Besides adding photos to enhance our blog posts, we have the ability to also embed objects such as YouTube videos. These are not simple static objects like an image file and so they require a little different means to use them... but no worries it is not hard to do! I also want to highlight a couple things that even seasoned bloggers might not be aware of. So pay attention now, let me get to the tips!
I have written about embedding videos into posts before, but it was time for a re-write because both the user interface and the page size parameters have changed since I last looked at this topic.
Let's head over to YouTube and find content that we could share to illustrate the point. (Let's pick a "Just for Fun" type video to illustrate... I know one! Dick Greenberg has a video where he is making Onion Soup.)
When you are on a page with the specific YouTube video that you wish to share, notice the options below that you will want to choose:
If you don't change the default size, the video will look okay but it COULD be better. In the updated ActiveRain page layout, we now have up to 700 pixels of width for our main content. So you see in the list that there is a preset for 640 x 360 and that would be one step better* (see footnote about outside blogs). However, even better in most cases, you could maximize your available width by choosing the "Custom size" option in the pull down list. Then you could target the width to 700 and take full advantage of your available width. (I discovered that the full 700 is just a hair too much and causes horizontal scroll bars. So, we'll use 695 to come just under and avoid that problem.) Type a 695 in the first text box and then either press the TAB key or click with the mouse into the height box. By doing that, it will auto-calculate the height that you need. After you do that, then you will want to copy to the clipboard the entire text in the box above that starts with iframe
The next part is getting it into your blog post. The code you have on your clipboard is in HTML format so you can not simply just paste it in the post. If you have been blogging here a long time, you are thinking you need to go into (source code) HTML view, but aha! we don't need to anymore!
Place your cursor where you want the video to go. Next click the "insert video" button. Notice on the pop-up box that there is an "Embed" tab. When you are on that tab, paste the contents of your clipboard into the box and then click OK.
Now, don't be concered when you see a big gray box while you are in blog post editing mode. That is just a placeholder. Once you publish the post, the video will appear normally.
So for the old-timers seasoned bloggers, did you catch the two points that are different than before?
1. You now have 700 pixels of available width
2. You don't need to go into HTML view any more!
Now go enjoy watching Dick G. making some Onion Soup! It's making me hungry :)
Updated
*Footnote about outside blogs: If you are using an ActiveRain Outside Blog, I recommend that you stay with the 640 x 360 setting as most outside blog themes have a main content area of 650-660 pixels of width.
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