floatplane Floatplane features

[MindServ]

So Floatplane is pretty awesome overall, but there are some features that in my mind should be implemented. Since I didn't want to bother the Floatplane support with suggestions I thought a forum thread might be the way to go! Though it might just be me using Floatplane all wrong..

Anyway, my suggestions in a neat little list:

 

• What have I been watching lately?
  - Watch history seems like a simple yet useful feature.
  - Pick up where I left off.
  - Some kind of progress bar for each video in the video overview.
• Less text on video thumbnails
  - Feels cluttered with text covering up like 50% of the thumbnails.
• Subscribe button
  - Remove the blue "Subscribe" button for subscribed users.
  - Or replace it with a "Subscribed" button.
• Video length
  - Show the length of each video in thumbnail.
  - Show the length of the video when in "Play video" view.
• Search
  - We need plain old search feature.
• Sorting
  - Some kind of way to sort videos, perhaps by date added, duration, and so on.

 

Also I have noticed a bug:

• When browsing comments the browser jumps back to the top of the page
  - Happens on Firefox 65.0.2 64-bit and Edge 44.17763.1.0

 

Well, that's it I guess. And as mentioned earlier, Floatplane is awesome!

[LogicalDrm]

3 hours ago, MindServ said:

• Less text on video thumbnails
  - Feels cluttered with text covering up like 50% of the thumbnails.

 

What do you mean by this? Do you mean thumbnail pics (which would be creators decision) or channel and video title overlaying thumbnails. As latter isn't nearly 50%. Bottom title overlay is maybe 15-20% and channel name maybe 5%.

[trevb0t]

4 hours ago, MindServ said:

 

• What have I been watching lately?
  - Watch history seems like a simple yet useful feature.
  - Pick up where I left off.
  - Some kind of progress bar for each video in the video overview.
• Less text on video thumbnails
  - Feels cluttered with text covering up like 50% of the thumbnails.
• Subscribe button
  - Remove the blue "Subscribe" button for subscribed users.
  - Or replace it with a "Subscribed" button.
• Video length
  - Show the length of each video in thumbnail.
  - Show the length of the video when in "Play video" view.
• Search
  - We need plain old search feature.
• Sorting
  - Some kind of way to sort videos, perhaps by date added, duration, and so on.

Good suggestions! I especially agree with a search function, and maybe different categories (Put all of the LTT videos in one, the TSF in another, etc.)

 

I'll add a request for:

• ALL OF THE LMG CONTENT! Where is WAN show??
• Thumbnail previews when you mouse over them
• I hope in the future for a $10/month full subscription or something, to unlock all of the participating uploaders (since I expect more to come!) (Looking at you: Jay, Paul, Austin, Dmitri, YES, Kristofer!)

Side note: I've seen a profile title in the forum for floatplane users... Was that for early subscribers? Or can I just not figure out how to turn it on?

[MindServ]

1 hour ago, LoGiCalDrm said:

 

What do you mean by this? Do you mean thumbnail pics (which would be creators decision) or channel and video title overlaying thumbnails. As latter isn't nearly 50%. Bottom title overlay is maybe 15-20% and channel name maybe 5%.

I mean the thumbnails in on each creators video feed (like in the attached images). I agree that it would be the creators decision though. But I also think the text in the thumbnail could be implemented in such a way that it shows a portion of the text up to lets say 25% or so, and the rest would be shown when you hover over the thumbnail.

In my mind it would make the video feed somewhat more uniform.

 

Though that's just my opinion, perhaps everyone else has a different view on the matter!

[LogicalDrm]

1 hour ago, MindServ said:

I mean the thumbnails in on each creators video feed (like in the attached images). I agree that it would be the creators decision though. But I also think the text in the thumbnail could be implemented in such a way that it shows a portion of the text up to lets say 25% or so, and the rest would be shown when you hover over the thumbnail.

In my mind it would make the video feed somewhat more uniform.

 

Though that's just my opinion, perhaps everyone else has a different view on the matter!

Ok, that must be how site handles your browser, resolution and zoom. As they are less covered on my Firefox, 120%zoom and 150% scaling.

[MindServ]

2 minutes ago, LoGiCalDrm said:

Ok, that must be how site handles your browser, resolution and zoom. As they are less covered on my Firefox, 120%zoom and 150% scaling.

You're right, that is most likely the problem!
I'm at 100% in Firefox (tried Edge too at 100%) and Windows UI scale to 125%, 1080p.

What's strange though is that other sites doesn't handle it the same way, got to be something that differs on Floatplane..
Anyway, I guess that isn't a problem for everyone! (Though many use the default scaling of 125% on 1080p in Windows)

[RoseLuck462]

Can you upload any videos on floatplane? 

 

For instance I used to record my gameplay of SNES games for battles.

 

Would I be able to upload to floatplane that same way I’ve uploaded to YouTube?

[RozRocks]

51 minutes ago, RoseLuck462 said:

Can you upload any videos on floatplane? 

 

For instance I used to record my gameplay of SNES games for battles.

 

Would I be able to upload to floatplane that same way I’ve uploaded to YouTube?

No, Floatplane is not meant to be like youtube. Its just a way to support content creators and curate their content. Maybe if you become a content creator and invited to the platform you could do this.

[ljlangley13]

Overall I think Floatplane is an outstanding service with tons of potential. Luke and the team are doing an amazing job. I also came up with some suggestions after watching the WAN Show this week.

 

If I remember right Linus and Luke were discussing how payment processors etc take large sums of money making small transaction amounts. To combat this would it be possible to setup some kind of Floatplane Wallet? Users could top up their wallet balance and then spend this on subscriptions. Their could be a minimum amount required to top up your Floatplane Wallet. To encourage people to use the Floatplane Wallet users could get a small discount on their subscriptions? 

 

Another suggestion I have is to expand the Channel Info bar where the download button is. Perhaps we could add the following buttons:

1. Find Us - This could open an overlay screen with social media icons taking you to all the creators social media so that you can follow them or whatever. The advantage of this would be, once Floatplane opens up to more creators, it would stop the video descriptions being filled up with different social media links and also make it more convenient to viewers who want to find their favourite creators social media because there would be a standardised way to find it. Does this make sense? For the creator, the links to the social media could be collected automatically from the 'Connected Accounts' section in the settings. This way, if the creator ever changed their social media profile account name/ link, it would automatically update for all their videos. 
2. Share - Would work similar to the way the YouTube Share button works. More people sharing Floatplane links would obviously lead to more people learning about the site and using it. 
3. Sponsor - This could open up an overlay screen with information about the sponsor in the video. This button should only show up if the video has a sponsor. The overlay screen should show who the sponsor is, a description about their product or service and what the discount code is. This would save viewers from having to scroll back through the video, once they have finished watching, searching for sponsor link and discount code. This would be more convenient for the viewer. The creator should have the option to provide this information when they upload the video.
4. Timestamps - This could open up a drop-down menu, similar to the 480p, 720p, 1080p the download button has but with timestamps. When you click a timestamp the video should jump to this point. This would be useful for longer videos. I guess the creator would have to issue the timestamps when they upload the video. 

If you have any questions about my suggestions or want me to explain them in more detail please let me know. Also please let me know if you disagree or agree with them! 

Edited April 12, 2019 by ljlangley13
Had another suggestion I forgot to include.

[Slayerking92]

I'd be happy with just a working "search" just to find all the FP exclusive videos instead of endless scrolling.