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Its about time. The Youtube UI has become a disaster over the last few years. It all started with the ability to let uploaders "annotate" their videos. I've dis

Its about time. The Youtube UI has become a disaster over the last few years. It all started with the ability to let uploaders "annotate" their videos. I've disabled the setting to show annotations probably a dozen times and they keep coming back. I can't figure out if the setting is poorly implemented or if youtube is deliberately switching the setting back.

jonknee 9y ago
> I've disabled the setting to show annotations probably a dozen times and they keep coming back. I can't figure out if the setting is poorly implemented or if youtube is deliberately switching the setting back. It could be different now, but the last time I tried to answer this the answer was that preference is stored in a cookie and not globally. I have my browser set to dump cookies when it closes so I kept losing that setting.
carlossilva33 9y ago
Do you have an adblocker? It makes it very easy to block anotations and all other kinds of annoying crap.
MrMember 9y ago
I've never been able to get the disable annotations option to stick. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, and it's been that way for years. Very annoying.
- thephyber 9y ago
  I don't think it's persistent if you don't log in. There is an account-level setting (not a video-level setting) which I the gp is talking about.
CaptSpify 9y ago
It seems like a better approach would be to just get rid of those annotations. I don't know how anyone ever thought that was a good idea. But YT should let them link externally. Site's like Patreon are beneficial to everyone involved.
- pmichaud 9y ago
  I've been watching tutorial videos on software packages recently, and one really nice use case for annotations is that if there is out of date information in a specific sentence, they can just annotate it with the newer info instead of redoing the entire video. It's also helpful when they use the links as intended, like the video links to its own follow up video at the end.
  - ncallaway 9y ago
    Yea, this is the case with almost every channel I watch. I've found annotations and links to be used responsibly and to usually be helpful. I can totally see how these features could be abused by some channels, though.
- anyfoo 9y ago
  I can echo what the others have already commented, which is that in the overwhelming majority of videos from channels that I have subscribed to, the annotations have been useful. Getting rid of them entirely would get rid of an easy and much needed way for the uploader to add corrections and other additions after the fact. I do see videos where the annotations are rather annoying, but I don't think it's so often that it has been a terrible problem overall, and I have a suspicion that on those videos the annotations have not been the only annoying aspect. Edit: I just saw further down that annotations are actually deprecated, and now I really wonder how people can add corrections to videos? Does that mean I have to read the description of every video I watch?
  - Fnoord 9y ago
    How to add corrections to post? Well, reply to your own video with a blank post so its top post and reserved. Edit it to add corrections. I just regard annotations and commercials (which aren't blocked by uBlock Origin) as part of a video. If you (or I) don't enjoy a video (for whatever reason), stopping watching it is always an option to consider.
wickawic 9y ago
Agreed, but this move seems like a grab at Patreon and self promotion in general. Users can still put obnoxious annotations up.
- timothya 9y ago
  > Users can still put obnoxious annotations up. No, annotations are deprecated, you can't add them to videos anymore. [0] [0]: https://youtube-creators.googleblog.com/2017/03/keep-fans-engaged-with-cards-end.html https://youtube-creators.googleblog.com/2017/03/keep-fans-en...
  - Mithaldu 9y ago
    Wow, that is utterly disgusting and an attack on their own user base.
  - anyfoo 9y ago
    Huh, so, how will uploaders update corrections and other additions after the fact?
    - Mithaldu 9y ago
      You can add "cards", i.e. the popups in the top right that show a short text and an "i" button. Those can be links to videos, polls, or external links (if you're a big youtuber). However the text is limited, you can't set how long it shows, and you can have a maximum of 5. You can maybe use subtitles too, but you cannot set a default subtitle for your video. So there are hacky half-working workarounds, but otherwise youtube just told everyone who cares about their videos to go and kindly get fucked.
    - TeMPOraL 9y ago
      Well, how about reuploading if you fuck up the editing process, and trying not to fuck up the next time?
      - PhasmaFelis 9y ago
cm2187 9y ago
Also the ability to illustrate a video with an image that's not part of the video, has become a click bait paradise.
- anyfoo 9y ago
  Unlike the additions, I really don't see how that feature is benefiting the platform except for some uploaders by, as you succinctly put it, providing click bait. I really wish the video image would have to be a frame taken from the video. Make it any frame, if the uploader cares so much they can include the image as a title card and pick a frame from that.
  - LeoNatan25 9y ago
    Before the option to put a custom image existed, assholes would put the click-bait image for a few frames in the middle of the video. You can't win with such idiots.
rasz 9y ago
install ImprovedTube Plus, turn off annotations in the extension, problem solved
dpedu 9y ago
There's a (fake) setting to globally disable annotations? Even if it doesn't work as Google describes it, I'm interested.
- apocalyptic0n3 9y ago
  There's been one in the playback settings for years. https://www.youtube.com/account_playback https://www.youtube.com/account_playback
norswap 9y ago
The answer to excess of marketing is censorship of the small accounts? This does not make any sense.
- wdr1 9y ago
  It's not just small accounts. It's also big accounts that are abusive.
tyingq 9y ago
Nice that they are getting rid of an irritating implementation. But they aren't replacing the legitimate need. Some videos do benefit from background material. Or a patreon type link to support the content creator. Google should address the need. Otherwise it just looks like a tactic to keep people on YouTube.

jonknee 9y ago

> I've disabled the setting to show annotations probably a dozen times and they keep coming back. I can't figure out if the setting is poorly implemented or if youtube is deliberately switching the setting back. It could be different now, but the last time I tried to answer this the answer was that preference is stored in a cookie and not globally. I have my browser set to dump cookies when it closes so I kept losing that setting.

carlossilva33 9y ago

Do you have an adblocker? It makes it very easy to block anotations and all other kinds of annoying crap.

MrMember 9y ago

I've never been able to get the disable annotations option to stick. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, and it's been that way for years. Very annoying.

thephyber 9y ago
I don't think it's persistent if you don't log in. There is an account-level setting (not a video-level setting) which I the gp is talking about.

CaptSpify 9y ago

It seems like a better approach would be to just get rid of those annotations. I don't know how anyone ever thought that was a good idea. But YT should let them link externally. Site's like Patreon are beneficial to everyone involved.

pmichaud 9y ago
I've been watching tutorial videos on software packages recently, and one really nice use case for annotations is that if there is out of date information in a specific sentence, they can just annotate it with the newer info instead of redoing the entire video. It's also helpful when they use the links as intended, like the video links to its own follow up video at the end.
- ncallaway 9y ago
  Yea, this is the case with almost every channel I watch. I've found annotations and links to be used responsibly and to usually be helpful. I can totally see how these features could be abused by some channels, though.
anyfoo 9y ago
I can echo what the others have already commented, which is that in the overwhelming majority of videos from channels that I have subscribed to, the annotations have been useful. Getting rid of them entirely would get rid of an easy and much needed way for the uploader to add corrections and other additions after the fact. I do see videos where the annotations are rather annoying, but I don't think it's so often that it has been a terrible problem overall, and I have a suspicion that on those videos the annotations have not been the only annoying aspect. Edit: I just saw further down that annotations are actually deprecated, and now I really wonder how people can add corrections to videos? Does that mean I have to read the description of every video I watch?
- Fnoord 9y ago
  How to add corrections to post? Well, reply to your own video with a blank post so its top post and reserved. Edit it to add corrections. I just regard annotations and commercials (which aren't blocked by uBlock Origin) as part of a video. If you (or I) don't enjoy a video (for whatever reason), stopping watching it is always an option to consider.

wickawic 9y ago

Agreed, but this move seems like a grab at Patreon and self promotion in general. Users can still put obnoxious annotations up.

timothya 9y ago
> Users can still put obnoxious annotations up. No, annotations are deprecated, you can't add them to videos anymore. [0] [0]: https://youtube-creators.googleblog.com/2017/03/keep-fans-engaged-with-cards-end.html https://youtube-creators.googleblog.com/2017/03/keep-fans-en...
- Mithaldu 9y ago
  Wow, that is utterly disgusting and an attack on their own user base.
- anyfoo 9y ago
  Huh, so, how will uploaders update corrections and other additions after the fact?
  - Mithaldu 9y ago
    You can add "cards", i.e. the popups in the top right that show a short text and an "i" button. Those can be links to videos, polls, or external links (if you're a big youtuber). However the text is limited, you can't set how long it shows, and you can have a maximum of 5. You can maybe use subtitles too, but you cannot set a default subtitle for your video. So there are hacky half-working workarounds, but otherwise youtube just told everyone who cares about their videos to go and kindly get fucked.
  - TeMPOraL 9y ago
    Well, how about reuploading if you fuck up the editing process, and trying not to fuck up the next time?
    - PhasmaFelis 9y ago

cm2187 9y ago

Also the ability to illustrate a video with an image that's not part of the video, has become a click bait paradise.

anyfoo 9y ago
Unlike the additions, I really don't see how that feature is benefiting the platform except for some uploaders by, as you succinctly put it, providing click bait. I really wish the video image would have to be a frame taken from the video. Make it any frame, if the uploader cares so much they can include the image as a title card and pick a frame from that.
- LeoNatan25 9y ago
  Before the option to put a custom image existed, assholes would put the click-bait image for a few frames in the middle of the video. You can't win with such idiots.

rasz 9y ago

install ImprovedTube Plus, turn off annotations in the extension, problem solved

dpedu 9y ago

There's a (fake) setting to globally disable annotations? Even if it doesn't work as Google describes it, I'm interested.

apocalyptic0n3 9y ago
There's been one in the playback settings for years. https://www.youtube.com/account_playback https://www.youtube.com/account_playback

norswap 9y ago

The answer to excess of marketing is censorship of the small accounts? This does not make any sense.

wdr1 9y ago
It's not just small accounts. It's also big accounts that are abusive.

tyingq 9y ago

Nice that they are getting rid of an irritating implementation. But they aren't replacing the legitimate need. Some videos do benefit from background material. Or a patreon type link to support the content creator. Google should address the need. Otherwise it just looks like a tactic to keep people on YouTube.