Section 57. Add an Interactive Marker

57. Add an Interactive Marker

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

27 Change Slides to the Beat of Music

29 About the Timeline and Video Tracks

33 Add or Move a Clip on the Timeline

SEE ALSO

107 Output a Windows Media (WMV) File

109 Output a QuickTime File

57. Add an Interactive Marker

If you are a web master or just want to make your own website a little more interesting, the interactive markers might be just the thing. You can place markers in your video that, when displayed on a web page, will trigger various other events, such as opening a web page.

KEY TERM

Interactive marker Marks a point in a video where an event should take place, such as opening a specified web page.

If the website includes frames, your video can play in one frame while the events it triggers play in other frames. Suppose that you are selling various digital products; your main video is an introduction to your store. At points in the video where you mention particular products, you can open the manufacturers' websites in another frame. You could also have images of the equipment open, in different frames, at preselected points in the video. If the website does not include frames, the marker causes the viewer to jump from the site where the video is being viewed to the site defined by the marker. Markers can work well for a website intro that, when it finishes playing, automatically sends the user to the site's home page. You can also have a link to Skip Intro for the viewer's convenience.

1.	Select the Location for the Interactive Marker Choose the clip, and frames in that clip, where your interactive markers will be located. NOTE Interactive markers work only with Windows Media Files (WMV) or QuickTime Files (MOV).
2.	Add an Unnumbered Timeline Marker Position the CTI at the location where the first event should be triggered and click the Marker Creator button on the left end of the Timeline. An unnumbered Timeline marker is placed at the location of the CTI. Repeat this step to place all of your markers.
3.	Double-click the Timeline Marker Double-click the first marker in the Timeline to open the Marker dialog box.
4.	Enter the URL You can enter comments if you like to remind you why the marker is there. In the URL text box, type the URL you want to go to when the marker is reached.
5.	Enter the Frame Target If your web page has frames, enter the Frame Target (the frame in which you want the specified URL to open, such as 'left_frame'). When you are finished defining this marker, click Next to move to the next marker in the clip. Repeats steps 4 and 5 to define that marker, and continue until you have entered the URL and frame target for all your markers. When all the markers have been defined, it's time to export your movie and upload it to your website.