When YouTube started making the star ratings and titles the default for the videos available from its site, I quit posting the videos on my blog. I also wrote a post in protest, not that that did any good. Being an artist, I couldn’t tolerate the visual crudeness that the clutter added to my blog. I vowed never to use YouTube videos again.

But I’ve found out how to get rid of the clutter! For WordPress users, there is a plugin called Viper’s Video Quicktags that gives you the option to eliminate the stars and titles, but the plugin can’t be used with an off-line editor, to the best of my knowledge. You have to write your post from the admin panel of WordPress, though you could probably create a post with an off-line editor, post it, and then edit the post from the admin panel. I haven’t tried that yet – it might work.

There is another way to get rid of the clutter: edit the embed code for the video. If this seems difficult, it really isn’t. Mike Abundo offers simple instructions on how to do it on his website. All you have to do is insert &showinfo=0 in two places in the embed code.

For blogs on other platforms (TypePad, Joomla, Blogger, etc.), do an internet search for a solution.

I’m real happy with the results! I just hated what the clutter did to the eye appeal of my blog!