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ragnar35 -> RE: trouble video inserting to website in Frontpage (8/20/2008 8:23:01 AM)
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The task of putting video on a website seems to be one of the most confusing things I have encountered. Frontpage makes it very easy to insert a windows media file, and for many users, the windows media file plays fine on their computer. I would estimate that 20% of all users have some difficulty viewing the windows media video, as inserted by Frontpage via the advanced controls, plug-in method. This problem brought me to the point where I wanted to use flash video.
Trying to post flash video on my website is about as difficult as getting the Palistinians and Isrealis to agree on a peace plan! People here have tried to explain it, but not in easy to understand instructions that this old guy could figure out. YES- Frontpage has the ability to insert a flash movie - but it doesn't really work for video content. I gave up trying to use Frontpage's flash movie insertion feature, and decided to go another route.
People here suggested that the most universal flash video file was an .swf, so I found a conversion program that would convert most any video file to .swf - Swish Video3. It cost me $49.00 US dollars.
Essentially - you first need a flash movie file to start, but that isn't enough. In addition to the flash movie file, you also need html code that does two things:
1. The HTML code needs to provide the media player, so users can actually play the flash video file.
2. The HTML code needs to point to the specific flash media file that you want to play.
Frontpage allows you to copy/paste the html code, so now all you need to do is put the proper code on the web page you wish the user to view a video. I was successful using Swish Video3. This program converts most any video file to a swf flash video file, and allows you to generate html code that incorporates the media player. I figured out the program in five or ten minutes. The only glitch I encountered was that the html code did not point to the proper location in my website where the flash file was located. The automatic html code that Swish Video3 generated listed the name of the file, but not the actual path. Here is the portion of the code Swish Video3 initially generated, that did NOT allow the video to actually play - notice it was just the file name, and not the path:
<embed src="DistrictsIntro2.swf"
After I pasted the code into Frontpage, and determined that it wasn't working, I was able to double click the "box" that appears in the design mode of Frontpage, and correct the problem by navigating the proper path to this:
<embed src="NWDTelevision/2008Track/Districts2Intro.swf"
Keep in mind that there is much more to the html code than what I posted above; I posted just the portion that caused the problem of the video not to play.
Once I uploaded the corrected code, the flash video file played perfectly fine. After a few years of trying to figure this out, I FINALLY learned how to put flash movies on my website! It really shouldn't be this difficult - I am not sure if MS Expression has made this process any easier. Hopefully this may help those using Frontpage 2003 learn how to upload flash video to their website.
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