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Hi All,

I’m looking for Resources/Tutorials regarding working with online video. I have a rudimentary knowledge of Flash embedding using “Flash Satay”, but I’ve never really had a crash course in the principles of working with video on the web.

I’m looking for best practices, working with multiple video file types, how video affects a website’s performance, the mechanics of how the code works, etc.

Any and all suggestions & advice are welcome!

The best way to learn is to get your hands dirty.

I like http://www.longtailvideo.com/ although it did take a little while to grasp it all, especially when dealing with xml files.

We use Traffic Geyser as part of our video workflow. It is mostly a great way of promoting your videos but they do also offer some basic training and best practices.

For now, Flash is the main method of adding video to a website. If you are a web coder (as I am), it’s easy to understand how the new HTML5 will be the future, not Flash.

With HTML5, adding a video(s) to a page is easy. The only issue with HTML5, at this point in time, is the video file types. Different browsers support different file types. But, with HTML5, that’s easy to work with. Flash support is still needed for browsers that don’t support HTML5 (Internet Explorer 8). Take a look at this link to see how easy HTML5 is: http://www.w3schools.com/html5/ . Obviously, there will need to be a work-around for IE8/Flash video player.

@TheStig

I tested Longrail Video’s JW Player, and it is very easy to use. It’s Flash, but it falls back to Javascript for devices that don’t support Flash. I haven’t test the “fallback” yet, but they claim that it works.

For HTML 5 video check out Kaltura’s site. Options for HTML 5 with video fallback for Flash and Mozilla.

Thanks, grrramps! I have looked into Kaltura. This seems very promising. I definitely prefer Javascript over Flash.

I don’t have links handy but there are a number of good HTML 5 alternatives with fallback for Flash video or other non-HTML 5 but acceptable Javascript options for Mozilla and other browsers than don’t do standards (or, de facto standards).

Gramps (is alive? 😊) thanks for the link on Kaltura, never seen it before.

@Unifusion be aware of HTML5 but really what you need to do is learn what is applicable today (and for some years before html5 spreads). If you ‘fall back’ onto something then that something is more stable choice. You will then have easier time ‘upgrading’ your skills. 😉

I haven’t looked through it yet, but Vimeo just launched an online video school - http://www.vimeo.com/videoschool.

We use Traffic Geyseras part of our video workflow. It is mostly a great way of promoting your videos but they do also offer some basic training and best practices.

I’m not seeing any info on flash video. Can you direct me to where I would find that on the site. Whats your overall experience with this company ?

For video encoding resources specific to HTML5 I would recommend Mark Pilgrim’s Dive into HTML5 book which is viewable at http://diveintohtml5.org/video.html. Like Adam said, I would recommend looking at HTML5 video encoding instead of Flash.

For a video player I would highly recommend looking at http://sublimevideo.net/. If the user isn’t using an HTML5 compatible browser the video would automatically be shown in Flash. The Sublime player is about to come out of beta soon. I’ve been using them for a few sites and it’s an amazing player. Very easy to set up as well.

Google’s recent decision to drop H.264 video from Chrome in favor of their proprietary (can someone please give a definition to ‘open’ that we all agree upon?) WebM messes up internet video even more.

What’s the best strategy to create a web video page that runs on all major browsers, and, desktop, notebook, and mobile devices?

Flash Player? Uh uh. It doesn’t run well on mobile devices. H.264? Not easily implemented on Firefox (soon not on Chrome). WebM? Doesn’t run on IE or Safari.

Truly, what a mess.

For right now I would still recommend using H.264. This will run on all Apple devices and some modern browsers. If using a player like the Sublime one mentioned it will automatically fall back to Flash if the browser/device is not compatible. I personally am not using WebM yet.

For a good chart on current devices and what they can/cannot use see http://diveintohtml5.org/video.html#what-works.

Dive into HTML5 is a GREAT resource. It pretty much explains everything you need to know in plain English. Definitely worth the read!