In 2016, bloggers accidentally found a test version of the updated, more minimalist design of YouTube.com. In May 2017, it became known: testing has not yet been completed, but Google is already offering the updated YouTube “look” as an option, and anyone can use it.

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The redesign was based on the principles of the design language that Google has implemented in the latest versions of Android.

Fred Gilbert, Head of User Experience at YouTube:

“We don't want the UI to interfere with users. Content should always come first.”

What has changed in the updated YouTube?

• The titles of the videos, which were in blue font, are now black and are not distracting;
• “Trimmed” the sidebar menu;

• The YouTube logo, search bar and channel icons have become smaller (and the latter are also round).
• New videos now automatically load when you scroll down (you no longer need to click the “More” button).

Needless to say, it turned out great, and returning to the old version of YouTube leaves a painful impression.

But there are changes not only externally, but also “under the hood”. The new YouTube site runs on the Polymer framework.

Thanks to it, the service works a little faster, but the most important thing here is that Polymer allows you to add new functions - such as night mode (how to enable it is described below). The latter changes the light “background” to black, and as a result, watching videos at night becomes much more comfortable - the black color does not “hurt” the eyes.”

Want to upgrade to YouTube's new design? Then just go follow this link and press Try it.

Without a doubt, many users would not mind the appearance of a dark mode in all applications and services, reducing eye strain. Google is constantly improving its programs and services, adding new features to them.

One of these innovations affected YouTube video hosting. Attentive users have noticed that YouTube has added a hidden mode that changes the white background of the web interface to gray and black.

How to enable YouTube dark mode

Click on your YouTube avatar and in the menu that opens, activate the option “ Dark mode" After this, a dark theme should appear.

Dark themes in applications are very popular. If possible, the user can choose an interface based on their needs and time of day. So, in the evening, dark mode can reduce eye strain.

Google is testing night mode on various services, including YouTube. The dark interface is not officially supported on video hosting yet, but if you use Google Chrome, you can try activating it manually.

We emphasize that this method only works in the web version of YouTube and only in the Google Chrome browser.

How to enable night mode on YouTube

Step 1: Launch Google Chrome, go to youtube.com and switch to Chrome DevTools. This can be done using a shortcut:

• On Windows: Ctrl + Shift + I.
• On macOS: Option + Command + I.

Step 2: Go to the Console tab.

Step 3: Run one of the following commands in the console (straight quotes):

document.cookie=”PREF=f6=4;path=/;domain=.youtube.com”;
document.cookie=”VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE=fPQ4jCL6EiE; path=/”
document.cookie=”VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE=fPQ4jCL6EiE”

If the first doesn't work, the second or third option may be suitable.

Step 4: Close the tool and refresh the page. You will notice that the site interface has changed slightly.

Step 5: Tap on your profile picture and select the Night Mode option.

Hi all. Today I would like to briefly tell you how to make a dark background on YouTube so as not to spoil your vision at night when watching videos on your favorite video hosting site, and also reduce the energy consumption of your battery if you are using a laptop. It’s not for nothing that this feature is called night modes. The eye strains much less when looking at dark colors in the dark. Therefore, it is important that when the lights are off, you always try to work in this mode.

How to activate night mode on YouTube?

Initially, YouTube did not have such an opportunity, so the person did not even have any choice. Over time, this feature became available only in hidden mode. To do this, it was necessary to write special code in the console, which is located in the web developer panel.

But with the advent of the new interface, the ability to set a black background became available to everyone. All you need to do to do this is click on your account icon and select “Night mode” from the menu.

After this, a small window will appear in which you will need to move the slider from “Off” to “On”. After this, you will see that the entire theme has turned black. Now you can work without straining your eyes. Well, to return everything to the way it was, repeat this combination, just move the slider back.

Activating black background using extension

With the release of a built-in method for activating night mode, many began to refuse extensions. But many users still remain faithful to them, since to change the style you only need to press one button. Let's look at the example of the Google Chrome browser.

After this, your background will instantly turn black and you won’t need to go anywhere else. And if you suddenly want to return everything to its place, then just click on this button to turn off the dark theme.

Turning off the lights

There is another cool extension that does not paint the background black, as was the case in previous versions, but which darkens it, as if turning off the light. This is also quite a useful thing that will not only relax your eyes but will also save your laptop battery.

To do this, go back to the extension store and search for turn off the lights, then install it.

And now, when you watch videos on YouTube, you can click on a special button in the extensions panel at any time to darken the background.

Is it possible to make a black YouTube background on an Android phone?

Unfortunately, neither the official client nor the web version of YouTube in a mobile browser simply does not have this option. Of course, there are characters who offer to download some plugin files and install them directly on the phone, but personally I would not recommend doing this. God knows what these plugins are, who invented them and how they work. Moreover, there are even adequate instructions other than links to download files.

The only way out of this situation is to install the application from Google Play “Youtube gaming”. This is the same YouTube, only aimed more at gaming content. No, you can find any content there, even content that does not concern games, but still, because of this focus, it becomes more difficult to find something non-game.

If you want, you can install it for yourself and check it out. If you are satisfied with this solution for watching YouTube videos on a dark background from an Android phone, then go ahead. No one will judge you.

As you can see, there are a lot of ways to make a dark background on YouTube, and I haven’t written all the extensions yet. In principle, I think that everything is clear. If you want, you can check everything for yourself.

Well, this is where I end my story. I hope you liked it. Therefore, be sure to subscribe to notifications from my blog, and also join public pages on social networks to keep abreast of current events and new articles. I look forward to seeing you again on my website. Good luck to you. Bye bye!

Best regards, Dmitry Kostin.

The team of the popular YouTube site from Google is constantly working to develop and improve its project. At the end of April 2017, a black YouTube design running on the faster and more convenient Polymer engine was presented to a special group of testers. After conducting these tests and studying user reviews, the developers closed access to the “night mode”, leaving those who did not have time to try the innovation with nothing. In this material I will try to help such users and tell you how to make YouTube design in black, and what methods will help us with this.

Let's figure out how to enable test "night mode" on YouTube

Since after testing, the developers quickly canceled the ability to make YouTube black (promising activation of this functionality in the future), users were left with two main tools to activate this function, namely:

In the first case, the “night mode” was activated by going to the YouTube website, preferably in the Google Chrome browser (you must have a YouTube account and be logged in to it). Then it was necessary to press the key combination Ctrl+Shift+I (turn on developer mode in the browser), in the window that opens, switch to the console tab, and enter one of the following lines in it, not forgetting to then press “Enter”:

document.cookie="VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE=fPQ4jCL6EiE"

document.cookie=”PREF=f6=4;path=/;domain=.youtube.com”

document.cookie=»VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE=fPQ4jCL6EiE; path=/"

After this, it was necessary to refresh the page, click on the icon of your YouTube account (an activation/deactivation lever for “Night mode” should appear there). And move this lever to the on state (in some cases, choosing English instead of Russian in the YouTube settings below before entering the line in the console also helped).

Activation of the “night mode” is done by switching the corresponding lever

At the moment, the specified functionality is not active (the reader can independently try to use the mentioned testing tools). Therefore, the user is left with the use of various browser extensions that allow them to easily and conveniently switch to “Night Mode”.

We use browser extensions to switch to “Night mode” on YouTube

There are several popular extensions that allow you to color YouTube black. For example, these are the following tools:

Black background in Yandex browser

Using “night mode” in Yandex.Browser is no different from using it in the Google Chrome browser. You can try using the console to enter the appropriate commands (activation via Ctrl+Shift+I). And also install extensions from the Chrome or Opera extension and add-on stores (since Yandex.Browser also uses the Chromium engine, the specified extensions should suit it well).

Switching to YouTube night mode in Yandex.Browser is no different from other browsers based on the Chromium core

Conclusion

In this material, I looked at various ways to convert the YouTube design into a dark color. An effective and efficient method of changing the design to black is to use various browser extensions that make it easy to use “night mode” on this resource. Using the console, which worked perfectly in April-May 2017, now does not give any tangible results.

If you spend a lot of time watching videos on the Internet in the evenings, then you should know how to enable night mode on YouTube. Thanks to it, browsing websites will be more pleasing to the eye.

Dark background in YouTube

Night mode allows you to change the background of the application interface to darker colors so as not to tire your eyes when working with programs in the dark. As a rule, this function is available in electronic books (e-books), since reading books on a light background in the middle of the night is not so comfortable and tiring. Absolutely, the function makes browsing any website comfortable, and everyone knows that many people spend more time on YouTube.

A bright theme is not suitable for viewing at night when the room is dark. But there is a way to enable YouTube's hidden night mode, which changes the interface background to dark gray. It can only be enabled in Google Chrome, but will likely be available in all browsers soon. See how to make a dark background on video hosting.

Activating night mode on YouTube in the Chrome browser

Open the YouTube.com home page in your browser. Before you enable the dark theme, make sure you are logged in to your Google account, and then press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+I.

A window with developer options will appear. Switch to the Console tab. If you use any ad blocking plugins, the console may display red entries for blocked items. Don't pay any attention to them. At the very bottom, find the line starting with “>”.

It is intended for entering commands in the console. Copy the following snippet and then paste it into the line:

document.cookie="VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE=fPQ4jCL6EiE"

Confirm your entry by pressing Enter, and then refresh the YouTube page. The new site interface is activated. Now click on the profile icon in the upper right corner and select “Night Mode” from the drop-down menu.

A switch will appear that allows you to enable or disable the night background in YouTube upon request. Move it to the "On" position. The interface will change its bright design to black and gray.

If you want to restore the light version of the interface, you can turn off dark mode in YouTube using the same switch in the user menu.