YouTube’s new feature “deep link” fails usability

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Posted in » Advice to Businesses, Google, Usability - by Ades on November 2nd, 2008

YouTube has introduced a great feature called “deep link”. It’s a feature that lets you link directly to a specific time-frame within the video. For example, if the video is 5 minutes long and you want to show your friend from 2nd minute 15 seconds onwards, you can do that with this new feature.

How to do it?

This is how it is done - you need to add (manually) at the end of the URL, this code - #t=2m15s. It means the video will start playing from the frame 2minute 15 seconds (#t is for passing the time variables to the video, in this case 2min, 15sec).

Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI54UauUtSk#t=0m46s

Usability issue…

But as usual, YouTube (Google) seems to be thinking from programmer’s point of view and not from end-user point. Because,

  1. It’s (nearly) impossible for general public to remember this code. It looks easy for you and me but believe me for a non-IT person it will be quite difficult to remember the code structure, symbols, letters…etc
  2. It’s not user-friendly i.e not usable - you need to add the code manually yourself at the end of the link. There is also no instructions on the video pages. So, someone who haven’t heard about this new feature wouldn’t know how to do it.
  3. It’s prone to typo-error. Since users have to type the minutes and seconds into the code themselves, they might put in the wrong numerals or make a wrong structured URL due to Point1 above.

…all in all, it’s not usable!

What I suggest!

I suggest that YouTube make this feature more usable, and make it available on each video page. This can be done easily. It can also be integrated into the video pages seamlessly. Here is my suggestion:

1. Add a small icon (clock?) at the end of the URL field, similar to the generate code icon (see image 3). When you click on the clock, it would enable “deep link” feature.
youtube deep link

2. Once the feature is enabled, you simply drag the slider to the position you want.

youtube deep link

3. The video URL automatically reflects the position of the slider that you are moving. Once you are done, it’s ready for you to copy!

youtube deep link

This would make it much more usable and reduce typo-errors!

Would YouTube heed my recommendation? Who knows. But I hope they will, because it would make people’s lives a lot easier.

Ping: uk.youtube.com/blog?entry=EoZa0dlFRao

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16 Responses to “YouTube’s new feature “deep link” fails usability”

  1. By Kitchenaid Mixer on Nov 2, 2008

    Excellent update. can i make some thing like that a person can not view video after particular portion lets say 2 minutes and 15 secs. I want to show video to my friends only 2 minutes and 15 secs not after that. how can i make it?

  2. By Simon on Nov 2, 2008

    That’s an awesome addition - It won’t be that hard to remember if you really want to

  3. By eyeman on Nov 2, 2008

    i only use youtube when want to promote something.

    But this is new information for me.

  4. By SEO Test on Nov 2, 2008

    awesome info. But, I never use youtube :(

  5. By YourDownline.co.uk on Nov 2, 2008

    That is awesome, I never realised this, Im not a big youtube user but Ill have to try this out, great post.

  6. By jage on Nov 3, 2008

    good news for pouring bandwidth like me :)

  7. By SEO Services on Nov 3, 2008

    This could be a great enhancement of Youtube feature. Hey Ades, I am going to link your post at my Blog. http://seo-web-optimization.blogspot.com/2008/11/youtube-deep-link-direct-link-to.html

  8. By Angela at mommy bytes on Nov 3, 2008

    Perhaps someone could make a Greasemonkey script which would do this. Then again, a Greasemonkey user wouldn’t have trouble modifying the URL by hand either! Great info to know though.

  9. By Rice Blogger on Nov 4, 2008

    that is a great feature

  10. By Marketing Man on Nov 4, 2008

    It’s quite a great feature but made for advanced users. But I think with time Youtube will improve it and make it dumb proof.

  11. By xino on Nov 5, 2008

    Oh I see your complaint.
    What you are trying to say is, people won’t be able to remember the code.

    All Youtube needs to do is to make it auto enabled.

    But you don’t need to enter the code when you make a comment, it auto does it, which is cool!

  12. By dan on Nov 13, 2008

    My 2 cents on the YouTube deep links

    http://www.logblo.com/2008/11/13/YouTubeDeepLinkItsAboutTime.aspx

  13. By Riddle on Dec 1, 2008

    It would be awesome if deeplinking worked when streaming HQ content.

    This doesn’t work:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCxblIHw85o&fmt=18#t=5m25s

  14. By Imp Teaser on Dec 4, 2008

    Too bad you didn’t bother reading the entire post regarding YouTube’s “Deep Link” feature. Obviously Xino did.
    I refer specifically to the line that reads, in part, “…if you mention a specific time in a video comment, … this will become a hyperlink.” (It) doesn’t get much simpler than that. As a friend of mine observed the other day regarding an issue related to torrents, that applies here as well, there is a learning curve involved; most people who know about embedding URL’s are not going to have a hard time remembering a # sign (which stands as much for “number” as “pound”), an = sign (pretty self-explanatory), and the letters that represent the specified time, m & s.
    While I agree that hiding it in the forum might not be the best way to publicize it, I do think that eventually people will catch on. Not to mention the fact that enough things online are “dumbed down” as it is.
    As far as “typo-prone” goes, that applies to anything and everything! Singling out this one tiny aspect of all things typed is as small-minded as you assume anyone NOT in a tech-related field to be. “It looks easy for you and me but believe me for a non-IT person it will be quite difficult to remember the code structure, symbols, letters…etc”
    “…a non-IT person…”?
    Could ya be just a little more condescending? Please? How arrogant are you that you assume no one OTHER than techs are going to have a question that MIGHT be answered in a forum (it wasn’t), and through whatever roundabout means happen onto your post and out of curiosity click on the link that brings them/us here, only to be denigrated and dismissed.
    If that’s how you approach Youtube with suggestions, it’s no wonder you’re all but ignored. Tone down the attitude a notch or two and maybe someone will listen for a change.
    Having said all that- I do like the idea of the clock next to the embeddable link. I will also concede that this is your blog, and as such, you are the one to determine the tone, though in my experience, lofty = lonely. Thank you for any consideration you might give these words.

  15. By Ades on Dec 4, 2008

    - Imp Teaser, I am glad that you liked my clock idea. I think we both agree that it’s more usable. Thanks for the comment.

    P.S I do apologize if you feel offended by the content of this post. I didn’t mean to sound condescending or offend anyone.

  16. By Emm on Sep 10, 2009

    URL’s are restricted… however, you just need to enter them time.

    If you’ve watched the movie and it ended… then you read a comment and you see the deep link, once you click it it will play fro that time frame.

    Plain and simple without the URL and #t= part, for example:

    1m05s


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