Linking to QuickTime
By Blake Lindsay
Linking to QuickTime media files from within Web pages is slightly more difficult than linking to other types of media, but the payoffs are extra functionality and control. You have many options on how to link, including whether to display your media in the browser or in the player. The link can be as simple as a single image or body of text, or as complex as an interactive button. The link you create can lead to a single piece of media or many different pieces, depending on the client's connection speed, CPU speed, language used, and version of QuickTime. Because you can't edit movies with the free basic player, you'll need to purchase Apple's Pro version of QuickTime (see "
Online"). This version unlocks many of the player's features and turns it into a useful tool.
Image Link
The simplest way to link to a QuickTime movie is to create your link from an image. First, take the image you plan to use in your link and open it in the QuickTime player. The image can be in nearly any format, including JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIFF, or BMP. Once you've opened the image in the QuickTime player, select the Save As option from the File menu. In the Save As dialog box, check the Make Movie Self-Contained radio button.
You've now created a static movie of the image. This static movie has the same height and width attributes as your image. The next step is to create an embed tag. You can either use the static movie as a poster on your page that plays your movie in place when clicked, or you can launch your movie within the QuickTime player.
