Timed HTML (SMIL)

[Woody W]

does it only work in IE?

Thanks.

 

[David Dorward]

does it only work in IE?

SMIL isn't "Timed HTML", it is a separate markup language for
describing multimedia content, and is supported by at least AMBULANT,
Helix Player, QuickTime Player, RealPlayer, and Windows Media Player.

 

[Woody W]

Is timed HTML only supported by IE?

 

[Travis Newbury]

SMIL isn't "Timed HTML", it is a separate markup language for
describing multimedia content, and is supported by at least AMBULANT,
Helix Player, QuickTime Player, RealPlayer, and Windows Media Player.

And is much less flexable than Flash and Flash Video, where you have
complete control over how Flash interacts with the video and the
player. (Of course my opinion is biased)

 

[cwdjrxyz]

does it only work in IE?

Thanks.

SMIL is an XML language for multimedia, there are W3C specifications,
and you can validate it at the W3C validator along with several other
special languages that are not html(often xml based). I can not think
of any popular current browser that supports SMIL 2 well directly. At
the present stage of browsers, you usually have to have a SMIL player/
viewer to see it. Recent IE browsers have very limited support of a
mutant form of SMIL that is very limited and will not play on other
browsers. Recent Real players have nearly full support of W3C SMIL 2
built into them. This is the best way to view SMIL with a free player
that many people have. In fact you can view SMIL using the old
Netscape 4 browsers if you install a modern Real player, since the
SMIL is handled entirely by the Real player. The QT player supports a
very limited part of SMIL, so it is not a good choice for use on pages
that use full W3C SMIL 2. There are a few other players for SMIL, and
some of these programs have to be bought. I have programmed pages in
SMIL and use the Real player for viewing it. You will find an example
of SMIL at my video zoo at http://www.cwdjr.info/video_extreme/VideoZoo.php
.. It is forced to open in a Real player using a .rpm redirector/
playlist file. This prevents attempting to open it in QT or some other
player that can not handle full W3C SMIL 2.

One if the very useful features of the SMIL language is that you can
time events precisely, and you can run events in parallel and series.
Also there is a huge library of transititions, fades, color changes,
etc, built into the language. Motion is also possible. You will see an
illustration of many such effects in the web page I mentioned. As my
video zoo shows, there is no lack of formats for presenting audio and
video on the web, and there are yet even more formats that I have not
shown. The main problem with SMIL at present for general web use, is
that you can not yet depend on good support of it. However in a
controlled network situation, it can be quite valuable for companies
that need fancy media presentations for internal use.

 

[cwdjrxyz]

SMIL is an XML language for multimedia, there are W3C specifications,
and you can validate it at the W3C validator along with several other
special languages that are not html(often xml based). I can not think
of any popular current browser that supports SMIL 2 well directly. At
the present stage of browsers, you usually have to have a SMIL player/
viewer to see it. Recent IE browsers have very limited support of a
mutant form of SMIL that is very limited and will not play on other
browsers. Recent Real players have nearly full support of W3C SMIL 2
built into them. This is the best way to view SMIL with a free player
that many people have. In fact you can view SMIL using the old
Netscape 4 browsers if you install a modern Real player, since the
SMIL is handled entirely by the Real player. The QT player supports a
very limited part of SMIL, so it is not a good choice for use on pages
that use full W3C SMIL 2. There are a few other players for SMIL, and
some of these programs have to be bought. I have programmed pages in
SMIL and use the Real player for viewing it. You will find an example
of SMIL at my video zoo athttp://www.cwdjr.info/video_extreme/VideoZoo.php
. It is forced to open in a Real player using a .rpm redirector/
playlist file. This prevents attempting to open it in QT or some other
player that can not handle full W3C SMIL 2.

One if the very useful features of the SMIL language is that you can
time events precisely, and you can run events in parallel and series.
Also there is a huge library of transititions, fades, color changes,
etc, built into the language. Motion is also possible. You will see an
illustration of many such effects in the web page I mentioned. As my
video zoo shows, there is no lack of formats for presenting audio and
video on the web, and there are yet even more formats that I have not
shown. The main problem with SMIL at present for general web use, is
that you can not yet depend on good support of it. However in a
controlled network situation, it can be quite valuable for companies
that need fancy media presentations for internal use.

The actual SMIL page is at http://www.cwdjr.net/ram/realmix.smil .
Copy this url and go to the W3C validator at http://validator.w3.org/
.. Under "validate by url" choose "extended interface". In the form
that comes up, paste the url in the "address" box and check "show
source". Next click the "validate this page" You should get a SMIL
validation report with the SMIL source code at the bottom of the page.
Note the XML structure of the code with everything having to be
closed, etc. Note that the page is served as SMIL and not html, xhtml,
or plain xml. Note that SMIL has a unique Doctype . Note all of the
time references in the code such as "10s" telling when to do something
or for how long. Of course if you call for a video or sound file to be
displayed, you have to have a player for the format you used installed
on the computer. In case the media file can not be played, it usually
just does not display, and the SMIL presentation plays again at the
correct time when the next media file is called for.

 

[Leif K-Brooks]

Is timed HTML only supported by IE?

There's no such thing as timed HTML.