Re: STYLE section inside VTT file

Hi Glenn,

Nothing. That is how the designers of VTT intend it to work. The did not provide a way to embed style in a VTT file. Their answer to questions like yours is "Put your style data in the HTML that references the VTT." Apparently from their use cases, this is something that is feasible.

Doesn't the following link supply the current spec (or am I mistaken?):

https://w3c.github.io/webvtt/


EXAMPLE 5 in that document says:

CSS stylesheets can also be embedded in WebVTT files themselves.

Style blocks are placed after any headers but before the first cue, and start with the line "STYLE". Comment blocks can be interleaved with style blocks.

and shows an example similar to my test.  Please tell me that STYLE sections are just not yet implemented by browsers, but it’s on their roadmaps?  Otherwise this format is not viable for captions supplied by mainstream caption/subtitle vendors.

Cheers,
—Brad




On May 16, 2016, at 11:41 AM, Glenn Adams <glenn@skynav.com<mailto:glenn@skynav.com>> wrote:



On Mon, May 16, 2016 at 7:14 AM, Bradley Botkin <bradley_botkin@wgbh.org<mailto:bradley_botkin@wgbh.org>> wrote:
Sorry for the newbie question… I’m confused about using the STYLE section in a WebVTT file.

There’s quite a bit of documentation and postings about the STYLE section inside a VTT file. It boils down to something like this (for example):

WEBVTT

STYLE
::cue(.red){ color: red; }


1
00:00:00.100 --> 00:00:50.000
<c.red>This should be a red caption</c>

My tests with Safari/Chrome/Firefox (all Mac) all fail to render the red caption.  However, putting that same style markup in the CSS within the HTML all succeed in rendering the red caption. I’m sure I’m missing something obvious.  Caption vendors will typically be able to deliver a WebVTT file to a client, but have no access to underlying HTML. It should never be necessary for the Webmaster to modify HTML in order to display captions properly.


For a demonstration of my problem, point a browser at:

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ncamftp.wgbh.org/brad/webvtt/capswithstyles.html



What am I doing wrong?

Nothing. That is how the designers of VTT intend it to work. The did not provide a way to embed style in a VTT file. Their answer to questions like yours is "Put your style data in the HTML that references the VTT." Apparently from their use cases, this is something that is feasible.


Thanks.

— Brad