Web Design in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition

Adding RealMedia

RealMedia (including RealAudio) files can be added to a web page via two methods. The first and most straightforward triggers the browser to launch RealPlayer as an external application (what Real calls the “three-pane environment” ). The second plays the media file in a player embedded directly in the browser window using the RealPlayer plug-in.

Tip

RealNetworks provides extensive tutorials for producing, managing, and serving RealMedia. Start with these online guides:

• http://service.real.com/help/library/guides/realone/IntroGuide/HTML/prodintro.htm

• http://service.real.com/help/library/guides/realone/ProductionGuide/HTML/realpgd.htm

Real recommends displaying RealMedia content in the RealPlayer three-panel environment, because it enables you to take advantage of the full range of features and doesn’t require potentially complicated markup and scripting that cross-browser embedding can entail.

In either case, you do not create a link directly to the RealMedia file itself, but rather to a special reference file, called a metafile. The metafile is a simple text document that contains the URL of the RealMedia file. These reference files are generally kept in the same directories as the HTML documents, although that is not a requirement.

There is a three-step process from click to playback. First, clicking the HTML link downloads the metafile from the server to the browser. Once it arrives at the browser, the metafile tells the browser to launch the RealPlayer and provides ...