Last week I added a video sidebar widget to my personal WordPress blog called Video Widget. The primary reasons I chose this particular widget are because it:
- 1. Supports videos from over 25 video sources such as YouTube, Flickr, Google Videos, Metacafe, and others.
- 2. Is easy to configure and can run just one video or have a different video appear upon each page refresh.
- 3. Requires no HTML code pasting, just add an ID from each video source.
Videos are a great way to connect with your audience and keep them engaged on your site. In this particular case, I can use this widget to share gospel-oriented videos and other types of videos I think will be of interest to my audience.
Installation and Configuration
Like other WordPress plugins, upload the video-widget folder to the /wp-content/plugins/ folder and then activate the plugin via the Plugins menu.
Video Widget is fairly simple to configure. Just choose the title you want displayed in your blog’s sidebar, plug in the desired width and height of the video, and then add all the video IDs you want to play in the Multiple videos dialogue box.
Or, if you want to have just one video available in your sidebar, delete the preset ID and videos listed in the Multiple videos dialogue box, and then plug in the ID of the video of your choice for a Single video. That way, only that video will be available for viewing.
I installed the widget on both the main post sidebar and on each individual post sidebar of my blog. Each can be configured separately so different sets of videos are available to your visitors.
Share Videos About the Gospel
Although you can share any video or set of videos you want using this widget, one of the reasons I installed it on my blog is to share gospel-oriented videos. Below is an image from the LDS Public Affairs video Are Mormons Christian? on YouTube which is one of the videos available on my site.
There are a number of high-quality videos on the LDS Public Affairs YouTube Channel to choose from (a hidden resource that is slowly growing in popularity). And there are also some great videos being produced by Church members and other organizations. Here’s just a short list of those who are actively adding videos from which I chose to put on my blog:
- lds9999 on YouTube
- SethAdamSmith on YouTube
- fairldsorg on YouTube
- William J. Hamblin (hamblinwj) on YouTube
There are scores of others. Just visit a few video sites, do a search and add the ID to the widget. It’s that simple.
Let us know your favorite gospel video sources.
