YouTube is taking advantage of its 17th anniversary to give itself a facelift with a major update. On the program: a new, more modern design, an ambient mode, and the ability to zoom in videos.
YouTube is currently celebrating its 17e anniversary. For the occasion, the famous – and essential – streaming video platform is getting a major update on computers, mobiles and connected televisions. Google’s service is modernizing its interface and acquiring new functions – some of which have been tested for several months – in order to offer “a more modern and immersive viewing experience while improving the way users watch videos”as Nate Koechley, director of UX at YouTube, explains in a statement. The platform is therefore entitled to a new dark theme, new buttons, an ambient mode that adapts the colors of the background to those of the video, but also to functions to zoom in on a portion of the video and to easier access to a specific passage. This new version is currently being deployed worldwide, and should therefore be available within the next few weeks.
YouTube: a new interface with an ambient mode
One of the major changes is the introduction of an ambient mode, available when the dark theme is activated on the web and mobile versions – iOS as Android –, which should make the videos more immersive. Using a dynamic color sampling technique, the background of the video will take on a colored background that replicates the hues present in the video to mimic the light that screens cast on walls – a bit such as the Ambilight system of Philips televisions. This will be all the more visible as the dark theme is going to be a little darker – including for television.
The action buttons – for liking, disliking, sharing, downloading and saving – are getting smaller to take up less screen space and are moved further below the video, below the creator’s name , in small, fairly compact pills, to create less distraction. The subscribe button is no longer just red text, but is now just below the video, again in pill form with a white background that allows it to stand out clearly. Finally, the links contained in the descriptions also become buttons.
YouTube playlists are also entitled to a small modernization. Video thumbnails – known as thumbnails – have rounded edges, and the playlist uses the same dynamic color sampling technique as ambient mode, while now displaying the number of views and the time period. on-line.
YouTube: functions for zooming and navigating through videos
Google is rolling out a new feature on its mobile app called “pinch to zoom”, i.e. pinch-to-zoom. As the name suggests, now all you have to do is pinch the screen with your fingers to enlarge the image – to see details in DIY or drawing tutorials for example – and keep it at that size throughout. video playback. A function already present in the great rival TikTok
On mobile, it will also be easier to find a particular moment in a video. Like on PC, users can now precisely search through content, displaying thumbnails as they move the cursor over the playback progress bar. Simply tap the screen to bring up this bar, then raise the red dot there to bring up the series of thumbnails. All you have to do is scroll left or right to find the right moment. This comes in handy when looking for a particular action without having to fumble around.