Screenshot tour: YouTube undergoes major overhaul
Congratulations, YouTube! That's quite the face-lift. Google has made significant changes in the whole YouTube look and feel, and it's much slicker now. The UI style is reminiscent of Wave, and it looks like the beginning of a new UI for Google products.
YouTube now offers a comprehensive JavaScript-driven tour, whereby you get to next-next-next through each new feature. Small icons highlight each feature and give a short explanation. Since we all know how difficult it can be to click next, I went through the trouble and did it for you! That's love, people.
You can see the entire tour, blow-by-blow, after the jump.
There's no big news here: you see the uploader's name and can click it to go to their page. However, you do get a video count, which I'm not sure was there before.
Oooh, there's a new button that lets you make the player wider.
There are also no more five-star ratings! This is major. The star system has been replaced with "like" and "dislike" buttons. Notice how the "like" button is wider than the "dislike." I'm sure the usability pundits would have something to say about that.
There is a save button that allows you to save a video to favorites or playlists:
There are no major changes with regards to sharing.
The video description is smaller by default. The whole page feels cleaner.
The same prominent view-count is there, but now, it has added analytics!
The "next video" box tries to keep you on the site for even longer, by queuing and auto-playing your subscriptions. Note the Apple-esque horizontal toggle there.
The tour is complete! Can you feel a sense of warm, fuzzy accomplishment?
Comments
12
Subscribe to commentsrobin_rosengrenApr 1st 2010 8:28AM
Is it just me or is this not working in Firefox?
I get the new layout in Chrome, IE and Opera, but have the old one still in Firefox.
Like or dislike-buttons is an understandable move since I'm guessing 99% of all votes are either 1's or 5's. But am I missing something, or is there no way to see the current rank of video?
ZorqueApr 1st 2010 8:56AM
It sure is terrible. Everything is just floating in a sea of white, it makes it look like a stylesheet got disabled or something. It needs a lot of work before I'll be happy.
EdexApr 2nd 2010 4:48PM
I'm usually not one of the "everything is bad" posters (really), but I agree... the web page is not segmented it all floats together... I dunno, it's ok otherwise.
kevjohnApr 1st 2010 9:15AM
I effing HATE April Fool's day now thanks to Internets tomfoolery like this. Wait, this was an April Fool's Day joke right? Because I went there early this morning and the site was barely usable. Businesses that are trying to generate profits should not engage in such shenanigans.
JoshApr 1st 2010 9:49AM
This isn't a joke. The update has been in (seemingly) random beta over the last few weeks. People would randomly gain and lose access to the new layout.
Sax25Apr 1st 2010 9:49AM
The new layout is a joke. No boxes, no lines, definition means everything is just a mess. Look at the comments section - complete chaos in there. Even though it is ordered and structured - it doesn't appear to be. Complete disappointment from me.
RobomasterApr 1st 2010 10:52AM
It's not that bad, for goodness sakes!
ronmosesApr 1st 2010 10:49AM
I just enjoy seeing Pomplamoose get more exposure. :-)
RobomasterApr 1st 2010 10:51AM
I really like Youtube's new look - I agree, a bit too much white space (especially on the related videos sidebar,) but other than that, it's much better than before. Now if they only get html5 goin' full steam...
FredApr 1st 2010 11:41AM
With all that white, I wish there were a "lower lights' like on hulu...
MarcoApr 1st 2010 11:45AM
How come that YT is getting more and more ugly? Reminds me of old Facebook. First, wonderful clean design and now more and more ugly looking.
Regarding YT.. I wonder why they still weren't able to add one of the most requested features: "private playlists". Seems they're to busy with DMCA notifications lol
whenjasonattacksApr 1st 2010 1:09PM
late to the party? I've had this update for over 2 weeks now