No, there is no option to set a different splashimage I’m afraid. The problem is that the standard thumbnails that YouTube provides are not in high resolution (e.g. http://i.ytimg.com/vi/X2A-UsEWM9I/hqdefault.jpg and which is the same as http://i.ytimg.com/vi/X2A-UsEWM9I/0.jpg). YouTube does on the other hand have maxresdefault.jpg (e.g. http://i.ytimg.com/vi/X2A-UsEWM9I/maxresdefault.jpg), but that one isn’t always available (e.g. http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LEmkmCXhwR0/maxresdefault.jpg or http://i.ytimg.com/vi/rF9xO2Tpwzs/maxresdefault.jpg).
What I could do for a next release, is support something like
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SQkWbRublY#hqthumb=1
and in that case load the maxresdefault.jpg (which will take longer to load, off course)?
Regarding the play-button (and other player chrome); that’s in /wp-content/plugins/wp-youtube-lyte/lyte/lytesprite.png. I clearly am not a graphics guy, so if you are and you want to improve (while keeping the file size as limited as possible), I’d be more then happy to include a better image in the next release! 🙂
Thanks for the fast reply! I think having a nondegraded splash image would be worth the extra second it takes to load the video. It would make a much nicer first impression, so if you’re willing to make the change you suggested for the next release, that would be great. Perhaps make it an option for those who want it versus those who don’t mind YouTube’s less-than-stellar image resolution.
I modified the play buttons for you, it adds 1 kb or less to the lytesprite.png image. (I also separated out the play buttons from the main image if you want to use them individually.) The triangles were done real quick with a cut feature, but I can certainly make the little triangles a little smoother. I added a gradient to the black and red to try to duplicate the YouTube look, but I can make them solid or any color you want.
I did make the buttons smaller because I think it’s a cleaner look, but that’s just my preference 🙂
Images are at http://www.ecoblessings.com/futtta
Let me know if these are suitable or if you’d like them redone. I work with graphics quite a bit and I’d be happy to help you with any images for your plugin.
~ Celeste ~
Great Celeste, thanks a lot!
I’ll upload a new development version (that will become 1.2.3 eventually) today with support for #hqThumb=1 (probably won’t make it an option yet though, as I try to limit the number of options and -more importantly- as youtube does not create the maxresdefault.jpg for all video’s).
I’ll incorporate the images you created on my testblog to see how they look in context.
OK, you can download the development-version with support for #hqThumb=1 here.
Thanks, Frank, for following up so quick. I’m glad you like the images, but any time you want a change, just let me know 🙂
I’ve downloaded the new release. I’ll get through the workday and then give it a go. Much appreciated!
~ Celeste ~
I had the time to have a better look at the images in the mean time and I’m I can’t use them (yet);
* there’s a white line around the individual images in the sprite which becomes very visible when used in the player. In order for this to work, there should be only the button and the transparent background, nothing else.
* the different images are placed differently from the original sprite, I can’t get all elements positioned correctly I’m afraid
* when comparing standard YT embed with LYTE (as can be seen here on my testblog), the difference between standard youtube embed and LYTE is very limited
So while I think the image (lytesprite.png) should indeed be improved, I think it would be better to start from the png and do small tweaks in there (esp. removing the pixelation around the play-button(s)). What do you think?
Hi, Frank
I’m not sure why there is a white line. I created the png images in Xara, transferred them to Photoshop Elements and saved them for web to cut down the file size. I noticed that copying the image from the website page also produces a black background, even though if you look at image info, it shows up as a transparent png with just the individual components displaying. Strange.
I didn’t realize the new buttons had to be positioned exactly where the original buttons are in the lytesprite image. I’m not a coder and so I concentrated only on changing the button images without regard to their relative positions. It wouldn’t be hard to re-do. I’m definitely curious about the white border and the loss of transparency.
I agree with your assessment to start with the pixelation. I’ll experiment sometime over the next couple days and see if I can get it to “behave.” If I make any progress I’ll follow up with you 🙂
Hi Celeste1212;
The upcoming 1.3.0 will feature support for #hqThumb=1 and using the brand new API you’ll be able to set it as default. If you want to test the new features (esp. the API), you can download the development version from http://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/wp-youtube-lyte.zip
Looking forward to your feedback! 🙂
frank
(and if you have a lytesprite.png with less pixels, I’ll be happy to include it!)
