In our November product update we added improved support for a lesser known feature of podcasting - Podcast Chapters.
We had a great response from podcasters looking to take advantage of chapters, so this month we’ve added some additional feature support, as well as updates to our embeddable web player.
Chapter Images
Some podcatchers allow you to add individual images to each chapter and will switch the displayed image (replacing your show / episode image) as each chapter in an episode is played back.
You can now add unique chapter images when adding chapter markers to an episode.
Chapter URLs
Another feature of chapters that some podcatchers support are chapter urls.
Each chapter can have a hyperlink that a user can click to visit a web page.
Here’s an example of how Pocket Casts displays chapter URLs - note the small link icons next to each chapter length:
Web Player Chapters Support
The Whooshkaa Web Player now includes full support for chapter markers.
Show Chapters
When generating your embed code, you now have an option to “Show Chapters” on the web player. You can also customise the colour of your chapter markers.
Chapter markers will appear as interactive bars on the Whooshkaa Web Player, displaying the title of each chapter (see example below).
Clicking a chapter marker skips playback to the start of that chapter.
Chapter Images
We’ve also added support for chapter images to the Whooshkaa Web Player.
As a simple example below we’ve added an image for each chapter featuring the story number, click through the chapters to see the image change.
Chapter URLs
If you have added URLs your chapters, a link icon will appear next to the chapter title. Clicking the link will open in a new browser tab.
In the example below we’ve added a link to the relevant Wikipedia page for each chapter.
Here’s an example of chapter display in the Whooshkaa Web Player:
Thank You
That’s it for our final product update of 2019.
As always, we welcome your feedback and thank you for choosing Whooshkaa as your podcast platform.
From all of us here at Whooshkaa, have a happy and safe Christmas, see you in 2020.
