When is a link to an article more than just a link? When you can embed it into your web page.

Photo by Rawpixel/dpc

I recently discovered an online tool called Embedly that can embed an article onto a web page. From the looks of the Embedly website, it can do more than that; I’ve only been using it for a few days, and this feature is cool enough to write about.

It started when I wound up, in a feat of lucky timing, on national television (you can read about that adventure here). After the story ran, NBC Nightly News posted it on the show’s website. I wanted to post the video on my blog, but (unlike YouTube), NBC has blocked embedding — if you want to watch one of their clips, they want you to do it on their site.

I didn’t want to just post a link; a round of Google searching took me to Embedly. The process is pretty simple:

1. Plug in the URL of the site you want to embed. Embedly generates some HTML code, and shows you how the image will look.

2. Copy the code, and paste it in your website.

A quick demonstration video:

Here’s how the NBC Nightly News clip looks when I embed it on my blog.

Only in Portland Would the Airport’s Carpet Reach Cult Status

A few other examples I tried as I experimented follow.

A television advertising sales training program website:

Jim Doyle & Associates

Information about knitting patterns:

Coming soon: Criss Cross Hat, Beret, Mitts
A New York Times article:

SkyMall Stumbles as Airlines Hone Their Sales Pitches

You can also “pretend  embed” the video into an email. The example below is not a true embed: I took a screenshot of the image, copied it into my email, and then established a hyperlink.

Although Embedly offers several paid plans, everything I did above came from their “free” service.

Question: Is there a tech tool you’d like me to try and write about? You can leave a comment by clicking here.