Insert Windows Media to web pages in Microsoft Expression Web
You can add different types of media to your web pages and it is essential for you to know the various media types you can use in Microsoft Expression Web. Expression Web 2 supports
1. Adobe Flash SWF movie files
2. Microsoft Windows Media Files
3. Microsoft Silverlight Applications (including related XAML files)
In this article we will explore the ability of Microsoft Expression Web 2 to import various Windows Media formats like Multimedia (.asf), Video (.wmv), Audio (.wma), Windows Media Download file (wmd), playlist (.wpl), standard MIDI files (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) and others.
There are two ways in which you can insert Windows Media into your web pages:
1. Insert Windows Media from Insert Menu
a. Launch Expression Web and open the web page you want to insert the media into.
b. Place the cursor where you want to place the media.
c. Go to the Insert menu > Media > Windows Media Player…
d. In the Select Media file dialog box, browse to the location of the media file, select your file and click on Insert. You can select different media file formats from the drop down next to File name (highlighted in red in the image below).
e. The media will now be placed in your page, see image below:
f. The next step is to save your file. If your movie file is not already saved in your web site folder then, you would be prompted with ‘Save Embedded Files’ dialog box.
As soon as you click on ‘OK’ the media file will be added to your web site folder (open folder). If your web site is not already open, then you can click on Change Folder… and navigate to the location of the web site and save the file. Find the file in the Folder List task pane.
2. Insert Windows Media from Toolbox task pane
a. Launch Expression Web and open the web page you want to insert the media into.
b. If the Toolbox task pane is not already open in your workspace, go to ‘Task Panes’ menu and choose ‘Toolbox’.
c. Expand the Media section in the Toolbox task pane.
d. Place the cursor where you want to place the media and double click on the Windows Media Player.
e. Or right click on the Windows Media Player and choose Insert to add the media file.
f. Or click on the Windows Media Player and drag it on the page.
g. All three steps d., e. and f. will prompt you with the Select Media File dialog box; we saw above in Method 1.
h. Follow step d. onwards, given in Method 1.
Now that you have successfully added the media to your web page, you may want to edit some settings and customize it a bit. Here’s how you can do that.
3. Set Windows Media Properties
Right click on the media object on your page and choose ActiveX Control Properties from the menu.
This would open the Windows Media Player Properties window. Though the properties that are available vary depending upon the version of the Windows Media Player installed on your computer, let us take a glance at what settings each tab offers.
1. The General Tab:
· Source - File Name or URL: Specify the file name or URL address.
· Controls Layout - Select a mode: None, Mini, Full (default), or Invisible.
· Playback options –
o Auto Start: To automatically start playing media.
o Stretch To Fit: Resize the media object to fit the object area.
o Play Full Screen: Select this option to play media in full screen.
o Play Count: Specify the number of times you want the media to play.
· Volume settings -
o Mute: Check this box to mute the sound.
o Volume: Drag the slider to adjust the volume.
o Balance: Drag the slider to adjust the speaker balance, the range is from
-100 (left) to 0 (center) to 100 (right).
2. The Advanced Tab:
· Control settings – Let you select advanced controls and specify play rates and other specific settings.
· Scripts commands settings – Let you use scripts at a specific URL.
· Closed Caption Settings – Let you specify a closed caption file, language, style and ID.
3. Object Tag Tab:
· Name – Set the ID of the media
· Size – Specify the Height and Width to set the dimensions of the media object.
· Alternative Representation – HTML: Specify an alternative to the browser if it is unable to play the media object inserted.
· Network location – CODEBASE: Set the URL to the version of Windows Media Player control that is required to play the media file. This means, if the correct version of Windows Media Player is not installed on your computer this URL will automatically install the right version.
4. Parameters Tab:
The Object tab lets you add, modify and remove the PARAM elements that define the startup conditions for the control.
I hope the article was useful and I thank you for viewing it.
This article has been editorially reviewed by Suprotim Agarwal.
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Minal Agarwal, Expression Web MVP, MCDST, works as a freelance web designer (
SaffronStroke) working on Expression Web, Photoshop and other Graphical tools. As a hobby, she also runs a famous Food site called
Foodatarian.com. Follow her on twitter @
saffronstroke