My Little Pony, Draggable YouTube.

May 15, 2012 7:12 AM

My Little Pony, Draggable YouTube.

I think it would be swell if I could drag the embedded YouTube window around, and possibly click the links that are beneath it.

This concept was mentioned several years ago but no mod showed up to talk about it. Possibly because it had the misfortune to appear on April 1. In that thread The Winsome Parker Lewis posted a well-reasoned version of this request. Is this a nice thing we can have?

posted by dirtdirt to Feature Requests at 7:12 AM (41 comments total)

I would love this.
posted by ocherdraco at 7:25 AM on May 15, 2012 [1 favorite]

You can always just control click (on a mac, there's probably some way to do this on a PC as well) and open the link in a new window and drag and resize the window at will.
posted by HuronBob at 7:30 AM on May 15, 2012

I would sleep with this pony if it propositioned me.
posted by Think_Long at 7:44 AM on May 15, 2012 [2 favorites]

The idea behind the existing inline player is that it does something the browser can't do: fade out the background and focus all attention on the playing video. Browsers already have the ability to open new windows and move them around, and I don't think we need to duplicate that. The inline player is a nice extra—not the only way to view the video. As HuronBob mentioned, you can click the original link to bring up the video in a new window and it'll be available as a real window you can cycle through and use however you use real windows.
posted by pb (staff) at 7:47 AM on May 15, 2012 [2 favorites]

I think it would be swell if I could drag the embedded YouTube window around, and possibly click the links that are beneath it.

In other words, you more-or-less want the full functionality of YouTube? Isn't that what the normal youtube.com link is for?
posted by John Cohen at 7:53 AM on May 15, 2012

Bummer.

For the record I think the functionality I am talking about is not really reproducible with a new window or tab. For instance, on the front page if I click the play button on an embedded YouTube the window obliterates even the name of the thing I just clicked. I'd love to be able to just grab the title bar of the Youtube player and drag it down an inch, or over a bit, so I can read what is underneath it. The darkness and embedded player seems to inbetween to me - I can see a little bit of the original page, but I can't actually read anything. It is not a big huge deal, and this would not be the first time I had a use case that was uncommon, but I feel it just about every time I use the embedded player.

In other words, you more-or-less want the full functionality of YouTube? Isn't that what the normal youtube.com link is for?

No.
posted by dirtdirt at 7:57 AM on May 15, 2012

Yeah, and the drag event handler could, the first time it's invoked, say to itself "aha! This user would actually like to read the page", and fade the background up again.
posted by George_Spiggott at 7:58 AM on May 15, 2012

The inline player is a nice extra

This is the part worth emphasizing, yeah. Not that we don't hear you on the feature request angle, but it's really not something that's been anywhere near the action end of the to do list.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:07 AM on May 15, 2012

dirtdirt, can you skip the play button altogether and click the YouTube link itself? You can use that to open it in a new window or tab so you don't lose your place. There wouldn't be any background fading at all and you can click and read as you normally would. Just imagine the inline player doesn't exist, or disable it in your site preferences.
posted by pb (staff) at 8:08 AM on May 15, 2012

dirtdirt, can you skip the play button altogether and click the YouTube link itself?

Yeah, that's basically what I end up doing now. I appreciate your consideration and I am OK with this being a non-starter. But to continue yammering in the 'all I want is everything' vein that I am sure you are both used to and tired of: I like the inline player, I like NOT having to see YouTube, and I (would) like being able to keep reading the thread while the video loads or gets past the boring intro.

Again though: it's all good! I understand that this isn't going to happen, and I understand why.
posted by dirtdirt at 8:21 AM on May 15, 2012

I think the YouTube Link Title userscript does everything you want, and a bit more (thumbnail preview and video title on hover, plus unobfuscating plain text URLs). It might require Tampermonkey to work properly in Chrome.
posted by seikleja at 8:48 AM on May 15, 2012 [3 favorites]

I can't access userscripts.org at work, but I feel like a draggable div for youtube links is within the realm of possibilities with Greasemonkey.
posted by mysterpigg at 8:50 AM on May 15, 2012

I would settle for just being able to drag the window, or having it higher on the screen since that's all I want anyway.

With long videos I like to read the thread while I watch. Obviously I can do that now, but higher on the screen would make things easier.
posted by theichibun at 8:50 AM on May 15, 2012 [1 favorite]

Or what seikleja said...
posted by mysterpigg at 8:50 AM on May 15, 2012

I'm with dirt and ichibun on this. I like the inline player, but I also find myself wanting to keep scanning the threads while the video loads or plays. I don't even mind reading the text faded. Moving the player up or down, or to the side, would be awesome.

Also, the inline player lacks the full-on bloat of a new window crowding out my desktop. I don't need another address bar, favourites bar, and window resizing bars interfering with my precious Mefi experience.

Anyway, I get that this isn't likely to go anywhere, but thought I'd put a vote in the tweak it camp anyway.
posted by hamandcheese at 9:10 AM on May 15, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'll nth this.

Not a huge deal, but if it was do-able I would like it. I often find myself trying to drag that box, and realizing... "Ah, you can't do that".
posted by philipy at 10:06 AM on May 15, 2012

Yeah, just to echo what pb and cortex said, the modal window of the inline player is supposed to reduce distractions and be a limited quick view feature that lets you save your place on a page, check out a video, close it, and move on. This is exactly opposite of adding a bunch of customization features that would mimic what a new window/tab YouTube link already does.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:20 AM on May 15, 2012

Am I the only one who continues to read the thread while the inline player is running by simply scrolling the page in the background up so I can read it in the space above the video player?
posted by drlith at 10:47 AM on May 15, 2012 [2 favorites]

god, you fucking bronies.
posted by shmegegge at 11:00 AM on May 15, 2012

I also use the You Tube Link Title add-on that seikleja mentioned. It does exactly what you describe (in Firefox at least, never tried Chrome). The thumbnail preview on hover is the feature that I was originally looking for, and still love, but the pop-out player also works very nicely, has a clean minimal look, and can be moved around separate from the base page.
posted by Babblesort at 11:01 AM on May 15, 2012 [1 favorite]

Thanks Babblesort, that looks useful.

It might actually be worth me bothering to get Greasemonkey now.
posted by philipy at 11:18 AM on May 15, 2012

Think_Long: "I would sleep with this pony if it propositioned me.

posted by Think_Long... [quote]"

epy-neigh-sterical
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:21 AM on May 15, 2012

drlith: "Am I the only one who continues to read the thread while the inline player is running by simply scrolling the page in the background up so I can read it in the space above the video player?"

Probably. I read it in the space below the video.
posted by theichibun at 11:34 AM on May 15, 2012

I suppose streaming the thread as a subtitle track within the video itself is out of the question then?
posted by George_Spiggott at 12:48 PM on May 15, 2012

drlith: Am I the only one who continues to read the thread while the inline player is running by simply scrolling the page in the background up so I can read it in the space above the video player?

Nope, I do that too (well, reading below it). Being able to drag the YouTube player up to give myself a bit wider of a below-video space to read in would be nice, although probably not high priority.
posted by JiBB at 3:37 PM on May 15, 2012

...don't need another address bar, favourites bar, and window resizing bars interfering with my precious Mefi experience.

Yeah, I can see that. YouTube itself loads a lot of cruft that's vying for your attention. The related videos, comments, voting, menus, etc. I just added some code that will make the inline player draggable. It required some retooling so there might be some bugs lurking. Please post here if you spot anything unusually wonky. I also set the initial position of the inline window slightly higher than before based on the feedback here.

The idea behind this change is that you can nudge the window if you need to. We're not trying to make the reading experience more enjoyable, just giving people the ability to move the window a bit if they need to. Ideally you can use it just as you did before without needing to drag it around.
posted by pb (staff) at 3:49 PM on May 15, 2012 [4 favorites]

Thanks, pb! You're swell.
posted by ocherdraco at 4:13 PM on May 15, 2012

(This happens to be especially useful to me at the moment, as youtube videos seem to be having a lot of errors right now--for me at least.)
posted by ocherdraco at 4:17 PM on May 15, 2012

Please post here if you spot anything unusually wonky. I also set the initial position of the inline window slightly higher than before based on the feedback here.

With Windows 7, FF 12.0, the top eighth or so gets cut off at the top. Setting the top attribute to about 215px fixes it for me.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 5:06 PM on May 15, 2012

the top eighth or so gets cut off at the top

Same behavior here, Win 7, Chrome 19.0. On the screen that's 1366x768, it's slightly off the top of the page. Fullscreen on the 1440x900 display, it's fine, but with smaller windows, it's off the top again.
posted by yuwtze at 8:10 PM on May 15, 2012

It looks like you both probably have your fonts zoomed in. Try setting your fonts to the standard size by pressing Ctrl+0. Then see if the player is in the right spot when you start it.

I'm not sure we can test for zoomed fonts in JavaScript. It's something I'll need to look into.
posted by pb (staff) at 8:20 PM on May 15, 2012

ok, just added something that should help when you're zoomed in.
posted by pb (staff) at 9:07 PM on May 15, 2012

Fonts aren't zoomed in (it is a laptop screen, though, so my resolution is also 1366x768), but that change did the trick. Thanks!
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 9:16 PM on May 15, 2012

ah ok. Glad to hear that's working, thanks.
posted by pb (staff) at 9:17 PM on May 15, 2012

Yep, laptop screen, not zoomed in, but it's working now.
posted by yuwtze at 9:18 PM on May 15, 2012

Getting some dragging failures in OSX Firefox but I'm pretty confident that the real culprit is flashblock munging the DOM in obscure ways around the player element so I won't bug you with the details unless you're real curious. And thank you for adding this!
posted by George_Spiggott at 11:19 PM on May 15, 2012

This is exactly, precisely what I wanted. Yay! Thanks PB!

You really shouldn't encourage us.
posted by dirtdirt at 6:39 AM on May 16, 2012

Thanks pb! So this is what it feels like to get a pony... (pretty swell)
posted by hamandcheese at 8:29 AM on May 16, 2012

Yeah, I can see that flashblock might throw a wrench into things with the tabs they insert. As with any browser extension it's a caveat extensor sort of thing. You might need to disable it for MeFi if you want to drag around the inline player.
posted by pb (staff) at 8:41 AM on May 16, 2012

This is something I've wanted for ages. Thanks pb!
posted by Ahab at 11:05 AM on May 17, 2012

Thanks pb!
posted by JiBB at 7:39 PM on May 26, 2012