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Cant pause videos on YouTube with space bar (focus is on the player).

  • 6 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 15 views
  • Last reply by WestEnd

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When I hit the space bar it shows the "play" icon on the video, as if unpaused. Strangely it works when I click out of the video but then I cant control the sound (up/down will then scroll the page).

I just switched from chrome to firefox and it still works fine in chrome. Im not using any extensions (besides "McAfee Web Advisor" and deactivating it doesn't solve the problem).

Is there a solution or extension to fix the problem or do I have to switch back to chrome to use YouTube?

When I hit the space bar it shows the "play" icon on the video, as if unpaused. Strangely it works when I click out of the video but then I cant control the sound (up/down will then scroll the page). I just switched from chrome to firefox and it still works fine in chrome. Im not using any extensions (besides "McAfee Web Advisor" and deactivating it doesn't solve the problem). Is there a solution or extension to fix the problem or do I have to switch back to chrome to use YouTube?

All Replies (6)

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Pressing "Space" bar shows a "play" video and to control the audio your pointer must be on that audio section to show up to control UP/DN volume. Otherwise you control the audio with your external Speaker volume controller. That isn't a browser but how the site is configured. I have no issue with YT.

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YouTube recently made some changes to their player (specifically the behavior of the fullscreen version). While it's a convenient hotkey, the space bar sometimes reacts strangely with the YouTube player depending on what button you last pressed.

Sometimes if you press the settings gear, when you press the space bar, it's just going to open and close that setting feature. Other times, it will scroll the page.

It would probably be best to use the "k" key, since that's the key that YouTube has specifically set for the play and pause button.

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WestEnd said

Pressing "Space" bar shows a "play" video and to control the audio your pointer must be on that audio section to show up to control UP/DN volume. Otherwise you control the audio with your external Speaker volume controller. That isn't a browser but how the site is configured. I have no issue with YT.

So how did you configure it to pause when pressing enter, while the focus is on the player?

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monere said

WestEnd said
Pressing "Space" bar shows a "play" video and to control the audio your pointer must be on that audio section to show up to control UP/DN volume. Otherwise you control the audio with your external Speaker volume controller. That isn't a browser but how the site is configured. I have no issue with YT.

So how did you configure it to pause when pressing enter, while the focus is on the player?

I did no configuration of YT. Did you move the mouse pointer close to the bottom of the video the YT options bar will show up.

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WestEnd said

monere said
WestEnd said
Pressing "Space" bar shows a "play" video and to control the audio your pointer must be on that audio section to show up to control UP/DN volume. Otherwise you control the audio with your external Speaker volume controller. That isn't a browser but how the site is configured. I have no issue with YT.

So how did you configure it to pause when pressing enter, while the focus is on the player?

I did no configuration of YT. Did you move the mouse pointer close to the bottom of the video the YT options bar will show up.

That works, thanks. I just wish I didnt have to worry about the placement of my cursor, since it still works in chrome.

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Not all Browser works like each other and is programmed differently to respond different to the site itself. Otherwise if they did that we either have only Chrome or IE or Edge or Opera as the ONLY Browser to use.