SmartTube - YouTube Playlist Gallery for WordPress

Transform your WordPress site into a YouTube video hub.
Display channel playlists in grids, tabbed layouts, and category-based video pages — with lightbox on desktop and Picture-in-Picture on mobile.

Built for Yemen TV and the Jannah theme, but works with any WordPress theme.

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Screenshots

Category Page Override

YouTube videos replace WordPress posts on linked category pages — featured hero video + responsive grid.

Video Playback — Desktop Lightbox + Mobile PiP

Auto-detects device: lightbox popup on desktop, draggable floating PiP player on mobile.

Admin — Playlist Manager & Category Linker

Fetch playlists from your YouTube channel, link to WordPress categories, set limits, bulk enable/disable.

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Features

Video Display

• Playlist Grid — Display any YouTube playlist as a responsive 1-6 column grid
• Tabbed Programs Layout — Channel programs page with switchable tabs
• Category Override — Replace WordPress post loops with YouTube videos on category pages
• Widget — Sidebar widget for latest videos

Playback Modes

• Lightbox — Click-to-play popup on desktop with dark overlay and ESC to close
• PiP (Picture-in-Picture) — Clean draggable floating video player on mobile
• New Tab — Open video on YouTube

Admin Dashboard

• Playlist Manager — Fetch all playlists from your YouTube channel with one click
• Category Linker — Link playlists to WordPress categories with per-playlist video limits
• Tabs Builder — Visual shortcode generator for tabbed layouts
• Bulk Actions — Enable/disable all, set limits in bulk, create categories automatically
• Exclude System — Mark categories that should always show posts, never videos
• Filter Tabs — View all/linked/unlinked playlists with search

Customization

• CSS Variables — --stube-bg, --stube-header, --stube-accent
• Color Picker — Set background, header, and accent colors from admin
• RTL Support — Full right-to-left layout for Arabic, Persian, etc.
• Multi-language — Works with Arabic, French, Persian, English sites

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Shortcodes

Shortcode	Description
[smarttube playlist="PLxxx" limit="12" columns="3"]	Display a specific playlist grid
[smarttube latest="10" title="Latest"]	Show latest channel videos
[smarttube_tabs auto="true" header="Programs"]	Tabbed programs layout with all playlists
[smarttube_tabs playlists="ID1:Name,ID2:Name"]	Tabbed layout with specific playlists
[smarttube_category]	Auto-detect current category and show linked playlist
[smarttube_programs auto="true" columns="3"]	Programs grid with thumbnails

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Installation

1. Upload the smarttube folder to /wp-content/plugins/
2. Activate the plugin in WordPress
3. Go to SmartTube in the admin sidebar
4. Enter your YouTube API Key and Channel ID
5. Click Fetch Playlists
6. Link playlists to categories and set video limits
7. Enable categories to show videos instead of posts

Requirements

• WordPress 5.0+
• PHP 7.4+
• YouTube Data API v3 key (Get one here)

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File Structure

smarttube/
  smarttube.php                    # Main plugin file (v1.4.0)
  includes/
    class-youtube-api.php          # YouTube Data API wrapper with transient caching
    class-shortcode.php            # All shortcodes: grid, tabs, programs, category
    class-category-override.php    # Hooks into Jannah theme to replace post loops
    class-admin.php                # Admin: settings, playlist manager, category linker
    class-widget.php               # Sidebar widget for latest videos
  assets/
    css/
      admin.css                    # Admin dashboard styles
      frontend.css                 # Frontend styles with CSS variables + PiP
    js/
      admin.js                     # Admin: save, fetch, bulk actions, tabs builder
      frontend.js                  # Lightbox, PiP player, tab switching
  screenshots/                     # README images
  languages/                       # Translation-ready

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How It Works

Category Override Flow

1. Plugin hooks into template_redirect on category pages
2. Checks if the category has a linked + enabled playlist
3. Empties the main WP query (no posts shown)
4. Hooks into TieLabs/after_archive_title (Jannah theme)
5. Renders featured hero video + grid from YouTube API
6. Caches API responses as WordPress transients

Playback Detection

User clicks video thumbnail
       |
  Is mobile device?
  /           \
YES            NO
 |              |
Open PiP      Open Lightbox
(draggable,   (fullscreen overlay,
 floating)     ESC to close)

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Theme Compatibility

Theme	Support	Notes
Jannah (TieLabs)	Full	Hooks into TieLabs/after_archive_title
GeneratePress	Grid + Tabs	Category override needs manual shortcode
Astra	Grid + Tabs	Category override needs manual shortcode
Any theme	Grid + Tabs	Use shortcodes in pages/widgets

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Related Plugins

• PostCleaner — Bulk delete posts and images by category with progress bar

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Changelog

1.4.0

• Separated Post Cleanup into standalone plugin PostCleaner
• SmartTube is now focused purely on YouTube video display

1.3.3

• Clean PiP player — video only, no background or header bar
• All video clicks use lightbox (desktop) or PiP (mobile) automatically

1.3.0

• Category override system for Jannah theme
• Excluded categories feature
• Bulk enable/disable and limit actions

1.2.0

• Tabbed programs layout
• Visual tabs builder with shortcode generator
• Category linking with per-playlist limits

1.1.0

• Playlist fetcher from YouTube channel
• Standard grid shortcode
• Lightbox and inline play modes

1.0.0

• Initial release

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License

GPL-2.0-or-later

Author

Yemen TV Media — yementv.tv