Electronics
Share your videos
Introduction
Watch other people's home video clips and show off your own creations on the YouTube website.
Home movie files are usually too big to email, so the free YouTube website is the ideal place to share your masterpieces. You can upload your movie and let friends access your clips, or even share them with the world.
Our beginners guide takes you through the process of finding and sharing video clips on YouTube.
Finding video clips
Search for video clips
Go to www.youtube.com and search for video clips by typing keywords, such as 'sport', into the Search For box in the top-right corner > Search.
A list of clips that match your search criteria will appear. To refine your search, click any link in the Search Modifiers box that appears on the left.
Browse video clips
Alternatively you can browse any clip you find interesting by clicking on the blue Videos tab at the top of the page. You'll automatically be presented with the 'Most Viewed' clips of the day.
To change the selection click a link, such as Top Rated, in the grey bar that appears at the top of the screen.
Watch a clip
Clicking on a thumbnail image or title takes you to that clip's page. The video should load and play in a box on the left-hand side of the screen.
You can click on the Play/pause and Stop buttons just underneath the picture.
To increase the volume, click and drag the volume slider.
Uploading your clip
Create an account
To post your own video clips - or rate and comment on other people's - you'll need to sign up as a YouTube user.
Click the Sign Up link in the top-right corner of the screen. Fill out the form that appears, click to untick the box for the weekly email if you don't want it > Sign Up.
Confirm your account
Click the blue Upload tab, top-right. Type your email address into the box > Send Email.
YouTube sends a welcome message and then, some time later, a second email. Click on the link in this email to confirm your account.
All about your clip
On the YouTube upload page, fill out the form with details of your masterpiece, including its title, a short description, a category and tags.
Tags are keywords (such as 'holiday', 'speedboat' or 'France') that help others to find your video when they search YouTube. Select your language from the drop-down list > Continue.
Upload your clip
Next, click Browse. Locate the video clip you want to upload from your hard disk and click Open.
YouTube imposes a limit on the length of clips (10 minutes) and their size (100MB).
If your clip is bigger, you'll need to edit it before uploading.
Private or public
If you want only friends to view your clip, click Private. To create a contacts list, click My Account > My Friends and enter email addresses. Finally, click Upload video.
Hot tips
- YouTube accepts video in a number of different formats, including AVI, MOV and MPG files. For the best results, read the site's guidelines before you create your clips.
- Viewers can enjoy anything from homemade comedy sketches and crazy stunts to gadget reviews. Out-takes and rare footage from films and TV shows also make an appearance. But it's illegal to distribute such material unless you're the copyright owner - so only officially sanctioned clips, such as trailers, are available legitimately.