Ok, so this isn't the long sought-after video thumbnails mod that everybody would kill for, but it's an idea, and one that could easily be included in all future versions of CPG. The admin section will, of course, need to have a simple Yes/No checkbox to activate/deactivate this feature.
NOTE: You'll still have to use some program to make your thumbs and FTP them to the vthumbs folder, but this will eliminate the need to spend the time picking a specific thumbnail for each video, then having to type in the filename, etc. For sites with a lot of video, this will be a HUGE timesaver. Just make sure that when you create.save then, you use the format of "vthumb_videoname.gif" for filenames. (Or use a batch renamer to add "vthumb_" to all of your thumbs. (A batch renamer is a utility that all webmasters should have anyway. They're really useful for those times that you need one.)
Ok, so here's the plan:
1. Default installation will come with an extra folder called "vthumbs".
2. All video files will, by default, search in that designated directory ("site.com/gallery/vthumbs/") for vthumb_filename.gif (and then vthumb_filename.jpg, vthumb_filename.jpeg, etc... auto-search will be however the CPG developers feel like coding it... even just automatically adding the code to associate filename.mpg with vthumb_filename.gif is a huge improvement).
3. If a properly named file exists, it becomes the thumbnail for the appropriate video with the same name (minus the "vthumb_" in the filename, of course).
4. Webmaster should be able to override this on a per picture basis. (Checkbox in the "Edit this video" page that says "Ignore thumbnail and use default graphic?")
5. Ideally, the script will automatically populate a single line text box with the appropriate "vthumbs/vthumb_filename.gif" information and even show a smaller image of that thumbnail (a mini-thumbnail... LOL) next to it. (This mini-thumbnail is strictly for the webmaster's benefit to double-check that he has the right thumbnail for the video, and is not necessary for proper functionality.)
The same process could apply for Flash videos by adding a fthumbs directory to the default installation, and then an "if $filename ends in .swf, then use the fthumbs directory for the automatic thumbnail association" statement.
See how easy that is? (For me, since I'm not the one who has to code this? LOL) I'll probably get a few "I hate you for making my job harder" emails from the coders, but it really would make things a lot nicer for those of us who want to use a lot of mpg, avi, and flash files. It's really about the only thing missing from CPG, since it already does everything except clean my house.
Jake
Author
Topic: Video thumbnails, here's a good idea (workaround) (Read 3068 times)