Video

This page describes for web editors in the School of Pharmacy how to upload video in a website built by the Office of Communications.

Before uploading

Is it educational?

If yes, host it at Media@UCSF.

Don’t use a video unless it is required

Can you communicate what you need to with something simpler—text, one or more still images, or a gallery?
Does your video consist of primarily or only a talking head? If yes, don’t use it—use audio or text instead.

Required: make it accessible

You are required by University policy and state and federal law to make videos accessible to persons with disabilities.

Why should I make my video accessible?

Transcripts and captions help people:

who are deaf, hard of hearing, or dyslexic.
in noisy environments, such as airports, gyms, or sports bars.
in quiet environments, such as nurseries, libraries, bedrooms, or other locations where others should not be disturbed.
who forgot their earbuds or headphones.
who want to search or repurpose the text in the video.
who want to translate the video to a different language using automatic tools.
for whom English is not their first language.

How do I make my video accessible?

In most cases you meet this requirement by providing synchronized captions and a transcript. In some cases, audio descriptions might also be required.

Synchronized captions are text overlaid on a video reflecting the spoken words in a video appearing when they are spoken.
Audio descriptions are required when your video contains important info that persons with visual disabilities are unable to see. Example: an instructor in a classroom asks for a show of hands and fails to verbally describe about how many hands were raised. Audio description would add a voice at the appropriate moment saying, for example, “About 30% or about 20 hands were raised.” Another way to avoid the need to provide audio descriptions in post-production is to educate speakers to be aware of the issue, then to say things like, “About 30% or about 20 hands were raised” at the appropriate moment while being recorded. This then also makes it into your transcript and becomes accessible.
Transcripts are text documents describing who is speaking when and what each person says. If audio descriptions are required, they also include their text equivalents.

Captioning resources

Captions, Transcripts, and Audio Descriptions
Accessible Videos Best Practices
Transcripts and captioning
Video Captioning
Media@UCSF: Machine Captioning
Contact us at Website and Communications Support. We can help you understand the necessary steps or connect you with a reliable captioning service. If the video you want to upload is owned by someone else, work with them to provide these requirements, or contact us at Website and Communications Support for help.

Ideally upload your video to YouTube or Vimeo first

There are two ways to upload a video:

Preferred method: Provide the url to a video on YouTube or Vimeo. Contact us at Website and Communications Support to see if the School of Pharmacy YouTube account might be a good home for your video. Other video services are not supported at this time.
Last resort method: Upload a video from your device. With this method, visitors must download the entire video before playing; they cannot play and stream it in their web browser. This method is suitable only for very short (30 seconds or less) and low-traffic videos.

Your video must meet accessibility requirements even when it is on YouTube or Vimeo or any other external service.

Upload a video

Preferred method: Use a YouTube or Vimeo video

Edit the page to which you want to add video.
Place your cursor on a new line where you want the video.
Paragraph Format menu

Use the Paragraph Format menu to set the paragraph format to Normal.
Add Media button

Select the Add Media button. A dialog appears asking you to upload a new file.
In the top right corner, select the Web tab. A field for file url or media resource appears.
Enter the url to your YouTube or Vimeo video, then select the Next button. A name field and a description field appear.
Change the name field to reflect the title of the video. Since this is the title of a video, use title case. Do not include a filename extension or ending punctuation.
In the description field, optionally provide a brief description of your video. This text will appear below the video.
Select the Next button. A single frame of the video representing the video object appears with an Edit file / crop link and some local options.
In the Local Options section:
1. Choose a relative size for the image in the Display as picklist.
2. Choose whether text will wrap around the video in the Wrapping picklist.
  1. Left image means the video appears on the left and text wraps around it to the right.
  2. Right image means the video appears on the right and text wraps around it to the left.
  3. None means the video will appear on its own line with no text wrapping.
Select the Submit button. A single frame of the video representing the video object should now appear in the location you specified.
After you save your page as draft:
1. Videos sized Half and larger play embedded in the page. These videos require a transcript, typically nearby on the page, typically in an Accordion.
2. Videos sized Third and smaller display a single frame of the video representing the video which links to the video on YouTube or Vimeo instead of playing embedded in the page. These videos do not require a transcript on the page since they will link offsite. If you are in control of the offsite link, a transcript is required on that page. If you are not in control of the offsite link, we recommend that you ask the person in control to please provide a transcript, preferably human-reviewed.
Contact us at Website and Communications Support for help with any of these steps or if these steps did not give you your desired result.

Add Media button

Changing video options

After a video has been inserted into your web page, you can change its display and wrapping options. This works only with videos uploaded using the preferred method.

Edit the page.
Select the video.
Select the Add Media button. The video’s local options are displayed, enabling you to change them as described above.

Last resort method: Use a file on your device