Author Archives: Emily Sherwood

Embed Video from YouTube or Vimeo

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It's a good idea to upload your videos to either YouTube or Vimeo before you embed them in a Post. If you have trouble, follow the steps below:

YouTube

  1. Upload your video to YouTube.
  2. Under the video click on the button that says Share.
  3. You'll see a shortcode and to the right a button that says Embed. Click on Embed.
  4. At the bottom of the Embed Options, you will see various sizes. Click on Custom and put 575 in the Width box (the Height box should automatically input a number).
  5. Look in the text box that has a long code that starts with "<ifram width=" and ends with "</iframe>". Select and copy the entire code (Comand C for Copy).
  6. Go to your Post on the website. Type up a description of your video, or whatever you want the post to say.
  7. When you're ready to insert the video, look at the tabs in the upper right hand corner of the edit box. One says Visual and one that says HTML. Click on HTML.
  8. Go to the bottom of the text and Paste-in the Code that you copied from YouTube or Vimeo (Command V for Paste).
  9. Click Publish. You're done.

Vimeo

  1. Upload your video to Vimeo.
  2. To the right hand side of the video click on the Share icon.
  3. A panel will pop up with some options. On the right hand side of the panel near the bottom, click on Customize embed options.
  4. Under Size put 575 in the first box (this value is for the Width), the other box should fill automatically.
  5. You can choose the color for the video title. Our highlight color for the website is #7a2f32, so you might want to use that.
  6. Under Other deselect any of the options.
  7. On the top right hand side of the panel is a text box that has a long code that starts with "<iframe src=" and ends with "</iframe>". Select and copy the entire code (Comand C for Copy).
  8. Go to your Post on the website. Type up a description of your video, or whatever you want the post to say.
  9. When you're ready to insert the video, look at the tabs in the upper right hand corner of the edit box. One says Visual and one that says HTML. Click on HTML.
  10. Go to the bottom of the text and Paste-in the Code that you copied from YouTube or Vimeo (Command V for Paste).
  11. Click Publish. You're done.
A few notes:
You can use the shortcode from Youtube that you first see when you click Embed; however, this code doesn't give you any control over the size of the video and sometimes parts of the video (often the top or bottom) get cut-off when you embed this way. It's best to choose the size of your video before embedding it.
When editing your post in the Visual tab, you'll only see a big box as a placeholder for the video. Don't worry, the video will show up when you view the post on the website.
Finally, the width specifications listed in this post are for the 2011 theme. You might have to adjust the pixel width for your website.

Press-This

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Press This is a cool little app that can make posting links to other websites or articles on other websites very easy. To add Press This to your browser for future use, go to Dashboard and then Tools.

On the Tools page you'll see a little Press This icon (the little gray rectangle on the screen that says Press This). Grab the icon and drag it to the Bookmarks bar on your browser. Now you can use Press This. But why would you? Say, for example, that you want to write a post about an article you read on the NY Times online because you think others in the class might find it useful or interesting. If you have Press This on your browser Bookmarks bar you can write a post without having to go to our website and login in, etc. Here's how:

Go to the website or article that you want to write about. Click on the Press This icon on your Bookmark bar.

When you do, a new Post window will pop-up.

The Post will be titled the name of the article/website (you can change this) and a link to the article/website will appear in the Post editing box. You can add some text to the Post to explain why you want us to read the article, change the title, etc. Remember to Categorize your post, then click Publish.


Images in Posts

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Follow the steps below to add an image to your post.

  1. Type up your post and then place your cursor at the point in your post where you’d like to insert the picture.
  2. Click on the rectangular button next to “Upload/Insert” just above the tool bars at the top of the post box (if you hover over the button you will see the text “Add an Image”).
  3. Click on “Select Files” (next to “Choose files to upload”).  If you are choosing a file from your computer, you can then browse for it (the same you would if you were uploading an attachment to an e-mail). Once you find the image you want, click “Select.”
  4. You may then re-title the image if you would like (to make it easier to manage/find later on). You may also add a “caption” that will appear under the image.
  5. At the bottom of the screen you can change the “Alignment” and “Size” of the image. FYI: if you have a large file and opt to have it show up as small or thumbnail size in order for it to fit better in your post, when you click on the image once the post is published, it will take you to a screen with a larger image.
  6. Don’t forget to click “Insert into Post” (just below the “Alignment” section) before clicking “Save Changes” at the bottom. If you don’t click “Insert into Post,” it won’t show up in your post when you publish it.
  7. You can always click “Preview Changes” (upper right hand corner) before you click “Publish” or “Update” to see what the post will like like after the images are added.
  8. Remember, if you don’t like something, even after it is published, you can go back and change it. Just click “edit” below the post and work away. If you want to change the image, hover over the image you will see a red circle with a line through it, which will let you delete the image, or you can select the small image icon next to the red circle in order to edit the image.

If you are copying and pasting a link from youtube, just paste the link directly into the post; WordPress should recognize the link and embed the video directly in the post. You can check to see if the embed worked by going to “Preview” (or “Preview Changes” depending on whether or not you’ve already published the page) in the upper right hand corner.

Using Music, Images & Videos

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Useful information on copyright issues surrounding music and images by fellow ITF Jenny Kijowski. Her original post is here.

Finding music, images and video clips that you can legally use in your videos will be a bit of a challenge. Here are some tips for preventing copyright infringement:

Music
Most of the songs you know and love are copyrighted, meaning in order to use them (even for private use), you will need to obtain a license, which is often expensive and impossible to get for small projects such as yours. You may usepublic-domain music, but most PD songs were published before 1922–probably not your cup of tea. And you may use 30 seconds of any song under fair use laws, but 30-second blocks of songs may be prohibitive and not what you’re looking for.

So, how to find current music to use for your PSAs? There are several options. One option is to use CC-licensed music (songs licensed under Creative Commons, an organization dedicated to making media available to the public). Sites such as Jamendo.com and dig.ccMixter are good places to look. Wikimedia Commons is another source for free-use music. Another option is to Google “podsafe music.” Or, for those of you who are musically inclined, you can create your own music via GarageBand, an application that came with your Macs.

Regardless of where you find your music, whether you pay for a license or use a CC-licensed song or use 30-second clips of songs, you MUST include a music credit in your project (something like you see in the end credits of a movie). For your PSAs, you might want to include a “music credits” section at the end of your movie that includes song, album, artist, and year of publication/release.

Images
As with music, you cannot use an image in your own project just because it’s online. The good news is, however, it’s relatively easy to find images that are licensed for public use. Wikimedia Commons has images in addition to music, as does Creative Commons. You can also search the Flickr Creative Commons page, or do an Advanced Search in Google (for Usage Rights, click on “free to use share or modify”). There is also Fotopedia.com, a “collaborative photo encyclopedia” that includes CC-licensed images, information about the images, and additional goodies. Of course, you can always use images you generate yourself! And as with music, you MUST give credit where credit is due–usually, a photo credit goes beneath the image as a caption.

Video
The same basic rules that apply to images and music apply to use of video. See the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video–watch the video (it’s pretty short but informative) and pay special attention to the “Best Practices” section below the video, which explains the different ways of using copyrighted video clips and what the general rules are. To be safe, use 30 seconds or less of any copyrighted material, and ALWAYS, ALWAYS CREDIT YOUR SOURCES.

A note about crediting your sources…
Each discipline has its own standard for properly documenting sources. The humanities, for instance, use MLA (Modern Language Association) guidelines, while the sciences use the CSE (Council of Science Editors) system. Ask your professor which system they prefer you to use, and find a reliable guide (again, ask your professor for recommendations, but Diana Hacker’s site is a good one to use). It is NOT enough simply to copy and paste the url of your source.

Additional Resources
DMCA Exceptions

Creative Commons Search

Creative Commons License Generator

GNU General Public License