Using a small and fantastic little extension/add-on for your browser, you can watch your YouTube videos in a separate, uncluttered and resizable pop-up window. Plus, there are a slew of other features included with the extension.
If you’re a power YouTube user, the Iridium extension is a must. We’re going to focus on the feature that allows you to watch a video in a separate window, but it’s absolutely worth reviewing the full list of features to get an idea of what Iridium can do.
- To install Iridium simply head to the Google Chrome Store extension page for Iridium or the Firefox Add-on page for Iridium and install it as you would any other extension/add-on.
- Once the installation has completed, a new icon will appear in your browser (see screenshot below). Give it a click.
- A new tab will open in your browser and display all of the Iridium settings. Towards the bottom of the General settings panel you’ll see a section titled Thumbnails. Confirm that Enable player pop-up is enabled and then close out of this tab (you can come back to check out all of the other settings/features in a bit).
- Now head over to YouTube. The first time you open the site after installing Iridium you’ll be presented with a ‘thank you for installing’ screen. Click the close button to continue. Note: after you see how well this works and review the other features that it comes with, do at least consider donating to the developer.
- Locate a video – any video, and hover your cursor its thumbnail. In the bottom-right corner of the thumbnail a small icon that looks like two squares on top of each other will appear (see screenshot below). Click it.
- Ta-da! A small window will appear with your video playing inside of it. This browser window doesn’t have any toolbars, status bars or buttons – just the video. And it’s completely resizable, just click and drag a corner as you would any other window.
- If you’re already watching a video and you want to have it ‘pop-out’ you can do that too. Iridium adds a series of ‘new’ buttons below each video on YouTube. Locate that same “two squares on top of each other” icon and click it to switch to the pop-out player.
- Now that you’re able to watch YouTube content in a separate window, make sure to check out the rest of Iridiums features.
@Mirkat –
Yup, same here. I’ll wait a few days and if the plugin isn’t updated/fixed, I’ll update this guide. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!!!
I tried the extension, but it seems to break YouTube for me. I get endless buffering. Disabling the extension seems to fix the problem. :(
nice article to get information