474833 - Only auto-hide video controls when the video is playing

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Toolkit :: Video/Audio Controls, defect)

Description

[Marcia Knous [:marcia]]

Spun off from https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=469211#c22

STR:
1. Play the video in the URL.
2. Use the pause control to stop the video
3. Need to mouse over the control to see the status

Would it be preferable to show the controls when the video is in a paused state?

Comment 1

[Nochum Sossonko [:Natch]]

IMHO there should be a (tbd)-sec delay between mousing out and fading out the controls, although that's probably for another bug. In the case of pause the delay should be a bit longer, say 30-second delay or something, then fade out. That way it would still be possible to catch a specific moment of the video without the controls in the way while still being intuitive.

Comment 2

[Fritz]

I'm not sure this is a good idea.  Sometimes I like to take screenshots of the movies I watch when paused and this just makes that harder (unless there will also be a way to turn off controls).  I also think we learn exactly where the controls will be so it really doesn't take any longer to restart after you've paused if the controls are roll-over or not, providing there is no lag in them popping up.

Comment 3

[Alfred Kayser]

I think it is preferable to have the controlBar shown always when the video is paused (or not started yet, or not stopped). I.e. to only hide the controlbar when the video is playing.

Note, there is already a way to explicitly force the hiding of the controlbar, using the context menu.

Note 2, for audio, don't hide the controlbar automatically (except when it is explicitly hidden via the context menu).

Comment 4

[Justin Dolske [:Dolske]]

The current design is intentional. At least one popular video site (Vimeo) also basically works the same way.

The basic thinking is to keep the controls non-intrusive, since we have to overlay the video and are this competing for with the intended content. Screenshots are one example (if not common), another issue is that the controls will obscure any text at the bottom of the video (eg: CNN news/stock ticker, titles, captions, etc.)

Maybe we'll rethink this in the future -- I don't think there's a strongly compelling reason it MUST be one way or the other. But for now, we'll stick with fading controls on mouseout when the video is paused.