[whatwg] <video> element proposal

[Håkon Wium Lie]

Also sprach Bjoern Hoehrmann:

 >   +----------------+-----------------+-----------------+---------------+
 >   | SMIL           | SVG             | IE              | "WHATWG"      |
 >   +----------------+-----------------+-----------------+---------------+
 >     beginElement() | beginElement()  | beginElement()  | play()
 >     endElement()   | endElement()    | endElement()    | stop()
 >     -              | pauseElement()  | pauseElement()  | pause()
 >     -              | resumeElement() | resumeElement() | togglePause()
 >     -              | isPaused        | isPaused        | state == PAUSED
 >    ...

I personallay think play, stop and pause are better names.

 > So, sure, don't pick the not-invented-here APIs

We didn't really invent "play", "stop", "pause". These words are
printed on at least fire remote controls within easy reach of me at
the moment.

Do you really think using "beginElement" would be better?

 > The next is compatibility. I want my content to work in as many cases as
 > possible. It goes without saying that "WHATWG" video works nowhere. I
 > think "Any solution that cannot be used with the current high-market-
 > share user agent without the need for binary plug-ins is highly unlikely
 > to be successful."

This is an issue. I don't know if will be possible to extend IEx to
support <video>/OggTheora without Microsoft's consent. IEx has proven
to be amazingly extensible in the past. We'll see.

Even if it turns out to be impossible to use open codecs in IEx, people
should still be encouraged to use open codecs.

 > It is hard to find tools that take care of transcoding, they are
 > difficult to use (lack of advise on which settings to use, crude command
 > line interfaces, ...) and using Ogg Theora generally meant considerably
 > reducing the quality while at the same time considerably increasing file
 > size

Compared to which formats? I believe Ogg Theora performs better than
Flash. Given the video quality of some of the superhits on YouTube, I
doubt this is the most important factor, though.

 > So, where does that leave me? Ah, yes,
 > 
 >   <Page xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation">
 >     <MediaElement Source="example.video" />
 >   </Page>
 > 
 > which, too, has the benefit of actually working in my web browser. It
 > also happens to be much simpler than the equivalent "HTML5" document.

It doesn't work in my browser. What does the code do?

-h&kon
              Håkon Wium Lie                          CTO °þe®ª
howcome at opera.com                  http://people.opera.com/howcome