Minimum tools for Flash Video

I have been searching, studying, and experimenting. I have learned how to use quite a number of param statements that go within the <object> and </object> tags. They are similar to statements like these:

<param name="movie" value="North2.swf">
<param name=loop value=""true">
<param name=”menu” value=”false”>

There are many more.

There are also the corresponding statements that go within the <embed . . . .> tag like these:

src="North2.swf"
loop="true"
menu=”false”

Here is my question:

Are there not statements of these two kinds that add the functions of start, stop and pause to a video clip without writing in javascript? All of the instructions I have found online for implementing these functions seem to require a knowledge of javascript and also seem to require using software like Flash CS5 - far beyond a mere HTML or TEXT editor. Why? Do I need to learn javascript and buy some particular development software to get these video functions on a web page?

It seems to me that such software generates some kind of html code in the end anyway. What am I missing?

I would like to use html to display a movie clip. I will learn to use javascipt as well if the controls I seek cannot be gotten without it. I have almost no experience. I don't know if special software beyond a text editor is essential or a mere convenience.

Please tell me what you can about whether javascript or special software is absolutely needed to display a movie clip that is started and stopped by the person who comes to my website.

Thank you for your help.

Jim Adrian

Well there are a lot of arguments about this and its becoming quite a controversial issue across the web so I'll try to keep my personal opinion out of this.

Basically if you don't want to understand how all the code etc works, your best bet would be to simply upload the video to a site like vimeo or youtube and then use the provided embed code to add their player to your site.

The way video works on the web is very similar to the combo of a DVD and a DVD player. The DVD (media) contains the video/audio track but is useless without things like the buttons as you pointed out. In the same way a DVD player hooked up to a really nice TV is useless if you don't have access any media to play.

On the web you have a video file (usually, a quicktime or mp4 are the most accepted) that requires a player (typically built in Flash although this is changing) be embedded in the html file.

As of right now there are two ways to play a video file in a web page one is using a Flash player and the other is an emerging version of HTML called HTML5.

Flash Video: This format gives you the most options since the Flash player is available on most computers. However flash content is compiled before it can work on the web so while you can write all the actionscript required with a text editor (like Adobe Flex or Flash you still need a compiler to be able to make it work. The Nice thing about a Flash player is that there are many free players available (like JW Player or FlowPlayer) and all you have to do is provide the video.

HTML5 Video: HTML5 is only available in bleeding edge browsers and while it requires javascript for control its built into the specification so the browser itself handles all the playback. What this means is that you can write everything you need to play video in this format directly within a text editor but you'll have to understand quite about about how HTML5 and javascript work to get anything overly functional. There's also a drawback that browser manufacturers can't decide which codecs to support (think Blueray vs HD DVD) and therefore you have to encode the video several different ways and host each of those files.

graphixboy,

Thank you fir your very informative message. I quoted one paragraph above. I tried the method you described for the youtube video player. It seems that I cannot substitute my video clip for the one on youtube. Is that correct?

I am interested in learning everything that is actually necessary to placing my video clips on my web pages. Did you intend to say that I need to learn javascript in order to get the buttons I described? Also, you mentioned compiling something. Wat software do I need to do the compiling and what should I compile?

Thank you for your help.

Jim Adrian

Correct you need to get an account at youtube etc. Upload your video to your account so it displays in youtube and then get the embed code for that specific video and place it on your page.



If you follow the HTML5 video route you'll probably need to learn some javascript to create controls. If you want to build your own custom Flash video player you'll need to learn actionscript and use the Flash/Flex IDE to compile the code. If you want to go the flash route but use someone else's prebuilt player than grab one of the ones I linked above and you won't have to compile anything.