The most important of these new features is <strong>the playlist system</strong>. This feature allows any user to create a playlist in which it's possible to add videos and reorder them. Videos added to a playlist can be viewed entirely or partially: the creator of the playlist can decide when the video playback starts and/or ends (timecode system). This system is really useful to create all kinds of zappings or educational contents by selecting extracts from videos which interest you. In addition, a "Watch Later" playlist is created by default for each user. Thus, you can save videos in this playlist when you don't have time to watch them immediately.
The sidebar menu has been completely reworked, thanks to the UX design work we did with Marie Cécile Paccard. It is now way easyier to interact with you profile or to distinguish pages displaying what's in your Library from what's on your instance federation bubble.
The work in progress on the PeerTube experience is going well: several interviews have been conducted, and our designer will soon be sending us summaries with her recommendations. In addition, we are planning to work together on the menus organization, but don't be impatient! This is an in-depth work and the results may only be visible in a few months 😉.
There is also a new plugin that allows to silence or block a list of predefined instances: our thanks to those who have started to create, publish and share their blocking lists, we hope that this kind of initiatives will multiply!
There is still a lot to tell about this v3, and people who contributed to make it happen. That's a good thing, because we will talk about it in January, for the v3 release post.
You can <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://github.com/Chocobozzz/PeerTube/issues">create an issue</a>, contribute to it, or even start contributing by choosing the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://github.com/Chocobozzz/PeerTube/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3A%22good+first+issue+%3Abeginner%3A%22"> easy problems for those who begin </a>. See <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://docs.joinpeertube.org/#/contribute-getting-started">contributing guide</a> for more information.
These four features are all implemented, and can already be used on instances updated to version <em>v1.0.0-beta.10</em> (for example <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://framatube.org">https://framatube.org</a>). Regarding the subtitles support, you can test them on the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://framatube.org/videos/watch/217eefeb-883d-45be-b7fc-a788ad8507d3"> the "What is PeerTube"</a> video.
These improvements are the result of the many contributions of the members of the PeerTube community (thank you!), but also of a year of work that we have financed through <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://soutenir.framasoft.org">donations that support all of our association's projects</a>, currently in a <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://contributopia.org/journal">donation campaign</a>.
This <a href="https://framagit.org/framasoft/peertube/search-index" target="_blank">index engine code</a> is under FLOSS license so that anyone can host their own index engine and set their own eligibility rules. As an example, if you want to set up a search interface that only allows you to search for videos hosted on instances dedicated to video games, you will just have to create a list including all instances URLs you have selected and put it online. So that the index engine can refer to it and return you the appropriate results.
This <a target="_blank" href="https://framagit.org/framasoft/peertube/official-plugins/-/tree/master/peertube-plugin-video-annotation">annotation PeerTube plugin</a> allows you to display information in the player at a given time of a video. To do so, once the plugin is installed on the instance, you just have to go on the uploaded video information page, open the <i>Plugin settings</i> tab and then add your annotations and their time code. The placement of the annotations is in the player top right corner by default, but you can choose other locations. The annotations format must respect specific rules:
This index engine has common features with the PeerTube search engine (API). So, you could use this global search system in two different ways: by creating a dedicated web interface for it or by integrating it on a PeerTube instance search. We will give you more details on this feature on mid-July when we will publish the 2.3 release.
We are well aware of the shortcomings of PeerTube, especially in the moderation tools area (videos, comments, etc.). And we intend to work on these weaknesses.
This is the last newsletter regarding the PeerTube crowdfunding. We would like to thank you one more time, for allowing us to greatly improve PeerTube, and therefore to promote a more decentralized web. But the journey does not end here: we will continue to work on the software, and there is still a lot to do to fully free up video streaming. But before anything, we'll take a few days off ;)
