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Announced just last week on their official blog, the purveyors of video hosting at YouTube have opened their latest TestTube project (dubbed Cosmic Panda) to the public. Basically a redesign, Cosmic Panda features a radically overhauled interface that indicates a shift towards premium ad placement, but otherwise seems mostly aesthetic.
It's difficult to say without testing the functionality first hand if this redesign is more than skin deep. However, from a visual standpoint, the new design takes more than a few cues from its competitor (*cough*Hulu*cough*) and while YouTube is still clearly an open forum for all creators I get the feeling that many of these changes were made more with film studios and TV networks in mind (MGM, Lions Gate Entertainment, and CBS).
The new charcoal-grey background for videos makes them easier on the eyes and does mark improvement. There are also new video size options that add to the "cinematic" experience, but for the average video not optimized at those dimensions it leaves them pixelated and/or distorted.
The placement of certain elements seem a little odd, several users have noted the "Flag as inappropriate" button as being particularly hard to find. Much of this could be chalked up to learning something new, though. Actual video pages are no longer customizable, but the main profile pages still allow for personalized background images.
Those fearing change shouldn't worry too much, at least not yet. For now, Cosmic Panda is opt-in only which means that you can turn it on and off at will. What this test holds for the future of YouTube users remains to be seen, but you can count that we'll see at least some of these changes in a future redesign.
Want to try it out for yourself? Check out the official Cosmic Panda page to get started.
