Sound & Music

Different industries require different kinds of web design, and often utilise completely different applications in order to achieve their goals.  Website design can vary dramatically from site to site, from simple static websites to fully interactive online environments.  Many business websites do little more than act as online brochures, with contact details and a small amount of information on the company.  In contrast to this, some music and entertainment industry websites offer immersive and media rich environments for their users;  which require a lot more programming, design, and development than the average website.

Website design and development can be a multi-discipline activity, that often involves the skills of a number of independent and dedicated professionals.  Some of the disciplines that are often involved in website creation include animation, graphic design, writing, photography, art, interface design, and search engine optimisation (SEO).  websites devoted to the music and entertainment industries often utilise a media rich interface; complete with text, video, audio, and animation.  While this kind of media intensive environment would be overkill in some industry contexts, for the music and entertainment fields it is perfectly acceptable and often necessary in order to create an appropriate tone.

Because there are so many different disciplines involved in website creation, there is an equal amount of variations in the software that can be used.  Some web site design software is dedicated to a particular field of activity, such as programs specialising in animation or video effects.  Other larger programs attempt to integrate all of these different media and interface elements into a final cohesive design.  Any website being created by the music and entertainment industries would need to integrate a number of media formats and different technologies in order to create the final website.

Multimedia technologies like Flash and Silverlight are often used as a way to include music and other media into a website environment.  YouTube are now also offering a plugin for their media player, which can be used on any website that includes the appropriate code.  There is a large variety of web design software on the market, and while some of the feature rich applications may be overkill for the average website design – they are ideal for a music and entertainment site.