Videos have become an integral part of websites as they make them more attractive, expressive and interactive. And, now with the use of HTML5, videos are no longer a cause for the slow website loading speed. They are used for advertisement purpose or driving home some point through audio-visual medium making the information more effective and easy to understand. Whatever be the reason, using videos on the website definitely increases the prospect of traffic and eventual conversion.
For instance, a logistic company can add a video to its website depicting the way, a luggage is packed. Likewise, you can think of some other novel ways to utilize the video fully. However, they also tend to make the websites slow as the video files are large and take to load.
To ward off the issue of slower loading videos, you can use HTML5 for creating videos and follow these helpful tips.
1. Be clear about the target devices
You must know the devices that need to be targeted through the video. It will help you in creating videos tailor-made for the devices.
2. Make prototypes
Before actually producing the video, create a prototype for assessing the correct size. Tools like Adobe Edge Reflow are ideal for the purpose. When the size of the video is clear, creating an output becomes easy.
3. Optimized video size
Reduce the size of the video at the time of production itself. It will speed up production and mitigate the need to compress the video afterwards.
4. Optimum quality setting
The quality setting of the video should be done with care. Higher setting results in videos that are large in size and take time to load. You can use Camtasia Studio Production Wizard to set the quality of the video.
5. Video format targeting
All video formats are not supported by every device. Hence, you need to create video formats that are played on major systems and players such as MP4, AVI, etc.
6. Choose the right video hosting
It is one of the most important parts of HTML5 video production. Choose a reliable video hosting website that does not stall at the crucial time. You can try the paid version of Vimeo or Amazon s3.
7. Specify video attributes
The attributes of the video such as width, height, and others should be mentioned in the code as it is. Any change in them may cause the video to appear ragged resulting in bad rendering and slow loading.
8. Reduce DIV tags
The number of div tags impacts the processing speed of the code and hence, the loading of the video. Instead, you can use HTML5 tags like HEADER, FOOTER, etc.
9. Careful page element selection
Unnecessary elements on the page also reduce the loading speed. Although it is obvious, people get attracted to fancy elements that do not seem to add any value to the website. Stay away from these elements and set everything fast.
10. Player configuration
It must be kept in mind that HTML5 videos cannot be played back on all the browsers. To handle this issue, make sure to convert your video to OGG format and include it in the code.
Final remark
If you have been troubled by slow loading HTML5 videos on your website, these tips will certainly help you debug the issue. Also, you will be able to make an optimized video that will render itself well on a range of devices including mobile phones and tablet. Go ahead and implement these tips to create HTML5 videos that load fast and enhance the user experience offered by the website.