Huh. It turns out that the HTML5 versions of the podcasts do play in Internet Explorer v9 and the problem was mine all along (I hate that!).

I have been working on the problem of my not being able to see the podcasts since I started using the HTML5 tags and I’ve searched the web for clues since the beginning (about 9 months). I finally accidentally stumbled upon the problem. It turns out that there are some problems when running Internet Explorer v9 virtually in VMWare Fusion v3! I don’t have access to IE v9 at work because we’re on v8 so I’ve been doing this with my own machine.

Sure enough, when I reboot my Mac using Boot Camp, they worked! More digging turned up the real problem. I have to disable 3d graphics hardware acceleration in the VMWare settings and then the HTML5 video works.

I’ve finished updating all of the podcast links and I’ve removed the old pages and the old script file.

All of the CHEM 1050 podcast links have been fixed/updated.

I’ve updated the podcast links for CHEM 1050 through chapter 5, CHEM 1090 through chapter 2, and CHEM 1100 through chapter 12.

I’ve been able to update the links for the podcasts in each course that cover the first exam. I discovered and fixed a number of bad download links in the CHEM 1050 section and I added some ogg files for in CHEM 1100 chapter 11.

I’ve changed the JavaScript code I previously wrote for the podcast pages using what I’ve learned over the past month while working on the lab resource pages. I did have a couple of days of agony trying to find a problem with Internet Explorer but I’ve been able to adjust for it (heavy medication along with primal scream therapy directed at Microsoft helped). There are warnings on each of the podcast pages for my three classes- CHEM 1050, CHEM 1090, and CHEM 1100. I don’t know how long it will take. Although it’s nothing major, I do have to change every single link because of the coding I did so it will take some time.

I’ll concentrate on the first section for each class so I can stay ahead of the students. My plan is to have the first section completed for each class by the first day of class.

I’ve linked YouTube videos to each where appropriate by using the annotation function.

My last count was 105 videos stored on YouTube servers. If you consider the different formats (m4v, mp4/Flash, and Ogg), I have 403 videos served through my web page of which 147 are unique.

*Whew*

I’ve updated the CHEM 1100 homework solutions and finished linking to the podcasts I put on YouTube for CHEM 1100. I do need to add annotations to the ones that are broken up into multiple parts or that depend upon values calculated in other podcasts.

I’ve finished linking all of the available podcasts for CHEM 1050 and CHEM 1090 to the appropriate ones on YouTube. I need to do those for CHEM 1100, next.

I’ve finished updating the homework solutions for CHEM 1050.

I’ve finally put back in the course grade calculators that I had so many years ago. It’s been many years since I’ve done any JavaScript and it was nice to discover that I can now round off to a certain decimal place without having to write a special routine. Yea!

I’m continuing to upload my podcasts to YouTube and link to them. I think it’s easier to watch them off of my site since there typically isn’t much lag to worry about but YouTube has a large number of chemistry tutoring so it’s nice to have one-stop shopping when you need help. It has been taking quite some time to upload a few of the videos. Grr...

I think the next thing I’ll tackle is to try and figure out why Internet Explorer chokes on my HTML5 video pages.

I’ve created a channel on YouTube (you can find the subscription link here) and started uploading my podcasts. I’m adding the links as I upload them.

I’ve added new podcasts in a couple of areas.

I’ve also uploaded new policy and timeline documents for my winter quarter classes. I still need to update the objectives and the homework solutions for my CHEM 1050 and CHEM 1100 classes. These will be finished by the end of the next week.

I’ve updated and added some gas law podcasts for CHEM 1090.

I've added a podcast for molecular orbital theory.

I checked iTunes 10.5.1 in Windows 7 and discovered that it will now show my captions so I added/modified some comments in the podcast introduction page.

I’ve reworked the CHEM 1090 VSEPR podcasts.

I’m finished with the CHEM 1090 Lewis structure podcasts. I’ve also added two new ones for nitric acid and sulfuric acid. I’d like to revise the molecular structure podcasts this week.

I’ve started updating the Lewis structure podcasts for CHEM 1090. I plan on finishing them this week.

The CHEM 1100 podcast section has been updated and the links have been checked.

I’ve added a podcast that discusses a problem with how we use the significant figure rules by relating it to statistics.

I checked my office computer and both of the classroom computers that I will be using this quarter and all of them are running Internet Explorer v7. And my Flash podcasts now work!

IE v7 and v8 didn’t like the way I was dynamically changing the file information. Instead of having a separate web page for the Flash, HTML5, and QuickTime formats for each podcast (yikes!), I have one of each page and when a podcast link is selected, the URL sends the file information to the appropriate page. This, in theory, is easier because I only have to maintain three different video pages.

I haven’t actively developed web pages for a few years so I could work both on my lectures and podcasts. So with the exception of adding new podcasts, before I recently reworked the site using RapidWeaver, the site (including the JavaScript tutorials) had been in maintenance mode. Before XHTML was standard, the way I used to dynamically write pages was to use the document.write function. When I tried it a few weeks ago and validated the web page, I found out that things have changed and document.write was no longer the best way to do it.

As I started learning how to do it (and I’m still working on it!), I got stuck on the Flash podcast pages with older versions of Internet Explorer. As I was searching the web, I hit upon using innerHTML and I have a JavaScript function which will write out the page code with the appropriate file names. I do plan to continue trying to get the DOM method to work, but for right now this works so I’m happy.

I think I actually fixed the problem with the Flash podcasts in Internet Explorer <v9 web browser!

Shall I explain how I expertly diagnosed the problem, formulated a solution at a cost of many person-hours, and then successfully implemented the solution?

Or shall I explain how I fixed it by accident?

I won’t be able to verify the fix until I go into work on Monday and try it on the computers in my office and the classrooms I’ll be in this quarter; but, it now works for me. If I really did fix it then I’ll give a brief explanation.

I’ve tweaked and tightened the coding for the podcasts and included a link on the HTML5 video podcasts pages (those with this image- ) that links to a QuickTime video file.

After thinking about the Flash and Internet Explorer problem for the past day, I think the best option is to do a bit of browser detection and if the Flash podcast page detects that someone is using a version of Internet Explorer that’s prior to v9, a link to an optional file format will be displayed. I’m trying to avoid a lot of browser detection since it’s a pain and I don’t want to go that route again because it was extremely frustrating. I also don’t want to block it and force someone to do something else in case it actually works for them.

I went to work today (looking at the time it’s almost yesterday) and dropped off some photocopy jobs for next week and decided to boot up my work computer to see how the site’s new layout looks. Everything went fine until I checked the podcast page and clicked on a Flash link. Ah. All the computers at work have Internet Explorer 8 installed.

Wonderful.

When I got home, I booted up Windows 7 and run IE (I have v9). I know I can go into Developer Tools and toggle the browser to act like v8 which I do. And then I load one of the Flash podcasts just to make sure it doesn’t work and, by golly, it doesn’t. I then toggle it back into v9 mode and the podcast immediately loads. And then I toggle it into v7 mode just for grins and the podcast doesn’t load.

Wonderful. I know I’m repeating myself.

I’m going to have to think about doing browser detection for the Flash podcasts and probably load a QuickTime version of it, instead. I’m not happy about that because I was trying to get away from doing browser detection. I started doing that years ago when I was writing the JavaScript-based quizzes and it drove me crazy.

OK. Crazier.

<updated added>

I've found a temporary solution for the Flash problem in IE v7 and 8. Instead of clicking on the Flash link, , click on this link, , instead. Since neither v7 nor v8 of Internet Explorer is HTML5 compatible, this link will default to using QuickTime to show the video file. Yes, this assumes you have QuickTime installed.

I think I’ll need to check for IE on the Flash page and include a link to a different file if it doesn’t work properly.

All of the CHEM 1050/1090 podcasts are properly linked in the new site format. I’ll get to the CHEM 1100 ones at a later date since I still have to fix the CHEM 1090 homework files for the summer quarter.

I found a number of bad links from before and fixed them.