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