Smashing Html5

Chapter 11: Video

One of the most important features added to HTML5 is video. If you’ve used YouTube, you’re aware of the power of video on the Web. Likewise, Adobe Flash users have embedded video in their programs for years. So, video on the Web isn’t exactly new. However, the new features of HTML5 make it possible to access video directly from an HTML5 Web page, and that’s something that HTML has never been able to do in previous builds without a link to a Flash .swf file or some other binary file that streams video independent of the tags placed in an HTML file.

An important caveat to add here is that the video that is displayed by your Web page is not true streaming video; instead, it’s a type of progressive download. As the video is downloaded from the Web server, it’s displayed by the Web page, so it can be slow. In fact, most videos created by Flash hobbyists are very likely to be this kind of video. Streaming video, at this point, requires a streaming video server like Adobe Flash Media Server. However, you can expect to see developments in true streaming as HTML5 video becomes more popular.

If you’ve read Chapter 10, you’ll find many of the video tags familiar. This chapter looks at many of the same tags, like <source>, but with an eye to loading and playing video.

Making an HTML5 Page with Video

To get started with video, you need a video file. You can create one on your computer, or you can download one from the Web. So the question is: What kind of video file? The ...