Comment: Videos have become widely popular on the web, but their formats are almost exclusive. YouTube uses Flash, Microsoft uses Windows Media®, and Apple uses QuickTime. The tags used to embed these contents in one browser are invalid in another browser. Therefore, WhatWG proposes to introduce a new video element to embed arbitrary video
Videos have become widely popular on the web, but their formats are almost exclusive. YouTube uses Flash, Microsoft uses Windows Media®, and Apple uses QuickTime. The tags used to embed these contents in one browser are invalid in another browser. Therefore, WhatWG proposes to introduce a new video element to embed any video format. For example, you can embed my QuickTime movie a Sora in Prospect Park with the following code:
<video src= />
There is still controversy as to which format and decoder are preferred. Ogg Theora may be highly recommended or requested. Proprietary formats such as QuickTime and patent-restricted formats such as MPEG-4 can also be optionally supported. The actual formats used are likely to be determined by the market, just like the GIF, JPEG and PNG formats (those formats overwhelm competitors such as BMP, X-Bitmap, and JPEG 2000 through market competition, becoming the preferred format for img elements).
It is also proposed to introduce audio elements. For example, you can use the following code to add background music to a web page:
<audio src=spacemusic.mp3 autoplay=autoplay loop=20000 />
The autoplay property indicates that the browser starts playing immediately after the page is loaded without waiting for an explicit user request. The audio loops 20,000 times and then stops (or stops when the user closes the window or goes to another page). Of course, browsers can (and should) allow users to turn off embedded media, and should not just do it as required by the page author.
The browser must support WAV format and can also support other formats such as MP3.
Because old browsers do not support these elements, and they do not make sense to blind and deaf users, the audio and video elements can contain additional tags that describe the content of audio and video. This is also helpful for search engines. Ideally, these markers are full text versions of audio and video content. For example, Code 8 shows the inaugural speech by John F. Kennedy written in HTML 5.
<audio src=kennedyinauguraladdrees.mp3>
<p>
Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice,
President Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, President Truman,
Reverend Clergy, fellow citizens:
</p>
<p>
We observe today not a victory of party, but a celebration of
freedom -- symbolizing an end, as well as a beginning --
signifying renewal, as well as change. For I have sworn before
you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears
prescribed nearly a century and three-quarters ago.
</p>
<p>
The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal
hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all
forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for
which our forebears fight are still at issue around the globe --
the belief that the rights of man come not from the
generation of the state, but from the hand of God.
</p>
<p>
...
</p>
</audio>
(to be continued)