YouTube, the video-sharing site has received a mini-makeover, including changes to the layout, playlist tweaks and a few new features to enhance video-streaming experience - and, of course, boost the time people spend on the site.
"The way you watch YouTube keeps changing, so we're making a few tweaks to YouTube to keep up with you," wrote YouTube's web developer Yining Zhao in a blog post on Thursday, February 20th, 2014.
The changes are intended to "make it easier to find what you want to watch on YouTube and collect playlists to watch again and again."
The layout of the video site owned by Google is now centered and not pushed to the left side anymore, which helps it fit more neatly on screens of all sizes and giving a consistent look and feel with the YouTube mobile apps.
The redesign to YouTube's web pages is supposed to users feel "similar to the mobile apps you’re spending almost half your YouTube time with," said Yining Zhao.
When users visit the site while signed in, they'll immediately be taken to the "What to Watch" page, where they'll see the latest from their subscribed channels, as well as popular and recommended videos. A guide icon to the right of the YouTube logo can be clicked to access these and other new options.
With playlists, YouTube has streamlined the process, eliminating a step required to view videos in a particular playlist once it’s been liked. Before, once users liked the playlist, they had to go to their guide, click on the one they wanted to watch, and it would open up in a new window that helps things easier. Now videos can be played right within the guide screen, whether they’re your own curated ones or from channels that you’ve liked.
In addition, users can now "quickly flip between what's recommended and popular in 'What to Watch'….and the latest from your subscribed channels in "My Subscriptions", with both options now front and center,” Zhao wrote.
"When you make a playlist, you'll see a new page that should make editing easier," Zhao said. "It should also be easier to discover playlists on channel pages. When you visit a channel page, there will now be a link at the top for playlists."
The outcome of the new design is that now it offers a much cleaner interface with more of a focus on the videos.
And for users who do not wish to create playlists, YouTube is also making it easier to do that. After creating a playlist now, YouTube will pop up a new page that will allow the user to organize videos of his preference.
The new design and features are rolling out worldwide with a new responsive, card-style design that fits "neatly on any screen size" - clearly the main organizational symbol for any Google's recent product. And due to changes brought in the typography, it looks much more readable.
This update comes just weeks after Google appointed Susan Wojcicki as head of YouTube, taking over from Salar Kamangar who'd been charge for a little over three years. Wojcicki, who was once described as "the most important Googler you've never heard of," arrived in her new position from the top job in the web giant’s ads and commerce division.
According to Google CEO Larry Page, the new boss has "a healthy disregard for the impossible and is excited about improving YouTube in ways that people will love."
