We just completed a total overhaul to our Audio and Video players so that they now take advantage of built in HTML5 support for audio and video. This makes our player compatible with all modern web browsers, including mobile devices like iPhone, iPad, Android, etc. For older browsers like Internet Explorer 8 (which does not support HTML5 video), and Firefox (which supports HTML5 video but is not licensed to play the MP4 format yet), we will still provide the old Flash audio/video player (but with a new skin), so your visitors will not lose any functionality.

The old Flash player will play both the old FLV and MP3 formats (like it used to), as well as the new MP4 format (for progressive compatibility). So for greatest compatibility we recommend using MP4 format for all videos and MP3 format for all audio files. We also recommend converting all your old videos that were uploaded as FLV to the new MP4 format, so that they will be viewable on mobile devices that don't support Flash. But if you keep old FLV files on the site, they will continue to be viewed by any browser that supports Flash (virtually all desktop browsers, but not most mobile browsers).

See our FAQ for more information about Multimedia Formats.

Similar to the Image Uploader we added a few months ago, we have now extended the functionality to work with documents and multimedia. Which means you can upload a lot of videos or audio into your library in one fell swoop, or upload a lot of documents at once, and watch the progress of your upload. This is a huge improvement in usability. But what's even better, is that you can upload the files to your Multimedia or Document library, while you are writing your Blog, adding your newest Property or Product, or adding any new page. You don't have to up add these to the libraries before hand, which interrupts your workflow. You can upload and add the new file to your page, all from the same interface. We hope it save you time, and is more enjoyable to use.

Extra Features Include:

• Easier "drag & drop" reordering
• File Preview with: file size and last modified date
• File type
• Thumbnail
• Category Filtering

We plan on adding these multiple upload features to the main Library upload tools as well, ASAP. But for now those are still one file at a time. But hopefully you won't need to upload that old way, since you can upload this new way now.

Also coming soon is a Slideshow Uploader, that will allow you to upload multiple images and create a slideshow instantly, which should also speed up workflow for related tasks.

As mentioned in the previous post, we made some significant design upgrades to our default content pages. The multimedia library (as well as the regular file library) now sport a sleek new skin that let you show off your video and audio files in style. Small icons indicate whether the file is Video or Audio, a sample thumbnail attracts your visitors' attention, and you can provide a witty title and short description about the video. Then whatever stats you enter about the video will show up on the right, e.g. date, size, time length, category, etc. We've also improved the category filters and search options at the top. We hope you like it.

If you are on a budget, but you want to have a lot of multimedia on your site, consider piggybacking off popular video sites like YouTube and Vimeo. You can upload your files to their site, then use the embed code on your site. Our Multimedia Resource Library allows you to upload your own files directly, or to link to an external file (on another server), or simply paste in the embed code provided by the third party sites. Then in the Multimedia section of your site, we'll display the video according to the method you've chosen.

And if your site is using an embedded file from another site, your site isn't burdened by the storage space or the bandwidth. The downside is that you have to maintain  your library at two different locations, and you have no control over the player look/feel, and often times the YouTube player doesn't look professional or highly integrated into your own site. But it may be good enough for now.