X3Photo Gallery Forums

Bulletproof IT · 05 Sep 2013, 16:51

Hello,

Thank you for answering the survey above. May I please request an addition or feature? I believe it would be incredibly useful and helpful to your users.

Plus a simple and straight forward way to implement and manage videos. I feel this would benefit everyone, and encourage people to integrate video into their galleries more easily and obviously more often!

WHAT?
Add a new content type called "Video Gallery".

TYPE?
Content Types List (e.g. Text Page (not "textpage"), Folder, Filemod, Link)

WHERE?
When browsing/managing the ImageVue gallery directory content and hierachy.

SUMMARY
When adding a text page and having to add the code to embed a text link to a YouTube/Vimeo video, could we perhaps instead have a new content type called "Video Gallery".

What it would do is display a page that consists of a FORM plus semi-folder view.
The form would contain fields to ADD content to the folder (no upload or moving content to this folder, as per existing content types).
Example fields:
- Title
- Description
- Video Source (Radio buttons: Vimeo/YouTube)
- Source URL
- Thumbnail (optional upload image, otherwise grab Youtube generated thumbnail via API)
- META fields (basic meta fields that can be filled, and perhaps future API to "get/read" field values) - For example: Length, Format, Resolution(s), Date uploaded/created.....
- Rating (G, PG, M, etc)
- etc...

Added to view as other media is viewed. Can be sorted, dragged manually etc.

FUNCTIONS
After filling in the fields and clicking ADD (the video that has already been uploaded to Vimeo/YouTube) a new "Thumbnail" is added in the content listing of the Video Gallery folder. It displays the thumbnail chosen, or a generic default one, or future API functionality via get thumb, the title, etc, etc.
You progressively add more and more videos from any location.
Then when viewed from the front end, the gallery files would have a video watermark over the top of the video's thumbnail.
When clicked, opens in lightbox and plays.
If an "Info" or "Property" icon, in a corner of the video is clicked (from the file listing) then it could display all properties - e.g. Complete description, rating, video source, META fields, etc...

I think this would be a great addition which is incredibly simple, and is just a matter of creating "links" to the video content, so it displays as a lsit of thumbnails, instead of text. Plus would be easy enough for anyone to do, rather than messing around with JavaScript and text pages.

Does anyone else think this more "fluid" way of displaying videos in ImageVue would be beneficial an easier to create, manage and view?

Thank you for considering this for v3 / x3 or a future version of v2 / x2

Perhaps it could be an add-on purchased separately, or perhaps integrated into ImageVue?
Cheers!

06 Sep 2013, 03:41

I would vote "yes", although none of the options were directly viable for me. Personally, I would vote no to self-hosted videos these days anyway ... They are sluggish, dont support automatic multiple bitrates, and they bloat your server ... If anything, I would focus more on embedding hosted videos from Youtube and Vimeo which are superior in performance for the visitor ... They can be embedded nicely into a website and just because they have a small vimeo/youtube logo, it doesn't mean they have any huge negative impact.

Bulletproof IT · 07 Sep 2013, 15:37

Hello mate

Yes, this is exactly my request. Having a better way of adding Video content to your gallery. 100% embed via link. Most video sites have an API readily available so they can serve remote sites with the Thumb (size: 1,2,3...) and Video Dimensions (1,2,3....) and of course Title, Description, etc...

So for example, when switching from the drop-down menu "Folder, Link, FileMod...." you would add an extra one which is Video Gallery.

From there the form is displayed upon refresh and you can add URL's (Selecting YouTube, Vimeo only).
Once added and saved, videos are available from the front end with thumbnails (Auto (future dev), Manual Image, or Default Video thumbnail).

And just as you can drag and drop photo content in folders, the same would apply for the Video Gallery - changing the sequence in which they are displayed.

Perhaps you could have a "details" layout in the front-end too. Allowing Thumbnails to be stacked, with their title and additional information to the right. There are so many possibilities, but they can be discussed and implemented down the track. For now, the most important part is having a form where there video's can be added, or directly edited in the XML file.

Oh and I hope I laid out the request, above, in an easy to understand way. I didn't want it to be too overwhelming and just one big block of text!

08 Sep 2013, 01:18

Bulletproof IT wrote:Yes, this is exactly my request. Having a better way of adding Video content to your gallery. 100% embed via link. Most video sites have an API readily available so they can serve remote sites with the Thumb (size: 1,2,3...) and Video Dimensions (1,2,3....) and of course Title, Description, etc...

Yup, just keep in mind they are often blog-websites or other DB-driven sites, which basically just provide a tool to help embed a video in a html page. In Imagevue, if we are going to support Youtube/Vimeo videos in gallery folders, we will need to basically come up with a pseudo virtual system to store a reference to the video. Its not just embedding into a page here ...

Bulletproof IT wrote:So for example, when switching from the drop-down menu "Folder, Link, FileMod...." you would add an extra one which is Video Gallery.

From there the form is displayed upon refresh and you can add URL's (Selecting YouTube, Vimeo only).
Once added and saved, videos are available from the front end with thumbnails (Auto (future dev), Manual Image, or Default Video thumbnail).

And just as you can drag and drop photo content in folders, the same would apply for the Video Gallery - changing the sequence in which they are displayed.

Perhaps you could have a "details" layout in the front-end too. Allowing Thumbnails to be stacked, with their title and additional information to the right. There are so many possibilities, but they can be discussed and implemented down the track. For now, the most important part is having a form where there video's can be added, or directly edited in the XML file.

Oh and I hope I laid out the request, above, in an easy to understand way. I didn't want it to be too overwhelming and just one big block of text!

Yup something like you said! This will have to wait for next version of Imagevue however, as it should be more flexible and we don't have to deal with multiple frontends and outdated technologies.

Bulletproof IT · 08 Sep 2013, 10:34

mjau-mjau wrote:
Bulletproof IT wrote:Yes, this is exactly my request. Having a better way of adding Video content to your gallery. 100% embed via link. Most video sites have an API readily available so they can serve remote sites with the Thumb (size: 1,2,3...) and Video Dimensions (1,2,3....) and of course Title, Description, etc...
Yup, just keep in mind they are often blog-websites or other DB-driven sites, which basically just provide a tool to help embed a video in a html page. In Imagevue, if we are going to support Youtube/Vimeo videos in gallery folders, we will need to basically come up with a pseudo virtual system to store a reference to the video. Its not just embedding into a page here ...

I think you misunderstand. API's offer a way for one website to communicate to a foreign / remote server.
It allows requesting data and information.

I'm not referring to any blogs. I am talking about Vimeo and YouTube. These sites support API communication.

You would use an API inside ImageVue, link it up so that it communicates to these foreign sites (YouTube/Vimeo) and receive data/information.

I just wanted to clarify that, as it sounds as though you misunderstood what I said. I have no idea where you got blog or DB-driven websites from. All I am talking about is ImageVue and VIDEO Sites. (Video Sites = Vimeo + YouTube!).

Looking forward to v3

09 Sep 2013, 00:36

Bulletproof IT wrote:I think you misunderstand. API's offer a way for one website to communicate to a foreign / remote server.
It allows requesting data and information.

I'm not referring to any blogs. I am talking about Vimeo and YouTube. These sites support API communication.

You would use an API inside ImageVue, link it up so that it communicates to these foreign sites (YouTube/Vimeo) and receive data/information.

I know very well what an API is, and Imagevue itself has an API. However, this doesn't help with anything ... Even if they do have an API, we need to store local references (path, data, location in folder etc) to youtube videos, and this would requires a virtual system if you are to "add" Youtube videos to a folder.

Bulletproof IT wrote:I just wanted to clarify that, as it sounds as though you misunderstood what I said. I have no idea where you got blog or DB-driven websites from. All I am talking about is ImageVue and VIDEO Sites. (Video Sites = Vimeo + YouTube!).

Well, its quite important ... To have Youtube videos in Imagevue, we obviously need to use a local system that stores references to videos in regards to a folder where we want them, regardless of an API. With some system like Wordpress, which is html-based, page-based and database-based, one just embeds some simple code into a page and thats about it ... then that page gets stored in the WP database. In Imagevue we also need to store the reference somewhere, but instead of just adding it to a page, you also want to have an "Imagevue Youtube gallery" which requires us to store references as separate entities ... In a file-based system, it would possibly be something like "YoutubeVideoName.vid", being a text file and storing URL references to the video on Youtube to be played. Let me just make it clear: This does not change if they have an API!

Bulletproof IT · 15 Sep 2013, 20:41

Glad to see 8 votes in the survey / poll above!

I think you misinterpreted what I said. I am not telling or teaching you what an API is. (mjau-mjau: "I know very well what an API is").
When I say API, I am talking about how Imagevue will GET the data from the remote site! I am incredibly sorry and apologise for not being perfect! Perhaps I haven't used the right words. Please be more understanding of this, as I am spending my time here trying to contribute and make this a better product.

API, from my understanding, is simply a standardised way to communicate to a server or service. So as the developer, it is up to you to decide whether to use an API to automate some of the process (grabbing details about Video - e.g. Name, Description, Thumbnail, etc) OR require the user to manually fill in all details of form and manual selection of thumbnail.... I thought it was clear in my last post, that I said that this functionality could optionally be implemented down the track - to repeat: Perhaps in future use an API to connect to Vimeo/YouTube and "GRAB" this information from the link provided, to reduce the amount of manual entry of data into the form discussed above.

The advantage?
Not having to enter the title (unless overriding) or description, or thumbnail. It would be done for you. (The thumbnail probably taking the most time, and affecting how the gallery looks! Less attractive having a page full of "No Thumbnail Available" images LOL).
It is just a form. The input is saved to the Video Gallery and included data is linked to either the Vimeo template or YouTube template for being displayed.

Storage
Now the storing of each AtTheBeach.Y/V.vid.link Video link in the Gallery - which stores all the information entered in the form I explained above, is simply displaying the appropriate frame in which the video is served to the visitor. So rather than having to have a text page, you could instead choose the Video Gallery drop-down just as you choose Filemod and Text Page etc.... Clicking on the thumbnail listing will have the Video open up in a floating frame, where the video parameters (________.Y/V.vid.link) are loaded into the YouTube or Vimeo template and initiated.

What you said in your second section is exactly what I had said. So it seems like you understood

Each "Video" in the Video Gallery would have a small file (e.g. ________.Y/V.vid.link) to represent each video in the gallery. Populating the parameters / fields could be automated by using the YouTube API or Vimeo API interface's to allow us to "slipstream" or "automate" the process of adding data to the Video Form.

e.g. Paste URL to the video.
Click "Get Info".
The form then fills in all the Video Data / Meta Data and can be edited before saving.
Edit title, description, etc, etc, etc.
Click save and the Video is added to the Video Gallery as a "Virtual" link.
Time to add the next video!

When the video is viewed, if the video is from YouTube, then the YouTube embed code template is used and the parameters loaded ________.Y.vid.link and inputted and fill the variables. The same would apply if the video was from Vimeo - the Vimeo embed template would be used, with the fields from the ________.V.vid.link filling in the Vimeo Template in order for it to be played.

I am glad you understood everything from my previous post! And that you understood that I was saying that you could use the Vimeo and YouTube API's to "GET" the data about the video instead of having to manually fill each and every form!

Note: Y/V is just an example, to show what type of video data was inside the file. e.g. Type=Vimeo etcetera...

Thanks again for your time discussing this. Much appreciated.

Summary:
Phase 1: Create Video Form + Video Gallery type in drop-down. If video type = x then load suitable x embed code.
Phase 2: Integrate Video Form with remote YouTube and Vimeo API's to allow auto population of fields from Video URL input.

16 Sep 2013, 12:16