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VideoWeb Design in a Nutshell, eMatter EditionChapter 20VideoCHAPTER 20
Video on the Web
Like audio, video clips were linked to web pages in the Web’s earliest days. Deliv-
ering video via the Web is especially problematic because video files require huge
amounts of data to describe the video and audio components, making for
extremely large files. Few people will sit and wait an hour for a couple of minutes
of video fun.
Many of the same technologies that have been applied to improve the experience
of receiving audio over the Web have been applied to video as well. As with
audio, you have the option of simply linking a video to your web page for down-
load and playback, or you can choose from a number of streaming solutions.
“Streaming” means the file begins playing almost immediately after the request is
made, and continues playing as the file is transferred to the player. For a more
complete description of streaming versus nonstreaming media, see Chapter 19,
Audio on the Web.
This chapter will introduce you to basic video technology, concepts, and file
formats (including several streaming options). If you are interested in learning how
to produce video files for the web, the books listed in the bibliography at the end
of this chapter are a great start. There are also some excellent tutorials on
producing multimedia at WebMonkey’s site (http://www.webmonkey.com/).
Tools Overview*
Newer Macs like the 8500, 8600, and the G3 Macs come with video hardware, but
otherwise, if you wish to digitize video to put on your website you will probably
need to add some video hardware to your computer.
The best software packages on both the Mac and PC for creating and editing video
are from Adobe (http://www.adobe.com/). AfterEffects is a terrific package for
- Thanks go to Chris Florio for compiling this tools overview.