Some resourceful Redditors have discovered that YouTube may be prepping for a major facelift very soon.
Although YouTube's basic web interface has changed very little over the years, with so many new features, like unskippable ads and improved recommended videos, it's no surprise that the company may want to be giving the site a fresh new look in the near future.
According to a Reddit thread, anyone using Google's Chrome browser may be able to preview the changes being tested by YouTube.
To try it out yourself, go to YouTube's US site and open Chrome's developer tools by clicking on the menu bar or pressing Cltrl + Shift + I.
Under the “Resources” tab, delete the VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE cookie for YouTube then go to the console and define that same cookie with the following command instead:
document.cookie="VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE=Qa1hUZu3gtk;path=/;domain=.youtube.com";
When the page is reloaded, you should be able to see all the Material Design-based changes to the YouTube website.
Take note that some users on the thread have reported that they are unable to view all of the design changes noted by other users even when following suggestions like going into incognito mode or only using the US site.
In addition, some Redditors have reported that they have also been able to view the changes on a Firefox browser with some degree of success.
Among the changes that users have noted being made are a sidebar with clean icons, a less cluttered look in general, a bigger main logo, a huge theater mode and an easier way to find channels and videos.
Meanwhile, the player itself reportedly remains unchanged in this preview.
YouTube has yet to comment on when these changes will be implemented on the video-sharing site, but the Redditors who have been peeking at it are optimistic that it will only be matter of time before we see the Material Design go live.
With so many ads and content available on YouTube, a facelift to declutter and make the user experience more straightforward will certainly be most welcome.
