So, chances are if you frequent YouTube at all you may have noticed that YouTube recently moved the comment section from the bottom of the scroll to near the top of the interface right underneath the Profile section of the video. There have been a whole conglomeration of complaints in regards to this new user interface that was just implemented. Now, you should be aware that obviously YouTube has been testing this new interface over the course of several months. In October of 2019 they posted an article to their YouTube Help section of their community regarding a new 'experiment' that they were beta-testing for the comment section. Let's get to the meat of the article: people hate the new comment system because it interrupts the pattern that they have learned over the past years. What's the first thing that most people do when they are viewing a YouTube video on their mobile phone? They start scrolling down to the comments. Now that the user pattern has been interrupted by a different user interaction being introduced obviously as a YouTube user you would understandably be frustrated the first couple of times that you use the interface. That being said, there is balance that designers have to tread between revamping user interface to improve the overall experience in the long run, and keeping the experience in tact as much as you can so users aren't off-put by their pattern being disrupted. I think it would be valuable to see what Youtube's methodology was in regards to implementing this new UI: "We want to make it easier for people watching videos to find comments in the YouTube app without having to scroll through “Up Next” videos, so we’re testing out a new comment section that appears directly below the video. The new section will show up to 3 comments, with an option to view all comments while you continue to watch the video – just like you can today." https://support.google.com/youtube/thread/17372907?hl=en Now, I'll be honest with you. This seems like a perfectly reasonable explanation for this change. Contrary to popular opinion, they are keeping the user in mind by making it easier to get to the comments with minimal scrolling on the user's part. The only reason that everyone hates the update is the same with any update: it's in a different area that breaks their user pattern. I think once users reconstruct their user pattern they will find that this update is a better solution than having to scroll down to find comments. Granted, I can understand the user's point of view and why you would be frustrated. It comes down to the value of a tap versus a scroll in regards to user experience. Which takes more energy and which is easier? In my opinion, scrolling can be easier to do because you can scroll for anywhere on the screen (for the most part) and tapping involves a specific surface area and it's vulnerable to miss-tapping. That being said, in the previous version of YouTube you had to scroll past a section of up next or related videos before you could get to the comment section. If you compare the time of how long it would take you to get to the comment section in the old vs. new UI, you can get to the new comment system faster than you can the old comment system. As I said earlier, it merely comes down to users being confused because their pattern has been disrupted. YouTube has tried to remedy this by putting a blurb where the comments used to be saying "Comments have moved" along with a button that takes you to the comments.
