Videos
While video files cannot be hosted locally within your GW Drupal website, you can upload them to Vimeo and/or YouTube and then add them to your web pages for a seamless and engaging user experience.
Adding Videos
Remotely hosted videos can be easily added to a webpage using a video-sharing link from Vimeo or YouTube. Follow these steps to properly add them:
Video Sharing Links
Copy the video link from the video hosting platform. This can be found by going to the video page and clicking the Share button on either platform.
Important Note: When copying the video link from Vimeo, remove the "?share=copy" parameter from the end of the link if it is there. This will ensure the video is added to the page correctly without any errors.
Correct:https://vimeo.com/840863306
Incorrect:https://vimeo.com/994112821?share=copy https://vimeo.com/994112821?byline=0&portrait=0&title=0
If you want to disable the profile icon/title/byline we recommend doing that from the Vimeo account it's hosted on. A preset can be created and applied to all videos hosted on the account to disable it. Otherwise adding a parameter can be unreliable and trickier to handle.
Where to access and copy a video link on Vimeo
Where to access and copy a video link on YouTube
Adding Videos to a Webpage Body
- In the WYSIWYG editor, put your cursor inline in the text where you want the video to display on the page.
- Adding videos to templates can often help with page layout and sizing
- Click the Insert Media button in the WYSIWYG toolbar
- From the menu on the left, select Remote Video
- Paste the video link into the field labeled Add Remote video via URL and click Add
- Reminder if you're copying and pasting a link from Vimeo, it should end in a number, not "?share=copy"
- Click Save then Insert Selected on the next screen two screens
Where to paste the video link on the Remote Video screen
Video as Media Headers
Videos can be used as media headers or banners at the top of a page. These videos are often made for this specific purpose and have specific parameters such as auto-playing and having no audio. If you would like help setting up a video header on a website, onlinestrategy
gwu [dot] edu (email our team) or schedule virtual office hours.
The CCAS homepage uses a video as a media header
Video Sizing
By default, videos added to a webpage will be displayed in their original size. The best way to change the size or layout of videos is by adding them to templates. Like images, videos inside templates will fill the width of the template container.
Video Accessibility
As with all digital content, videos posted on websites or social media need to comply with accessibility laws. In most cases, this requires some combination of captioning and/or written transcripts.
Videos with Visuals
If your video leans heavily on visuals such as graphs, animations, or text on the screen, consider the experience for someone who is blind or has low vision. If the visuals are key to understanding the video, create a written transcript that can be read with a screen reader. Don't forget to ensure that all visuals meet color contrast guidelines.
Videos with Music
Videos that contain music between dialogue or music with no dialogue must still contain captions to indicate when music is playing. This is important so users know they are not missing any other dialogue or verbal prompts. Examples of captioning musical content may include "(Music playing)" or "(Classical music playing)."
Captions
When creating videos for your website or social media networks, you'll need to include video captioning for digital accessibility in your plans and budget. Captions aid those users who have trouble hearing or focusing on the action in the video.
Many vendors provide video captioning services. Currently, the GW Multimedia team uses Rev for video captions.