Using HTML5 video and audio tags to embelish your site

Dog Lick HTML5 App

There is a trend of adding a video element looping as the background of the website. Do you want to do this too? You won’t believe how easy it is to do. All you need to do is get a video and/or audio you want to loop in the background of your page and the rest is history.

I will show you how you can add HTML5 video and audio elements to your page with these simple steps:

1. Add the ‘video’ and ‘audio’ tag inside the body of your HTML.

<body>
<video id="back_video" src="video source goes here" loop></video>
<audio id="bark_audio" src="audio source goes here" loop></audio>
  ...
</body>

2. Add css style to the video element to extend the size of the browser window.

#back_video{
 width: 100%;
 z-index: 0; /*puts video behind all the elements on the page.*/
 }
 #bark_audio{
 visibility: hidden;
 }

3. Add interaction with JavaScript, so when the page loads the video plays in the background and loops automatically and if the user clicks the video the audio file gets played in response to the click event.

<script>
 var doc = document;
 var video = doc.getElementById("back_video");
 var audio = doc.getElementById("bark_audio");
 doc.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function() {
 playBackgroundVideo();
 video.addEventListener("click", playDogBark);
 });
 function playBackgroundVideo(){video.play();}
 function playDogBark(){audio.play();}
 </script>

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A quick review of WordPress 4 “Benny Goodman”

With WordPress 4 “Benny” you have and can:
– Manage your media and embedded content with ease;

– See any embeddable content previews right in the visual editor;

– The content-editing experience has improved! Now, the visual editor now expands to fit your content with a fixed toolbar in the editor when you scroll; and

– A better workflow for finding and installing plugins with a new grid view adds some visual flair to finding and installing plugins, bringing relevant plugin info front and center.

So you want to be a Ruby on Rails developer… Huh?

Ruby on rails 4.0 Rocks! There is no framework as easy to use and setup such as this. You are on the right track my friend. Ruby on Rails it is really the type of web development that doesn’t hurt.

Photo and slogan from rubyonrails.org

Before getting to the nitty gritty of your next million dollar web app idea. You will need to get a couple of things in order to start creating as smooth as possible.

First you need to install Ruby and the latest Rails gem on your development environment PC/Mac. Go to rubyonrails.org and download the ruby installer for your operating system.

RubyInstaller

Download and Install Ruby

First you need to install Ruby and the latest Rails gem on your development environment PC/Mac. Go to rubyonrails.org and download the ruby installer for your operating system.

NodeJS-Framework

Download and Install Node JS *(not required)

Visit the NodeJS website and get the latest package. This is not a requirement; however if you later find issues with your Rails installation related to a jQuery/JavaScript runtime — installing this software will fix the issue.

AptanaIDE

Download and Install Aptana IDE (Free)

This is one of the greatest free RoR IDE available in the interwebz. Has everything you will need to learn, develop and deploy your first Ruby on Rails application. One minor setback that makes me hesitate using it more often is the responsiveless auto-complete feature for RoR. Yet, it works great for all other web developement projects you could have in mind.

RubyMineIDE

Download and Install RubyMine IDE (License)

The best Ruby on Rails I have seen so far is Ruby Mine created and maintained by JetBrains. This IDE has a lot, and I mean a lot of features to offer for web developers. This program has the best code-check and auto-complete solutions by far. I recommend you to try it –It will make your development life easier.

New logos! They care. Do you?

It took one mover and shaker to come up with the idea to redesign the logo of the company to inspire others companies to do the same. This

is the case of the president and CEO of Yahoo!, Marissa Mayer. Google and Pandora decided to redesign their logo look and feel.

thumb-yahoo

The challenge to keep up with the technology and design trends is high. The ‘users’ are the most important asset for a company. Users decide if the new logo, new feature and design of an application is good enough for them to come back and use it again. How many of you decided to

come back to yahoo.com after seeing the Mayer acquisition as a CEO? I, aye sir. I’m guilty. In this instance I did not login to my account to check my e-mail because, in reality no one writes me to that account, but spammers. I came back to see what new features where implemented. I did not see any big changes. However, the impact of Marissa M. at Yahoo! shows in everything – from the design of the logo, front-page and the simplicity of the web mail client (Pss. it has a google feel with the yahoo colors). Change is good, specially when change is needed.

thumb-pandora

Pandora is the perfect place for all audiophiles. You love music? You don’t want to pay a cent and still listen to great music, then you go to Pandora. Pandora started as a free service with ads and then they introduced a paid version that would remove the ads and play your lovely music endlessly. Then, something changed that made me try other services. Pandora restricted the free version with hours of play time. Free should remain free. No one likes their freedom restricted. That was my case, and I tried Grooveshark and created playlists, found new music. I did not find any restriction. I liked it. However, before I felt that I did not care about Pandora, they removed the limitations of their free version. And I came back too. Pandora is a great application and great company. If you don’t know, or have not heard of Pandora, you should create an account an start to listen to music more often.

thumb-google

Google did not hesitated changing the logo as well. Their logo change is not that noticeable, but the logo was upgraded nontheless. They flattened the logo, making it even simpler to the eyes. No more embossed and shadowy logos. Out with the old, in with the new.

 

We like simple. We embrace simple.