YouTube to receive UI overhaul

If you’re starting to get tired of how YouTube currently looks, you’re in luck because it looks like Google will be giving the online video service a massive facelift. Some folks have start noticing that the world’s most popular video streaming service looks very different from what it used to. It looks like Google is still testing the interface since it hasn’t pushed the update out to everyone yet, but from reports online, the changes are pretty significant.

In addition to the new UI, one of the main features of the YouTube update is an added emphasis on Google+ which comes as no surprise, seeing how much Google has been pushing its own social network recently. User subscriptions is another area that has been focused on with the new update, which is a good move since Google wants to keep viewer loyalty with its new original content in the future.

Some of the new changes include:

• Deeper Google+ integration shows off YouTube content your Circles have shared to Google+, letting you surf user-recommended videos from people you might actually care about.
• New left-column dashboard sorts your Subscriptions and more into easily-clickable sections, including featured videos and recommended content categories.
• Homepage content will be displayed in a single column, putting a focus on larger preview images for videos.
• A slight color scheme tweak (new gray background) highlights content.
• The “fullscreen” button in actual YouTube videos will receive a more user-friendly update, giving viewers the option to shrink, expand or, yes, fullscreen the video.
• Recommended video content pops out when clicked, allowing you to easily exit to where you last were before clicking after viewing.
• Clicking the YouTube logo on the top left of the site will lead to https://www.youtube.com/guide.
• YouTube’s favicon will also be switched out for an updated version.

Head here for more images of what the new YouTube will look like.

George Wong
Categories: Web
Tags: Google, YouTube