Firefox/Projects/Video Controls
Current design
Wanted features
Streaming UI controls
Our current video controls follow well-known conventions of digital playback: a horizontal timeline with a scrubber that marks the current video play point. The scrubber only moves as long as the video itself moves.
(wireframe of current)
Current implementations of live video feed tend to be variations on video controls, but with non-interactive elements such as stationary or removed timelines. These indicate to the user what they can't do, but don't give any additional functionality.
(wireframe of current implementations)
We'd like to give the added functionality of playback in live video: the ability the keep an amount of video buffered so that users can leave the live feed, replay what they've just seen, and jump back to live. However, this presents a few design challenges:
- How to visually represent when the user is "live" vs. viewing buffered video
- How to visually represent the amount of video in the buffer (past & future)
- How to make it easy for the user to jump between live and buffered video
- How to visually distinguish between past (buffered video), present (what the user is currently viewing), future (video buffered after the user paused), and live
(moarhttps://wiki.mozilla.org/index.php?title=Special:UserLogout&returnto=Firefox/Sprints/Video_Controls)
Accessibility
- Improve default shortcut keys
Audio controls
- Audio controls currently just use the video ones
- Uses too much screen real estate
- Slightly different use case, since it doesn't require you to pay attention to what's on the screen
Fullscreen implementation + UI
- Implement full-screen support for video
- Make larger controls for this mode, probably floating
Other
- Giant play button when paused (e.g. YouTube)
- Volume adjustment button could use degrees of volume states (eg more obvious when muted)
- Adjust text (currently too high and thin on marker)
- Be able to overlay text / other content onto video
- Determine what events to be able to consume / produce
- Ability to link to a direct moment in the video
Error messages
- Currently, there's no proper handling of errors
Meetings
- Contact people at YouTube + DailyMotion to make sure we give them what they need when it comes to controls
- Meet with the accessibility people to figure out what the best approach for keyboard shortcuts is