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Faceplate Layout in DHTML

This topic applies to Windows Media Player version 6.4 only.

The user interface for a Windows Media Player faceplate is a Web page written in dynamic HTML (DHTML). The page should be designed to generate events that trigger certain scripts contained in the page. These scripts in turn control playback and the presentation of any information specific to the media file. Because DHTML allows you to change the text and graphics of a Web page after it has loaded, you can change the appearance of the faceplate as Windows Media Player performs different tasks. Because the faceplate is a Web page, it can also contain hyperlinks to informational and storefront Web sites, and these can change with each media file being played.

To make a good faceplate, you need some knowledge of DHTML and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Microsoft's SiteBuilder Network has excellent reference material on both of these topics. You will also need some good graphical editing tools, because faceplates can use images for both interface elements and pictures related to the media. With these tools in hand, constructing a faceplate is not much different from constructing a Web page.

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