As I’m sure you’re aware, Annotations is one of our cool new features
in TestTube. We’re always excited to hear your thoughts about new
releases: what you love, what you hate, any suggestions you have for
us. You can give us your feedback on Annotations by responding to this
post.
Overall, I like the feature. Some people use it in annoying ways (No,
I will not be more likely to subscribe to you if you fill the video
player with "SUBSCRIBE TO ME!" links), but it's a neat feature and
opens up some interesting possibilities.
I've found the user interface to create the annotations a little
tricky, though. In particular, the editing preview often continues to
show the annotation even after it has, actually, disappeared according
to the timeline, which makes it a little hard when you're trying to
time them exactly.
It seems a bit odd that you can specify the exact frame the annotation
appears and disappears, but the video player only shows minutes and
seconds. Actually, it's possible to be fairly accurate specifying the
start of an annotation, but not the end. Perhaps a "end annotation
here" button to place the end of the currently selected annotation at
the current position on the video timeline. (Am I making sense? I'm a
bit tired and I can't tell.)
A nice idea might be "centre vertically" and "centre horizontally"
buttons. Take some of the guesswork out of positioning subtitles.
> As I’m sure you’re aware, Annotations is one of our cool new features
> in TestTube. We’re always excited to hear your thoughts about new
> releases: what you love, what you hate, any suggestions you have for
> us. You can give us your feedback on Annotations by responding to this
> post.
I like the feature so far...I can't think of too many ways to improve
upon it, except for some extra optional customization features (color/
font/shape/etc.).
I read somewhere where someone thought of an idea to somehow integrate
Annotations with language subtitles, but I don't know how that could
be pulled off without being too much work for the user.
Being able to link to offsite pages may be a possibility.
It might be cool to make YouTube user's names/channel links/video
links clickable (rather with the possibility of opening them in tabs).
Because lots of people link to others in their videos.
I have been experiencing difficulties with the disappearing notes as
well. Which makes it really hard to time everything. I would to make
subtitles with annotations, but this little disappearing makes it
practically impossible.
Could there be a timeline on the bottom of the video you can drag your
notes in (so for the bigger the box is dragged, the longer it is
displayed)? And in which you can drag the ends of the notes to make
them start earlier/end later etc.?
Liz.... The annotation tools are really fantastic. As easy as they are
to use, I still find some annoyances:
(a) The icons for TYPE OF ANNOTATION are not clear. I tried the [ ]
bracketed icon thinking I could place text anywhere I wanted... but I
couldn't figure out how to use this one. I was expecting the type I
enter to go inot this box, which I could then resize and postion on
screen. I still don't get it.
(b) So I use the cartoon-bubble style annotation, which more or less
functions as above: I love being able to type into a box, then
reshape the box width, height etc, move and position on the screen.
But sometimes, depending on the overall shape & size of the box, it's
hard to grab the point that determines the arrow direction of the text-
bubble. To do so in those cases, I have to reshape the box, grab that
point and extend it outward, then reshape the box into the shape &
position I want. Not a big deal, but seemingly easy to correct if the
interface marked the arrow point with a different color, like yellow,
to represent that it has a different function from just reshaping the
window.
(c) Related: For long and narrow boxes (you can see a recent video I
posted with keyword "ifonz" for specific examples), the shape of the
arrow sometimes gets really chunky ( = ugly ), vs. being able to pull
out that arrow point without having it relationally-expand in fatness
to the height of the box.
(d) What's present right now is really impressive, especially with the
automatic-duration settings, and the ability to tweek those on
timeline. I imagine y'all will eventually add ability to select fonts
and bold and, god-forbid, color... I think as a default the grey is
neutral and non-distracting. But I would want a bolder font. I've had
to compensate for the light weight by adding extra spaces to seperate
words so they don't appear to run into each other when one is just
glancing at annotation while mostly focusing on the video content.
(e) Lastly, a very minor point: The "preview" function is quirky and
I have found non-representative of what is really happening when
finally published. So I end up just publishing then going back and
editing, which works fine... But as it stands, preview, in my view, is
not providing any value because it treats some annotation entries as,
i don't know, "rendered", vs others as "tentative til saved". But it
doesn't handle this well.
I am glad ya'll finally added user forums! ANd really glad to see that
some staffers will actually interact. This has been the biggest
lacking to date--- and a huge one. I am glad to see now that YT
product & feature developers are interested in feedback -- other than
some "file 13" -- which is where user feedback usually goes. Let's see
more of this from your colleagues ??! thanks.
> As I’m sure you’re aware, Annotations is one of our cool new features
> in TestTube. We’re always excited to hear your thoughts about new
> releases: what you love, what you hate, any suggestions you have for
> us. You can give us your feedback on Annotations by responding to this
> post.
I like video annotations, I like that, instead of redoing your whole
video if you want to tell viewers about something last minute, you can
use the video annotations. But, what I don't like about it is that if
you want to turn it off, for beginners, there are no intructions on
how to turn it off when you are watching the video.
I also don't like the idea of ONLY accepting URL's to other videos and
YouTube Related pages. Some people have their own website, and yet,
they cannot put a link to it because the video annotations don't
accept it. They are forced to put links to discriptions, which nobody
reads.
Overall, I think you guys only need to post instructions on how to
turn it off without opening another page and losing the video people
are watching, and accept it from non-Youtube related pages.
> As I’m sure you’re aware,Annotationsis one of our cool new features
> in TestTube. We’re always excited to hear your thoughts about new
> releases: what you love, what you hate, any suggestions you have for
> us. You can give us your feedback onAnnotationsby responding to this
> post.
I recently added annotations to the end of three different videos.
When I watched them (in higher quality) the annotations did not
appear. I clicked the annotations button on the bottom right of the
viewer screen and toggled the flyout button to red. Now the
annotations work.
This tends to suggest that annotations (certainly in high quality) are
switched off by default. This would make the annotations almost
pointless. Casual YouTube users will have no idea what an annotation
is or what they should do.
I hope YouTube can sort this out soon. The annotations is a very
flexible way to add info at the end of a video, rather than making the
info part of the video.
PS: I would also like to see some text control, such as centre the
text. Maybe an option for text size, such as medium or large. Possibly
adding the annotation at the very end of the video, extending the
video by ten seconds or so.
> Annotations are not showing up when playing vids using the High
> Quality option. Is it just me?
> On Jul 24, 11:36 am, YouTube Liz wrote:
> > Hi YouTubers!
> > As I’m sure you’re aware,Annotationsis one of our cool new features
> > in TestTube. We’re always excited to hear your thoughts about new
> > releases: what you love, what you hate, any suggestions you have for
> > us. You can give us your feedback onAnnotationsby responding to this
> > post.
It's a great feature - especially in a case of an older video with
comments - that has information which needs to be updated or clarified
- the annotations allow you to clear something up or update the video
without having to delete & repost - which would cause deletion of all
the comments already posted.
> As I’m sure you’re aware, Annotations is one of our cool new features
> in TestTube. We’re always excited to hear your thoughts about new
> releases: what you love, what you hate, any suggestions you have for
> us. You can give us your feedback on Annotations by responding to this
> post.
if you put an annotation near the end of a video and a user clicks the
link on the annotation to go to the next video before the video ends
does that still count as a view? or does a viewer have to watch the
video until the very end for it to count?
> As I’m sure you’re aware, Annotations is one of our cool new features
> in TestTube. We’re always excited to hear your thoughts about new
> releases: what you love, what you hate, any suggestions you have for
> us. You can give us your feedback on Annotations by responding to this
> post.
I've discovered that annotations do not appear on high quality
versions of videos. This is a problem for my video game walkthrough
that adds an extra tip using annotations. I don't know if this has
been brought up before, but I just thought I should bring it up.
BeanerousBrokusI, good question. I think you need to watch at least
half the video to make it count, but I could be wrong on that one.
Denalin, I haven't tested it yet, but pixelrush said:
"I recently added annotations to the end of three different videos.
When I watched them (in higher quality) the annotations did not
appear. I clicked the annotations button on the bottom right of the
viewer screen and toggled the flyout button to red. Now the
annotations work."
> BeanerousBrokusI, good question. I think you need to watch at least
> half the video to make it count, but I could be wrong on that one.
> Denalin, I haven't tested it yet, but pixelrush said:
> "I recently added annotations to the end of three different videos.
> When I watched them (in higher quality) the annotations did not
> appear. I clicked the annotations button on the bottom right of the
> viewer screen and toggled the flyout button to red. Now the
> annotations work."
I would like to be able to add the "&fmt=18" to the end of a URL link
in an annotation. Youtube still doesn't show a link to the high
quality video all the time when one exists. It would be much more
convenient to place that link in an annotation at the beginning of a
video rather than in the description on the side when Youtube fails to
provide the link.
An option to either have an annotation link open up a new window/tab
or not if that is possible.
Rounded edges like the spotlight annotation for all annotations.
Interesting comments here, I would like to see the facility of adding
multiple annotations to a video - instead of the current 'one'. Is
there a plan to enable multiple annotations to a video?
> I recently added annotations to the end of three different videos.
> When I watched them (in higher quality) the annotations did not
> appear. I clicked the annotations button on the bottom right of the
> viewer screen and toggled the flyout button to red. Now the
> annotations work.
> This tends to suggest that annotations (certainly in high quality) are
> switched off by default. This would make the annotations almost
> pointless. Casual YouTube users will have no idea what an annotation
> is or what they should do.
> I hope YouTube can sort this out soon. The annotations is a very
> flexible way to add info at the end of a video, rather than making the
> info part of the video.
> PS: I would also like to see some text control, such as centre the
> text. Maybe an option for text size, such as medium or large. Possibly
> adding the annotation at the very end of the video, extending the
> video by ten seconds or so.
> On Jul 26, 5:27 am, YourPrivateArea wrote:
> > Annotations are not showing up when playing vids using the High
> > Quality option. Is it just me?
> > On Jul 24, 11:36 am, YouTube Liz wrote:
> > > Hi YouTubers!
> > > As I’m sure you’re aware,Annotationsis one of our cool new features
> > > in TestTube. We’re always excited to hear your thoughts about new
> > > releases: what you love, what you hate, any suggestions you have for
> > > us. You can give us your feedback onAnnotationsby responding to this
> > > post.
I looked all over but couldn't find an answer, so I ask here;
While I like the idea of swapping audio of a video using audioswap,
there may be occasions when I might deem it inappropriate to allow
others to use certain audio tracks, which is the reason for this
posting today.
I would like to know if this audioswap facility is available for all
videos uploaded to youtube, or only to videos that have the embedding
and syndication permissions checked on the form before upload.
For clarification: If, for example, I upload a video on youtube that
is 6 minutes long, and choose not to allow embedding and syndication
of the video, will the audio track of my video still appear in
audioswap for other people to use my audio track on their own videos?
If the answer is 'yes'. then I think that this point should be
announced to users on the upload form - i.e. to mention that the
audiotrack of any video may be used by other users on their own videos
on youtube.
Also, if so, then maybe even have an 'opt out' of the audioswap
facility on the upload page?
As said, I quite like the idea of audioswap, but don't think that it
is neccesarily a universally good idea, and sometimes may not be
appropriate.
I haven't found an answer to this question yet, but please excuse me
if I am asking something that has already been replied to.
> Interesting comments here, I would like to see the facility of adding
> multiple annotations to a video - instead of the current 'one'. Is
> there a plan to enable multiple annotations to a video?
--- But this function DOES exist right now.
Look at this video here -- you'll see about 10 of them in first 2
minutes:
--- In annotation-tool-mode, just playback your video, then pause at
the point where you want a 2nd or 3rd etc annotation. choose another
annotation icon-type. position on-screen as you like. and click SAVE.
MY ADVICE: at this point, go ahead and PUBLISH immediately vs
Preview. PREVIEW is buggy and does not show your annotations
accurately when you are in start-stop mode setting up a new
annotation. But once you publish, come right back to the Annotation
tool and modify that new annotation you just added. It will be there
-- and it's easier to tweek it this way, VS. trying to PREVIEW and
PREVIEW prior to publishing.
This is not documented.
Frankly I am very disappointed that Liz, the YT staffer who started
this thread, has not replied at all. Just when I thought there might
be some feedback, instead it's another ONE-WAY-STREET:
"Take the time to send us all your thoughts, but SORRY, we don't have
time to reply or clarify. You understand don't you? We're working at
YouTube during the day (and the night) and we don't have time for
that. .. But you, little people, please keep banging out your comments
that we will not interact with."
Fundamentally a LAST-CENTURY communications model, as though prior to
the invention of interactive media. Liz, how bout a reply, or two, or
three.
I think they're great. Sure, it could use some more little features
and a little tweaking, but for something new, I think it's one of the
least flawed things.
I would suggest more shapes... the first being word bubbles that point
in different directions.
Like many have said, some font options.
The coolest would be to have a small image in place of text that would
be semi-transparent.
One neat idea for annotations is to have them show pictures, without
having to link to new videos. This could cause a lot of problems
though...
Also I could not agree more on changing font/shape; we NEED that in
annotations. Otherwise they looks so bleak.
> As I’m sure you’re aware, Annotations is one of our cool new features
> in TestTube. We’re always excited to hear your thoughts about new
> releases: what you love, what you hate, any suggestions you have for
> us. You can give us your feedback on Annotations by responding to this
> post.
Hi Liz
I like this annotation feauture, but I think It would be better if Yt
adds more options to the annotations (the possibility of selecting
fonts, size, letters in bold and effects -slide up, down, left or
right would be great!-)
I'm trying to remove an annotation from one
of my videos but when I load the Annotation page the annotations
aren't there. It would allow me to add a new one if I wanted to but
there's no sign of the ones I've already added.
If I click "Publish" I get the "Application error, Try to reload page"
message but reloading does absolutely nothing.
> As I’m sure you’re aware, Annotations is one of our cool new features
> in TestTube. We’re always excited to hear your thoughts about new
> releases: what you love, what you hate, any suggestions you have for
> us. You can give us your feedback on Annotations by responding to this
> post.
Pity the actionscript is more complicated to reverse engineer...
I think you would allow a text based "expert" edition of the
annotation feed, xml or whatever you are storing it in. That should be
a nice convenience for corrections, and it would smooth the
incorporation of annotations into the API.
> As I’m sure you’re aware,Annotationsis one of our cool new features
> in TestTube. We’re always excited to hear your thoughts about new
> releases: what you love, what you hate, any suggestions you have for
> us. You can give us your feedback onAnnotationsby responding to this
> post.
> As I’m sure you’re aware, Annotations is one of our cool new features
> in TestTube. We’re always excited to hear your thoughts about new
> releases: what you love, what you hate, any suggestions you have for
> us. You can give us your feedback on Annotations by responding to this
> post.
> Thanks for your input!
Clicking on some of the links led to dead ends. Go here:
HI KiaX100000 HERE...I LOVE THIS FEATURE AND IT CAN YES, UPDATE INFO
IN AN OLD VID AND ADD LINKS FOR NEW VIDS BUT THE ONLY THING I HAVE TO
SAY IS...IT CAN BE A LITTLE HARD TO USE SO IF YOU GUYS DECIDE TO EDIT
THE FEATURE AT ALL YOU SHOULD ADD THINGS SUCH AS BETTER BOXES CUZ
SOMETIMES WHEN YOU ADD THE TEXT BOX AND ADD IT TO THE VID IF YOU HAVE
IT CLOSE TO A CORNER IT CONNECTS AND GOES OF THE SCREEN A BIT...THIS
IS THE ONLY SMALL PROBLEM IVE FOUND WITH VIDEO ANNOTATIONS AND IT CAN
BE FIXED VERY EASILY SO JUST ADJUST THE POSITIONING AND ANNOTATIONS
WILL BE PRETTY MUCH FLAWLESS ITS AN ALL AROUND GREAT FEATURE
AND...WELL THATS IT...THANKS FOR LISTENING YOUTUBE EDITORS ADMINS
STAFF AND SO ON
