One exciting way to improve the look of your website is through the addition of videos and, given the tools available today, it is easy to add them. Here is a brief introduction.
Let’s assume you already have video shot and uploaded on to your computer. Your next step is to edit the material in Windows Movie Maker and save it as a .wmv file. From there, you need to find a site to host you video. I use Youtube and found it easy to create an account and upload movies (you are limited to 10 minutes per clip).
Once your video is on Youtube, go ahead and play it. Look over at the right-hand side of the window on which it is playing and you will see a box with an “embed code.” (If you can’t figure out where this is, there are several Youtube videos that will show you.) You will have to copy and paste that code on to your website.
The first time you try this, your best bet is to use the TU Sandbox site. Log in and go to the “News” page. Click on “Add New Announcement.” On the next page, you are given a box in which to type information. Above that box you are given two editing modes – “Basic Text Box” and “Rich Text Editor.” Switch the editing mode to Basic Text and paste your embed code into the box. Click “Save” and your video should be embedded. If you want to add text to describe the video, simply edit the announcement in “Rich Text” mode.
While it may sound complicated, I was able to add videos in a short bit of time to all of my websites, blogs and wikis.