YoTricks.com

By llamabot | October 20, 2009

YoTricks.com is a yo-yo trick video website. Unlike most websites that rely on words to convey their content, YoTricks.com uses video. This presented several unique challenges in web design.

The first challenge is search engine optimization; more specifically, how do you make a site that relies on video search-able to text-based search engines. This problem was overcome by adding SWFObject alternate content to each of the videos and by including video transcripts on each page. In general, few yo-yo players would be interested in reading the video transcripts so they are discreetly concealed using a javascript drop down mechanism. This way the page is still attractive and functional while being eminently search-able.

The second challenge is site organization. Each trick needed to be arranged by trick category and in order of difficulty. Arranging tricks by category was easy because the functionality is built into wordpress. The sub-arrangement of difficulty was achieved by adding a hidden meta-number to each post that quantifies each trick’s difficulty. This way, within each category, the tricks can be arranged numerically.

Finally, to make the site easy to use any trick can be played from the main post or from the sidebar. This means the user need click on fewer links and open fewer pages to find and view the trick videos. Combine this with superior video quality and expert content and you have one of the best yo-yo trick video websites online.