Using the Video Timeline Editor

The video in a video content item is displayed in a timeline editor:

The timeline editor is a video player that incorporates a number of simple editing functions for:

Cropping

That is, removing footage from the start and/or end of the video.

Adding cue points

A cue point marks a point of interest in the video (the start of a particular scene or event). It can be used to make a link that starts playback at the cue point.

Adding transient links

A transient link is a link that appears at a certain point during video playback and/or disappears at a certain point. It makes it possible to display links that are relevant to the content being viewed by users.

All of these functions involve placing components on the timeline. The timeline is the thick black stripe displayed below the video playback controls, which represents the playing time of the video. When the video is played back, a cursor representing the current frame moves along the timeline. You can move the cursor to specific frames by clicking in the timeline.

To crop the video

You can crop the video by simply dragging the red crop controls at either end of the timeline towards the center of the timeline. You can move them back and forth as much as you want and play back the video to check the results. Note that cropping in this way does not modify the original video in any way, it just lets you select the segment you want to publish.

To add a cue point

Position the cursor at the required point by clicking in the timeline. Then click on the + button alongside the video playback controls. An Edit Cue Point dialog is then displayed in which you can enter a Title and a Description for the cue point, and then click on OK or press Enter to create the cue point. If you want to insert a new line in the description field, press Shift+Enter rather than just Enter. You can move existing cue points by dragging them along the time line. If you hold the mouse pointer over a cue point, (edit) and (delete) buttons are displayed. Clicking on redisplays the Edit Cue Point dialog, and clicking on deletes the cue point.

Exactly how the title and description you enter are used depends upon the templates in your publication. Typically, the title is used as link text and the description as some kind of tooltip/hover text.

To add transient links

Drag the content item to which you want to create a link into one of the transient link fields and drop it approximately where you would like it to appear in the timeline. An Edit Timeline Element dialog is displayed in which you can enter a Title, and Start time/End time values and then click on OK to create the link.

You can also adjust the link's start and end times by dragging the link along the time line, and dragging its start and end points. If you hold the mouse pointer over a link, (edit) and (delete) buttons are displayed. Clicking on redisplays the Edit Timeline Element dialog, and clicking on deletes the link.

By default, the timeline editor has two transient link fields called Overlay and Aside. The Overlay field is intended to hold transient links that appear as overlays (that is, inside the video frame) and the Aside field is intended to hold transient links that appear somewhere nearby but outside the video frame. Exactly how the links are displayed in publications, however, is determined by the template developer.