9大flex/flash 视频播放器皮肤比较.

So Wheeler Street Design has moved onto yet another awesome gig at thePlatform where we’ll be transforming Flash video for some top notch companies. We’re just getting started and the best way, I think, to get an idea of how to change the world is to take a look at where we are today. I’ve attached 9 screen grabs of video players that I feel displays a good snapshot of the diversity of players. I’ll be going a general overview in this post focusing on the unique design and functional attributes of each player. At some point down the road I’d like to get into more of the UX of each of the player.

Blip TV

This is an interesting chrome-less player the white around it is taken from the surrounding page so it looks as if the controls are floating in the page. The Control Deck has some extra social features and the rare chapter skipping feature. The chapter skipping could be left out for most content with room for finer control on the scrubber.

Brightcove

Fantasy Interactive

It’s impossible not to drool over the pixel perfect design of FI. To be fair to brightcove this UI also has heavy chrome with an unprecedented border all the way around the player but this player is not embeddable it is part of the FI video platform. They make good use of the space and the pixel gutters do a nice job of suggesting texture and separating functionality. In addition to the border this player has the title of the currently playing movie. While I like the idea I found it chopped off in most cases and thus not as functional as one would hope. The three viewing options are also very nice not only do we have the ubiquitous full screen but there is a midsized view. It would be cooler if it animated to the second view since it’s a 100% flash UI but they have seemed to leave out any extra animations.

Flickr

There have been plenty of reviews on the Flickr player and how it is evil for taking time away from photographic stills but they did a fine job of keeping the UI minimal. It is simple and hooks into the comment features we’re all familiar with. The controls are representative of the minimal play / pause, scrub , volume and fullscreen. Nuff said.

Hulu

Hulu continues to impress with an unobtrusive yet informative UI and somehow new features that add to the experience. This is the moused over playing experience. The latest has keyframes thumbnails. I like the motion of the UI and the controls are large enough you use and yet still mostly out of the way. In addition to the DHTML lights dimming and popup windows this makes for a great experience.

Qik

Qik is the video player for Mobile videos and it’s the first of the detached overlay controls. It’s minimal like Flickr without being flat. I can’t say I’m the biggest fan of the raised look but this is nicely done.

Vimeo

Again a simple control with Vimeo’s unique flair. They have added some interesting features to the UX like removing the controls if the mouse is over the video play area and not moving. I like the large controls it facilitates quick views and the share buttons are readily available without being in the way.

Video Egg

Bling anyone? Not only does this player have a freak’n “adventure chrome” ( trademark Paul Rangel 2008 ) but it is in an animated modal window. The playback features are limited which is good cause anymore on that player and they would have to sell tickets.

YouTube

The classic player with attached lightweight controls. YouTube splits the difference between the heavy controls and overlay controls by making a minimal UI. They are one of the few that use motion to denote functionality by animating the rectangles in the lower right corner.

Conclusion

The diversity of video playback on the web is great but there are common themes and features that make a good player great. Personally I like Hulu the best it has information at all times so you know where you are and yet the controls are not in your way. That being said the controls once tucked away are not obvious nor do they look like regular controls.

This is the first pass review of online players. I’ve gotten a good response from the team so it sounds like we’ll be doing more on video players. Getting into the UX reviewing some desktop players as well.

Glossary

• Control Deck: Panel of controls for video playback. Can be as simple as play/pause but most often has a time line scrubber and volume controls.
• Social Controls: Buttons that enable the viral spreading of content often grouped together in the UI. They include buttons for RSS URls, embed code, link code, content rating, and comments.
• Adventure Chrome: UI Chrome that is a so awesome you forget what you are looking at and just run away from your computer.

 

来自：http://blog.wheelerstreet.com/2008/07/11/flashflex-video-skin-review/