Posts tagged "video"

Embed YouTube clips using valid XHTML markup

There are blog posts all over the Web explaining how to write valid XHTML markup to embed YouTube videos. There are also a number of online converters that generate this markup automatically.

I've always found it easier to write the markup myself, as there's really nothing to it. Simply replace both instances of video_id in the following code with — you guessed it — the video's ID.

<object class="youtube"
        type="application/x-shockwave-flash"
        data="http://www.youtube.com/v/video_id&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0">
    <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/video_id&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" />
    <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" />
</object>

rel=0 is often useful to include (as I've done in the example above) as it prevents thumbnails for related videos from being displayed at the end of the clip.

One important point to remember when you're "rolling your own" markup is that the character entity &amp; must be used for all ampersands.

Finally, be aware of the fact that it's possible to change the size of the YouTube object using CSS. There's no need to include the width and height attributes in the markup.

object.youtube
{
    width: 100%;
    height: 385px;
}

Incredible performance by Kseniya Simonova

In this performance from Ukraine's Got Talent, Kseniya Simonova uses the simplest of tools (a lightbox, sand, and her own body) to create a captivating animation. I really enjoyed the accompanying "Nothing Else Matters" instrumental, as well.

David Carson's 2003 TED lecture

One of my flatmates linked me to this clip recently. It's titled Design, discovery and humor and certainly delivers the entertainment it promises. It's well worth a look.

David Carson presents Design, discovery and humor at TED, February 2003

Beautiful painted alphabet

I came across this recently while browsing Mark Boulton's site. The style and control of Job's hand is played off against the exuberance of his son's approach. An upbeat soundtrack accompanies the performance.

Video by Job & Roel Wouters

From the director:

Job and Gradus are both ambitious concerning letters. Spontaneous jam sessions in our studio inspired us to make this film about the fun [of] drawing letters.