HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
Summary
Prior to HTML5, embedding audio and video files in a web page required third-party plug-ins such as
Flash and Silverlight. Developers used
<object>
tags to embed Flash or Silverlight media in web pages.
HTML5 provides native support for playing audio and video files using
<audio>
and
<video>
elements,
respectively. As of this writing, there is yet to be standardization on the audio and video formats supported
by the various browsers, but we can hope that in the future all browsers will agree on a common set of
media formats.
Because not all browsers support HTML5, you may need to implement a fallback scheme so that if a
browser doesn't understand HTML5
<audio>
and
<video>
elements, the Flash or Silverlight player takes
over. Using
<audio>
and
<video>
tags coupled with jQuery, you can develop database-driven media
catalogs or playlists.
The
<audio>
and
<video>
elements allow you play existing media files. The HTML5
<canvas>
, the
subject of the next chapter, lets you draw shapes, text, and images in a browser, thus opening a plethora of
possibilities for building graphic-rich web applications.
