Site design for broadband 2

11 May 2006

Just because your site visitors have broadband does not give web site owners a blank cheque for content. With an eye on their monthly bandwidth allowance, most broadband users don’t want to be subjected to bloated self-indulgent content that leaves them feeling short-changed.

They are as discerning as anyone with a dial up connection – if not more so. Ergo, broadband content must serve a clear purpose and add to the site’s informational value.

Taking a step back from editorial concerns, what are the other issues that need to be addressed?

Hosting, for starters, is a major consideration. Streaming video or running a chat service involves shovelling out fairly chunky amounts of server bandwidth. Depending on the specification of your web hosting package there could be cost implications in providing this type of broadband content.

Next, you’ll need to think about the necessary hardware and software to shoot and edit video. We’re talking several hundred quid for a half decent video camera, at the very least, and then the same again for high end editing software.

At a push, though, you can get by with the video capture from most recent digital cameras. And Windows XP comes loaded with Windows Movie Maker in which you can create fairly professional-looking videos. In these circumstances, the cost will be your time rather than pounds, shillings and pence.

Alternatively, it may be worth considering contracting the work out to a professional company, especially if the content is a one-off rather than an on-going requirement for fresh material.

For the DIY-er, the next step is translating their content plan into raw footage (or should that be, more accurately, the pixelage) and editing it down into a slick professional production. The file format really boils down to Windows Media File and QuickTime. Offering these two formats will cover the bases for the vast majority of site visitors. It’s probably a good idea, too, to offer a low-res version for dial up users. (Flash is another option, but you’ll have to exchange some real green folding stuff to get your hands on the pro version to create movies.)

When happy with the finished version, upload and link to it from the web page, either as a file that can be downloaded and saved onto the user’s machine or streamed to play in the browser itself.

One of the easiest ways to stream video within a web page is this code supplied by nuweb.co.uk

<center><center><OBJECT id='mediaPlayer' width="320" height="240"

classid='CLSID:22d6f312-b0f6-11d0-94ab-0080c74c7e95'

codebase='http://activex.microsoft.com/activex/controls/mplayer/en/nsmp2inf.cab#Version=5,1,52,701'

standby='Loading Microsoft Windows Media Player components...' type='application/x-oleobject'>

<EMBED type='application/x-mplayer2'

pluginspage='http://microsoft.com/windows/mediaplayer/en/download/'

id='mediaPlayer' name='mediaPlayer' displaysize='4' autosize='-1'

bgcolor='darkblue' showcontrols="true" showtracker='-1'

showdisplay='0' showstatusbar='-1' videoborder3d='-1' width="320" height="240"

src="URL of your Windows Media Video goes here" autostart="true" designtimesp='5311' loop="false">

</EMBED></OBJECT></center>

Replace URL of your Windows Media Video goes here with that of your WMV file and insert the height and width values for your file.

While doing some research for this article, I happened across these examples – two American truckers who stream live video from their cabs as they pound the lonely miles on the highway. And, yes, American truck drivers really do listen to Country and Western music all day.

TruckBuddy and Bronco transmit the view from their windshields by hooking a webcam up to laptops with wireless broadband connectivity. So long as the truck is within range of a cell phone mast, visitors to their sites can ride alongside in their 18 wheel rigs.

Strangely, it is weirdly compelling reality TV, the endless miles out on the highway punctuated only by cell phone blackspots, pit stops, traffic jams and delivery drops. Watch closely and you’ll see TruckBuddy’s cat wander into shot occasionally.

Both sites are incredibly busy with internet traffic and have a chat room for visitors. Rather worryingly, Bronco is also known to answer chat rooms questions, typing in short abbreviated replies as he drives along. And we in the UK stress over people talking into a mobile phone…

Presumably, the same idea would work for a haulage company in the Highlands as its vehicles thunder up and down the A9. Certainly, it would be one way to get more traffic onto their site. And it would also give new meaning to the phrase, how am I driving?

Find out more about streaming video from your site with this short movie. Or get a step by step guide using free software.

Useful links

Software suggested by download.com

i-Catcher – capture video from webcams and feed direct to a web page (Free to try; $79.00 to buy)

webcam 1-2-3 – webcam software that even creates the web page for you (Free to try; $39.95 to buy)

Clipstream Video – compression software to enable large files to play in Java applet without requiring users to have plug-ins or other software (Free to try)

SasCam Webcam Server – Free software to enable live video streaming from your homepage or PC. Displays content in the viewer’s web browser.