Embedding YouTube & Vimeo Videos Redux

**Scott Tichenor** · Jun-07-2011, 8:09am

Providing detailed instructions on adding YouTube and Vimeo videos as I'm seeing folks with questions on how and new members that haven't figured it out. Embedding is preferred over a link because the latter requires you to leave the forum and if the video has been removed, you find out after clicking the link and going to YouTube or Vimeo--inconvenient, unnecessary and detracts from the flow of a discussion.

Step 1 - Go to Advanced Posting mode. At the bottom of each thread or if you click the + Reply to Thread button (top left of each thread) you are placed in Quick Reply mode (not what you want). Click Go Advanced (lower right). Your posting area should now look like this below, only we've highlighted the YouTube and Vimeo buttons you're going to use to embed your video.

This is what an Advanced posting window looks like:

Step 2 - Embedding YouTube and Vimeo is essentially identical but we'll show that below. To embed a YouTube video, you first need to acquire the YouTube video ID. Here's what you're going to see in your browser when you're at a YouTube page. Every web browser has an address or URL field. We've highlighted the video ID for you underlined in red:

Step 3 - Copy only the video ID, click the YouTube button in the Advanced window and paste the video ID into the dialogue box you received by clicking the YouTube button. Example:

Step 4 - Click OK and your video is successfully embedded and you're ready to post.

Same process as above demonstrated for Vimeo

Vimeo video ID underlined in red as shown in a browser address or URL field:

Vimeo dialogue box you received after click the Vimeo icon in Advance Posting mode:

The most important part of this tutorial:

Yes, there are other ways to get videos to work, but unless you're doing it exactly as shown here, there's no promise that video will be displayed properly in the future. Example: Vimeo recently changed the way they allow their videos to be embedded. For old videos posted correctly in the past, those will now display on phones and hand-held devices. Cool! For those old Vimeo videos that are visible in the browser but were not added correctly, sorry--they don't display at all. Boooooo.

Look, we don't care if you just want to provide a link instead of embedding, but conversations flow better when videos are embedded, and embedded correctly. If you want someone to see a video you're interested in, the first rule is don't make them click on a link unless you just have to because half (or more) won't. This is one of the oldest and wisest known usability truths on the web.

Questions? Post them here or post test videos of your own below. And for fun, here are the two videos we used to prepare this tutorial. Got an iPhone? Check out the Vimeo video on it. That rocks.

**Scott Tichenor** · Feb-22-2012, 12:16pm

A video we did recently on how to properly embed videos.

**jbrwky** · Dec-02-2012, 12:33pm

I assume this is why a lot of videos are just black screens and don't boot up when I click the red arrow?

**Scott Tichenor** · Dec-02-2012, 4:45pm

Originally Posted by jbrwky

I assume this is why a lot of videos are just black screens and don't boot up when I click the red arrow?

I don't understand what you're trying to say. This is a tutorial for how to properly embed videos. There are ways to do it improperly that work sometimes and sometimes don't but it doesn't impact the start button. The video either displays--or it does not. If you're having problems with videos playing locally on your personal computer it wouldn't be related to this tutorial.

**jbrwky** · Dec-07-2012, 4:27pm

OK thanks Scott. What I'm seeing is a black screen with a red start arrow button in it. But the button doesn't do anything. The videos that work for me are ones that I can see the first picture frame in.

**Charles E.** · Feb-15-2013, 7:52pm

Scott, when I try to embbed a video from youtube, click on the icon , I do not get a subject bar, only this...

[YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE]

What am I doing wrong?

**Bill Snyder** · Feb-16-2013, 9:17am

That did not work so never mind.

**Scott Tichenor** · Feb-16-2013, 12:21pm

Originally Posted by Charles E.

Scott, when I try to embbed a video from youtube, click on the icon , I do not get a subject bar, only this...

[YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE]

What am I doing wrong?

I don't know. I turned off the pop-up blocker in my browser (FireFox) and it still worked. All I can suggest is view the video tutorial carefully, here's the larger version. It does in fact work. There are thousands of videos embedded within the forum with dozens added daily between the forum and social groups so your browser is either badly outdated or has some setting preventing it from functioning as you wish.

Alternately you can use the video embed button (with the three stick figures, between the YouTube and Vimeo link) and enter the entire web address there, but if you're browser isn't showing the dialogue box this isn't going to help you.

I guess this answers the issue directly above this post as well. If you don't think it works then, there you go. There's no voodoo or secret technical trick here. Pretty basic, but you do need to follow either the written instructions above at the start of this thread or view the video tutorial.