You all have heard of live streaming here and now, be it on social media, news, or sports related events. It has become an essential tool for engaging audiences in real-time, whether for business, education, or entertainment. 

With WordPress dominating and powering over 40% of the web, integrating live streaming into your WordPress site is now possible and can significantly enhance user experience and engagement. 

In this guide, we will walk you through the steps to set up live streaming on your WordPress website, discuss the best live streaming WordPress plugins, and provide tips on embedding live streams effectively.

Why Live Stream on WordPress?

Before diving into the technical aspects, let us first understand why you should consider live streaming on your WordPress website. 

Live streaming on WordPress can:

• Increase Engagement: It has been established that live video content is more engaging and can help retain visitors on your site longer.
• Enhance User Experience: Live streaming offers a dynamic and interactive experience for your audience.
• Benefit Course Creators and LMS Sites: For educators and course creators, live streaming can facilitate real-time teaching and interaction with students which is the need of the hour.

Choosing the Best Live Streaming WordPress Plugin

To start live streaming on your WordPress site, you need a reliable WordPress live streaming plugin. For now, there are a handful of plugins that do the job and one of the best options available is the VdoCipher WordPress plugin.

Lets learn how setting up Live Streaming on WordPress with VdoCipher actually works:

Step 1: Sign Up for VdoCipher

• Go to the VdoCipher website.
• Sign up for an account if you don’t have one already.

Step 2: Install and Activate the VdoCipher Plugin

• Go to your WordPress dashboard.
• Navigate to Plugins > Add New.
• Search for VdoCipher WordPress Plugin and click Install Now.
• Once installed, click Activate.

Step 3: Configure the Plugin Settings

After activating the plugin, you need to configure its settings:

• Go to VdoCipher > Settings.
• Enter your API credentials (you will find these in your VdoCipher account dashboard).
• Customize the settings according to your preferences, such as video quality and streaming options.

Step 4: Create a Live Stream

• Go to your VdoCipher account dashboard.
• Navigate to the live streaming section.
• Create a new live stream event by entering the required details such as the event title, description, and streaming quality.
• Once the stream is created, you will get a unique stream key and server URL.

Step 5: Embed the Live Stream on Your WordPress Site

• Copy the Embed Code: VdoCipher provides an embed code for your live stream.
• Add the Embed Code to Your Post/Page:
• Go to the WordPress editor for the post or page where you want to embed the stream.
• Switch to the Text view if you’re using the Classic Editor, or add a Custom HTML block if you’re using the Block Editor.
• Paste the embed code into the editor.
• Publish/Update the Post/Page: Once you’ve added the embed code, publish or update the post/page to make the live stream visible to your visitors.

That’s it. This 5 step integration is as simple and easy to do as it sounds.

Integrating Live Streaming Software with VdoCipher

To enhance your live streaming experience, you can use any live streaming software like OBS Studio or vMix, alongside the VdoCipher plugin. Since OBS Studio is a more popular choice, we will talk only about it. For curious minds, you can read about vMix live streaming on our other blog. 

OBS Studio allows you to customize your stream with overlays, multiple camera angles, and more.

Here’s how you can set up OBS Studio with VdoCipher

• Download and Install OBS Studio: Go to the OBS Studio website and download the software for your operating system.
• Configure OBS Studio: Open OBS Studio and go to Settings > Stream. Select Custom Streaming Server and enter the server URL and stream key provided by VdoCipher.
• Start Streaming: Click Start Streaming in OBS Studio.

Your stream will now be live on your WordPress site. For more detailed information, check out how to use OBS studio for streaming your live content guide.

Benefits of Using VdoCipher for Secure Live Streaming

VdoCipher offers robust protection against unauthorized access, ensuring your live streams are secure. Here are some of the benefits:

• Security: VdoCipher provides domain restriction to ensure that video url can not be shared outside your video hosting website.
• High-Quality Streaming: Enjoy high-quality video streaming with minimal buffering.
• Ease of Integration: As we saw above, VdoCipher plugin is easy to integrate with your WordPress site, making the setup process straightforward.

WordPress Live Streaming for Course Creators and LMS Sites

Live streaming is particularly beneficial for course creators and LMS sites. As it allows for real-time interaction with students, providing a more engaging, interactive and lively learning experience.

By embedding live streams on your WordPress LMS site, you can:

• Conduct Live Classes: Engage with students in real-time, answer questions, and provide immediate feedback. This was useful during the covid times and it continues to be. 
• Host Webinars: Share expertise and knowledge with a wider audience.
• Offer Q&A Sessions: Address student queries and enhance the learning experience.

Comparison of Popular Live Streaming WordPress Plugins

Choosing the right live streaming plugin can be challenging. Don’t worry, we have taken the liberty to compare some of the popular options, so that you can make an informed decision: 

Some Real Life Case Studies and Examples

Case Study 1: Online Course Platform

An online course platform integrated VdoCipher to provide secure, high-quality live classes. This enabled the platform with some senses of security as the video could not be shared outside the domain and offer a seamless learning experience.

Case Study 2: Corporate Training

A corporation used VdoCipher for internal training sessions, ensuring that sensitive information shared during live streams remained secure. The ease of integration with their WordPress site allowed for quick deployment.

Tips for Successful Live Streaming

For a successful live stream, you need to take care of a few things. Such as:

• Stable Internet Connection: Ensure a reliable internet connection to avoid interruptions.
• Quality Equipment: Use high-quality cameras and microphones for clear video and audio.
• Engaging Content: Plan your content to keep your audience engaged.
• Interactivity: Encourage audience interaction through Q&A sessions, polls, and chat features.
• Troubleshooting Common Issues like Buffering and Lag
• Optimize video quality settings.
• Check lighting for the best visual angle.
• And most importantly, test your setup before going live.

Monetization Strategies

If you’re planning to monetize your video content. Here are the few existing models you can choose from: 

• Subscription Models: Offer exclusive live streams to subscribers.
• Pay-Per-View: Charge viewers a fee to access live events.
• Sponsorships: Partner with brands for sponsored live streams.

Legal Considerations and Copyright

You also need to take care of legal matters when it comes to live streaming, like:

• Permissions: Obtain permissions for music and content used in live streams.
• Broadcasting Laws: Comply with local broadcasting laws.

This is important to avoid any unwanted lawsuit.

Conclusion

To summarize, integrating live streaming into your WordPress website can significantly enhance user engagement and provide a dynamic lively experience for your audience. By choosing the VdoCipher live streaming WordPress plugin and following the steps outlined in this blog article, you can easily set up and embed live streams on your site. Whether you’re a business, educator or content creator, live streaming on WordPress offers a powerful way to connect with your audience in real-time.

FAQs on WordPress Live Streaming

1. How to create a live streaming website in WordPress?

To create a live streaming website in WordPress, install WordPress, select a theme optimized for video streaming, install a live streaming plugin like VdoCipher, configure the plugin, and embed the live stream on your site.

2. How to live stream on WordPress?

Install a live streaming plugin such as VdoCipher. Sign up for an account, configure the plugin with your API credentials, create a live stream event, and embed the stream on your WordPress page using the provided embed code.

3. How to stream live video on a WordPress website?

Install and configure a live streaming plugin like VdoCipher. Create a live stream event in the plugin’s dashboard, obtain the embed code, and paste it into your WordPress post or page.

4. How to embed a live stream on WordPress?

Generate the embed code from your live streaming plugin. In WordPress, go to the editor for your desired post or page. For the Classic Editor, switch to Text view and paste the embed code. For the Block Editor, add a Custom HTML block and paste the code. Publish or update the post/page.

5. What are the best live streaming plugins for WordPress?

Top live streaming plugins include VdoCipher for secure, high-quality streaming, WPStream for versatile live events and video-on-demand, and VideoWhisper for live streaming and video conferencing.

6. How to ensure high-quality live streaming on WordPress?

Ensure high-quality live streaming by using a reliable plugin, maintaining a stable internet connection, using high-quality cameras and microphones, and optimizing video quality settings in your streaming plugin.

Akash Kandari

Hi, I am Akash, an engineer turned marketer. I talk about SaaS products, video tech, and product marketing. When not working I enjoy my time watching anime, learning something new and hanging out with friends & family.

The post A Complete Guide on WordPress Live Streaming: Embed, Tips and More appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

‘The WordPress plugin directory has nearly 60,000 free plugins’

Different Ways to Add Video in WordPress

Pasting the video URL directly on WordPress Page or website

• Find a video you want to paste on.
• Copy the URL to your clipboard
• Paste the copied URL in the blog post or relevant position as an src attribute of < video > tag where you want the video to show.
• The video will be automatically embedded in that post.

Block Method

• To add a new block, Click on the “+” icon. Select the block which is associated with your video hosting service provider which in this case is VdoCipher.

• Enter the video ID, video title, and update the player width and height settings. Finally, embed.

Embedding using Video Block editor

This scenario is applicable in cases when WordPress does not have the block for the hosting provider your videos are hosted on.

• To add a new block, click the + icon.
• Select the video block.
• You can either directly upload the video, select from the media library or via URL.

HTML Block Method

Another method to embed video on WordPress is through embed codes (HTML scripts).

• Copy the embed code from the video.
• On the page editor, click on the + icon to add a new block.
• Select ‘Custom HTML’ block to open the block.
• Paste the embed code in the block.

Embedding using classic editor

• Copy the embed code from your video.
• Go to the classic editor and select the tab ‘Text, near the Visual editing area.
• Paste the embed code where you want the video to show.
• To see visual changes, click on the ‘Visual’ tab.

Using Video Player Plugin

Embedding through video player plugins is one of the best ways to embed videos in WordPress. In this blog, we have already covered the secure VdoCipher WordPress plugin to embed videos. Plugins typically display your videos, blogs, website, and other platforms. Embedding via custom video player plugins gives additional functionalities like customization, adding captions, playlists, and more.

WordPress Video Format and Recommended Settings

The recommended settings to ensure the best possible compatibility with WordPress editor blocks (except Video or VideoPress block) are:

• Resolution – 1920×1080 (1080p)
• Max Resolution – 3840×2160 (4K)
• Format – H.264 (if the uploaded plays only in the Video block or shared via VideoPress links, H.265 or VP9 codecs can be uploaded)
• Bitrate – 8mbps for 1080p30, 12mbps for 1080p60
• Audio – AAC minimum 160kbps

WordPress Supported Video formats

• avi
• .mpg
• .mp4, .m4v (MPEG-4)
• .mov (QuickTime)
• .ogv (Ogg)
• .vtt (upload by inserting a Video block only)
• .wmv (Windows Media Video)
• .3gp (3GPP)
• .3g2 (3GPP2)

Best Practices for Using Video in WordPress

• Video file compression – a website’s page load time slows down due to large video files. There are a number of ways to compress video and reduce file size without impacting the video quality.
• Adding transcripts and captions – Applying captions and transcripts to your videos not only increases the accessibility but also boosts video SEO. The content becomes more searchable and readable in the eyes of Google. In simple words, captions and transcripts increase traffic and user engagement with higher SEO value.
• Video Metadata – The text data associated with a video is Metadata. Search engines cannot directly crawl videos, but instead rely on the texts like video description, video titles, and tags to make it searchable.
• Video Schema Markup – Video schema markup is a piece of code that you add to your website and tells search engines how you have structured the video. It helps in making your video appear with rich results in the SERPs. The code includes a thumbnail URL, description, and upload time.
• CDN-based content delivery – Videos served via CDN suffer minimum latency and buffering. CDN is actually a group of servers that are geographically distributed across the world. The media files are temporarily stored or cached on the servers and whenever a user makes a playback request, the video is delivered from the nearest CDN server. This way the content delivery is fast and interrupted.
• Video sitemaps – a video’s sitemap includes the additional information of the video hosted on your page. It helps search engines easily find your videos. There are a number of videos in WordPress plugins to automatically create video sitemap.
• Optimize video thumbnail – a relevant, eye-catchy, and high-resolution thumbnail improves the click-through rate.

VdoCipher WordPress Video Player Plugin

VdoCipher offers highly secure DRM-encrypted video hosting along with a range of features to protect your videos from video piracy and illegal downloads. It includes Google Widevine and Apple FairPlay DRM encryption, secure offline downloads in apps, and dynamic watermarking. The DRM encryption technology we use to protect your premium videos ensures that no downloader or plugin can download your videos. Only authorized users have access to the video content along with a layer of security features.

Along with this, our VdoCipher WordPress Video Hosting Plugin provides the most secure and customizable online video player which comes with DRM content protection, Dynamic watermarking, multi-bitrate adaptive streaming, video player themes, easy integrations, and much more.

Using our plugin, you can easily embed videos in WordPress. The plugin has seamless integration with popular WordPress membership plugins like MemberPress, WP eMember, and, Restrict Content Pro. Coming to Learning Management Systems (LMS), the video player plugin works perfectly with the most popular WordPress LMS plugins such as LearnDash, LifterLMS, WPCourseWare, Sensei, and LearnPress.

How to Integrate Vdocipher WordPress Plugin in Simple Steps

• Create an account on VdoCipher and log in.
• In the Security & Config section seen on the left side of the dashboard, navigate to the API Keys section. Add API Key.

• The key must be kept confidential and is used to authorize the plugin to play videos from the dashboard.
• Go to your WordPress dashboard. On the ‘Add Plugins’ page, search for ‘VdoCipher’.

• Click on ‘Install Now’
• Click on the link “Activate”. On the top of the page, you will see a message.

• “Click here to configure VdoCipher”

• On the next page, enter the API Secret Key. On entering the Secret Key, you would be shown the status ‘Ready’.

• On your VdoCipher dashboard, you can start video upload and import. On successful video upload, the video ID is displayed.

‘Of all the websites using WordPress, nearly 64% use Version 6 – W3Tech’

Default Video Security in WordPress

When it comes to videos, WordPress does not have any default security measures in place. Videos hosted on WordPress are downloadable using software and plugins. Unless you use a video player plugin with strong encryption technology like DRM as offered by VdoCipher, videos of WordPress lack strong security protocols.

How VdoCipher Plugin Secures Videos in WordPress

DRM encryption

DRM protects videos from illegal downloads, unauthorized access, and sharing using Google Widevine and Apple FairPlay technology. The video file is converted into an encrypted format and decrypted at the player’s device via a private decryption key. The encryption methods used by other video hosting providers have a partial key exchange mechanism using AES128 and RTMPe. The key can be hacked, making them vulnerable to piracy.

Dynamic Watermarking

In this technique, digital information like user ID, email, and organization name embed into the video stream which cannot be altered or removed. The watermark is dynamic as the information changes with time. The dynamic watermarking feature we offer includes customizable text, color, transparency, and more.

Secure offline download in SDK

VdoCipher Android SDK lets you securely download the videos to your local storage device for offline playback. It also includes APIs to download media files to local storage, monitor download progress, and Fetch available download options for a video in your dashboard.

Screen capture block in Android & iOS Native app

Our native SDK integration blocks screen capture at the hardware level and discourages screen capture. It is a very helpful feature for securing your videos against piracy.

Multi-level user access

Often multiple users need access to the same video content but with different access rights. Some people have editor-level access while some are restricted as viewers. VdoCipher multi-users have four different roles, editor, uploader, OTP creator, and viewer.

Geo-Restrictions

Often you wish to restrict or limit access to your content for some regions or countries. It can be due to different pricing models, audience and market size, legal restrictions, availability of regional content, and much more. You may even need to blacklist or whitelist specific countries. Through our API guide, you can easily configure the IP and country restrictions.

OTP-based authentication

To play videos, VdoCipher uses a unique embed code based on a short-lived access token, OTP. In every session, it ensures video authentication so that only logged-in paid users can access the premium content.

Multiple file format support

Based on the browser or device type, the file format varies. On one device, a video may be low quality while comparatively better on another device. The video file into converted into various formats so that the best video resolution is served on every device.

App-based security by Google SafetyNet

With Google’s SafetyNet integration, playback on emulators is by default blocked, protecting against replay attacks and application tampering. Also, SafetyNet blocks duplicate apps by allowing playback on only the apps published by you and not modified APKs.

Creating Video Sitemap in WordPress

Firstly, a sitemap is a file with a structured listing of all the web pages of your website. Sitemaps help search engines crawl your site more efficiently and accurately. Search engines can understand your site content, changes you made to existing pages, or added new pages through sitemap, making indexing faster.

The video sitemap lists all the video content available on your website. Video sitemaps contain information like video publish date, duration, thumbnail image, video embed code, and description. This provides accurate information to the search engines and improves the video search results ranking.

A point worth noting here is that search engines like Google still index your video content and rank it but video sitemaps make the process of discovering your video much faster than waiting for the search engine to find it naturally.

Important Tags for a Video Sitemap

<loc> – URL of the webpage having the video
<video:video> – Parent tag or video container with the following sub-tags
<video:title> – video title
<video:description> – video content description
<video:thumbnail_loc> – URL pointing to the video thumbnail image file
<video:content_loc> – URL of the video file
<video:duration> – Video duration in seconds
<video:player_loc> – URL of the video’s player page
<video:publication_date> – Video publish date
<video:tag> – Specifies several tags under one category. Max permitted tag count is 32.

Sample Video Sitemap

Video sitemap are manually added or using sitemap generator tool. When using WordPress, there are several plugins that help in creating video sitemaps for your website. Popular video sitemap plugins for WordPress are All in One SEO (AIOSEO) and Yoast Video SEO.

FAQs

How to customize the video player in WordPress?

Many plugins for hosting videos on wordpress have customizable options. One such plugin is from VdoCipher which allows theme change, custom controls, subtitles, and customizable colors to match your website’s tone.

Can I improve the performance of my videos hosted on WordPress?

Compressing the video file size without affecting the video quality, CDN content delivery, and choosing a professional video hosting platform like VdoCipher that has an uptime of 99.99%.

What video formats does WordPress support?

WordPress supports a variety of video formats, including but not limited to MP4, WebM, and Ogg. The most straightforward method to add videos is by uploading the video file directly to your website using the Video block. This allows for direct playback on the site. WordPress can also embed videos from popular services like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and more, where videos from these services will embed automatically by simply placing a link to the video in your post or page.

Are there any specific settings recommended for uploading videos to WordPress?

When uploading videos to WordPress, it’s recommended to use a resolution of 1920×1080 (1080p) for optimal viewing on most devices, with a maximum resolution of 3840×2160 (4k) supported by the player. The video should be encoded in the H.264 format for wide compatibility. It’s advisable to have a bit rate of 8mbps for 1080p30 and 12mbps for 1080p60, with audio in AAC at a minimum of 160kbps. Ensure the video is optimized for fast start/web optimized playback and consider using video compression tools for adjusting the video before uploading if it doesn’t meet these specifications.

Jyoti

Jyoti began her career as a software engineer in HCL with UNHCR as a client. She started evolving her technical and documentation writing skills to become a full-time Content Marketer at VdoCipher.

The post Videos in WordPress Guide & Best WordPress Video Format appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

In this post, we are going to tell you the features of the Vdocipher DRM plugin and how to add a Vdocipher player to your WordPress website by using our WordPress plugin. Vdocipher provides a highly secure and customizable online video player plugin that helps you protect against video piracy. Along with DRM encryption and dynamic watermark security for discouraging screen capture, we also provide you with a brand-friendly customizable player with other loaded features.  

How will the DRM work technically with WordPress?

Digital Rights Management (DRM) encryption for video content with WordPress environments, involves a series of technical steps designed to securely encrypt, transmit, and decrypt video content. This ensures that only authorized users can view the content. Here’s a more detailed look at how the DRM encryption process typically works:

1. Video Encryption

• Initial Encryption: When a video is uploaded to the service, it is encrypted using a strong encryption algorithm, typically Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) with a 128-bit or 256-bit key length. This encryption process scrambles the content, making it unreadable without the correct decryption key.
• Key Storage: The encryption key used to encrypt the video is securely stored on a license server. This server is responsible for distributing the key to authorized users in a controlled manner.

2. DRM Packaging

• Content Packaging: Along with encryption, the video content is packaged in a format compatible with DRM systems. This involves embedding metadata and licenses that dictate the terms of use, such as playback restrictions.
• DRM Systems: The packaged content is made compatible with various DRM systems like Google’s Widevine, Apple’s FairPlay, and Microsoft’s PlayReady. Each system has its own method of managing and enforcing digital rights, ensuring broad compatibility across different devices and platforms.

3. Secure License Delivery

• License Request: When an authorized user attempts to play the DRM-protected video, the player software on their device sends a license request to the DRM license server. This request includes device and user authentication information.
• Authentication and Authorization: The license server authenticates the request based on the service’s security policies, such as user credentials, subscription status, or geographical location.
• Key Distribution: Once authenticated and authorized, the server sends the encryption key to the user’s device in a secure manner. The key is encrypted during transit and is only accessible to the DRM-compliant player.

4. Decryption and Playback

• Decryption: The DRM-compliant video player on the user’s device uses the received encryption key to decrypt the video content on the fly during playback. This process is securely handled within the player and is transparent to the user.
• Playback Controls: The DRM system enforces any playback restrictions specified by the content provider, such as limiting the number of times a video can be played or preventing screen recording.

5. Security Measures

• Secure Communication: All communication between the video player, license server, and content server is encrypted using protocols like TLS (Transport Layer Security) to prevent interception and unauthorized access to video content and encryption keys.
• Tamper Detection: DRM systems include mechanisms to detect and respond to tampering or hacking attempts, ensuring that the content remains secure even in the face of attacks.

By leveraging DRM encryption, content providers can securely distribute video content to authorized users while preventing piracy and unauthorized sharing. The technical implementation of DRM involves a combination of encryption technologies, secure key management, and compliance with DRM standards to provide a robust solution for content protection.

Is WordPress Self-Secure for Video Streaming?

When you’re hosting video content on WordPress, you have the choice of self-hosting (hosting on the same server as that of your website) or using a third-party plugin that takes complete care of video streaming. Both options have their advantages and drawbacks.

Self-Hosting:

• You have full control over the server, allowing you to customize and configure it according to your needs. This is particularly beneficial if you have specific requirements that most hosting providers don’t cater to.
• You get direct plug-and-play access as WordPress sets the default storage directory and other configurations. Self-hosting does not require you to configure custom storage and third-party integration with API, plugins, etc. This is more relevant especially if you don’t have the necessary technical expertise.
• The problem in this mode arises with Server management. It can be time-consuming and requires a certain level of technical expertise. If you don’t have the necessary skills, you may need to hire someone who does, or else your cost and downtime will increase rapidly.

Secure Streaming (Third Party):

• Advanced features like DRM encryption, Dynamic watermarking, custom video player, customization options, etc are usually part of a third-party video streaming package.
• A third-party video streaming provider handles server management and maintenance, including security, freeing up your time and resources.
• Most streaming providers offer 24/7 support, which can be invaluable if you encounter any issues.
• Third-party WordPress streaming providers typically offer scalable solutions, allowing you to easily upgrade your plan as your site grows.
• Third-party streaming can be more cost-friendly and convenient as you get the benefit of large-scale costing benefits passed to you by your hosting provider.

In the context of security, a reputable third-party video streaming provider will likely have robust security measures in place and the expertise to manage them. This can include regular updates, firewalls, DDoS protection, CDN delivery, SSL certificates, and other device-based benefits. However, if you choose to self-host and have the necessary technical skills, you have the potential to implement even more rigorous security measures, tailored specifically to your website.

What processes are handled via WordPress DRM Plugin

1. Video Upload and Encryption: When you upload a video to your WordPress site using VdoCipher’s plugin, the video is first encrypted on the server side.
2. Secure Video Hosting: After encryption, the video is hosted on AWS servers. VdoCipher provides a secure, optimized hosting environment specifically designed for video content.
3. DRM Licensing: DRM systems work by requiring a license to decrypt and play the video content. When an authorized user attempts to play a video on your WordPress site, VdoCipher’s plugin communicates with a DRM license server to obtain a decryption key. This process is managed securely to ensure that only authorized devices and users can obtain the decryption key.
4. Video Player Integration: VdoCipher’s plugin includes a secure video player that is integrated into your WordPress site. This player is designed to handle the DRM-protected content securely. It communicates with the DRM license server to obtain decryption keys and plays the video content within the browser or app in a secure environment.
5. Device and Browser Compatibility: The plugin and player are designed to be compatible with a wide range of devices and browsers, supporting various DRM systems like Google’s Widevine and Apple’s FairPlay. This ensures that your content is securely playable across different platforms.
6. Content Access Controls: Through the VdoCipher plugin, you can set up various access controls for your video content, such as user authentication, time-based access, geographical restrictions, and more. These controls work alongside the DRM system to provide an additional layer of security and content management.
7. Analytics and Monitoring: VdoCipher’s platform typically includes tools for monitoring video playback, user engagement, and potential security breaches. This data helps you understand how your content is being consumed and can alert you to any unauthorized access attempts.

WordPress DRM easy implementation via VdoCipher plugin

After you have understood the importance of security when dealing with video content, it is important to make the best choice. Look no further than the official Google Widevine DRM partner VdoCipher. VdoCipher employs Digital Rights Management (DRM) to secure your videos against piracy, ensuring your work remains solely yours. As a complete solution, you get protection through Google Widevine and Apple FairPlay DRM making your video protection unbreakable.

Seamlessly integrating VdoCipher into your WordPress site is easy, thanks to the dedicated VdoCipher plugin and APIs for additional automated customization. Here’s how to set the gears in motion:

Install the VdoCipher Plugin for WordPress:

• In your WordPress admin area, go to “Plugins” > “Add New”.
• Search for “VdoCipher” to install the plugin from the WordPress plugin directory.
• Click “Install Now” next to the VdoCipher plugin, and then “Activate”.

Get Your VdoCipher API Key:

• Sign up for a VdoCipher account if you don’t already have one.
• Once you’re logged in, go to the “Security & Config” > “API Keys” section.
• Copy your API secret key.

Configure the VdoCipher WordPress Plugin:

• Back in your WordPress admin area, go to “Plugins”> “VdoCipher” > “Settings”.
• Paste your VdoCipher API secret key into the “API Secret Key” field.
• Click “Save Changes”.

Upload Videos to VdoCipher:

• Go to your VdoCipher dashboard.
• Click “Upload Video” and choose the video file you want to upload.
• Once the video has finished processing, it will be assigned a unique video ID.

Embed Videos in WordPress:

• You can embed a video in a WordPress post or page by using the VdoCipher shortcode, which looks like this:
  VdoCipher Error: Video ID not found
  . Replace “your-video-id” with the unique ID of the video you uploaded.
• Alternatively, you can directly embed the video iframe by getting the code from the quick embed section of your video in VdoCipher’s dashboard. Just paste this code into the text editor of your WordPress page or post and that’s it.

Your video is now protected by VdoCipher’s DRM technology. If you encounter any issues, consult the VdoCipher documentation or contact their support team.

Essential Security & Player Features for WordPress Video Hosting

VdoCipher provides you with a complete solution for video hosting in WordPress whether it’s an eLearning company or a media and marketing business. These are some of the key features of the Vdocipher player-

1. DRM-encrypted video hosting

Vdocipher provides you DRM encrypted video hosting for WordPress which restricts any external downloader or plugin from downloading your content. We provide you with the highest security to restrict video piracy. We use Google Widevine and Apple Fairplay DRM, the same technology used by Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon. Now, all of you WordPress users can create a membership-based website and can hide all of your valuable content behind a paywall and VdoCipher will help you in securing your content.

2. WordPress plugin for easiest integration of video hosting-

Vdocipher provides you with a plugin for video hosting in WordPress which hardly takes 10 minutes and is very easy to integrate. These are the steps you need to follow to install the VdoCipher’s WordPress video hosting plugin-

1-  First of all you need to login to the VdoCipher dashboard. After signing up, you need to go to the configuration section where you will find the client’s secret key. You will need this key to authorize the plugin so that you can play your videos from your VdoCipher account.

2- Go to your WordPress dashboard. In the add plugin search for the VdoCipher plugin and install it.

3- Click on the link “Activate”. On the top of this page, you will see a message. “Click here to configure VdoCipher”.

4- Now enter the client secret key on the next page and for the ready status.

5- Now you can start adding the videos to your VdoCipher dashboard. Once the video is ready, you will find a video id as part of the video information.

Once you have configured the VdoCipher plugin with the Client Secret key, you are ready to start streaming your premium videos through your WordPress website.

3. Custom player for video hosting for WordPress

Player Themes– Everyone has his own requirement for player themes so that they can match the color of their website. All you have to do is go to the player theme page and select the theme you want. Also if you have any other theme requirements you can share your requirement with us and we will try to make that available for you.

If you want your every video to have a different theme then that is also possible. Now you can make each and every video different via shortcode by adding the vdo_theme attribute ( Read More)

Height and width- Other than themes you can also manage the height and width of the video player. You can do so by adding height and width attributes inside the shortcode. Here is an example of that-

Video Player- You can also choose between Flash and html5 player. Though we provide support for the Flash player, we suggest you use html5 video player because it has better compatibility and a better streaming experience across browsers.

4. Dynamic Watermark for WordPress-hosted videos

Our watermarking feature allows you to add text and images to your videos. We provide you the options of moving and static watermarking both. As we know that piracy is a serious problem and even after the downloading is prevented but screen capturing can be done so dynamic watermarking can be strong dissuasion to people who are sharing the recorded videos. You can add important details like user name, IP, email, etc which will help you as a security layer on your valuable content and in keeping your revenue safe.

To add a watermark on your videos you need to pass a JSON string as annotation code which will contain all the important information about the watermark.

This is a sample code for dynamic watermarking-

We also provide you with the feature to skip the watermark between two overlays. Here is a sample code for that-

If you don’t want to add a moving text you can also add a static watermark. We have a detailed blog about it. ( Read more on WordPress watermark sample and settings)

5. AWS server CDN video hosting included

We use Amazon AWS s3 for data storage for video hosting which is one of the world’s best service providers in this field. All the encryption process is done by Vdocipher. Raw files and encrypted files are kept separately and only encrypted data can be fetched by the URLs and used for online streaming. So whether you have one video or 100 videos VdoCipher takes care of all of them at the same time.

To stream your content online you need a content delivery network. We use Amazon Cloudfront as CDN which has its presence in the form of 100+ CDN server pops all over the world. We have an auto-scalable and an extensive setup with AWS, so any load is taken care of automatically. So finally the secure content is delivered via the CDN which is also secure by the authentication. So with the help of Amazon S3, Amazon’s CPU for transcoding, and CloudFront, we ensure that you can play your video in any region or device with the highest security. (Read More)

6. Dashboard to manage all videos on VdoCipher + WordPress- 

Vdocipher provides you with a very intuitive dashboard for video hosting for WordPress. There are so many features which are very useful for you.

• Folder management option to manage all your videos. You can create folders and subfolders to manage your videos on the VdoCipher dashboard.
• Through the VdoCipher dashboard, you can manage two different websites or projects.
• You can add multiple account managers and give them separate permission to manage your videos.
• We provide you with a detailed analytics section where you can check the number of views and other important analytics.
• Through the dashboard, you can add multi-lingual subtitles to your videos.
• You can also fetch your important data like video title, id, time, etc in CSV format through your dashboard.

So with all these easy-to-use and well-managed features, Vdocipher provides you with the best secure online video player for WordPress. Now you can easily set up an E-learning or Media or any other video platform and start selling your content online and we will make sure that your content is safe from piracy.

7. Secure offline SDK downloads

With VdoCipher Android SDK, you can securely download videos to your device’s local storage for offline playback. It includes APIs to download media files to local storage, fetch available downloads, and monitor download progress in your dashboard.

8. Multiple file format support

The file format of a video varies with the device and browser type. A video may perform at low quality on one device and at the same time, perform comparatively better on another device. To ensure the best possible video resolution on every device, the video file is converted into various formats.

9. OTP-based authentication

VdoCipher uses unique embed code on the basis of a short-lived access token, OTP to play videos. For every session, it ensures video authentication so that only authorized users access the premium content.

10. Geo-restrictions

Users can easily configure the IP and country restrictions via our API guide. There are times when we need to restrict content for some countries or regions for reasons like compliance or varying pricing models. You may even require to blacklist or whitelist specific countries.

11. Multi-level user access

Multi-level access is especially useful when there are different access levels based on the role within an organization. For instance, an administrator may have full control of the features while a contributor may only have access to video upload. VdoCipher has four levels of user access, viewer, uploader, editor, and OTP creator.

FAQs

What is WordPress secure video streaming?

Secure video streaming on WordPress refers to the process of safely delivering video content to your audience via your WordPress site, ensuring that the videos cannot be easily downloaded or pirated. This involves using various technologies and practices to encrypt the video content and securely transmit it over the internet.

Can I prevent video downloads and sharing with WordPress video streaming?

Yes, by employing secure video streaming solutions that include encryption and DRM (Digital Rights Management), you can significantly reduce unauthorized downloads and sharing with your WordPress video plugin. While no method is foolproof, these measures make it much harder for content to be pirated.

What is a DRM plugin?

A DRM plugin is a software add-on for a website or application that enables digital rights management capabilities. With added video hosting capabilities it can enable you to embed videos on wordpress. It helps in protecting digital content, such as videos, by encrypting the content and managing access through licensing.

How can I add DRM protection to my WordPress videos?

To add DRM protection, you can use a DRM service provider that integrates with WordPress, either through a plugin or an external video hosting platform like VdoCipher that supports DRM. These services will manage the encryption and license key distribution to ensure only authorized users can view the content.

Smita Singh

Digital Marketing | Writing

I read therefore I write.

The post WordPress DRM Plugin for Secure Video Streaming appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

Importance of Videos in WordPress

Videos are a powerful tool for engaging and informing website visitors about the product and also allow promotion on social media platforms. They can be used to showcase products or services, demonstrate how-to tutorials, and eLearning courses or provide visual explanations of complex concepts. Videos are a highly engaging form of content that can capture visitors’ attention and can make a website more accessible to people with disabilities, for example, by providing closed captions support. When used with WordPress CMS, videos can help to increase conversions by providing a more engaging and effective way to present products and services. You can add videos to WordPress website, including video embeds, and direct video upload, and also by using a plugin specifically designed for managing videos.

On WordPress, you get the option to self-host the videos and display them directly on the content pages of your website. In this case, the video file gets stored on your web hosting server. Additionally, to scale up and have more cost benefits you can use WordPress video hosting services like YouTube, VdoCipher, etc. to host videos and use the embed code, API, plugin, and other integration support to add videos to your website.

Does WordPress support Video Hosting?

Yes, WordPress supports video hosting in multiple ways which depend on the use case a business or video creator has. It does not have a built-in video infrastructure. Instead, it relies on the use of the web server on which it is deployed. There are two ways to host videos for a WordPress website.

• Self-Hosted – In this case, when you upload a video in the media upload section, this video will go into your web server directory. When you upload a video to your WordPress site, it is typically stored on the same server as your website. However, as videos can be large in size, this can quickly consume a lot of storage space and bandwidth. This also means that your main web server SSD space will get utilized and can cause crashing issues if the memory goes out of space. It is not a recommended method unless the use case is very small.
• Third-Party Video Hosting Services – uploading videos to a third-party video hosting service and embedding them in posts or pages is a great way to host your videos on wordpress. Popular third-party video hosting services that can be embedded in WordPress include YouTube, AWS, GCS, and for security needs, VdoCipher. Additionally, a good video hosting provider allows you to host and embed videos directly from your website through their plugin and API integrations.

Self-Hosting Videos on WordPress

Before understanding the process of self-hosting on WordPress let us look at the file storage structure present on your server on which WordPress is deployed. WordPress files that take up any disk space include things like:

• Images, videos, and other media files are uploaded to your media library. These are stored in /wp-content/uploads/ by default.
• Plugin and theme files like PHP, CSS, JS, etc are stored in /wp-content/themes/ and wp-content/plugins/ by default.
• Your WordPress core files or installation files are usually present in the root or public_html folder.
• You could also store other library and font files by uploading via FTP under root or in its sub-directories.

As discussed, video files in a self-hosted default setting environment will use the space in the /wp-content/uploads folder. It is always advisable to regularly check your disc space stats and take corrective action if required. In current versions of WordPress (5.2+), it is very easy to check the same using the Site Health option under the Tools section. Switch to the info tab and click “Directories and Sizes” for a dropdown listing like below example,

To upload a video file in a WordPress self-hosted environment, you can simply go to the editor of your post or page and click the “Insert Media” or “Add Gallery” option as per theme and editor settings. This will open up your media library where you can click on the Upload files tab and select the media from your local library. Once uploaded, you will be able to add alt text, title, and other details of the video. Finally, add to the gallery and insert the media options will directly insert the media using < video > tag with src attribute as “example.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/new-video.mp4”. You can save the page or post and anyone with the required access will be able to make the playback easily via the default HTML5 player. Further customizations to the player can be made by using custom javascript and CSS for the player.

Cons of Self-Hosted WordPress Video Hosting

It is technically possible to use the same web hosting server for video hosting, but it may not be the best option in all cases. Using a web hosting server for video hosting can put a significant strain on the server resources, especially if you expect to get a high amount of traffic to your videos. This can lead to slow loading times, buffering, and even server crashes.

Web hosting servers are not typically optimized for WordPress video hosting, which means that videos may not be delivered as quickly or as smoothly as they would be from a dedicated video hosting server. Also, the use of CDN and transcoding to optimize for multiple devices, geo-locations, network speed, and browsers is nowadays a minimum requirement to have. This enhances the overall user experience and a higher likelihood of viewers not leaving your site before the video has finished playing.

Security is also a major drawback when you try to self-host videos on the same web server. The reason is the non-availability of any default video protection infrastructure at the WordPress end. Even if you try using javascript and other basic security plugins, you are always vulnerable due to the private key being revealed through the network and other logs. Any illegal download attack on your main server will also lead to service disruptions.

However, if you have a non-vulnerable and small use case, you can choose to self-host your videos. Just make sure that your web hosting plan is suitable for hosting large files, has enough storage space and bandwidth, and that you keep an eye on your website’s performance.

Security needs with WordPress Self Video Hosting

As a WordPress user, it’s important to consider the security of your videos, especially if you’re self-hosting them on your website. Here are a few key security needs to keep in mind:

Access control: Make sure that only authorized users can access your videos by implementing user authentication and permissions. This can be achieved through the use of Access Manager plugins, which allow you to restrict access to specific videos based on user roles and capabilities.

Multi-DRM Encryption: Consider encrypting your videos to protect them from being accessed by unauthorized parties. This needs to be done by partnering with Google and Apple to use their DRM protection technology and is the safest method to protect your videos from illegal downloads and screen captures. Although, setting up a multi-DRM infrastructure is difficult and that is why a secure video hosting provider like VdoCipher brings the complete package to all categories of users at a highly affordable cost.

Backup: Regularly back up your videos to protect against data loss due to server failures or hacking attacks. This can be done through the use of backup plugins, which allows you to schedule automatic backups of your videos and restore them in case of an emergency. Keep in mind that using backup will increase your storage use of the main web server and might result in problems.

Analytics and Monitoring: Keep an eye on your website’s performance and security by monitoring it regularly. Use tools like Google Analytics to track the number of views your videos are getting or if you are using a plugin like VdoCipher, you can easily check your complete video analytics through a video dashboard.

By considering these security needs, you can ensure that your videos are protected and there is no respective revenue loss.

Must have Features in Third-Party Video Hosting

• Secure video playback and streaming – Includes the security measures like multi-DRM encryption to control and protect your videos from unauthorized access and downloads. DRM-encrypted video files need a private decryption key at the player’s end to decrypt and play the video.
• Various video format compatibility – Different devices and browsers support different file formats and a video hosting platform must accommodate a wide range of file formats to increase content availability. This also allows users to upload files in various formats and the hosting platform can encode and transcode the videos.
• Video analytics and tracking tools – Key metrics related to your videos are very important to monitor and analyze the performance. The various parameters are view counts, and engagement metrics like how many videos are viewed and which part of the video is played more. Some hosting platforms even provide heatmaps (visual representations of viewer engagement), conversion tracking, and a detailed report of the analysis.
• Adaptive bitrate streaming – Based on various device types and availability of internet connection, the videos should be played seamlessly without much buffering or latency. Adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR) technology chunks a video file into variable bitrate segments. This ensures that the video quality is automatically adjusted to the viewer’s available bandwidth.
• User access and management – If you are already using or looking for a video hosting service, you obviously have a library of videos and need multi-user access. Some team members have just the view access while some have an editor or upload access. A third-party video hosting provider must offer easily accessible multi-user access.
• Subtitle support – Hosting platforms like VdoCipher offers multilingual subtitle support to encourage more viewership and content availability. You can select the desired subtitle language and upload the SRT or VTT file.
• Easy embed options – When videos are uploaded on a hosting platform, you will require an embed code to embed the video on your website or blog post.
• APIs and SDKs – SDKs and APIs make the whole process streamlined and faster. For example, VdoCipher has server API, Player API, and Android SDK.

Hosting Videos on WordPress

We have discussed the necessary features to have in a third-party video hosting platform. Overall, using DRM-encrypted video hosting with WordPress can help you protect your revenue-producing content while giving you more control over distribution and access to your videos. The best hosting will eventually cover all features that will make the overall user experience far better. Let it be multiple file and device format support, adaptive bitrate infrastructure, bug-free plugins, and integration options. You can even find new video hosting companies offering full-scale solutions, but experience tells that it is easy to offer but making it bug-free is difficult. Bugs result in errors and downtime, thus affecting your user experience and also monetary loss.

VdoCipher, a secure video hosting solution provider has a fully featured WordPress video plugin for easy integration, dynamic watermarking, and many other features. VdoCipher video plugin enables you to host premium video content on your WordPress website. It gives you complete control over your video content, so you can start minting money out of your awesome videos.

With VdoCipher’s WordPress video plugin, you get the highest protection from video piracy through multi-DRM encryption. Multi-DRM video encryption technology makes sure that no downloader or plugin can download your videos and in many cases also protects screen capture.

VdoCipher uses AWS-powered server, transcoding & CDN infrastructure to ensure a smooth playback across 6 continents. Its smart HTML5 player includes options like speed change, forward/rewind, multi-quality adaptive & responsive playback, add multi-language subtitles, chapters, and many other features. If you are looking to automate or integrate the upload, etc processes, you will also need the required VdoCipher APIs and SDKs.

VdoCipher also has well-written documentation and videos to make you understand the basic uploading, embedding, and customization options available with WordPress integration.

Top WordPress Video Hosting Plugins

1.VdoCipher

VdoCipher is a game-changer for folks who are serious about video security. VdoCipher brings Hollywood-grade video protection to your WordPress site. With VdoCipher’s DRM (Digital Rights Management) your videos can’t be downloaded or shared without permission. It is perfect for educational content, paid courses, or any premium video content. You can use VdoCipher’s plugin to embed videos on wordpress.

VdoCipher offers smooth video playback, without any buffering, and high-quality video streaming across all devices. You also get detailed analytics to see how your content is performing, which can be incredibly valuable for understanding your audience.

With VdoCipher’s dynamic watermarking, you can add customizable watermarks to your videos, a powerful deterrent against piracy. It adds an extra layer of security by making it easy to trace any unauthorized sharing. You also get other security features like User-based Security Analytics to prevent password sharing and track any malicious activity. App protection against emulator, cloning, and rooted devices via DRM & Play Integrity

Pros:

• Hollywood-grade DRM protection to prevent unauthorized downloads and sharing.
• Customizable watermarking for an added layer of security.
• Detailed analytics to track viewer engagement, video performance, also any malicious activity can be tracked
• Smooth, high-quality video playback across devices.

Cons:

• The high level of security and advanced features might come at a higher cost compared to less secure video hosting solutions.

2. The Ultimate Video Player For WordPress – by Presto Player

Presto Player is a game-changer for anyone serious about adding video content to their site. It’s like having a personal cinema on your website. You get tons of customization options, allowing you to match the video player to your site’s design perfectly. It supports multiple video sources, including self-hosted videos and external platforms like YouTube. One of its standout features is the ability to add calls to action directly in your videos, turning viewers into leads. The only con might be that it has so many features, that it can feel overwhelming at first.

3. SmartVideo – Video Player and CDN

SmartVideo takes the heavy lifting out of video hosting. It utilizes a global content delivery network (CDN) to ensure your videos load quickly, no matter where your audience is. This plugin optimizes videos in real-time, so they’re always delivered in the best quality possible without buffering. It’s like having a team of tech wizards optimizing your videos around the clock. The downside? Relying on a third-party CDN means you have less control over the technical aspects of your video hosting.

4. FV Flowplayer Video Player

FV Flowplayer is all about giving you control. It supports both self-hosted videos and those from external sources. What sets it apart is its attention to detail. You can customize everything from the player logo to the speed control options. It also offers video protection features to prevent unauthorized downloads. The interface is straightforward, but the level of customization requires a learning curve for beginners.

5. Easy Video Player

As the name suggests, Easy Video Player focuses on simplicity. It’s perfect for beginners or anyone who wants to get videos up and running with minimal fuss. It supports responsive video playback and has basic customization options. While it doesn’t offer as many features as some other plugins on this list, its ease of use is a significant advantage for many users.

6. Envira Gallery

Envira Gallery is primarily a photo gallery plugin but don’t let that fool you. It’s incredibly versatile and supports video galleries as well. With Envira you can create beautiful and responsive video galleries.Video hosted via Enviraintegrate seamlessly with your site. It’s great for showcasing a portfolio or a series of instructional videos. The downside is that if you’re looking for advanced video-specific features, this might not be the best fit.

7. All‑in‑One Video Gallery

This plugin lives up to its name. It’s a comprehensive solution that lets you manage, display, and categorize your videos efficiently. It supports video SEO, which is a huge plus for getting your content seen by more people. The interface is user-friendly, making it easy to get your video gallery up and running. However, the vast array of features might be more than you need if you’re just looking to host a few simple videos.

8. HTML5 Video Player

HTML5 Video Player is all about compatibility. It ensures your videos play smoothly across all devices and browsers. It’s straightforward, with a focus on delivering a seamless viewing experience. You can customize the player to match your site, and it supports both video and audio files. It’s a solid choice if you’re looking for reliability and simplicity.

9. Vimeo

Vimeo’s WordPress plugin allows you to easily embed your Vimeo videos on your site, taking advantage of Vimeo’s high-quality video playback. Vimeo ensures that you don’t have to worry about large videos slowing down your site. The downside is that you’re reliant on Vimeo. If you need features like video protection or detailed analytics, you might need to look at their premium plans.

10. Jetpack – WP Security, Backup, Speed, & Growth

Jetpack is the jack-of-all-trades in the WordPress world. While it’s known for security, backups, and performance, it also offers robust video hosting capabilities. The premium plans include video hosting features that are super easy to use, and they integrate seamlessly with your site. This means faster loading times and a better experience for your viewers. Plus, Jetpack videos are ad-free. The downside? It’s not the cheapest option if you’re only looking for video hosting.

FAQs

How to upload videos to WordPress without YouTube?

You can either choose to self-host on the web server where the website is deployed or you can pick a video hosting provider as per needs. If you are concerned about video security, VdoCipher provides the best multi-DRM AWS-hosted and transcoded infrastructure for the utmost protection against piracy.

How to upload a large video to WordPress?

By default WordPress installation is set to contain the php.ini file with upload_max_size value as 64MB or 80MB. You can add code strings to your functions.php and add the @ini_set function with parameters such as upload_max_size and post_max_size. Also, there is a cap on max file size even after that and it is from the hosting provider side. It is usually 5TB and if an object exceeds 5TB, it must be divided into maximum chunks of 5TB before uploading.

Can I add a dynamic watermark on videos hosted on WordPress?

Yes, but the only way to do so is by adding the VdoCipher video plugin. Just add dynamic watermark annotation in the plugin field and some PHP line of code in functions.php calling the dynamic fields data.

Vishal Sharma

My expertise focuses on DRM encryption, CDN technologies, and streamlining marketing campaigns to drive engagement and growth. At VdoCipher, I’ve significantly enhanced digital experiences and contributed to in-depth technical discussions in the eLearning, Media, and Security sectors, showcasing a commitment to innovation and excellence in the digital landscape.

The post Best WordPress Video Hosting Plugin & issues with Self Hosting appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

Not sure which functionalities are necessary and which functionalities are optional?

In this blog post, I walk you through the most essential WordPress plugins for E-Learning course developers to choose from which will further help you develop a custom WordPress website at its best.

What are WordPress Plugins?

A WordPress plugin is a small add-on software to extend the functionalities and features of a WordPress platform. Apart from this, plugins enable adding all these functionalities without writing any code. The WordPress.org plugin directory has over 50,000 free plugins, many of which are by third-party developers.

For example, there are WordPress plugins to add a share button to your website or modify your contact form. To do so, plugins use access points, otherwise known as filter and hook actions. These are provided by the WordPress plugin API to ‘hook into’ the source code. At specific times, these methods and access points call the functions of the plugin to make modifications.

How to Install a WordPress Plugin

• Go to your WordPress dashboard and go to the ‘Plugins’ section. Search for the required plugin on the ‘Add Plugins’ page.
• Once selected, click ‘Install Now’
• Next, click ‘Activate’ to configure the installed WordPress plugin.

First I proceed with how you should evaluate your requirements in designing the course

Features of Learning Management System (LMS) plugins for E-Learning

The most significant features that an LMS must-have is for you to be able to:

• Give learner flexibility to pace their course as per their wish – a self-paced course
• What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get Interface, to put minimum effort into using the interface
• Making a complete course catalog, so that all the course information is collected at one location
• Automated User Enrolment and Status, of course, progress – completion status
• Course Reports for course creator to review how a course is progressing
• Learner feedback – Course Surveys and System Announcements – These are essential for the instructor to continually improve the learning experience
• Learner’s access to course transcript and course progress – Learners should have knowledge about their course progress as well
• Learner access to changing profile

Apart from these, there are a number of other features that you may wish for, which would include

• Creating multiple course levels – so that there may be content-lite and content-heavy memberships
• Creating certificates of completion for learners that complete their course – certificates are a strong motivation for learners, as they provide tangible proof of the skills learned
• Automating user access control – Restricting access to content and granting access to content depending on user level
• Generating course and user reports for course administrator
• Creating dripped content for controlling user progress in course – To control the rate at which learner accesses the course, create dripped content tool

Top 10 WordPress Plugins for eLearning

LifterLMS

LifterLMS is another lightweight E-Learning solution, that is very easy to use. Key features include:

• Integration with WooCommerce and BuddyPress support
• Support for certificates
• Supports both Stripe and PayPal
• Supports course scheduling and prerequisites

For a detailed review of Free LMS plugins for WordPress check out this blog on Free LMS Plugins

WooCommerce Sensei

Sensei comes from the stable of WooCommerce, who are experts in developing eCommerce WordPress Plugins. Sensei is priced at $129 for a single-site license. This WordPress plugin for E-Learning is a simple and effective interface for making courses, as the course, module, lesson and quiz sections can all be created with a lot of ease. The interface is essentially What-You-See-is-What-You-Get. Because of its compatibility with all WooCommerce plugins, and because of an interface that gets most things done easily and quickly, Sensei is our top-rated Learning Management System plugin.

LearnDash

Learndash specializes in E-Learning solutions, meaning that they have developed their WordPress LMS plugin for E-Learning keeping in mind any features that an education LMS must require.

SCORM is a collection of standards for E-Learning, which state how the LMS must package user learning content. SCORM standards ensure portability of learner information across different LMS. Tin Can API has now replaced SCORM as the new standard for educational content designed in a portable way. Learndash supports Tin Can API plugin.

Learndash have tried to make a complete marketing and product solution- they have their own membership solution, and have an integrated payment processing setup. The flip side of being an all-in-one solution is that this do not allow much scope for customization. On the other hand they have an active community support forum.

Essentially Learndash is optimal for developing detailed and academic-level E-Learning solutions, where little customization is required.

WP CourseWare

WP Courseware is a lightweight WordPress plugin to embed videos in WordPress for E-Learning, whose strong point is that it integrates fairly easily with other WP Plugins. Likewise with this WordPress plugin you get a large varieties of customization options. An important plugin that WP CourseWare can integrate with is Membership Pro, which is the most popular membership WordPress plugin.

LearnPress

LearnPress is offered as a free plugin and includes both free features and premium add-ons.

Premium add-ons apply for:

• Gamifying the course – adding points for learner activity
• Generating certificate
• For Integration with WooCommerce, PayPal and Stripe
• Integrating with Membership 2 Pro

Membership WordPress Plugins – These plugins help WordPress websites to manage and create subscription-paid content or courses with additional features. Some common features include user registration and login, content protection, membership management, analytics, and payment gateway integration.

Membership 2

Membership 2 is the most widely used membership WordPress plugin. This is a free software, but has a paid pro version that offers added features.

Membership 2 is designed for ease-of-use for the beginner. It has a how-to guide to get you started with creating the course. Also Content access control and protection is made very easy with this plugin – for each lesson/ course you create you can select which membership levels to grant access to. Also Dripped content management is made very easy, and can be done on the same interface as the content protection. This makes managing your course much less complicated.

The pro version of Membership 2 integrates with both PayPal and Stripe payment solutions

WP eMember

Where Membership Pro relies on an easy-to-use interface and a free introductory membership plugin, WP eMember offers a robust membership WordPress plugin that offers both content protection and a large number of additional features, making this a great option for anyone looking for a complete WordPress membership plugin.

Using this wordpress plugin, it is easy to create multiple membership levels, and to grant differential access for different membership levels. Also in-page partial protection is available via easy to use shortcodes. Additional options include options to limit user access to minimize password sharing – effectively minimizing content piracy. Also there is support for Drip Content, which limits access to users based on their drip learning schedule.

eCommerce WordPress Plugins

eCommerce plugins can come quite handy for you in managing your course inventory, if you are selling multiple courses. An eCommerce plugin is not necessary for the new E-Learning developer, but if you wish to manage multiple courses, an integrated eCommerce plugin can come in quite handy for managing inventory.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce wordpress plugin offers hundreds of extensions and themes, that make it quite easy to  available for WooCommerce, which makes it easy to add new features to your eLearning site. Besides eLearning, anyone can easily integrate WooCommerce with many top-rated platform for writing blogs or sell products, such as WooCommerce Amazon Integration which is considered as one the best integration for growing business. If you have worked on WordPress previously and are comfortable with the technical details of using WordPress, this WordPress Plugin is the best eCommerce solution for you.

Shopify

Shopify has a very easy interface, and is great for beginners who do not wish to go into technical details of using WP. It has a monthly subscription fees, but is worthwhile to use because of its hassle-free interface which allows you to get on with developing your course content without worrying about the technicalities. This WordPress plugin works with social networks such as Facebook Store, Buyable Pins and Twitter Buy buttons

VdoCipher – Best WordPress Video Plugin for Elearning videos

Content security and smooth streaming are two integral features that any WordPress video hosting plugin for eLearning must offer. VdoCipher offers an easy-to-use shortcode and is a complete video hosting solution. In VdoCipher one-time access is only granted to a fully encrypted stream after backend authentication from the host website, meaning that video security is maximized. VdoCipher has a 10 min install ready-to-go live plugin for all e-learning video WordPress sites. VdoCipher is your best bet for your WordPress video plugin.

We’ve written several other blogs on LMS, feel free to check them out if it piques your interest

• Video LMS
• Enterprise LMS
• Corporate LMS
• Top LMS Platform
• LMS Systems
• Learning Management Systems

FAQs

How to check if a plugin is compatible with my WordPress version?

When you search for the plugin on the WordPress repository and if it is compatible with your version, you will see, Compatible with your version of WordPress.

Is using WordPress plugins safe?

Yes until you download it from a trusted source, check its ratings and customer reviews, and keep it up-to-date.

What features to look for in a WordPress membership plugin?

Check for the features you require like security, membership levels, integrations, and payment gateways. It should be compatible with your version of WordPress and easy to use and install.

Siddhant Jain

CEO, VdoCipher. Writes about video tech, ed tech and media tech.

www.vdocipher.com/

The post Top 10 WordPress Plugins For E-Learning appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

Watermark on videos adds extra security for the video from screen capture by adding variables such as email, IP or date information to the videos. Custom variables are now supported in plugin 1.6

Default WordPress fields that can be added

Our plugin has been configured to replace the following strings in the annotation code by default:

• {name} – Current User display name
• {email} – Current User email
• {username} – Current User Login
• {id} – Current User ID

Till version 1.5 of our WordPress video hosting plugin, watermark on videos could only have a limited number of dynamic variables. With version 1.6, we have now added filter hooks on the annotation code to enable other plugins or themes to change the annotation code.

Custom filter addition to the WordPress hook

You can now add a custom filter to the hook `vdocipher_annotate_preprocess` . Example code for adding custom filter is:

function customfunc($vdo_annotate_code){
 $customVariable = "Hello world";
 $vdo_annotate_code = str_replace('{var1}', $customVariable, $vdo_annotate_code);
 return $vdo_annotate_code;
}

add_filter('vdocipher_annotate_preprocess', 'customfunc');

Display WordPress Default field like User Fullname

An example code to display the full name is as follows:

function customvdofunc($vdo_annotate_code){
    $fullname = "";
    if (is_user_logged_in()) {
        $current_user = wp_get_current_user();
        $firstname = $current_user->user_firstname;
        $lastname = $current_user->user_lastname;
        $fullname = $firstname . " " . $lastname;
     }
     $vdo_annotate_code = str_replace('{fullname}', $fullname, $vdo_annotate_code);
     return $vdo_annotate_code;
}
add_filter('vdocipher_annotate_preprocess', 'customvdofunc');

This would replace the string ‘{fullname}’ in the watermark code to the fullname of the logged in user.

JSON Code addition to the VdoCipher WordPress Plugin

The above code enables you to replace the token {var1} with the value of $customVariable. You can then use an annotation code like:

[
{'type':'rtext', 'text':'Your IP : {ip}', 'alpha':'0.8', 'color':'0xFF0000','size':'12','interval':'5000'},
{'type':'text', 'text':'{var1}', 'alpha':'0.5' , 'x':'150', 'y':'100', 'color':'0xFF0000', 'size':'12'}
]

This code on going through the above filter will become

[
{'type':'rtext', 'text':'Your IP : {ip}', 'alpha':'0.8', 'color':'0xFF0000','size':'12','interval':'5000'},
{'type':'text', 'text':'Hello world', 'alpha':'0.5' , 'x':'150', 'y':'100', 'color':'0xFF0000', 'size':'12'}
]

This function can be placed in the functions.php file in your theme. It is recommended to create a child theme before making such edits.

Example Steps to configure custom field “Phone number” as a watermark

You can configure user-specific details like “phone numbers” as a watermark using the VdoCipher WordPress video plugin annotation field and add_filter function in the functions file. shortcode embedded in WordPress.

Note: This phone number is a Custom Field created for illustration using a  plugin named “Advanced Custom Fields” and the name for this custom field is phone_number. You might not need to configure such custom fields, your membership plugin that you might be using would already have such custom field addition functionality. The phone number addition of a user on their profile needs to be managed and taken care of from your WordPress setup side. Your WordPress developers can check and implement it. For this example, the sample WordPress viewer playing the video has the phone number  887788778877 on his profile.

Below is a code demonstrating the usage of a sample function for displaying the saved phone number as a watermark and plugin setup.

Additions in functions.php WordPress file

1. Login to your WordPress account having theme editor access.
2. Open functions.php through Appearance>Theme File Editor or Tools>Theme File Editor
3. Add given below custom PHP function in the functions.php file and save the file.

function customvdofunc($vdo_annotate_code){
   $Phonenumber = "";
   if (is_user_logged_in()) {
       $current_user = wp_get_current_user();
       $PNO = $current_user->phone_number;
          }
    $vdo_annotate_code = str_replace('{Phonenumber}', $PNO, $vdo_annotate_code);
    return $vdo_annotate_code;
}
add_filter('vdocipher_annotate_preprocess', 'customvdofunc');

Adding JSON to the VdoCipher WordPress Plugin field

You need to add the following JSON code in the plugin settings to call the custom function and display the viewer’s phone number as a watermark.

[{"type":"rtext", "text":"{Phonenumber}", "alpha":"0.90","color":"#FFFF00","size":"12","interval":"5000","skip":5000}]

On playback of the videos, the watermark will show the phone number of the viewer playing the video. Similarly, you can call other custom or WordPress data fields via functions.php and display the same by adding more lines of JSON code in the VdoCipher plugin field.

The post Custom variables as watermark on WordPress videos appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

WordPress is one of the fastest ways to build a working website. WordPress and its themes and plugins are used by developers to create truly awesome websites with minimal effort.

Many users combine our secure video streaming service with their video membership sites built on WordPress. Here we explain how to add the VdoCipher video player to your site using the VdoCipher WordPress plugin. With the VdoCipher WordPress video hosting plugin, you can stream videos on your WordPress site with the best content protection possible.

Our streaming service uses encryption of videos during streaming and OTP-based decryption to provide the highest protection from video piracy. We also provide a highly customizable video player, with a large variety of player themes to choose from. We are improving our plugin gradually and would love to receive inputs from users about any new features they would like us to add.

Integrating VdoCipher’s WordPress Video Hosting Plugin

Installing the VdoCipher WordPress video hosting plugin is pretty straightforward. Here are the steps that you would need to follow.

1. 1. Create account on VdoCipher. Upon sign up, you will find the Client Secret Key in the Config section in the Dashboard. This key is meant to be as confidential as a password, so it is essential that you keep it safe. You will need this key to authorize the plugin to play videos from your VdoCipher account.
   2. On your WordPress dashboard, search for “VdoCipher” on Add plugins page.

3. Click “Install now”. This will install the VdoCipher WordPress video hosting plugin.
4. Click on the link “Activate”. On the top of this page, you will see a message. “Click here to configure VdoCipher”.
5. In the next page, enter the Client secret key from Step 1. On entering the Client Secret Key, you would be shown a status: ready message.
6. You can now upload or import videos to your VdoCipher dashboard. Once the video is added successfully, you would find the video ID as part of the video information.

The following video has been added using the VdoCipher video plugin. The video uses multiple watermarks, details of which we provide below.

Using the VdoCipher WordPress Video Hosting Plugin

Once you have configured the VdoCipher plugin with the Client Secret key, you are ready to start streaming your premium videos through your WordPress website. You can embed your video inside of posts and pages. Depending on the WordPress version that you are using, there are two different kind of editors:

WordPress Classic Editor

The TinyMCE-based WordPress text editor is used by default in WordPress versions less than 5.0. To add videos to your posts and page you can use the following shortcode. You would need to replace the 12345678 with the video id. The plugin parses the shortcode behind the scenes to display the video every time the page is loaded.

[vdo id='12345678']

WordPress Visual (Blocks) Editor

WordPress 5.0 has introduced a paradigm shift to the experience of adding new content to your web pages. A visual editor, comprised of blocks representing different content types, has now become default.

You can now add videos to your site using the VdoCipher block. The VdoCipher block only requires the video ID, so you no longer need to remember the shortcode syntax.

Note that the shortcode is completely supported. To embed using the shortcode you can either use the shortcode block or else use the shortcode inside a paragraph block.

Configuring VdoCipher WordPress video hosting plugin

You can go to the settings menu of the VdoCipher WordPress video hosting plugin to configure video settings.

Watermark your video with text

You can use our watermark feature inside the plugin to add text on your videos.  Adding moving text with viewer information is an extra deterrent to people sharing recorded videos.  You can configure the plugin to add annotation over your videos.

You need to set up “annotation code” in the Settings > VdoCipher page.  Go to plugins > VdoCipher> settings > annotation statement, and put the watermark code there. This code tells us how and what to embed over your videos. A sample watermark code for dynamic text watermark is given here below.

[
{'type':'rtext', 'text':' {ip}', 'alpha':'0.20', 'color':'0x000000','size':'12','interval':'2000'},
{'type':'text', 'text':' {date.h:i:s A}', 'alpha':'0.30' , 'x':'60', 'y':'200', 'color':'0x000000', 'size':'11','interval':'3000'},
{'type':'rtext', 'text':' {email}', 'alpha':'0.20', 'color':'0x000000','size':'12','interval':'2000'},
{'type':'rtext', 'text':' {username}', 'alpha':'0.20', 'color':'0x000000','size':'12','interval':'2000'}]

[ {'type':'rtext', 'text':' [ip]', 'alpha':'0.30', 'color':'0xFF0000','size':'13','interval':'2000','skip':'2000'} ]

For further details on creating your annotation code, read on here: Add watermark over videos

Once set, the annotation code is applied over all VdoCipher videos in WordPress. If you want a particular video not to show the annotation, you need to pass another attribute to the short-code.

[vdo id='12345678' no_annotate=true]

Player Themes

You can choose from a variety of custom player themes to customize your video player. You can go to the player themes page from the options page to select the player theme that you like best.

You can find all currently live player themes at Video Player Themes. If you have any specific requirements you can let us know via mail at support@vdocipher.com.

When the player theme is set from the settings page it applies to all videos. You can also give different themes for different videos. This can be done via the shortcode, by adding the vdo_theme attribute, like so:

[vdo id='123456789' vdo_theme='e2dbde7971d145cd9a3bc0271b75b0a5']

Setting Height and Width

You can set the default height and width in the settings page. You can set any width (in case specified width exceeds the width of the user’s screen or the width of the parent HTML element, the video player will fit into the limiting width). By setting default height to auto you can preserve the aspect ratio of the video. You can also set the height and width using attributes inside the shortcode, as well as inside the video block for WP Visual Editor, like so:

[vdo id='123456789' width='1280' height='auto']

Video Players – Flash and HTML5

While VdoCipher started out with streaming protected content using Flash, our HTML5 player now also provides Hollywood-grade security. The major advantage of HTML5 over Flash is that it delivers a superior streaming experience, and has the highest compatibility across browser. While we continue support Flash for legacy users, we highly recommend that users opt for HTML5 player for their videos.

Player Version

As of our WordPress video plugin version, 1.25 the latest video player version is 1.6.10. The VdoCipher video player is regularly improved to deliver the best user experience and to get the best data for advanced analytics. We request users to regularly update the player version to the latest player when they update the plugin.

Sell videos online

For selling videos online, VdoCipher is an extremely good option to protect your content from being freely distributed. You can set up an e-commerce video platform with WordPress itself.

One option would be to set up a membership site with multiple subscription options. This way your customers can pay a subscription fees and get access to content according to the level of subscription they buy. Such a system can be set up using membership plugin.

Similarly, you can have a pay-per-view option for your platform where your visitors have to pay a one-time charge for watching a video. You can restrict the number of times and for how much duration you want to give access to the content. Such a system can be set up with WooCommerce plugin. You might have to use another plugin Woocommerce pay per post to achieve this. You can further customize the plugin for the restrictions and user flow that you might like to achieve.

Supercharge your WordPress website – blogs to help you build an awesome website

Learning Management Systems and Membership plugins

WP eMember for managing WordPress Memberships
Sensei LMS features
Tutorial to get started with Sensei LMS

Watermark details

Add Text to Videos with Watermark
Custom Variables as Watermark in WordPress

Custom player themes

Video Player Themes – Add Custom Skins and Change Player Controls
Change video player color using custom CSS

If you are looking to create video e-commerce platform online or just want to  protect your online videos on WordPress, go ahead and use our wordpress video hosting plugin. In case you have any feedback, suggestions or bugs, we would be happy to hear from you at support@vdocipher.com

So, try out our WordPress video hosting plugin to embed videos on wordpress. Try the free full version 5 GB trial at www.vdocipher.com for protecting WordPress videos from download. Secure, Smooth and Affordable video streaming solution.

The post WordPress video hosting plugin : Add Secure Videos to your WP site appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

Siddhant Jain

CEO, VdoCipher. Writes about video tech, ed tech and media tech.

www.vdocipher.com/

The post Video Player Themes – Add Custom Skins and Change Player Controls appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

This is a text + image guide, and soon we are going to release a video on the same steps, to get clear visual perspective of things. Here are the classification points –

1. Introduction
2. Local WordPress setup with MAMP & XAMPP
3. Installing Woocommerce (E-commerce plugin)
4. Installing Sensei (WordPress course plugin)
5. Alternate to Sensei (other WordPress LMS plugins)
6. LMS theme for Course template and homepage
7. Installing VdoCipher streaming plugin
8. Theme basics & extra plugins for installation
9. Editing Menus & Widgets
10. Edit page content & designs through LMS & wordpress editor 
11. Edit images, font, text in homepage template & other pages
12. Buddha Panel for more theme settings
13. Sensei hierarchy explained
14. Adding  courses & classes
15. How to add Videos & text to courses
16. How to manage learners, teachers
17. Integrating Sensei with Woocommerce for pricing & Detailed Sensei Settings
18. Integrating payment gateway like Paypal, Stripe
19. How it looks for a student
20. Support Links 
21. Free VdoCipher Trial
    

1. Introduction

Course website creation in WordPress is about choosing a combination of appropriate themes ,plugins and being able to modify their settings and customisation for best of your need. The blog aims to provide ready to go options for each of such settings of plugin and theme. A step by step approach ensures that you don’t miss any essential point from the workflow for teacher and student.

2. Local WordPress setup with MAMP

A finished website will be eventually live on servers/CDN. Based on scale of usage, the servers can be from dedicated hosting, shared hosting, international cloud providers like AWS, Google etc.  For this article, we provide some details to how to setup site on your computer’s localhost to be able to build the whole website once for yourself. Hosting can then be handled by the server tech guys.

The following article is a detailed guide on setting up MAMP on Mac computers for local wordpress setup. It has all the images and detailed steps to make it easier for you. While for windows user, the article by wpmudev will be useful.

Here are the two important links to download wordpress and download MAMP.

3. Installing Woocommerce (E-commerce Plugin)

Woocommerce is the most popular plugin for selling things. It includes variety of customisations around membership and payment to help you do so. WooCommerce also accepts to link WooCommerce to eBay, Etsy, Amazon or other different multiple channels. Woocommerce download

4. Installing Sensei (WordPress LMS Plugin)

Sensei is one of the popular wordpress LMS plugins which handles course, lesson creation. It works with woo-commerce at the backend.  It is a one time paid plugin and the value it provides in ease and detail of use, it is affordable.

5. Alternate to Sensei for WordPress LMS

Sensei is not the only good plugin for wordpress LMS. Some other good options are LearnDash, LifterLMS & LearnPress.

6. LMS wordpress theme for Homepage & design templates

A theme is necessary to ensure good aesthetics for the wordpress course website.  WPLMS is a popular on themeforest. Other good theme is LMS theme.  More themes can be looked at envanto markeplace. Please ensure that theme you are looking for is compatible with your LMS. The best thing about LMS theme is that support is very good. For most queries, there is already a support page for the relevant content, or you can post new. 

Common Missing style sheet error – A common error while installing themes with wordpress is missing style sheet. It can be solved by following the procedure explained here.  

Installing template homepage – Go to Theme settings > LMS option >, Importer > Demo > Requires extra plugins

7. Installing VdoCipher WordPress Plugin

Video courses are the major part of any online education business. VdoCipher encryption and viewer specific watermarking ensures that no downloader or hack can download/pirate your videos. The VdoCipher’s WordPress video hosting plugin includes server to player solution with DRM security solution. The VdoCipher plugin can be downloaded here. 

8. Theme Basics & Extra Plugins required

The LMS theme comes with a template homepage and pre-defined stock fonts , images and other detailed design. In the following steps, we will explain how to edit each of them.

Installing template homepage & Extra plugins- Go to Theme settings > LMS option >, Importer > Demo > Requires extra plugins

While you try to install the template homepage, it will ask you for allowing to download and install a set of other plugins. These extra plugins are basically to manage media and design elements. You can choose to proceed with all free such plugins that are required. If you are looking to do a homepage from scratch, then it is not needed.

9. Edit Menu & Widget

On the right side in wordpress panel, there is an option to customise appearance. Appearance has sections like ‘theme’ , ‘menu’, ‘widget’. Menus and widgets can be both edited from either the theme section or directly the menu/widget section. It is somewhat easier to visualise and edit after going through the theme section. So, select the theme section and edit the menu and widget from there. These sections look like screenshots attached here.

Step1.     Step2.     

Step3 

As you can see in menu, there are various options to add – You can add normal buttons with links to any relevant pages (e.g pricing), things from your LMS plugin (like courses, products, lessons, teachers etc). I have added ‘My courses’ and ‘All courses’ in menu as it should be relevant for all the students. You can add more things like Pricing, Contact us etc.

10.  Edit page content & design through LMS & WordPress editor

• Go to WordPress admin home panel. On left most widget, there is an option to add pages.
• Click on adding new page. If you have correctly installed LMS theme, it will show a custom LMS based editor.
• An option to switch to wordpress editor is always there. Editing in both editors simultaneously can mess up with design many times. It is good to use any single editor for most of the operations.
• You can click on add modules and start design & editing content. It is quite intuitive in nature, you should be able to quickly add text and other sections.
• Note – We have seen that sometimes these custom editors change the backend code making some short codes not to work. So , some testing and iteration is to be done for correct working of short code. Short codes can be either put in module section or wordpress editor. They should work in module section most of the times directly, if they dont you can try wordpress editor.
• There are visual and text editing section in editors, for things like short code or any other code, text editor is preferred. For other content like text, images, visual section is good to use.

Adding content to page

Design element in LMS editor panel

11. Edit Images, Font, Icon in Homepage/other pages

You can go to pages section to see the list of template pages already available. Text addition and editing is easy, you can directly add modules for text. Here , I explain how to identify & edit existing stuff – icon, images, font, text etc.

Search for home in the pages already available, you will be able to find a list of pages. A quick look at them will take you to the main home page. You can see that the page opens in LMS editor and various modules for each of design element like columns, images is already there. We need to edit these template modules according to our needs to quickly launch a beautiful new homepage.

The following support page from theme site explains icon editing in detail. To add custom icons as it says –

1.  Upload your custom icon in  media library.
2.  You can then upload that icon under the custom icon field.
3. You can also use fontawesome icon by putting their appropriate titles.

Step 1 Step2 

To add images, go to any module/add module, and add image by using add media option.

12. Buddha Panel for more theme settings

1. Go to left widget of appearance.
2. Select themes options.
3. Choose LMS theme.
4. Select ‘LMS options’, it will open Buddha Panel
5. Buddha Panel is a detailed editor for overall site design
6. There are lot of options ,main ones being Appearance, Sensei etc. You can go through each of them, and edit it for your convenience.

13. Sensei hierarchy explained

Sensie wordpress course plugin allows for creation of courses, lessons and questions which follow the hierachy as explained in above diagram. More can be read here. 

14. How to add courses, classes with Sensei

Once Sensei LMS plugin is installed, the left panel has options for Sensei settings, courses and classes. You can click on them to add courses and classes. Details, title , time period all are editable here. Module is a sub section of course which can be used to create lessons.

15. Adding videos to Sensei LMS courses

Video streaming is key part of any lecture content. Though there are options to add youtube embed for free hosting, but the videos can be easily downloaded and pirated. VdoCipher plugin enables encrypted and watermark playback to prevent any such downloads or leakages.

1. Use client secret key from Vdocipher dashboard config. (Free account register available).
2. Put the key in wordpress vdocipher plugin settings page.
3. Use annotation statement for user specific watermark.
4. Use short code like [vdo id="df12xwe321ssd"] in any course or lesson page to embed secure videos. Id here is the video id string for each video available from VdoCipher dashboard.
5. Theme can be customised to allow some buttons or change color of player.

16. Managing Learners, Teachers & Grading

Options to add and edit learners , their grading and teachers is available in left panel. Above screenshots explain how to find and edit them.

17. Sensei with Woo-commerce for pricing & Detailed Sensei settings

> Go to Sensei panel on left
> select settings option
> Select Woo-commerce Tab
> Select ‘Use WooCommerce to sell Courses by linking a Product to a Course.’
> Go to products section to set pricing and other selling parameters
> Add product details, then select the checkbox for the Virtual product to remove shipping information from checkout and Save.
> Go to Lessons
> All Courses and Edit the course you want to attach to your new product.
> Go to: WooCommerce Product in the right sidebar to attach the product.
> Select Update to save.

This would create your course as a product which can be then put a price and sold through woo-commerce. Screenshots for both the steps are included below. More details can be found in support page. 

18. Integrating payment gateway like Paypal , Stripe

• Go to Woocommerce option in left panel.
• Select Settings option. Multiple top tab options are visible.
• Select Checkout option. It enlists various options for payment gateway
• You can choose amongst what suits you, paypal & stripe the two most common international payment gateway are also there. Screenshot is attached for this.

19. How it looks for a student ?

You can go to a course and open it from an incognito window or after logging out of wp. You should be able to see a student perspective of course/lesson.

20. Support Links 

1. Theme installation support
2. Support for icon & more editing in pages
3. Woocommerce Sensei Support

21. VdoCipher Free Trial 

A free full version trial of Vdocipher upload and embed system to embed videos on WordPress via a plugin is available. Please register here for free 30 day trial

A demo video on how VdoCipher helps e-learning content creators to maximise their revenue is shown below.

Siddhant Jain

CEO, VdoCipher. Writes about video tech, ed tech and media tech.

www.vdocipher.com/

The post WordPress Plugin Sensei & LMS theme for Course Website Creation: Guide appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

In this blogpost I discuss how you can build an E-learning website. I make the recommendations on the basis of the following five parameters:

1. Technical Skills required to create the website
2. Features and Customization available
3. Cost of solution for building website
4. Time to build solution
5. Expected Number of students and scaling with increasing numbers

The four methods that you can use to create your E-learning website are:

1. Coding using PHP/ ASP/Jave/ Node.JS
2. Content Management Systems – WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Moodle
3. Website Builders – Weebly, Wix, SquareSpace
4. E-Learning Website builders – Teachable, WebAnywhere

Here is a video explaining in full detail all the options. A text version of video is also included below.

Coding Using PHP/ ASP/ Node.JS

Technical Skills required

A website may be built from scratch using PHP, ASP and Node.Js. Naturally building these websites would either require an in-house website developer or should be outsourced to web designer. Which of the coding platforms – PHP, ASP or Node.JS you opt for would depend largely on the preferences and comfort levels of the developer in your team/ the web designer that you hire. PHP is one of the most popular scripting languages, while Node.JS is the newest website runtime environment which has seen massive adoption for websites. Alongside choosing the language, you would need to setup the server and database as well. For building a large website you can use a custom solution with a dedicated server on Amazon Web Services. For single-website usages (the more likely scenario) for E-learning websites, you can opt for shared web server hosting, using for example GoDaddy.

Features and Customization

Since your website is being built from the ground up, you have the widest possible options for customization for features that you wish to incorporate. For instance, as a security mechanism against sharing of login credentials, you may set an upper limit on overall time a student may be logged in to the system. Such a solution can be implemented while building the website code.

One thing that you should make clear is to ensure that the code is well documented. Good documentation ensures continuity between different developer teams.

Cost of Solution

Such a solution would require a dedicated software development team to build. Support and maintenance are also additional issues that you would need to work on.

Time to Build Solution

Keep a time period of 2-3 months for such a website to build. To minimize site development time you should have developed a good understanding of the design and structure of your website, and communicated that to the developer. This would ensure minimal confusion in the website development process

Scale of website and Expected Number

1,000+ expected annual users – You would be able to incorporate features specifically on the basis of user requirements. It is important to make sure that appropriate security features are installed in the website framework.

Content Management Systems – WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Moodle

Technical Skills required

Such an option mainly requires familiarity with the CMS interface. These skills can be learnt quite easily by beginners. A number of our clients – independent artists and individual teachers – have easily setup their WordPress and Moodle websites for hosting their E-learning courses. There would be a one-time effort in setting up the server though. Moodle video player must be customizable and should be available as a plugin.

Features and Customization

Moodle is an LMS, and is therefore designed as an E-learning platform. WordPress on the other hand is a Content Management System, to which you can add LMS functionality through WordPress plugins.

Cost of Solution

Costs of building websites on Content Management Systems include cost of plugins for adding functionalities. WordPress and Joomla offer plugins such as Sensei, Guru and eMember, which simplify the process of course-creation considerably. Many of the useful plugins available are paid, while a lot of them are free as well (generally free plugins offer specific solutions, while paid plugins bundle a whole lot of useful features together). Cost-wise this is the cheapest solution, as the CMS itself is free – the only costs are the plugins and the server hosting.

Time to Build Solution

Expect a time to launch between 15 to 30 days for a fully functional CMS hosted site.

Scale of website and Expected Number

Such a solution would work pretty good upto a number of 10,000 students. There is no lower limit to the number of students, as costs are low.

Website Builders – Weebly, Wix, SquareSpace

Technical Skills required

In this solution the website hosting company uses a basic website template that they use.

Features and Customization

Such a website would follow a basic template, and there are not many options to customize additional features.

Cost of Solution

The cost of building websites include purchasing the website template and server hosting.

Time to Build Solution

Fast – You need very little time to deploy such a video hosting solution. Server setup and configuration of the website would take time between 7-10 days.

Scale of website and Expected Number

Implementing such a website is best for the case of fast-deployment of your e-learning platform. Because time of launch and costs are priority in this, such a solution would be appropriate for upto 100 users paying for the course. Beyond this number this solution fails to add the customizations you need to cater to the growing list of users.

E-Learning Website builders – Teachable, WebAnywhere

Technical Skills required

There is no coding required. Most features can be implemented using drag-and-drop

Features and Customisation

Teachable and WebAnywhere offer ready-to-use E-Learning themes, Student management options, Media and text addition, Membership Access, Server hosting and Database management.

The features that these sites offer are sufficient for most e-learning website creators. These sites however are not very customizable in terms of additional security features or tweaks in User Interface. UI additions such as adding comment sections to pages, and security restrictions such as restricting login time on page, are not available when you opt for this solution.

Cost of Solution

Costs are dependent on the features you integrate, and the number of students enrolled. Because the websites are designed specifically for e-learning such a solution is somewhat more expensive than the case of ready-to-make websites.

Time to Build Solution

7-10 days

Scale of website and Expected Number

Such a website solution would be appropriate for upto 1000 annual users. This is the approximate number of students you can manage without the need to alter your User Interface and backend. Beyond this number you should explore CMS hosting or creating your own website.

Suggestions

When you set about creating an e-learning website I recommend that you check other websites in similar areas. You can use the tool BuiltWith to analyze the tech stack on which any website is made. If you find that 8 out of 10 of your competitors use a particular tech stack, then implementing that stack would be the most reliable way to build an e-learning site.

Streaming E-Learning Videos And Protection From Piracy

The reasons I am specifically writing a different section on video streaming for e-Learning is because:

1. Video courses are typically the lifeline of any e-Learning portal and second
2. Video streaming and safeguarding the video content from piracy is a major technical challenge, which the 4 options discussed do not solve inherently themselves. Most of E-Learning sites use some premium video streaming provider to cater to their streaming needs.

Streaming bufferless for HD worldwide and ensuring smooth delivery to regions in Africa and India with slow connections is a major problem. YouTube is quite good in this aspect, but lacks business friendly customization. Vimeo has a B2B offering that is quite popular and is okay in terms of streaming experience. YouTube and Vimeo use standard streaming protocols to deliver video content, and thus a lot of free plugins and downloaders are able to grab and download the videos. For this reason, a more custom video player, providing higher security and flexibility to manage video related features, is needed for premium videos. Here is the link to implement and compare secure technologies used in video hosting for education. Many of the top e-Learning companies either go for a combination of the above solutions or build proprietary systems of their own (for example Udemy and BYJU’s).

I will be happy to have feedback and questions in the comments section below or on my LinkedIn profile. You can also share your experience with above technologies and any interesting insights.

A version of this blog was first published on E-learningIndustry.com

FAQs Around Building an E-learning Website

What are the key features to include in an e-learning website to ensure effective learning and user engagement?

Key features should include interactive elements like quizzes and simulations, diverse multimedia content such as videos and infographics to cater to different learning styles, assessment tools for feedback and progress tracking, and social learning features to enable peer interaction and collaboration.

How do content management systems (CMS) like WordPress compare to dedicated e-learning platforms for creating an e-learning site?

CMSs offer flexibility and are cost-effective, while e-learning platforms provide specialized tools but may limit customization.

What are the expected costs and time investment for each method of building an e-learning website?

Costs and timelines vary significantly, from affordable and quick website builders to more time-intensive and costly custom coding.

How does the choice of technology impact the scalability of an e-learning website?

The selection between CMS, custom coding, website builders, and e-learning platforms affects how well the site can scale with increasing numbers of students.

Siddhant Jain

CEO, VdoCipher. Writes about video tech, ed tech and media tech.

www.vdocipher.com/

The post How to Build an E-Learning Website: 5 Point evaluation appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.