Smokescreen to Create Flash-free Ads

When it was officially announced that the iPhone would never have Flash player installed, Apple users moaned. When Steve Jobs denounced Flash and swore that the iPad would also be Flash-free, people began to become concerned. For animation and video, Flash currently reigns supreme on the Web, but it has not been and is still not the only option.

A company called Smokescreen has introduced a new technology (or rather a merging of old and new technology) to produce Flash-like animated ads using software that all platforms support (Windows, Mac, Linux, and mobile operating systems). The ads use a combination of Javascript and HTML5 to create ads that are nearly identical to their Flash counterparts.

The Smokescreen website lists multiple demos of their product in action, although some of them still need to work out the kinks. Technology powerhouses like Apple, Google, and Mozilla are pushing for the adoption of HTML5 video, while Adobe hopes to hold onto its claim on web animation and video. One obstacle that HTML5 proponents must overcome is the inability for current HTML5 video to display dynamic ads. Several marketing firms are working quickly to develop solutions. Current YouTube videos using HTML5 do not display ads, and those videos that do use Flash only.

Embedding Videos on Your Website

Many websites offer streaming video content. This is nothing new. What is new, is that there are many options for getting that accomplished. The days of RealPlayer vs. Quicktime vs. Windows Media are just about over. Now there are wide range of options, some that use Adobe Flash player and others that use open or proprietary video formats.

As with any offering you publish on your site, you want to make sure you can reach the widest possible audience and provide accessibility for those who need it. Hosting your own media server can be taxing on your system load, but there are some solutions that make it easy. I mentioned one open source solution in a previous post.

Another option is to sign up for remote video hosting. This could be as simple as a YouTube channel, which offers closed captioning and other accessibility features, or something more customized that requires monthly payments. At any rate, you will need to embed the videos on your site, and you will want to make sure the solution you choose will not slow it down. Some sites that have many embedded Flash videos, for example, run very slowly and take a long time to load, particularly on netbooks and other mobile devices. When HTML5 video becomes standard, it may be a better choice to consider.

Advantages of Server-Side Scripting

Server-side scripting means that a script that is executed on a website will be processed by the server and then displayed as regular HTML in the user’s browser. The alternative to it, client-side scripting relies on the user’s own browser, often including plugins, to execute the designated scripts. Both are common, but there are some decisive advantages to taking care of scripting on the server side.

When a website relies on the client’s browser or plugins to execute the script, the assumption is that the necessary plugins or features are actually installed and enabled. If the user does not have the necessary requirements or chooses not to use them, those features on the site will be unavailable. Examples of client-side scripting include Java and Adobe Flash.

With server-side scripting, everything happens internally before the user ever sees the site. By the time the user gets to the page, it is already displayed correctly, and it will be the same content for every user. They do not have to download any extra tools or plugins. Examples of server-side scripting include PHP, Perl, and ASP.

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons

Scribd Dumps Adobe Flash for HTML5

Scribd CTO Jared Freedman has announced that the document sharing website in HTML 5, abandoning the proprietary Adobe Flash application that has powered their site for the past three years. The move comes days after Apple CEO Steve Jobs offered his manifesto against flash and why it was bad for touch devices like the iPad.

Web developers have long had a love-hate relationship with Flash. Some would build entire sites based on it, while others shunned it for its lack of Web standards compliance, high CPU requirements, and proprietary license. For most web hosting companies it will not matter either way in the short term, anyone with a website will need to consider what devices are supported by their website.

Scribd will move to a Javascript/CSS/HTML5 web application that works better with their interface.

“Why do you need a special reading application just to view a document?” asked Friedman.

Unlike Flash, which requires the installation of a third-party plugin, Javascript and HTML are built into all modern browsers and are becoming increasingly popular. Many of the cross-browser consistency problems that drove developers to use Flash have since faded away, especially with Microsoft moving closer to standards compliance with each new Internet Explorer release.

Source: InformationWeek

How to embed your playlist into your website

Yesterday, we learned how to create m3u playlists to stream your mp3 files over your server ondemand. Anytime users open the playlists, the mp3 files will be played for them. But what if you want to skip this step and have the media play directly from the website? It will require your users to have some time of player plugin, and most will. It is a good idea to still provide a download option with a direct link to the m3u file.

To setup an embedded player, type a code snippet such as this into your html file:

<embed name="music_playlist"
src="music_playlist.m3u"
width="300"
height="90"
loop="false"
hidden="false"
autostart="true">


Replace “music-playlist.m3u” with the name of your playlist. Save the file and then try it out in your browser. Users should now be able to stream mp3 files directly from your website without downloading anything. Since this method still requires a player plugin, you might also consider a Flash player alternative. In the future, HTML 5 audio will also be an option.

Photo: Flickr

Flash-based Websites

Question: I just purchased a small hosting account for my art studio, and I am considering having a Flash designer make the site. Is this a good idea?

Answer: Flash-based sites have many benefits: virtually unlimited possibilities for animations, video streaming, and dynamic applications. All of that, however, comes with a pretty steep price. The web is built on standards, and while a little Flash on a site might fit within those standards, a site completely made of Flash can cause a number of problems.

1. Compatibility: Flash is a separate plugin that must be installed in a web browser. While most people may have it installed, some do not and might even choose not to install it.
Read More >>

Finding good free scripts for your website

A good web hosting company often provides its website owners with automatically installable scripts for various popular tasks: blogging, photo albums and e-commerce, to name a few. In some special situations, however, it becomes necessary for a webmaster to search for free, reliable scripts on the web. Whether they are Perl, PHP, or ASP scripts, there are some good places to look.

Hotscripts. Hot Scripts is one of the older more well-known script repositories. It provides links, ratings, categories and annotations of thousands of Javascript, C, PHP, Flash, ASP, CGI, Python, and other scripts. This site lists both free and commercial scripts.

PHP Resource index. Another well-known and trusted site, PHP Resource Index lists both free and commercial scripts, allowing users to vote and comment on them. It currently has around 4,000 scripts indexed. Its sister site, CGI Resource Index, lists Perl and CGI scripts.

There are many other script indexes and repositories. Whichever ones you choose, it is important to be mindful of security, not just of your own website but of the entire web server. You will be responsible for installing any updates to your scripts and making sure they are secure. It is also important to understand that you, not your web host, must make the scripts work since you acquired them from third parties.

Photo: Flickr

Opera CEO: HTML 5 will make Adobe Flash unnecessary

The makers of three major web browsers, Opera, Apple, and Mozilla have been working to ensure that the next version of HTML will include many advances in audio and video integration, something that has become the mainstay of Adobe Flash. The trio forms part of an organization called Web-Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (Whatwg), formed to encourage the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to engage in a more progressive development of HTML 5.

Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner said that the new version of HTML will support rich media (audio and video), rendering Adobe Flash redundant. Those who wish to keep their websites in compliance with web standards will be able to provide users with the same rich media content and features currently only available with the proprietary Flash plugin.

“You can do most things with Web standards today,” von Tetzchner said. “In some ways, you may say you don’t need Flash.”

He believes people will continue to and should have a choice between Flash or the new HTML 5 integrated media, but those concerned with web standards and the closed nature of Flash will now have an alternative.

Source: ZDNet
Photo: Flickr