Short, concise description of the idea If the size of the "Music" field at the end of entries is increased, flash media can be embedded from other sites like Soundcloud to give a clickable music player with LJ posts.
Full description of the idea Basically, media players from sites like soundcloud are just tiny flash players. Some music sites like 8tracks give an embed code for their playlists. All you would need to do would be to increase the amount of text allowed for the Music field when updating your journal and the embed code could be pasted in there just like embedding YouTube videos in the body of posts.
An ordered list of benefits
* Let users give people a soundtrack to their journal
* Keeps web traffic on livejournal instead of sending people to external sites
* Trivial change in Livejournal code
An ordered list of problems/issues involved
The only conceivable difficulties might be if anyone's dumb enough to try and embed a video in there. This could be quite easily resolved by giving a mazimum size for any embedded objects in the field.
Short, concise description of the idea When a video is embedded, I would like there to be an automatic text link to the source of the video for those who aren't able to access the video when it's embedded.
Full description of the idea I'm not sure why, but recently, I've discovered that none of the videos embedded in LiveJournal entries or comments will play properly anymore. For example, I tried to play a video someone embedded from YouTube, but all I got was "An error occurred, please try again later." Yet no matter how many times I retry later, I still get the same error message. Apparently, I'm the only one experiencing this problem because other users have indicated that they are able to play these videos.
And because these embeds seem to use a third-party provider (lj-toys.com), I'm not able to search the page's source code to find out the original link to the video, so I end up having to ask the person who posted it.
This inconvenience could be avoided if a text link to the video's source were provided automatically. There are a number of ways this could be done, and the simplest I can think of would be just to have the link automatically included whenever a video is embedded (perhaps at the top or bottom of the object). Or a new setting could be implemented allowing the user to have the text link to the video in lieu of the embed (which could be a useful adjunct to the video placeholders option), although this could be more complex to code.
(Sorry if this whole thing is rambly. My brain's not working at 100% right now. But I hope this makes sense at least.)
An ordered list of benefits
Better accessibility for users who have trouble displaying embedded videos in their browsers ETA: This would especially be helpful on mobile phones, some of which can play videos in formats optimized for mobile (which YouTube has) but can't handle the embedding codes
More convenience, as users won't have to ask the ones who posted the videos where the original source is hosted, in order to enjoy the videos
Possibly more security, as the user would be able to see which site the video was hosted from and determine whether they want to view it, as opposed to embedding, which doesn't allow the viewer to see where the video came from until after the object was loaded (even on legitimate video hosting sites, Flash can be a risk for browser exploits)
Decreased need to load JavaScript on a page containing a video, if the text link is present
And possibly others I'm not thinking of
An ordered list of problems/issues involved
As always, the time and trouble to code and implement this; complexity depends on the method of implementation (adding a new journal-wide option, for instance, can inflate the database)
The source page of the video (like in the sidebar or the comments section on many YouTube pages, for instance) might contain spoilers or other undesirable content that the viewer might be able to avoid if they only access the embedded video instead of a direct link
Depending on how this is implemented, adding the link might slightly increase the size of the page and become redundant for a user who prefers not to have the direct link
ETA: Having the link in lieu of (or in addition to) the embedded video is no guarantee that it will work; factors completely outside of LiveJournal's control can still interfere with the user's ability to view the video after following the link to it
Short, concise description of the idea Id love it if we can upload video blogs directly to livejournal without having to go through another website like youtube first
Full description of the idea you already added the voice blog thing, I think uploading other videos directly to livejournal would be beneficial. We could set it so only the people on our friends list can see. I think it would make blogging much more interesting, fun, and new on here.
An ordered list of benefits
uploading voice is perfect for those that want to remain anonymous but I'd prefer videos because I want my friends to see who I am and make my livejournal more personalized.
An ordered list of problems/issues involved
I really don't think there will be any drawbacks. Maybe it'll take too long to upload a vlog I dunno *shrugs*
Title Generate correct embeds for Youtube videos in Atom/RSS
Short, concise description of the idea Livejournal should generate correct HTML in RSS/Atom for LJ entries which contain Youtube videos.
Full description of the idea When I make a Livejournal post with a Youtube video in it, the RSS and Atom feeds that LiveJournal generates for it are wrong.
Instead of including the original EMBED or OBJECT tag, LiveJournal is instead including the LJ-EMBED tag only.
The entire point of RSS feeds is to be able to present those items in feed readers and on other sites. And other sites, pretty much *by definition* do not understand the LJ-EMBED tag.
The fix is trivial. Livejournal should simply include the un-altered source of the post in the RSS feed, rather than the "sanitized" version. Include the version of the HTML that one sees when one does "edit".
This is, quite simply, a bug. But "support" replied to my email with a brush-off telling me to make a "suggestion" that this bug be fixed, so here we are.
An ordered list of benefits
The RSS feed of my journal would be useful and correct.
An ordered list of problems/issues involved
I guess if you like it being broken, this would be a drawback.
Title Add 'view at source' link to video placeholder
Short, concise description of the idea If at all available, insert a link to the source page of an embedded video when the placeholder is turned on.
Full description of the idea Video placeholders replace an embedded video/object with a box holding the dimensions of the video that's supposed to go there, and cheerful little image; you click on it to see the thing. It would be ever so useful to have an actual link to the source page for the embedded video, if it's possible to get such a thing.
An ordered list of benefits
Gives some sort of idea about the content (is it a YouTube video, another known video provider, something you've never heard of, something you've heard of and want to avoid, and the link name may be enlightening)
Fewer page loads if someone just wants to open the YouTube video in a new tab (one ctrl+click to open in a new tab; compare clicking on the placeholder, clicking on the video)
Unlikely to cause more of a problem than if the original poster had thrown in a link to the source.
Might give more options for users with accessibility issues (including screen readers and the like)?
Probably more that people who feel strongly about this can share in the comments
An ordered list of problems/issues involved
May not be technically feasible to extract useful source/home page information from an embedded item; when you dissect the code for a YouTube embed it gives you a page with just the video on it, not the one with the comments and all.
Like the ill-fated Snap, this would involve slightly altering the way someone's entry is served to have something they didn't specifically put in there. (Though that's already happening with the placeholder to start with, as well as any client-side browser add-ons that might be changing things around.)
The usual effort-to-benefit ratio, as I don't know how popular video placeholders even are, and this sounds like it might have hidden snags in implementation.
Short, concise description of the idea Enable Google Wave to make a post in LJ, which also embeds an entire Wave in said LJ post.
Full description of the idea Blogspot and Wordpress already have bots or plug-ins embed Google Waves into Blogpost or Wordpress posts, and it'd be great if LJ has something like that too.
The entire wave is embedded in the post, so other Wave users can interact with the embedded wave as if they were in their own Wave clients i.e. they can edit and reply to the Wave, they can input their own content through drag and drop, they can use the Playback function etc.
Title Remove the autoplay option for videos posted
Short, concise description of the idea I would like to be able to remove the autoplay option from a video, even if the original poster included it.
Full description of the idea In reading my friends page several times people have placed videos in communities that used the autoplay option with the intent to annoy. I'd like for there to be a mechanic where either I (on my friends page) or the community maintainer (via their options page) could disable autoplay for videos.
An ordered list of benefits
Less annoying. Would remove another way that people will try to harass other people on LiveJournal.
An ordered list of problems/issues involved
Unsure of implementation. Could be code intensive, I'm not sure.
Title DNS Hosting Upgrade for Paid/Permanent users
Short, concise description of the idea Provide a paid add-on DNS hosting option for users.
Full description of the idea Background As a semi-professional author attempting to "go pro", I registered my own domain name. I've spent five or six years on Livejournal, and I really do love the site, so I postponed my purchase of a domain name until I found a way I thought I could have the best of both worlds: my own domain name pointing to my Livejournal. I read How do I forward my domain to Livejournal and went, "Oh, YAY! Sign me up!" I followed the instructions, changing my CNAME record to livejournal.com and enabling domain mapping on LJ.
In my attempt to overcome this, I read How do I embed my Livejournal into my website in the FAQ. I also attempted to make sense of Embedding: Method Index on howto. Unfortunately, it's taking a lot more time and effort than I anticipated. I am not a programmer, and basic HTML is about the extent of my knowledge. (I can't even deal satisfactorily with CSS!)
What I suggest: Instead of username.livejournal.com, users should be able to use www.domain.com transparently without having to learn all about the technical details of private hosting. LJ should include an option to pay for access to DNS services, as is currently done by Wordpress.com (see here).
An ordered list of benefits
Increased revenue for Livejournal through the sale of DNS add-ons.
Increased user satisfaction due to a better/improved LJ experience.
LJ gains a popular feature other blogging platforms eg. Wordpress have had for a while.
New users have more incentive to sign up for LJ (their own blog, hosted for $20 a year plus the $5 or $10 annual fee for DNS hosting? Yes please!)
Existing users are retained (especially now that Dreamwidth, a code fork of LJ, is nearing public launch).
Existing users of other platforms may be persuaded to migrate to LJ, as LJ offers far-superior privacy/security arrangements.
An ordered list of problems/issues involved
LJ's current code base may have to be reprogrammed to support this. I'm not sure how much of a problem this is, as although Wordpress.com offers the domain name feature (and for free), Wordpress software seems to my non-programmer brain to work differently than LJ does.
Possibly expensive initial outlay. However, this could be sidestepped with a waiting list so that LJ can be assured there are enough users willing to pay this fee before continuing/implementing.
Possible confusion in the marketplace--is LJ a host or a blogging platform? However, Wordpress.com doesn't seem to have these problems, so I don't think it's very likely LJ will either.
Short, concise description of the idea Include embed code in rss/atom feeds.
Full description of the idea As of now lj-embed videos etc are just left out of feeds, see http://forresto.livejournal.com/data/atom vs http://forresto.livejournal.com/167952.html .... I put the links in there, otherwise there would be nothing indicating that I had posted a video. At the very least there should be a placeholder and a link to the entry.
An ordered list of benefits
People reading feed readers will be able to watch the videos inline, instead of seeing nothing or 'lj-embed id="1"'
An ordered list of problems/issues involved
None. RSS readers will have their own security policies on showing embedded media.
