One of the new features of QuickTime 3 is the ability to have a movie that automatically loads a web page when it reaches a specific point in time.
Here's a sample:



Here are some very simple instructions for setting up a movie so it automatically loads a new page in a browser window:

  1. In any text editor, type
    A<http://www.somename.com> T<_blank>
  2. Select and copy the text you typed.
  3. Open the movie in MoviePlayer and move the slider to the time point where you'd like the URL fired.
  4. Hold down the Option key and choose Add from the Edit menu.
  5. Choose Get Info from the Movie menu, and in the resulting Info window choose Text track from the left pop-up menu and General from the right pop-up menu.
  6. Click the Change Name button and in the resulting dialog box type HREFTrack and click OK.
  7. Embed your movie on a web page. (See Apple's QuickTime Webmaster's page if you're not sure how to do this.)

When the movie plays, a new browser window appears and the page loads at the point in time where the URL appears. (You'll need to have the QuickTime 3.0 beta installed, including the QuickTime browser plug-in 2.0. Get them at QuickTime 3 Preview site Download page.)

The instructions above are very specific. There are other techniques for doing this (in particular using MoviePlayer's text import feature rather than copying and pasting text). There are also a number of variations on the way the HREF track works and looks. For example, you can have the new page load in a frame (rather than a separate window) by specifying a frame name instead of "_blank". You can have the new page load only when the viewer clicks by leaving off the "A" that precedes the URL in step 1 above. Other variations include multiple URLs, hidden or styled text, and loading a local instead of remote page. See the HREF Track Workshop page at the QuickTime 3.0 Preview site for a much more extensive tutorial.

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copyright 1996-97  Judith L. Stern and Robert Lettieri, jandr@ccnet.com
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