The Web Smart Blog

The Web Smart Blog exists to extend the information provided in our monthly Web Smart Newsletters. Web information changes so quickly that a monthly publication can't cover enough ground. Also, additional information to past topics can't wait for future publication so we add related newsletter information here.

It's All About Video!

August 7, 2007 at 5:30 pm by Chris

This year seems to be all about video. The good thing is, we know it, and our clients know it too. But more importantly, our developers know how to do it well. Below are three examples of video applications for three very different clients.

On the left is a screenshot from www.geiconsultants.com, a website we built that went live in June. GEI is a large consulting firm that wanted to use video on their new site to showcase their people and give visitors a better sense for who they are as a company. While video is showcased all over the site, some pages have a special two-video module, which our developer, George Wamichi, built using ajax to allow a user to toggle between two different videos. (Try it out here.) Another cool aspect of what George built is that the video player and video files are both pulled from another database that the client controls and matched up using our tools. This way, the flash player interface and the video files can stay separate and not clog up the site's bandwidth. We also worked with Studio Module on this project, which is why it looks so darn good!

Pictured to the right is the homepage for a website we just built for Rottman Creative Group, an agency in the Baltimore area that focuses on work for non-profits and associations. Their portfolio is full of awesome work, which they can upload to their site in almost any format (quicktime, flash compositions, flash video, images, etc.) thanks to our developer, Steve Brock. Being a creative agency, Rottman designed their own site and had the zany idea of slightly rotating many video files that appear on the site, which left Steve scratching his head as to how to program the site to do what they needed. Of course, Steve always comes through- even if it takes him all night! This tool allows Rottman to upload any kind of video at a normal size and aspect ratio, and it appears skewed to fit the playful design without any degradation of quality.

Pictured to the left is the video player on the homepage of www.ineoquest.com. IneoQuest creates hardware for IP video, so they naturally wanted to use video on their site to promote their products. What they needed was a simple flash-based video player that served up videos as they produced them, and which allowed the user to select them from a queue. Our developer, Forrest Oliphant, built this player, which became the basis for a NewfangledCMS video component that we offer today! The visual design was created by our own design team, led by Creative Director Justin Kerr.

I have a feeling that we're just now scratching the surface of how video is going to impact what we do at Newfangled. Don't believe me? Check out how many of Eric's newsletters have been about video (or use video)! Good thing Eric knows how to predict the future...

Tags: video clients developers