How can we have feature video instead of feature image for blogs

[hdevabhaktuni]

Can anyone please let me know how can I have a featured video instead of featured image in blog listing page. Is there any way to achieve this?

[roisinkirby]

Hello @hdevabhaktuni I do not beleive this is possible, unless you use a GIF. Can you explain how your blog works? Is all the content video?

[dennisedson]

@hdevabhaktuni, you could do this

in the blog post template, add

{% text "video_src" label="Video Src" export_to_template_context=True %}
{% image "video_poster" label="Poster" export_to_template_context=True %}

and in the blog listing, use this

{% for content in contents %}
   <video controls poster="{{ content.widgets.video_poster.body.src }}">
     <source src="{{ content.widgets.video_src.body.value }}"/>
   </video>
{% endfor %}

obviously, styles are needed, but this should work

[dennisedson]

@hdevabhaktuni, was thinking about this some more and wanted to caution that having many videos on a page will increase the page weight significantly.  Dont forget to take that into account.  

[JoannaKing]

Agree. In this current age where video is king, we need the option to make our video available first in a blog.

The "workaround" of a featured image with a play button makes for a terrible user experience. If the image looks like it can be clickable and play a video, that's what it should do. Tricking users is not a good thing!

A halfway fix we are considering in the meantime is to remove the featured image from displaying IN the full blog, and instead inserting an embedded video high up on the blog, so when someone lands on the page expecting a video, they don't have to see a still image first or scroll quite as far. 

These aren't perfect solutions and I hope HubSpot with prioritize this, especially as more of us are creating more video content.

[JoannaKing]

Following up on this comment with a sort of fix.

On our blog, we've removed the featured image from showing in the blog post.

Instead, we just embed the video at the top of the content. If there's no video for the post, we will insert an image at the top of the post.

It's a little bit of a workaround and doesn't allow for play on link sharing, but we're happy that users can see the video they're promised as soon as they land on the blog page.

Here's an example of what it looks like: https://www.agrisync.com/blog/update-6-ways-agrisync-makes-advisors-life-easier

[dennisedson]

@JoannaKing, i misunderstood the original ask 🙂  i thought you wanted the video to appear on the https://www.agrisync.com/blog.  which is why i worried about the weight.  

glad you have something working 🙂

[BradyB]

@JoannaKing How did you remove the featured image? When I create a post it says a featured image is required and will not let me publish until I add an image.

[BradyB]

@JoannaKing Nevermind. I see where you can turn off the featured image.