So, I nearly had the plugin done. It has so many new features you wouldn’t believe and it works like a dream. All I had to do was bring the widget code up to date and all would be fine.

But then I had an idea about some performance improvements.

Then I thought it would be a good idea to compare the features of my plugin with the competition – in this case the top 10 most downloaded plugins that allow YouTube embedding. As well as looking up the instructions, I’m also installing each to get a good feel of them – however, I’m not going to take this as an opportunity to “diss” alternatives. Instead, I will present a straight forward comparison of features between the plugins.

First I had to identify them, so I started looking around WordPress.org. Not easy – it’s all based on tags and different authors use different tags to identify them. However, as I looked around, it became apparent that there were many out there with USP’s – one’s that I’d missed. So the spreadsheet is continuing, but I’m also looking at around 41 other plugins available to see what features they have that mine doesn’t. My intention is to launch a product that doesn’t have any features that the others don’t – unless I don’t think they’re worth it

So, more work to do. The words “back” and “rod” spring to mind.

None-the-less work continues and I hope YouTube Embed version 2 will be released soon.

Update: Further progress is now being tracked on the forum – read more here.

I’m proud to announce that version 1.5 of my WordPress plugin YouTube Embed has been released.

Like 1.4, it’s a choc-full update…

• The post editor now has YouTube button, which inserts the YouTube shortcode (this can be switched off in the options screen)
• I’ve added a new option to disable keyboard controls
• I’ve also added an option to supply a video ratio, in case height or width are not supplied – the missing parameter will then be calculated using this ratio. If you don’t supply a ratio then it’s calculated using your default height and width.
• You can now add  a download link (for video and playlist) using a function call or shortcode
• On the options screen you can specify which set of parameters the demonstration video uses (i.e. “normal” or EmbedPlus). This allows you to try your options on a different video type without switching to it.

The next release is probably going to be version 2, with a LOT of new options and a complete re-write of the documentation and major changes to the code.

Full details are on the plugin’s dedicated page.

Yesterday I announced that my YouTube Embed WordPress plugin would include EmbedPlus. But what exactly is it?

First of all, let me explain YouTube embedding.

If you have your own website or blog chances are that you’ve uploaded or seen a video that you’d really like to add to your site.

Well, YouTube, via an “Embed” button next to the video, provide the code you need to do this. You can also switch on and off different options to configure exactly how you’d like it to appear.

What you end up with is a video on your site that offers the same options as it would have on the YouTube site.

Step forward EmbedPlus – they provide alternative embedding code that will add extra functionality to the resulting video. To achieve this the YouTube video is converted to Flash and delivered via EmbedPlus themselves – if the viewers device doesn’t support Flash then EmbedPlus will fall back to the standard YouTube embed code.

The additional options that EmbedPlus adds includes…

• Instant Replay – replay an event soon after it happens.
• Slow Motion – instantly watch videos at a slower rate to more clearly see what happens.
• Movable Zoom – added accessibility. Dynamically magnifies the area you point over. Use it to get a close look at objects, writing, and things like moving athletes.
• Crop – cut/splice/chop only the particularly interesting part of a video to show during playback.
• Scene Skipping – like DVD chapter buttons, click these to skip to marked times.
• Real-time Reactions – enable this button to show viewers the latest Internet reactions, right inside the player

If all of this wasn’t enough they now have a great new feature named Sweet Spot Marking. If you don’t use the Scene Skipping function this will create markers in the video based on social references. In other words they automatically analyse discussions about the video and mark positions in the video that people are talking about.

To demonstrate this functionality, below are 2 videos. The first uses the standard YouTube embedding and the latter uses EmbedPlus.

EmbedPlus is still a “work in progress” however, and they are promising further features soon. They’d be really interested in feedback so please feel free to contact them.