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Youtube Sidebar Widget

  1. garyploski
    Member

    Many of us have heard of a little site called YouTube though the only way we can share YouTube videos is in a Post or a Page. Why stop there, WordPress? I'm at a loss why there is no better option in the available widgets. Embedding code into a Text Widget offers a very poor user experience.

    There is a perfectly awesome widget that fits perfectly into WordPress.com blogs. It presents a YouTube video, a playlist or a username's videos larger than an embed and keeps the reader/viewer on the blog. Win/Win!

    Youtube Sidebar Widget
    http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/youtube-sidebar-widget/

    I can't be the only one who would love to use this on their site. WP Team, please add this widget to the wp.com widget pool. =)

    Who else is with me?

    The blog I need help with is garyploski.wordpress.com.

  2. timethief
    Member

    Youtube videos can also be added to your sidebar this way:
    http://wpbtips.wordpress.com/2010/07/03/gigya-shortcode-1-videos/

  3. garyploski
    Member

    True, though the gigya method is more or less the same as using the Text Widget. The video size remains small which is not a good user experience.

    How often does anyone watch a video that is the size of a sidebar and how many people actually know how to enlarge a YouTube video without ending up on YouTube.com vs staying on the site with the embeded video?

  4. timethief
    Member

    Here is a useful post re: sidebar widths for most of the free themes http://wpbtips.wordpress.com/2010/01/11/sidebar-width/

  5. timethief
    Member

    Answer: I don't know about other people. I don't watch any youtube videos on blogs in posts, let alone, in sidebars, unless they display at full size the way the Sundance theme displays them I click through to view them on youtube's site.

  6. garyploski
    Member

    That's just it, the plugin noted above makes a video fill the screen so that it can be watched in a decent size compared an embed whether it is in a sidebar or footer.

    Sundance only displays a video on the front page which is limiting to video content creators who also blog.

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