Linking to YouTube Videos

Video is a fantastic way to communicate information, particularly on a mobile device where your screen size is small. Video lets you pack a lot of information in a tiny space, without having to worry about navigation, buttons sizes, menu systems, and other means of organizing a large amount of text and image content.

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Tips on Video Preparation and YouTube Setup

1. Aim for 30 seconds or less

Remember that mobile users are generally paying more for per megabyte for their downloads. Keep your video as short as possible, and to the point. If you want a longer video, offer it as an alternative option.

2. Keep your title short and sweet

In the embedded YouTube video, the title of the video appears partially in the video window, and it gets cut off if it’s too long. YouTube requires you to title videos, so we cannot leave it blank but it’s best to keep it short and sweet.

3. Disable comments & ratings

You don’t want ratings or comments on the video, there’s always a risk someone will abuse that. Plus, once ratings are coming in, you might see the stars on the mobile video before you click play. If it’s less than 5 full stars, that could look bad

4. Unlist (hide) the Video (optional)

It’s possible to “hide” the video from public searches by making it “unlisted”. I think it’s called “view only with the link” or something similar. If ratings & comments are off, there’s probably no harm… but for some videos you may not want people finding it except through the mobile website.