Offering a Preview Movie

One of the nice features of QuickTime is that you can offer a preview movie (also called a poster movie). This can be a single JPEG image or just a shortened version of your movie. Your full-length version will be played when the visitor clicks on the preview movie.

To offer a preview movie:

1.	Create a single frame or shortened version of your movie. Save it in QuickTime format with the .mov extension and upload it to your server.
2.	Insert the preview.mov file on your page in the usual fashion.
3.	Use <param name="controller" value= "false" /> to hide the controller.
4.	Type <param name="href" value="full-movie.mov" />, where fullmovie.mov is the full-length version of your movie.
5.	Type <param name="target" value="myself" /> so that the full movie plays in the same space as the preview.
6.	Type <param name="autohref" value="true" /> if you want the full-length movie to load even before the visitor clicks the preview (so that it's ready to play when they do click on it). Figure 18.26. Since the preview has no controls, I've added the bgcolor param element to hide the extra space until the main movie needs it. Figure 18.27. The preview movie will loop until the visitor clicks. Then the regular movie will play.

Tips

• If you're using two object elements, be sure to add the parameters for each one separately.

• Preview or poster movies are like thumbnail imagesthey give a taste of what the visitor will find in the full length version but don't take as long to download. Keep your previews short, small, and perhaps silent.