The word multimedia is used a lot these days but many people are slightly confused as to what it actually means. Put simply, multimedia is a site or place that uses a variety of different information formats. This can be text, video, audio, animations, photos or even interactive elements. This is in direct contrast to those sites that use only one form of media such as text only sites, or simple traditional material such as basic printouts.

Bite Size Information

With the improvement in technology and the shorter attention span of the general public, it has become necessary to be eye-catching to grab and hold attention. People also learn and retain information in different ways and these multimedia sites cater for this by providing information in graphics, video or text form whilst simultaneously providing the information in more bite sized manageable pieces.

Engaging the Viewer

When creating a website it is important to bear all of this in mind. A creative multimedia site is much more likely to be engaging to the average viewer. As mentioned before, attention span has diminished and it is now believed to be sitting at around 8 seconds. Changing the way the information is presented helps to hold attention as the style of getting the information across is constantly changing. This method is used quite often in classrooms where teachers are encouraged to change their teaching style every 15 minutes to retain attention – read, watch a film clip, write something, for example. Your website should attempt to do something to this effect.