Featured Video Plus 1.5: AJAX

Due to some problems with the WordPress image editor there needed to be a quick update for the plugin. But because AJAX was already a planned part of this plugin from the beginning it now shipped with 1.5 on short notice. Now the featured video box behaves even more like the core implementation for featured images. As soon as the featured video url input box loses focus it sends an AJAX request to pull the new video information, display the refreshed video and set the featured image.

Furthermore I added options for enable the videoJS CDN or disable the videoJS JS and/or CSS completely  Not everyone uses local videos and those who do might want to use their own scripts. WordPress 3.6 is planned bring better local video capabilities, this might render the use of videoJS unnecessary.

Featured Video Plus 1.4: Media Manager

1.4 seamless integrates the new WordPress 3.5 Media Manager into the local video embed process. Further more customization options are introduced: Use time-links not only for YouTube but also for Dailymotion, let your videos auto play when they are displayed in single post/page view and specify your Dailymotion Publisher Syndication Key. Also your local videos are now saved domain independent – this means they won’t break when you move your blog.

As developer you now also have access to two new PHP-Functions for accessing the featured video’s images:

get_the_post_video_image()
get_the_post_video_image_url()

Featured Video Plus 1.3: International

Version 1.3 of the Featured Video Plus WordPress plugin is now international. The update integrates i18n (internationalizationeighteen letters between i and n) capabilities (including german translations for in this update, spanish planned next). If you want to contribute to the plugin by helping with translating it go grab the latest pot file from the Github  repository, translate it and post it in the plugin’s support forum. This way your translation will most likely ship with the next update.

Furthermore the plugin now ships with additions to WordPress‘ contextual help (this small help button on the top right of every admin page), revamped error handling and experimental, really experimental LiveLeak Support. They have no API at all and therefore it is quite a hassle to grab information from their video sites. So this is no reliable feature at all!

Go get the update at the WordPress.org plugin repository.

– video source: vimeo.com/33978304

Featured Video Play Icon

Featured Video Plus 1.2: Local Videos

This gets interesting. I just tagged 1.2 of the plugin. This time the main new feature is support for local videos. Using the open source HTML5 video player videoJS the plugin now enables you to use your own videos as featured videos.

Just upload the video as *.mp4, *.webm or *.ogv, copy and paste the „Link to Media File“ into the Featured Video input field. To ensure maximum compatibility with all your visitors it is best to provide the same video in a different format as a fallback. When the visitors‘ browser does not support any of the two video formats the video will be displayed as ordinary flash.

– video from nature.disney.com/oceans

Featured Video Plus 1.1: Dailymotion

Featured Video Plus 1.1 just got tagged. Main new feature is the support for a new video provider! Now you can use embed codes from YouTube, Vimeo and Dailymotion. Other than that there are some bug fixes regarding YouTube time-links and the interaction with featured images – which still needs some enhancements, work in progress. For the moment: Get the updated from the repository.

And if your theme does not work with the plugin straightaway.. Leave me a note in the support forum with your theme’s name! If the theme is available open source I will hack something together to make it work.

– video source: dailymotion.com/video/xdcx1i

WordPress: Featured Video Plus

Featured Video Plus 1.0 was just released to the WordPress.org Plugin Repository. It is my first plugin and is intended to make WordPress blogs more video friendly. Most themes already ship with featured image capabilities which makes blogs much more attractive and  posts more eye-catching. Featured videos hooks into this for many themes native functionality and enhances it through videos from YouTube and Vimeo.

This plugin enables you to add videos as Featured Videos to posts and pages. A screen capture of the video will be added as Featured Image automatically and then by default be replaced by the video when viewing the site. The Featured Videos can either be displayed in place of Featured Images, can be added to the theme by editing the theme’s source files or inserted in your posts manually using the shortcode.

– plugin description

After installing the plugin you get a new meta box on the post and page edit screens where you simply paste a video URL before publishing the post. If your theme uses WordPress‘ native featured image function the video will be displayed automatically. If not you still can use the Shortcode in your posts‘ content –

[featured−video−plus]

or make use of the PHP-Functions in your theme’s source files:

has_post_video() 
the_post_video()

When intending to use the PHP-Functions consider creating a child theme of the original instead of editing it directly. This will save you quite a hassle of redoing your changes when the theme gets updated. Also function_exists() conditionals are quite helpful.

– video source: http://youtu.be/CfNHleTEpTI