The core complication isn't so much video per se but the whole Web 2.0
multimedia explosion. Text is easy to format and showcase -- we've
been laying it out for centuries -- but digital media is a major
complication.
I come from audio blogging/podcasting and the rot sets in when you try
to combine media elements -- in my case: text + audio + digital
presentations ('powerpoints') + slide shows + videos. While this
discussion list no doubt has some QuickTime preferences the unifying
(and contradictory) element on the web is flash media.
That changes the dialogue a lot.
In mindset I'm a total bloggerfile as I know nuthin' else to speak
about so I tend to pursue the glorious quest of trying to get as much
return as I can from the one blog platform -- in my case , Blogger.
Thats' all I know.
Nonetheless I think the Blip TV channel player is the best media
showcase hardware I've come across on the web. So that guests on my
videoblog too.
Elsewhere I am very eclectic and in other blogs I work on I like to
use Vodpod widgets and the new Vodspot platform.
http://blog.vodpod.com/2008/12/09/announcing-vodspot/
and I cross post like mad --albeit selectively.
While I will subscribe keenly to an audio feed and automatically
download the Mp3 files I won't do that for video, preferring instead
to monitor videoblogging sites by subscribing to their feeds in Google
reader. I then quickly review their content before deciding to
continue watching. ( I don't however sample audio like that.)
So what the site looks like is neither here nor there as RSS rules.
Nonetheless with site showcasing -- and I do this with audio -- it is
often useful to divide up your offerings into themes. I currently
offer standalone players for "Best of" my videos, " Videos from
elsewhere" and my own all-in channel in the same way that I always
divide up my audio wares and offer them in pop up players.
But the reality is, I fear, that no one knows how to design the best
of all possible web or video sites so there are all these people
working away at the coal face, tweaking as they go -- designing a
better mousetrap
Nonethless,some of the best video feeds I subscribe can emanate from
the most sterile of CSS sites. So let's not get toooooo caught up in
form over content.
dave riley
http://ratbaggy.blogspot.com/
