YouTube seems dead-set on polluting your fullscreen viewing experience

Now, you get to do it to yourself

YouTube recently decided to unleash hell onto our viewing experiences by pushing comments into the fullscreen experience, though you would have needed to have opened up the comments section before you went fullscreen. Now, a twist for those who want to learn more about the video in fullscreen mode.

Tapping on the screen, then the title of the clip — now printed in Google's proprietary YouTube Sans typeface rather than Android's default Roboto — while in fullscreen view will now bring up the description box along with viewership metrics and the channel badge. [Editor's note: One of our commenters, demarcmj, pointed out that the panel also displays chapters for videos that utilize that feature, making it easier to scroll through the video while in fullscreen.] The video moves to stage left and, depending on its aspect ratio, may get shrunken down. Users can 'X' out the box or drag it down.

The feature does not appear to be dependent on the version of the YouTube app. If you don't have it, you may just need to wait a little bit.

This is the first time YouTube is allowing users to directly engage with off-screen elements while in fullscreen mode. As we've covered in September, engagement with the comments or description box prior to open up fullscreen mode would also keep that box in view.

Thanks: Moshe

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