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> Apple's website needs to work on all major browsers That doesn't seem true. The second-most-prominent links on the iPhone and iPad sites are to videos that o

> Apple's website needs to work on all major browsers That doesn't seem true. The second-most-prominent links on the iPhone and iPad sites are to videos that only play in Quicktime. If they wanted the site to work everywhere, they'd use a format those browsers can natively play.

quink 14y ago
The videos linked to from the iPhone and iPad pages, then they're video tags these days. If you're talking about the movie trailers or whatnot, then Apple isn't trying to sell you Quicktime, but it's damn well trying to sell you an iPhone or iPad.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- josteink 14y ago
  If you're talking about the movie trailers or whatnot, then Apple isn't trying to sell you Quicktime, but it's damn well trying to sell you an iPhone or iPad. Using a technology you probably already have to own an iPad or an iPhone to have installed no less.
dbloom 14y ago
I think Apple's aim with these videos is for them to be a seamless, ambient way for the page to come alive (sorry if that sounds cheesy). Asking the user to install a plugin defeats the purpose here. The keynote and Johnny Ive video are a little different because it's targeted towards people who are already Apple enthusiasts. They're much more likely to already have Safari or QuickTime installed (or at east be willing to install it). Still, it does strike me as kind of odd that Apple is working so hard to make one video accessible while being pretty lazy with another one (they don't even bother to make it accessible to Chrome on Windows, which does have h.264 support, unless QuickTime is installed). Maybe those two parts of the site were prepared by different teams. [EDIT]: Actually, I just tried again in Chome and IE 9 on Windows 7, and it works fine (without QuickTime installed). Maybe Apple fixed it?
arrrg 14y ago
Apple uses a bog standard <video>-tag with a h.264 encoded video as its source. Every browser that can play that video (Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari) will be able to play that video. If your browser can’t (Firefox), then it won’t be able to play that video and Apple is so nice and offers a sensible fallback. QuickTime is never required.
- dangrossman 14y ago
  This is the first link on the iPhone page: http://www.apple.com/apple-events/september-2012/ http://www.apple.com/apple-events/september-2012/ There is no <video> tag, there is a "Get Quicktime" button, no video plays in my Chrome browser, and here's a screenshot of the network tab showing it downloaded a .MOV file with content-type movie/quicktime, not h.264: http://i.imgur.com/h8dO8.png http://i.imgur.com/h8dO8.png
  - arrrg 14y ago
    That’s HTTP live streaming. Chrome doesn’t support that, so it gets the fallback. QuickTime is never required.
    - dangrossman 14y ago
      > QuickTime is never required. How do you propose I watch this QuickTime video without QuickTime? Have you forgotten the context of this conversation, about the purported desire to support all major browsers?
      - arrrg 14y ago
        It’s not a QuickTime video. That’s my main point. I disagree that Apple’s goal here is to make it work with all major browsers in all situations.

quink 14y ago

The videos linked to from the iPhone and iPad pages, then they're video tags these days. If you're talking about the movie trailers or whatnot, then Apple isn't trying to sell you Quicktime, but it's damn well trying to sell you an iPhone or iPad.

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
josteink 14y ago
If you're talking about the movie trailers or whatnot, then Apple isn't trying to sell you Quicktime, but it's damn well trying to sell you an iPhone or iPad. Using a technology you probably already have to own an iPad or an iPhone to have installed no less.

dbloom 14y ago

I think Apple's aim with these videos is for them to be a seamless, ambient way for the page to come alive (sorry if that sounds cheesy). Asking the user to install a plugin defeats the purpose here. The keynote and Johnny Ive video are a little different because it's targeted towards people who are already Apple enthusiasts. They're much more likely to already have Safari or QuickTime installed (or at east be willing to install it). Still, it does strike me as kind of odd that Apple is working so hard to make one video accessible while being pretty lazy with another one (they don't even bother to make it accessible to Chrome on Windows, which does have h.264 support, unless QuickTime is installed). Maybe those two parts of the site were prepared by different teams. [EDIT]: Actually, I just tried again in Chome and IE 9 on Windows 7, and it works fine (without QuickTime installed). Maybe Apple fixed it?

arrrg 14y ago

Apple uses a bog standard <video>-tag with a h.264 encoded video as its source. Every browser that can play that video (Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari) will be able to play that video. If your browser can’t (Firefox), then it won’t be able to play that video and Apple is so nice and offers a sensible fallback. QuickTime is never required.

dangrossman 14y ago
This is the first link on the iPhone page: http://www.apple.com/apple-events/september-2012/ http://www.apple.com/apple-events/september-2012/ There is no <video> tag, there is a "Get Quicktime" button, no video plays in my Chrome browser, and here's a screenshot of the network tab showing it downloaded a .MOV file with content-type movie/quicktime, not h.264: http://i.imgur.com/h8dO8.png http://i.imgur.com/h8dO8.png
- arrrg 14y ago
  That’s HTTP live streaming. Chrome doesn’t support that, so it gets the fallback. QuickTime is never required.
  - dangrossman 14y ago
    > QuickTime is never required. How do you propose I watch this QuickTime video without QuickTime? Have you forgotten the context of this conversation, about the purported desire to support all major browsers?
    - arrrg 14y ago
      It’s not a QuickTime video. That’s my main point. I disagree that Apple’s goal here is to make it work with all major browsers in all situations.