Automatically adding licensing information for embedded content

[rczajka]

Problem

The plugin allows an author to set a license for her site or post, or insert a block with licensing info, by choosing from a set of CC licenses. There is also licensing information added to items in the media library, but no easy way to use that when embedding content.

Description

It would be useful to be able to add licensing and attribution information for embedded content (images, videos), based on this metadata in the media library, as automatically as possible, in an unobtrusive, but visible way.
This could be implemented as a block, which works just as regular media embedder, but also adds the layer licensing information.

Alternatives

The alternative is to accompany each instance of embedded content with a block with licensing information. This would mean the user has to always remember to provide the correct licensing information when embedding any image.

Additional context

Something similar (but not in a form of reusable plugin) is currently implemented on this site, under the orange (i) icon put on the embedded image:
https://centrumcyfrowe.pl/en/czytelnia/public-domain-your-raw-material-collages/

It will need to be checked for accessibility issues.

Implementation

• I would be interested in implementing this feature.

[annatuma]

Question: is there a link available to a demo of this, or even screenshots?

I do think generally the block approach is better than the hover icon, because then the license information is instantly communicated and less likely to be missed, but I'm interested in seeing how you've designed this.

[rczajka]

Hi,
You can now see a basic demo here:
https://wpcc.rc0.pl/2020/07/16/test-entry/

[kgodey]

@hugosolar @TimidRobot please add comments

@rczajka please also submit a PR so that we can review the code

[hugosolar]

I would be careful with the hover events on touch screens, usually it's not very accesible. I think I would prefer to switch the license display underneath the image on phone or tablets.
Because of this, it has some issues when I try to close the tooltip

[TimidRobot]

Due to the accessibility issues of hover pop-ups, I do not think they should be included. If a more accessible pop-up method was used, it should use CC icon (cc in circle) instead of BY icon (person in circle).

[rczajka]

Thanks for the comments.

I agree the accessibility issues still must be resolved before a PR could be considered.

I think moving the accessibility under the image for smaller screens is a good idea. Also, there was an idea to add a configuration switch to let the administrator decide if they want to just add the information below instead of the hover.

As for the icon: using the CC icon would make sense if usage was limited to media under CC licenses. Some media will be under other terms (like public domain, Free Art License). For them, we'd need to choose to:

• still use the CC icon — which wouldn't be appropriate,
• limit usage to CC-licensed content only,
• use other icon depending on the license — which might introduce some confusion.

[kgodey]

Regarding the icon, this plugin only supports CC licenses and tools, we don't currently support any other licenses. So we think the CC icon still makes sense.

[rczajka]

Hi,
after some discussions we'll be moving to hover-less solution (see attachment), so both the question of the hover accessibility, and the activation icon, are no longer relevant.

[annatuma]

That is a very clean approach! First column is creator name, and second column is image title? License icons will be linked to the Deed pages for the selected license, correct?

A very cool expansion of this feature would be an action available to someone who sees this image to embed it, as it stands, elsewhere. I know that's out of scope, but nothing to consider for the future, in terms of our aims to enable sharing.

[kgodey]

@rczajka looks good! Please make a PR when the code for it is ready.