A Complete Guide to Web Design

Adding Video to an HTML Document 357

Video

Adding Video to an HTML Document

Web Design in a Nutshell, eMatter Edition

The Tag

When you add a video file to your page with antag, the browser will
look for the appropriate plug-in and display the movie with its player inline on the
web page. Thetag was introduced by Netscape Navigator, but it is
supported by Internet Explorer 3.0 and higher, making it a safe way to put a video
right on a page.

A typical tag would look like this:

<EMBED SRC="cool.mov" AUTOPLAY=false WIDTH=160 HEIGHT=120>

</EMBED>

Each plug-in has its own set of attributes that can be added to thetag.
The following list of attributes work with the popular QuickTime plug-in, which
now comes bundled with Navigator and IE.

src=URL
This points to the video file you want to play. It is a mandatory attribute.

width=number
height=number
These set the width and height in number of pixels for the video frame. These
settings are mandatory.

autoplay=true|false
The video will start playing automatically if this attribute is set totrue. The
default isfalse(meaning the user will have to start the video with the Play
button).

controller=true|false
A control bar for the video will be visible when this is set totrue(or by
default). Although it is possible to turn off the controls, it is usually advisable
to leave them visible and available for use.

loop=true|false|palindrome
truecauses the video to loop continuously.false(the default) causes the
video to play through once.palindromemakes the video play through, then
play in reverse, then play through, continuously.

playeveryframe=true|false
When set tofalse(the default), you allow the video to skip frames in order
to ensure smooth playback. Do not set this attribute totrueif you have
audio with your movie.

href=url
This attribute makes your movie a link to another page.

pluginspage=url

This provides a link to a source to acquire the plug-in if the browser can’t find

it on the system.