adobe – Internetblog.org.uk

Embedding Videos on Your Website

Thu, 20 May 2010 19:44:45 +0000

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.

Adobe to enter the web hosting market?

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 16:05:49 +0000

Adobe is set to release its long-awaited Creative Suite 5. Among other things, the the company is offering web designers using the product a special new feature– managed web hosting for their clients.

Called Business Catalyst, it’s supposed to make it easier for customers to get their sites online. However, this convenience doesn’t come cheap. Plans start at $39 a month and developers wishing to offer the service must pay a $1,000 free upfront.

The $39 plan provides 10 email addresses, 1 GB of space, and 100 GB of bandwidth. I think it’s great that Adobe is trying to simplify the development-deployment process. Wouldn’t it be nice to create and launch a site in the same application?

But in my opinion, Business Catalyst won’t succeed. It is simply too expensive for both the client and the developer, not to mention the fact that Adobe has no experience whatsoever in the hosting industry.

Photo | Flickr

Opera CEO: HTML 5 will make Adobe Flash unnecessary

Mon, 25 May 2009 15:15:00 +0000

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