‘Tube’ is an extremely simplified version of YouTube.
More than 400 hours of content are uploaded to YouTube each minute. One billion hours of content are watched on YouTube every day. The platform was ranked by Alexa, a web traffic analysis company, as the second-most popular site in the world.
Just one problem — or dozens of problems, depending on your perspective. YouTube users often complain that the site is cluttered with recommended videos, subscription boxes, trending tabs, and needless bells and whistles. This can be annoying especially if you just want to watch a video.
With that in mind, software engineer Madeline Cameron wanted to provide a “non-annoying and simple YouTube experience” to anyone. The result is ‘Tube,’ a threadbare alternative.
Tube is self-described as “a stripped-down, minimalist version” of YouTube. It is a little more than a video player and a search bar. There are no recommended videos, no channels pages, and no comments. Just the core basics for viewing content.
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Ironically, Tube’s UI is simple like Google.
…and here’s what a search result for ‘banana’ looks like.
And here’s what an actual video looks like (note the back-arrow and non-bingey approach).
Lifehacker described Cameron’s project as a tool for avoiding the sort of binge-watching that YouTube’s UI promotes. For parents, Tube can be used to prevent kids from clicking things they shouldn’t click. Users with spotty connections will also love Tube’s light design.
As you might expect, this is creating a bit of a buzz. But be forewarned: the site is still experiencing some early-stage bugs. According to the latest tweet from Cameron, “Tube search is deployed. If you don’t see it, try a hard refresh to get the latest version. 🙂 Let me know if you have issues.”
Oh, and it might get ripped down by YouTube, given that YouTube’s license expressly prohibits this sort of ‘hack’. Actually, that’s almost guaranteed to happen if Tube gets too popular.
Argh, thought it were a YouTube alternative. 🙁
So wait… you write an article about a website but you don’t provide a URL? That’s messed up LOL. Especially since searching for “tube” (as you’d expect) brings up a lot of unrelated hits.
For those interested, here’s the link:
https://tube.quinzel.tech/