The old YouTube Channels are now a thing of the past. Their have been many attempts from what I like to call “Old Channel Loyalists” to get YouTube to stop the design from changing on July 15th but so far, YouTube has completely ignored the mass upload of hate videos, consistent 1-staring and negative comments on any videos relating to the new “beta channels”. As a YouTube channel designer, I’m forced to work with what YouTube is dishing out, as a result, I have come under fire more than once by old channel loyalists. From a designer standpoint, i think there is only so much uproar about this because average users don’t know what is good design and to put it simply, they are afraid of change.

Taking some time to sit down and really dig into what the new channel design has to offer may surprise you! Many users complain about the new interface being to complicated. Quite the opposite, actually. I’ve listed several time-savers, improvements and shortcuts that will have you using the YouTube channel design in minutes.

1. Probably the most obvious change is the fact that you no longer have to dig through your account settings just to update your channel design. All the tools you need are displayed right on your YouTube channel page. Other users will just see your channel but you will see several options throughout the page that you can edit.
2. The ability to edit your “about me” and all the other various “about me” type fields like “music”, “books” etc. can be edited right from your channel page. No digging through account options! You’ll see an “edit” text link on the about me box that will let you quickly update information about yourself.
3. Swap, swap, swap! Part of the new channel design allows users to just swap boxes from left to right or even get rid of them completely. When your logged in and viewing your channel you’ll see little arrows at the top right of several boxes. Those will let you move your content around in an almost drag-and-drop like interface.
4. A very neat feature that is often over-looked is the ability to grab a URL for a video to play on your channel. To test this out simply click on one of your videos that are displayed to the right on your channel. Once it’s loaded, take note of the url you see in your browser address field. You can use that link to send people directly to your channel and have that video play immediately!
5. I’ve saved the best for last, as I often do. The ability to save YouTube channel themes and switch instantly between them! For example, you have a festive theme that you use around Christmas, ect. when viewing your channel click the “Themes and Colors” button at the top of the page. From there you can manage all your themes. Colors and your background image update in real-time. Don’t forget about that “show advanced options” link.

Josiah Staggs specializes in YouTube Layouts among a slew of other things. He has 3 years experience in Youtube Marketing and runs a website for free YouTube Backgrounds.

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