How pause media playback on inactive tabs can be very very useful?
By using visibilitychange event, its possible stop playback when user move to another browser tab or inactive. So we can save bandwidth and which can be used for active users to give them the best quality uninterrupted media playback. Because in streaming platform high bandwidth is the main challenging issue.
The Big Benefit of Pausing Media in Inactive Tabs
Pausing media playback in inactive tabs can be a surprisingly useful feature, especially for streaming platforms. Here's how it benefits both users and the platform itself.
Reduced Bandwidth Consumption
By stopping media playback when a user switches to another tab, you can significantly reduce bandwidth usage. This is particularly important for streaming services, where high bandwidth is crucial for maintaining smooth playback. Lower overall bandwidth consumption frees up resources for active users, ensuring they experience uninterrupted high-quality streams.
Improved User Experience (For Most)
While some users might prefer media to continue playing in the background, many appreciate the ability to conserve bandwidth. This is especially true for users on limited data plans or those with unreliable internet connections. Pausing inactive tabs also helps to prevent unnecessary battery drain on mobile devices.
Making the Choice - User Research is Key
As a developer, it's important to understand your user base. Conducting user research can help you determine whether implementing this feature aligns with your target audience's needs. You can then offer the option to enable or disable pausing media in inactive tabs, giving users more control over their experience.
This is the example code you can test by yourself. This code shows when the tab is visible and when not. By determining the tab visibility its easy to pause and resume media. ... You have to write simple function for this..
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>Tab Activity Detection</title>
<script>
// Function to handle tab visibility change
function handleVisibilityChange() {
var listElement = document.getElementById('activityList');
var activity = document.hidden ? 'Inactive' : 'Active';
var entry = document.createElement('li');
entry.textContent = activity + ' - ' + new Date().toLocaleString();
listElement.appendChild(entry);
}
// Add event listener for visibility change
document.addEventListener('visibilitychange', handleVisibilityChange);
// Initial setup based on tab visibility
window.onload = handleVisibilityChange;
</script>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Tab Activity Detection</h1>
<p>This page logs tab activity as a list.</p>
<ul id="activityList"></ul>
</body>
</html>
To test this. copy the code and run this code.
This code shows the result when the tab is visible and when not. And with this result we can pause and resume media playback and also other functions.
Go to another tab and back to this tab to get the result... tab visibility( when the tab was visible or not)
Tab Activity Detection
This page logs tab activity as a list.
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Play the audio and go to another tab and it will pause automatically
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The complete code for this
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<title>Media Playback Example</title>
</head>
<body>
<!-- Audio element with controls -->
<audio id="myAudio" controls>
<!-- Source of the audio file -->
<source src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Ludwig_van_Beethoven_-_symphony_no._5_in_c_minor%2C_op._67_-_iii._allegro.ogg" type="audio/mpeg">
</audio>
<script>
// Wait for DOM content to be loaded
document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function() {
// Get the audio element by its ID
const audio = document.getElementById("myAudio");
let playingOnHide = false;
// Event listener for visibility change
document.addEventListener("visibilitychange", () => {
// Check if document is hidden
if (document.hidden) {
// Pause audio when document is hidden
playingOnHide = !audio.paused; // Check if audio was playing before hiding
audio.pause(); // Pause audio playback
} else {
// Resume audio playback when document becomes visible
if (playingOnHide) {
audio.play(); // Resume playback if audio was playing before hiding
}
}
});
});
</script>
</body>
</html>