Hi Plex team!
I’d like to humbly suggest the Plex web app support Picture in Picture on Safari for macOS. It’s a great feature. All we’d have to do is have the video element be the top most element in the view so that when I right-click, the default macOS video dropdown menu is shown (right now the top-most element is a play/pause button).
PiPifier lets you view every HTML5 (which is basically every web video on iOS) in Picture-in-Picture mode. It uses a Safari Action extension, so all you have to do is open Safari to your preferred web video, tap on the Share Menu, and select the Run PiPifier option.
Another implementation option is to build a dedicated button in the bottom player bar that is only shown in Safari 9 and up which toggles PiP on the video element.
Lastly, you could do what YouTube does, which is ask their users to double right-click on the area where the video element is to get that default macOS menu. I don’t think this is a good option as double right-click is not a well known UX pattern.
The reason why I’d like this feature is because I’m a web developer myself and I love to use PiP while coding to watch a movie. It keeps me company while I work at night. To do this, I currently have to go into the DOM and delete the play/pause button so I can right-click on the video element underneath. It’s tedious.
I’m happy to code this myself if you add me to the OSS team on Github (repo is private I think…)
What’s the cool thing you know about the Safari? The Safari browser has a lot of things you need to know, some Safari tweaks can give you a smooth and fast browsing experience. A handy trick you can do on the Safari is to use the PiP mode which enables you to view videos in Picture-in-Picture Mode.
You have heard this feature on smartphones, the PiP mode you see on your phone, using the navigation, making video calls, watching YouTube videos, all these can be viewed in a PiP mode meaning it lets you view the content in a small floating window that’s on top of other apps.
The same is the case with Safari, you can surf the internet using the Safari browser while you can use the PiP mode to watch YouTube videos or HTML5 supported videos on your Mac.
This feature is used for some websites like YouTube in which the video can be viewed in a small overlay screen in the corner that floats on the window and remains on top of all the other windows.
The picture-in-picture (PiP) feature is already available in Safari and you can use it to pop out a video into a small floating window that moves anywhere on the Safari screen while staying on top of other windows.
Note: This option may not be available for some users, make sure you keep the system up to date as well as update the Safari browser to get it.
Safari has an extension named PiPifier which is a native extension for Safari for Picture-in-Picture mode. This extension allows you to use PiP mode on any HTML5 video.
You can also search the App Store with the name PiPifier and install it. For more extensions, browse through the Safari -> Extensions window.
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