Translating/Transforming Files for Internet Publication
All programs listed in blue available for downloading
The preceding sections dealt with the use of various file types found on the Internet in a one-way direction: from the Internet to you. If you're interested in becoming a contributing citizen of the Internet, you'll also need to be able to take locally produced files and prepare them for "generic" use. Obviously, any word processed document can be saved as ASCII text and then is immediately available for use on the Internet. If you want to keep the exact formatting/file type, you'll need to work with FTP servers and configure helpers on your browser or compress your files for downloading once they're available on the Internet, or investigate the Adobe Acrobat or Common Ground applications which allow you to publish your entire document in PDF (Portable Document Format) format which many Internet applications are already supporting. A new alternative is to deliver formatted HyperStudio stacks. A lower cost, easier to implement alternative to formatted documents is the HTML markup language that the World Wide Web supports.

Any graphic files you want to prepare for Internet use must be in either GIF or JPEG format. GIF has been the standard format since the beginning, but JPEG is rapidly gaining acceptance due to the fact that you can use color palettes of millions of colors (versus 256 for GIF) and the compression scheme used results in generally smaller files for faster downloading (although some loss in quality is often observed). New GIF formats are being developed which will address both perceived JPEG advantages. Which format to choose? Since you can't guarantee that the "netizens" who will access your graphics will be able to display millions of colors and some browsers and software packages don't handle JPEG well, the proper choice would be GIF. Preparing your graphics then is as straightforward as loading the original file into a program such as GIFConverter or JPEGView (mentioned earlier) and saving it as a new file in GIF or JPEG format. In addition, programs such as PhotoShop and Graphics Converter allow you to save in these formats. In day to day use however, the program you really should be using is a freeware package called "clip2gif". With this program your can input a PICT or GIF file or any clipboard object and then save the result as PICT, GIF or JPEG. It also allows you to save your images with a transparent background and interlacing to look their best.

Sound files must be translated from their native format into the UNIX ".au" or ".aif" format. Programs such as Ulaw allow you to open a previously recorded sound file and then save it in ".au" format. SoundApp or AudioShop allow you to save standard Macintosh sounds in a variety of formats including ".aif". SoundMachine allows you to record a sound directly from your Macintosh into ".au" format. For your information, if you already have an ".au" format sound, but you'd like to use it in your Macintosh applications, a program called "au<->snd" allows you to save ".au" format sounds into standard Macintosh "snd" format (as does SoundApp). This is the only method to allow the standard Internet sounds to play with most applications on the Macintosh, although QuickTime 2.1 and HyperStudio will support ".au" sounds directly.

If you have QuickTime movies you'd like to share on the Internet, they need to be "flattened" first. Like most other Internet file types, to be truly generic, all of the file information must reside together. Typical Macintosh files have information in two pieces of each file: the data fork plus a resource fork. "Flattening" moves all of the information from the resource fork into the data fork and allows other computers to use the files. The best application to accomplish this task is FastPlayer. Not only does it allow you to export "flattened" QuickTime movies for use on the Internet, but it also can be used as a "helper" application for Web browsers.

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