6 ms·

PiP is such a great feature. I have no idea how easy/hard it was to implement but it feels nice to use. It does exactly what you'd expect it to do and nothing

PiP is such a great feature. I have no idea how easy/hard it was to implement but it feels nice to use. It does exactly what you'd expect it to do and nothing more. I use it while watching overwatch league games in the browser because it allows me to resize the popped-out video arbitrarily, instead of the site's embedded youtube player options of either tiny-window-in-browser or full-screen sizes (there is no theater mode in the embedded player for some reason).

zozos 6y ago
Same. It's great.
ashconnor 6y ago
It works better than the native support on OSX. A lot of videos I watch on Safari don't show the PIP button but work fine on Firefox.
- mikewhy 6y ago
  In Safari, you can right-click the speaker icon in the tab or address bar, and there's a PIP option in the menu. Not as accessible as Firefox for sure.
  - mthoms 6y ago
    Good to know, thanks. I suspect right click doesn't work when there's a transparent div over the video.
    - mikewhy 6y ago
      Luckily this is all in the browser's UI, nothing a webpage can do to block that.
  - cstuder 6y ago
    Well, that's exceptionally well hidden. Thank you for the tip.
- iaml 6y ago
  The actual pip window in firefox is not native and as such 1) doesn't support spaces that well 2) does not support minimizing 3) looks worse
asdff 6y ago
It is a little clunky and could use a good deal of polish. For example, you can only PiP one video, and controls remain in the tab with the video frame. PiP only gives you play/pause, no scrubbing or anything from the embedded player. The always on top is a feature for some, but can be a hindrance, too. That behavior should be a toggle for the user so they can use their tools how they like.
- philliphaydon 6y ago
  I wish I could get subtitle support on Netflix. Their app doesn't allow you to resize when its as always on top. PiP allows me to position it where and how I want, but lacks subtitles :(
  - asdff 6y ago
    IIRC there was a firefox extention that popped out anything into a browser window with a simple header. You'd have a quarter inch of header, but it would be like a poor mans PiP and you'd end up with more controls at your disposal than the native firefox solution.
- catalogia 6y ago
  These are a few of the reasons I've continued to use the "Open With" extension with mpv. ([right-click]->Open With->mpv) This provides full playback control, lets me toggle stay-on-top, etc. Firefox's PiP is a nice thought but just isn't right for me as currently implemented.
  - apetresc 6y ago
    Sorry, which extension is this? The only one I was able to find named "Open With" is pretty clearly not what you were referring to.
    - vezycash 6y ago
      MPV is a player. https://mpv.io/ https://mpv.io/
jiripospisil 6y ago
If you're interested in seeing it getting implemented, you can check out Mike Conley's YouTube channel. He regularly streams Firefox development and he's the main force behind PiP in Firefox. I believe the first episode where it's mentioned is #165 [0] but it spans over many of them. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_5zwg9Ucoc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_5zwg9Ucoc
- cpeterso 6y ago
  Here’s a Mozilla blog post from Mike Conley and Emanuela Damiani about implementing PiP in Firefox: https://hacks.mozilla.org/2020/01/how-we-built-picture-in-picture-in-firefox-desktop/ https://hacks.mozilla.org/2020/01/how-we-built-picture-in-pi...
harshalizee 6y ago
A long time ago, I wrote the PIP feature for browsers on the very first version of Android based Smart TVs (Phillips TVs). It used Mozilla's Gecko NPAPI plugin ( their version of WebKit) and built on top of Opera, the only one at the time that would support funnelling broadcast TV data at the time. It was pretty challenging, but still way more easier than trying to build with Safari, chrome. I always wondered why this feature never really became mainstream until now.

zozos 6y ago

Same. It's great.

ashconnor 6y ago

It works better than the native support on OSX. A lot of videos I watch on Safari don't show the PIP button but work fine on Firefox.

mikewhy 6y ago
In Safari, you can right-click the speaker icon in the tab or address bar, and there's a PIP option in the menu. Not as accessible as Firefox for sure.
- mthoms 6y ago
  Good to know, thanks. I suspect right click doesn't work when there's a transparent div over the video.
  - mikewhy 6y ago
    Luckily this is all in the browser's UI, nothing a webpage can do to block that.
- cstuder 6y ago
  Well, that's exceptionally well hidden. Thank you for the tip.
iaml 6y ago
The actual pip window in firefox is not native and as such 1) doesn't support spaces that well 2) does not support minimizing 3) looks worse

asdff 6y ago

It is a little clunky and could use a good deal of polish. For example, you can only PiP one video, and controls remain in the tab with the video frame. PiP only gives you play/pause, no scrubbing or anything from the embedded player. The always on top is a feature for some, but can be a hindrance, too. That behavior should be a toggle for the user so they can use their tools how they like.

philliphaydon 6y ago
I wish I could get subtitle support on Netflix. Their app doesn't allow you to resize when its as always on top. PiP allows me to position it where and how I want, but lacks subtitles :(
- asdff 6y ago
  IIRC there was a firefox extention that popped out anything into a browser window with a simple header. You'd have a quarter inch of header, but it would be like a poor mans PiP and you'd end up with more controls at your disposal than the native firefox solution.
catalogia 6y ago
These are a few of the reasons I've continued to use the "Open With" extension with mpv. ([right-click]->Open With->mpv) This provides full playback control, lets me toggle stay-on-top, etc. Firefox's PiP is a nice thought but just isn't right for me as currently implemented.
- apetresc 6y ago
  Sorry, which extension is this? The only one I was able to find named "Open With" is pretty clearly not what you were referring to.
  - vezycash 6y ago
    MPV is a player. https://mpv.io/ https://mpv.io/

jiripospisil 6y ago

If you're interested in seeing it getting implemented, you can check out Mike Conley's YouTube channel. He regularly streams Firefox development and he's the main force behind PiP in Firefox. I believe the first episode where it's mentioned is #165 [0] but it spans over many of them. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_5zwg9Ucoc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_5zwg9Ucoc

cpeterso 6y ago
Here’s a Mozilla blog post from Mike Conley and Emanuela Damiani about implementing PiP in Firefox: https://hacks.mozilla.org/2020/01/how-we-built-picture-in-picture-in-firefox-desktop/ https://hacks.mozilla.org/2020/01/how-we-built-picture-in-pi...

harshalizee 6y ago

A long time ago, I wrote the PIP feature for browsers on the very first version of Android based Smart TVs (Phillips TVs). It used Mozilla's Gecko NPAPI plugin ( their version of WebKit) and built on top of Opera, the only one at the time that would support funnelling broadcast TV data at the time. It was pretty challenging, but still way more easier than trying to build with Safari, chrome. I always wondered why this feature never really became mainstream until now.