The Definitive Guide to HTML5 Video (Expert's Voice in Web Development) 1st ed. Edition

by Silvia Pfeiffer (Author)

7 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-1430230908

ISBN-10: 1430230908

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Plugins will soon be a thing of the past. The Definitive Guide to HTML5 Video is the first authoritative book on HTML5 video, the new web standard that allows browsers to support audio and video elements natively. This makes it very easy for web developers to publish audio and video, integrating both within the general presentation of web pages. For example, media elements can be styled using CSS (style sheets), integrated into SVG (scalable vector graphics), and manipulated in a Canvas. The book offers techniques for providing accessibility to media elements, enabling consistent handling of alternative representations of media resources.

The Definitive Guide to HTML5 Video dives deep into the markup that is introduced for media element support in browsers. You’ll explore the default user interface offered through browsers for media elements, as well as the JavaScript API provided to control their behavior. You’ll also learn how to account for H.264 and Ogg Theora codecs.

About the Author

Dr. Silvia Pfeiffer has worked on novel media technology for more than 15 years and is an internationally renowned expert in new Web video standards. Silvia is originally from Germany, but now lives in Australia.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Apress; 1st ed. edition (December 29, 2010)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1430230908
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1430230908
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.4 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.51 x 0.76 x 9.25 inches

Customer Reviews:
7 ratings

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Silvia Pfeiffer

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I am an open video enthusiast and want to make user experience with video online as interactive and enjoyable as Web page interaction. Think about searching for stuff in video and directly getting to the point, or linking out to related stuff while watching video. Also, I am keen to have such experiences for everyone, which is why I have a keen interest in accessibility.

I've got a long background in open source software, open media technology through Xiph and Annodex, and in open standards through IETF and W3C. Since July 2012, I've become a co-editor of the HTML5 spec at the W3C. I've worked with awesome people and my recent experience with HTML5 video has been pure steroids.

Professionally, I have a PhD in audio and video content analysis, have worked with research institutes, started my own company and contracted to great companies such as Mozilla and Google. I also have a 15 yo son and a wonderful partner, who both support me in my professional interests. Life is great!

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Flávio Ribeiro

Awesome book

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 9, 2015

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Awesome book that covers a lot of tricks regarding audio and video tags. There are some outdated statements which doesn't affects the overall performance and brilliance of the book.
I've learned a lot and would recommend to anyone who's already working or planning to code for browsers.

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R. Tinfow

Basic

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 24, 2012

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HTML5 video is rapidly evolving. Sylvia's book is a fine starting place, but certainly not the final word. Expect to spend hours online to get up-to-date on the current best practices. Buy the book, then follow her blog and tweets.

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Stuartg

Good book, detailed with nothing left out.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 16, 2011

I've read this book in one sitting. Admittedly it was a long wait for transportation. Silvia's book covers this subject well and has practical examples that illustrate capabilities within HTML5 video.

Our challenge is to move to HTML5 and use newer video formats such as webv without sacrificing our older more 'upgrade-challenged' corporate clients. This book will minimise that risk and provide some great funky effects for users on the right browsers (hello Firefox & Chrome).

If you need a book on this rapidly advancing world, this is it.

3 people found this helpful

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Ramon van Belzen

Ramons review

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 23, 2011

One of the new elements in HTML5 is the video element and it`s Javascript API.
With HTML5 video you can easily embed videos into your page, without the need for external plugins like Adobe Flash, Microsoft Silverlight or Apple QuickTime. Another benefit is that it`s natively integrated into the web browser which allows Javascript to take full control of this element. This means video transformations and image analysis is also possible, along with creating your own start/stop controls.
Along the video element this book also explains the audio element and it`s Javascript API.

The book is targeted at web designers and programmers with basic experience in HTML (5) and Javascript. SVG experience is useful but not required.

I have been offered the chance to review this book by Apress.

I'm Ramon van Belzen, a 22 year old webdesigner from Vlissingen, the Netherlands. I'm surfing the web since 1997 and I`ve been programming HTML since 1998. Today I use web technologies like HTML 4, HTML 5, XHTML 1.1, CSS2 / 3, JavaScript, AJAX, jQuery, PHP/MySQL, XML. I currently run over 10 websites, most of them as webmaster and webdesigner.

The book promises to explain what you can and cannot do with the HTML5 video element. By reading this book you will learn how to integrate video in all the major browsers, the different codecs, creating your own controls and using the Javascript video API. It also teaches you how to integrate video with the canvas element, SVG, CSS and web workers.

This book fits in the same series as the following books:

Beginning HTML5 and CSS3: Next Generation Web Standards
Pro HTML5 Programming: Powerful APIs for Richer Internet Application Development
Which I reviewed before:
Pro HTML5 Programming: Powerful APIs for Richer Internet Application Development review
Foundation HTML5 Canvas: For Games and Entertainment (FriendsOfED)
The Essential Guide to HTML5 (FriendOfED)
Which I reviewed before: The Essential Guide to HTML5: Using Games to learn HTML5 and JavaScript book review
The first three chapters of the book explain the basics of implementing video in your page.
The following four chapter explain how to integrate the media elements with other technologies like SVG, Canvas, Javascript and Web Workers.
The final four chapters are more advanced and explain more experimental techniques like reading and manipulating audio, accessibility and the future.

The first chapter tells you about the history and origin of the video element. Later on the basics of codecs is explained. Finally a short sum-up of the major browsers current supported codecs and sites who use these codecs is described.
This chapter also contains a lot of footnotes to sites where you can find more information about statements and the discussion which led to the HTML5 specifications.

Chapter two starts with the basics of implementing video and the basic attributes like autoplay. Further on the same is done for the audio element. Next up is a simple Javascript to test the browsers codec support. Paragraph 2.2 ends with how-to encode files to HTML5 video and audio codecs. Also HTTP streaming is explained and implementation examples are given. The last paragraph explains the user interface and finally a short summary of the chapter is given.

The third chapter explains how to style the video element with CSS 3. What more can I say about it?

The next chapter (four) explains the use of Javascript in combination with the video element. It contains things like timing, stretching, error reports, events (like start, stop) and ends with creating your own start/stop buttons.

The fifth chapter is about integrating Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) and video. The chapter starts with the basics of SVG and examples how to merge these two techniques. Next is using more advanced techniques like using a graphic to control the video, using gradients, patterns and effects like blur. Also SVG animations in combination with a video element is described. The chapter ends with reflections and video edge detection.

Following chapter explains how to use HTML5 media in combination with the canvas element. With the canvas API it`s possible to draw bitmaps of video frames within HTML5 and create video effects. It`s even possible to emulate green screen effects (to change the background). Together with CSS3 styling you can make strange effects like 3D and add gradients and text with video as filling. The chapter ends with creating simple animations.

Video editing is CPU-heavy. With HTML5`s web worker API it`s possible to split these Javascript codes into small workers which can use multi-threading and afterwards combine the work. How to do this and some benchmarks are explained in this chapter. Examples include converting to sepia colors, motion detection, region segmentation and face detection (actually skin color detection).

The HTML5 Audio API is chapter eights content. It starts with extraction of audio samples and basic information functions. Next is displaying waveforms using the canvas element. Also audio spectrum graphic rendering using FFT is explained. With the HTML5 Audio API it`s also possible to render tones with Javascript. Paragraph 3 explains how to use the filter graph API, which contains audio effects like gain, delay, filtering, panning, convolutions (impulse responses like reverbs), channel split/merge and a real-time analyzer.

Chapter nine is about accessibility and internationalization. The chapter starts with the theoretical part behind this. The second paragraph explains how to create interactive transcripts using HTML. The next paragraph demonstrates and explains how to use synchronized text using WebSRT.

The final chapter - number ten - explains the use of audio and video using the device element. This chapter also uses the Stream,WebSockets and ConnectionPeer APIs. The chapter ends with a simple two-user video conversation.

The book ends with a summary and outlook of what to expect, like the Metadata and Quality of Service API`s.

The book promises to teach you everything about HTML5 and it does. It's so complete that I cannot think of anything I want to do with HTML5 video which is not mentioned. It teaches you how to make your own players, synchronize multiple videos and implement video effects.
There is no other book out there (at this moment) which goes so into detail when it comes to HTML5 video.

After reading this book I didn`t have any questions.

Everything demonstrated in the book is shown with multiple browsers (five) and mentions if it works or not - and if not how to create a workaround.

What I liked very much about the book is that it contains loads of screenshots, one for every function, which demonstrates how the function looks in different browsers.
What I also liked is the amount of footnotes. Whenever you want to learn more about a certain code or information, just visit the link in the footnote.

What I disliked about the book is that the Javascript programming sometimes goes a bit too fast and to deep, but this might be user depended. I have to admit that I'm not a Javascript programming wonder.

The book covers everything I wanted to know about HTML5 video and more.

If I had the chance to improve the book I would explain the Javascript code more.

I can recommend this book to everybody who wants to dive into the world of HTML5 video or who wants to replace other third party video systems like Flash and who wants to make the switch to HTML5.

More information about this book can be found at [...]
The product page also contain links to a sample and a link to buy the book - either as printed version or eBook.

4 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Igor

The title says it all

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 25, 2017

Verified Purchase

The title of this book is completely in place. That is what exactly what you have in this book, coverage of every aspect of the media elements in HTML5.

There are small examples for every part that make it more clear. Also there are pictures that make you understand much easier what the author is talking about. Every aspect of the video, audio and device element is covered. The comparison with the browsers is from 2010 (with the book was written) and it won't be of much help if you read it now.

All in all highly recommendable book.

One person found this helpful

Scribe73

Sylvia's HTML 5

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 30, 2015

Verified Purchase

Great service. Written by the instigator of HTML 5 (from the 1990's). If Sylvia doesn't know it, it's not worth knowing!

A. Morath

Webstandard

Reviewed in Germany 🇩🇪 on January 6, 2012

Verified Purchase

This is probably one of the best books I've read on this subject.
Particularly clear here, the browser differences are shown. There's also a recurring theme of accessibility on the Internet clearly and distinctly.
Faced Safari, Opera, Google Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer.
It describes the required TAG.elemente, attributes and attribute values ''in terms of hardware.

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The Definitive Guide to HTML5 Video (Expert's Voice in Web Development) 1st ed. Edition