There is one big usability peeve I have about launching and watching embedded videos. My typical embedded viewing experience is as below:
- Read the article on theoldreader.com (yes, I moved from greader -> feedly -> theoldreader – more on that in a different post).
- If I see a good video that I want to see, I typically click on the “youtube” icon or “vimeo” icon on the post, so that it opens up the video in youtube or vimeo respectively in a new tab.
Now, when I do that, my reasonably average cognitive capabilities want me to think that the video link would open up in a new tab, and should wait for me to go to that tab and press play. Why? Because I had never pressed play on the embedded video. I had just said – open it for me in youtube or vimeo.
- Youtube opens the video up in a new tab and begins playing it ! Whaa ??? I dont want to watch it now. I will watch it later.
- Vimeo dutifully follows my thought process, opens up the video in a new tab and waits for me to go and press the play button.
In this duel, Vimeo wins. Sorry youtube.
PS: By the way, you should watch the planet six video. Hilariously done. Simple claymation with a message.