Video element controls

[JAB Creations]

I was reading about the video element and it said that the user agent should provide controls for the video...this is undesirable.

For a standardized element there should be standardized controls...or did I miss something?

Opera recently posted an HTML video element demonstration and there was no way to set the video to full screen.

Also I think users should have the ability to press 'escape' to exit full screen and use the left and right arrows to skip through videos at minimally increments and CTRL/arrow [left/right] for modest increments (say 5 and 10 seconds respectively) universally. I also think the space bar should be used to toggle between play and pause.

[dranzeraef]

I must disagree with you. Actually those functions you mention can be easily done with some Js coding or Java if you use Cortado libraries.
The video/audio tag allows you to make almost whatever you want as it is now, you just need to make a bit more effort to get things done.

Maybe they can make some arrangements in this lines:

Add parameters "allowFullScreen", "allowTimeBar", "allowPlayButton", etc..

[JAB Creations]

I must disagree with you. Standardizing controls would reduce the need to manually code such controls and remove potential abuse such as spawning pop-ups when the person is trying to watch the video because that's exactly the kind of BS I would expect many sites to pull off.

[zcorpan]

We can't have standardized controls, because HTML is media independent. For instance, the iPhone doesn't have any keys at all, so your proposed UI makes no sense on the iPhone.

In general, HTML doesn't say anything about UI. If it did, it would probably suck and become out of date quickly. UI is an area for user agents to compete. No need for interop in UI.

[zcorpan]

Standardizing controls would ... remove potential abuse such as spawning pop-ups when the person is trying to watch the video because that's exactly the kind of BS I would expect many sites to pull off.

You can still spawn pop-ups when using the native controls.

[JAB Creations]

I still think a universal standardized set of controls is in the user's best interest.

[MarcelStetter]

I agree, that it should be possible, to have the controls (play/pause, back, forward, volume,...) without Scripting.

Because many users have Scripting deactivated or use add-ins like "NoScript". They do so because of security or other reasons. Or you are on a machine (school, university, work,...) where you are not allowed or even not able to change the settings.

And these users should also be possible to see and control the video and audio.

If that is not a part of HTML it should be in CSS. But it really should be done without Scripting (for the reasons mentioned above).

[Gabor]

I must disagree with you. Actually those functions you mention can be easily done with some Js coding or Java if you use Cortado libraries.

But for those who has Scripting turned off (and maybe even cannot chance the settings, e.g. at work, school) it is important to have control of the video-/audio-playback.

My wish is:
a standard set of controls, that are automatically choosen, if the author of the page hasn't choosen something else. But there also should be possibilities to change these defaults - by HTML-options for what controls are displayed and by CSS for own designed control-buttons. But this should be possible without Scripting for those who deactivated Scripting. And if an author still wants more, he could use Scripting, but the Non-Scripting should work as well.

[PhilG]

Standard-controls for video-/audio-playback without scripting is absolutely necessary and very important.

[freeTinker]

I'm old enough to remember TVs without remote-controls, I find it strange but there are some folks who cannot!

Yup! today's TV still has controls somewhere, hidden away and available for those emergencies when the batteries run out during Superbowl and you find yourself 30 miles away from 7-11 or gas station, but the control is designed to be remote (and distinct) from the viewer (or player)

Is it better this way? - well, if they would only simplify those damn remotes! and have a minimum of buttons, ha!

We have 'standard' forms, fields and buttons, but we style them with CSS. What's the difference?

That's the way my mind looks at this anyway...

[Tobias Hanser]

That the audio- and video-tags work without scripting, only declarative, is very important. That's one of the most essential requirements.

@zcorpan:
You don't need standardized controls. With CSS you can provide different controls for classic computers, mobile devices, touch screens, and so on. Just like the CSS-mediatypes can change a site for different devices.

It's only important, that HTML5-Audio and -Video also works without scripting / ob devices where scripting isn't activated or available (for whichever reasons).

[zcorpan]

You don't need standardized controls. With CSS you can provide different controls for classic computers, mobile devices, touch screens, and so on. Just like the CSS-mediatypes can change a site for different devices.

The native controls aren't stylable at all, at least currently.

It's only important, that HTML5-Audio and -Video also works without scripting / ob devices where scripting isn't activated or available (for whichever reasons).

It does. When scripting is disabled, the native controls show (at least per spec and it does in Opera).

[Tobias Hanser]

The native controls aren't stylable at all, at least currently.

Then this should be something to work on...

It would be a good idea to have (neutral-looking) standard-controls for play/pause, stop, FF, Rew, full-screen, subtitles on/off, progress-bar and current-time/total-time. The author could decide which of them to show and in which order. And on a touch-device they're automatically scaled a bit bigger (by CSS-media-types). (Therefore they should be resolution-independent, e.g. in SVG.)

And if somebody wants total different-looking controls, this author could modify the SVG (e.g. different colors) or make completely new SVGs.

In this way, it works completely without scripting, but gives you full control and it's still very variable and modifiable: if somebody wants other designs, it's possible to modify the SVG-controls or make completely new.

I think, this would be the best way to do it.

[Niklas81]

I don't want to activate Scripting only for watching a video or listening to audio (and to control these files). Scripting is okay for sites with many interaction (e.g. web-apps), but it shouldn't be necessary for video/audio.

My wish is, that there are standard-widgets for controlling video/audio. But the author should have the possibility to choose that some of them are not shown. And it should be possible to change their design with CSS (that's what CSS is for - the optical representation).

[Tobias Hanser]

My wish is, that there are standard-widgets for controlling video/audio. But the author should have the possibility to choose that some of them are not shown. And it should be possible to change their design with CSS (that's what CSS is for - the optical representation).

It would be great, if these standard-widgets would be in SVG. Then they would not only be scalable, but it would also be very easy to modify them.