YouTube already offers official apps on mobile platforms including big screen tablets, but it recently updated its desktop site to work better with touch devices.
YouTube says that it's rolled out several improvements for using the desktop version of its site on touch-enabled devices, like with the Safari web browser on the iPad. These enhancements include a new three-dot menu option under all video thumbnails that'll show persistently.
Previously you had to hover over the video title with a cursor, like the one you get when using a computer mouse or trackpad, to get this three-dot menu option to show up. Not everyone has a mouse or trackpad when using a tablet, though, and so YouTube is updating its desktop site to give it a similar experience for touch users.
YouTube's desktop site has also gained new gestures, like the ability to swipe the video player up to go fullscreen or down to get the miniplayer. There's now a better scrolling experience when accessing the left hand guide, account info menu, and notification, menu, too, plus increased icon sizes that should now be easier to tap on touch devices.
It might seem kind of strange for YouTube to make these touch improvements to its desktop site when it offers dedicated apps for Android and iOS, including phones and tablets. But some folks may not want to install the dedicated YouTube app for one reason or another, and so with these improvements, they can still get a good YouTube experience when browsing the desktop version of the site on their touch device.
Other improvements made to YouTube's desktop site recently include a better organized watch history which is now sorted by date. Additionally, you can now organize videos in playlists using the "Move to top" and "Move to bottom" options on the playlist page. This feature was previously only available on older versions of YouTube.
Finally, YouTube says that it's rolled out a couple of fixes to its desktop site. A bug that caused some video thumbnails to disappear and not shown in playlists has been fixed, and YouTube has also corrected an issue that could cause the miniplayer to sometimes cover important elements in the background while browsing YouTube.
