Several considerations on implementing WebVTT for media players

Hello people. I'm not exactly a programmer or anything, just in touch with
several subtitle communities. And as a matter of personal investigation, I
have interest in knowing how to build WebVTT subtitles if/when those
become a standard. However, I am unsure whether WebVTT can be used
properly outside of a browser, especially the external CSS theming. The
particular case of desktop video players comes to my mind: is a full HTML
parser required to implement WebVTT properly in those? Or is a simplified
CSS parser enough? And what about the CSS itself? Is there a way to
include the CSS theming and the WebVTT cues in a single file, or must the
CSS be included elsewhere? In the second case, embedding the subtitles for
offline viewing will become harder, as most (if not all) subtitle formats
are intended to be single-file.

In a slightly related cue, I've checked how to display simple karaoke. But
how to theme it properly to scroll smoothly (instead of displaying the
syllables by chunks), and preview the syllables that will follow (instead
of showing nothing until the chunk is displayed)? Are the :past and
:future cues intended to be used for that matter?

- Carlos Solís

Received on Wednesday, 8 August 2012 22:23:43 UTC