YouTube Gets Wider Screen, YouTube Live Gets Cold Shoulder Reception
According to the YouTube team, one of the main things users have been complaining about over the years is the size of the video player. As of early this week, these grievances have been addressed in a simple but effective manner – make the video player window larger, width-wise of course.
“We're expanding the width of the page to 960 pixels to better reflect the quality of the videos you create and the screens that you use to watch them. This new, wider player is in a widescreen aspect ratio which we hope will provide you with a cleaner, more powerful viewing experience. And don't worry, your 4:3 aspect ratio videos will play just fine in this new player,” says the YouTube team.
The feature is expected to increase the user experience of all YouTube visitors, but as is the case with new features, you get to voice out your opinion on the subject. YouTube more than welcomes your feedback (as they should, since annoying users with useless features is not good for anyone) and if you would like to speak your mind, a discussion has been set up on the YouTube Community Help Forum.
In related news, YouTube Live has reportedly drawn a crowd of about 700,000 viewers during its live broadcast on Monday, the 24th of November. But rumors on the internet have it that the real number of viewers is actually significantly smaller, some 500,000 smaller. According to Dan Rayburn from Streaming Media, we may never find out what the real number is simply because that data is confidential; even if YouTube would go public with that info, the tradition in this medium is to exaggerate the number of viewers tenfold. Leaving all this aside, even if the 700,000 viewers number is accurate, it is still pretty low compared to other shows which draw in millions of viewers per episode.
“We're expanding the width of the page to 960 pixels to better reflect the quality of the videos you create and the screens that you use to watch them. This new, wider player is in a widescreen aspect ratio which we hope will provide you with a cleaner, more powerful viewing experience. And don't worry, your 4:3 aspect ratio videos will play just fine in this new player,” says the YouTube team.
The feature is expected to increase the user experience of all YouTube visitors, but as is the case with new features, you get to voice out your opinion on the subject. YouTube more than welcomes your feedback (as they should, since annoying users with useless features is not good for anyone) and if you would like to speak your mind, a discussion has been set up on the YouTube Community Help Forum.
In related news, YouTube Live has reportedly drawn a crowd of about 700,000 viewers during its live broadcast on Monday, the 24th of November. But rumors on the internet have it that the real number of viewers is actually significantly smaller, some 500,000 smaller. According to Dan Rayburn from Streaming Media, we may never find out what the real number is simply because that data is confidential; even if YouTube would go public with that info, the tradition in this medium is to exaggerate the number of viewers tenfold. Leaving all this aside, even if the 700,000 viewers number is accurate, it is still pretty low compared to other shows which draw in millions of viewers per episode.
