How about YouTube's deep linking in the popup window? January 11, 2011 11:13 AM   Subscribe

MeFi members get the option of watching YouTube links in a popup window, courtesy of a button after the link text. YouTube allows deep linking via a time code appended to the URL, e.g.

http://​www.youtube.com/​watch?​v=​e8M6S8EKbnU​&t=​1m21s

If you click the link text above you get the page for the video, with the flash player cued to 1:21. If you clink the popup button instead, the time suffix in the URL is ignored and the video starts at 0:00. Can we get the popup window to honor the time suffix? This seems like something either very easy or deceptively hard to implement.
posted by clarknova to Feature Requests at 11:13 AM (38 comments total) 3 users marked this as a favorite

sure, it should be working now everywhere.

We can do it if you use the &t=[time] link like you have here. But we can't do much with the #t=[time] format like people use in YouTube comments. We don't have access to that client-side hash value on the server side.
posted by pb (staff) at 11:23 AM on January 11, 2011 [4 favorites]


I'm on firefox mac, and when I click the popup button it starts at 1:21.
posted by ericost at 11:23 AM on January 11, 2011


should have previewed.
posted by ericost at 11:24 AM on January 11, 2011


Strange, it doesn't for me and never has. I'm also using FF.
posted by clarknova at 11:29 AM on January 11, 2011


You might have it cached. Try restarting your browser and a force refresh of the page. (Ctrl + Shift + R) Then try the inline player again.
posted by pb (staff) at 11:32 AM on January 11, 2011


Here's a test link that you probably don't have cached.
posted by pb (staff) at 11:36 AM on January 11, 2011


That was it! Thanks!

This was the second fastest turnaround time on a support ticket I've ever had. You rock, pb.

The fastest was when I made a joking comment about how my GPS was trying to kill me, and my cousin, a Garmin engineer, shouted "User error!" from another room.
posted by clarknova at 11:38 AM on January 11, 2011 [7 favorites]


We had this ready to go, I just hadn't flipped the switch yet. Thanks for the reminder.
posted by pb (staff) at 11:40 AM on January 11, 2011


pb: "We can do it if you use the &t=[time] link like you have here. But we can't do much with the #t=[time] format like people use in YouTube comments. We don't have access to that client-side hash value on the server side."

Aw, that's too bad -- I just discovered YouTube's super-handy "copy video URL at current time" right-click option (which is a lot easier than trying to remember the embed code by heart), but it uses the # timestamp instead of the &.
posted by Rhaomi at 11:41 AM on January 11, 2011


I meant to ask for this months ago and so claim this pony for Queen Elizabeth.

/plants flag
/spreads influenza
posted by Jofus at 11:42 AM on January 11, 2011 [1 favorite]


...but it uses the # timestamp instead of the &...

Yeah, if you end up posting one of those just let us know and we can change that character.
posted by pb (staff) at 11:48 AM on January 11, 2011


Just like Jofus, I'd been meaning to ask about this but never got around to it. Thanks pb!
posted by eyeballkid at 11:52 AM on January 11, 2011


We had this ready to go, I just hadn't flipped the switch yet. Thanks for the reminder.

metafilter: flipping switches since 2001
posted by blue_beetle at 12:04 PM on January 11, 2011


Yeah, if you end up posting one of those just let us know and we can change that character.

If you didn't mind a little regex munging you could always detect it when formatting the special link and do the conversion as you output the page. The code wouldn't have to really parse out and comprehend the URL. "Replace the last # with & in any youtube 'watch' link" should be pretty reliable approach.
posted by George_Spiggott at 12:11 PM on January 11, 2011 [2 favorites]


I'm on firefox mac, and when I click the popup button it starts at 1:21.
posted by ericost

should have previewed.
posted by ericost at


PBEBPAP!

(pb exists between pony and preview)
posted by Devils Rancher at 12:32 PM on January 11, 2011 [3 favorites]


Yeah, I don't know how the actual posting works, but in theory at least you can just rewrite the link (since you obviously have some special code to handle YouTube links, setting up the embed player and such) where if it has youtube.com, #t= is turned into &t=.

But how much of a pain that is obviously depends on where special-case code runs in your system which I obviously don't know :)
posted by wildcrdj at 12:39 PM on January 11, 2011


George_Spiggott: "If you didn't mind a little regex munging you could always detect it when formatting the special link and do the conversion as you output the page. The code wouldn't have to really parse out and comprehend the URL. "Replace the last # with & in any youtube 'watch' link" should be pretty reliable approach."

You'd also have to convert the number following the symbol, too. The ampersand uses minutes and seconds (&t=2m15s), but the pound uses seconds total (#t=135s). You might be able to account for that, but it would be more complicated than a straightforward #/& find-and-replace.
posted by Rhaomi at 1:08 PM on January 11, 2011


And total seconds seems to work fine with the ampersand too. I think they're totally interchangeable
posted by nicwolff at 1:20 PM on January 11, 2011


Just added support for the seconds-only version. The &/# problem is trickier the way we're doing things. Thanks for hashing it out a bit here—giving it some thought.
posted by pb (staff) at 1:39 PM on January 11, 2011


nicwolff: "And total seconds seems to work fine with the ampersand too. I think they're totally interchangeable"

Hmmm... clicking on the link starts it at the beginning, but jumps to the specified point in the pop-up window. Maybe it depends on your browser?
posted by Rhaomi at 1:51 PM on January 11, 2011


Excellent! Now can you make this work on Facebook for me?
posted by drjimmy11 at 2:02 PM on January 11, 2011


We had this ready to go, I just hadn't flipped the switch yet. Thanks for the reminder.

You just blew your time travelling ninja wizard mystique.
posted by BrotherCaine at 2:51 PM on January 11, 2011


Our time travelling ninja wizard is actually called Martin. And he and pb are just friends.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 3:31 PM on January 11, 2011 [1 favorite]


This seems like something either very easy or deceptively hard to implement.

We had this ready to go, I just hadn't flipped the switch yet ... Just added support for the seconds-only version. The &/# problem is trickier the way we're doing things.


So I was right on both counts!
posted by clarknova at 4:12 PM on January 11, 2011


I meant to ask for this months ago and so claim this pony for Queen Elizabeth.

/plants flag
/spreads influenza
posted by Jofus at 2:42 PM on January 11 [1 favorite +] [!]


I may have had something to do with it when I discovered my December contender links didn't start where I had cued them when viewed in the embedded player.

Here's where I discovered the issue.

Then I used the contact form to ask about it.

And here's where I note that pb had figured it out. He even took the time to write me about it. Though it was probably too late for serious consideration in the contest. Not that I'm complaining. Just glad it's there for next year.
posted by Toekneesan at 5:25 PM on January 11, 2011


Hmmm... clicking on the link starts it at the beginning, but jumps to the specified point in the pop-up window.

Works for me either way. What browser/version/OS are you on?
posted by wildcrdj at 6:59 PM on January 11, 2011


wildcrdj: "Works for me either way. What browser/version/OS are you on?"

WinXP/Chrome, though I've just realized the discrepancy was because of a Greasemonkey script I forgot to disable. Crisis averted!
posted by Rhaomi at 8:41 PM on January 11, 2011


So Jessamyn has stars that transcend meta-threads? That's pretty awesome.
posted by localhuman at 8:57 PM on January 11, 2011


it's my five year recognition, some people get a watch. It will last a few more weeks.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:57 PM on January 11, 2011 [1 favorite]


I'm running Lynx on a Vax (Digital Workstation 6000) and this isn't working for me. It is a sweet system. It is a Kaypro without its innards connected to the internet via a Zach Morris phone. It is all powered by an array of three marine batteries (which gets me about 20 minutes of online use) and only weighs 40kg.
posted by birdherder at 9:29 PM on January 11, 2011


I'm running Lynx on a Vax (Digital Workstation 6000) and this isn't working for me

Did you try TEXTp? :)

(sadly you can't anymore, it only stayed up for a few months)
posted by wildcrdj at 10:08 PM on January 11, 2011


It will last a few more weeks.

What will be the manner of its passing? Will it burn out like an ember or go supernova?
posted by George_Spiggott at 10:50 PM on January 11, 2011


it should be working now everywhere.

He could have just fixed it on MetaFilter, but he went that extra mile and fixed it everywhere. EVERYWHERE.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 3:18 AM on January 12, 2011 [1 favorite]


jessamyn: "it's my five year recognition, some people get a watch. It will last a few more weeks"

Awww. I like it. It makes it faster to find the most insightful comments in a thread.
posted by Cogito at 1:54 PM on January 12, 2011


Awww. I like it. It makes it faster to find the most insightful comments in a thread.

I'm pretty sure this has been suggested before, but I like the idea of marking all of the moderators' usernames somehow (perhaps only in MetaTalk).
posted by danb at 2:33 PM on January 12, 2011


There's a script that will do that. We feel weird about having some sort of permanent mod-marking because then it becomes unclear when we're participating as mods and when we're just screwing around like everyone else. I'd rather look like everyone else who happens to sometimes make mod pronouncements than the reverse.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 5:45 PM on January 12, 2011


Gotcha, that makes sense.
posted by danb at 8:08 PM on January 12, 2011


When you make mod pronouncements your star could turn into a flaming banhammer?
posted by BrotherCaine at 12:37 AM on January 13, 2011


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