New YouTube Rolls Out, Complaints Roll In

Originally published on WebTVWire.com – a TV Technology blog.

The new YouTube we have been expecting for the past few weeks has now rolled out. And damn good it is too, at least on first sighting and after a very brief test. Not everyone is so pleased with the redesign though. In fact, some are spitting mad.

New YouTube Design

The new YouTube design has now rolled out. And there are no surprises or last-minute adjustments from the redesign we looked at in the middle of November.

This is a redesign intended to do a number of things. Firstly, to get us watching more videos. Secondly, to get us sharing more videos, particularly via Google+. Thirdly, to give the website a visual overhaul to keep it in line with the rest of the Web.

It looks like YouTube has ticked all these boxes, and yet people still aren’t happy.

Complaints, Complaints, Complaints

At the time of writing the YouTube Blog post detailing the redesign has got (all of) six comments. Not many, granted. But what’s amazing is that they are all complaints of some description.

One is complaining that the redesign hasn’t reached his locale yet. Even though everyone knows these things take time. Another that the video (embedded above) is misleading as the backgrounds in the video don’t match the real backgrounds. Surely this is because the video is stylized to make the changes more obvious? As any fool would surely know.

The remaining four comments actually complain about the redesign itself. One moans about the way subscriptions are now organized, while another suggests the “most recent video in the playlist is featured.” A third notices the way user-generated content is being swept aside to give more space to premium content. Which is actually an interesting debate to be had at some vague point in the future.

The last word, however, has to go to ‘xstrawberry’, who asks:

how do i CHANGE the layout back to the OLD one. i can’t stand this. it’s ugly and disorganized and everything’s all over the place. this is just going downhill.

This sounds like the reaction every single Facebook overhaul receives. People get very used to the way something looks and feels, and really don’t take kindly to any changes being made. But YouTube, like Facebook, will have to stay focused and resolute in the face of these complaints.

Conclusions

I plan on giving the new-look YouTube a thorough review in a few days. But for now I can say it looks to me, as a viewer and casual user rather than creator and channel editor, as being an improvement. Let’s see how many more complaints will roll in before people start changing their minds.

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