Legacy YouTube

[ccrowles]

↓ SUMMARY ↓
issuecomment-721599493 (ImprovedTube edit)

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As stated, legacy youtube option does not revert to legacy youtube design, and when I tried to export settings configuration to upload here, the export button does nothing.

Browser: Vivaldi 3.1.1929.34 (Stable) (64-bit)
ImprovedTube version: 3.0-alpha7
System: Kubuntu 20.04

[Felina-Lain]

Legacy doesn't work here either

Browser: Chrome Version 83.0.4103.106 (Official Build) (64-bit)
ImprovedTube Beta: 3.0-alpha7
System: Windows 7

[Sion89]

Legacy doesn't work.

Browser: Opera 68.0.3618.165 (Stable) (64-bit)
ImprovedTube: 3.0-alpha7
System: Windows 10

[EvgenKo423]

Because Legacy YouTube doesn't work at all! It's not an extension issue, it's YouTube itself.

I was always using an old YouTube design from the very beginning. They planned to remove it in March this year, but it still existed until recently.
At June, 16 at about 20:00 UTC it started ignoring this option flag. At June, 17 at about 11:00 UTC it was old again. At June, 17 18:00 UTC and still it ignoring it again.

[Sion89]

You can see an old YouTube design there - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiM5GYL_ePasSpyyWZEBdOg/videos?disable_polymer=1
https://www.youtube.com/user/zubok1000/videos?disable_polymer=1

Just add "?disable_polymer=1"

[raszpl]

spoofing UA to Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Googlebot/2.1 brings back old UI permanently

[EvgenKo423]

Well, all is not lost then!
I had no time to search for solutions yet, but it seems like YT can't even remove it properly...

[cyrildtm]

spoofing UA to Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Googlebot/2.1 brings back old UI permanently

But somehow ads don't show up anymore, although I'm not blocking any. For now I'll have to temporarily disable my agent spoofing extension to support the channels I subscribed.

[ImprovedTube]

It also seems that the Youtube homepage wont work in legacy mode anymore? so it needs to be excluded or mimicked

@cyrildtm, ads (generally): The amount earned from ads is very low per viewer. When you work, your attention will be paid many times more per hour) So classic ads & Patreon can be succeeded by more directly, dynamically donating a bit automatically. ( Brave Browser introduces this (~15million users?). There you can split a small donation to all your sites/channels automatically / proportionally by how many minutes you spent with them (unless you favor specific sites.
It also lets users earn a bit from the ads, they saw or for reporting bad ads / wrong categories.)

[cyrildtm]

It also seems that the Youtube homepage wont work in legacy mode anymore? so it needs to be excluded or mimicked

Ads (generally): The amount earned from ads is very low per viewer. (When you work, your attention will be paid many times more per hour) So classic ads & Patreon can be succeeded by more directly, dynamically donating a bit automatically.
Brave Browser introduces this https://brave.com/?ref=imp716 There you can split a small donation to many sites/channels automatically and proportionally by how many minutes you spent with them (unless you favor specific sites)
It also lets users earn a bit from the ads, they saw or for reporting bad ads / wrong categories.

Thanks for reply. Well, there's no need to specifically argue with you how the ads work, but I want to share my observation that "some" youtubers I have seen rely on this kind of ad income, big or small, for their life. My one view versus the total views, which would probably be hundreds of thousands, is still more than zero. Plus, not all youtubers take direct donations.

Again, the issue here is the legacy mode. Yes, it still works as of late June 2020, and I'm using it now. The method is described by @raszpl. So please do not take it down.

[ImprovedTube]

@cyrildtm Yes, we need to enhance our feature as of the recent Youtube change.
That's why I was asking whether the legacy homepage (youtube.com/ ) still works and lists videos for any of you guys?
You might either just see the new one or see the empty one with the user-agent method.

Ads: True! And some people might even like watching ads. Yet the future is efficient/empowering. Any content creator's earnings can already add up for them before they first notice and sign up for an automatic funding economy like Brave Browser.
An ad is a specific type of micro donation (usually very underpaid unless perceived as art).
In the past direct micro donations did not happen, since classic payment services have a fixed transaction fee (such as paypal $0.35)

@ccrowles did export work in Vivaldi before? Thanks!

[Sion89]

Please fix Legacy Youtube option...

[Raydor]

You can see an old YouTube design there - youtube.com/channel/UCiM5GYL_ePasSpyyWZEBdOg/videos?disable_polymer=1
youtube.com/user/zubok1000/videos?disable_polymer=1

Just add "?disable_polymer=1"

"?disable_polymer=1" stopped working too :(

[ghost]

YouTube no longer supports legacy version. Broken legacy version will be available until Google updates its search services.

Do you need the "Legacy YouTube" theme for new YouTube?

[EvgenKo423]

Well, it would be cool to have a similarly-compact look in general, even if it won't fix increased traffic / lag issues.

[Raydor]

Well, it would be cool to have a similarly-compact look in general, even if it won't fix increased traffic / lag issues.

Totally agree.

I like the way comments and views,likes,etc looked on legacy youtube, more compact and less expanded.

[EvgenKo423]

At 85% I'm mostly OK with new design, so I kind of gave up for now. I would still prefer it back, but don't care that much.
The biggest con for me is huge thumbnails at home page even at 85% (and extension performance issues).

[Felina-Lain]

At this point I got used to the new one, though I'm annoyed that I can't get my homepage to be subscriptions even though I set it to be so
And also the thumbnail size yeah

[raszpl]

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/good-old-youtube/klkejolkjcefmocpgpjiefbpmgofahmh

[cyrildtm]

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/good-old-youtube/klkejolkjcefmocpgpjiefbpmgofahmh

it removes ads

[EvgenKo423]

Ahh, that speed...

I guess that's because it uses Google Bot's user agent as part of a fix. However, it's greatly customizable and you can choose different fix methods for different pages. I think if you choose something other than Headers, the ads will work as well. ;-)

[cyrildtm]

you can choose different fix methods for different pages. I think if you choose something other than Headers

For video pages, the currently existing choices are 1) Header, 2) Polymer (broken) and 3) off. When I choose either 2 or 3, yes the ads comes back, but it doesn't change the UI back. It's the same result.

[ccrowles]

Quick Survey: @ccrowles @Felina-Lain @Sion89 @EvgenKo423 @raszpl @cyrildtm @Raydor
Did you guys 'get over classic youtube' ?
or found a good solution? or would you still like if we brought back any of it?
Happy Weekend!

Haven't found a solution yet :(
Honestly I would be ok-ish with the new design if not for the fact that the video player actually takes the empty side borders too, so when I pop it out the pop-out window is extremely large... This is what the popout window looks like:

I wish the player would actually take the normal video size like how it was before the new youtube layout. Other than that I have more or less accepted the new design.

[EvgenKo423]

@cyrildtm Doh! Didn't check it specifically, just hoped there are multiple working options for video.

[cyrildtm]

@cyrildtm Doh! Didn't check it specifically, just hoped there are multiple working options for video.

There is always hope. But if you want to know the truth, there aren't other options than everything or nothing. I don't care if my own solution is replicated in any particular forms of implementation, but I have something that works.

[EvgenKo423]

I think I've got one too and it's neither everything nor nothing. 😏

1. Disable autoplay;
2. Enable the extension;
3. Load a video page;
4. Disable the extension;
5. Start a video.

You've got a player with ads. 😎
The extension could do this automatically though.

[ImprovedTube]

Summing up @raszpl @Felina-Lain @ccrowles

Solution working (why didnt we?)

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/good-old-youtube/klkejolkjcefmocpgpjiefbpmgofahmh

Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Googlebot/2.1)

useragent has no side-effect on video pages besides removing ads

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Alternatively 3 missing features/fixes for the new Youtube:

1. At this point I got used to the new one, though I'm annoyed that I can't get my homepage to be subscriptions even though I set it to be so

2. And also the thumbnail size yeah

3. would be ok-ish with the new design if not for the fact that the video player actually takes the empty side borders too, so when I pop it out the pop-out window is extremely large... This is what the popout window looks like:

I wish the player would actually take the normal video size like how it was before the new youtube layout. Other than that I have more or less accepted the new design.

[EvgenKo423]

Solution working (why didnt we?)

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/good-old-youtube/klkejolkjcefmocpgpjiefbpmgofahmh

Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Googlebot/2.1)

useragent has no side effect besides removing ads

Correction: it quite was working. YouTube broke the old layout once again a few weeks ago, so it's hardly usable: the sidebar doesn't show any playlists anymore and only 7 random subscriptions are shown. Search page is broken as well.
I'm still using it, but partly mixed with new layout, thanks to the options available.

[allanlaal]

since non-polymer legacy youtube is now ancient history, can this issue be closed? :)

[ImprovedTube]

@allanlaal i dont know how to close issues

[ImprovedTube]

#868

~ 2014 to ~2020