Daily Kos Editor Tools: Embeds

We support the embeds listed below within stories and comments posted on Daily Kos. Additional information related to our own site-based Image Library is available through the related articles.

Some embedded content is static (e.g. images) while other embeds are dynamic (e.g. tweets, videos, etc.) Dynamic sources of any type require special handling relative to the site’s own code, which is why the capacity to embed is not available for all social media sources.

Whether creating a story or comment, a user will typically see the same built-in toolbar when the draft comment or draft story is open. See the related article on the CKEditor toolbar for more general information about the formatting options available. 

To embed offsite material, follow one of these two methods.

  1. Simplest and most direct: Paste in the URL for the item in the desired location within the draft story or comment.
  2. Via the embed tool in the editor: Position your cursor where you want the embed to appear, click on the embed icon (open/closed HTML tag), and paste the specific embed code into the field within the Embed Link modal that pops up. 

Supported embeds

The list below includes all embeds we enable within comments or stories.

Social media 

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • TikTok
  • Twitter/X

We are investigating how best to support Mastodon, Threads, and BlueSky embeds.

Images

  • Flickr
  • ImageShack

Videos

  • Facebook
  • Vimeo
  • YouTube

Audio files

  • Apple podcasts
  • Libsyn
  • Soundcloud

Miscellaneous

  • Civiqs polls
  • Google files: Make sure the link you embed is set to display on VIEW mode (unless you want people to edit your content offsite!)
    • Google document
    • Google spreadsheet
    • Google presentation
  • Scribd

Special case: Embedding images hosted within our in-house Image Library

All site members are able to upload images to our own Image Library. Site members may also use images stored therein by others. This resource explains the uploading process in detail.

The Image tool in the story/comment editor toolbar, explained in Daily Kos Editor Toolbar: Overview, opens a searchable display of the Image Library. Selection of an image from within that library when a comment or story draft is open will place the image where the cursor indicates.

An image embedded from the Image Library will be right-justified by default. The alignment tool in that same toolbar permits left-justification or centering. The largest display will result from centering it.

Tip for enlarging embedded images

To standardize image display across devices, we applied some constraints on image position and display size regardless of the original size of the image.

Site member Krotor explains in his "Step-by-step guide: How to include maps, charts, and other detailed images in your Daily Kos diaries" how to work around sizing constraints on images, among other tips. The core of his technique is to

  1. Find the URL for the image you'd like to display more fully
  2. Edit the image's URL to replace "large" with "original"
  3. Add a hyperlink to a caption on this image to redirect to the image URL as edited

These steps are explained in greater detail, with illustrations, in the post linked above.

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