HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 7
HTML5 Media
In this chapter, you will learn how to deploy video within your ads across browsers using the new HTML5 video
element. I'll also cover failover support to a plug-in when browsers do not recognize the new video element. There
are a lot of things to take notice of when working with video, including browser support, transcoding, compression,
delivery, and much more. This chapter will not make you an expert, but it will give you the platform to educate
yourself so you can make smarter decisions when dealing with video alongside web standards.
Back in the day, Flash was used for beautiful cross-browser video experiences, independent of operating system.
Regardless if you were deploying video to Mac users who supported QuickTime or Windows users who supported
Windows Media Player, Flash was a ubiquitous option for deploying the video once and reaching everyone with one
universally accepted format, FLV. Because the Flash Player was ubiquitous across all desktop screens, this created a
video solution that would run flawlessly across the ecosystem. However, with the emerging phone and tablet markets,
marketers and creative developers are now faced with building a “browser-only” solution using HTML5's new video
element. With HTML5, video is now a first-class member of the browser's architecture. That means video is now part
of the HTML specification, just like paragraphs and div s are.
Prior to my development endeavors, I was heavily involved with video production and postproduction, so I know
the great lengths that content creators go to in order to achieve great quality within their productions. The knowledge
of formats, codecs, and math needed when dealing with video online can get exhausting, so I'll cover the formats that
browsers can decode as well as offer useful tips along the way. If you're confused about which video formats work
in which browsers, what codecs are and how they're used to obtain the best quality, or how to follow publisher and
device specifications accurately, this chapter will quickly make sense of it all with a focus on industry terminology.
This chapter will explain in detail how to develop, design, and optimize digital media content for HTML5 browsers
and devices. Let's begin!
HTML5 Video
In this section, I'll discuss the new APIs for controlling and handling video playback in HTML5, which undoubtedly
is one of the biggest enhancements of the new specification. The HTML5 Video API has spawned a large “Flash is
dead” debate, causing much turmoil and confusion in the Web and advertising industries. As you've learned, Flash
(specifically video, with its rich feature set and player ubiquity, such as GPU acceleration video playback, adaptive
bitrate streaming, and digital rights management protection for content creators) has long been the king of web
advertising. However, with HTML5 now allowing for native video support, do you need to rely on Flash anymore?
When HTML5 video burst on the scene in 2007/2008 with the introduction of the Apple iPhone and later the
iPad, publishers and content owners panicked to figure out how to make their video content available and accessible
on the new devices; currently, if you want to reach people with your video content, you need to be thinking about
HTML5 video as well as Flash. This is especially true when you're targeting people with older operating systems and
browsers (such as IE8) as well as those on mobile and tablet devices.
 
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