Yeah, I'd give one of my toes (maybe even two...) for Ro's source code. I haven't posted a vlog in a very long time, but when I did....yup, every post had a thumb, just got used to it from the 'old days'. But I think now with flash embeds, people forgot that the embed 'visual' doesn't carry through to the feed and their feeds have no thumbs.....
If nothing else, the thumbs give someone who isn't already interested in watching your clip something that might entice them to watch. I've found lots of new feeds to watch just from scanning thumbs....I can get a glimpse of what's inside the media...helps with the glut of it all. -- Thanks, Devlon Duthie http://devlonduthie.com Find great independent video: http://mefeedia.com Steve Watkins wrote: > Ahar cheers thats where I had seen animated previews in the past but I > forgot - Ro's flash thumbs - thanks for the reminder. > > Could you go into a bit more detail about the sorts of things youve > done to ensure your feed looks good? How are you including a thumbnail > for each post at the moment? > > I hope the momentum for improving on RSS can be rebuilt, there seemed > to be a burst of activity a few years ago but not much progress since? > > Cheers > > Steve Elbows > > --- In [email protected], Devlon Duthie <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> This is a good point Steve, Ro and his flash-thumb things were freaking >> great....haven't seen anything beyond this. >> >> imho, it is were me, and it used to be :) as a content-creator, I found >> snapping a thumb of my clip and using it in my post, ad therefore in my >> feed took far less time than the value I found in making sure that the >> feed looked good in the aggregators. >> >> I'd love to wait and see what crazy new thumb/flash thing that someone >> builds, but for the time being it seems so simple and easy to have a >> thumb for a clip in a feed. Spending as much time as I do around >> aggregators, etc. the ones with thumbs for each clip look more >> enticing.....it's all part of packaging really. People spend a ton of >> time building out their blogs, video-content, etc.....but (in most >> cases) spend very little time on the presentation of thier rss feed. >> >> Since rss (so far) is a huge part of the ditribution method of this new >> media I would think it would be very important to have a robust rss >> > feed > >> with as much metadata as can be jammed into it. >> >> Thanks, >> Devlon Duthie >> -- >> http://devlonduthie.com >> >> Find great independent video: >> http://mefeedia.com >> >> >> >> Steve Watkins wrote: >> >>> Are static thumbnails any good for video really anyway? >>> >>> Are there any examples of, or people working on, something more than >>> single frame thumbnails? Ive been pondering whether a better way of >>> previewing video exists, I dont know as it does, but Im thinking about >>> it anyway. >>> >>> Im also very excited about future much richer & nicer user interfaces. >>> Microsoft stuff like WPF, WPF/E, AJAX/DHTML in general, and Apple >>> stuff like Core Animation, are technologies that may help this a bit. >>> Will certainly need thumbnails or preview animations of videos to make >>> this experience decent, I hadnt realised that thumbnail in RSS stuff >>> was still such an issue - big shame, doubt I can be much use helping >>> with this, but full support to anybody who can, please :) >>> >>> Is there any need to provide more than one thumbnail for a post in the >>> feed? Different resolutions etc? Is there anything in RSS at the >>> moment for attaching artwork or icon to the whole feed (eg show >>> branding? Any merit whatsoever for enabling people to sspecify a >>> graphic for license info - eg is there any sense whatsoever to having >>> people do their creative commons stuff as a seperate video animation >>> or still? I was just musing about alternative video aggregators of the >>> future and how they could display the license info for each video in s >>> small seperate window? OK thats probably a silly idea, I dunno. >>> >>> Cheers >>> >>> Steve Elbows >>> >>> --- In [email protected], "billshackelford" >>> <bshackelford@> wrote: >>> >>> >>>> I agree.. mediaRSS already exists and is supported by many. >>>> >>>> --- In [email protected], sull <sulleleven@> wrote: >>>> >>>> >>>>> nah. >>>>> encourage mediaRSS spec for thumbnails. >>>>> >>>>> and consider using blip feeds (blip users). >>>>> >>>>> sull >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> On 2/8/07, Mike Meiser <groups-yahoo-com@> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> >>>>>> Yeah, maybe we should skip the whole overriding media microfotmat >>>>>> thing... >>>>>> and in true microformats style solve the simplest and most >>>>>> > necissary > >>>>>> problem >>>>>> first. >>>>>> >>>>>> I.E. <img src="" rel=thumbnail> >>>>>> >>>>>> It's actually hard for me to believe people aren't actually >>>>>> >>>>>> >>> using this >>> >>> >>>>>> somewhere in the RSS-o-sphere. Has anyone seen anything. >>>>>> >>>>>> It perfectly in keeping with other specs like rel=tag, >>>>>> >>>>>> >>> rel=enclosure, >>> >>> >>>>>> rel=payment and a host of others. >>>>>> >>>>>> It will also work with perfectly with other forms of media feeds >>>>>> >>>>>> >>> like >>> >>> >>>>>> audio, >>>>>> and photocasts as well. It's a univeral element. >>>>>> >>>>>> Any objections to this? >>>>>> >>>>>> -Mike >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> On 2/8/07, duthied2004 <duthied@ <duthied%40gmail.com>> wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>>> Hey all. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> I've been out of the loop on this list for some time and have >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>> tried to >>> >>> >>>>>>> catch up on this, so forgive me if stuff has been said/asked >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>> before.... >>> >>> >>>>>>> But, I'd love to hear how people are setting the thumbnails >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>> for their >>> >>> >>>>>>> entries....do you use mediarss on your site, is it only in the >>>>>>> 'description' of the post, in a thumbnail element in the item >>>>>>> elements? As Mike mentioned it's a hodge-podge currently. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Glad to see the same names on here still, as well as many more >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>> new ones. >>> >>> >>>>>>> -Devlon >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> --- In [email protected] >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>> <videoblogging%40yahoogroups.com>, >>> >>> >>>>>> groups-yahoo-com@ wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>>>> There is also a larger issue Bill which Josh touched on. >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> The general problem is that while 90% (or some otherwise >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>> very hight >>> >>> >>>>>>>> percent of vloggers) have thumbnails in their posts they are not >>>>>>>> "semantically" specified. This is to say they are not >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>> specified in >>> >>> >>>>>>>> standard way which can be recognized by aggregators and >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>> search sites >>> >>> >>>>>>>> like Fireant, vlogdi, mefeedia and others. For example... >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>> eclosures >>> >>> >>>>>>>> can be specified in your blog post among other ways by a >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>> microformat >>> >>> >>>>>>>> standard "rel=enclosure". There is no standards for huge >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>> amounts of >>> >>> >>>>>>>> supporting meta infromation like thumbnails, i.e. there is no >>>>>>>> "rel=thumnail". >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> We're working on mechanisms not only to better identify >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>> thumbnails in >>> >>> >>>>>>>> blog posts, among other things, by creating a new media >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>> Microformat. >>> >>> >>>>>>>> It should not only have a tremendous immediate impact for >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>> people who >>> >>> >>>>>>>> use services like blip, feedburner, mefeedia, fireant and >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>> others, but >>> >>> >>>>>>>> it should also put this control into YOUR hands if you like when >>>>>>>> you're writing a blog post. >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> P.S. Josh, I hope you'll collaborate on this media >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>> microformat as well >>> >>> >>>>>>>> as sharing other ideas on sharing thumbnail information. >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Peace, >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> -Mike >>>>>>>> mmeiser.com/blog >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> On 1/19/07, Peter Van Dijck <petervandijck@> wrote: >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Hey Josh, I haven't checked that feature in like a year, >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> >>> so it may >>> >>> >>>>>>> have >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> stopped working.. let Frank know if you have any questions >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> >>> about >>> >>> >>>>>>> that, I'm >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> sure he'd be happy to get it running again.. all my fault! >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Peter >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> On 1/19/07, Joshua Kinberg <jkinberg@> wrote: >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> Hi Bill, >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> We're currently working on this issue and plan to have a >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> >>> big new >>> >>> >>>>>>>>>> release of the FireAnt website in February. This new >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> >>> release will >>> >>> >>>>>>>>>> support the Media RSS namespace for thumbnails. >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> Currently, we can grab thumbnails from blog posts if >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> >>> they are >>> >>> >>>>>>> included >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> in the link to the video enclosure file like this: >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> <a href="http://link/to/video.mov"; rel="enclosure"><img >>>>>>>>>> src="http://link/to/thumbnail/image.jpg"; /></a> >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> We also have the ability to get thumbnail images from >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> >>> MeFeedia, >>> >>> >>>>>>> but it >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> seems that MeFeedia may have disabled this feature. >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> Hope that helps explain... please stay tuned for our new >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> >>> website >>> >>> >>>>>>>>>> update that will address this along with many other bug >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> >>> fixes >>> >>> >>>>>>> and new >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> features. >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> Best, >>>>>>>>>> Josh >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> http://FireAnt.tv >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> On 1/19/07, billshackelford >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> <bshackelford@<bshackelford%40gmail.com>> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> wrote: >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> My videos do not have thumbnails on FireAnt. It seems >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> >>> they do >>> >>> >>>>>> not >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> utilize the Yahoo Media >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> RSS namespace attributes. Is there a reason why? If >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> >>> there is a >>> >>> >>>>>>> legal >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> reason.. why don't they >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> just come up with their own namespace? >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> I believe I read something about FireAnt getting >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> >>> thumbnails from >>> >>> >>>>>>>>>> Mefeedia but my >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> thumbnails show up Mefeedia fine. >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> Does anyone know if there is something I can do to have my >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> thumbnails >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> show up on FireAnt? >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> Here is my channel on FireAnt: >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> billshackelford.com podcast >>>>>>>>>>> http://fireant.tv/directory/channel/22981 >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> Yahoo! Groups Links >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> -- >>>>>>>>> Find 10000s of videoblogs and podcasts at http://mefeedia.com >>>>>>>>> my blog: http://poorbuthappy.com/ease/ >>>>>>>>> my job: http://petervandijck.net >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Yahoo! Groups Links >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Yahoo! Groups Links >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> Sull >>>>> http://vlogdir.com (a project) >>>>> http://SpreadTheMedia.org (my blog) >>>>> http://interdigitate.com (otherly) >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>> >>> >>> >>> Yahoo! Groups Links >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> > > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > >
![http://link/to/thumbnail/image.jpg"](http://link/to/thumbnail/image.jpg"){kind=link}