HTML5 video preload

Embedding videos is an easy and common task for web designers and developers. Using HTML5 to do it, however, isn’t as common as you might assume. While HTML5 and its video tags have been around for years, designers sometimes stick to what they know and don’t always adjust to newer, more efficient tools.

What do we mean by sticking to what you know? Well, maybe you already have Flash embedded in some of your pages, and that’s OK. But if you’re developing for desktop browsers as well as mobile clients, you already know that Flash alone doesn’t cut it. Why spend time developing for multiple contingencies and platforms when HTML5 simplifies your work? There is a way to shorten development time without lessening the user experience.

Dropping a format like Flash doesn’t mean you’ll struggle to find a format with wide appeal. The three currently supported extensions are MP4, webm, and Ogg, all supported by modern browsers. If you worry about support for the video you embed, you can include a message that alerts users to the incompatibility. Write the short note between the video tags and incompatible browsers will automatically display that message to the user. .

As a new feature example, HTML5 gives you a simple attribute for preloading videos. You won’t need to specify buffering (the browser knows more about the user’s internet connection than you do), and the remaining attributes are easily nested to create clean, manageable code.

If you’d like to see a more concrete example of HTML5 and it’s ease of use for video, including preloading, check out EasyHTML5Video and give the product a quick test. With a few clicks, you’ll have clean, standard code to easily embed content in your pages. We think you’ll find it a useful and elegant solution for designers and developers.