Adding video functionality

There's embedded video, and then there's realtime video chat. I would like both please!

For realtime video chat, @strypey introduced me to WebRTC which is an exciting new development that looks set to make video calling cheap and easy to integrate into any software.

For embedding videos, I wonder what the easiest solution is? Wordpress uses 'shortcodes', e.g. you can type [youtube http://youtube.com/watch?v=E8C8ouiXHHk] and it will automatically embed the video. I'm working on a richer comment editor, maybe we can include a 'embed video' button in the next version.

@richarddbartlett how about if the comment box notices a link to youtube or vimeo it embeds the vid after the comment, sorta like attached images work at present.

I think this could be really useful, but feels like it might be more of a plugin than a core feature. I'm just wanting to be conscious of maintaining our clear primary functionality - one of the things that makes Loomio appealing is that it does one thing, and does it well. I think there's a reason that platforms like Twitter have avoided additional complexity outside of their core focus.

To summarize so far: video is complex and may be a distraction. If implemented by Loomio it could either be a feature (ability to upload a video or a link to it as a way to give introduction/colour/context to a discussion) or part of core functionality (a la Skype). I wonder if we could ask our customers about what they think about video?

@danielstachowiak

Hello from Robin Hood Co-op.

We're setting up our Annual Member Meeting atm using loomio. Thanks for all of the great work you have all put into the platform.

We would really like to be able to upload video for each of our agenda items to make the meeting a more interactive expereince...

Has such functionality been added in the past year?

@danielsan there is no specific video functionality in Loomio, but it's easy to link to Vimeo, Youtube, or any external video host in a Loomio discussion. That's what I'd advise.

@richarddbartlett, reading your first comment at the top I am wondering:

• Do you mean include a simple image of the video when you say "embed"? As far as I can tell, you can't currently have a video be embedded in a comment and play within the same page when you click on it. You have a video image that links to the actual video on YouTube.

• How is the richer comment editor you mentioned coming along? Perhaps it's already part of Loomio 1.0?

Thanks for all the work! :-)

Yep @olover by 'embed' I mean you could watch the video without leaving the Loomio page.

The rich editor I was working on stalled out because of some underlying architectural problems with how we do text rendering. Because 1.0 is a whole new architecture it's going to be a much easier task to put in a really great rich text editor anywhere.

I'm not sure of the status of that though. @robertguthrie might know?

Nope, I don't eh. Would be great if someone wanted to research minimal rich text editors for angular.

Wow, textAngular looks great!

If someone wanted to take on putting this into Loomio 1.0 I'd be really happy to talk them though the architecture changes I think are needed.

If we could extend textAngular to have 'toolbar on selection' mode then I think (admittedly with not much thought) it would be perfect.

(this comment has been edited because I RtfM)

I've just has a look at textAngular, and it is relatively painless to install (other than the JS & CSS footprint and modifications to the rootscope).

I WAS able to inject a Youtube video - so this may be a viable tool. Seems a little buggy and there are a number of issues about mobile usage of contentEditable...

That said, although I agree that toolbar on selection is a nice way to hide out visual clutter, I would still recommend reminding users that they can open the toolbar with a dedicated button. That said, adding images or links SHOULD not (and indeed in textAngular does not) require highlighting.