Modify the video service's interface

Mar 13, 2007 09:14 GMT  ·  By

Google Video and YouTube are two similar services provided by the search giant that provide almost the same functions. As you know, they allow users to upload, share and comment clips with other members of the community using a simple web-based interface. At this time, most users are connecting to YouTube because it is more popular than its competitor, but some of them are really attracted by the interface of the Google Video product. Blogger Ionut Alex published an interesting way to modify the interface of the recently acquired video service based on Firefox and a tiny script for the Greasemonkey extension.

All you need is Mozilla's Firefox, the main rival for Microsoft's Internet Explorer that allows users to download and install additional extensions. After you installed Firefox, you need to download the Greasemonkey extension along with a scrip that will automatically modify the interface of YouTube.

"Makes YouTube videos look more like Google Videos. Basically, it puts the comments in a new tab on the side bar, and expands the video frame to take up as much space as possible, just like Google Video. Clicking on the minimize/maximize button makes the video take up the entire web page, with other page elements disappearing to make room. Click on it again and everything is back to normal. Kinda like normal fullscreen, but quicker," the developer sustains.

There are a lot of users that are asking themselves why is Google promoting two similar services that are aiming to attract the same category of clients. The answer was provided by a Google employee some time ago. He sustained the two products will continue to exist, but Video will be based on the content it provides while YouTube will try to increase its impressive community of members.

If you want to download all the utilities, you can find them on Softpedia so, click HERE for Firefox, HERE for Greasemonkey and check this page for the script.

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