Get and Set HTML5 Video Current Time
Last week I explored how you could get the duration of a HTML5 video. It's an important technique, obviously, but one that may be a bit more important is managing the video's time setting. Both setting and getting the video's time is important when creating a chrome around the video, so let's review how to accomplish this feat.
The first and probably most important part of managing video time state is knowing that video currentTime is the important attribute. You can retrieve the video's current time with the following:
// https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwkej79U3ek
console.log(video.currentTime); // 25.431747
currentTime acts as both a getter and a setter, so you can move about the video by setting a value to currentTime:
video.currentTime = 0; // Restart
The API is easy enough and the property is self-explanatory. You'll still need to do the "second" math to interpret the time, both inward and outward, but the second unit is as fair as you could expect, so this API is one to be appreciated.
![7 Essential JavaScript Functions]()
I remember the early days of JavaScript where you needed a simple function for just about everything because the browser vendors implemented features differently, and not just edge features, basic features, like addEventListener and attachEvent. Times have changed but there are still a few functions each developer should...
![From Webcam to Animated GIF: the Secret Behind chat.meatspac.es!]()
My team mate Edna Piranha is not only an awesome hacker; she's also a fantastic philosopher! Communication and online interactions is a subject that has kept her mind busy for a long time, and it has also resulted in a bunch of interesting experimental projects...
![MooTools Font-Size Scroller with Cookie Save]()
Providing users as many preferences as possible always puts a smile on the user's face. One of those important preferences is font size. I can see fine but the next guy may have difficulty with the font size I choose. That's why...
![The Simple Intro to SVG Animation]()
This article serves as a first step toward mastering SVG element animation. Included within are links to key resources for diving deeper, so bookmark this page and refer back to it throughout your journey toward SVG mastery.
An SVG element is a special type of DOM element...
Yeah, it would be nice if it worked as expected.
On mobile browsers i.e., any glitch in network/video makes video stop while currentTime property continues advancing, making it unusable and unreliable unless countless per-browser workarounds are set.
Also changing orientation makes video pause, while currentTime continues running losing any reliability.
Too bad. All those html5 tags are fantastic on paper, in reality they are unusable, unless wasting hours fixing per-browser/device bugs and uniquenesses.