Enhanced YouTube Shortcode Plugin

The “Enhanced YouTube Shortcode” plugin provides a quick & easy way to use a custom YouTube© player in your posts and/or pages without having to get your hands dirty in the source codes! The main advantage over the way WordPress is working this out is the possibility of changing the display of all players in one single spot instead of having to do it manually at every places it has been set. But most importantly: it’s fun and good for you! (check out the screenshot for a sample of all offered options!)

Now with more than 10 parameters available through a simple configuration page (reach it from the Settings Menu), the code that is generated always allows scripting access and forces the use of the ActionScript 3 engine (see Other Notes for limitations). It has been initially created on a WordPress 3.2.1 live installation & recently tested on a WordPress 3.9.1 live installation with success, according to the specifications of the official YouTube Embed Player API Parameters.

There are a couple of things on the To Do list (see Other Notes) & the developer is back on track with this project so you can expect a major upgrade soon (summer 2014)!

Limitations

• Internet Explorer is not a natural friend of YouTube… Every versions of this browser, from 6 all the way up to 9, have different bugs & even more ways to deal with YouTube videos. So in order to push a video to everyone this plugin will provide a player to Internet Explorer effectively but without other parameters than width & height. All the rest will be the default state of a “regular” YouTube video player. A future version should solve those issues by serving an all javascript player to this browser.

• The tests on WordPress 3.9.1 were quick, some features may be not working but this should not affect the plugin responsiveness. All bases will be covered in the next major release of the plugin (v3).

• Some WordPress themes that already have a bunch of shortcodes may cause conflicts with this one. Usually a quick look in the doc of your theme & you’ll find a way of injecting “raw” codes in your post without triggering any presets options.

TO DO

In the plan for the next major upgrade (v3) :

• Rewrite the core of the display functions.

• A simpler/quicker way of inserting the shortcode.

• HTML5 implementation.

In the back of my mind…

• Develop some «height & width» presets.

• Google Analytics integration.

• Take over the world.

Not necessarily in that order…

License

This plugin (and all its related files) falls under the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE v3.

For a manual installation, follow these quick steps:

1. Extract the /enhanced-youtube-shortcode/ folder from the downloaded file.

2. Upload this extracted folder & its content in your WordPress plugins directory.

3. Go to “Plugins => Enhanced YouTube Shortcode” to activate the plugin.

4. Go to “Settings => Enhanced YouTube” to tweak the player options.

5. Now use [youtube_video id=”uAOLzRhKF9c”] kind of shortcode.

1. 

   Plugin admin page with the options panel (top) & the reminder about how to use the shortcode (bottom).

I just want to try your plugin: does it leaves traces everywhere?

No, after an usual uninstall inside the admin area of WordPress the saved values are erased from the database.

I’m using *Internet Explorer 6* and the settings page just looks awful…

Oh, I’m soooo sorry for you. Really. Maybe it’s time for you to give up, don’t you think?

You’re a french speaking bloke, *right*? So where is the translation?

It’s quite simple: I’m learning how to do it properly… The french language is on its way now: you can expect it in a near future.

I got a specific question related to this plugin… What could I do?

Why not posting your request in this forum:

wordpress.org/support/forum/plugins-and-hacks

…and don’t forget to add in your title: [Plugin: Enhanced YouTube Shortcode]

I think you’re a genius & I want you to be the father of my children.

Well… If you’re actually a sexy blond woman with lot of money and a big car I believe we can form a real complete couple: I offer quite the opposite…

2.0.1

• Code optimisation/preparation for next major upgrade (v3)
• Slight UI revisions
• Updated information (mainly for the WordPress.org repository)

2.0

• New user interface
• New «related videos» feature
• Minor bugs fixed

1.9.1

• Minor HTML errors fixed
• Translation preparation
• Visual update

1.9

• New «infos before playing» feature
• Visual & core files dissociation
• Source code processing

1.8

• New «Theme» feature
• Code generation refinement
• Version 2.0 groundwork

1.7

• New «Autoplay» & «Force HD» features
• Options panel visual adjustments
• Minor logical improvments

1.6

• New «hide YouTube logo» feature
• Fix an «Options output» bug
• Plugin’s class encapsulation
• Performance tweaks

1.5

• Initial public release.

1.4

• Bugs repair / visual modifications.

1.3

• Possibility to modify and save new player options.

1.2

• Addition of a page to display the settings & how to.

1.1

• Translation of the manual code into a plugin form.

1.0

• The core is released as a manual inclusion into the “functions.php” page.