|
|
 |
|
The Pixel Punk Diaries |
Finally—Our New Video Player
In an article from a 2 months ago, I described how the new, smaller button bar signaled new types of content on lifeteen.com: photos, audio, and video. Although we've had a little bit of each of these types of content on lifeteen.com, we didn't have the quality and quantity that we needed. But that's beginning to change.
Last week we launched an all new video section, with 4 significant new features:
- Bigger Video: Our video screen is twice as big as anything we've had since 2001. This is obviously more fun, because who likes to watch video on a postage-stamp sized screen? A bigger video is made possible by the combined efforts of new technologies: Flash Video, your faster Internet connection, and faster servers where we store our actual website.
You can sit back and watch videos for as long as you want.
- Cleaner Video: People have always compared video on the web with watching television, and TV always wins. Why? Because TV isn't fuzzy, it doesn't skip, and it won't quit on you. But that gap of quality and reliability is narrowing. Now people watch a lot of video online: news, sports highlights, and music videos. I hope you notice that our new video player is more crisp and clean than ever.
- Easy-to-find Video: Our last video player looked good, but it was difficult to find older videos. With every click through the archive, the page would have to reload. This constant reloading was annoying because it took forever. Now we have a full Flash interface, so nothing ever reloads. Plus, you can easily toggle between the video to the archive. When you flip back to the video, it continues playing where you left off. (Give it a try, it's pretty slick.) After a video segment is finished, the next video will automatically load. You can sit back and watch videos for as long as you want.
- Embedding Video: You asked for it, and we listened. We're using YouTube.com technology to make it easy for you to embed lifeteen.com videos in your parish websites, blogs, and MySpace.
We're excited about this new video player because it will be a catalyst for change for our website and our organization. We've planned and prayed about this new year, and there's no doubt in our mind that video is the way to go. So look for regular updates to the video section. (And if you don't see updates, then pray for us, because we need Divine Intervention.)
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
 |
Matt Smith is the Director of Internet Ministries for Life Teen, an international Catholic youth ministry based in Phoenix, Arizona. He is the creative force behind Life Teen's cluster of websites that receive nearly 2 million visits a year. Since staring on MTV's "Real World" and MTV's "Road Rules Challenge", Matt has traveled the country speaking at colleges, universities, schools, and Catholic parishes.
 Read
More
|
 |
|