Wasp Publisher Overview

Customization of Wimpy Wasp is handled through Wasp Publisher, which is a program that runs on your local PC.

Wasp publisher was designed to generate all of the code required to use Wasp within your website.

Wasp Publisher does the following:

• - Outputs HTML code and other files required to display media within a web page.
• - Configures Wasp by setting various options within the code.
• - Collects all required files into a specified folder on the local PC.

Wasp Publisher does NOT do the following:

• - Create, encode or compress source media.
  
• - Upload (FTP) files to a web server.

The process of using Wasp Publisher can be summarized as follows:

1. Browse for media files and images on your local PC.
2. Set startup and playback options.
3. Customize the look and feel.
4. Decide where you would like to store your media files on your web site.
5. Output (publish) all of the files to a folder on your local PC.
6. Upload the published files to your web site's "media" folder.
7. Copy and paste the HTML code generated by Wasp Publisher into a web page.

 

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Key concepts

Wasp Publisher was designed around common web page authoring techniques.

For example, when creating a web page, the HTML file is first created on a local hard drive, then text and graphics are incorporated into the page by selecting files from the local disk. Once the page is completed, the HTML file and any associated graphics are uploaded to a live server.

Some folks may be familiar with HTML authoring software such as Dreamweaver, FrontPage or GoLive. These tools are known as WYSIWYG type tools (What You See Is What You Get - pronounced wizzy-wig) because the page looks the same within the software as it does on your web site.

Likewise, media files within Wasp Publisher display and behave as they will on your website. As you adjust the size, skin and options within Wasp Publisher, the preview area displays the player the same as it will appear when incorporated into your web page.

File management

Many different kinds of files can be used by Wasp to display a single audio or video file, including:

• - The main Wasp player file
• - Source audio or video files
  - HTML files
  - JavaScript files
• - XML configuration files
• - Static images (for a poster graphic and / or a video overlay)
  
• - Advertisement media

Some files are "re-usable" but some are not.

"Local" and "remote" file locations must also be taken into consideration because files are published onto a local hard disk, but will eventually have to be uploaded to a "remote" web server.

Establishing a Common "Media" Folder

By establishing a single "place" where media files are stored generally makes it easier to insert Wasp into your website.

Traditionally, webmasters will have a local directory structure that matches their website's directory structure.

We recommend establishing an environment on your local PC that matches your web site's environment.

For example, on your website you may have a designated folder named "media" which contains all of your video files. We recommend creating a folder on your local system named "media" which will be the folder that you consistently use when publishing with Wasp Publisher.

It is not mandatory to keep all of your media files in a single location. You can publish files to any folder or sub-folder -- and even have multiple copies of the Wasp files located in various locations throughout your web site.

Loading and Publishing Files

Files can be loaded into Wasp Publisher by selecting them from any location on the local or remote system.

For example, you can click the "browse" button to load a file located on your hard disk or you can type a URL into the text field.

NOTE: When using a URL, the file may not load properly on some systems depending on how the PC is connected to the Internet and/or firewall or other security settings.

When you "publish" a file, Wasp Publisher will create and collect all of the required files to a single "output" folder on a local hard drive. (e.g. Your local "media" folder.)

Local files are not moved, they are copied. The newly created copies are then placed in the output folder on your PC.

NOTE: If URLs are used, Wasp Publisher will not copy and move these files to the output folder because these files are already available on the web server.

The task of uploading the files is not handled by Wasp Publisher, files must be uploaded to the web server separately using an FTP program.

Destination URL

The Destination URL is a pre-emptive concept and critical for successfully inserting Wasp into various pages throughout your website.

Destination URL allows Wasp Publisher to properly configure the source code so that your published files will work within any page throughout your site.

If you do not use a Destination URL, then Wasp will only work on web pages that are located within the same folder as the published files.

Before publishing, you should know the location on your web site (URL) where you intend to upload all of the files.

For example, if you intend to upload (via FTP) the files that Wasp Publisher outputs to the following location:

http://www.yoursite.com/media

... Then this would be considered your "Destination URL" because the files you are about to publish are destined to reside within the folder named "media" on your web site.