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SMIL resources
SMIL 1.0
The SMIL 1.0 specification.
SMIL at W3C
The W3C Synchronized Multimedia working group keeps you informed of its progress.
Just SMIL
This is the source for SMIL information--news, tools, tutorials, and a bulletin board all related to this emerging standard.
Working with SMIL
Developer.com's hands-on SMIL tutorial for the GRINS tools.
CWI SMIL page
The National Research Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science in the Netherlands keeps you informed about SMIL, including a step-by-step tutorial for making a SMIL presentation.
SMIL mailing list
The W3C's mailing list is a great place to talk with SMIL developers about the emerging standard.
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What it is
Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) is to synchronized multimedia what HTML is to hyperlinked text. Pronounced smile, SMIL is a simple, vendor-neutral markup language designed to let Web builders of all skill levels schedule audio, video, text, and graphics files across a timeline without having to master development tools or complex programming languages.
For instance, with just a text editor and a few lines of HTML-like tags, SMIL lets Web builders specify such actions as "play audio file A five seconds after video file B starts and then show image file C."
Why it's important
SMIL marks a significant step toward making it easy to create low-bandwidth, TV-like content on the Web. It offers a new level of control over synchronized multimedia by allowing individual components of a presentation to be choreographed across a timeline in relation to each other. It also lets you control the layout, appearance, and exit time of each file.
What makes SMIL different from other multimedia presentation tools is that instead of forcing each component into a single video file, the text-based SMIL file merely references each file by its URL. Since the media files exist outside of the SMIL file, they retain their individual file sizes; there's no file-size bloat to slow download times.
SMIL's text-based format also makes multimedia presentations easy to edit. If you want to change when an audio component within a complex presentation begins, you can just edit the SMIL file. You don't have to rebuild the entire presentation from scratch.
As an application of XML, SMIL supports hyperlinks, which makes it the first Web-specific multimedia language to offer true interactivity. For example, a Web builder could create a presentation about Amelia Earhart's solo flight across the Atlantic, making areas of the route clickable so that people watching it could get statistics about specific locales.
Where it's at (as of 11/3/98)
The W3C recommended SMIL in June 1998, but that doesn't mean it will be universally supported across the Web.
All emerging standards have opponents, and SMIL is no exception. No Web browser currently supports SMIL, and Microsoft and Netscape have no plans to support the standard anytime soon. In fact, even though Microsoft helped develop the SMIL 1.0 specification, the company pulled off its moniker at the last minute. Microsoft now says SMIL is not mature enough to support, claiming it overlaps with several other technologies, such as Dynamic HTML and the Document Object Model.
But SMIL actually complements such technologies, according to Just SMIL publisher Tim Kennedy. "Sure, you might be able to achieve the SMIL look with Cascading Style Sheets, JavaScript, and other authoring wizardry. As for me, I would rather focus on crafting compelling content than struggle with tricks to deliver that content. In my opinion, SMIL makes the multimedia authoring process easier."
| SMIL timeline |
| 1/97: |
Working group forms to develop SMIL |
| 11/97: |
W3C publishes first public draft of SMIL spec |
| 6/98: |
W3C recommends SMIL; Microsoft drops name from recommendation |
| 7/98: |
RealNetworks releases RealSystem G2 beta 1 with partial SMIL support |
SMIL supporters attribute Microsoft's sudden opposition to the fact that the company's streaming media player NetShow does not support SMIL. Microsoft, along with Macromedia and Compaq, recently submitted its own synchronized multimedia proposal to the W3C, called HTML+TIME (Timed Interactive Multimedia Extensions for HTML). This proposal claims to address SMIL's limitations: "In particular, SMIL is a data interchange format for media authoring tools and players--it does not include a means to apply the ideas to HTML and Web browsers."
Whatever Microsoft says, SMIL does have an active following on the Web. RealNetworks' RealPlayer, the most common streaming media player on the Web with 85 percent of the market, supports SMIL in its G2 player.
Major media companies such as CNN Interactive, Fox News, the History Channel, and dozens of others have already begun to offer SMIL-based content via RealPlayer G2, even though its full commercial release isn't due until the end of the year. Many other SMIL-compliant players, authoring tools, and servers are also becoming available.
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