Author Topic: Non-Subscriber issues:. Did YouTube announce or explain recent changes ?  (Read 1632 times)

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Online RJSVTopic starter

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Hey!   Does anyone have info, lately YouTube videos changing the screen interoperability such as that lame-ass 'triangular' shape overlay, along mobile screen bottom, that hasn't any red timeline for manipulating playback locations.
Also, same question concerning those '3 big dots' up in the corner, with some options.  Do signed-up users get any kind of heads-up, with a few instructions, how to swipe mobile screen, to, for instance, do simple back up a few minutes in the playback ?
   Or, do signed up users still get same functionality ?

  - - On the outside, looking in...thanks
 

Offline Whales

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> along mobile screen bottom

I only use web browsers on desktops & laptops, not phones, so I'm not sure what you mean by a triangular shape overlay or difficulty in video seeking.

What program/app are you using to watch the videos?  Is it a web browser?  Is it a dedicated Youtube app?  Is it a third party app?  That will be the biggest thing affecting what user interface you see on the videos.

Online thm_w

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Are you sure you are not watching a Youtube Short? They disable seeking on those.

BTW if you want you can watch youtube in Firefox on Android, and use ublock to block the ads. There is also a shorts-block plugin that might work on mobile, but haven't tried it.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-CA/firefox/addon/youtube-shorts-block/
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Offline Whales

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Youtube shorts *pukes*

I edit the URLs when I come across one.  Eg:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MgO_Sk86CbY

replace the "shorts" with "v":

https://www.youtube.com/v/MgO_Sk86CbY

et woila

Alas I can't think what suffering that would be to achieve on mobile browsers.
 
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Online RJSVTopic starter

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   Thanks for replies.  Here's what I did:
   Self-entertainment guitar love, wanted to slow down a Hendrix performance...However:
   Searching on 'Hendrix Monterey Rock Me' up comes a Google results list, some are Veojam, and another one, and some are Facebook, needing sign-up.
But then there usual, accessable list item, is a YouTube entry, by a yt user.
THAT's the type video I'm talking about here, as it used to come up in usual yt format, where you click to enable the sound, and off it goes, including a 'SETTINGS' button.  THAT's what is gone now, replaced by a lame looking white triangle laid across the screen, along with a summary of the user up in left hand corner.  No time line for backing up the play, plus if you click on the (usual) big three dots, it goes to some giant arrow, I think it takes you to previous video.

So, for a registered YouTube user, do they see this change, like me, or not, and if so, I'm wondering if yt even grants the signed people a heads-up?
   Like  'Hey, we've changed the format and here's what got changed and here's the NEW meaning.

Arbitrary changes, and leaving the signed-up users to figure out the details is just rude and displays a kind of arrogance.  It's like the whole business approach of ignoring user...because they can.
Power + arrogant neglect in my view, as an outsider dealing with monopoly.
 

Online RJSVTopic starter

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   To state my thoughts from a slightly different angle:
   I feel that I have to resort to someplace else (by asking questions, here), a different entity altogether, in order to gain a little more expertise, as a user.

   Now at least reading that yt has 'shorts' videos; that might be what I'm struggling with.  But is that new, with announced and described changes, at least to those who have signed up ?
Thanks
 

Online RJSVTopic starter

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Did a quick search on YouTube shorts:
   Looks like yt DID announce the format changes, last October, changes between long and short, since they say users didn't like the shorts in with regular.
   Guess I have to fold my cards on that.
But, yt does make the material only available as a short, the ones that got moved into shorts.

Have to fold my cards on that issue.  Thanks.
 

Offline ebastler

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   Searching on 'Hendrix Monterey Rock Me' up comes a Google results list, some are Veojam, and another one, and some are Facebook, needing sign-up.
But then there usual, accessable list item, is a YouTube entry, by a yt user.
THAT's the type video I'm talking about here, as it used to come up in usual yt format, where you click to enable the sound, and off it goes, including a 'SETTINGS' button.  THAT's what is gone now, replaced by a lame looking white triangle laid across the screen, along with a summary of the user up in left hand corner.  No time line for backing up the play, plus if you click on the (usual) big three dots, it goes to some giant arrow, I think it takes you to previous video.

So, for a registered YouTube user, do they see this change, like me, or not, and if so, I'm wondering if yt even grants the signed people a heads-up?

Not sure what went wrong for you there. When I search for 'Hendrix Monterey Rock Me' via Google, the first three results are Youtube videos. Each around 3 minutes long, so not "Youtube shorts". And when I click either of them, each comes up in Youtube with all the regular player controls.

I am not a paying Youtube user, and don't have an account there either (e.g. I cannot comment on videos). I do have a Google account, but Youtube looks the same whether or not I am logged into the Google account when visiting.

By the way: If you are specifically looking for Youtube videos, why don't you search on Youtube directly rather than Google? They have their own search field, top & center of the screen.
 
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Online RJSVTopic starter

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Yes, thanks, when I kept trying I found some that did look and play like expected, (goal there was for entertainment,...wanted to listen to the 'fast' solo guitar fingerings, in 1/2 or even 1/4 speed.)
   But in the background, here, I'm just trying to learn how to navigate better as a user.
Along those lines, right near y the house is a senior center that offers PC training classes, but covid shutdowns still linger.  Local library had offered computer user training, but...for now all the library has to offer is 'MicroSoft word' for beginners (!!) Lol.
I've mentioned before, that I've got the Android book right here in the room (Android for Dummies).  Not at all useful.
   The senior center, eventually, will open back to normal.  Public libary (Simpsons style spelling) still requiring masks.
   My agenda(s) often seem counter to what's out there, but...you gotta laugh.  People on this blog site at least have some helpful tips !  Thanks.
 

Online RJSVTopic starter

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Learning a little bit, about my question:
   My guess is, perhaps Youtube, in response to the emergence of Tiktok maybe wanted to offer a competitive format ( ? ).
Then that might make sense, to make the 'shorts' format, but there is also the higher resolution video types and re-mastered types that make it hard to be compatible completely...
   Some videos can go to landscape mode, while others I search on and try to watch will stay in upright screen mode but will blank out the white areas that have the various user comments etc.  So there's been that inconsistency there.
Other videos, in that same vein, will completely take away any time line, with elapsed time and total time in minutes:seconds shown in the older versions, on you tube.
   Overall, it seems youtube wants to be a Tiktok look-alike, annoying but would at least explain the unpredictable video play functionality.
...I guess...
 

Offline ebastler

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My guess is, perhaps Youtube, in response to the emergence of Tiktok maybe wanted to offer a competitive format ( ? ).
[...]
Some videos can go to landscape mode, while others I search on and try to watch will stay in upright screen mode but will blank out the white areas that have the various user comments etc.  So there's been that inconsistency there.
Other videos, in that same vein, will completely take away any time line, with elapsed time and total time in minutes:seconds shown in the older versions, on you tube.

Yes, it seems pretty clear that "Youtube shorts" were launched in response to the rise of Tiktok, to cater to users with an even shorter attention span...  ::)

You seem to describe that "shorts" videos come up for you as results in a search, causing confusion because of the different format and user interface. I don't think this has ever happened to me. Whether I search on Google or in Youtube directly, I only see "regular" videos in the results. Mayber that's a coincidence or due to my search terms, but I was under the impression that even Youtube does not think that the "shorts" contain useful information which could be the answer to any question.  :P

Next time you come across a video which behaves "strange" in Youtube, could you post the link and confirm how you got there -- via a Google or Youtube search or some other link? I would like to understand what you are seeing there, and whether the "shorts" plague is spreading further...
 

Online RJSVTopic starter

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Ok I will try that.
   By the way, I've only been clicking on things that have a solid amount of total time, at least 3 to 4 minutes for a music video, and at least 10 minutes for instructional like 'youtube photonics', so I haven't really noticed shorts, until now that I've become sensitive to issues of irregular outcomes of format.  I see, also, the cropping on both sides, is visible in search list, where it might be :58 meaning it's less that a minute length.

   Coincidentally, (rather than just complaining all the time, lol), I've reached out to local Senior Center, which is part of Hayward Recreation Dept.  Every couple months I've been checking the web site, for COVID shut-down status, hours of operation, etc.
This in light of trying to get better handle on my Android driven phone.
Edit: To find a class on smartphones / Android.
   And now, latest web site has been taken down it seems, so now I can't even find a friggin phone number or a list of the Senior Center hours...a common sense but of info.   But no, now looks like some consultants have gotten hold of the web site, and now it's a city-wide all encompassing web site with lots of feel-good declarations and some hints at where to look for ACTUAL info, like are they open certain hours and certain days.  No common sense, but I did find ONE line specific to that Senior Center, listed as:
   'Wheel chairs ? Yes'.  So there is wheelchairs and parking.  That was it, now.
(Meaning that the web site a couple months ago had the common sense info, like hours of operation.)

Thanks, tho, I will try to track some examples.

- - - Rick
« Last Edit: April 07, 2023, 07:34:57 am by RJHayward »
 

Online RJSVTopic starter

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...oh and also many musical searches list Veojam and Vimeo videos, in the search results.
Thanks.
 

Offline Infraviolet

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"watching a Youtube Short? They disable seeking on those"
Really don't see why they ever came up with that dreadful format in the first place. What was ever wrong with playing short videos just the way normal videos operated.
 

Online RJSVTopic starter

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Might be that the shorts are good for short comments,about some subject that others are discussing, a bit like our 'thanks' button.

   My particular interest is that dont really mind if a business wants to charge or have users at least sign up.  It's just the MONOPOLY, effective, I mean, even my doctor is using Google forms, routinely.
 

Online Bud

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So far everything I've seen in terms of shorts were just clips out of full time videos from those youtubers. They just take 2-3 clips out of their popular videos and post them as shorts.
Facebook-free life and Rigol-free shack.
 

Online MrMobodies

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I would use their "app" or mobile or whatever.

I remember the last time I saw someone seeking on their mobile the player dimmed the video with a dimming overlay on all of it with the controls SLAPPED in the middle in front of the video instead of the bottom with the gradient, obscuring what they were trying to seek to or what they were looking for.

I find that BEYOND STUPID!

I noticed that picture in picture feature doing the same, as as soon as the mouse goes over it, controls SLAPPED in the middle with dimming overlay obscuring it. I don't find it helpful but interfering, intrusive, obstructive and annoying.
« Last Edit: April 07, 2023, 07:33:29 pm by MrMobodies »
 

Offline helius

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I edit the URLs when I come across one.  Eg:
...
replace the "shorts" with "v":
Or replace with another word to completely eliminate the pre-roll and embedded adverts and the "sign up now" popups. If you are editing URLs you might as well do what's maximally effective.
 
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