=== SWFPut - SWFlash Put === Contributors: EdHynan Donate link: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=4Q2Y8ZUG8HXLC Tags: video, video player, flash video, html5 video, graphics, video content Requires at least: 4.3 Tested up to: 5.5 Stable tag: 3.1.0.1 Text Domain: swfput_l10n License: GPLv3 or later License URI: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html SWFPut provides video players for posts and pages and widget areas, as both HTML5 and flash video. == Description == SWFPut provides 'responsive' video for posts and pages. SWFPut makes the presentation of video reliable for your visitors: several conditions are handled well, such as the uneven support for HTML5 video formats in the major browsers, the possible lack of support for either HTML5 video or flash video in the visitor's browser, and even the possiblilty that JavaScript might be disabled in your visitor's browser. In addition to video for posts and pages, SWFPut provides a video widget for use in widget areas, such as a sidebar. SWFPut video is 'responsive': it should display at a suitable size on your visitor's device, whether large or small (a responsive WordPress theme is necessary). SWFPut makes video setup easy and flexible by providing an easy dialog based setup similar to (and based on) that used by WordPress core media, and also an advanced form with additional settings, which appears in a new "metabox" on the editor page. For widgets, the form appears with the usual drag and drop widget interface. After adding video objects, the form will continue to be useful for making changes (or, if you wish, to delete the video). In WordPress versions 3.3 and greater, video added by SWFPut will be visible in the post/page visual editor. As many video objects as you wish can be placed in posts pages, and of course the widget supports as many instances as you wish. You may specify HTML5 or flash video, or both with one being primary content and the other as fallback. Here are some features of SWFPut to consider: * SWFPut works directly with media file URL's; that is, SWFPut does *not* embed the video players of providers such as YouTube or Vimeo. SWFPut is for video files which are accessible by URL, whether hosted at your site or off-site. The setup form provides two media selection lists. The first is a selection of files found (recursively) under your wp-content/uploads directory. This list has the advantage that it does *not* use the WordPress media library -- it will find files that you upload 'by hand' (with ftp, ssh, etc.). This feature will work around upload size limits that might prevent you from uploading large video files to the media library. The second is a selection of files found in the WordPress media library and is presented with the file name and the 'attachment id'. This refers to files by ID, so it might be helpful if you manipulate media and expect ID associations to be valid. Files selections are filtered by name extension: FLV and MP4 for flash, and MP4, OGG and OGV, and WEBM for HTML5 video. * Video resources do not need to be on your site: any URL can be specified, so you may present players for off-site of 3rd party resources. * SWFPut does not interfere with the appearance of a site: a video is presented jsut as an image (such as .png or .jpg) is, with the same sort of style, and optional caption. The appearance of the video control interface, or control bar, is simple and quiet so it should not clash with site design. * SWFPut allows you to set the display aspect ratio for the video. Some video is 'anamorphic' in that the pixel width and height do not match the intended proportion of display width and height. You might film your child's school play as 16:9 'widescreen' but use a space saving feature of your recorder that saves the video at 480x360 (which is not 16:9). You can set SWFPut to display the video at the intended 16:9 aspect ratio. You may set any aspect ratio (make it distorted if you wish). * The core features of the flash video player program included with SWFPut have been verified to work with the Gnash free-software browser plugin, which is good if you care about free/libre software users. (At the time of this writing, Gnash does not handle the MP4 video container format, so it is preferable that you prepare flash video in the FLV container, even using the h.264 and AAC codecs. Of course, you may use MP4 if you must.) * The flash video player program included with SWFPut is written and compiled with the *Ming* PHP extension, and the code is included, so you may modify the player. The HTML5 player is written JavaScript, and the original, un-minified version is included, so you may modify it. In fact, the zip archive available at the WordPress repository includes all sources, although a POSIX/Unix environment with certain tools is required to build. * Localization sources are included; hopefully, polyglot users will help with translations. == Installation == There are no special installation requirements. Preferably, install SWFPut from the WordPress Plugin Repository through the WordPress administrative interface. To install from a zip archive: 1. Log in at your WordPress site 1. Select 'Plugins -> Add New' 1. Select 'Upload' 1. Select 'Browse' 1. In your system's file selector, select the SWFPut zip file; select 'OK' or equivalent 1. Select 'Install Now' 1. Select 'Activate Plugin' At this point "SWFPut" should be an entry on the plugins page. The Settings menu should have an item "SWFPut Plugin". If the above is not so, there is probably a problem at your site's host; for example if the host is Unix system there is very likely a problem with incorrect permissions metadata (mode) on a directory such as wp-content/uploads, or an unsuitable user or group ownership of (probably several) files and directories. This can be a frequent problem if the host has PHP configured in "safe mode". If the host is not a Unix system, I'm sorry to say I cannot help; maybe your hosting provider can. If the installation was successful, you should see a "SWFPut Video Player" widget under 'Appearance -> Widgets' and a meta-box entitled "SWFPut Video" on the posts and pages editing pages. For additional help, you will find README* files (differing in format, and excluding 'readme.txt', which is this file) that discuss the flash video player in more detail. == Frequently Asked Questions == = What are the privacy implications of using SWFPut = None. SWFPut does no tracking at all. No information of any sort is gathered or stored or forwarded to another site, or any such thing. There is no contact made with any other site(1). These statements apply both to the WordPress user, and to site visitors. (1) The user can provide a media URL from a 3rd party site which a visitor's browser will load; this 'contact' of another site is entirely up to the WordPress user or administrator. = I installed SWFPut, now what? = First, note that in the editor page for posts/pages, there is a new 'metabox' named "SWFPut Video." It might be near the bottom of the page, but metaboxes can be moved by dragging with the mouse. (When using SWFPut it might be useful to drag its metabox to just below the editor.) If necessary click the metabox title to show the form. The SWFPut form might look complicated, but don't worry! There is help. At the top right of the WordPress editor pages there is a tab named (in english) "Help." Click that, and editor help material will drop down. SWFPut adds a new tab here called "SWFPut Video" (what else?). Click that tab and . . . . . . another drop-down, this time specifically for this plugin. Near the top there are two hyperlinks which open in a new tab/page, one for PDF documentation and one for (old-time style) HTML documentation. These are versions of the same detailed document. The remainder of the in-place help text addresses just a few items that the author (I) thought would need more explanation for a quick start. Please peruse these for use. Quickest of all, see the FAQ below entitled "Do I really need video in 3 or 4 formats?" which in spite of the name addresses quick and easy use as well as video formats. = Do I really need to understand "aspect ratio" and things? = Probably not. In most case the width and height of the video will match the intended display proportion. "Anamorphic" video is not rare, but probably not too common either. The author has seen videos on e.g., YouTube, that are distorted by wrong display aspect ratio (which is not YouTube's fault), but only a few. If you find that your video looks squeezed or stretched, you can always use a little trial & error with the display aspect setting until it looks good. = Do I really need video in 3 or 4 formats? = Possibly not. The help documention included with SWFPut discusses file formats for HTML5 and flash with a level of detail that -- it is hoped -- will help you make your video available to the broadest range of browsers used by your visitors. The cost of this detail is the loss of simplicity. The simplest use with not-too-bad availability would be like this: prepare your video in MP4 format; place the URL in *either* the "Flash video URL..." or "HTML5 video URLs..." fields[*] in the setup form, and set display size in the "Pixel Width:" and "x Height:" fields; make sure that the cursor in the editor is at the spot you want, and click the "Place new in post" button. Publish the post/page with the "Update" button. Not too difficult! Currently many browsers support MP4 for HTML5 video, but not all! The flash browser plugin has supported MP4 for a long time, but alternatives such as Gnash (a free-software flash plugin) might not. Availability will be increased significantly by adding FLV (flash) and OGG (or 'ogv', a patent-free, free-licensed type) formats. If you need video conversion software, a quick web search should yield several options. Change the procedure in the above paragraph like this: place the URL for the FLV type in the "Flash video URL..." field, place the URL for the MP4 type *and* the URL for the OGG type separated by a '|' in the "HTML5 video URLs..." field (and don't worry about 'codec' types discussed in the help docs). Easy, and fun! Finally, to cover all the bases, amend the the above paragraph like this: place the URL for the FLV type in the "Flash video URL..." field, place the URL for the MP4 type *and* the URL for the OGG type *and* the URL for the WEBM type separated by a '|' between each in the "HTML5 video URLs..." field . . . . [*] MP4 can be placed in either the flash or HTML5 URL fields and it will be effective for both, as long as the visitor's browser has JavaScript enabled. = What if a visitor has JavaScript disabled? = SWFPut is designed with that in mind. If scripting is disabled, but either flash or HTML5 video is available, then your video should be viewable. HTML5 video will have the browser's native interface and basic features. = How do contact to the developer? = Post a comment at //agalena.nfshost.com/b1/software/swfput-html5-flash-wordpress-plugin/ or email edhynan at the email provider 'gmail' with the top level domain 'com', or of course go the the SWFPut WordPress page at https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/swfput and select the "Support" tab. = Does the developer want to know I use SWFPut? = Yes, the developer would consider it kind of you to leave a comment with the URLs of your using pages. == Screenshots == 1. The SWFPut widget setup form (bottom). 2. The SWFPut posts/page setup setup details dialog. 3. The appearance of video placed by SWFPut (Twentyeleven theme with dark custom colors, sidebar on left), not yet playing. == Changelog == = 3.1.0 = * Fix 'continue' statement with a 'switch' enclosed in a loop. The statement was missing a level argument, e.g. 'continue 2'. This bug had no effect, as the end of the switch block is followed immediately by the end of the loop block. = 3.0.9 = * Fix for MS Edge browser. = 3.0.8 = * Fix new mce-view visual editor presentation with WP 4.6. * Widget support for WP 4.5 preview 'selective refresh' bug fix: stop play. * Change default for aspect ratio auto adjust to false. = 3.0.7 = * Add widget support for WP 4.5 preview 'selective refresh'. * Confirmed working with WP 4.5. = 3.0.6 = * Poster image might have been too small after stop button click; this should be OK now. * Confirmed working with WP 4.4. = 3.0.5 = * Fix for URLs without scheme (e.g. "//www.example.com/foo/"). * Editor button: changed to