Andre Yoskowitz
5 Dec 2009 0:15
YouTube has posted today that they have begun testing a "feather" version, a lighter version of the site which will allow for the quickest loading and playback of the videos.
Says the streaming giant:
One of our priorities is ensuring that videos always load and playback quickly. However, a consequence of rolling out higher quality video, HD and, more recently, 1080p, is that playbacks might suffer if bandwidth or computer processing power is low. There are also a few countries where bandwidth is at a premium and videos can take several seconds to start playing.
Let's face it: in this age of instant gratification, even several seconds of loading time can feel like an eternity.
With all of this in mind, "Feather," an ultra light watch page, launches today in TestTube, our ideas incubator where we test out new products. As you can see by the below screenshot, the player still features prominently, but will default to standard quality. Related videos, comments and other familiar features from the current watch page are kept to a minimum. All of this results in a user experience that aims to keep things simple and the videos loading and playing quickly. If we see adoption go up along with improvements in latency, we'll look to roll this out of TestTube and make it more widely available.
Join the Feather Beta