Viddler

Video blogging has really taken off and we want to accommodate any of you out there that wish to have a video blog, but would like to use Viddler’s superior flash player. The following is a video overview and demo followed by links to resources to help you pull this off.

Overview video and demo

The following instructions are found in the video, so if you don’t have time to read all of this information - simple watch the overview video and demo.

Simple instructions

You will need the following in order to utilize Viddler’s player and its features while also having enclosures in your feed.

• A Viddler account
• A WordPress powered web site
• Enclosure Flex WordPress plugin by Kyle Gilman [download]

We’re looking forward to creating similar demo videos for other blogging platforms besides WordPress, such as Movable Type, in the near future. If you are not a WordPress user and have gotten this to work on your site please write us to let us know how you did it. We’d be glad to include your tips in our next demo.

Install the WordPress Plugin

Install the KG Enclosure Flex wordpress plugin the way you would any other WordPress plugin. If you are unsure how to do this, here are some great detailed instructions available through the official WordPress Codex.

Make two copies of your video (optional)

Viddler allows a larger file size than most of its competitors! You should take advantage of this by offering your audience the highest resolution playback possible. You may upload as much video as you’d like with a limit of 500Mb per video uploaded. If you are distributing a 50MB file to your current audience you should still continue to do so for playback on devices like the iPod. However, if you’d like to offer your audience that views your videos on your web site, or on Viddler’s web site, a larger resolution video - you may do so by creating a larger file to upload to Viddler. Again, this is optional - but we see it as a significant advantage at no extra cost.

Upload your video to Viddler

Before you publish your video to your site, you need to upload your video to Viddler. Viddler’s uploader allows for multiple file uploads - each one being as large as 500MB! If you have been a video podcaster for quite awhile, you may have many episodes that you’d like to upload at once. Take advantage of our bulk uploader to make this as simple for you as possible.

One you’ve uploaded your video, we recommend giving it an appropriate title, description, and tags. You can even add tags to the timeline to help segregate your video for your audience. To learn how to do these things, visit our learn more area.

Upload your video to your site

No need to change your current routine. You still upload the copy of your video fit for distribution to your site/server. This will be the video that is enclosed in your site’s feed, and will be distributed to your audience.

Write your entry

Again, your normal routine of writing up your “show notes” would apply, but there is one extra thing you need to do - paste in the proper HTML embed code to embed Viddler’s flash player on your site to stream your video in the browser.

The embed code is easy to retrieve and copy.

• Find the video on Viddler you want to share
• Click the green + icon in the timeline
• Click share
• Select whether you’d like to start the video at the beginning, or at the point of the playhead
• Select copy code.

The HTML embed code has now been copied to your clipboard, so you may now paste that code into your entry code.

Setup your enclosure

Here is the “tricky” part. Once you have the KG Enclosure Flex plugin installed, a new menu in your WordPress admin will appear on the “Write Page”. This menu allows you to select which URL in your entry should be included in your feed as an enclosure. This is extremely useful in that it will actually setup the correct size and type of the enclosure by actually looking at the file.

NOTE: You must have the file uploaded prior writing your post. You must also use the full url to the file. If your site is viddler.com - you must link to your files as http://www.viddler.com/video.mpg - this is the only way your audience will be able to download the file(s) correctly.

Publish!

You are now ready to publish your content. Once you’ve done that you should be taking full advantage of Viddler’s enhanced features as well as distributing your content the same way you’ve always done. This should save you tons of bandwidth costs, retain your distribution options to your audience, and give your browsing audience a much better experience going forward.

We hope you are as excited to use these methods as we are - and we hope to continue to make your life easier while providing the richest experience possible for Viddler’s users and your audiences.

You can watch this video demo or download it (Quicktime Movie - 50.2MB) for viewing later.

If you have any questions or comments about this process, please send me a message, or you can respond through our forum thread for this topic, or just leave a comment on this post and I will be sure to help you out in anyway I can.