cyrenepenya: Hulu rolls out a simplified player UI for the web, takes a few cues from mobile

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Hulu rolls out a simplified player UI for the web, takes a few cues from mobile

The web player for Hulu added some more acreage just a few months ago, and now the company has updated it with a new "chromeless" look that's stripped down for less complexity than the old one seen here. Similar to the changes Netflix recently made to its web player UI (and looking particularly reminiscent of the iOS video player), Hulu has concentrated all the transport controls into a single bar including options like a 10-second rewind and bringing up the time left in a video when it's paused. As seen in the screenshot above, closed captions, face match, quality and buffering options have their own submenu now, while the toggles, pop-out and lower lights have been moved into a box below the player. Once the show is over, there's a new screen before the player either automatically picks another video, lets you replay what you just watched or browse through other recommended selections. You should be able to see it on the site now, give it a quick spin and let us know if the changes are for the better.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet