If you use YouTube to convert your videos to Flash, you can post them on your iWeb site, and the video files stay on YouTube’s server, not yours.

The iLife suite makes it easy to create a home movie, convert it to QuickTime, add it to a webpage using iWeb, and publish it for all to see. However, while the H.264 format used during the conversion process produces high-quality films, they can be quite large, especially compared to Flash videos.

We’ll show you how to add Flash videos to an iWeb page instead of bulkier QuickTime movies, using YouTube as a go-between. This technique offers the added advantage of using YouTube’s bandwidth and storage space instead of your own—a useful bonus, especially if your website becomes popular. 

What  you need: iMovie ’08 (version 7.1.4, part of iLife ’08, $79, www.apple.com),  iWeb ’08 (version 2.0.4, part of iLife ’08),  YouTube account (free, www.youtube.com), Some videos to publish

1. Something to Share

iMovie ’08 can send videos from your Project Library directly to YouTube.

First launch iMovie. Use one of your existing projects, or create one from scratch by dragging video clips from the Source Video (at the bottom of the screen) to the Project area (at the top). When you’ve completed a short film that you’re happy with, make sure it’s the one currently displayed (otherwise click on it in the Project Library section at the top left) and go to Share > YouTube.

2. Do You YouTube?

A free YouTube account lets you upload videos, plus make Favorites lists, rate videos, leave comments, and more.

Click Add to the right of the Account field to type in your YouTube account. If you don’t yet have one, you need to make a small detour to your Web browser and go to youtube.com. (If you already have a YouTube account, go straight to Step 3.) Click the Sign Up link at the top right of the landing page. Fill in all the requested information and click Create Account when ready. As is customary with any website login account, you’ll have to confirm your address by replying to an email sent to you by YouTube. Once that’s done, you’re ready to upload your video.

3. Sizing It Up

The gray letter i can tell you how big the video file will be.

Back in iMovie, enter your YouTube credentials, then fill in the info fields. For the best possible quality video, click the Medium button in the Size To Publish section. To see what size your video file will be once it’s encoded (which affects how fast it’ll download to your viewers’ computers), mouse over the grayed letter i to the right of the dimension. If you think that the film’s file size will be too big, opt for the smaller Mobile size. Checking Make This Movie Private will let you share it with a maximum of 25 people (customizable in your YouTube account). Click Next, read YouTube’s reminder not to share copyrighted material, and click Publish.

4. Visiting Your Video

Once iMovie sends your video to YouTube, this Visit link appears.

Still in iMovie, select your uploaded film in the Project Library and notice the small Published To YouTube banner at the top of the Project section. Click the Visit button at the far right of that banner to send your browser directly to the YouTube page hosting your video.

5. The Customizing Cog

Click the little cog by the Embed link.

Once there, you need to find the Embed link, located to the right of the video itself. Don’t copy it just yet: You have at your disposal a few options to customize the way the video will look when added to your website by clicking on the little cog wheel to the right of that Embed field.

6. Modifiable Visuals

The YouTube video player will eventually be on your own iWeb page, so it might as well look nice.

Usually, when a video finishes playing, you’re greeted with a selection of other films to watch. To keep that from happening, click the Don’t Include Related Videos button. You can also choose colors for the video player’s timeline and its border or remove the border entirely. Select the look that best matches the page you’re designing in iWeb. Once you like how the player looks, click the Embed field to select the code to its right and copy it (Command-C or Edit > Copy).

7. iWeb Snippet

The Embed link you copied is just HTML, so add it to iWeb as an HTML Snippet.

You’re now ready for iWeb. Select the page you’re building for your video (or create one from scratch). Go to Insert > HTML Snippet. A small see-through window appears with a large text field bearing the words Paste Or Type HMTL To Embed On Your Page. Click that field, paste the code taken from the YouTube page (Command-V or Edit > Paste), and click Apply.

8. Browser View

Your video stays stored on YouTube’s server, but visitors can watch it right on your page.

Your video will appear in a few seconds. You can drag the player anywhere on your page, but that’s it—you can’t rotate it, change its opacity, or even add a reflection or a shadow to it. You don’t need to finish and publish your webpage to see if the link works: Double-click on it to download the video straight into iWeb. If you’d rather see the end result in a Web browser instead, publish your site (either to MobileMe or to a folder on your hard drive) and visit the page using your favorite browser.