editor, cheaper than…
  • Final Cut Pro – High-end video editing
  • DaVinci Resolve – Free but limited to low-res exports, excellent high-end application
  • Lightworks, versatile, complex free video editor (free version only exports YouTube-sized files)
  • Blender VSE, Videolan, other open source free video editors listed on Wikipedia.
  • Windows Movie Maker (MicroSoft, free, good but limited)
  • iMovie (poor quality, difficult interface, but free)

———–   ANIMATION / STOP MOTION   ———–

  • Adobe Animate
  • Adobe Lightroom allows you to edit animations and time-lapse videos in bulk.
  • DragonFrame  ($300) – Best stop motion animation application
  • MonkeyJam  – Free, not as many features as DragonFrame
  • StopMotionPro   ($185 or $18 / month)
  • AnimatorHD  ($66 non-commercial)