Usability Limitations and Solutions for YouTube Embedded

YouTube realizes that people have limited attention and provide information to aid viewing decisions such as ratings, number of views, descriptions, and clip length on their site. Unfortunately, even as they continue to add features to their embedded player, they miss two basic ones: clip length and driving engagement behavior.

Clip Length

YouTube tacitly acknowledges that clip length is the most important thing in choosing clips. On their site, even when no other information is provided, clip length is ubiquitous.

The embedded player forces me to guess how long a clip is, wasting real-estate and attention:

Whereas if it looked like this:

I could make a better decison to watch now, later, or never.

Driving Engagment Behavior

In the YouTube embedded player, after I watch a clip, I can copy the embed code, copy a link to the video page, or watch another video by clicking one of the thumbnails.

However, if I want to favorite the video, comment on it, or perform any other YouTube function, the experience falls short. These advanced features are not part of the player, and worse, there is no simple way to go directly to the clip’s page on YouTube. (Although sometimes I find that clicking haphazardly all over the player will take me to YouTube.)

Instead of:

Give me:

Conclusion

The YouTube embedded player is a cornerstone of YouTube’s success. With a few minor tweaks, it can provide a more seemless experience, driving more traffic to their website, fostering more community interaction, and demonstrating more respect for their viewers’ attention by mimicking the insights apparent on the YouTube website.