How to Add Video to Your Web Site

When adding video capability to your web site keep in mind that not all files work for all browsers and all types of computers. The best method is to use the Flash FLV video format because it works in most browsers and is compatible with both PC and MAC computers.


1. Capture and Edit your video

After shooting your video import it into Windows Movie Maker so you can edit it. You can do this with a USB cable (slow) or with Firewire (faster) if your computer has a firewire port. After editing your movie save it to your harddrive as a windows media video (WMV) file. You can learn more about this file at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Media_Video

2. Convert WMV to FLV

In order to allow all people to view your video movie you need to convert the WMV file to FLV. A great online tool for this is: www.zamzar.com. It converts all types of documents.

3. Install Flash Extension

You will need the Flash Video Kit to embed the Flash Video File (FLV) into your HTML web page. Select the macromedia flashvideo.mxp file from the video kit files and double click it. This will install the flash extension into Dreamweaver.

4. Embed FLV file into HTML web page

To insert the FLV file into your web page, open Dreamweaver – Insert-Media-Flash Video.

Select Progressive Download Video then save your web page.

Dreamweaver will automatically insert the necessary code into your HTML. It will also generate additional files besides the FLV and HTML files you already have. All these files should be placed in the same directory.

5. Upload files to the server

Be sure to upload all files in the same directory on the server. This includes the HTML and Flash files.

6. Test your movie

You can preview your movie within Dreamweaver by pressing F12. To view it your flash movie online enter your web address in the browser.

Tip

Use flash files sparingly on your web site because they use up lots of bandwidth, take a long time to load (especially if you have a dial-up connection) and are not search engine friendly.

Comments

  1. I don’t have the flash extension and I can’t seem to find it on Adobe’s website. Do you know of anywhere that we can download it?

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  4. I love youtube but it does have some bad things on it. Like with illegal material and stuff.

  5. This site was… how do I say it? Relevant!! Finally I
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