We’ve been hard at work on JW 7.2 for the past few months. We’ve crushed quite a few bugs and gotten a lot of your feedback via our beta testing program. (Check our release notes for full details!) Today, we’re happy to announce that 7.2 is publicly available for all. This blog post explores its new features and improvements.
New Sharing and Related Plugins
We’ve modernized our sharing and related plugins to adhere to the design principles of JW7. Both plugins now feature:
- Customizable CSS-based skinning
- Vector-based icons
- Brand new APIs for measuring interaction and engagement
- New customization options and features
Improved Social Sharing
In addition to our three previous “Facebook, Twitter, and Email” social networks, we’ve gone ahead and included an additional five networks, all of which have had their icons recreated in SVG format. This new full collection of networks is available for all users of JW7. Rather than showing every social network that we could possibly support at once, we’ve added the ability to show, hide, or reorder networks based on your own preference.
Similarly, if our built in network options don’t suit your needs, you now have the option to create custom social networks, which will use your own links, javascript, images, and labels. Check out the social sharing document on our support site to learn more about using these features.
Responsive Related Video Overlay
Similar to sharing, related video overlay has received a complete overhaul. JW Player automatically determines the best size of thumbnail and number of videos to display based on the player size. As a result, there is no extra logic required to display an engaging experience.
Alongside this new responsive design, we’ve also implemented a new “autoplay” mode for related videos. This will automatically load the next piece of related content into the player after a specified time to keep viewers engaged.
And finally, related videos now support JSON feeds in addition to XML/RSS, making it even easier to keep viewers engaged with your content. Check out our related support documentation to see how to get started.
Wrapping Up
In our next version, expect to see HTML5 tracks being utilized by JW Player, as well as some other awesome customization options. Check out our release-channels and notes to stay updated on our new functionality and try it before it goes live. If there’s anything specifically that you’d like to hear about in a future post, be sure to let us know in the comments below!