A Place Between Here

Quicktime icon

Quicktime as an alternative to Flash.

Ok, yes I’m on a Mac so Quicktime is important for me, but most people have Quicktime installed (comes with iTunes) and on Windows people might tend to overlook the very nice features of Quicktime and also in the view of web content.

So what is Quicktime (QT) ? QT was developed by Apple back in 1991 as the media player for Apple’s operating system, it was shortly after released for Windows (3.11).

Apple gave QT a lot of focus for many years, cramming all sorts of functionalities to it, e.g. Flash viewer, Virtual Reality Viewer etc.

They also used it to promote their video bundle format MOV (equivalent to AVI, it’s a container, in which other formats or compression methods are embedded), a MOV file can contain AVI, RAW, JPEGs, XML etc. if the file extension is MOV you can be sure to use QT to play it’s content.

When I started using my computer for movie watching was a time when movies had various extensions, back then I was on Windows, and a format extension with AVI was not the same as you could play it in Windows Media Player, esp. when movies started getting distributed over the net, we saw new compression methods, to make the file size smaller and trying to preserve the image quality, such as Xvid, DivX and others.

Quicktime X icon

Currently QT comes in two versions, 7 and X, on Windows only version 7 is available, on OSX QT X is only available under 10.6 and OS 7 is an optional install, so it’s a bit confusing.

When QT X came out I was happy to see the sleek GUI and it being 64-bit application, then I started using it… and had to install QT 7, QT X does not contain same functionality as QT 7 did (e.g. open image sequences) and QT 7 under OS X 10.6 does not contain same functionality as QT 7 under pre-10.6 or Windows, e.g. subtitles.

Previously there was only “2″ versions available PRO and non-PRO, Pro allowed you to do some basic editing, non-pro was basically just a multimedia viewer, in 10.6 OS 7 is the same for all…for better or worse, esp. considering I did spend the little upgrade price to go to PRO.

Why this confusion and various versions ? Seems like Apple was trying to push a new version of QT out the door, unable to do a full transition and clean up all of it’s old code, and in QT 7 there was a lot of old code, like earlier mentioned it was very very versatile and it supported a lot of formats that are, today, irrelevant or just seems “bloated”, e.g. the QT Virtual Reality format, Flash (but only up till Flash 5) and other formats I’m not sure what they do.

QT X: Export renamed to "Share" not many option..at all..

I totally understand why there are people who hate QuickTime, and recent development hasn’t turned any of them over, for sure (on Windows 64-bit and After Effect you can’t export or use the QT plugin, and need to run the application in 32-bit).

More bad stuff… No QT under Linux.

I couldn’t find a statistic for how many have QT installed, but we can assume all people on OSX have it, on Windows you have it if you have iTunes (iPod users basically)…and iPhone uses QT, so a very large mobile device market.

Want to know more about the Quicktime and it’s versions, go see Wikipedia

So why do I encourage the use of QT as an alternative to Flash, for some content and what sort of content ?

The easy: it supports h.264 compression, which is a very modern movie format, small yet the colors remain close to it’s original material (Try getting a white to stay white with WMA)

QT 7 10.6: Loads of exports, but wait...where is Subtitles/Text ?

You can easily export to various other formats (PRO version) including h.264, you can also easily remove parts of a movie, I sometimes, accidentally, render out 2-3 min of black screen at the end of a movie, you just mark the part you want to delete and hit delete and it’s gone.

The mediocre; subtitles, unfortunately, since I’m on OS X 10.6 and in QT 7 it’s gone, but in pre-10.6 and on Windows you can make and edit subtitle files, and embed them into the file, it’s fairly hard to find a tutorial that describes how easy it is, but its real simple, you can embed several language subtitles into a MOV file.

m4v and 3gp formats, m4v is the “new” format from Apple, that the iPod records in, it’s a format of the future, i think, I haven’t read enough about this format so won’t defend it too much, but it’s right there, no extra plugins etc. read more about m4v at wikipedia. 3Gp is the format of movie streaming over the 3G network for other phones than the iPhone…basically, but I won’t be surprised to see m4v will win that battle, since 3gp is very low-res and doesn’t look as good, but I was streaming content back in 2004 from my 3G phone in Sweden and it was impressing back then, it’s restrictive and limited in use, but you got QT you can make it . Read more here.

The hard, one file containing content for various bandwidth, you can save 3 files for various speeds and contain them inside one file, this is is a feature Flash also got, by default, in Quicktime you need to write a small script, but again it’s there…ad fairly easy, there are plenty of documentation about it at Apples page.

all those features missing in QT X… I got books about how to build interactive MOV files, similar to many Flash sites, including the Virtual Reality format,

An example of SMIL format

you can really do a lot with this simple tool, but unfortunately it seems to be going out…e.g. SMIL, which is a XML based multimedia format, so you could actually build SMIL pages, change them dynamically for the user and the user would just know of the mov file…if interested I could make a small sample of this, or do a google search, I think SMIL is one of those features overlooked and under-appreciated, hopefully it will make it to QT X and be used more in the future.

Anyways… so let’s sum up a bit.

Bad:

No Linux Support.

Not all mobile devices

Fairly hated in the Windows environment

Rich features seems to be left behind in QT X

Good:

Bandwidth aware streaming

Many users

free/cheap

Suppors features that can create more than “just” a movie.

Here are some examples of Quicktime files for you to have a look at:

End of part 2

Part 3 will feature some of the rich content of HTML5, which excludes IE users….

Part 1 here

This series of tutorials will focus on the various multimedia content and the considerations you have to do before deploying them online.

Why ? well, I do website setups for people and make biddings for website setups, and often people are considering Flash as the only way to present multimedia content, which is a shame, because there are so many things you can do without Flash.

Used all over the net, to an extend unnecessary

And why avoid Flash ? Flash is great for many things, but…the big but, Flash is a proprietary format by Adobe, it’s not open and basically the only way to make flash files is by using Adobe Flash, any updates are, traditionally speaking, a new flash file. I am aware that flash supports database connections, but honestly, how many use them and if you do work for a big client they might not give you access to their databases and then you have to use separate XML files or similar, that still demands a bunch of maintenance. This is from the website designers point of view, now for the page viewers point of view:

Flash is a plugin from Adobe in your browser, it’s multi platform, but how multi-platform ?

Windows: Fine, though it demands some CPU.

65-99% CPU on a stationary computer, think of battery and heat of laptops.

Mac: Flash is rather CPU intensive, especially considering many Mac computers are small (Macbook(Pro) Mac Mini and the older G4 & G5s) these small laptops are normally known for being quiet and running cool, but try streaming some flash movie and your Mac gets hot and noisy, not a good user experience.

Linux: back when I ran Linux last time I had two major problems, 3D graphics support and Flash, it could’ve gotten better, but honestly I don’t think so, Adobe is focusing a lot on it’s Windows market, like many other software developers.

Mobile devices, Flash isn’t fully supported on all devices, many support various formats and specifications of Flash (Flash lite) and on the very popular iPhone there is no flash support, and don’t expect it to come either the coming months.

At least they check if I had Flash installed...

To often I see pages that rely 100% on flash, especially in the market I’m in, they look nice, have a nice intro movie and feels interactive, but they don’t render on my iPhone and my browser crashes sometimes viewing these pages, because someone thought it would be a good idea to use a lot of Flash and by the newest standards, not supported in my Browser.

You do need Flash ? if so, be sure to have a browser/platform check, and make an alternative site or at least an apology that your page can’t be viewed on the users device.

Why do people want to or demand using Flash ?

Movies/Animations, FLV (Flash Video) is a nice light format for internet viewing, and it supports bandwidth check up, so it adjust the amount of data being transmitted if the user have a bad connection.

Interactive websites, for artistic reasons or games.

2Advanced Studios: You're doing it right...

Rich fonts, sIfr this is a great new way of using alternative fonts, instead of “web safe fonts” (the fonts everyone got on their computers) but since it’s Flash based, even the developer, recommends only using it for some texts, not entire websites, also it’s an override of the pages CSS, but at least then you display Helvetica, Handwriting, psycho fonts as if it was normal fonts (copy paste ability) and not using images.

Bad usage of Flash, where alternatives should’ve been used:

Banners (annoying commercial banners are ok, because personally I disable all Flash on websites and I don’t want to see those commercials)

Selection maps

Sorry Eurolines, that selection map and the image banner on top could've been made on a better platform

Websites that rely on finding customers online

And in the past few years commercial businesses’ have figures out it’s a good idea to make their commercials getting more attention if they have a roll-over action that will either start a movie or a soundclip, this is such an annoyance that people have developed ways to block all Flash content on sites.

This is partly why I am writing this blog series, you don’t want to annoy your customers and this tendency drives people away from Flash, and this is why we need to use alternatives.

Don’t get me wrong, I use Flash as well… I just feel it’s being misused and I see too many demanding Flash.

Other people with similar view on Flash:

Studio1C

Computer World

The Internet Broadcaster

As you can see this is something fairly recent, I feel it’s a movement for web designers to start looking elsewhere for multimedia support, so lets look into alternatives in the coming weeks.

End of part 1

Part 2 will feature the Quicktime alternatives.

PS: my browser crashed 2 times while surfing and trying to find flash material for this part.

Phew end of 2009 was fairly business, now it’s 2010.

My website got an overhaul, due to response from customers, and I plan on making some blog entries which will provide an insight in my insight, starting from today (since January is a bit dead, work-wise) so today I’m starting a bunch of small series of tutorials, 2D, 3D, animation and some compositing…. to display my way of working, thinking and to improve my portfolio

In the brewing:

3D tutorial – A concept beer glass (Maya modeling and MentalRay renders)

2D Tutorial – an ISO-metric view of the street I live in (Vector)

Web tutorial – fast setup and usage of Wordpress

Multimedia – webcontent, avoiding Flash.

I’ve been so lucky to have meet the people behind mundraub.org and I’ve joined into their project.

My role in this project will be as developer with focus on geotagging, google maps and iPhone apps.

The site will launch its version 1.0 on 23rd November and we are currently working hard to make it a user friendly experience. In the beginning of 2010 the iPhone application will launch.

The short movie I’ve been helping out with (Visual effects), The Line by Xavier Agudo is premiering on 6th November 2009 in Prenzelauer Berg, Berlin

Read more about the event as details come up here: The Line’s official homepage

I decided to explain my decision of name, because I seem to have to explain what is says every time I speak to potential customers over the phone.

Some time ago I was sitting down brainstorming on some names for something that wouldn’t indicate exactly what I do (since I do not want to limit myself) plus it shouldn’t be specific to language or location (I was living at that time in Sweden).

A Place Between Here, was choosen for several reasons.

• simple words (easy to spell, hard to spell wrong)
• easy pronunciation (even though I tend to say it faster and faster every time)
• abstract yet simple ( a place between here ?).

Well until now I’ve been using a logo consisting of APBH, but was thinking I needed something more.

So I’ve been looking into the meaning of the sentence, and it turns out it was a pretty good decision of name.

Oxford Dictionary on each word:

A

ORIGIN Middle English : weak form of Old English ān [one.]

Place

ORIGIN Middle English : from Old French, from an alteration of Latinplatea ‘open space,’ from Greek plateia (hodos) ‘broad (way).’

Between

ORIGIN Old English betwēonum, from be [by] + a Germanic wordrelated to two .

Here

ORIGIN Old English hēr, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch andGerman hier, also to he .

So in conclusion One Open Space/Broad Road 2 here

Even better than before considering my broad spectrum of services.

Now for design-thinking a logo for that