How do you embed video in your Blog/Website?

I have been asked by a number of individuals how to embed video here.  So, here are a couple of methods.

FIRST – you must have captured video and made it available in a web playable format.  For instance, web browsers will most likely automatically recognize movie files with the extensions .mov (Quicktime) or .wmv (Windows Media Player) and use the proper player.  But it depends on how the user has configured their browser.

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EASIEST OPTION:  Link to the movie file

Use the ‘Insert File’ option in your Moveable Type Dashboard editor to upload and insert the file into your page or blog entry.

Example: Introduction to e-Portfolios: A Short Movie welcome.mov (1MB)

Notice that I let the user know how large this file is!

EMBED OPTION: Here you want the player to show up right in your web page or blog entry.  If this is the case then you need to use the following code.  Copy and paste this into the source code (<A> icon in your Moveable Type editor) – you will have to decipher the HTML code you find there and look for a good place to place this code.

<embed src=”moviename.mov” width=”240″ height=”196″ controller=”true” autoplay=”true” type=”video/quicktime”></embed>

Where:

• src is the name of the movie file.
• height and width correspond to the dimensions of the movie.
  (Add 16 pixels to height for a movie controller.) A controller can be true – present, or
  false – absent
• autoplay set to true lets the movie begin playing without user intervention
  if so saved.
• type helps browsers recognize QuickTime when the page is opened locally, not
  from a web server.

Example: Introduction to e-Portfolios: A Short Movie

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YouTube OPTION: This option is the best of both worlds it seems, you share your video on your site, but the video is being stored elsewhere! 

First, create an account at YouTube, then upload your video there.  You have up to 10 minutes or 10 MB for each video I believe – check the fine print – but once your video is processed and available, copy the embed code (upper right of the YouTube page) and paste this in the source code of your Moveable Type web page or blog entry, again deciphering the HTML to figure out where a good place for this to go might be.

Example:  Introduction to e-Portfolios:  A Short Movie

Need help with any of these options?  Check with the Digital Commons at your Penn State campus location.