sites with a short video on the home page: format? implementation?

[deckeda]

Are we still talking Flash here, or has HTML5 video progressed to the point where say, Firefox and Safari can handle the same HTML5 video embed? For the purposes of this discussion let's say the audience only has modern desktop browsers, is using iOS, maybe Android stuff.

Or is the issue at once more complicated AND more simple than that, by using instead a "mobile" home page that gets sent to mobile OSes when detected?

I'm generally "against" the use of videos that appear, let alone automatically play, on any site's home page. Especially the home page! But this is a question coming from someone else who wants that. The purpose of the short video, I'm told, is to be the site's/content creator's personal introduction to "what it's all about."

thanks!

[cbelt3]

I'd recommend a GIF animation at maximum. But he probably wants H.264 video with Quadrophonic Dolby sound.

And will wonder why people never stay on his page more than a second or two.

A youtube type link (click here) is safer and more polite.

[M A V I C]

I've been using http://videojs.com/ - it does detection to give the user Flash or HTML5 depending on the browser. You'll need HTML5 for mobile support. If they video starts playing on load, it should at least be muted.

[deckeda]

videojs.com does make it look easy, thanks.

[Article Accelerator]

M A V I C wrote:
I've been using http://videojs.com/ - it does detection to give the user Flash or HTML5 depending on the browser.

It looks like a great piece of software and seems to work well. Can you confirm that it will serve HTML5 video if Flash is unsupported on the target system regardless of whether the target is mobile or not?

(I don't have Flash installed on my desktop system so I almost always get an 'Install Flash' message for general Web video. If I then have the browser masquerade as Safari for iPad, I get the video. Ridiculous!)

[Dennis S]

I would add falling snowflakes while you're at it. Always a nice touch.

[M A V I C]

Article Accelerator wrote:
[quote=M A V I C]
I've been using http://videojs.com/ - it does detection to give the user Flash or HTML5 depending on the browser.

It looks like a great piece of software and seems to work well. Can you confirm that it will serve HTML5 video if Flash is unsupported on the target system regardless of whether the target is mobile or not?

(I don't have Flash installed on my desktop system so I almost always get an 'Install Flash' message for general Web video. If I then have the browser masquerade as Safari for iPad, I get the video. Ridiculous!)
I've implemented it a few times and it works well. The tricky part is getting the video formats encoded correctly.

They should have a demo on their site that will serve you HTML5. I forget exactly, but I think it checks to see if your browser supports HTML5. If it does, you get that. Flash is the fallback if your browser doesn't.

[Article Accelerator]

Thanks, M A V I C.