YouTube is testing a Material Design makeover for its web interface

Google has made live a hidden implementation of its Material Design for the YouTube web interface. The new interface continues the design evolution of Google by going flatter, and simpler. Animations are used to guide the users towards new actions. The buttons are simplified to easily understandable icons. The right side navigation sidebar is toggled off by default, the bar is shown by default in the current version. There is a central tile based board of videos, similar to the new mobile interface . Some of the video thumbnails are of different sizes, but they all fit into a grid. [caption id=“attachment_313011” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  The YouTube interface using Material Design[/caption] The text based upload button is now just an upward pointing arrow, an icon button. The settings are removed from the bottom of the page, and relocated to the top right corner. The “Load More” button at the bottom of the page has been removed, and replaced with an endless scrolling web site. New content is loaded for as long as you keep scrolling. The right and left buttons on the filmstrip thumbnails are now overlaid on top of the video thumbnails, instead of appearing on the side. The left and right buttons, as well as the menus have a smooth animation now, instead of a sudden popping appearance. [caption id=“attachment_313012” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  On the left is the current site, the redesigned version is on the right[/caption] The mode is known to be available on English and US English versions of the site, although it could be live in other languages as well. Activating the new interface requires a bit of fiddling under the hood, instructions are here. The site is in German, but the video has English captions.