Video Description and Options (and Comments) UI

[moriel5]

I'll start off with what is think is the most relevant to the least.

1. I think that splitting off the channel name and options such as audio playback from the video Description, and moving them above it (with icon-only buttons for the audio-only and loop options), would be a lot more functional and a lot cleaner, since the just will not have to scroll to get to them, and if made small enough (not too small, for easily being able to press them on touchscreens), will not get reading the actual description (which to be honest, you are already scrolling if you are reading it).

2. When there are "chapter" markers, putting them below the video just doesn't make any sense, since you have no idea that they are even there without scrolling down (and for things that directly touches upon the stream, you should not have any need for scrolling), which is why on Piped it was moved to the side of the video, which is a fair tradeoff. This could be augmented with a dedicated button that can optionally hide or show the list, to get back the horizontal real-estate otherwise lost.

3. The description should have a minimize/show button, to prevent unnecessary scrolling when trying to reach the comments and related videos. Also, having the description minimized by default (the first few lines would be shown) would be required to properly utilize this.

4. The description, comments and related videos currently waste space on the sides when using a widescreen monitor. Thankfully, the related videos are on the side of the comments, so not a complete waste, however making this a bit wider (no need for it to be edge to edge, Piped does this beautifully while remaining very clean) would be very beneficial, as it will allow comments (and perhaps also video details, if the cards were a bit wider and showed the details more efficiently) a bit more horizontal space, which should potentially lower their vertical usage a bit (especially for extremely long comments/rants).

5. Just an idea, not really necessary, however perhaps moving the Related Videos sidebar up, so it starts next to the video description, could make things a bit more usable, without upping the information density (especially with the description minimized), similar (but not the same) to how YouTube does this.

[moriel5]

A note regarding the chapter markers, I just compared Piped and Piped-Material on mobile, and I see that Piped also puts them on the bottom when the screen is narrow, so it could be alright in such a situation, however on a widescreen (or really, any screen that is not too narrow), it would be a bad choice.

Another thing that I notice, is that due to how Piped resizes the video box, there are no black bars at all, and the size is decent, regardless of what screen is used, however on mobile in portrait mode, Piped-Material has huge black bars that cause the video box to fill the entire screen, despite the actual video only taking a small part of that, requiring scrolling to see anything else.

Update: Also on narrow screens, the spacing on the sides is edge-to-edge on Piped-Material, while Piped retains the same ratio as on desktop, which while someone like me likes how Piped-Material does it better in this case, the way that Piped does it is much more consistent, and will be easier for more people.

[mmjee]

On 8/31/22 17:57, moriel5 wrote: I'll start off with what is think is the most relevant to the least. 1. I think that splitting off the channel name and options such as audio playback from the video Description, and moving them above it (with icon-only buttons for the audio-only and loop options), would be a lot more functional and a lot cleaner, since the just will not have to scroll to get to them, and if made small enough (not too small, for easily being able to press them on touchscreens), will not get reading the actual description (which to be honest, you are already scrolling if you are reading it).

Audio-only playback and looping are very low priority and probably set once a session. It's certainly not lower priority than the video description. I don't see what this would accomplish.

2. When there are "chapter" markers, putting them below the video just doesn't make any sense, since you have no idea that they are even there without scrolling down (and for things that directly touches upon the stream, you should not have any need for scrolling), which is why on Piped it was moved to the side of the video, which is a fair tradeoff. This could be augmented with a dedicated button that can optionally hide or show the list, to get back the horizontal real-estate otherwise lost.

The modus operandi of the Piped Material video playback page is to ensure that the reason people are using PM (the videos) get the maximum amount of screen space. The expected flow and the most common way to use is for users to scroll down once or twice to read the title and description and then continually focus on the video. I don't want to put the chapter selector on the side since I don't want to introduce a columnar layout to the video page (which is simple, straightforward and hierarchical), implying multiple items of the same priority.

3. The description should have a minimize/show button, to prevent unnecessary scrolling when trying to reach the comments and related videos. Also, having the description minimized by default (the first few lines would be shown) would be required to properly utilize this.

I used to be annoyed at YouTube's implementation where they would not let me disable the minimization permanently (making me expand it every single time). Video descriptions are not that long ordinarily and almost always shorter than the viewport height. Adding an option would only increase complexity for very little gain.

4. The description, comments and related videos currently waste space on the sides when using a widescreen monitor. Thankfully, the related videos are on the side of the comments, so not a complete waste, however making this a bit wider (no need for it to be edge to edge, Piped does this beautifully while remaining very clean) would be very beneficial, as it will allow comments (and perhaps also video details, if the cards were a bit wider and showed the details more efficiently) a bit more horizontal space, which should potentially lower their vertical usage a bit (especially for extremely long comments/rants).

The main portion is currently set at a maximum width of 1080p, which is why it looks weird on widescreens. I'm not sure what to do for this either, maybe set a static margin of 15% of viewport width on both sides once above 1080p.

5. Just an idea, not really necessary, however perhaps moving the Related Videos sidebar up, so it starts next to the video description, could make things a bit more usable, without upping the information density (especially with the description minimized), similar (but not the same) to how YouTube does this.

Related videos are similar in nature to the comments, and not really related to the video. So, no, I'm not doing this.

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-- Regards,

[moriel5]

Audio-only playback and looping are very low priority and probably set once a session. It's certainly not lower priority than the video description. I don't see what this would accomplish.

It would make things a lot easier for those on limited bandwidth and/or limited data plans, as they would typically prefer autoplay off, and would not appreciate having to scroll each time they want to listen to a contents of a video (which would be mostly music or posdcast-like videos).

The modus operandi of the Piped Material video playback page is to ensure that the reason people are using PM (the videos) get the maximum amount of screen space. The expected flow and the most common way to use is for users to scroll down once or twice to read the title and description and then continually focus on the video. I don't want to put the chapter selector on the side since I don't want to introduce a columnar layout to the video page (which is simple, straightforward and hierarchical), implying multiple items of the same priority.

Fair enough, although in my opinion, that is what the Full Screen mode is for, so I think that actually adds complexity for most people, however this is merely a different approach.

I used to be annoyed at YouTube's implementation where they would not let me disable the minimization permanently (making me expand it every single time). Video descriptions are not that long ordinarily and almost always shorter than the viewport height. Adding an option would only increase complexity for very little gain.

Actually, I have noticed the average video text description having becoming long enough to almost warrant it's own page, due to sponsors, copyrights and timetables (for chapters) having been added, so it gets tiresome very quickly.

This is also why YouTube made video descriptions collapsible back in the day, because descriptions began getting too long for users.

If you think that the gain is too small, I accept that, but just voicing my concern regarding an existing issue, which I fear that could only get worse with time.

The main portion is currently set at a maximum width of 1080p, which is why it looks weird on widescreens. I'm not sure what to do for this either, maybe set a static margin of 15% of viewport width on both sides once above 1080p.

Not do I, I only remember that YouTube used to have the same issue, and they basically came to the same conclusion as what Piped would later have.

Related videos are similar in nature to the comments, and not really related to the video. So, no, I'm not doing this.

No problem, it was just a suggestion, and the least important one from the list.