Of Plug-Ins and Players Version 10 of Windows Media Player can play the following file types: ● WMF Windows Media Format ● WMA Windows Media Audio ● MP3 MPEG Layer 3 audio format ● MPG, MPEG Standard MPEG Layer 1 video and Layer 2 audio formats ● WAV, AU, AIFF Legacy sound files ● AVI Audio/Video Interleaved video (Microsoft) ● ASF Advanced Systems Format (Microsoft) ● MID MIDI sound files ● RMI Remote Method Invocation Macromedia Flash Developed by Macromedia, the Flash Player is a popular plug-in that was originally designed to allow publishers to include low-bandwidth animations (created using Macromedia Flash) into web pages. Flash animations are extremely compact in comparison to traditional bitmap animations. The Flash Player offers the advantage of streaming the animations as your browser receives them rather than having to wait for the entire animation to download. Flash is becoming a platform for deploying all sorts of web content. Not only can users create animations, but they can also create application interfaces because Flash is scriptable using JavaScript. You can also stream audio and video files to the browser through Flash. In fact, if you are publishing audio or video on the Web and are willing to buy the Flash tools, this may be the best option, because Flash is almost as common as web browsers themselves. For further information, visit the Macromedia Flash website at http://www.macromedia.com/_flash. file:///G|/1/0672328860/ch11lev1sec5.html (2 von 5) [19.12.2006 13:49:27] Of Plug-Ins and Players Macromedia Shockwave Shockwave is a plug-in that enables Macromedia Director movies to be played as inline multimedia on a web page. Macromedia Director is a popular tool among professional multimedia developers for creating presentations that include sound, video, and 3D graphics. It is also a popular choice for creating games that can be embedded within web pages. If you're used to working with Director, Shockwave provides an easy way to put Director presentations on the Web. Or, if you're looking to do serious multimedia work on the Web or anywhere else, Director is definitely a tool to check out. You can find additional information on Macromedia Shockwave at http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave. Caution Flash is sometimes referred to as Shockwave Flash, but they are separate formats, and Shockwave requires additional software beyond the Flash Player. Apple QuickTime Apple QuickTime is both a file format and a player. The player, available from Apple at www.apple.com/ quicktime, plays Apple's QuickTime movies (QT, MOV) along with audio and video files in a number of other formats, and is available for both Macintosh and Windows platforms (see Figure 11.12). Figure 11.12. Use the QuickTime player to play saved or streaming QuickTime movies. When you install QuickTime, it automatically installs plug-ins for your browsers. file:///G|/1/0672328860/ch11lev1sec5.html (3 von 5) [19.12.2006 13:49:27] Of Plug-Ins and Players In addition to playing QuickTime movies, QuickTime VR (for virtual reality) is also supported. These aren't movies per se, but rather interactive images that provide a three-dimensional view of a scene. For example, using QuickTime VR, you can provide an image of a car that allows the user to view it from any angle. Apple also offers the iTunes music player, an application for organizing and playing music stored on your computer. It supports MP3 and AAC files, and can play audio streamed over the Internet as well. RealPlayer RealNetworks started out by specializing in steaming audio that you could listen to over a low bandwidth connection. They have since expanded to cover the same ground as the other major media players with support for streaming video, playing audio from CDs, and ripping songs to your computer and burning new CDs. There's a free version that you can use if you just want to view RealAudio and RealVideo streams over the Internet (see Figure 11.13). Figure 11.13. Use RealPlayer to check out streaming audio and video. RealPlayer plays streaming RealAudio and RealVideo files of the following variety: ● RM, RA, RAM RealAudio/RealVideo streamed content ● RT Real Text streamed text formats ● RP RealPix streamed GIF and JPG images ● GIF, JPG Standalone JPG and GIF images ● MP3 MPEG Layer 3 audio format ● SWF RealFlash and Shockwave Flash animation ● SMIL, SMI SMIL-formatted (multiple data type layout) files ● .VIV, .VIVO Vivo video files ● .MPG, .MPEG Standard MPEG Layer 1 video and Layer 2 audio formats ● WAV, AU, AIFF Legacy sound files ● QT, MOV QuickTime video (uncompressed) ● AVI Audio/Video Interleave video (Microsoft) file:///G|/1/0672328860/ch11lev1sec5.html (4 von 5) [19.12.2006 13:49:27] Of Plug-Ins and Players ● ASF Active Streaming Format (Microsoft) ● MID MIDI sound files WinAmp WinAmp is the quintessential MP3 player. It was one of the first popular MP3 players, and it has remained very popular even as nearly every other audio application has added support for MP3 files. Not only can WinAmp play MP3 files that you create yourself or download over the Internet, but it can tune into Internet radio stations that stream MP3 audio and can play other popular audio formats, such as WAV. WinAmp appears in Figure 11.14. Figure 11.14. The WinAmp interface. file:///G|/1/0672328860/ch11lev1sec5.html (5 von 5) [19.12.2006 13:49:27] Summary Summary Well, today's lesson was certainly an eye- and earful! You learned that there are only two ways to include audio and video files in your web pages: linking to them and embedding them. External multimedia files are files that are linked to directly rather than being embedded inside web pages. When you link to these files, your browser will launch the appropriate plug-in or external application for the file or, in some cases, ask you to save it. You also learned how external multimedia works, how to use sound and video files as external multimedia, and some hints for designing by using external multimedia files. Much of this lesson focuses on examples of embedding multimedia files directly into the web browser. You can use the <embed> element, or a combination of <embed> and <object>. Table 11.10 shows a summary of the tags you learned about in this lesson. Table 11.10. Tags for Inline Multimedia Tag Attribute Use <a> href Links to a sound or video file exactly as you link to any other type of file. <embed> Embeds objects into web pages. <object> <object> Embeds objects into web pages. <param> </param> Specifies parameters to be passed to the embedded object. Used in the object element. <img> dynsrc Includes a sound or video file instead of an image. If the file cannot be found or played, the normal image (in src) is shown. Used by Internet Explorer only. <bgsound> Plays a background sound. Used by Internet Explorer only. file:///G|/1/0672328860/ch11lev1sec6.html [19.12.2006 13:49:27] Workshop Workshop The following workshop includes questions you might ask about including sound and video in web pages, quizzes to test your knowledge, and two quick exercises. Q&A Q What's the quickest way to get started adding multimedia to my site? A Remember that you can use at least one absolutely sure-fire method to include sound and video in your web pages: Link to them. Although that might not be as exciting as embedding them in the web browser window, you know the web page will work. Of course, the person visiting your site must have the appropriate application to play the file, but you can help her out by providing links to any required players or plug-ins. Q Should I be worried about web browser and HTML compatibility when it comes to audio and video? A Unfortunately, yes. Most other HTML elements and techniques are standardized to the point that you can be confident that your code will work across most popular web browsers. Embedding audio and video is a completely different ballgame. Generally if you stick with the guidelines provided by whoever created the plug-in used to listen to or view your files, you'll be OK. Q What are the differences between AVI, MPEG, and QuickTime movies? A The underlying differences are beyond the scope of this lesson, but it has to do with how the audio and video data is encoded, compressed, and stored in the resulting files. Each file type uses different methods that are all unique. The practical difference is that each one might require a different player to be heard/viewed properly. Q Should I bother using the techniques solely compatible with Internet Explorer, such as dynsrc? A My advice is not to bother with them because you might be ignoring (and hence alienating) a good portion of your audience. If you're in an environment that's IE-only, you can feel free to use them. Ultimately, the choice is up to you. Quiz file:///G|/1/0672328860/ch11lev1sec7.html (1 von 3) [19.12.2006 13:49:27] Workshop 1. What are the differences between a helper application (also called a player) and a plug- in? 2. In what ways can you insert multimedia into your web pages? 3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using plug-ins? 4. What is streaming multimedia? Quiz Answers 1. Helper applications run externally to your web browser and open files that your browser does not support. The browser downloads a file and then passes it on to an external helper application that reads and plays the file. Plug-ins work within the browser to read and play files. 2. You can link to them or embed them. 3. The advantage to using plug-ins is that they enable you to insert many different types of content into your pages. The disadvantage to using them is that you can't guarantee that everyone will have them or will want to take the time to download them to experience your site. Some people use browsers that don't support them, and not all plug-ins are universally supported across web browsers and operating systems. 4. Streaming multimedia plays as it's transmitted to the client, unlike media types that send an entire file to the client before it can be played. In fact, with streaming media, you don't even have to start at the beginning of a fileyou can jump in anywhere on the stream or listen to a live feed. Exercises file:///G|/1/0672328860/ch11lev1sec7.html (2 von 3) [19.12.2006 13:49:27] Workshop 1. Tour the Web and visit sites that use multimedia. You might start out at http://www. youtube.com for an example of video, and http://www.live365.com for streaming audio. Macromedia's Showcase at http://shockwave.com/ always features sites that create multimedia content. See how others include it in their websites. Try visiting the same site using Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. Is there a difference? What prompts you to download a plug-in? 2. View the source for some pages that present multimedia files and see whether they use <embed>, <object>, or both. file:///G|/1/0672328860/ch11lev1sec7.html (3 von 3) [19.12.2006 13:49:27] Part IV: JavaScript and Dynamic HTML Part IV: JavaScript and Dynamic HTML 12 Introducing JavaScript 13 Using JavaScript in Your Pages 14 Working with Frames and Linked Windows 15 Creating Applications with Dynamic HTML and AJAX file:///G|/1/0672328860/part04.html [19.12.2006 13:49:28] Lesson 12. Introducing JavaScript Lesson 12. Introducing JavaScript JavaScript is a scripting language for adding functionality to HTML pages. Its scripts are embedded in HTML files and run completely within the browser. JavaScript turns the browser into an application that runs other applications, rather than one that just displays documents. Support for JavaScript is included in Netscape, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, and Opera. The ongoing evolution of JavaScript is being managed by ECMA, a European standards body. As with most technologies in use on the Internet, and especially the World Wide Web, JavaScript is under constant development. It moved rapidly from version 1.0 in Netscape Navigator 2 to version 1.1 in Navigator 3, version 1.2 in Navigator 4, version 1.3 in Navigator 4.5, and version 1.5 in Netscape 6. Meanwhile, Microsoft introduced JScript, its own variation on JavaScript that was first supported in Internet Explorer 3.0. Each of these variations and versions has subtle differences and inconsistencies. Instead of dealing with these differences, this discussion of JavaScript looks at the basic features that are common to all implementations of JavaScript. In this Lesson Today, you learn about the basics of JavaScript by exploring the following topics: ● What JavaScript is ● Why you would want to use JavaScript ● The <script> tag ● Basic commands and language structure ● Basic JavaScript programming file:///G|/1/0672328860/ch12.html [19.12.2006 13:49:28] . 13:49:27] Workshop 1. What are the differences between a helper application (also called a player) and a plug- in? 2. In what ways can you insert multimedia into your web pages? 3. What are the advantages and disadvantages. Macromedia Flash) into web pages. Flash animations are extremely compact in comparison to traditional bitmap animations. The Flash Player offers the advantage of streaming the animations as. Plug-Ins and Players ● ASF Active Streaming Format (Microsoft) ● MID MIDI sound files WinAmp WinAmp is the quintessential MP3 player. It was one of the first popular MP3 players, and it has remained