Summary
- YouTube’s new video player layout is causing controversy among users due to the cramped design and focus on content engagement over community interaction.
- The new web UI shifts the video title, uploader info, and comments to a small right-aligned column while video recommendations take prominence.
- With overwhelmingly negative user feedback, YouTube may need to rethink this design.
YouTube is one of the best entertainment apps around, especially if you’re looking for user-generated video content and not the latest Hollywood flick. However, it has made several questionable decisions in the content presentation department, including marathon ad segments before videos even begin and pushing mobile-first Shorts content on suboptimal platforms like smart TVs. Its latest such decision is a complete overhaul of elements surrounding the video player on the YouTube player, and netizens are not happy.
YouTube is cramming Shorts in yet another place
Infiltrating the video recommendations sidebar with a new carousel on the web
Recently, we spotted YouTube a/b testing a new placement for the Shorts shelf on the web, in the column of suggested videos to the right of the video player. Now, though, the entire video title, uploader info, and comments have shifted to the right, trading places with the video suggestions. YouTube has just shrunk all the pill-shaped buttons, text, and comments into the slender column on the right, while recommended videos and the Shorts shelf we just mentioned now have a prominent spot right under the player.
As a result, even accessibility focused features like video transcripts and descriptions are crammed in that tiny space. Switching to Theater mode in the player controls doesn’t save you either — it just shifts the video info and column of comments under the player, but still right-aligned with the recommendations taking up most of the screen real estate.
YouTube viewers are not pleased
The new web UI
The new web UI is a drastic step away from the old one, and Twitter was understandably divided. On the one hand, some users appreciated how you could read and engage with the comments while watching the video without scrolling down and hiding the video player. On the other hand, several users found the change jarring and too dense, with a lot of wasted screen space on the sides.
The new UI is quite like the recent update to the app for smart TVs, but we think the new design also represents an ideological shift at the company, prioritizing content engagement and user retention over community interactions through the comments. We reached out to YouTube for comment, and were informed the new layout is a limited test to make reading comments easier while watching videos on desktop.
YouTube Help documentation for test features and experiments reveals this is one of many layouts YouTube has dabbled with since February 20 this year. Thankfully, this is still a test and given the overwhelming feedback from users on Twitter, UI designers may need to go back to the drawing board with this one.
