494793 - KB article: Viewing video in Firefox without a plugin

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(support.mozilla.org :: Knowledge Base Articles, task)

Description

[Chris Ilias [:cilias]]

This article would be a tutorial about the internal media player for open video.

Comment 1

[Chris Ilias [:cilias]]

Discussion: https://support.mozilla.com/tiki-view_forum_thread.php?forumId=3&comments_parentId=354299

Comment 2

[Bo]

I wrote an outline/draft - see the bug URL. Still needs screenshots and maybe instructions for opening files in Firefox.
* Is it appropriate to link to VLC?
* Should we embed a sample audio and video file? A Theora screencast in Firefox of how to use Theora in Firefox seems a little too recursive.
* If not, should we link to WikiMedia Commons? There's tons of examples there. On the other hand, there might be something distasteful there.
* Lots of discussion of the title in the forum thread, I just picked something for this draft.

Comment 3

[Bo]

Marking FIXED for review. I think a link to an example would still be nice, but we would want a stable URL.

Comment 4

[Chris Ilias [:cilias]]

The article name is probable the hardest part of this. :-)
There was more discussion in mozilla.dev.apps.firefox about this:
<http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla.dev.apps.firefox/browse_frm/thread/ecd8729b6b6c367b>
Right now, I think "Viewing video in Firefox without a plugin" might be the best option. "open media files" is not a term most users understand, and they will misinterpret 'open' as a verb.

...will continue with the rest of the review...

Comment 5

[Chris Ilias [:cilias]]

- I think we should clarify what a plugin is.
- replace "Ogg, Vorbis, and Theora" with something like "what is open media"
- the first section is very technical. I think it's more important to highlight why Mozilla is able to include native support.
- I don't think we need a section on opening files via the desktop, because the article is about using Firefox to view them.
- What do you think of adding keyboard shortcuts?
- I don't think we should embed a video, but I definitely think we should link to a site that has open video. I think either <http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/video/> or something on wikipedia are good choices.

Comment 6

[Bo]

I don't think your new title is quite what we want yet... It isn't about viewing (generic) video in Firefox without a plugin; it's about viewing Theora and Vorbis video and audio in Firefox without a plugin.

"Viewing open audio and video files in Firefox without a plugin"?

Or create multiple redirects to the same article and add tons of tags to it:
* Using the Theora video player in Firefox (Mirrors the "Using the x plugin in Firefox" articles)
* Using the Vorbis audio player in Firefox (ditto)
* Using the Ogg media player in Firefox (maybe. Calling Theora or Vorbis "ogg" is incorrect and annyoing, but a lot of people do it)

For article comments:
* I'll re-work the intro to be less technical and mention plugins
* I think we should at least keep the File > Open instructions if we're going to have the Right-click > Save As instructions. Most people don't have a Theora player installed, but we can be pretty sure our readers have Firefox installed.
* Perfect on the link.

Comment 7

[Bo]

Oh, and I have keyboard shortcuts in and commented out. I was hoping to use the !- header to make it expandable, but that quit working in the KB recently?

Once we hash out the title, is this FIXED again?

Comment 8

[Chris Ilias [:cilias]]

https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Using+the+Windows+Media+Player+plugin+with+Firefox uses "*-". Is that what you were looking for? Either way, I don't think you need to hide it.

Comment 9

[Alice Wyman]

The propoed article says things like, 
"In Firefox 3.5 and above, you can view some types of sound and video files without a plugin."
"Because the use of many audio and video file types is restricted by patents, a third-party application called a plugin is required to use them."

Media content **embedded in a webpage** requires a plugin, if Firefox can't handle it internally.  Direct links to the files themselves only require a helper application.  Some references are included here:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/File_types_and_download_actions
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Opening_files_using_plugins

I would use "content" or "content types" instead of "file" and "file types", especially when talking about webpage content that requires a plugin.  

On the article title, I added some suggestions here:
https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/forum/3/354299#threadId473471

Comment 10

[Bo]

Unless we're still hashing out a title, this is ready.

Comment 11

[Chris Ilias [:cilias]]

Can we add something about viewing in full screen? It's new in Firefox 3.6. (bug 453063)

Comment 12

[Chris Ilias [:cilias]]

Looks like full screen mode was added. (marking ready for review)

Comment 13

[Chris Ilias [:cilias]]

Updated for 3.6, and moved to KB at:
Mon 01 of Feb, 2010 16:26 EST