thereceptacle

I can hear it already. Google Video is trying out a new page layout which happens to resemble YouTube. By that I mean the layout has been informed by what is becoming the accepted convention for video web sites. Since YouTube, due to sheer brute-force popularity, is the frontrunner in determining these conventions, quite a few people are calling from the mountaintops that Google is copying YouTube.

Google Video’s current layout is similar to Yahoo Video’s. Both have the feel of a very modern library archival article, as oppose to a social networking site’s content detail page. They feature the video heavily, with it’s fluid dimensions allowing it to flood the majority of the page. Description, owner, meta information, all play third fiddle because the page is not about the video’s story or it’s context, it’s about the video. The remaining page content is primarily comprised of some intelligently assembled lists of suggested or related videos to help move users around the site. Everything here is about the video.

The new layout does look quite a bit like what you might find at YouTube, Grouper, Ifilm, or Veoh. The video has much more conservative, fixed dimensions, allowing for a more consistant page layout. The meta information and description are given almost equal footing with the video, playing up the owner’s narrative as much as the video’s content. Finally, user comments are exposed on the page, giving a voice to the community. This is a page about a video as viewed through the eyes of it’s audience, not a card catalog.

This is pretty much the lowest common denomenator of layouts for video social sites these days. Just like there’s a pretty standard layout for printed dictionaries, restaraunt menus, and even blogs, a predominant video sharing site layout has arisen. Does this mean Google means to move their video offering more in the direction of video-centric social networking sites? Would that be a good thing or would they be removing one of the most pure sources of video aggregation remaining on the web in favor of Yet Another Video Networking Site?

To see the new layout in action for yourself, visit any video detail page (perhaps this one) and paste this into the address bar:

javascript:setCookie('np','old');window.location.reload();