Articulate Storyline

There are two ways to add a YouTube video to Storyline:

• Insert > Video > Video from Website
• Insert > Web Object

Each method has its unique benefits. We'll take a look at both methods in this article.

Insert > Video > Video from Website

Storyline makes it very easy to insert a YouTube video:

1. Go to the Insert tab.
2. Click the Video drop-down arrow, and select Video from Website.
3. Simply paste the YouTube embed code into the box, and click the Insert button.

That's it!

Here are some of the benefits of using this method:

• You won't see the YouTube player in your published story.
• You'll have an option to start the video automatically or wait until users click it.
• You'll have an option to include a playbar if you want users to be able to scrub through the video.
• The volume slider on the Storyline player will control the volume of the YouTube video.
• You can layer other objects on top of the video. This can be useful if you want to annotate the video to highlight certain areas at specific times.

Note: If you'll be delivering your Storyline courses via HTML5 or the Articulate Mobile Player app for iPad, be aware that YouTube videos embedded in this manner won't work in these environments. Use the following method for embedding YouTube videos instead.

Insert > Web Object

If you want a little more control over the appearance and behavior of a YouTube video, insert it as a web object:

1. Go to the Insert tab.
2. Click Web Object.
3. Type the URL for the video into the Address field in this manner (replace video_id with the actual ID of the YouTube video):
   
   http://www.youtube.com/embed/video_id
4. If you want to add any special parameters to your video (see below for details), add a question mark (?) to the end of the URL followed by the parameters. If you add more than one parameter, separate them with ampersands (&). For example, the following URL would 1) automatically play the video, 2) hide related video suggestions, and 3) start the video at the 45-second mark:
   
   http://www.youtube.com/embed/video_id?autoplay=1&rel=0&start=45
5. Click OK.

The benefits of using a web object to add a YouTube video to Storyline include:

• It'll work in HTML5 and the Articulate Mobile Player app for iPad.
• You can control numerous features of the video with the following optional parameters (Flash output only).

autohide

The autohide parameter determines whether the player controls and progress bar (timeline) for the YouTube video remain visible throughout the duration of the video or whether they will disappear automatically after a few seconds. The autohide parameter accepts the following values:

• 0 means that you do NOT want the player controls or the progress bar to autohide
• 1 means that you want the player controls and the progress bar to autohide
• 2 means that you want the player controls to remain visible at all times, but you want the progress bar to autohide (default)

autoplay

The autoplay parameter determines whether the video will automatically play when the user reaches the slide that contains the YouTube Web Object or whether the user must click on the video to start playing it. The autoplay parameter accepts the following values:

• 0 means that you do NOT want the video to autoplay (default)
• 1 means that you want the video to autoplay

cc_load_policy

The cc_load_policy parameter determines whether closed captions will be displayed by default in the YouTube video or not. The cc_load_policy parameter accepts the following value:

• 1 means that you want existing closed captions to be displayed by default

NOTE: The cc_load_policy parameter only specifies whether existing captions will be displayed in the YouTube video when it is embedded into your Articulate Storyline presentation. In order for captions to be displayed in your presentation, you must first add captions to the video through your account at YouTube.com. You can only add captions to videos that you own. (If you do not own the video that you are embedding into your presentation, the cc_load_policy parameter will only be able to display captions if the owner has already added captions to the YouTube video.) For instructions on adding captions to YouTube videos, see HOW TO: Add Captions To Your YouTube Videos, which describes two methods.

color

The color parameter determines the color of the video's progress bar. The color parameter accepts the following values:

• red (default)
• white

controls

The controls parameter determines whether the player control bar will be displayed in the YouTube video or not. The controls parameter accepts the following values:

• 0 means that you do NOT want the player control bar to display
• 1 means that you want the player control bar to display (default)

end

The end parameter determines when the YouTube video will stop playing. It is measured from the beginning of the video. The end parameter accepts a numeric value that represents seconds. For example, if you want the video to stop at the 2 minute and 12 second mark, you'd use the end parameter with a value of 132.

fs

The fs parameter determines whether the fullscreen button will be displayed in the YouTube video or not. The fs parameter accepts the following values:

• 0 means that you do NOT want the fullscreen button to display
• 1 means that you want the fullscreen button to display (default)

iv_load_policy

The iv_load_policy parameter determines whether annotations that have been added to the YouTube video will display or not. The iv_load_policy parameter accepts the following values:

• 1 means that you want annotations to display (default)
• 3 means that you do NOT want annotations to display

loop

The loop parameter determines whether or not the YouTube video will automatically (and continuously) replay. The loop parameter accepts the following values:

• 0 means that you do NOT want the video to loop (default)
• 1 means that you want the video to loop

NOTE: The loop parameter requires that you also use the playlist parameter. Set the playlist parameter equal to the video ID that you wish to loop. Here is the URL format for a looping video:

http://www.youtube.com/embed/video_id?loop=1&playlist=video_id

modestbranding

The modestbranding parameter allows you to remove the YouTube button from the player controls of the video. (The YouTube button lets the user launch the video in a separate window at the YouTube website, which may not be desirable if you want your students to be free from distractions.) The modestbranding parameter accepts the following value:

• 1 means that you do NOT want the YouTube button to display

playlist

The playlist parameter allows you to specify a comma-separated list of YouTube video IDs, which will play back-to-back in the same video player. Here is the format for the playlist parameter:

http://www.youtube.com/embed/video_id?playlist=video_id,video_id,video_id

The video ID in the standard URL for your Articulate Presenter Web Object will be the first video to appear in your playlist. The video IDs that you supply in the playlist parameter will be the second video, third video, fourth video, etc.

probably_logged_in

The probably_logged_in parameter determines whether the Watch Later button is visible in the YouTube video or not. By default, the Watch Later button will be visible in the YouTube video if the user is logged into YouTube.com in the browser that they are currently using. The probably_logged_in parameter accepts the following values:

• 0 means that you do NOT want the Watch Later button to display
• 1 means that you want the Watch Later button to display if the user is logged into YouTube (default)

rel

The rel parameter determines whether related videos will be advertised when the user reaches the end of the YouTube video or not. The rel parameter accepts the following values:

• 0 means that you do NOT want related videos to display at the end of a video
• 1 means that you want related videos to display at the end of the video (default)

showinfo

The showinfo parameter determines whether the video title and owner’s user name will display in the YouTube video or not. The showinfo parameter accepts the following values:

• 0 means that you do NOT want the video title and owner’s user name to display
• 1 means that you want the video title and owner’s user name to display (default)

start

The start parameter determines whether the video will start playing at the beginning of the video or at a specified point in the middle of the video. The start parameter accepts a numeric value that represents the number of seconds into the video where you want the video to start playing. For example, if you want the video to start playing at the 1 minute and 30 second mark, you would add the start parameter with a value of 90.

theme

The theme parameter determines which theme (color scheme) will be applied to the YouTube player controls. The theme parameter accepts the following values:

• dark (default)
• light