Videos are a great way to make blogs and websites more interesting for your users. While beautiful photographs do much to spice up a blog entry, videos can make them even better.
Adding videos to your blog are even more important if you have a YouTube channel. You can ramp up views and drum up interest in your material by creating entire blog entries about them. Even if you do not have a YouTube channel, you can always embed relevant videos in your blog.
It is very easy to embed videos in WordPress sites. However, you can also do more than just embed videos—you can resize them, add whole playlists, and experiment with the way visitors to your blog can view the videos.
Here are a few ways you can spice up your WordPress site with videos, without using plugins.
Basic embedding
It is very easy to embed videos in WordPress. Simply copy the URL of the YouTube video from the browser’s address bar and then paste it into the Visual Editor. Make sure that the URL is in a line by itself, with no extra characters or white spaces beside it.
For example, to embed a video of a compilation of the funniest and cutest cat videos made in 2014 into your WordPress site, simply paste the URL into the Visual Editor:
Paste this URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2H5YVfZVFw
A few moments after pasting the URL, a video box is generated. You can preview the video right in the Visual Editor.
Make sure that the URL is not hyperlinked—you can see that a URL has been recognized as a hyperlink if it turns the link color of your WordPress theme, and is underlined. If this happens, just highlight the link and click “Unlink” in the Visual Editor tool bar.
You can also use a shortcode to embed your video. However, unlike basic embedding, using a shortcode means that you cannot preview the video in the Visual Editor. Instead, you have to either Preview or Publish the entry in order to see how the video looks.
Resize or customize embedded videos
In order to resize a video, you need to put the desired width and height at the end of the video in this format: &w=(value)&h=(value).
To embed the cat video mentioned above with the size 1024×768 pixels for example, you need to use this format:
Resized video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2H5YVfZVFw&w=1024&h=768
You can also use a shortcode for this.
Embed a playlist
Instead of putting just one video in a page, you can also embed a YouTube playlist so that visitors can view several videos at once.
To embed a playlist, get the URL of the playlist from the browser address bar and paste it directly into the Visual Editor, much like embedding a single video.
Playlist link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXh8ZAQP_60&list=PLpKqkD1F__i15Xb4wb1ghDldaazRyd0GC
You can also paste the URL into a shortcode.
Start playback from a specific point
If you are writing a tutorial or wish to illustrate a point using video, it can be useful to specify a start point for playback of the video you are embedding into your site by using a shortcode and adding “&start=(value in seconds)”.
First, take note of the timestamp of the point at which you want to start, then convert the time into seconds. For example, if you wish to start the video at one minute and 10 seconds into playback, convert that value into 70 seconds (60+10).
Using the cat video again, you can paste the code as follows:
Specific start point link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2H5YVfZVFw&start=70
Specify an end time to playback
It is also possible to end playback of a video at a certain point. To specify an end point, use “&end=(value in seconds)”.
Specific end point link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2H5YVfZVFw&end=80
This can also be used in combination with the start point code.
Specific start and end point link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2H5YVfZVFw&start=70&end=80
Hide the YouTube information bar
If you do not want visitors on your site to see the information bar of the YouTube videos you embed, you can hide the information bar which appears on top of embedded videos.
This can be done by using a shortcode, and adding “&showinfo=0” as follows:
Hide YouTube Information Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2H5YVfZVFw&showinfo=0
Change theme
The look of the YouTube player can be changed to a light theme using a shortcode and adding “&theme=light”.
The code looks like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2H5YVfZVFw&theme=light
Add video to sidebar or footer
It is possible to embed a YouTube video into the sidebar or footer of your site. Simply use a text widget, and use a shortcode to embed the video.
The code should look like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2H5YVfZVFw
Let visitors watch a YouTube Live Event
YouTube allows users to create a Live Event or to livestream video using their platform. Once you have created a Live Event or want to feature someone else’s stream in your site, simply embed it like you would any other video, either by pasting the URL of the video into the Visual Editor, or using a shortcode.