YouTube Web Interface Is Suddenly Huge!

[tommoose13]

Hey all,

 

Recently my YouTube interface on desktop has become enormous and unwieldy.  I don't use my computer without my glasses, so I really don't need it to be this big, and it's pretty frustrating that there doesn't seem to be any way to change it back to "normal".  My friend seems to have the exact same issue, so it's not just a me thing, and I've tried Firefox, Chrome, and Edge (ik, basically just windows flavoured chrome) and the issue persists across them all.  Zooming out in the browser doesn't fix.  If any of you are experiencing something similar, please comment here, or even better, on my YouTube community post.  Commiseration would be satisfying, stopgap 3rd party solutions would be appreciated, but if enough of us are not happy with this and there's a way to raise our voices loud enough to be heard, that would be awesome.  

 

Example pic attached.  Thank goodness the amazing Floatplane devs don't do dumb stuff like this!

[manikyath]

youtube decided thumbnails should be this big. ironically thumbnails on my desktop are bigger than on my TV...

 

the reddit community for ublock origin has a bunch of posts about hwo to fix this, iirc this is the one i used:

 

[Blue4130]

2 hours ago, tommoose13 said:

Hey all,

 

Recently my YouTube interface on desktop has become enormous and unwieldy.  I don't use my computer without my glasses, so I really don't need it to be this big, and it's pretty frustrating that there doesn't seem to be any way to change it back to "normal".  My friend seems to have the exact same issue, so it's not just a me thing, and I've tried Firefox, Chrome, and Edge (ik, basically just windows flavoured chrome) and the issue persists across them all.  Zooming out in the browser doesn't fix.  If any of you are experiencing something similar, please comment here, or even better, on my YouTube community post.  Commiseration would be satisfying, stopgap 3rd party solutions would be appreciated, but if enough of us are not happy with this and there's a way to raise our voices loud enough to be heard, that would be awesome.  

 

Example pic attached.  Thank goodness the amazing Floatplane devs don't do dumb stuff like this!

 

Oh man, I thought it was just me...

[venomtail]

I hate it as well. Haven't found a way to fix it. New layout even has a few ad placements slip through.

[porina]

Wow, it got even worse today. Back a week or so thumbnails were 5+ wide on my 4k display. Then it went to 4. This morning, 3. Weirdly my 1080p laptop is still 4 wide. How do they decide this?

[Blue4130]

On mine it is starting with 5 wide for a fraction of a second, then switches to 3 giant dumb thumbnails.

[Haswellx86]

I just opened YouTube today and it has happened to me as well. I hate this and would like more videos on my screen at a time. You could scale the zoom out though.

[Mark Kaine]

.... Just a question this is for the "home" page layout only, right? Cause I never use that, my yt looks as always.

Also recently saw a technology connections video where he was going on about how "great" the yt home page is and that we should use "subscriptions"....  I was so weirded out by that because actually the normal recommendations do exactly the same thing, just without the garish layout lol...

I was happy he mentioned that in the end tho...

Like bro... (but no, subscribing messes everything up, or at least servers no real purpose in regards to what videos you'll get suggested)

 

PS: I also actually did subscribe to very few channels, but I never get any notifications, otherwise I'd have to immediately unsubscribe... 

 

1 hour ago, venomtail said:

Haven't found a way to fix it.

Well I did! Don't use the "home" button (or page) the most useless yt "feature" since decades!?

 

Edit: how my yt looks, always

 

You see? No random stuff (at all) and whenever a new video is posted from a channel I typically watch it'll be shown immediately, no need to tell me lol...

 

(note, technology connections is not a channel I typically watch, but it's still shown occasionally, and it's not actually bad either)

[duncannah]

I had this a few weeks ago (I hated it) and it went away after a day or two. 

[Spotty]

2 hours ago, porina said:

Wow, it got even worse today. Back a week or so thumbnails were 5+ wide on my 4k display. Then it went to 4. This morning, 3. Weirdly my 1080p laptop is still 4 wide. How do they decide this?

I'm guessing they see how bad they can make it before people stop using the platform and then dial it back just slightly enough that people start using it again. I hate the new design but I'm just thankful they even give us the option of viewing thumbnails instead of just picking one video for us to watch (based on the aLgOrItHm) and automatically playing it Youtube Shorts style.

 

1 hour ago, Mark Kaine said:

.... Just a question this is for the "home" page layout only, right? Cause I never use that, my yt looks as always.

It's also on the Subscriptions page, not just the home page. You may just not have received the change yet. Youtube tests and rolls things out in phases. It's unclear if this is Youtube just testing things or just the new layout they're pushing.

 

If I open Youtube when logged in I get the new layout, but in an incognito browser window when I'm not logged in it appears as the old layout. With the updated layout my Subscription page shows 4 in a row while the Home page shows 3 in a row. I only see 6 (and a bit) videos with the browser page full screen on a 2560x1440 monitor. It looks pretty ass.

Spoiler

 

1 hour ago, Mark Kaine said:

(note, technology connections is not a channel I typically watch, but it's still shown occasionally, and it's not actually bad either)

He does have some really interesting videos. His video series about the home video format wars are worth a watch if you have a few hours to sink.

[porina]

21 minutes ago, Spotty said:

I'm guessing they see how bad they can make it before people stop using the platform and then dial it back just slightly enough that people start using it again.

An interesting data point below. I'm currently actively running 2 channels, so I switch accounts between them from time to time.

 

Right now, on my 4k desktop:

Old channel: 6 wide feed, 6 wide subs.

New channel: 3 wide feed, 4 wide subs.

 

Repeating on my 1080p laptop:

Old channel: 4 wide feed, 5 wide subs.

New channel: 3 wide feed, 3 wide subs.

Edit: on laptop logged in as new channel, if I collapse the left menu to icons only, sub feed goes from 3 wide to 4 wide. Doesn't happen on any other combination.

 

From a creator perspective, I have often wondered about thumbnail optimisation. The recommended thumbnail upload size is 1280x720. At 6 wide, they don't take up much area on screen so any elements on it need to be big and bold enough to stand out at that size. At 3 wide, you could potentially use a lot more smaller detail. I'd have to be confident everyone was getting massive thumbnails before I even think about moving to that.

[Mark Kaine]

2 hours ago, Spotty said:

It's also on the Subscriptions page, not just the home page. You may just not have received the change yet. Youtube tests and rolls things out in phases. It's unclear if this is Youtube just testing things or just the new layout they're pushing.

 

Hmm, I see, I think those pages are just something I successfully avoid since decades... and yes, they look like what you guys posted from my recollection and yes, I see the thumbnails seem to be a bit larger, but generally it's not a huge difference, it's just a really really horrible doom scroll'ish layout with things I do not want to see (on yt especially) ... 

It's kinda funny, I think the yt algorithm is actually great, but not on the homepage (can't say much about subscription page because I honestly thought that's the same thing/looks the same)

Here's how my subscriptions look:

 

Spoiler

 

(there's nothing else...on the right side is just the current video)

 

Also note the only channel there I *regularly* watch is Techmoan... (Puck and france24 also I guess)

I use this more as a way to not forget about some channels (for whatever reasons)

Kari is super good, e.g., but barely posts anything tho... Asmon... Sometimes funny, usually obnoxious, barely ever watch (doesn't show up in my recommended either lol) etc...

 

PS: msplaystuff is low key the best channel tho!

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 hours ago, Spotty said:

He does have some really interesting videos. His video series about the home video format wars are worth a watch if you have a few hours to sink

Yeah... He almost posts too much (but it's fine either way) a lot of times it's just not something interesting for me, but I did watch the flash photography one afterwards also and that was seriously one of the best videos I've ever seen, and interesting too! 

 

Edit!

 

2 hours ago, Spotty said:

If I open Youtube when logged in I get the new layout, but in an incognito browser window when I'm not logged in it appears as the old layout. With the updated layout my Subscription page shows 4 in a row while the Home page shows 3 in a row. I only see 6 (and a bit) videos with the browser page full screen on a 2560x1440 monitor. It looks pretty as.

 

Oh yeah, that's something seriously odd about Google... This stuff should be opt in and not "let's see if you notice"...

 

Remember the "doodle" thing ya'll told me is normal? I've never seen it again (I only blocked it in Firefox but not in chrome, because I never see it there so I can't block it)

And on my desktop I didn't block it at all, still never see it on any browser I use. Just saying that's really weird how that works (or doesn't)

 

 

[tommoose13]

I am glad to hear I am not the only one!  I'll have to look into the uBlock options, seems like a bit of a rabbit hole but probably worth my time since I only watch on desktop these days.  The homepage has been getting noticeably worse for me for months now, between just not serving new videos from subscribed channels and now this... But still sometimes I find an interesting video, and I'd like to not get motion sickness just to browse options.

 

Incandescent Christmas lights forever!

[manikyath]

48 minutes ago, tommoose13 said:

seems like a bit of a rabbit hole but probably worth my time

it's a rabbit hole if you want to explore it, i just found something i like and just use that in a 'set and forget' way.