14 DAY TRIAL // Google never stops tweaking its products and it's no different with YouTube. The video site has just launched a new player but it's not done yet, the entire site is headed for a revamp soon enough. This being Google, the changes focus on making things simpler and YouTube is starting to look more and more like the Spartan Google homepage each day.
Some of the new features have made their way into various other tests before but things are starting to come together and it looks like YouTube may be launching a redesign soon enough. As for the page itself, it mostly just shuffles things around and everything looks crisper. It's somewhat faster too and the various animations when opening or closing one of the sections are pretty slick.
The description has been tucked under the video, all the share buttons have been grouped together and the right sidebar is now strictly about other videos, either from the same user or related and featured ones. Another big change is the new "like/dislike" system, which replaces the stars YouTube has had since the beginning. This move has been more or less known for a while now and the reasoning behind it is that most people used the star system as a like/dislike one, they awarded five stars for the clips they enjoyed and no stars to the ones they didn't.
The latest changes aren't ready to be taken out of the oven just yet but if you're feeling adventurous, you can join the limited beta trial YouTube is running at the moment by following this link. At first, it will look like nothing is happening but go to any video after that and you will get the new page along with a message notifying you that you've been selected for the video page beta.
"You have been chosen from a select group of users to try the new design and functionality of the video page. We will be taking your feedback into consideration when deciding how we develop the page and the final look which will eventually be released for all users," says the YouTube help page dedicated to the beta test. Just don't tell them you 'found' your way into this "select group" (hat tip to The Next Web).
