Re: question about video on a web site

[lea murphy <lea@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]



Bob,

 

Thanks for taking the time to write, I appreciate your comments and what's more, I agree with them. I'm not a biggie for web video myself but as this client has a past career in video work there was no telling her to leave the video out...trust me, I tried! I'm not sure how this will resolve...for now I'm having the video builder compress the file more then we'll see how long it takes to load. There is, indeed, a skip button which takes the visitor straight into the site.

 

Again, thanks for your comments.

Lea

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Bob Maxey

To: List for Photo/Imaging Educators - Professionals - Students

Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2005 6:08 PM

Subject: Re: question about video on a web site

>>>I have created a web site of a client and the opening page contains a video
that is in swf format; it takes about 10 seconds to begin loading which is
much longer than the client or I would like. I did not build the video, I
simply put it into the site.>>>

I cannot answer your question regarding compression, however, whatever you do, give the visitor a way to cancel the clip and go to the home page. Some (many?) people find video annoying and when they arrive, they want Widget info, not a video about widgets.

 

Depending upon who's statistics you believe, video is not something most (or at least a high percentage) of visitors want Things will get better as more and more people go broadband. Music is another think (it seems) many people deplore.

 

Most video requires that the visitor have a program (like a media player) or plug-in on their system. If they do not have the means to view the clip, you cannot be sure they will want to install a plugin. There are many clips I cannot play because I do not have a required whatever. Some site I visit have shockwave openings and I always "Skip The Intro." Your client's file might take 10 seconds to open, but you cannot be certain it is not taking longer to load on some user's system.

 

Does you client understand that not everyone can view clips unless they have a specific player and in some cases, the client's insistence upon video might cause some visitor's problems? You would be surprised at how many clients want lots of cool stuff without realizing how detrimental their wishes might be to the number of hits. I no longer design web sites. Just bang out copy.

 

Bob

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