What you need to know
- YouTube is testing a redesigned video player on the web that moves the title and comments to the sidebar.
- A social media account on the site confirmed that this new view is just a test for now.
- Users expressed their disdain for the feature and YouTube suggested submitting their feedback through the site.
YouTube is experimenting with new ways to display video players on the web, and the latest version could represent one of the biggest UI changes in years. Earlier this month, YouTube Shorts began appearing in the recommended videos sidebar for some users. Now an even more drastic change is coming to a limited number of users. The latest redesign test moves the title, description and comments to the sidebar and moves recommended videos below the currently playing one.
Although this UI change is actually just a test, users are not excited about it for now. The redesign caught the attention of all major social media sites, including X (formerly Twitter), Threads, and Reddit. One Threads user, Brian Hamilton, shared a screenshot of the visual overhaul, which received over 100 mostly negative replies.
The advantage of this change seems to be that you can see more of the video title, comments and description. Meanwhile, less recommended videos will appear on the same page as your currently playing content. Instead of a long list of recommended videos with smaller thumbnails and titles, YouTube shows three recommended videos with larger thumbnails and titles in this test.
However, users reacted to this change in a similar way to YouTube’s last test with YouTube Shorts. In both cases, it was found that the larger thumbnails of the recommended videos distracted from the main content.
jump in! it sounds like you’re seeing an experiment/test feature. Diff teams at YouTube often test new ways to improve features and experiences. You can share your feedback here: https://t.co/NnQpe4fbHH You can also view current experiments here: https://t.co/p3uu6MOOr2April 10, 2024
The team YouTube account on X clarified that this is an experimental testing feature and is not yet available to everyone. The account encourages users to submit their feedback through their YouTube account. To do this, users can click on their profile picture on the YouTube page and select Send feedback. After you’ve written feedback or included a screenshot, you’re ready to strike Send to submit your thoughts to Google.
Although the redesigned YouTube video player isn’t available to all users and Google accounts on the web, the hype surrounding the change on social media suggests that it is somewhat widespread. At the moment, it looks like YouTube is testing a few new ways to improve its web video player. So we’re curious to see which, if any, of these tests will hold up.