How to Create Video Channels

A channel is an embeddable page that shows a set of your videos. This guide walks through the whole current procedure: opening the channel editor, creating a channel in Simple mode, and configuring sections in Advanced mode.

Before You Start

• The Manage Channels permission on your dashboard user. Without it the channel pages refuse to load and show "Channel access restricted", and any save is rejected with "You don't have permission to perform this action".
• Room inside your plan's channel limit. The editor counts the channels already on the account and refuses a new save with "You have reached your channel limit." once the limit is reached.
• At least one project that already contains uploaded, published videos. A channel selects existing videos; it does not upload them.
• At least one channel template on the account. Simple mode creates one for you on save. Advanced mode requires you to pick one — if the account has none, the editor links you to the templates page to create one first.

Open the Channel Editor

1. Log in to your DynTube dashboard.
2. In the sidebar, expand More tools. It is collapsed by default.
3. Select Legacy Channels. This is the channel list at /channels.
4. Select New Channel. The create page is /channels/new.

Create a Channel in Simple Mode

The create page opens in Simple mode. Everything below is on one form on one page — there is nothing to click through first.

1. Channel Name — required. Saving with an empty name fails with "Channel name is required".
2. Project — pick the project whose videos the channel should show. The selection is written into the channel's first section.
3. Select a Layout — choose how the channel renders. The current layouts are Grid, Grid Left, Grid Right, Grid Modal, List, List Left, List Right, List Modal, Player, Player Modal, Slider, Slider Modal and Accordion. Use the arrow buttons to scroll the layout strip.
4. Private Link — on by default. Leave it on to keep the private sharing link available.
5. Enable Authentication — off by default. Turning it on means only authenticated members can view the channel, which requires plans and members configured under Subscriptions.
6. Select Create Channel.

On a successful save the dashboard shows "Channel created successfully" and returns you to the channel list at /channels. Simple mode also creates a channel template for the channel as part of that save, so you do not have to make one first.

Create a Channel in Advanced Mode

Select Advanced Mode on the create page to switch to the full editor. It is the same page and the same save button; it just exposes three tabs — Settings, Advanced and Embed.

Settings tab

• Channel Name — required, same rule as Simple mode.
• Description — optional.
• Project — the project used for the channel's first section.
• Private Link and Enable Authentication — the same two options described above.

Advanced tab

1. Channel Template — pick one of your account's saved channel templates. A channel cannot be saved until a real template is selected; attempting it fails with "Select a template before saving this channel." If the account has no templates at all, the editor shows "No templates available" with a link to create one.
2. Advanced Sections — a channel is built from one or more sections. Select Add Section to add another, and drag a section by its grip handle to reorder it. Select a section's header to expand or collapse it.
3. Section Name — the heading for that section.
4. Source Mode — choose Projects, Keywords or Manual for that section. The three modes are exclusive: switching mode clears the source data belonging to the other modes, so a section draws its videos from exactly one source.
5. Results Settings — Page Size (how many videos load per page, 20 by default) and Maximum Results (the ceiling on videos the section can return, 1000 by default).
6. Sort Order — the field and direction used inside that section. See the sorting article for the full field list.

Source modes

Embed tab

On a channel that has not been saved yet, the Embed tab shows "Save the channel to generate the embed code." This is expected: the share URL and both embed snippets are derived from the channel key, and the server mints that key on the first successful save.

Save and Verify the Result

1. Select Create Channel. The button is at the top of the page in Advanced mode and at the bottom of the form in Simple mode.
2. Confirm the "Channel created successfully" message and that you land back on /channels.
3. Find the new channel in the list and select it, or use its row menu, to reopen it at /channels/{id}/edit.
4. Open the Embed tab on the saved channel. The Share URL, the Iframe Embed Code and the JavaScript Embed Code are now filled in.
5. Select Open next to the Share URL to load the channel in a new tab and confirm the videos, layout and section order are what you configured.

Troubleshooting

Current Channel Scope

• Sections are configured only in Advanced mode. Simple mode always produces a single section built from the project you chose.
• Each section takes its videos from one source mode only. A section cannot combine a project list with a keyword query or with hand-picked videos.
• The share URL and embed snippets exist only after the first successful save.
• A channel shows videos that are already uploaded and published. Nothing on the channel editor uploads, transcodes or publishes a video.

Next Steps

• How to Sort Videos in a Channel
• Custom Video Order in Your Channel
• Use Your Own Domain for Videos and Channels