Able Player, accessible HTML5 media player

This plug-in uses Able Player, an open-source fully-accessible cross-browser HTML5 media player, to embed audio or video within your WordPress page.

Instructions for Use

There are currently two ways to add an Able Player instance to a WordPress site:

1. Enter or paste any valid HTML5 Able Player code into your web page. Full documentation is available on the Able Player project page on GitHub.

2. Enter an [ableplayer] shortcode. The shortcode is intended for adding videos hosted on YouTube or Vimeo, with captions and subtitles hosted on these services. For anything more complex, use HTML.

The [ableplayer] shortcode

The [ableplayer] shortcode supports the following attributes.

Required attributes (one of these)

• youtube-id – 11-character YouTube ID or YouTube URL.
• vimeo-id – Vimeo ID or URL.

Optional attributes

• youtube-desc-id – YouTube URL or ID of a described version of the video
• vimeo-desc-id – Vimeo URL or ID of a described version of the video
• youtube-nocookie – “true” or “false” (use “true” to embed YouTube untracked, for added privacy)
• id – a unique id for the player (if omitted, one will be automatically assigned)
• autoplay – “true” or “false” (default is “false”)
• loop – “true” or “false” (default is “false”)
• playsinline – “true” or “false” (default is “true”). By setting to “false”, some devices (e.g., iPhones) will play the video in their own media player rather than in Able Player.
• hidecontrols – “true” or “false” (default is “false”). Set to “true” to enable the player controls to fade away during playback. They will appear again if the user hovers over the player or pressing a key, and they are always accessible to screen reader users.
• poster – the URL of a poster image, displayed before the user presses Play
• width – a value in pixels (by default, the player will be sized to fit its container)
• height – a value in pixels (by default, the height of the player will be in proportion to the width)
• heading – The HTML heading level (1-6) of the visually hidden “Media Player” heading that precedes the player (for the benefit of screen reader users). If omitted, a heading level will be intelligently assigned based on context.
• speed – “animals” or “arrows” (default is “animals”)
• start – start time at which to start playing the media, in seconds. Some browsers do not support this.
• volume – “0” to “10” (default is “7” to avoid overpowering screen reader audio). Some browsers do not support this.
• seekinterval – number of seconds to forward/rewind with the Forward and Rewind buttons. If omitted, the interval will be intelligently assigned based on length of the video.
• nowplaying – “true” or “false” to include a “Selected Track” section within the media player (default is “false”).

Examples

Example 1

This example uses HTML to add an audio player to the page, with one source (an MP3 file).
html
<audio id="audio1" preload="auto" data-able-player src="path_to_audio.mp3">
</audio>

Example 2

This example uses HTML to add a video player to the page, with one source (an MP4 file) and four tracks (for captions, descriptions, and chapters in English; and subtitles in Spanish).
html
<video id="able-player-1" data-able-player preload="auto" poster="path_to_image.jpg">
<source type="video/mp4" src="path_to_video.mp4">
<track kind="captions" src="path_to_captions.vtt" srclang="en" label="English">
<track kind="subtitles" src="path_to_subtitles.vtt" srclang="es" label="Español">
<track kind="descriptions" src="path_to_descriptions.vtt" srclang="en">
<track kind="chapters" src="path_to_chapters.vtt" srclang="en">
</video>

Example 3

This example uses a shortcode to add a YouTube player to the page, with two versions of the video, one with audio description and the other without (the user can toggle between the two versions using the D button).
[ableplayer youtube-id="XXXXXXXXXXX" youtube-desc-id="YYYYYYYYYYY"]

Example 4

This example uses a shortcode to add a Vimeo player to the page, with two versions of the video, one with audio description and the other without (the user can toggle between the two versions using the D button).
[ableplayer vimeo-id="XXXXXXXXX" vimeo-desc-id="YYYYYYYYY"]

Roadmap

1. Provide a user interface by which authors can select and configure default options through WordPress.
2. Interface directly with WordPress media libraries so users can select their media files and other assets rather than typing in URLs.