YouTube has rolled out its redesigned video player for all users yesterday. Users who have navigated to the unobtrusively located “Try Something New” feature before will no doubt already be familiar with the redesign, but now it is on for all users by default.
It is not that big a change though. The player comes with a transparent interface that quickly disappears out of view when the cursor has been inactive for a couple of seconds, thus freeing up more screen real estate and enhancing your viewing experience. The playback buttons are see-through, bolder and more simplified. A smooth animation now accompanies the play/pause button, something we’ve seen numerous open-source developers experiment in the past year with CSS3 and SVG on sites like CodePen.
The new update is visible on both the web and mobile versions of the YouTube player.
But, as expected, certain sections of netizens are already complaining about the changes. One gripe that we think warrants notice is that the progress bar is now too small, and you have to hover your cursor over it and look closer to see which point in a video you are. Not a big deal, in our opinion.
Ooh la la! Our new player design is slicker than a squirrel on waterskis! pic.twitter.com/9tS1pm3NiG
— YouTube (@YouTube) August 3, 2015
There are other small changes under the hood too. If you frequently share videos on social media using the url, the right click menu has changed as well. It is also transparent now and when you click “get video url” it just copies the url to your clipboard rather than opening up another little box with the url in it for you to then copy and paste. Fewer clicks to get something done is always welcome.
It has been a week of pleasant changes on the world’s largest video-sharing site, with Google also finally relenting and unbundling the service from Google+.
Check out the new player in action with this video of Skyfall stuntman and ace freestyle biker Robbie Maddison conquering the waves of French Polynesia on a KTM dirt bike. And, if you want more info on how he did it, head here.
