FAQ
Getting Started
How do I enable Smart Local Youtube?
Install the plugin ZIP through System > Install > Extensions, then enable it under System > Manage > Plugins. The consent manager activates automatically on any front-end page that contains YouTube code — no further setup required.
Which YouTube embeds and components are supported?
Out of the box, the plugin detects: standard youtube.com/embed iframes, privacy-enhanced youtube-nocookie.com iframes, the YouTube IFrame API script (youtube.com/iframe_api), HTML-entity-encoded iframes from page builders, Smart Slider 3 YouTube video layers, the YouTube Gallery component, and TinyMCE/JCE oEmbed youtu.be links. For anything else, use the Custom Regex Pattern in the Expert Mode tab. See YouTube Detection.
How do I link my privacy policy page?
In the plugin settings under the Content tab, use the Privacy Policy Page dropdown to select any Joomla menu item. The consent dialog then shows a link to that page.
Can I customize the consent message text?
Yes. The Content tab lets you set a Custom Title, Custom Consent Text and a Title Icon class. When these fields are filled in they override the default language strings — so you can personalize the wording without editing .ini files.
Privacy & Compliance
Is this plugin GDPR and DSGVO compliant?
The plugin gives you the technical part of consent: it removes detected YouTube code from the page before it reaches the browser, so no video iframe loads, no YouTube cookie is set and no request goes to YouTube until the visitor clicks Load YouTube. Declining is just as easy. Two settings change this, and both are your choice: the opt-in YouTube thumbnail placeholder mode contacts Google before consent, and if you turn on geo-detection, visitors outside your consent regions are auto-accepted by default. Compliance also depends on your privacy policy and wording, so check them with your legal adviser.
Do YouTube thumbnails leak data before consent?
Only if you choose YouTube thumbnail (leaks IP before consent) as the Placeholder Image. That mode fetches poster images from img.youtube.com/vi/{id}/hqdefault.jpg, which sends the visitor's IP to Google before they consent. The default, Icon only (privacy-safe), contacts no one, and the single custom image and per-video modes use images from your own site. Only enable YouTube thumbnails if your privacy policy explicitly permits pre-consent contact with Google.
Does the privacy-enhanced youtube-nocookie.com embed still need consent?
Yes. It still loads from Google's servers and transmits the visitor's IP address, so the plugin blocks it exactly like a standard embed.
How does geo-detection work?
The plugin parses the visitor's Accept-Language HTTP header. If any language matches an EU, EEA or UK/Ireland code, the consent dialog is shown. Norwegian browsers are recognised whether they send no, nb or nn. No external API calls and no IP geolocation are involved. It detects language, not location.
What happens with non-EU visitors?
With geo-detection on, you choose in Action for Non-EU Visitors: Auto-agree (load videos immediately) silently sets consent and shows the videos; Show consent box (let visitor decide) shows the dialog as for EU visitors; Skip plugin entirely leaves the page untouched for that visitor. The default is auto-agree.
Are any YouTube requests or cookies triggered before consent?
Not for the videos the plugin detects. Detection and removal happen on the server in onAfterRender, so the HTML delivered to the browser has no video code. The exceptions are the opt-in YouTube thumbnail mode and geo-detection's auto-agree, both described above. Players that are built by JavaScript after the page loads are not in the HTML and are not detected — use Debug Mode to check your pages.
Customization
Can I match the consent box to my brand colors?
Yes. Pick one of 5 built-in themes (Clean, Midnight, Forest, Slate, Warm) or select Custom colors to unlock the color pickers. You can independently set background, text, accept button and decline button colors — for both light and dark mode. The colors apply to the consent box and to the inline placeholders.
What is the inline placeholder position?
Inline (replace video), position 5, replaces each detected video in place with a click-to-load card rather than showing a floating overlay. You can set its width (percentage of container) and height (pixels), pick the Play Button Style, and choose the Placeholder Image. Ideal for videos embedded inside article bodies.
Can I show a different poster image for each video?
Yes. Set Placeholder Image to Per-video custom images and add rows to Per-video Placeholders, each with a YouTube video ID (or the video's URL pasted as is) and an image. Any video without a row falls back to the generic icon.
Can I change the position and animation of the consent box?
Yes. Choose from 5 positions — center modal, full-width bottom bar, bottom-right corner, bottom-left corner, or inline. The four overlay positions (1–4) support 4 entrance animations: fade in down, up, left or right. Animations don't apply to the inline placeholder.
Does it support dark mode?
Yes. Auto (follow OS preference) follows the visitor's OS setting, Always light and Always dark force one variant. Each built-in theme includes a dark palette, and the custom theme lets you define dark mode colors separately.
Expert Mode
My template uses a video widget that isn't detected. What do I do?
Open the Expert Mode tab and paste a PHP regex pattern (with / delimiters and is modifiers) into Custom Regex Pattern. The plugin applies it alongside the built-ins. If you're unsure what the HTML looks like, enable Debug Mode first. See Expert Mode.
What does Debug Mode do?
It adds a box to the page listing every pattern that matched and how many times. The box is shown only to logged-in Super Users, so visitors never see it. Turn it off when you are done.
Can I preview the consent box without actually blocking videos?
Yes. Enable Demo Mode and optionally pick a page under Show on Page. On that page the consent box always appears with a "Demo" badge, videos are not blocked and the visitor's choice is not saved. On every other page the plugin does nothing while demo mode is on, so use it on a demo or staging site. See Demo Mode.
Technical
Which Joomla versions are supported?
Joomla 4.4 or later, 5.x and 6.x, on PHP 8.1 or higher. The installer checks both and stops with a clear message on an older version. The plugin uses modern plugin architecture (namespaced classes, SubscriberInterface, WebAssetManager).
How is the consent cookie stored?
The consent cookie is named sly-consent with the value agree or decline. It is set with HttpOnly, Secure (when Force HTTPS is set to Entire Site) and SameSite=Lax, on the path / unless you configured a cookie path in Joomla. Cookie lifetime is configurable: session-only or 1–365 days.
What languages are included?
23 languages are included: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Estonian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Slovenian, Croatian, Bulgarian, Greek, Latvian and Lithuanian. Joomla uses the one that matches your site language automatically. Every text can also be changed with a Joomla language override, and any other language can be added with standard .ini files.
Does the plugin make external API calls?
YouTube detection, consent handling and geo-detection all run on your server. The only request the plugin itself can cause in the visitor's browser before consent is the optional YouTube thumbnail fetch from img.youtube.com. Joomla's update system contacts our update server when it checks for updates.
Does the plugin work with page caching?
The plugin removes videos and adds the consent box during Joomla's onAfterRender event. If a caching layer serves a cached page, visitors may get a version made for someone else's consent state. Configure your cache to exclude visitors without an sly-consent cookie, or to cache per consent state.
Is the plugin open source?
Yes. Smart Local Youtube is licensed under the GNU General Public License v2 or later.