youtube interface changes?

[Tom]

I've had this interesting development happen.. My htpc sees a different youtube interface than my laptop, and I can't figure out why. Maybe it somehow got enroled in some youtube beta thing? Same browser (latest stable chrome), same distro, same everything. Except youtube is different.

I've actually hated the new-new youtube interface more than the last big change, due to it burrying the subscriptions link even further than it was before.

For example, see the first image attachment. That top bar is always on top, which is taking up a lot of valuable space since I have chrome there set to like 125% zoom or so. But that second part of the bar never had those two links in the middle till today. brand new thing. The guide sidebar is hidden by default and contains the only place the subscriptions link used to be, and is also always on top, and takes up the side white space area, which is totally pointless... Why hide the pane if its just going to be empty space anyhow?

For comparison, see the second image, thats what I get on my laptop.

It's all very weird. But having that subscriptions link right dead center really is nice. they actually listened to people complaining about it. only took them months. weird thing is, this change didn't seem to break anything, but their last change? EVERYTHING was broken. even for content providers, none of the independent vlogers and gamers seemed to get any ads on their videos. seemed monetization was broken for days.

[Lazybones]

Are these screen shots showing the difference?

You are scrolled down in one of them and in the other I think you have the guide collapsed.

- are you logged in with your ID in both
- is the guide open in both?

[Tom]

Are these screen shots showing the difference?

The first screenshot shows what I get on my media box. The second shows what I get on my laptop.

You are scrolled down in one of them and in the other I think you have the guide collapsed.

I'm scrolled down in both of them. the guide on my laptop does not collapse, and the one on my media box is by default collapsed, so I always have to show it to do anything with it.

- are you logged in with your ID in both
- is the guide open in both?

Logged into the same account. And no, the guide is not open in the first one, because that's the default state.

The headers and guide bar are completely different between the two.

But the main change that prompted this was the new "My Subscriptions" link on the first one. That never used to be there. Had to show the guide, then scroll till I find the subscriptions link.

[Lazybones]

Try nuking your google domain cookies on both.

[Tom]

I don't know that I want to do that :-x

I just thought it was funny, and wanted to point out the new feature!

[Darren Dirt]

The moment I saw this thread title, and then your mention of subscriptions link being hard to find, I thought time to re-watch that hilarious 'Welcome to Youtube!' video again, and laugh ... then cry...

[Mr. Analog]

The thing that currently bugs me the most is the fact the "what to watch" link is so promenent and contains virtually nothing I want to watch whereas the subscriptions link (which has what I want to watch) is buried.

Also as a content creator you get other tools which are even MORE hidden.

Sometimes it's easier to find stats by logging out!

[Tom]

Yeah, the new changes seem to have been half thought out, and the what to watch algo is incomplete, probably more so than netflix's. And they keep rolling out changes that break @%&#. It's like they don't actually test stuff.

[Mr. Analog]

"Thinking" and "Interface" seem to be non-essential elements at Google nowadays...

[Darren Dirt]

new broken-ness just noticed today.

http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=g2KsZHRrFpU

Notice the "beta" which was the "THREADED view" ... well it's GONE* now, wtf!?

Also the "All Comments" link used to be a simple URL that you could right-click-openInNewTab/Window. Now it's a freakin' JAVASCRIPT call (i.e. moar trackinz!) ... so my usual  method of staying sane (i.e. "right-click the [All Comments] so I can skim them while watching the video cuz my ADHD brain can't stand to just do one thing at a time") is now GONE. Effin' Google, killing Youtube...




*all that is available is "Newest First" and "Top Comments", again WTF -- I virtually NEVER care what the "top" comments are, they are usually lame puns or weakass flame bait... I'd rather see what others said in RESPONSE to those "top" comments, it's fun to see exactly how chronologically the idiocy proceeded. But, GONE. 

[Mr. Analog]

The new commenting format is a cluster@%&# of epic proportions, I know dozens of people who have been left clueless and/or are stuck with unwanted usernames.

Everything Google touches seems to turn to rust these days

[Darren Dirt]

The new commenting format is a cluster@%&# of epic proportions, I know dozens of people who have been left clueless and/or are stuck with unwanted usernames.

Everything Google touches seems to turn to rust these days

http://googlesystem.blogspot.ca/2013/11/youtube-tests-google-comments.html

Here are the new features:

* Smarter sorting: see more from people you know
* Meaningful conversations: new threaded format and +mentions encourage discussion.
* Comments appear from both YouTube and Google+.

wuh?

"Comments you care about show first. You'll see comments at the top of the list from people in your Google+ Circles, from creators, and from popular personalities. Comments with many likes and replies will rank highly as well. Choose Newest First to see the most recent comments instead. Replies are threaded (like Gmail) so you can easily follow conversations. Google+ posts that link to videos or channels will also appear as comments on YouTube, marked 'via Google+'. You can report any comment for spam or abuse. If you're a creator, you can also use comment moderation tools for comments on your videos or your channels," informs Google.

^ okay, so maybe the "sort by thread" is no longer an option, but essentially a forced default?
Is this an uncharacteristic improvement to the YT UI !? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dramatic_Chipmunk




If not, if it's not anything like the past and completely gone for good, then I guess "YouTube Comments Sorter" might become popular again?

Hard to believe They let us enjoy the "sort by thread" feature as-is (i.e. PERFECT) for nearly 3 years: http://googlesystem.blogspot.ca/2011/01/youtube-comment-threading.html





PS: at least if you HATE the new Google "grid" and actually miss the black bar, you can bring that back easily:
http://googlesystem.blogspot.ca/2013/11/a-google-parameter-brings-back-black-bar.html "just add ?noj=1 to the URL"

[Mr. Analog]

All I know is that 3 of my main social media feeds contain people confused/upset by the YouTube changes

Most of them want to opt out of google+ which this change flips you over to using if you aren't paying attention to what you're clicking.

I tell them to go to the Google support forums but that's where problems go to die it seems.

Getting sick of yer bull@%&# Google

[Darren Dirt]

fugly.

That's the word for it.

I visited the 1 minute promo/salespitch video that YT put out there -- nice retro soundtrack #wtf -- and visited the All Comments:
http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=bVGp8Z8Yb28

Okay so I can see it IS threaded (and not just in the All Comments, but in the main page too; okay so that's good) ... but ... wait, WHAT!?

...Really? Why are we forced to have a Google + page? It's absolutely useful, and it's more difficult to manage our YouTube channel. Ok, YouTube is from Google, but this is not fair... I'm in YouTube, if I want a Google + page, i'll do it myself!
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I think the people who actually care were using private domain email or dropbox/skydrive anyway. Even

So the whole POINT of using "All Comments" is still gone -- you can't skim through the ENTIRE conversation, once a post has [ 30? nope, 10? nope, 4? ] replies, those are all buried aka HIDDEN until you CLICK? R U EFFIN SERIOUS GOOGLE? Have you not learned from the SlashDot idiocy?




...I don't normally sign online petitions... but...
http://www.change.org/petitions/google-change-the-youtube-comment-section-back-to-its-original-form

Aaron Vollhoffer TRENTON, CANADA about 16 hours ago    Liked 186
Stripping us of our anonymous profiles, forcing outside media and advertizements down our throats, censoring our comments and selectively giving commenters the ability to disable replies and ratings on their comments, among a host of unwarranted changes to the original, much more efficient and streamlined Youtube layout as a whole are just some of the many negative changes that are being made to Youtube. It's ethically wrong to force these changes unto an unwilling userbase as it alienates them while devaluing the quality of the site and tarnishing your credibility.

This callous behavior needs to stop.

is this real life?

[Mr. Analog]

I don't know why they would want to turn over the applecart like this either, it literally makes no sense

Meanwhile other serious problems with video playback / client / browser support go unfixed.