UX Story: 'Watch and Read' YouTube

“No, not again!”

I accidentally closed the comments on the YouTube mobile app, for the seventh time consecutively, while trying to navigate out of a comment thread.

A bit of background: Many people are content with one type of device to connect to internet — mostly their phones. But there are people like me who use many devices seamlessly to browse the net depending on the time of the day, intent and content for consumption!

My primary source of video content is YouTube. I’m using YouTube on three devices depending on the content and length:

1. Any video link in social media, if it is short (say, a duration of 10 minutes or less), I watch it on my mobile phone.
2. I watch longer video content (TED talks, design-related videos, general entertainment…) on my desktop computer — YouTube in the Chrome browser.
3. Every night, I watch the news and late-night shows, by lazily lying down, on an iPad.

In all the three devices above, the YouTube app behaves differently for showing comments on a video. And this creates a big problem for me when I switch between devices.

We are all obsessed with multi-tasking and I have this habit of watching a YouTube video while reading the comments.

“I never watch a YouTube video in full screen. Reading comments, while watching videos, gives me a better context and the world’s perspective on the topic.”

YouTube Tablet App (iPadOS)

I always use the iPad in portrait mode. Video ‘Comments’ usually appear as an infinite scroll after the video description and recommended videos.

Screenshots of YouTube iPadOS app in Portrait mode. [A] ‘Comments’ appear after video description and recommended videos as an infinite scroll. [B] A tap on ‘Replies’ under a comment will load its own view. [C] When I tap ‘Close,’ I go back to the infinite scroll of ‘Comments’ as shown in [B].

YouTube Mobile Phone App (iOS and Android)

In the mobile phone app, ‘Comments’ usually appear between video description and recommended videos as an Accordion collapse/expand list.

Screenshots of YouTube iPhone app. [A] ‘Comments’ are between video description and recommended videos as an Accordion list. [B] A tap on ‘Replies’ under a comment will load its own view. [C] When I tap ‘Close,’ I go back to [A] as my 'iPad habit' prevents me to see the ‘Back’ button!

The habit of using the YouTube iPadOS app adds to my cognitive load while using the mobile phone app. I always end up tapping ‘Close’ for closing the ‘Replies’ thread rather than using the ‘Back’ button. Then I inadvertently close the ‘Comments’ view altogether and find myself back on the Video page.

Hence the “No, not again!” at the beginning of this story.

YouTube in Two Google Chrome Windows

In Google Chrome, the workaround I employ for reading comments while watching videos is to open two windows — both pointing to the same YouTube video URL.

Screenshots of YouTube in Google Chrome browser. I always use two Chrome windows resized and tiled on the desktop. Both are pointing the same YouTube video URL. The one on the left is for watching the video; the one on the right is for reading comments. Also, the video will be on pause and muted on the right window.

Moral of the story: For us

None, really.

Accept the ‘cognitive load’ before closing ‘Replies’ while in mobile devices. Think twice about the device (mobile phone or iPad) we are using and do a mental calculation on whether to tap ‘Back’ or ‘Close!’

Moral of the Story: For YouTube Designers

Please talk among yourselves — the iOS Team, Android Team and the Web team — to arrive on a common standard navigation theme in YouTube ‘Comments’ and ‘Replies.’ Kindly give us a uniform experience in mobile phone, tablet (both iOS and Android platforms) and web. Please make the comments scrollable while watching YouTube videos in a browser.

User research and tests are very important even after launching an app. Because, some people will definitely use the product in different ways, in different environments than envisioned by the creators.

End of story.

This article is adapted and abridged for LinkedIn. Read the original article in UX Collective publication in Medium -- "The unintended usage of Disney+ and Youtube comments: Two UX stories."