Videographer Wordpress Theme. Start Your Own Video Blog

April 28, 2008 · By Shane

Videographer Wordpress Theme

Video on the internet is huge. And it’s only getting bigger. So I thought I’d put together a Wordpress theme to take advantage of that. It’s a great way to build content-rich niche sites, and use the power of YouTube at the same time.

Videographer Features

Most bloggers know that you can easily embed YouTube videos in your blog. What’s not as well known is YouTube creates thumbnails for all the videos uploaded to them that you can also embed. That makes it really easy for us to create an index of clickable thumbnail pics.
I’ve put together a modification to Wordpresses get_excerpt in functions.php that tightens it up nicely.
Videographer also has some ad blocks (ad_header.php, ad_sidebar.php, and ad_singlepage.php) that allow you to easily throw in your ad code.
The sidebar shows “Latest Videos” except on the single post page where it shows “Related Videos” or the most recent videos in the same category as the video you’re viewing. Which is good because most people will find your video blog through those single post pages so you want to show them related content.

Setting up Videographer

Just upload it like any other Wordpress theme. NOTE however, that this theme is meant for a NEW blog, not a blog with existing content. The theme is specifically designed for creating a video blog.
You need Jens Tornell’s WP YouTube plugin. Upload and activate the plugin. In your Wordpress admin panel, go to Manage > YouTube Profiles. Create a profile with the Tag Name “video” and set the video width to “500″ and the height to “418″. Check “Valid XHTML” and save your profile.
I’d also suggest getting Lester Chan’s WP PostRatings plugin as it allows users to rate your videos and adds a lot to the site. The code to run this plugin is already in Videographer.
Create a page called “Archives” (post slug: archives) and apply the XHTML Sitemap template to the page. This will give the top navigation link “Categories:” a destination.

Creating Posts in Videographer

Just as you would create any Wordpress post except you also have to add the YouTube video ID. To do that:

Go to YouTube and find your video. The web url of your video will be something like hxxp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F9RJSPnf8A&feature=related
The part you want is after the “v=” and before the first “&” symbol, which here is: _F9RJSPnf8A
Copy that video ID and paste it into the “Value” box of your post’s Custom Fields section. Call the Key “vids” and save your Custom Field
Then finish writing and save your post. It’s pretty much that simple.

Download Videographer

Download Videographer and give it a spin. And don’t forget to get the plugins mentioned above. You can also check out my Videographer test site.

Videographer Support

None. Zip, zilch, nada. Nothing. Sorry about that, but I just don’t have the time so you’re pretty much on your own. If you need help …

With html, php, or wordpress basics … Tubetorial is an excellent site for beginners.
I put up a basic powerpoint video on my test site that goes through the basic setup.
Post your questions or comments here. If you’ve got a problem, maybe I (or hopefully someone smarter than me) can find an answer for you. If you find a bug, leave a comment and I’ll try to address it as well.

Enjoy it. And let me know about your sites so I can check them out.

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34 Responses

Anthony

April 29th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
1

Awesome Shane, awesome! Will have to write something up about it.
Shane

April 29th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
2

Hey Anthony,

Thanks! Hope you get a chance to play around with it and rip through the code a bit. Love to get your feedback.
Videographer - Theme for Wordpress — Antbag.com

May 3rd, 2008 at 1:13 pm
3

[…] didn’t create, but today we have a real treat. Shane at Zoomstart, has created a theme called Videographer that has me quite impressed. As video becomes more and more prevalent online, so does the need to […]
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May 6th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
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[…] du thème : chez ZoomStart Démonstration : la VO, ma VF (notez que pour cette VF, je n’ai pas installés les plugins […]
adel

May 18th, 2008 at 3:17 am
5

Hi Shane
Does this work for youtube only? what about metacafe or google videos
Shane

May 18th, 2008 at 5:06 am
6

Hi Adel,

It only works for YouTube. It could be changed to work with Metacafe and Google Video as well … but, I don’t know if they provide thumbnail pics that can be embedded the way YouTube does.

If they don’t, then a generic “this is a video” placecard could be inserted into the index/archive pages when these videos are used. That’s something I may take a look at doing one of these days in a subsequent version of videographer.
Adel

May 25th, 2008 at 7:10 am
7

Hi Shane
The theme was working all good but all of a sudden the single page is now blank. I just see the description and no actual videos
the only change ive done is the addition of google analytics code
Shane

May 25th, 2008 at 8:32 am
8

Hi Adel,

I haven’t used GA much. I generally use WP stats which works fine with Videographer. Double check your html first. If you’re still having problems you might want to try using it with a plugin. Just Google “Wordpress Google Analytics” and you’ll find a few available.
Adel

May 25th, 2008 at 9:28 am
9

Ive disabled the google plugin and still the same. Funny it is still working on my test site at blog.ziloi
Adel

May 25th, 2008 at 9:51 am
10

oops sorry..my fault ..I did an import and forgot to create a new profile..Its all good now
DigitalMads

May 27th, 2008 at 4:19 am
11

This is a great theme and it’s easy to setup and easy to modify to ones own needs.

The plugin “WP YouTube” has come in a version 2:

http://www.jenst.se/2008/01/13/wp-youtube-2

If you use this you must remember to use the tag “video” in the profile editor. Otherwise it won’t work with Videographer.

/DM
Shane

May 27th, 2008 at 7:31 am
12

Adel,

Glad you got it going. It always pays to doublecheck your code and setup. The silly little things are always such a big pain.

Hey DM,

Thanks. Glad you like the theme. Yes, you have to use the tag name “video” when you setup the WP YouTube plugin. The reason is, that’s the tag the theme is looking for to bring in all the video’s parameters. I coded it that way to make it easier to add videos with just the YouTube video ID and to build in a little room for future improvements.

Complete setup instructions in the post above.
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May 28th, 2008 at 1:50 am
13

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The 'sell photos online' Dude

May 31st, 2008 at 4:12 am
14

Hi,

It’s a fabulous idea and your instructions are great too. One thing though that held me up a little is this part, where you say:

“apply the XHTML Sitemap template to the page. This will give the top navigation link “Categories:” a destination.”

Can you explain this a little more? Do you mean add the XHTML sitemap plugin to my site? And then how do I apply it to my category?

Thanks - just so I’m clear…

Congratulations, it’s a job well done.

Martin
Shane

May 31st, 2008 at 4:52 am
15

Hi Martin,

The Videographer theme contains a file called xhtmlsitemap.php

In Wordpress, click on “Write”, and then below that click on “Page”. You want to create a new page, not a post. Make the title of this page “Archives”.

You don’t have to add any other text or anything. Just scroll down until you see a section called “Page Template”. Click it and then click the drop-down box there and you should see xhtmlsitemap as an option. Select that and publish the page.

The template has all the code to create a list showing categories and latest video posts of your video blog. When you click on “Categories” in your site’s navigation bar it’ll take you to your archives page.
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June 1st, 2008 at 3:50 am
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[…] This one is called the Videographer. […]
DigitalMads

June 1st, 2008 at 5:14 am
17

Shane, the WP_LIST_CATS has been deprecated and should be replaced with WP_LIST_CATEGORIES.
The 'sell photos online' Dude

June 1st, 2008 at 5:53 am
18

Thanks I appreciate it.

Any other blogs using this theme here that I can get some ‘look and feel’ ideas from? (Apart from YouTube itself).

Martin
Shane

June 1st, 2008 at 8:35 am
19

Hi DM,

I think I had some issues using List Cats - I believe there are different attributes available to each of those functions which is why I used List Categories. But I’ll revisit it when I do the next version of Videographer.

Martin,

I’ve seen a few video blogs created with Videographer but none that have been tweaked. Just do a Google search for “video sites” and surf around to different ones and you’ll get some good ideas.
The 'sell photos online' Dude

June 4th, 2008 at 11:11 am
20

Thanks, I appreciate it…

Martin
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June 18th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
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June 23rd, 2008 at 7:50 pm
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[…] Videographer […]
Adam DesAutels

June 24th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
23

I can’t get the thumbnails to be viable… Is there something I am missing?
Adam DesAutels

June 24th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
24

“Visible” not “Viable”… Sorry.
Shane

June 24th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
25

Adam,

It’s all in the code. First read the instructions above carefully and make sure you’re setup and use of the theme is as outlined. Then, check any modifications (if any) that you made. Also take a look at your plugins - deactivate them one by one and see if that corrects the problem.

It’s also a good idea to open up your site and click “page” > “view source” to make sure the the site is actually calling in the thumbnails from YouTube. Look at the source for my site ThisWickedLife.com to see how that should look.
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June 24th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
26

[…] Download link. […]
znydz

June 25th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
27

can I embed other video from megavideo, dailymotion etc instead of youtube?
Shane

June 26th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
28

Hey znydz,

Currently, no. Videographer is only setup for YouTube Videos. In the future, I’ll be adding Google video and Metacafe support, and I’ll take a look at adding megavideo and dailymotion as well.

Even with just YouTube, there’s an absolute ton of content available because it’s so large. And I’d imagine that many videos from other sites could also be found on YouTube.
Laurel

June 28th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
29

Can we still do a standard post without a video?
Shane

June 29th, 2008 at 2:56 am
30

Hi Laurel,

The theme is built to bring in thumbnail pics from YouTube for every post. If you created a regular post, that image would be broken and it woudn’t look very good. I will build the ability to make non-video posts into the next version of Videographer though.
John Raul Joven II

July 4th, 2008 at 10:18 am
31

Wow, this theme suits for me. I just hope though in the future this theme will come with in-built video functionality (I mean to say there will be no need to install additional plugins) so it would be easier for new bloggers to install this one. Great stuff.
Shane

July 4th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
32

Hey John,

Thanks. The next version will do away with the need for the YouTube plugin (out of necessity). It will still be setup to use the Postratings plugin though which is easy enough to install.
Jonny

July 4th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
33

Hey Shane, great theme. I’m looking forward to the next version! How long will you say it’ll take you?

Keep up the great work,
Jonny
Shane

July 4th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
34

Hi Jonny,

Glad you like it. I’ve been pretty busy with other things but I’m always gathering ideas and feedback. So, no ETA right now but hopefully in the next month or two I’ll get to putting out version 2.

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Videographer Wordpress Theme. Start Your Own Video Blog

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