Google is doing some much-needed graphic updates for Youtube that haven’t officially been released to the public yet. However, some developers have found a way to edit the new YouTube webpage, and now pictures of the yet-to-be-released interface are flooding the internet. Being ever curious about new things Google or otherwise, I personally tried this, and now have some first-hand experience I would like to share about this new interface.
It’s hard to analyze this update without looking at a lot of the updates taking place across the web. First, let’s just acknowledge that most users dislike updates. People get used to navigating a site, and much like the complaints about the recent myriad of Facebook changes, people get frustrated with the change. The biggest complaint is that as soon as people get comfortable with a website, slowly new things start popping up here and there to make the website a little more confusing and leaving more to learn.
Google was one of the innovators of Web Search, and they kind of let that ball drop in their hurry to get back out in front again. Recently, Google has been trying to update the interface of all their applications, as many Gmail or Google Docs users would know. This has started ever since the release of Google+, their new social media platform that is yet to take off.
The first thing I noticed was that everything you is now on one page, broken into three columns. On the left of the screen is your profile information, along with subscriptions and recommended channels. You can also see what’s currently popular and trending. In the middle is a menu of all your subscriptions. I tend to see a Your Tube video I like, subscribe to a channel, and then I rarely go back to watch other videos sent to me. Now, all the videos I have an interest in and would be inclined to watch are shown right in the middle similar to the Facebook/Twitter timeline. Lastly, is the right column. This one is my favorite because it shows you recommended videos. While this is not a new feature of YouTube, this is different in because it has tracked your viewing preferences and will make recommendations based upon previous viewings. It eliminates the need for me to go searching through hundreds of videos in order to find one that I would like to watch.
If you want to try this out yourself, just follow these simple steps:
1. Go to http://www.youtube.com
2. Press Ctrl + Shift + J in Chrome to open the Developer Tools
(Press Ctrl+Shift+K in Firefox)
(No support for Internet Explorer)
3. Click on the “Console” Tab and enter
document.cookie=”VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE=ST1Ti53r4
4. Reload the website and enjoy the new layout.
Hope you enjoy this tip from the staff at www.social-cindy.com
Happy Thanksgiving!!
