I’m very, very proud to announce the release of version of YouTube Embed, now named Artiss YouTube Embed.

Months in the making, it’s been totally re-written with a host of new features. It’s also compatible with a wide range of existing plugins, in case you wish to migrate! Changes include…

• XHTML and HTML5 compliant – works with all the latest browsers
• Multiple embedding methods available – OBJECT, IFRAME and EmbedPlus
• Allow users to add videos to comments
• Build your own playlists and play them back however you want
• Create multiple profiles – use them for different videos to get the exact style that you want
• Google compatible metadata is added to the video output – great for SEO!
• Code is cached for maximum performance
• Using a different YouTube plugin? Documentation and tools are provided to help you migrate to Artiss YouTube Embed
• And much, much more!

For more details please visit the official page on this site OR visit the WordPress page. If you have any question, why not visit the forum?

You can also learn more about some of the features…

1. Embedding Options
2. Profiles & Lists
3. Why this plugin?

That list link is especially good, as I compare this plugin against the competition (I hope fairly) – see why you should switch!

Join the Forum discussion on this post

WordPress 3.2.1 has been released.

After more than a million downloads of WordPress 3.2, we’re now releasing WordPress 3.2.1 into the wild. This maintenance release fixes a server incompatibility related to JSON that’s unfortunately affected some of you, as well as a few other fixes in the new dashboard design and the Twenty Eleven theme. If you’ve already updated to 3.2, then this update will be even faster than usual, thanks to the new feature in 3.2 that only updates files that have been changed, rather than replacing all the files in your installation.

The official WordPress announcement

3.2.1 Codex Details

3.2.1 Tickets

3.2.1 Changelog

A list of the modified files (between WordPress 3.2 and 3.2.1)

Download 3.2.1 (entire installation)

Download 3.2.1 (just the changed files between 3.2 and 3.2.1)

Over the last 2 posts I’ve mentioned some of the great new features of version 2 of YouTube Embed. And I haven’t even mentioned them all.

When updating this plugin I took the opportunity to look at the top 10 most popular rival plugins. I documented the features of each, ensuring that mine also had them (with only a few exceptions, where I felt they weren’t appropriate). I then added on the extra features that YouTube Embed has. The resulting spreadsheet is below and I believe it to be a fair representation. As I say at the beginning, if I’ve missed anything off or anything is incorrect, feel free to let me know.

So, let’s look at what this tell us.

First of all, one third of the plugins don’t work with all video IDs (I’ve, in the past, identified some YouTube IDs which WordPress has a habit of converting when used within shortcodes)

Secondly, one half of the plugins haven’t been updated this year. This may not be a problem, but the fact that most of the alternative plugins use the now defunct AS2 YouTube player would suggest that an update is due!

Lastly, YouTube Embed has over 6 times more features than the next “feature packed” YouTube embedding plugin. Yet, it remains simple to use.

Still using an alternative? It’s time to swap.