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tom burton
Inspiring
January 2, 2019
Answered

How to hide video controls on playback

  • January 2, 2019
  • 4 replies
  • 7080 views

I've created a brief text animation in After Effects and exported it as an MP4 to place in an InDesign Publish Online file. It just a simple approach to jazz up a title. Unfortunately, when the files plays, it shows the video controls at the bottom of the clip -- even though I've selected "none" for showing the controller via InDesign.

Long-story-short: I just want it to play automatically and not show controls. Any ideas?

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer tom burton

    Actually, I ended up creating a GIF and that did the trick. Thanks to all for your suggestions!

    4 replies

    C
    clacane
    New Participant
    November 13, 2020

    I would try this:

    1. Place your video 

    2. Make a Frame with the same size of your Video/Gif but with aprox. - 50pt less at the bottom.

    3. Select your Video/Edit/Cut

    4. Select your frame/Edit/Paste Into

    5. Align the Video at the Top of the Frame in a way that the video control is out of the frame 

    T
    tom burtonAuthorCorrect answer
    Inspiring
    January 10, 2019

    Actually, I ended up creating a GIF and that did the trick. Thanks to all for your suggestions!

      Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
      Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
      Brainiac
      January 10, 2019

      Just want to mention that the poster's original question dovetails with accessibility requirements set by international accessibility standards (such as WCAG) and ADA requirements of the US and other countries.

      Any type of animation, regardless of the file format, should have controls for users to stop, slow down or speed up the visual and turn off the audio.  People with disabilities use software/hardware called "assistive technologies" that allow them to use computers. Audio/video/animations can prevent them from using a website, EPUB, PDF, or any other type of file. Some examples:

      • Someone with a cognitive disability might need to slow down or replay the A/V in order to see, hear, and comprehend it.
      • Someone with a neurological disability (like a brain injury from an accident) might need to turn it off to prevent having a seizure.
      • A deaf person might need closed captions to hear the audio portion.
      • Someone who is blind must be able to turn off the sound portion in order to use their screen reader that's reading the text content.

      This article talks further about the social needs of our users: The high cost of digital discrimination: why companies should care about web accessibility | Guardian Sustainable Busine…  Note the reference in the second bullet to a well-known lawsuit brought against Disney. Two grandmothers, who are blind, couldn't use the Disney website because the A/V clip on the site lacked controls to turn off the audio track. This prevented them from hearing their screen readers they used to "read" the text portions of the site. Cost Disney several million dollars to settle the suit...all because they left off the A/V controls. Stuff like this is a civil rights issue and more cases are being lodged against those of us who create content. Think "freedom of access to information."

      Based on what the original poster described for his animation, I doubt he's likely to get hit with an ADA lawsuit.

      But on the other hand, it's our responsibility to ensure that we make our designs available to everyone. So if you can, design for those A/V playback controls because someone somewhere will need to use them at some point. It's just the right thing for us to do.

      |    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |
        Diane Burns
        Diane Burns
        Inspiring
        January 10, 2019

        Good point, Bevi, thanks for posting. --db

        Srishti Bali
        Community Manager
        Srishti BaliCommunity Manager
        Community Manager
        January 10, 2019

        Hi Tom,

        I am afraid this would not be possible with Publish Online feature. You can try the workaround shared by Diane and share a feature request here: Adobe InDesign Feedback

        This is the best way of communicating with the Engineering and Product Management teams regarding issues and suggestions so they can be implemented in future releases.

        Regards,

        Srishti

          Diane Burns
          Diane Burns
          Inspiring
          January 7, 2019

          Normally you'd have to add some Javascript to disable the controls, which are shown by default on most browsers. Can't do that with Publish Online. There is a hack that may or may not work in your case.

          If an opaque (filled) rectangle is placed across the bottom of the video, the controls will not display. If you could add some black or blank space at the bottom of the video, you could then cover it in InDesign with a filled rectangle.

          Not pretty, but it does work.

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