Lately I’ve noticed a lot of feeds that contain embedded videos which fail to provide alternate content for readers who can’t view the videos. For example, a number of feeds use the HTML tag to embed video objects but neglect to include <noembed> sections. The end result is a less-than-optimal experience for many people, including:
- Users of Windows-based feed readers such as FeedDemon which employ Internet Explorer’s local zone lockdown for security (which prevents embedded objects from displaying)
- Users of Internet Explorer 7 (the feed view in IE7 uses a similar security lockdown which prevents embedded videos from playing)
- Users of Web-based feed readers who have tightened their browser’s security
If nothing else, simply add a <noembed> section which links to the actual video, as this example demonstrates:
<item>
<title>Embedded Video Example</title>
<description>
<![CDATA[
<noembed><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkj4Wm6INFY">Click here to view video</a></noembed>]]>
</description>
</item>
A more user-friendly solution would be to include a <noembed> section that contains a thumbnail image of the video which links to the actual video.
If you’d like more details on embedding video objects, check out this article from A List Apart.