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Search Marketing: How To Use HTML Meta Tags http://searchenginewatch.com/2167931 What are meta tags? They are information inserted into the "head" area of your web pages. Other than the title tag (explained below), information in the head area of your web pages is not seen by those viewing your pages in browsers. Instead, meta information in this area is used to communicate information that a human visitor may not be concerned with. Meta tags, for example, can tell a browser what "character set" to use or whether a web page has self-rated itself in terms of adult content. AltaVista http://www.altavista.com/addurl/default Some Suggestions for Increasing Relevancy Use keywords and description META tags and place them in the HEAD section after the TITLE tag. Limit the description to 250 characters, and try to keep it under 150 characters if possible. For example: <HEAD> <TITLE>My Favorite Hobby</TITLE> <META name="keywords" content="stamps, stamp collecting, stamp history, prices, stamps for sale"> <META name="description" content="Everything you wanted to know about stamps, from prices to history."> </HEAD> Select your keywords carefully. Consult other people for help in choosing your keywords. Research your "competition" regarding their keywords and techniques, and emulate them where appropriate. Use your most critical keywords in your HTML titles. Manually submit your site to the following search engines, and resubmit if your site significantly changes: AltaVista Add your URL to Google Some Suggestions for Increasing Relevancy Use keywords and description META tags and place them in the HEAD section after the TITLE tag. Limit the description to 250 characters, and try to keep it under 150 characters if possible. For example: <HEAD> <TITLE>My Favorite Hobby</TITLE> <META name="keywords" content="stamps, stamp collecting, stamp history, prices, stamps for sale"> <META name="description" content="Everything you wanted to know about stamps, from prices to history."> </HEAD> Select your keywords carefully. Consult other people for help in choosing your keywords. Research your "competition" regarding their keywords and techniques, and emulate them where appropriate. Use your most critical keywords in your HTML titles. Manually submit your site to the following search engines, and resubmit if your site significantly changes: We add and update new sites to our index each time we crawl the web, and we invite you to submit your URL here. We do not add all submitted URLs to our index, and we cannot make any predictions or guarantees about when or if they will appear. Please enter your full URL, including the http:// prefix. For example: http://www.google.com/. You may also add comments or keywords that describe the content of your page. These are used only for our information and do not affect how your page is indexed or used by Google. How to suggest a site to the Open Directory Use keywords and description META tags and place them in the HEAD section after the TITLE tag. Limit the description to 250 characters, and try to keep it under 150 characters if possible. For example: <HEAD> <TITLE>My Favorite Hobby</TITLE> <META name="keywords" content="stamps, stamp collecting, stamp history, prices, stamps for sale"> <META name="description" content="Everything you wanted to know about stamps, from prices to history."> </HEAD> Select your keywords carefully. Consult other people for help in choosing your keywords. Research your "competition" regarding their keywords and techniques, and emulate them where appropriate. Use your most critical keywords in your HTML titles. Manually submit your site to the following search engines, and resubmit if your site significantly changes Open Directory http://www.dmoz.org/add.html The Open Directory Project is a web directory of Internet resources. A web directory is something akin to a huge reference library. The directory is hierarchically arranged by subject - from broad to specific. The ODP is maintained by community editors who evaluate sites for inclusion in the directory. They are our experts, and all submissions are subject to editor evaluation. We care a great deal about the quality of the ODP. We aren''t a search engine and pride ourselves on being highly selective. We don''t accept all sites, so please don''t take it personally should your site not be accepted. Our goal is to make the directory as useful as possible for our users, not to have the directory include all (or even most) of the sites that could possibly be listed or serve as a promotional tool for the entities listed. To keep the ODP running smoothly and to assist us in exercising our editorial discretion, we have set up policies for submitting sites for our consideration. We may reject, delete, or edit submissions that violate these policies or that we otherwise believe, in our sole discretion, should not be included in the directory. We may also reject, delete, or block other sites that we believe to be associated with a user who has violated these policies. You should take a few moments to understand these policies and the steps to submit a site before you begin. Failure to understand and follow these instructions generally will result in the rejection of a submission. Yahoo Use keywords and description META tags and place them in the HEAD section after the TITLE tag. Limit the description to 250 characters, and try to keep it under 150 characters if possible. For example: <HEAD> <TITLE>My Favorite Hobby</TITLE> <META name="keywords" content="stamps, stamp collecting, stamp history, prices, stamps for sale"> <META name="description" content="Everything you wanted to know about stamps, from prices to history."> </HEAD> Select your keywords carefully. Consult other people for help in choosing your keywords. Research your "competition" regarding their keywords and techniques, and emulate them where appropriate. Use your most critical keywords in your HTML titles. Manually submit your site to the following search engines, and resubmit if your site significantly changes: Yahoo Yahoo tutorial for all problems http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/helpcentral/tutorials_index.html all Yahoo tutorials Web Videos http://www.utexas.edu/web/video/ The demand for delivering video over the World Wide Web is increasing dramatically. This document is an effort to educate and provide video creators with general guidelines to assist with the activities of producing and distributing video on the Web. One important aspect in this endeavor is to provide realistic expectations. Web video is not TV quality. Bandwidth limitations often make creating quality desktop video a challenge. Tradeoffs will have to be made between file size, image quality, frame rate, and audio quality. Compression affects the look of the video at a given bandwidth. This document offers the opportunity to experience different types of videos at different compression rates in different formats. The compression/decompression routines developed for Web video are improving everyday. Use these guidelines as just that -- information to guide you in the creation and distribution of video on the World Wide Web. The creation of high-quality video begins with the "big picture" approach. Keep the whole production process in mind while carefully planning each step. There are essentially 2 places where picture quality can be lost. Video captures two-dimensional images of a three-dimensional world. Some of the detail found in the colors, sounds and images may be lost. Using a high quality camera, good lighting and audio equipment and professional production practices are ways to minimize that loss. Compression of the video is necessary to deliver it over the Web. Compression reduces the amount of data or information in the video again. Using the proper compression is another important step in producing quality video. The old saying "Garbage in, garbage out" is as true with video as any other computer process. Video technology can be exciting and frustrating. The technology is often on the cutting edge and there are varying standards to go by. Different equipment and software can create challenges. Get to know others on campus who are engaging in these activities. Join the UT Digital Video Producers Group by contacting Diane Gierisch at dianeg@forum.utexas.edu. These guidelines will address the 2 major types of video on the Web: streaming versus progressive download. Streaming media is live and/or archived audio or video content, delivered in almost real-time to an end user''s computer via the Internet. It''s also called video-on-demand. For large files, streaming is preferable to downloading because you do not have to wait for the file to download before viewing it. Downloading a video file can greatly increase the amount of time it takes to view a presentation. In addition, many computers do not have the storage capacity to store a long presentation. Streamed presentations are experienced as they are downloaded, and generally not stored on the clients system. Viewers do not need to wait for the entire file to download to experience it. Further, it allows the consumer to jump forward or backward to the section of the content of interest. Progressive downloads are files that are downloaded to the viewers computer. The files do not have to be completely downloaded before viewing begins (some media players have a "quickstart" feature) but the final result is that a copy of the movie exists on the viewers computer. For longer (larger) movies and smaller bandwidth versions or users, this may not be desirable. Determine your audience and their method of Internet connectivity when planning your video. Video Pre-Production Planning http://www.utexas.edu/web/video/pre_prod.php?e=0 Before making the movie, there are several questions you should ask yourself. Why do I want to make this movie? What am I hoping to accomplish? Does the information already exist somewhere else in another format? Do I need to include video or will sound alone convey my message? Who is my audience? Are they located around the world, within Austin, Texas, or on UT''s network? How will the video be delivered? Online (streaming or downloadable), on a CD or DVD, or both? If it''s online, will my audience be using modems, cable or DSL, or ethernet networked computers? How many simultaneous viewers will there be? Answering these questions will help you create a plan for making your video. Write a project definition and include project specifications, such as minimum system requirements needed by viewers of your movie. The project definition will be your master plan and help you stay organized during the actual creation and preparation of the elements of your movie. A storyboard is highly recommended to keep your story organized. And a script is needed to include with your video as closed captioning. This provides complete accessibility by your audience. Be sure to build in some time for unexpected problems. This process can be complicated and is cutting edge. Challenges will come up and you will need time to address and resolve them. There are many multimedia formats from which to choose. This Guideline provides examples to three of them, all supported at The University of Texas at Austin. The three format options are: RealMedia, QuickTime and Windows Media. Each of these technologies provides streaming and downloadable video options and free media players for viewers. RealMedia''s player is called RealOne Player, QuickTime''s player is QuickTime 7 and Windows Media''s player is Windows Media Player. RealOne Player, http://www.real.com/ QuickTime7 http://www.apple.com/quicktime/ Windows Media Player 11 http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download/AllDownloads.aspx?displang=en&qstechnology= Video Production http://www.utexas.edu/web/video/prod.php?e=0 Audio Lights Lighting Techniques 3 Point Lighting Lighting Checklist Shooting the Movie An Outdoor Interview An Instructor Interview in a Classroom or Lab An Interview in an Office Post-Production http://www.utexas.edu/web/video/post_prod.php?e=0 After filming you may want to edit your movie. Editing includes removing parts of the video you don''t want and adding transitions and special effects. Digital editing software enables you to digitize your footage onto your computer, edit it, and then transfer it back to videotape, CD, DVD or to the Web. Some examples of digital video editing software are: Apple''s iMovie (supported by Mac only, very basic but adequate); Adobe''s Premiere (supported by Mac and PC platforms; more features and flexibility); Apple''s Final Cut Pro (supported by Mac only, very robust tool but steeper learning curve). See Figure 1 Video files can be huge files. In order too make the movies accessible on CD or via the Web, they must be compressed. Compression is a process by which huge movie files are reduced in size with the removal of unnecessary and redundant audio and video data. This process will affect the quality of the final movie so should be applied in ratios as needed. Review the "Examples" section to see the effects of compression for the various target bandwidths. Compression occurs when you either: apply a codec to both audio and video, or adjust the video frame size video frame rate audio sample rate or audio frequency rate. A codec, meaning compression and decompression, determines both the elimination of data during compression as well as the decompression when it is played. It is a mathematical equation, or algorithm, that eliminates the redundant data within a frame or between frames on video. This detailed analysis of each frame of the movie will be very time-consuming. The types of codecs available will depend on your final delivery format. The "Examples" section of this Guideline provides some guidance on which codecs work best in which formats. The video frame size is the size of the display window in which your movie plays. The best size is highly dependent on data rate, frame rate, codec, source material and personal preference. These factors are all interrelated so experimentation is the best way to find the optimal setting for your project. Use this chart as a guideline: Video Captioning Guidelines http://www.utexas.edu/web/video/captioning.php?e=0 Just like the closed captioning text on a television, online video content can be captioned to enable accessibility for people with disabilities. Captioning is a relatively simple process that will allow for greater functionality of web content, and will ensure that projects are in compliance with Sec. 508 of the Rehabilitation Act as well as Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Captioning does not have to just mean a transcript of the audio portion of your video. It can also provide additional information about what is visible on the screen allowing video content to be accessible to vision impaired users. WHAT YOU NEED video in any major format: Microsoft''s Windows Media, Apple Computer''s Quick Time, and Real System''s RealMedia, a transcript of the audio portion of the video, and a captioning tool like Magpie. TRANSCRIPT GUIDELINES Transcribe the video into a text document (file format of .txt). The transcription should be single spaced with two returns between speaking breaks. Files created in this manner are easily imported into Magpie (Magpie will automatically enter the text into separate fields), and will result in a lot of saved time. Separate sentences mean separate lines A basic rule to remember when transcribing is that you should make each sentence a separate line (with two line returns). If the sentences are very short and are spoken rather quickly, it is fine to put them in the same section: EXAMPLE: This is sentence is an introduction and is about one topic. Sentence two is next and is about something else. Becomes This is sentence is an introduction and is about one topic. Sentence two is next and is about something else. Changing speakers Option 1: An in-line option in which the speakers name, followed by a colon, is immediately followed by the text. EXAMPLE: Narrator: This is an example of narration. Karen Cross: Quote from Karen Cross. Narrator: Return to narrator. Option 2: Type the speakers name and return to the next line for the quote. If an unknown speaker narrates the piece, denote Narrator above the first line only. EXAMPLE: Narrator This is an example of narration Karen Cross Quote from Karen Cross Narrator Return to narrator. The main difference between the two is the space needed for the second option. Although it is easier to recognize the change in speaker, this option will use an extra line in the text box. If the captioned text is rather short, this is a good option. If the captioned text is longer and space is an issue, use the in-line option. Save the caption file as a plain text document. The file extension depends on the media format:. for RealMedia content, the caption file is a plain text document with an file extension of .rt, for Windows Media, the caption file is a plain text document with a file extension of .smi, and for Quick Time, the caption file as a plain text document. (See WebAIM for specific instructions.) The next step is publishing your media with captions. This is media specific On-Demand Delivery of Web Video On-Demand Delivery of Web Video The ITS Helix server is available to UT departments, faculty, and student organizations who publish from directories on Web Central, as well as our virtual host clients. If you choose to deliver streaming media from your Web site, store your video content in your Web Central directory and contact TeamWeb. Please read Publishing Options and Procedures to learn about publishing on Web Central. This page contains information about how to deliver RealMedia, Windows Media and QuickTime video files. The video files will open in their respective player''s window. Information on including captions with Flash video is also available. NOTE: If you are a new streaming media publisher, please contact www@www.utexas.edu and tell them the directory in which the streaming media will live. This is essential for successful streaming. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RealMedia There are four steps to publish streaming RealMedia content: combine caption file with video (creating a SMIL file), identify the path to the location of the SMIL file, write the HTML code to link to the SMIL file, and contact www@www.utexas.edu and tell them the directory in which the streaming media will live. Combining a caption file with a video file Using a SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language) file allows audio and video clips (along with images, text and other media type) to be streamed simultaneously using RealPlayer. SMIL is a markup language, like HTML, and is usually written using a text editor. The SMIL file specifies when and how clips are played. It coordinates the streaming of multiple "pieces" of your video. The SMIL file combines the video with a RealText (format .rt) file. RealPlayer uses SMIL to combine media content with a RealText (.rt) file. The .rt file contains the captions themselves and information about how and when they should appear. The SMIL file is really just a pointer file. It contains information about where and how your captions and media content should display. A sample SMIL file: <smil> <head> <meta name="title" content="interesting topic" /> <meta name="author" content="the University of Texas at Austin " /> <meta name="copyright" content="April 19, 2004" /> <!--these are comments--> <layout> <!-- The root-layout defines the height and width of the entire presentation in pixels. Each region defines specific areas in the presentation where media will play --> <root-layout width="320" height="340" /> <region id="video_region" width="320" height="240" left="0" top="0" /> <region id="text_region" width="320" height="100" left="0" top="240" /> </layout> </head> <body> <!-- Each line between the <par></par> tags is a media file which will play in the defined region. The <par> tags mean that they will play at the same time (in parallel). Fill="freeze" means that the final frame will stay visible when that media file is done. --> <par> <video src="filename.rm" region="video_region" fill="freeze" /> <textstream src="filename.rt" region="text_region" fill="freeze" /> </par> </body> </smil> Identifying Content Location The location or path to your content is where the SMIL file is stored on the server. Transfer the edited, compressed video file, the caption text file (.rt) and the SMIL file to your Web Central publishing directory using FTP (Unix), SSH Secure File Transfer (Windows), or Fetch (Macintosh). The SMIL file calls the media file and the caption file.The location of these files is everything that appears after http://www.utexas.edu/ in what would be the URL if you were to create a link to it. For example, if you saved a file called "welcome.smil" in the directory ~www/learn/video, the URL of your file is http://www.utexas.edu/learn/video/welcome.smil and the location of your file is /learn/video/welcome.smil Writing HTML Source Using the ITS Helix Streaming Server, the HTML code for the link to this file in the above example would be: <a href="http://realaudio.cc.utexas.edu:8080/ramgen/learn/video/welcome.smil">Text to link</a> (If you''re linking directly to a non-captioned video file, exchange the .smil file with the .rm file.) Ramgen is a Helix Universal Server feature or client launch utility that allows you to link from a Web page directly to a streaming file. It causes the server to launch the appropriate media player, and stream the clip using the player''s preferred streaming protocol. Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WindowsMedia There are four steps to publish streaming Windows Media content: combine caption file with video (creating an ASX file), identify the path to the location of the streaming media file, write the HTML code to include the media file on a web page, and contact www@www.utexas.edu and tell them the directory in which the streaming media will live. Combining a caption file with a video file Including captions with Windows Media Player means using Microsoft''s Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange (SAMI). SAMI is similar to SMIL in that it is a text file (with an extension of .smi) but the SAMI file contains not only the captions but also the specifications for its format and when it should display. A sample SAMI file: <sami> <head> <title>Interesting Title</title> <style type="text/css"> <!-- P { font-size: 2 ems; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; color: #FFFFFF; background-color: #000000; text-align: center; } .ENUSCC { name: English; lang: EN-US-CC; } --> </style> </head> <body> <sync start=0> <p class=ENUSCC><b>Speaker1:</b> Sentence one.</p> </sync> <sync start=2600> <p class=ENUSCC><b>Speaker2:</b> Sentence two.</p> </sync> <sync start=4250> <p class=ENUSCC><b>Speaker1:</b> Sentence three.</p> </sync> </body> </sami> Windows Media Player uses an ASX that calls the media file and the SAMI file. A sample ASX file is: <asx version = "3.0"> <abstract> </abstract> <title>Interesting title</title> <author>the University of Texas at Austin</author> <copyright>2004</copyright> <entry> <ref href="mms://realaudio.cc.utexas.edu/path_to_WMP_file/filename.wmv?sami=http://www.utexas.edu/path_to_SAMI_file/filename.smi"> </entry> </asx> Identifying Content Location The location or path to your content is where your streaming media file, SAMI file and ASX file are stored on the server. Transfer the edited, compressed video file, the SAMI file and the ASX file to your Web Central publishing directory using FTP (Unix), SSH Secure File Transfer (Windows), or Fetch (Macintosh). The location of the ASX file is everything that appears after http://www.utexas.edu/ in what would be the URL of the Windows Media file if you were to create a link to it. Using the ITS Helix Streaming Server, the link to the ASX file would be: http://www.utexas.edu/path_to_file/file.asx For example, if you saved a ASX file called "welcome.asx" in the directory ~www/learn/video, the URL of your file is http://www.utexas.edu/learn/video/welcome.asx and the location of your file is /learn/video/welcome.asx Writing HTML Source Using the ITS Helix Streaming Server, the link to the ASX file would be: http://www.utexas.edu/path_to_file/file.asx If you''re linking to a non-captioned video file and want it to stream to Windows Media Player 6.4, add the extension .asx to the end of the video file. For example, <a href="http://realaudio.cc.utexas.edu:8080/asxgen/learn/video/welcome.wmv.asx">Text to link</a> If you are streaming exclusively to Windows Media Player 7 and later, the .asx extension is not necessary so the link would look like <a href="http://realaudio.cc.utexas.edu:8080/asxgen/learn/video/welcome.wmv">Text to link</a> Asxgen is the equivalent to ramgen for launching Windows Media Player. Including this in the URL causes the server to launch the appropriate media player. Back to Top -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- QuickTime There are four steps to publish streaming QuickTime movies. (Reminder: for QuickTime movies to stream via the Helix Streaming Server, they must be hinted. This requires QuickTime Pro.) convert the text file (caption) into a movie, combine the caption movie and the compressed Quick Time streaming movie into one hinted movie, identify the path to the location of the hinted movie file, create a reference file, and write the HTML code on a Web page to call the reference file which calls the movie. Convert the caption file into a Quick Time text track Use a text editor to create a starter text file containing the first few lines of captions. Save this file as a .txt file. An easy way to incorporate the proper formatting for your text track is to let Quicktime do it for you. Once you have a starter captioned text file created, A) Bring this file into QuickTime using the FILE/OPEN FILE command B) Once opened, export using TEXT to TEXT export option from export pulldown options: File>Export>Text to Text. This process adds the proper QuickTime formatting to your text file. Create the Final Movie File Once you are happy with your timed text track and have positioned it to the proper location, it''s time to save the final movie. Select "File/ Save As" and choose "Save as Self-Contained". Using this option, Quicktime includes any external text files associated with the movie, ie. your text file. Creating a QuickTime Captioned and Hinted Movie Store the compressed and captioned QuickTime movie in a Web Central directory. Using QuickTime Pro, open the compressed movie file. While the movie is playing, choose File/Export. Save this movie with a new name, such as welcome_hinted.mov and set Export: Movie to Hinted Movie. Identifying Content Location The location or path to your content is where the hinted movie file is stored on Web Central. Transfer the edited, compressed, hinted video file to your Web Central publishing directory using FTP (Unix), SSH Secure File Transfer (Windows), or Fetch (Macintosh). The location of this file is everything that appears after http://www.utexas.edu/ in what would be the URL of the QuickTime file if you were to create a link to it. For example, if you saved a file called "welcome_hinted.mov" in the directory ~www/learn/video, the URL of your file is http://www.utexas.edu/learn/video/welcome_hinted.mov and the location of your file is /learn/video/welcome_hinted.mov Creating the Reference File A reference file contains the path of the QuickTime hinted movie and the protocol to use to stream this movie using QuickTime Player. This is the file that causes QuickTime Player to launch and begin streaming the hinted movie. This reference file requests "welcome_hinted.mov" and should be stored in the same directory on Web Central as the hinted movie. This file is typically less than 10k, is quick to download and directs the Helix streaming process through QuickTime Player. To create a reference file using QuickTime Pro, follow these steps: In QuickTime Pro, choose File/Open Url in New Player Type rtsp://realaudio.cc.utexas.edu:554/path_to_hinted_movie/hinted_file.mov (Using our example, rtsp://realaudio.cc.utexas.edu:554/learn/video/welcome_hinted.mov) While the movie is playing, choose File/Save As. This step creates the reference file. Give it a name such as welcome_ref and choose "Make movie self-contained." Upload this file to the Web Central directory containing the hinted movie. Writing HTML Source To include QuickTime content on a web page, make a link to the reference file. For accessibility purposes, launch the video in the player for that format. To have the movie play through QuickTimePlayer, simply rename the reference file with an extension of .qtl. The link would be <a href="http://www.utexas.edu/learn/video/welcome_ref.qtl"> The Helix Universal Server does not provide a client launch utility for QuickTime Player like it does for RealOne Player and for Windows Media Player. Therefore, the reference file format .qtl is used. http://www.utexas.edu/web/video/publish/demand.php?e=0,5 Virtual host for video: Getting a custom, shorter URL http://www.utexas.edu/faq/server/virtual_host.html If the URL for your Web site is hard to remember, you may want to consider getting a .org or .edu address of your own. There are several options available to campus Web publishers. The options described below are for faculty and departmental publishers only; they are not available to personal publishers or student organizations. If you have any questions about the options described below, send mail to www@www.utexas.edu. Option 1 - Registering your own domain name and running your own Web server There are many organizations that do domain registration on the Internet. Network Solutions (www.networksolutions.com) is probably the most popular site for domain registration. Registering a domain name with Network Solutions costs approximately $70 for the first two years. When you complete the application to register a domain name, you must provide the IP addresses of 2 domain name servers that will resolve your domain name to a particular Internet address. Basically, these are the servers on the Internet that help people get to your Web server when they type a name in their browser. The University of Texas has 2 domain name servers that provide name services for computers in the utexas.edu domain. All computers in the University of Texas address space (i.e. computers whose IP addresses begin with 128.83, 129.116, or 146.6) must use UT domain name servers for their name service. If your computer is within the UT address space and you want to have a name that does not end with utexas.edu, UT charges $51 per fiscal year for this special non-utexas.edu name service. For example, if you want to register a domain name of myresearch.org, you will pay Network Solutions $70 to register the name and UT $51 to provide name service. Because of the educational and public service mission of The University of Texas, UT departments cannot register .com domain names. You can read more about this service and submit a request for name service online. Staff at the UT Network Information Center (UTnic) can assist you in preparing paperwork to register your domain. When your domain name is registered and your Web server is operating, you can contact the UT Network Information Center (UTnic) to make sure they have the proper name assigned to your computer. Option 2 - Registering your own .org or .edu address and hosting content on an ITS Web server First, you must complete the steps in Option 1 to register your own domain name. If you do not want to run your own Web server, ITS can host your content. ITS has set up a Virtual Host service that enables your Web site to be hosted on the central server using your domain name. For example, www.blantonmuseum.org is a virtual host being served from the central Web server. The charge for the Virtual Host service is $150 per year and it includes 24 hour operator coverage, daily backup, statistics, CGI scripts, and more. The $150 charge for ITS Virtual Host service is in addition to the $51 per year for name service. For example, if you want ITS to host your myresearch.org site, you pay $51 annually for name service and $150 annually for hosting the Web site under the myresearch.org name. Option 3 - Using a virtual host name like foo.utexas.org If you do not want to register a domain name, but would like to have a URL like foo.utexas.org, ITS'' Virtual Host service is the answer. We will host your site on our computer using the name you select. This solution uses the same Virtual Host service described in Option 2 above, and the charge is $150 per year. Please note, names in this option are limited to utexas.org. Because the utexas.edu namespace parallels the University''s structure, we cannot create virtual host names in utexas.edu. ITS reserves the right to reclaim names within utexas.edu or utexas.org if institutional needs require it. Network Solutions http://www.networksolutions.com/ Captioning Guidelines http://www.utexas.edu/web/video/captioning.php?e=0 Just like the closed captioning text on a television, online video content can be captioned to enable accessibility for people with disabilities. Captioning is a relatively simple process that will allow for greater functionality of web content, and will ensure that projects are in compliance with Sec. 508 of the Rehabilitation Act as well as Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Captioning does not have to just mean a transcript of the audio portion of your video. It can also provide additional information about what is visible on the screen allowing video content to be accessible to vision impaired users. WHAT YOU NEED video in any major format: Microsoft''s Windows Media, Apple Computer''s Quick Time, and Real System''s RealMedia, a transcript of the audio portion of the video, and a captioning tool like Magpie. TRANSCRIPT GUIDELINES Transcribe the video into a text document (file format of .txt). The transcription should be single spaced with two returns between speaking breaks. Files created in this manner are easily imported into Magpie (Magpie will automatically enter the text into separate fields), and will result in a lot of saved time. Separate sentences mean separate lines A basic rule to remember when transcribing is that you should make each sentence a separate line (with two line returns). If the sentences are very short and are spoken rather quickly, it is fine to put them in the same section: EXAMPLE: This is sentence is an introduction and is about one topic. Sentence two is next and is about something else. Becomes This is sentence is an introduction and is about one topic. Sentence two is next and is about something else. Changing speakers Option 1: An in-line option in which the speakers name, followed by a colon, is immediately followed by the text. EXAMPLE: Narrator: This is an example of narration. Karen Cross: Quote from Karen Cross. Narrator: Return to narrator. Option 2: Type the speakers name and return to the next line for the quote. If an unknown speaker narrates the piece, denote Narrator above the first line only. EXAMPLE: Narrator This is an example of narration Karen Cross Quote from Karen Cross Narrator Return to narrator. The main difference between the two is the space needed for the second option. Although it is easier to recognize the change in speaker, this option will use an extra line in the text box. If the captioned text is rather short, this is a good option. If the captioned text is longer and space is an issue, use the in-line option. Save the caption file as a plain text document. The file extension depends on the media format:. for RealMedia content, the caption file is a plain text document with an file extension of .rt, for Windows Media, the caption file is a plain text document with a file extension of .smi, and for Quick Time, the caption file as a plain text document. (See WebAIM for specific instructions.) The next step is publishing your media with captions. This is media specific. Media Access Generator (MAGpie) http://ncam.wgbh.org/webaccess/magpie/index.html Captioning for Quicktime http://www.webaim.org/techniques/captions/quicktime/ Article Contents Current page: Page 1: Introduction to Captioning for Quicktime Adding Captions in Quicktime Method 1 Method 2 Advantages and disadvantages Getting Captioned Quicktime Movies Online Page 2: Creating the Caption File Page 3: Creating the Quicktime Text Track Page 4: Adding Captions to a Quicktime Movie Page 5: Using SMIL to Add Captions to Quicktime Movies Page 6: Adding Quicktime Content to a Web Page Video Publishing Examples http://www.utexas.edu/web/video/publish/pub_examples.php Accessibility Vide Files http://www.utexas.edu/web/video/accessibility.php?e=0 Web Accessibility Policy http://www.utexas.edu/web/guidelines/accessibility.html Web Accessibility Policy It is the policy of The University of Texas at Austin that all official University information published on University Web sites shall be accessible to all users. The University must comply with the Texas Administrative Code 206.70 Accessibility Standard, and therefore all Web pages containing official University information that are built, updated or revised after the effective date of this policy must comply with the TAC 206.70 standards. TAC 206.70 establishes only a minimum standard for accessibility and Web pages; developers are encouraged to go beyond the minimum whenever possible. Web Accessibility and Usability Testing To ensure that University Web sites are designed with consideration for the different types of Internet connections available, Web developers are responsible for testing their Web sites for accessibility and usability. The University''s Usability Web site offers guidance on conducting usability tests, and Designing Accessible Web Sites provides assistance in accessibility planning. The Quality Assurance site describes the accessibility testing services that are available on campus. The University Web recommendations on page size are also useful in this area. Web Accessibility Link Each University web site that provides entry to members of the public must contain an "Web Accessibility" link to http://www.utexas.edu/web/guidelines/accessibility.html which contains the university''s Web Accessibility Policy and contact information for the university''s Accessibility Coordinator. Accessibility Coordinator The University has designated a staff member to serve as the Accessibility Coordinator. The coordinator will monitor the University''s compliance with this policy and train Web publishers and developers how to make all Web pages accessible. The University''s Accessibility Coordinator may grant written requests for exceptions to this policy under appropriate circumstances. To contact the Accessibility Coordinator, send e-mail to accessibility@www.utexas.edu. Web Guidelines - Recommended Browsers and Development Guidelines http://www.utexas.edu/web/guidelines/browsers.html These recommendations are intended to help the campus community optimize their experience with University web sites and make informed decisions about the many available browsers. Guidelines are provided in two categories: Recommended browsers, versions, and plug-ins for users. Recommended publishing standards for Web developers and content providers. Cascading Style Sheets http://www.utexas.edu/web/guidelines/css.html Web Captioning Overview http://www.webaim.org/techniques/captions/ What are Captions? Captions are text versions of the spoken word. Captions allow the content of web audio and video to be accessible to those who do not have access to audio. Though captioning is primarily intended for those who cannot hear the audio, it has also been found to help those that can hear audio content and those who may not be fluent in the language in which the audio is presented. Common web accessibility guidelines indicate that captions should be: Synchronized - the text content should appear at approximately the same time that audio would be available Equivalent - content provided in captions should be equivalent to that of the spoken word Accessible - caption content should be readily accessible and available to those who need it On the web, synchronized, equivalent captions should be provided any time audio content is present. This obviously pertains to the use of audio and video played through multimedia players such as Quicktime, RealPlayer, or Windows Media Player, but can also pertain to such technologies as Flash, Shockwave, or Java when audio content is a part of the multimedia presentation Video Compression Examples http://www.utexas.edu/web/video/examples/index.php?e=0 This document is a matrix of compressed digital video clips in Real, QuickTime, and Windows Media formats. These three formats are supported and used at the University of Texas at Austin. The intent is to provide best practices and techniques used for compressing digital video for Web distribution. The clips used include Introduction to Photojournalists (called intro, 3:33) and an interview with photojournalist David Hume Kennerly (called interview, 01:34). Special thanks to UTOPIA for allowing us to use these clips. These videos are the property of the University of Texas at Austin and cannot be duplicated, distributed or reproduced. Video Glossary http://www.utexas.edu/web/video/glossary.php?e=0 Orientation in software: Microsoft Excel http://educationally.narod.ru/exelphotoalbum.html |
