Updating a video player for a video hosting platform is no small undertaking. It’s the most visible part of our platform, and it reaches millions of people worldwide. For the first time in several years, we decided to give our video player a more modern, streamlined look, and we really hope you like it. See what the new player looks like, and get all the details about what’s different, in this post.
Why Redesign the Player?
Although we have made many improvements to the player over the years, those changes were primarily on the backend, and did little to improve how it looked. This overhaul greatly simplifies the look of the player, and makes it much easier to customize.
What’s New?
The play button and the seek bar are totally different in terms of appearance. All the functionality our player offered before is still there, but the new style is more fitting for modern websites. We strived to make each aspect easy to read and to manipulate by viewers.
The new player allows you to pick one custom color, whereas the old player had six different colors and gradients that you could change. While that allowed for some interesting combos, it was a little too complicated. Also, the new player has two themes – light and dark – which makes it even easier to switch things up.
Transitioning to the New Player
The new player design has been rolled out to everyone automatically, except for any accounts with embedded videos using custom colors. Since the new player handles colors really differently from the old player, we didn’t want to risk migrating those with custom colors automatically in case it resulted in clashing colors on the website where the videos are embedded. If you didn’t embed your videos with custom player colors, you’ll see the new player everywhere you have shared your video and when logged into your account.
If you don’t see the new player automatically appear for your embedded videos, just swap out your existing video embed codes to get the new player design. If you have any questions about doing so, please let us know right away. Eventually, the new player will be rolled out to everyone. You will have two months to switch your video embed codes and pick your custom color before that happens.
Questions? Feedback about the new player? Let us know in the comments below or by contacting us!
