Quick thoughts about putting video on web pages

Today while I was working there were five videos I wanted to see on the web. They were all formatted as Quicktime videos and while I wanted to watch them very much, clearly the creators didn't want me to. At least that's what it seemed like because it was nearly impossible to watch them in my web browser.

The lesson I took away from that experience was how important it is to make video as accessible as possible. Here's a list of dos and don'ts I've put together for myself for the next time I am adding video (puppetry related or otherwise) on a web page:

1. Do use Flash video to embed video on a web page. It loads faster and requires smaller files than QuickTime and (cringe) Windows Media. Flash video never seems to crash web browsers, QuickTime does sometimes and Windows Media does it often.
   
2. Don't make videos play automatically when users land on a page. That can be very annoying.
   
3. Do remember to include video controls if embedding a video on a web page. After all, what good to is a video player if you can't control it?
4. Don't presume to know the way your audience wants to watch your video.
5. Do offer download links to the video in different sizes and even multiple formats (Quicktime, iPod, PSP, etc.).
   
6. Don't use Windows Media (seriously, it sucks).
   
7. Do offer visitors an RSS Feed (if you don't know how RSS works go ask Google about it and find out).

While as a general rule Flash video should be used for in-browser playback and other formats like DIV/X, QuickTime, etc. should be linked to for downloading, lots of people prefer using QuickTime to embed video. If you insist on doing that be sure to read this article for some tips on how to it properly.

End of rant.