audio video for Publishers - HTML5 for Publishers - page 31

CHAPTER 3
<audio>/<video> for Publishers
One of the most exciting features of HTML5 is that it offers native support for audio
and video content. On the Web, this means that reliance on browser plugins in order
faciliate display of multimedia content is becoming a thing of the past. On the ereader
side, HTML5 and EPUB 3 open the door to embedding this same multimedia content
directly within an ebook. Let's take a quick look at HTML5's new <audio> and
<video> elements.
A Two-Minute Introduction to the <audio> and <video>
Elements
The standard HTML5 <audio> element looks like this:
<audio id="new_slang">
<source src="new_slang.wav" type="audio/wav"/>
<source src="new_slang.mp3" type="audio/mp3"/>
<source src="new_slang.ogg" type="audio/ogg"/>
<em> (Sorry, &lt;audio&gt; element not supported in your
browser/ereader, so you will not be able to listen to
this song.) </em>
</audio>
The <audio> element serves as a container, which contains a series of <source> elements
that reference your audio files ( src attribute) in whichever formats you have available
( type attribute). If you only have one format available, you can abbreviate the markup
as follows:
<audio id="new_slang" src="new_slang.wav"> No song for you! </ audio >
However, current best practice is to provide audio in multiple audio formats—usually
WAV , MP3 , and Ogg —in order to ensure compatibility across the range of HTML5
audio-compliant browsers and ereaders (see “HTML5 Audio/Video Compatibility in
the Browser and Ereaders” on page 38 ).