Videos
While video files cannot be hosted within your GW Drupal website, you can upload them to Vimeo and/or YouTube and then embed them onto your webpages for a seamless and engaging user experience. Here, we'll cover the embed methods available within the two themes.
However, you can also overlay a video on top of a Promotion, and create a rotating set of videos by adding multiple Promotions to several rotating Content Set options. See the Promotions page for instructions on the overlay method.
Video Captions
When creating videos for your website or social media networks, you'll need to include video captioning for digital accessibility into your plans and budget. Captions aid those users who have trouble hearing or focusing on the action in the video.
There are many vendors who provide video captioning services. Currently, Marketing & Creative Services uses Rev for video captions.
In the Editorial theme, you have two options for featuring videos on your website:
- Use the WYSIWYG text editor video embed
- Use the Sharing/Embed feature in YouTube or Vimeo
From the WYSIWYG text editor
- Go to the desired video on YouTube or Vimeo
- Click on its share icon and copy the link to the video's page
- Back in Drupal, click on the blue filmstrip icon in the WYSIWYG text editor
- In the next window, paste the URL provided by YouTube or Vimeo respectively
- Adjust the video dimensions, if desired
- Be sure to maintain the aspect ratio so that it will not be skewed
- Check the Autoplay checkbox if you would like it to play on page load
- Check the Open in Lightbox checkbox if you would like the video to play in a "popup window" instead of directly on the page
- Type in descriptive alternative text for the video's image thumbnail
- Click the OK button
You should now see embed code representing the video. Upon publishing and saving the page or Promotion, you should see your video in that space.
Sharing from YouTube
YouTube allows you to share individual videos, as well as video playlists from YouTube channels. With a basic channel, you can generally expect that:
- Videos and playlists must be public in order for them to display on your website
- You can share public videos from your own account or from someone else's account
- The username, profile image, and video title will display along the top of the video, alongside links back to the owner's YouTube page
A sample video from the George Washington University's YouTube channel:
Embed a YouTube Video or Playlist
- Copy the embed code for the desired YouTube video or playlist
- Back in GW Drupal, click on the Source button on the WYSIWYG text editor
- Place your cursor in the spot you'd like the video or playlist to display
- Paste in the embed code
- Publish and Save the content
You should now see the YouTube video or playlist player on your website.
Sharing from Vimeo
Like YouTube, the Vimeo video platform offers video-hosting services, as well as features to share your videos on your website.
Unlike YouTube, Vimeo also offers both a basic, free account level, as well as several paid account levels. Paid accounts provide extended customization options on the embeddable video player, such as hiding ads, the Vimeo logo and certain buttons on the player.
- Videos must be public in order for them to display on your website
- You can share public videos from your own account or from someone else's account
- The username, profile image, and video title will display, alongside links back to the owner's page
A sample video from the George Washington University's Vimeo page:
Embed a Vimeo Video
- Copy the embed code for the desired Vimeo video
- Back in GW Drupal, click on the Source button on the WYSIWYG text editor
- Place your cursor in the spot you'd like the video to display
- Paste in the embed code
- Publish and Save the content
You should now see the Vimeo video player on your website.
In the GW Drupal Classic theme, sharing YouTube and Vimeo videos is a quick process that involves grabbing the embed code from your chosen video hosting platform, and then pasting it into the Source HTML of your GW Drupal webpage.
Sharing from YouTube
YouTube allows you to share individual videos, as well as video playlists from YouTube channels. With a basic channel, you can generally expect that:
- Videos and playlists must be public in order for them to display on your website
- You can share public videos from your own account or from someone else's account
- The username, profile image, and video title will display along the top of the video, alongside links back to the owner's YouTube page
A sample video from the George Washington University's YouTube channel:
Embed a YouTube Video or Playlist
- Copy the embed code for the desired YouTube video or playlist
- Back in GW Drupal, click on the Source button on the WYSIWYG text editor
- Place your cursor in the spot you'd like the video or playlist to display
- Paste in the embed code
- Publish and Save the content
You should now see the YouTube video or playlist player on your website.
Sharing from Vimeo
Like YouTube, the Vimeo video platform offers video-hosting services, as well as features to share your videos on your website.
Unlike YouTube, Vimeo also offers both a basic, free account level, as well as several paid account levels. Paid accounts provide extended customization options on the embeddable video player, such as hiding ads, the Vimeo logo and certain buttons on the player.
- Videos must be public in order for them to display on your website
- You can share public videos from your own account or from someone else's account
- The username, profile image, and video title will display, alongside links back to the owner's page
A sample video from the George Washington University's Vimeo page:
Embed a Vimeo Video
- Copy the embed code for the desired Vimeo video
- Back in GW Drupal, click on the Source button on the WYSIWYG text editor
- Place your cursor in the spot you'd like the video to display
- Paste in the embed code
- Publish and Save the content
You should now see the Vimeo video player on your website.
Sharing from Facebook
Sharing Facebook posts with videos is another great way to display content from Social Media on your website. You can even share video in real-time using Facebook Live.
At this time, Facebook only offers the ability to embed single posts on your website.
- Posts must be public in order to display on your website.
- You can embed public posts from your own account or from someone else's page or account.
- The username of the post-owner will display, alongside links back to their profile.
Embed a Video Post from Facebook
- You must be logged into Facebook on a computer
- Find the video you'd like to embed and use the share button to copy its embed code
- Back in GW Drupal, click on the Source button on the WYSIWYG text editor
- Place your cursor in the spot you'd like the Facebook video post to display
- Paste in the embed code
- Publish and Save the content
You should now see the Facebook video post on your website.
Note: If you are sharing a Facebook Live video you can not access the embed code until the video has begun. You will need to follow the steps listed above once the live stream has started.
More Sharing Options
Looking to add Like and Share buttons to your website? Facebook offers instructions on their developers support site to further extend the sharing experience between their platform and your website.