Online HD Video Services

I’ve been testing various online video sharing services to see how how they perform with HD video content. One of the main issues for me (other than quality) is the size and duration most of these sites allow. YouTube, for example, limits videos to 10 minutes maximum. Others limit by file size. This is the case for most sites even when paying for a premium account.

MotionBox has taken a more flexible approach and, for a very reasonable $40 a year, allows practically unlimited file sizes and durations. They limit their service by the number of allowed  views of the videos uploaded. There are 3 levels of account:

1. Free basic membership
2. Premium membership, at $39.95 a year
3. Pro membership, for commercial organisations, at $24.95 a month

I have embedded a test video I uploaded to motionbox.com. The original video is HD format, 1920×720. You have a choice of player  when embedding the video from motionbox; either standard definition or hi definition. I have embedded both in the tests below. For the purpose of comparison I have embedded another HD video of mine from Vimeo and YouTube.

For me, motionbox.com looks the best. What do you think?

Andy Clarke’s Inspired CSS

My latest Andy Clarke purchase arrived from Amazon this morning: CSS Artistry: A Web Design Master Class. The set comprises Andy’s 2006 book Transcending CSS: The Fine Art of Web Design and a new DVD-ROM called Inspired CSS – styling for a beautiful web.

I’ve had the book since it was first published and it’s now well worn. It’s a beautifully produced tome and is packed with inspiration, cool designs and techniques, all based on web standards. So good I’ve now bought it twice [I plan to donate my first copy to the team of web developers I manage at work].

I’ve started watching the DVD this afternoon. I find Andy’s relaxed, but authoratitive style engaging and never dull. He makes what can be a dry, technical subject watchable. I am around half way through and I have learned so much. Tips and tricks that create those ‘ah, that’s what that does’ moments.

The DVD is not aimed at beginners, which is one of the reasons I decided to buy it. I agree, but Andy makes it easy to understand and digest with lots of practical examples. All of the source code is included on the disc, so it’s possible to follow along and play with the code yourself.

The DVD covers:

• Semantic markup
• Typography
• Microformats
• Advanced CSS selectors
• Layout techniques
• CSS3 features

Highly recommended.

Note: this is a DVD-ROM. Requires Flash Player 8 or above and works on Apple Mac and Windows.

Panic Coda

I’ve been a user of Dreamweaver since version 1 and still use it at work from time to time. Having moved to a Mac at home I decided to try out something simpler (and cheaper!) and chose Panic’s Coda, which I’ve been using for a while now.

Version 1.6 introduced plugins and I’ve just updated my software to the latest version (1.6.2). I’m glad to see there’s a growing list of plugins available from third-party developers.

If you’re looing for a reasonably-priced HTML editor for the Mac you won’t go far wrong with Coda.

Five Simple Steps : the book

Mark Boulton

I’ve been a fan of Mark Boulton for a while and eagerly awaiting his new e-book. Good news, it will be available to purchase as a PDF download on 2 February 2009.

Mark has created a microsite over at www.fivesimplesteps.co.uk and you can also follow him on twitter: twitter.com/fivesimplesteps.

While I’m at it, you can read more about Mark’s work at www.markboultondesign.com and visit his blog over at www.markboulton.co.uk. Not that I’m stalking him you understand!

DNS, VPS and PHP Safe Mode

To quote Victor Meldew: “I don’t believe it!”. Having thought all was well in DNS-land last night, I checked again this morning to find that it had all reverted to the previous state.

Why? It’s beginning to annoy me.

I’ve once again updated the nameservers and have fingers and toes crossed. If it carries on, I will have to raise a trouble ticket. Watch this space.

Having installed WordPress the other day, I found I was getting some warnings about SAFE MODE preventing some file operations. I’ve spent a while digging around the net and have found the answer in front of me in Plesk – as usual, a user error!

If you find yourself installing WordPress, make sure you configure your web server such that PHP safe mode is set to OFF. I found a useful link that shows this step-by-step at Media Temple’s website.

Getting there.

Posterous

To date I’ve been using Posterous as the blogging platform for my first contribution to the social media world. I like its simplicity, but with simplicity comes limitation; hence my move to WordPress.

I decided to host my own instance of WordPress on my virtual private server since it will provide me with more flexibility (and headaches) than on a hosted service. I’m still very much getting to grips with it; so far so good in spite of some teething problems.

I am looking forward to being able to concentrate on content rather than the technical side!