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Embedding Rich Media in FrontPage

Getting Video or Audio onto your Web page isn't always as easy as you might think. This wizard is the easy way.

Before we get into how to use the Windows Media Embedding Wizard, you've got a download to do from our files library. Click here to get the file.

Placing a media file into a Web page so that it streams (plays in real time) as opposed to requiring a full download before it can be played requires some juggling with arcane commands in your HTML code - and it isn't always easy to get right. Actually creating the file in the first place isn't always easy, but that's a subject for another day - currently Windows Me and XP both have utilities to help you create media files for use on Web pages, and the output from those (MovieMaker) is suitable for use.

Once you've got the wizard downloaded and installed, it could be easier to embed a player and the clip - so easy, in fact, that we've captured the process as a video, which you can view below. There's no audio, and, since it's a wizard, and exceptionally easy to use, there's no need to include a step-by-step guide. Watch the video, and then read the gotchas below it:

Gotchas

• Be sure to size your video to fit your page at the narrowest width it will be viewed at - the video above has been scaled to 400 pixels wide.

• Be sure to select the correct connection speed and media type in the streaming selector - slower bitrates are better, otherwise your visitors may have to wait too long for buffering. In the clip above, we've gone for a connection speed of less than 56k, which ought to be fine for most dialup modems.

Other than that, there's not much to be wary of - download and enjoy the new facilities! Oh, and if you're not sure how much time and code it can save you, right click on this page and <View Source> to see just how complex the code is!

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