Extronics CD-ROM

Extronics Ltd have a website (www.extronics.com) comprised of four main sections, namely company information, news, products, and product searching. A Microsoft Access Database drives all the latter three sections. Extronics required a batch CDs to be produced, running on windows 98 through XP, containing a version of their website. The CD would allow clients and potential clients to view their products off-line. The CD had to be developed with updates to the database in mind; Extronics required the ability to produce CDs in the future with an updated product catalogue.

The CDs were produced in Macromedia Director, replicating the functionality and aesthetics of the website. The Extronics database files were included on the CD to drive the CD-ROM application. The finished product facilitated full selective text searching; a scrollable, hierarchically formatted display of product indexes and a news section generated from the database. This matched the functionality of their website. The content runs directly from the CD without the need to install files on the users system, provided the user has the Microsoft DAO files and Adobe Acrobat Reader, there is also an option to install these from the CD if required.

This project was a direct conversion of a website to a CD, but this is not the only work that can be undertaken. The CD format allows for additional media to be included, not overly utilised on websites due to bandwidth restrictions. See some of our other projects for examples of CDs containing additional media.