YouTube will have something new for you in the coming weeks. According to their blog, the online video player will soon add three new features to help you instantly scan through YouTube videos and find the parts you want to watch.
If you’re the impatient type, you’ll appreciate your new ability to sneak a peek at what’s coming later in the video. Kind of like when you read ahead of the class and ruined Old Yeller for all the other kids, you’ll be able to ruin endings for yourself or look ahead to make sure Han et. al. get out of the garbage masher all right. Hold your mouse over the seek bar and a thumbnail of the frame will pop up above it. This’ll also be handy if you’re struggling through a painfully slow intro and want to decide if a video’s even worth finishing.
Not only will you be able to look ahead at the video you’re watching, but you’ll now have a sort of scene selection function. Dragging along the seek bar will show you a filmstrip of thumbnails from the video, to help you jump right back to the frame you were watching, or to start the video just before that sweet one-handed grab.
YouTube also wants to make it easier for you to navigate through longer videos. If you’re watching a video that’s longer than 90 minutes, you’ll be able to zoom in on the seek bar. A shorter bar appears above the main bar and lets you scan through the frames of the movie, one and a half minutes at a time. Check it out below:
YouTube says it’ll take a while to add these features to every video. But look for them to start appearing on your favorite content in the near future.