QuickTime 4 Begins to SMIL
by Tim Kennedy
March 7, 2000

[Editor's Note: While this SMIL based tutorial can be read and appreciated by all users, you will need the latest QuickTime viewer (4.1+) in order to view the final example. You can download the latest QuickTime viewer at Apple's QuickTime download area.]

SMIL, the Synchronized Multimedia Integration markup Language used to control the timing and positioning of Web-based multimedia, used to be an oddity in Web multimedia. In the realm of streaming media, only aggressive support from RealNetworks kept SMIL alive in an industry where technologies quickly come and go.

But late last year, both Microsoft and Apple agreed to support SMIL in their browser and media player products. In one swoop, SMIL went from hackers toy to Web multimedia contender.

With QuickTime 4.1, basic SMIL support is now offered. If you are an author of QuickTime content, you can be experimenting in SMIL quickly and easilly. In this tutorial, I'll take a first look at how QuickTime SMIL support offers new options for including a banner advertisement in your presentations.