I’m building a website, which seems to be getting more complicated by the day as the client revises their plans and pulls out new demands that were never mentioned at the outset when I quoted for the job. This is something I’ll be raising next week.
It has now emerged that a section behind a private login area will contain something like 200 videos, which was never brought up previously. On top of that they just want a list of links for mobile to keep down on page weight, but as I shall point out the links have to go somewhere and there is no way I’m building a 200+ page website at the quoted price.
Does anybody know of a means to have have a single player on the page that can house and play any video after clicking on a link? I’m trying to look for creative solutions here, but at the moment all I’m seeing are headaches. All the videos have to be self-hosted on the server and only available to registered users.
I’d choose something like a link to a Vimeo collection/album or Youtube channel.
That way you won’t have to edit your page when adding new video content.
Works great for mobile and desktop and you don’t have to reinvent the wheel again.
They are insisting that everything is self-hosted on the server and only available to registered users. It’s an area for teachers to view content of kids with learning difficulties. If that link to Vimeo or YouTube was made public anybody could see it.
200+ selfhosted videos, with different versions for mobile/desktop and even for mobile low bandwidth, not something I’d like to manage.
You could argue that by using Vimeo/Youtube the user always gets the right version no matter.
For Vimeo you can set a password for a collection/album.
I agree completely and it’s not right the way this has been introduced to the mix about a month after starting, as though it’s just a small detail.
The client is obsessed with GDPR, which has taken up a considerable amount of my time just going back & forth on what is allowed, so the idea of hosting these outside the server is probably dead in the water. A Vimeo collection would mean a single password for all users and could literally be passed to anybody, whereas content behind a private login area on the site will have a separate login for each user.
I need to write an email to the client, but I just wanted to examine the options thoroughly before sending it.
The client originally wanted a CMS, so they could make news updates a few times a year, but we were talking about a 12 page website, so I suggested a normal Blocs website I could update for them if they simply sent me the text. They told me somebody in the office has a bit of “coding experience” and could update the site themselves, which is another reason I was wary about letting them loose on a CMS…
I’ve now had an opportunity to speak with others involved with the project and they are similarly frustrated, but charging by the hour, so they just shrug and take on the extra work. we originally agreed on a fixed price, but since then too much has changed and they are now talking about ongoing changes over the next few months.
Looking at those I was thinking about one of the playlist options, but even they only show a certain number. Having easy access to 200 videos from a list is a whole different story.
Ohh, ok, I do not looked in detail. Is it not possible to make categories with always for example about 20 videos? So you have to build only 20 and not 200 pages in blocs
I can certainly look at that, but even there it’s 20 more pages and a lot of organisation to sort all the content correctly. At this stage I don’t even know what these categories might be or how many videos each might include, since I’ve not been provided with a single video to date.
Technical solutions are no doubt possible, but I’m also thinking about time to complete this, since the whole lot is supposed to be ready in a couple of weeks and there is an e-commerce side to sort out as well with products that will go on sale in a shop for digital delivery.
I’m working on an audio / video player for Blocs, based on the one I did for RapidWeaver. It has playlist for both modes and many options - just the layout will be a little different in Blocs. Here’s the RapidWeaver version, take a look maybe this would fit your needs: https://www.weaverskingdom.com/stacks/player/index.html
@Lucas thank you that is interesting. I am experienced with Rapidweaver and built a few sites with Foundation, but attempting to work full time with Blocs now. How long is it likely to be before you release the player bric for Blocs?
I’ve written to the client now about these 200 videos to explain the implications and waiting for a response.
While we’re waiting for Lucas to bring us a nice Video Bric that we can use, you may be able to utilise another option that uses a Hype-generated widget. You can see a basic example of it working HERE. This option allows you to specify hundreds of videos in a scrolling list and have them display in a designated area of the page.
The thing to remember is that the videos must be streamable (web optimised) and they must be hosted somewhere other than youtube or vimeo (all have to be self hosted).
If this is something that could tide you over, I’ll be more than happy to provide you with the Hype widget styled to your needs. However, you will have to provide the playlist so it can be incorporated.
I really want to learn more about Hype when time permits. Not necessarily for this purpose, but in general, because I am sure it opens a lot of new options with Blocs. Ironically I bought Hype 2 years ago and then upgraded to version 3, but I’ve never actually used it on a website.
