YouTube appears to reverse controversial UI redesign after backlash

Testing is crucial in UI design, but ideally not on a live product using a massive cohort of users. It's not clear exactly what YouTube has been doing in recent weeks and whether the UI redesign seen by some users was intended to be permanent or was just a large scale test, but it seems the platform may have decided against implementing the change following a not inconsiderable backlash.

The streaming channel seems to have reverted back to its previous UI for those users in the US and elsewhere who had been seeing a revamped look that made video recommendations much more visible. However, YouTube is always tweaking design (just see our piece on the YouTube logo history), so this may not be the end of it.

The redesigned UI plonked video recommendations and the Shorts shelf right under the video player where the video details and comments normally appear. These were relegated to a smaller space in sidebar.

Of course, a backlash on Reddit and X is not necessarily a sign that you should ditch a new UI design. First reactions can be unreliable as there will always be a certain amount of resistance to a change merely because it feels unfamiliar initially. But the reaction against the YouTube redesign was fairly unanimous, with users expressing serious doubts about the practicality of the overly cluttered interface.

It seems that YouTube has now rowed back: at least most people seem to now be seeing the traditional layout. However, some report still seeing the trial UI. The intention was presumably to make video recommendations more prominent, making it even more tempting to get sucked down a YouTube rabbit hole. Presumably, if YouTube's tweaking things it things the current UI isn't doing that as well as it could, so hat objective is still there, so there's a chance we might see more tweaks coming our way.

Meanwhile, YouTube's owner, Google, is the latest company to be sued by artists over its AI image generator.